Got Questions – Reliability of the Bible
Asking questions is important and often the starting point for discovering truth. I’m currently sharing a sermon series at my church called “Got Questions.” I’m dealing with some tough questions people ask and what the Bible has to say about these various issues. During the sermon, attenders can text in additional questions on the topic, and I try to answer a few of these questions at the end of the sermon. Today, I’m addressing a general question I didn’t fully answer in the sermon: How do you know everything in the Bible is true?
Understanding the history of how we got our Bible is a good place to start. Some people think the Bible we have today was first written in Hebrew (OT) and Greek (NT) and then translated into Latin which was eventually translated into German. Then, they think someone took the German translation and put it into Old English, which eventually made its way into modern English. That’s not how it happened. The Bible you have was translated from the oldest and best Hebrew and Greek manuscripts that were not very far removed from the original writings.
By the second century (AD), the church had accepted the Old Testament and all but four books of the New Testament as the inspired Word of God. This is important because many people in our secular society want to say that a group of men sat around in the fourth and fifth centuries deciding what was the Bible. It is true that the Council of Nicea met in 325 AD to confirm what the churches had already concluded years earlier. Note that the Bible claims to be the Word of God, and the early church leaders agreed with these claims, some of whom were discipled or mentored by the Apostles or someone close to the Apostles. Irenaeus, for example, was a church leader in about 180 AD, and he confirmed the four gospels as being authentic and inspired. Irenaeus was mentored by Polycarp, who was discipled by the Apostle John. This leads one to believe that Polycarp passed this fact along to his young disciple, and Polycarp received his information from the Apostle John.
But still, you may ask, how do we know the early church leaders were right?
There is some element of faith (Heb 11:6 – “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”), but consider these thoughts:
- The Bible claims to be the Word of God (Psa 19:7-11, 2 Tim 3:16-17, Mark 7:13, etc.).
- History confirms the biblical accounts as accurate, even though many skeptics through the years tried to disprove the Bible, only to have archeology prove these skeptics wrong.
- The literary evidence is profound. No one doubts Julius Ceasar was a real historical figure, but we only have a few ancient copies of manuscripts (not the originals) that confirm his existence. We have over 24,000 copies of the New Testament, and many of these copies are within fifty years of the dates they were written. The manuscripts about Julius Casear are around 1000 years older than their originals.
- The biggest piece of evidence that can’t be denied, at least by those who are intellectually honest, is the evidence of prophecy. There are over 300 prophecies about Jesus’s first coming that were given hundreds of years before His birth. If one of those prophecies had been wrong, the whole Bible would be suspect. All of the prophecies came to pass, just like the Bible said they would. The probability of this happening by coincidence or by manipulation is nil. It’s like God provided a litmus test to the authenticity and believability of the Bible over and over again.
In the end, you have to decide whether you believe the Bible or not. Satan would love to cause you to doubt and choose a different path, one that leads to eternal destruction. God invites you to embrace His truth and know Him as your Savior, Redeemer, Creator, and Friend. The choice is yours, but if you choose the Bible, you’re standing on solid evidence of science, history, logic, prophecy, literature, and thousands of years of testimonies of changed lives.
I’d love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to share them in the coments.
