Can The Bible Be Trusted?

How can we know for certain that we can trust the Bible? 

It has been said that trying to defend God is like trying to defend a lion: He doesn’t need our help.  However, we should understand the facts behind what we believe in and have confidence that the Bible can absolutely be trusted. Christianity is not a blind faith.  It is the only religion that can prove itself, and the most important source of that proof is the Bible.  We can use the information below to defend our faith.  We can also use it to help us explain the truth to others, in hope that they will accept it as truth and in doing so have their souls saved.  When people are presented with the facts of the Bible and then choose not to believe, it is ultimately a problem with their heart, not their mind.  Hearing the evidence of the Bible and then turning away from it can only mean that the person’s pride, guilt, or unwillingness to change causes a hardening of his/her heart.  This makes it impossible for the message of Jesus to enter someone’s heart and prevents the Holy Spirit from working in them.  If someone honestly evaluates the evidence, they can only come to one conclusion: that Jesus was God’s Son, sent to Earth to save us from our sins and re-establish our relationship with God.  It is also absolutely impossible for Jesus to have fulfilled the over 300 prophecies that He did, unless He really was the Messiah and the Son of God.  I am writing this in hopes that this will aid our understanding of where our Bible comes from, why we can trust that it is the Word of God, and that it is an accurate representation of the original writings.  

How do we know that what was originally written was accurate? 

We can look at the time-span between when the events described in the Bible happened and when the original manuscripts were written.  We have partial New Testament copies that were written just 50 years after Christ was alive, and complete copies of the New Testament that were written 225 years after Christ.  If we compare that to other classic historical books, most were written 500-1,000 years after the events took place.  The longer the time-span, the higher the probability that mistakes were made in describing events, or that details were forgotten.  Also, most of the books of the New Testament were written as eye-witness accounts from people that were with Jesus and actually saw the miracles and healings He performed.  For example, John explains in John 19:35 – “The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true.  He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe.”  Peter also proclaims that his testimony is first-hand and true: “We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.  For He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to Him from the Majestic Glory, saying, ‘This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.’ We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with Him on the sacred mountain.” (1 Peter 1:16-18).

Is the Bible that we are reading today the same as the original writings? 

In trying to answer this question, we can look at the number of manuscripts that have been found.  There are approximately 24,000 copies of the New Testament that have been discovered.  Let’s compare this to other books written around the time of the Bible.  The book with the second most number of copies available is Homer’s Iliad, with only 643 copies.   The typical number of existing manuscript copies for any of the works of famous Greek and Latin authors, such as Plato, Aristotle, Caesar, or Tacitus, ranges from 1 to 20.  Of the approximately 24,000 hand-written copies of the New Testament that are available, they are so similar that there are only 400 words that are in question.  None of these words affect the meaning of the passages in question, and none of them alter the foundations of Christian doctrine.  We can also examine the Dead Sea Scrolls.  These were discovered in 1947, and are an example of Old Testament evidence.  These documents came from the “library” of a settlement that was founded at Qumran before 150 B.C. and abandoned about 68 A.D.  Some of the manuscript copies were made during that period, and some were written earlier (as early as the third century BC) and brought to the settlement.  The Dead Sea Scrolls match the Hebrew text behind today’s Old Testament with 95% accuracy.  The differences are mainly obvious slips of the pen and variations in spelling.  This stunning accuracy is in spite of the passage of over 2,000 years….amazing! 

Who decided which books would go into the Bible, and which would be left out?

Perhaps you could say that God did by inspiring the authors of the 66 books of the Bible to write what they did, and also by preserving their works so completely over such a vast time frame. There are other books that were written in the 1500-2000 year time span that the Bible was written, but if the books were not accepted by God’s people as being written by a prophet or telling the absolute truth about God, then the book was not included in the Bible.  In the 4th century, the church officially recognized which books would be in the Bible, through experience and mutual agreement.  But, in the 3 centuries before that, these books were widely accepted and trusted by the early Christians.  

How do we know that the Bible is inspired by God?

Many of the Biblical authors say that they were inspired by God.  “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God…”(2 Timothy 3:16).  The term “God said” is written over 3800 times in the Bible.  The Bible has a unique structure compared to other books.  Although it is a collection of 66 books, written by 40 or more different men over a period of 1500-2000 years, it is clearly one Book, with perfect unity and consistency throughout.  When each person was writing his individual book(s), he had no idea that his message was eventually going to be incorporated into such a Book, but each book fits perfectly into place and serves its own unique purpose as a component of the whole.  Anyone who diligently studies the Bible will continually find remarkable structural and mathematical patterns throughout, with an intricate connection between all of the books that cannot be explained by chance or collusion.  The one consistent theme of the Bible, developing from Genesis to Revelation, is God’s great work in the creation and redemption of all things, through His only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

What about any archaeological evidence that the events in the Bible are true?

The Bible’s descriptions of places, people, and civilizations have been verified in many instances by archaeology.  Cities like Jerusalem, Jericho, and Nineveh are well known and well studied.  People like the Hebrews, Philistines, and Egyptians really existed.  The Hittites were actually thought to be a mythical people in the Bible until archaeologists uncovered their artifacts in the second half of the nineteenth century.  The historic existence of Jesus Christ and other people from the New Testament is well-established by early Roman, Greek, and Jewish sources.  These extra-Biblical writings affirm the major details of what is written about the Lord in the New Testament.  The first-century Roman-Jewish historian Flavius Josephus made specific references to John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, and James in his book “The Antiquities of the Jews.”  In this work, Josephus also gives us many background details about the Herods, the Sadducees and Pharisees, the high priests like Annas and Caiaphas, and the Roman emperors mentioned in the gospels and Acts.  One example, in “The Antiquities of the Jews,” book 18, chapter 3, he writes: “Now, there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works—a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure.  He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles.  He was [the] Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.”  In addition, many examples of coinage mentioned in the Bible have been found, including the ancient shekel. Museums around the world are full of ancient artifacts from these times.

Is there any scientific evidence in the Bible?

Another striking evidence of divine inspiration is found in the fact that many of the principles of modern science were recorded as facts of nature in the Bible long before scientists confirmed them experimentally.  One example of this is the fact that the Earth is round.  Isaiah 40:22 states “God sits above the circle of the earth. The people below seem like grasshoppers to Him! He spreads out the heavens like a curtain and makes His tent from them.”  The book of Isaiah was written between 740 and 687 BC.  The first known speculation about the round shape of the Earth was approximately 300 years later, around 354 BC.  The Greek philosopher Aristotle argued in his writings that the Earth was spherical, because of the circular shadow it cast on the Moon during a lunar eclipse.  However, it was not generally accepted as a fact until the 1800s.  Another example is from Job 26:7 – “He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the Earth over nothing.”  The book of Job was written approximately 2000-1800 BC.  During this time period there was no possible way that any person on Earth would have been able to know how the Earth was positioned in space.   Ancient Greeks believed that Atlas held the Earth on his shoulders.  The first telescopes were not invented until the 17th century.  The first orbital pictures of Earth were taken in 1946.  The only reasonable explanation for how this information got into the Bible during this time is this: God created the heavens and the earth and then inspired the author of the book of Job to write this passage.  There are numerous other examples of the Bible describing various scientific facts and laws.  It is also significant to note that no real mistake has ever been demonstrated in the Bible—in science, in history, or in any other subject.

Why is the Bible called a “Living Book?”

One final evidence that the Bible is true is found in the testimony of those who have believed it. Multitudes of people, past and present, have found from personal experience that its promises are true, its counsel is sound, its commands and restrictions are wise, and its wonderful message of salvation fills a void in their souls.  The truths found in the Bible when applied to your life, can change behaviors, attitudes, lives and ultimately the world.  The book of Hebrews describes this feature of the Bible:  “For the word of God is alive and active.  Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).  The Bible is unique also in terms of its vast effect on individual men and on the history of nations.  It is beloved by at least some in every race/nation/tribe to which it has gone.  It appeals to the rich and poor, scholars and uneducated, kings or commoners, men and women of literally every background and walk of life.  It is the best selling book of all-time.  It appeals both to hearts and minds.  No other book has ever held such universal appeal nor produced such lasting effects.

For further study, consider: “How Accurate Is The Bible?” by Kenneth Boa, C.S. Lewis Institute. www.cslewisinstitute.org