Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old
That thou hast founded them forever (Psa 119.152).
How do we know that the Bible is God’s Word? Because God, in his Word, tells us that it is.
Some allege this is circular reasoning and therefore logically fallacious. They argue, for example, that many books may claim to be God’s word, but their mere claim does not prove their divine inspiration. False prophets lie.
This observation is valid in cases of spiritual fraud. In general, a claim does not constitute proof. We must beware of all false claims to speak or write for God. The Bible tells us so (1 John 4.1).
But cannot God testify to man in human words, and cannot God testify that it is he who testifies? And when he does this, cannot he be trusted when he speaks? Since he does testify in Scripture about Scripture, is not his testimony to be believed implicitly, just because it is his testimony? Yes, false prophets lie, but true prophets speak the truth, and faith receives it.
The skeptic’s allegation is invalid in the case of Scripture, because Scripture actually is God’s Word, and there is no more certain authority for recognizing its identity than Scripture itself.
For a very long time God’s people have recognized that God’s Word is “self-authenticating” because it is God’s Word with sufficient credibility to justify faith in the hearers and to condemn any skeptics.
Why, then, when Scripture goes forth, do people polarize into believers and unbelievers? The biblical explanation of unbelief does not blame it on insufficient evidence, but rather on inexcusable resistance from sinful hearts. The biblical explanation of faith does not give the praise for a good response to believers, but rather to the sovereign Spirit for imparting a profound, inner conviction about Scripture’s rock-solid truthfulness.
The Westminster Larger Catechism (#4) offers a classic statement in these words:
How doth it appear that the scriptures are of the word of God? The scriptures manifest themselves to be the word of God, by their majesty and purity; by the consent of all the parts, and the scope of the whole, which is to give all glory to God; by their light and power to convince and convert sinners, to comfort and build up believers unto salvation: but the Spirit of God bearing witness by and with the scriptures in the heart of man, is alone able fully to persuade it that they are the very word of God.
This magnificent statement of spiritual truth brings forth evidences for Scripture which are internal (its majesty, purity, consistency, scope, and end) and spiritual (its power to save sinners and edify saints) because these are the best evidences of all. It leaves unmentioned countless physical and external evidences like those from archaeology and extra-biblical historical records, for example, as comparatively inferior and less important. This Reformed answer of the WLC also celebrates the Spirit as the Author of biblical faith and conviction in a sinful man’s heart, who is otherwise enslaved to the prejudices that guard his beloved lusts.
This view of biblical truth comes out clearly in the psalmist’s words of our text, in which he asserts two great, fundamental doctrines of true religion.
GOD HAS ESTABLISHED HIS WORD ETERNALLY
The second line of this verse is its main and most important idea: “thou hast founded them [thy testimonies] forever.” This is a glorious statement that stretches from eternity to eternity.
The verb, “hast founded” or “established” is familiar to readers of the Hebrew Bible in its association with creation, portrayed as a great house that the Lord built “in the beginning.”
The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods (Psa 24.1-2).
The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them (Psa 89.11).
The same word also describes the construction of the Temple, as the builders “laid” its foundation (e.g., Ezra 3.10). Here the connotation is establishing something to be firm, fixed, and solid.
So the psalmist confesses that the Lord’s testimonies were established by him long ago. And given that the omniscient One always knew what he would say, we are warranted to believe that the words of Holy Scripture were always part of God’s purpose and are therefore from eternity past.
The notion of eternity is part of this verse, but the future is especially in view. An interlinear Hebrew Bible gives a very literal rendering, “you have established them to forever.” Psalm 119.160 confirms this eternity-to-eternity doctrine of God’s words in Scripture: “Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth forever.”1 The Lord Jesus claimed cosmic permanence and eternality for his own words, which we could expect from God incarnate. “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away” (Luke 21.33).
This doctrine is a relief to believers in a world of hostility to God’s Word and of ever-changing circumstances and persecution against God’s church. However men oppose and pervert Scripture, and whatever abuses God’s holy people suffer, the “foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his” (2 Tim 2.19). When Judgment Day finally comes, all God’s promises will be intact and have their fulfillment to his elect, and all his threats will also prove to have been as terrible as his most faithful prophets represented them—all to the honor of the God who cannot lie (Tit 1.2).
There is no more sure or lasting foundation upon which to build one’s entire life and worldview than the Holy Scriptures. When the storm of final judgment comes, the house of the wise, built upon the eternal truth of Jesus Christ, shall stand (Matt 7.24-25).
WE HAVE KNOWN THIS FROM GOD’S WORD
The first line has to do with how the psalmist knew the first great truth—that God has established his word eternally.
The AV uses the word “concerning” which means “relating to” or “about,”2 but the Hebrew original may be nearer in sense to our word “from.” The ASV renders, alternatively, “Of old have I known from thy testimonies, that thou hast founded them forever.” “Of old,” then, refers to the ancient knowledge of God’s people, as David speaks for them, and of Christ, whom David typifies, that God’s Word is eternal. And indeed, how else could any mere human know this, except by divine revelation?
If this interpretation is correct, then we have here essentially a biblical statement of what has been called “presuppositional apologetics,” where a presupposition is
a belief that takes precedence over another and therefore serves as a criterion for another. An ultimate presupposition is a belief over which no other takes precedence. For a Christian, the content of Scripture must serve as his ultimate presupposition. . . . This doctrine is merely the outworking of the lordship of God in the area of human thought. It merely applies the doctrine of scriptural infallibility to the realm of knowing.3
Calvin interpreted our Psalm text this way:
He therefore says, that he had learned from God’s testimonies, or had been taught by them, that they are established forever. . . . That the assurance of this immutability of God’s word may be rooted in our minds, the inward revelation of the Holy Spirit is indeed necessary; for until God seal within us the certainty of his word, our belief of its certainty will be continually wavering. Yet the Prophet, not without cause, affirms, that he learned this truth from the word; for when God shines into us by his Spirit, he at the same time causes that sacred truth which endures for ever to shine forth in the mirror of his word.4
Believing God when he speaks is not irrational but supra-rational. The Word of God takes us far beyond what we could know by reason alone, besides correcting our irrationalities. We may have confidence that nothing is more in accord with sound reason than that the God of the Bible really is, and that the Bible really is the word of this God. This foundation for all knowledge, believers know, helps us to make sense of everything else.
So do not be embarrassed by admitting that your faith in Scripture rests upon the Word of God, and do not expect unbelievers to accept this truth and reason. You do only because of the Spirit’s grace toward and in you. Amen.
Notes:
1 Lexham Hebrew-English Interlinear Bible, in loc.
2 Concise Oxford English Dictionary.
3 John Frame, cited at Wikipedia, “Presuppositional apologetics.”
4 Calvin, in loc.