Can The Bible Be Completely Trusted?

How do we know what we read in the Bible is trustworthy? Can you and I trust it?

Who Wrote the Bible?

If you look at who actually wrote the Bible, think of it this way. Are my keyboard and computer really doing the writing of this article or is it me? I am the inspiration behind this article. I don’t have the author listed as HP but myself so in the same way God used 40 authors writing over a span of 1,500 years or more recording 66 books but the inspiration if from God. As 2nd Timothy 3:16 says “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” and the key word is “all” as in all Scripture and it is “breathed out” (literally “expiration”) by God and not by man.

Who was the Actual Author?

Peter writes “that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2nd Pet 1:20-21). Peter puts it this way; “no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man” but “were carried along by the Holy Spirit” so God the Holy Spirit is the True Author of the Bible and not man. It would be like the idea of the Holy Spirit moving His fingers on the keyboard because in and of itself, the keyboard and computer can do nothing. The Greek word used for prophecy is “prophēteia” and means “a discourse emanating from divine inspiration and declaring the purposes of God” or “teaching” so it is not strictly talking about predicting future events. It can be but it isn’t always used in that context. David put it this way “The Spirit of the LORD spoke through me; his word was on my tongue” (2 Sam 23:2).

Mountains of Manuscripts

No other book in the history of ancient antiquity has the voluminous amount of manuscript evidence that supports what is written in the Bible. There are over 25,000 New Testament manuscripts of which 5,000 of these date from the first century and this translates into what historians call primary sources. For example, Matthew’s Gospel goes as far back as A.D. 60 while Mark’s Gospel is within 20 years of the events that took place. The Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts was originally one book but was later separated into two books for the reader’s convenience but the content never changed. The fact that they were written within the lifetimes of those who were eyewitnesses is evidence strong enough to hold up in a court of law.

Old Testament Evidence

In 1947 a young Bedouin goat’s herdsman was throwing rocks into nearby caves near Qumran which is near the Valley of the Dead Sea. He was simply bored and wanted something to do. On one occasion he threw a rock into a cave and heard a “crash” of something breaking so he went up to investigate and discovered what had made the sound; a clay jar. That is when he found dozens and dozens of other clay jars hidden in the cave. Inside these clay jars were leather scrolls and in this cave and other nearby caves, they found about 40,000 fragments of the Old Testament from as many as 870 separate scrolls in 11 different caves, all between 1947 and 1956. When they performed carbon-14 dating on them, which is a highly reliable dating method for organic material, they found out through the carbon-14 dating methods and also a textual analysis and handwriting analysis that these scrolls were written in the period 250 BC to 68 AD.

Total Manuscript Evidence

There is no shortage of New Testament manuscripts which have been preserved by the thousands and today there are about 6,000 complete or fragmented Greek manuscripts, 10,000 Latin manuscripts and over 9,000 manuscripts in various other ancient languages and all in agreement with one another textually. As I wrote earlier, this gives us over 25,000 New Testament manuscripts of which about 5,000 date from the first century. If taken together, the Old Testament and the New Testament is unlike any other ancient work in human history because there is such an enormous amount of manuscripts that have been documented and recorded as historical events. I say that because these events continue to have archeological finds that match what is recorded in the Bible.

Eyewitness Testimony

I have been called to jury duty several times and if you’ve ever been in a criminal court case, you know just how valuable eye witnesses are because they are seen as a primary source which is why their testimony is admissible as court evidence and extends beyond the statute of limitations in many circumstances. In the same way, thousands upon thousands of witnesses knew Jesus by sight, saw Him, and testified that He was the Messiah and the son of David, by lineage (Luke 1:1-…, 18:35-43). These people, even some who were opposed to Him, declared that Jesus told the truth and was from God (Luke 20:20-26, 19:28-40, 20:20-26; John 3) and there were more than 500 people that saw Him after His crucifixion (I Cor. 15:4-8, 9:1). Here are your choices; this is the greatest scam in history, hundreds of people were all hallucinating at the same time, or it actually occurred.

Conclusion

If you are wrong and don’t believe in Jesus and the Bible, then you have nothing to worry about, but if it’s true, and I am thoroughly convinced that it is, then you have every reason to worry because you’re eternity is at stake (Rev 20:12-15). What you believe doesn’t change what is true. Jesus said “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). He is not a way or a truth or a life but the one and only way to eternal life (Acts 4:12) and if you don’t believe in Him, then you’ve got nothing to look ahead to except the wrath of God (John 3:18; 36b). I trust the Bible…I trust it for my eternal destiny.

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Blind Chance or Intelligent Design available on Amazon.