How Do We Know the Bible Was Written By God? (An Argument from Foreshadowing)

In a unique argument for God's existence, Joel Settecase talks about the literary technique of foreshadowing that shows up in the Bible, and what that entails about the Bible's authorship..

Originally written April 9, 2019 / Updated December 11, 2019.

In this podcast episode, Joel Settecase analyzes the apparent presence of the literary technique known as foreshadowing and discusses how this creates a powerful apologetic argument for Scripture’s divine authorship.

The argument goes as follows:

1. Any use of foreshadowing in a work of literature is attributable to its author.

2. If the Bible contains foreshadowing, that foreshadowing is attributable to its Divine Author (i.e. God).

3. The Bible does contain the clear use of foreshadowing (multiple instances are given). You can read more about this at this article from my pastoral blog.

4. Therefore the foreshadowing of the Bible is attributable to God (the point is elaborated upon, in that no human author wrote or superintended the whole canon of Scripture, and therefore no mere human author could have been responsible for the Bible’s foreshadowing).

5. Denial of the Bible’s use of foreshadowing, which is extremely plain to see, after one has seen the evidence, is at least a willful denial rooted in bias and at most tantamount to the denial of the possibility of any author using foreshadowing in any literature at all.

To properly understand the Bible, one must recognize its use of foreshadowing. And to do that, one must presuppose its Divine authorship. That is to say, proper understanding of the Bible requires one to presuppose God’s existence.

—

We believe no believer should get caught flat-footed when asked about the Christian message. Help us equip Christians for hard questions and get the word out about this content. Like it, share it, tweet it, and pass it around. Thanks.

— Joel