When Men Put the Bible on Trial
There is a spirit in the modern world that does not come to Scripture to hear God speak. It comes to cross-examine Him.It opens the Bible, not with humility, not with reverence, not with hunger for truth, but with a prosecutor’s tone. It looks for differences in details, calls them contradictions, mocks every answer as an excuse, and then acts as if it has proven God’s Word false.
But the Bible is not the one on trial. Man is.
Jesus said, “the scripture cannot be broken” ~John 10:35. That settles the ground beneath our feet. Christ did not treat Scripture as a fragile human record full of errors and failed memories. He treated it as the unbreakable Word of God.
The Bible never asks us to pretend there are no different details between accounts. There are. One writer may mention one angel. Another may mention two. One account may summarize an event. Another may give a fuller timeline. One writer may focus on who carried out an action. Another may focus on who was responsible for it.
That is not a contradiction. That is testimony.
A contradiction means two statements cannot both be true at the same time and in the same sense. But the modern skeptic often sees two different details and cries, “Contradiction!” before doing the work of careful reading.
That is not wisdom. That is pride wearing reading glasses.
Scripture says, “He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him” ~Proverbs 18:13. That is exactly what happens when someone grabs two passages, refuses context, ignores wording, and demands that everyone admit the Bible is wrong.
The serpent used that same method in the garden. “Yea, hath God said?" ~Genesis 3:1. The first recorded attack was not atheism. It was an attack on the Word of God. Question it. Twist it. Make it seem unreasonable. Suggest that God cannot be trusted.
That same hiss still moves through modern objections.
People say the Bible has contradictions. They say the writers were imperfect men, so the record must be flawed. They say confidence in Scripture is emotional fear. They call biblical harmony “mental gymnastics.” But underneath it all is the same old issue: man wants the right to judge what God has spoken.
That is backwards.
“The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times” ~Psalm 12:6. “Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever” ~Psalm 119:160. Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” ~John 17:17.
Scripture does not present itself as man’s best religious effort. It presents itself as truth from God.
That does not mean believers shut off their minds. It means we use our minds rightly. Paul told Timothy, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God... rightly dividing the word of truth” ~2 Timothy 2:15. Scripture must be handled carefully, reverently, and in context.
There is a wrong way to deal with difficult passages. The wrong way is to assume error before doing the work. The wrong way is to mock every explanation. The wrong way is to treat partial details as false details. The wrong way is to act like silence in one passage cancels speech in another.
The right way is to let Scripture interpret Scripture. Compare passage with passage. Ask what each writer actually says and what he does not say. Distinguish between a difference and a contradiction. Bow before the God who cannot lie.
Paul wrote, “Let God be true, but every man a liar” ~Romans 3:4. That is not blind emotion. That is biblical sanity.
The Bible also tells us why some people keep stumbling over truth. “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him” ~1 Corinthians 2:14. That does not mean every question is dishonest. There are honest questions. The Bereans were noble because they “searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” ~Acts 17:11.
But there is a difference between searching the Scriptures and searching for an excuse not to believe them.
Jesus said, “And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life” ~John 5:40. Their problem was not lack of information. Their problem was refusal.
So what should believers do when Scripture is attacked?
Do not panic. God’s Word is not fragile. “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven” ~Psalm 119:89.
Answer clearly. Peter says believers should be “ready always to give an answer” ~1 Peter 3:15. Show the wording. Explain the context. Expose the faulty assumption. Make the distinction between a difference and a contradiction.
Do not let mockery control the conversation. Proverbs says, “Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him” ~Proverbs 26:4. The next verse says, “Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit” ~Proverbs 26:5. Sometimes wisdom means refusing the foolish frame. Sometimes wisdom means answering just enough so error does not go unchallenged.
And know when to stop repeating yourself. Paul warned against “foolish questions” and “contentions” that are “unprofitable and vain” ~Titus 3:9. He also said, “But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes” ~2 Timothy 2:23.
Not every person asking questions wants answers. Some only want a platform for unbelief.
Jesus said, “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine” ~Matthew 7:6. That is not cruelty. That is discernment.
Still, the servant of the Lord must stay under control. “The servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient” ~2 Timothy 2:24. Firm does not mean fleshly. Bold does not mean hateful.
The goal is truth.
If someone accuses Scripture, do not affirm the accusation just to sound humble. If someone calls biblical harmony “mental gymnastics,” do not pretend that is careful reasoning. If someone says the Bible contradicts itself, ask them to prove it from the actual wording.
Not assumptions. Not mockery. Not surface-level differences. The actual wording.
God’s people are not defending a fragile book. We are proclaiming an unbreakable Word.
“The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever” ~Isaiah 40:8.
The modern world wants a Bible it can edit, judge, correct, and approve. But Scripture does not bow before modern man. Scripture exposes him. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword... and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” ~Hebrews 4:12.
That is why men fight it. The Bible does not merely answer man’s questions. It reveals man’s heart.
So when the Word of God is attacked, do not lose your nerve. Do not surrender Scripture’s authority to sound reasonable to unbelieving ears. Do not confuse humility with compromise. Humility bows to God. Compromise bows to man.
Jesus said the Scripture cannot be broken.
That is enough.
The question is not whether God’s Word will stand. It will. The question is whether we will stand with it.
My song: A Living Hope in a Dying World
David Campbell.
Bible Resource Directory, Know the Bible and Biblical Truth
