HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, August 17, 2026 – Is the Bible holy? Every Bible cover asserts it. Most Christians unquestioningly agree. But what precisely (if anything) is “holy” about the Bible?

As I’ve mentioned previously in this blog, I came to belief relatively late in life. I wasn’t “raised in the faith”; I was unexpectedly and instantaneously reborn on a lonely stretch of beach in South Australia. During that miraculous process, my belief was delivered to me on a silver platter before I even knew I believed. In other words, I knew what I believed before I knew I believed it. I was taught of God by God. I still am.

Prior to my rebirth, the Bible was one of those things I could not stand being around. I found the Old Testament boring and the New Testament gobbledygook. The New Testament particularly irked me, as the letters of the words all ran together to form a language that was incomprehensible to me. Even if I’d wanted to read the words of Jesus in my unbeliever days, I wouldn’t have been able to. They were like reading a foreign language I had no knowledge of. Still, within an hour of my rebirth, there I was, sitting at my kitchen table reading (devouring!) the New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I haven’t stopped reading it since.

Over the years, the Bible has become my constant companion. Or better said, Bibles have become my constant companions. When one wears out—when the cover falls off and/or the pages fall out—I get another one. And because I can’t bring myself to throw out my “used” Bibles, I’m surrounded by Bibles in varying stages of disintegration. I have one on my pillow, one next to my bed, one on my desk, one on my kitchen table, a few on my fireplace mantle, and one in the oversized canvas bag I haul around with me wherever I go. Far from being the symbol of loathing it once was to me, the Bible has become a cornerstone of my life.

But is it holy?

I discussed in an earlier article the essence of holiness and what makes a person holy. Holiness is one of God’s characteristics that God can confer on whoever he wills through his aptly named Holy Spirit. In other words, where the Holy Spirit is, there is holiness; where the Holy Spirit is not, there is no holiness. Holiness is given by God through his Spirit and controlled by God through his Spirit. Therefore, a thing or person in and of themselves cannot be holy without the will of God and the presence of God’s Holy Spirit.

A Bible is a book. I am under no delusion that the Holy Spirit hovers over the well-worn pages of my dog-eared Bibles. However, because a measure of God’s Holy Spirit is within me (which he gave to me at my rebirth), I know with God-inspired certainty that within the Bible’s pages are certain thoughts and words that were inspired by God through his Holy Spirit. Not the entire book—not every word that’s written in it—but certain thoughts and words.

But is that enough to make the Bible itself holy?

From my perspective, the “Holy Bible” emblazoned on the cover of every Bible refers not to the entire book but to those words and thoughts within it that are holy, that come from God. The holy words and thoughts are sandwiched in between words and thoughts that are not necessarily holy (not having been inspired by God) but are still supportive and reflective of the holiness. Think of it like a diamond ring that is not made exclusively of diamonds but still contains diamonds as its central feature, the rest of the ring being made of gold or silver or some other metal that supports and showcases the diamonds and enables the ring to be worn. We don’t call it a “diamond and gold ring” or a “diamond and silver ring”, just simply a diamond ring. In the same way, we don’t call it the “Holy and Holy-adjacent Bible” but simply the Holy Bible, understanding that the holiness is set within and shines among the supportive (though not in themselves holy) words.

So yes, my fellow bornagain believers, the Bible is holy. Not every word in it but enough to justify the exalted title. I do not deify the Bible or worship it as a holy relic to be held aloft and paraded in processions (as some denominations do), but I do love and unquestioningly believe in those parts that come directly from God. When I hug and kiss my poor tattered Bibles, it’s the holiness of God’s thoughts and words that I’m embracing, a holiness that has its source in God and is as close as I’ll get to hugging and kissing God—my Heavenly Father!— until I get Home.