If there is One God, and not many, how do we know that He has and does communicate with us through the Bible?  What evidence is there that the Bible is more trustworthy than other religious writings, such as the Qu’ran or Book of Mormon? 

My Objective with this Post

My object with this post is to unfold that the Bible is a collection of historical documents written by many people in different countries with profound unity and that the fulfillment of prophecy, the confirmation of miracles, and its transformative affect in the lives of people point to the Bible’s divine origin. 

With this, I would like for us to consider — practical reasons and — Biblical reasons why I believe what the Bible says.     

Natural Reasons (Remember this when discussing this with someone else; that if they do not believe in God, in One God, and do not adhere to the Bible as authoritative, then you cannot use the Bible to reason with them why you believe something is true, especially about the Bible itself). 

Manuscript Evidence

The following table – which I believe comes from Josh McDowell’s Evidence that Demands a Verdict – is a collection of multiple historical books, the time they were written, the earliest available manuscript, the time difference between the time written and the earliest manuscript, and how many copies are intact today

Author	Written	Earliest Copy	Time Span	Number of Copies
Caesar	100-44 B.C.	A.D. 900	1,000 Years	10
Tacitus	A.D. 100	A.D. 110	1,000 Years	20
Aristotle	384-322 B.C.	A.D. 110	1,400 Years	49
Homer (Iliad)	900 B.C.	400 B.C.	500 Years	643
New Testament	A.D. 50-100	A.D. 125	25 Years	24,000

As you can see, not only do the number of copies of the New Testament far exceed the others, so too does the time span of the earliest copies from the originals.   

In addition to the number of copies of New Testament transcripts exist, there are in existence writings from many ancient authors who quoted extensively from the Bible.   In fact, this collection of ancient sermons, letters, and other writings include so many New Testament citations that even if we were to lose every copy we have of the Bible – including all those ancient manuscripts – scholars could reconstruct the entire New Testament with the exception of eleven verses!   

In a general gist, for us to discredit the historicity of the Bible is to discredit the historocity of history itself.  For me, I learned that we do not have the ability to casually disregard the Bible as an old, antiquated book, for to do so would require us to disregard all other books written as the same.

What’s your thoughts?  I would love to hear how you would answer the following questions:

In view of the above table, what is your reaction to the number of New Testament manuscripts in comparison with the number of other works of ancient history? 

What do you think is the value of having all these citations from the New Testament in nonbiblical sources?

What is the collective effect for you of all this evidence for the reliability of the Bible?

Unity of the Bible

The Bible is not just one book – it is a collection of 66 individual books.  This is not significant in and of itself, but when we take into the consideration the unity present throughout the entirety of these individual books it is.  Here are some thoughts to consider about the Bible:

1. It was written over a period of fourteen hundred years
2. It was written over a span of forty generations
3. It was written by over forty authors from all walks of life (kings, peasants, philosophers, poets, fisherman, scholars, doctors, businessmen, etc…)
4. It was written on three continents (Asia, Africa, and Europe), in many different places (dungeons, palaces, while traveling, the wilderness, etc…)
5. It was written during a variety of moods (sorrow, joy, anger, excitement, tranquility)
6.  It was written in three languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek)

It is for this reason that Norman Geisler contends, “One supporting line of evidence for the Bible’s divine origin is its unity in great diversity.  Even though composed by many people of diverse backgrounds over many years, Scripture speaks from one mind” (Baker Encyclopedia of Apologetics, pg. 94). 

He goes on to say,  

[The] sixty-six books unfold one continuous drama of redemption, paradise lost to paradise regained, creation to the consummation of all things.  There is one central theme, the person of Jesus Christ, even by implication in the Old Testament (Luke 24.27).  In the Old Testament Christ is anticipated; in the New Testament he is realized (Matt. 5.17-18).  There is one message: Humankind’s problem is sin, and the solution is salvation through Christ (Mark 10.45; Luke 19.10) (pg. 94).

In light of the great diversity present in the life and times of each author, the unity of the Biblical text cannot be glazed over.  This unity serves as a validation to the Bible’s inspiration by the One True and Living God.  For there is no other explanation that can practically explain how such a unity can be present within such a great diversity. 

So, in light of the Bible’s great diversity, do you see that the unity of the Bible’s message is amazing?  Why or why not?  

Archaeological Confirmation

Even though archaeology cannot prove the divine origin of the Bible, it can confirm its reliability as a historic document.  Let’s consider just two different points from many:

There is a vast collection of non-Christian sources that confirm the reliability of the Bible as a historic document, especially the life of Jesus and the events following His death and resuurection (see Joshua McDowell for a complete source).  From these these non-Christian sources we learn that:

1. Jesus was from Nazareth,
2. He lived a wise and virtuous life
3. He was crucified in Palestine under Pontius Pilate during the reign of Terius Caesar at Passover time, being considered the Jewish King
4. He was believed by his disciples to have been raised from the dead three days later,
5. His enemies acknowledged that he performed unusual feats they called “sorcery”
6. His small band of disciples multiplied rapidly, spreading even as far as Rome
7. His disciples denied polytheism, lived moral lives, and worshiped Christ as divine

Even though these documents are not primary sources, they do confirm the reliability of the New Testament message

Moreover, since 1974 seventeen thousand tablets have been unearthed from ancient Ebla (now northern Syria).  These writings corroborate the world of the patriarchs (around 2,000 B.C.).  In his book Evidence that Demands a Verdict, Josh McDowell states, “The victory of Abraham over Chedolamoer and the Mesopotamian kings has been described as fictitious and the five Cities of the Plain (Sodom, Gomorrah, Adamah, Zeboiim, and Zoar) as legendary.  Yet the Ebla archives refer to all five Cities of the Plain and on one tablet the cities are listed in the exact same sequence as Genesis 14.  The milieu of the tablets reflect the culture of the patriarchal period and depict that, before the catastrophe recorded in Genesis 14, the area was a flourishing region experiencing prosperity and success, as recorded in Genesis.” 

In 1961 a tablet was found during a renovation of the amphitheater in Caesarea (on the Mediterranean Sea).  This tablet had the name Pontius Pilate inscribed on it.  Until that time, the name Pilate was found only in the New Testament and in a few other secular historical sources.  The find is just one more validation that the people and events of the bible are real (from Judson Poling, How Reliable is the Bible?)

The archaeological evidence for the Bible is best summed up by Nelson Glueck, who said“no archaeological discovery has ever contradicted a biblical reference.  Scores of archaeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or exact detail historical statements in the Bible” (Nelson Glueck, Rivers in the Desert, 31).

In light of these archaeological discoveries, what impact do they have on your trust in the Bible? 

Fulfilled Prophecies

Unlike any other book, the Bible offers specific predictions that were written hundreds of years in advance of their literal fulfillment.

Jesus’ birthplace in Bethlehem (Micah 5.2), his Galilean heritage (Isaiah 9.1-7), and the peculiar circumstances surrounding his burial (Isaiah 53.9) are among many of the prophecies that foretell his coming.  According to Peter Stoner in Science Speaks, the probabilities that any one person fulfilled merely eight of the numerous prophecies prediction the Messiah are 1 in 10 to the 17^th power (100,000,000,000,000,000). 

Other than supernatural involvement, what do you think could explain Jesus’ fulfillment of messianic prophecies?

Confirmed by miracles

The biblical description of miracles uses three main words: power, wonder, and sign.  These words designate the source (God’s power), the nature (wonderful, unusual), and the purpose (to signify something beyond itself).   A miracle is a sign to confirm a sermon; a wonder to verify the prophet’s words; a miracle to help establish a message (Geisler, 488; also see Hebrews 2.3-4). 

Does the historical validity of the Bible further validate the importance of the miraculous events that took place throughout it? 

Transforming Power

Finally, the divine origin of the Bible is confirmed by the transformative effects that it has in people’s lives

One of the strongest pieces of evidence supporting the authenticity of the Bible is the manner in which it impacts the lives of people (Voddie Baucham, Ever Loving Truth, pg. 147)

Change in our lives – as well as in the lives of others – is made possible not through our self-effort, manipulation, or physical force, but rather by God working through His Word.

Just a couple of examples: Romans 10.17 and 2 Thessalonians 2.13-14

Scriptural Reasons

With this preceding evidence in mind, I believe there is only one conclusion that can be made about the Bible - which is what the Bible claims for itself – that it possesses a divine origin and its claims to be the “vox Dei” (voice of God) or the “verbum Dei” ( Word of God) are authentic.  What does the Bible say about itself? 

First, we read that God is the ultimate source of Scripture.  In other words, He is the originator of all that is written (2 Samuel 23.2; Matthew 15.6; Romans 3.2; 2 Timothy 3.16-17; 1 Peter 1.23; and 2 Peter 1.20-21).  We see this best clarified in 2 Peter 1.20-21.

Second, God oversaw the writing of the Bible.  God the Holy Spirit guided the human authors so that their words would be nothing less than the word of God.  How this works, we do not know.   But inspiration DOES NOT mean that God dictated his messages to those who wrote the Bible.  Read 2 Peter 1.20-21 (God supernaturally oversaw the process by which each human wrote, using their own vocabulary and style to record his message)

Since this is the case, this is why the preceding evidence serves as proof that He did.   If One God inspired and oversaw the production of the Bible, what are some things you believe we should look for as proof that He did? 

Conclusion

The Bible is a collection of historical documents written by many people in different countries with profound unity.  The fulfillment of prophecy, the confirmation of miracles, and the Bible’s transformative affect on people point to the Bible’s divine origin.

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