Why Does Scripture Exist? Because God Knows Human Nature
People create God in their own image, add traditions, and live by their own rules. That's why God gave us His written Word that will never pass away.
Why does Scripture exist? Why did God decide to give humanity a written Word instead of relying on oral tradition passed down from generation to generation?
The answer is simple: Because God perfectly knows human nature.
He knows our tendency to twist, add, and subtract. He knows our inclination to create religion according to our own preferences. That’s why He gave us something permanent - a written Word, unchanging, to which we can always return.
People Create God in Their Own Image
Since the dawn of time, humans share one common trait: they want a God who suits them. A convenient God. A God who confirms their beliefs, accepts their lifestyle, and doesn’t set demands too high.
Look around you. How many people have created their own “churches” - not necessarily with a building and a pastor, but in their minds? A God who accepts everything. A God who never punishes. A God who is only love without justice.
For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
— Romans 1:21-23 (ESV)
“Exchanged the glory of God for images” - this isn’t just about statues. It’s about every image of God we create in our minds that doesn’t correspond to who He truly is. A God made in our image - convenient, predictable, harmless.
This has been happening for thousands of years. And it happens today - perhaps more than ever.
Tradition vs. the Word of God
Jesus had a clear opinion about human tradition. He wasn’t against all traditions - but against those that replace or nullify the Word of God.
And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!”
— Mark 7:6-9 (ESV)
“In vain do they worship me” - these are strong words. People think they worship God, but in reality, they worship tradition. They think they’re pious, but in reality, they’ve departed from God’s Word.
People add to the faith. They create new practices, new rituals, new holidays. Over time, these additions become “sacred tradition” - inviolable, equal to Scripture, sometimes even more important than it.
That’s exactly why we needed a written Word.
God Guards His Word
The Bible has survived thousands of years. It survived persecutions, burnings, bans. Emperors ordered all copies destroyed. Diocletian proclaimed that Christianity had been eradicated. Yet the Bible still exists - and it’s the most translated and printed book in human history.
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
— Isaiah 40:8 (ESV)
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
— Matthew 24:35 (ESV)
This is not coincidence. God personally guards His Word. He made sure that no persecution, no ruler, no force could destroy it. Because this Word is the foundation - the foundation of faith, the foundation of salvation, the foundation of truth.
Voltaire spoke these words in the 18th century. Today, his house is the headquarters of a Bible printing house. Irony of fate? Rather a testimony that God’s Word is indestructible.
Why Written Word, Not Just Oral Tradition?
Oral tradition has one fundamental flaw: it changes.
You know the game of “telephone”? One person whispers a sentence to another, the second to the third, and so on. At the end, the sentence is completely different from the beginning. The same happens with oral transmission across generations. People forget, distort, add their own interpretations.
Written Word is different. You can return to it. You can verify. You can compare.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
— 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV)
“All Scripture is breathed out by God” - not just fragments. Not just the parts we like. All of it. And it’s profitable - for teaching, reproof, correction. For forming a person in righteousness.
But God didn’t just give us Scripture. He also warned against tampering with it:
I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
— Revelation 22:18-19 (ESV)
Adding and subtracting - both are forbidden. Both lead to serious consequences. God doesn’t joke when it comes to the integrity of His Word.
The Gospel Must Endure Forever
The good news of salvation is too important to leave to human memory and interpretation. This is not an ordinary story - it’s a matter of life and death, eternity and perdition.
since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.
— 1 Peter 1:23-25 (ESV)
The Word of God “lives and abides.” It’s not a dead letter - it’s alive. And through this living Word, we are born again. Through it, we learn the way of salvation.
If the Gospel were transmitted only orally, after a few generations it could be unrecognizable. People would add their own ideas, remove uncomfortable passages, adapt to their times. But God made sure that truth was preserved - in writing, unchangingly, available to everyone.
The Bible as a Life Manual
Holy Scripture is not just a theological book for scholars. It’s a practical guide on how to live. An instruction manual from the Creator who knows what’s best for us.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
— Psalm 119:105 (ESV)
A lamp in darkness. A light on the path. In a world full of confusion, false advice, and conflicting voices - the Bible shows the way. You don’t have to grope in the dark.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
— Proverbs 3:5-6 (ESV)
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
— 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV)
In the Bible, you’ll find advice about relationships - with your spouse, children, parents, friends, enemies. You’ll find principles about work, money, decision-making. You’ll find answers to questions about the meaning of life, suffering, death.
And most importantly - you’ll find the assurance of salvation. Assurance that allows you to live without fear of the future. Assurance that death is not the end, but the beginning of something infinitely better.
What Does This Mean for You?
You have access to the Bible. You probably have several copies at home. You have apps on your phone. You have the internet full of translations and commentaries.
The question is: do you use it?
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
— John 8:31-32 (ESV)
“If you abide in my word” - reading once is not enough. You need to abide. Return. Study. Live by that Word.
Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
— Acts 17:11 (ESV)
The Bereans didn’t uncritically accept what they heard - not even from the apostle Paul! They checked everything against Scripture. They examined daily. And for this, they were called “more noble.”
Conclusion
Why does Scripture exist? Because God knows us. He knows our tendency to wander, to create our own versions of truth, to add and subtract according to our preferences.
He gave us a written Word as an anchor. In the sea of human interpretations, traditions, and opinions - the Bible is a fixed point of reference. Unchanging. Reliable.
God could have relied on oral transmission. He could have left faith in the hands of human traditions. But He didn’t - because He knew that the truth about salvation is too important to entrust to human memory.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
— Psalm 119:105 (ESV)
You have the lamp. You have the light. The question is: will you turn it on?
Open the Bible. Read it yourself. Not through the filter of tradition, not through the interpretations of preachers - directly. Because this Word is from God for you. And only it endures forever.