What authority is there that the Bible is inspired more than any other book?
I do not think I can indicate the correct answer to this question any more directly than by asking another, namely, "What authority is there that the sun gives us any more light than the moon?"
You say that you see and feel the greater light and heat of the sun. True, and just so we feel the power of the Word of God, such as cannot possibly be felt from any other words, because there are no other words like those of God.
Jesus said, "I receive not testimony from man." (John 5:34)
Do you think that if Jesus were on earth you would want a testimonial from some man, to the effect that He is indeed the Christ? Do you not see that if you should depend on another's assurance that He is what He professes to be, that would show that you held that other one as greater, and more to be depended on, than Jesus himself? In like manner, to look elsewhere than in the Bible itself for proof of its inspiration, is virtually to deny its inspiration, and to make it secondary to some other book.
The prophecies contained in the Bible, foretelling events hundreds of years in advance, which have been fulfilled to the letter, are one of the strongest evidences that it is the Word of Him who knows all things from the beginning. Only God can speak of "those things that be not, as though they were." (Romans 4:17)
But the Bible as a whole is prophecy; for none of it came "by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." (2 Peter 1:21)
I hear you say, "That is begging the question; I know that the Bible itself claims to be inspired; what I want is to have its claim verified."
Well, you will never find any authority for the inspiration of the Bible, outside of the Bible itself. The Catholic Church claims to be above the Bible, but in so doing it discredits the Bible as being the Word of God, or else it sets itself above God. It really does both; but the fact is, that the true church of Christ is subject to the Bible, and is guided by it. The church is built upon the Word, and is the true church of Christ only as long as it conforms to that Word.
Suppose Sandow (Eugen Sandow (1867-1925) was a German bodybuilder and showman from Prussia) should seize you in his hands and exert all the power of his muscles on you; would you ask him, "What authority is there for the statement that you are the strongest man living?"
Certainly not; his grip upon you would be all the evidence you would require. So when the Holy Spirit, who speaks through the Word, gets hold of you, evidence is at hand. "He that has received His testimony has set to his seal that God is true." (John 3:33)
The Word of God is "the sword of the Spirit," (Ephesians 6:17) "sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12)
Can you not tell the difference between a sharp knife and a blunt one? When the woman of Samaria left Jesus at the well, and went to call her neighbors, she said, "Come, see a man who told me all things that ever I did; is not this the Christ?" (John 4:29)
So when the Spirit lays bare your own heart to you, you will not ask for anybody to be sponsor for Him.
I do not believe that infidels who have written with the avowed intention of overthrowing the Bible have really done so much injury to souls as have some of its zealous but unwise defenders. The attempts to "prove that the Bible is inspired" have sown more real doubt than anybody can think. They have made people believe that the Bible needed defending, when it does not. It is its own evidence.
No infidel was ever yet converted by homilies about the Bible, nor will one ever be converted by any such thing. There is only one way to cure infidelity, and that is to "Preach the Word." (2 Timothy 4:2)
If one says that he does not believe it, there is nothing to do but to give him some more. If he absolutely refuses to hear it, he shuts himself off from the only source of proof of the inspiration of the Bible.
What is the authority that the Bible is inspired? It is God himself, who speaks in it as clearly as when He thundered from the top of Sinai. Can you tell when it thunders? The same voice speaks in the Bible. Hear, and you will know. "If any man wills to do His will, he shall know of the teaching." (John 7:17,RV)--Present Truth, April 4, 1901.