How does the Bible think about its own truthfulness?

Admittedly, that’s an odd question. The Bible is an inanimate object. It’s a book—a collection of writings; not something that thinks. So, what do I mean by, what does the Bible think about its own truthfulness?

What I mean is, is there an internal consistency within the collection of writings, as it relates to the truth of the writings? And, do the writers of the Scriptures ever comment on that truthfulness or lack thereof?

As you could have probably guessed, the answer is: Yes. The writers do make comments on its truthfulness. Specifically, they make comments on what they’re writing or, in several occasions, comment on larger collections of writings.

The being said, we must admit to the fact that no writer anywhere in the Bible, makes any sort of exhaustive statement regarding the truthfulness of the Bible. This is simply due to the fact that no writer was ever writing during a time when the entire Bible was already compiled and organized.

That’s nothing to worry about, though, because it’s easy enough to see that their comments can and ought to be extended out to the rest of the text. We can see these perhaps most famously within a book of the Bible that is rarely read through in its entirety.

Let’s look at Revelation 21:5. There we read, “And he who was seated on the throne…said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ ” What makes this even more interesting, is that the English translation of trustworthy and true are built on two Greek words that are very closely related. The first: πιστοὶ, which is related to the word for faith, belief, or trust: πίστις. The second: ἀληθινοί, which is itself related to the Greek word for truth: ἀλήθεια.

Taken together, it becomes quite clear that the text of Revelation (and the rest of the Bible) is properly understood to be true and worthy of your trust.