What it means to have faith in the Bible.

To have faith in something is to trust that it is what it claims to be and that it will do what it claims to do. When it comes to the Bible, to have faith in the Bible means that we believe what the Bible says, that we have confidence that it is a true, reliable and honest message and that it is from God. We believe that the events described in the Bible actually happened, that the record is accurate, and that what the Bible says is to be accepted and trusted. Jesus said to his Father in heaven, “Your word is truth” (John 17:17). He did not use the adjective “true” as in “Your word is true.” That would be a description of God’s word. But Jesus used the noun, “Truth,” meaning that God’s word is the truth. It is the essence of truth, total truth, and the totality of it is truth. It is nothing but truth. Faith means that we believe Jesus, and that we accept the words of the Bible as the truth, all the truth, nothing but truth, and total truth. If we receive the message of God but we do not believe it, it is of no benefit to us. This is what happened to Israel in the Old Testament when they heard the words of God but they did not believe them (Heb. 4:2).