The Bible is God speaking. It is more than just a record of what he said in the past; it is also his living and active word for humanity today (He. 4:12). By the power of the Holy Spirit, God still is speaking through the words of sacred Scripture and his voice can be appraised by those who study it diligently (1 Cor. 2:14-16). The combined sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments form the totality of sacred Scripture; they are the authoritative canon by which those who follow Jesus are called to order their lives (Mt. 7:28-29, 1 Co. 14:37-38, 1 Jn. 4:6).
The living God authored the Bible through a partnership with the people who wrote the actual words (Jn. 14:26, 2 Pt. 1:20-21). Thus, the Bible is the work of both God and God’s people, whom he inspired to write the actual words in the original languages. Even though the Bible was written entirely by human hands, it is “God-breathed,” completely inspired by God (2 Tm. 3:16-17, 1 Co. 14:37, Rv. 1:10-11). Despite the imperfection of the people who actually penned the words of the Bible, it is completely free from error in its original autographs due to the sovereign way in which the Holy Spirit both inspired and supervised the work (1 Co. 2:11-13, 2 Pt. 1:20-21).
When approaching the biblical text, believers must be prepared to receive from it God’s truth as, with the Spirit’s help, they discern cautiously the actual, plain meaning of the text and seek to apply it in their lives.