The beloved Gospel preacher Guy N. Woods stated, "I have long believed that a person's attitude toward religion is determined, for the most, by his concept of what the Bible is.  If I believe that the Bible is merely an historical book, then I will view the laws of God as non-applicable to my life.  If I accept the Bible as a literary work, then I am limited as to what I will accept as God's Word.  But, if I accept the Bible as the infallible, inerrant, plenary, authoratative, verbally inspired Word of God, which I do and am sure you do, then I must believe what the Bible says.  What the Bible commands, I must do!  What the Bible prohibits, I must avoid or else lose my soul!  I cannot remain indifferent to what the Bible teaches."
    If we are going to maintain the God approved view of the Bible, we must accept evidence found within the Bible.  What does the Bible claim for itself?
    The Bible claims to be inspired:  "All scriptue is given by inspiration of God . . ."  (II Timothy 3:16a).  A short definition of inspiration is "God breathed".  By that wew simply mean that the Word of God came from God just as surely as your breath comes from your body, "out-breathing."
    But, there was an "in-breathing" into the text as well.  The breath of God entered figuratively into the Word iteself.  The apostle Peter explins:  "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.  For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."  (II Peter 1:20,21).  These verses DO NOT (underlined) teach that men have a right to their personal opinion concerning the law of God.  They do teach that the authors of the Bible were carried, or directed, or ". . . moved by the Holy Spirit."
    The Bible is not of human origin.  Paul reaffirmed the origin of the message:  "But I certify you brethren that the Gospel which was preached of me is not after man.  For i neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ."  (Galatians 1:11,12).  The teaching by the authors of the Bible was not of themselves; the message did not originate with them.  God moved and man wrote in response to God's Word.
    But do we have God's Word today?  We know that the original Bible was inspired, but none of us have a copy of the original Bible.  So, what about the translations of the Bible, are they inspired of God?  It is true that there are no inspired translators, but that is not the same as saying we are without inspired translations.  The original text of he Bible was written in Hebrew, Greek, and a small portion in Aramaic.  If the original languages odf the Bible were adequate to convey the idea of what God was saying, what difference does it make if the Bible was translated in any language?  If the translation CORRECTLY coveys the message and meanings of the original, the translation is just as inspired as the original.  However, not all translations are successful in doing that!
    Be sure of this one thing:  "But the word of the Lord endureth forever.  And this is the word which by the gospel was preached unto you."  (I Peter 1:25).  Yes, we can be assured that we have God's Word today in the faithful translations.  Are we obeying the revealed Word of God?