Can We Really Trust The Bible?
We have good reason to
The Bible
No other book has been so debated, discussed, and dissected.
In reality, the Bible isn’t a single book but a library of sixty-six books that were written by over forty authors. Each “book” in the Bible has been recognized as divine revelation and was gathered together as part of a standard (canon) by the early Christian community towards the end of the second century.
It was only when heretical movements fomented around the church and challenged the implicit truths accepted by its leaders that formulating a collection of writings that were believed to be reliable, was deemed absolutely necessary. The process resulted in what we have come to know today as the Bible.
The Old Testament canon was actually defined by the Council of Jamnia as far back as 90 AD as a response to the rise of Christianity. The New Testament would be affirmed by the Council of Carthage in 397 AD.
Why the books we have in the Bible and not others? Why were writings in the Apocrypha or Gnostic gospels not included?
Simply, for Christians, it all revolved around Jesus. The earliest followers of Christ were mostly Jewish converts who continued to accept the Old Testament because their Lord certainly did. Whenever Jesus made reference to the scriptures, it was the Old Testament He cited.
What makes the Bible so amazing is that there is a single story pulsating through its pages, from Genesis to Revelation. The Story is that despite our rejection of Him, God is calling us back into a relationship with Himself. The pinnacle of His effort is revealed in the Incarnation of this very God in the person of His Son: Jesus of Nazareth.
Its revelation and inspiration
The word “revelation” comes from the Latin revelatio — meaning “to draw back.” Picture a theatre and the curtains being drawn back, revealing the show or story. As such, the Bible is God’s Word presented and extended to us, informing us of the deepest of truths and His redemptive purposes, being played out on the stage of human history.
God is the inspiration behind what He’s revealed in His Word!
When the apostle Paul described inspiration, he wrote:
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. (2 Timothy 3:16, NIV)
This means that the writing (or what’s been revealed) in the Bible is from God Himself. God used people to write the books in the Bible, but He was so involved in the process that they wrote what He wanted as they were led along by the Holy Spirit. This is why the authors of the Bible contend that their writings contain God’s revelation and truth about Himself, which could not otherwise be known.
The apostle Peter put it like this:
The main thing to keep in mind here is that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of private opinion. And why? Because it’s not something concocted in the human heart. Prophecy resulted when the Holy Spirit prompted men and women to speak God’s Word. (2 Peter 1:20–21, The Message)
Its accuracy
If the Bible has been copied over a thousand times throughout the centuries, how can we know that what we have today, in terms of the biblical scriptures, is true to the original writings? There are over five thousand manuscripts of the Greek New Testament alone, which actually helps to assure the accuracy of the various biblical translations today; the reason being that the manuscripts have virtually been unchanged over the centuries, at a 99.5% rate of accuracy.
There is also a 25–50-year time lapse between the original manuscripts of the New Testament and when copies were first made of it; once again indicating a better rate of accuracy on account of the copies being compared to the originals that were still floating around.
When it comes to the original writings of the Old Testament, their authenticity was greatly supported by the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, which contained manuscripts a thousand years older than any other previous Hebrew manuscripts, and which represented almost all the books in the Old Testament.
As for the historicity and biblical witness of Christ and its accuracy, extrabiblical works that more or less corroborate the testimony found in the Bible, were documented by the likes of Thallus, Pliny, Tacitus, as well as the Jewish historian, Josephus.
Some people say that the gospels contain contradictions in their witness of Jesus of Nazareth, and offer such “proof” as a reason for casting doubt on their integrity and reliability. A lawyer might tell us that one of the tests of a reliable set of witnesses is that they do not present the same set of exact details. If four witnesses were to recount one event or several events the same way, it might seem to the jury that they coordinated their stories so as to make them appear more trustworthy.
The writers of the gospels, however, simply wrote about their individual perspectives and experiences of Jesus and conveyed that to the specific audience they were writing to. Unwittingly, each of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John ended up communicating a facet of their Lord’s ministry and Divine Personhood that was different from the other three. This is why certain accounts of Jesus are described differently by each gospel writer. Therefore, there are no contradictions or conflicts concerning their testimony of Christ’s ministry in the gospels, only variations in terms of how they observed Him.
So, is the Bible reliable? Can we really trust what it says and teaches?
Although this was certainly not an exhaustive apology for its integrity and historical accuracy, I think I’ve answered the question all the same. You may have reached another conclusion.
Granted, there is spiritual value to be gleaned from the sacred texts from various world religions that find some compatibility with the wisdom found in the biblical scriptures. Yet there is NO book quite like the Bible, which is my standard of truth and what I believe to be the infallible and absolute Word of God. My life has been changed by it. Perhaps yours has as well or will be.
