JESUS CHRIST: GOD-MAN - Vital Christianity

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When the writer says that faith is also the "certainty of what we do not see" he points to
the importance of evidence since "certainty" (pragmatos elegchos) is also translated "evidence,"
"proof" or "conviction." The word gives the sense of something that has been tested and
scrutinized and proven true and valid. Faith, then, is based upon that which has been tested and
found real. It is the certainty, the inward conviction, from God that what He has said is true and
that what He has promised He will provide. Faith, in addition to being the basis of all that we
hope for, is that by which we test things that are unseen.
Internal Evidence
In literally hundreds of passages, the Bible declares or assumes itself to be the Word of
God, from Deuteronomy 6:6-9 to Revelation 22:18.
In the Hebrew Scriptures alone the writers of Scripture introduce their message more than
3,800 times by such statements as "The Lord spoke," "The Lord said," "the Word of the Lord
came." This averages 4 1/2 times per page. In the New Testament the expressions used are "in
words which the Spirit teaches," "as it is in truth," "the Word of God," and "the commandments
of the Lord."
The writers tell us repeatedly that God told them to write and that they did write all that
He gave them (Ex 17:14; 24:4; 34:27; Nu 33:2; Dt 31:24; Jer 30:1-2; 36:1-2,4, 27-32; 1 Co
14:37; Heb 2:2; Rev 1:11; 2:1,8,12,18 etc.). Some ask, "Why should we believe them?" Because
they were credible eyewitnesses of the events they recorded.
John claims in his first letter:
"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen
with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands,
concerning the word of life—the life was made manifest, and we saw it, and
testified to it, and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and
was made manifest to us—that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also
to you" (1 Jn 1:1-3).
The men who wrote the Bible saw and touched the people and the things which they have
handed down to us.
Some have argued that these writers possibly elaborated a little or exaggerated the events
they originally observed. The problem with this is that the impression these people have made on
the world is not that of deception, but of honesty. The whole impact of these men on our world
has been to make it a more transparent and a more truthful world. If anything, most of us who
read their material carefully are impressed with the brutal honesty of their statements.