Is The Bible Reliable

I. Introduction

A. 1 Corinthians 2:6-13

B. How can we confidently assert that the Bible is the word of God?

C. By examining the external (that is outside of the Bible) and internal (evidence from within the Bible) we can see that the facts weigh heavily towards the message of the Bible being the inspired word of God.

D. Each of us must act as an examiner of the facts and then as a judge as to whether we believe the evidence supports this proposition.

II. Accuracy of the Documents

A. The first question we are faced with concerning the reliability of the Bible is the accuracy of the documents.

B. Since the last book was written by 100 A.D., 1,900 years ago, and since none of the original manuscripts exist, how can we be sure that the documents we have are reliable?

C. Since we do not have the original manuscripts, or autographs as they are called, we must reconstruct them from the copies of those documents by those who wished to preserve the message.

D. Even the works of the Greek philosophers and Caesars must be reconstructed from copies since the originals do not exist.

E. There are roughly 150,000 variant readings of the New Testament alone.

F. According to scholars such as Ezra Abbot of the American Revision committee, ” Of the one hundred and fifty thousand various readings, more or less, of the text of the Greek New Testament, we may dismiss 19/20th from consideration at once, as being obviously of such character, or supported by so little authority, that no critic would regard them as having any claim to reception. Geisler and Nix noted that if one single word is misspelled in 3,000 different manuscripts, this is counted as 3,000 variants or readings. Mathematically [the text] is 98.33% pure. Philip Schaff in Comparison to the Greek Testament and the English Version concluded that only 400 of the 150,000 caused doubt about the textual meaning and only 50 of these were of great significance. Not one of the variations Schaff says altered ” an article of faith or a precept of duty which is not abundantly sustained by other undoubted passages, or by the whole tenor of Scripture teaching.”

G. The text of the New Testament is almost entirely quoted by early writers of the church.

H. Frederick Kenyon, noted New Testament Textual Scholar and former director and principal librarian of the British Museum states, ” It cannot be too strongly asserted that in substance the text of the Bible is certain: Especially is this the case with the New Testament. The number of manuscripts of the New Testament, of early translations, and of quotations from it in the oldest writers of the church, is so large that it is practically certain that the true reading of every doubtful passage is preserved in some one or other of these ancient authorities. This can be said of no other ancient book in the world.” Sir David Dabrymple, a member of a British literary society, was wondering about the preponderance of Scripture in early writing when someone asked him, ” Suppose that the New Testament had been destroyed, and every copy of it lost by the end of the third century, could it have been collected together again from the writings of the fathers of the second and third centuries?” After two months the person saw him again. Sir David Dabrymple said, ” Look at those books. You remember the question about the New Testament and the fathers? I commenced to search, and up to this time I have found the entire New Testament, except eleven verses.” Early church writers, with names such as Irenaeus (AD 170), Ignatius (AD 70-110), Polycarp (AD 70-156), cited the New Testament over 36,000 times! These were all before the council of Nicea in 325 AD and did not include all of the writers.

I. The vast number of New Testament manuscripts”, according to J. Harold Greenlee, ” is overwhelmingly greater than those of any other work of ancient literature. The earliest extant manuscripts of the New Testament were written much closer to the date of the original writing than is the case in almost any other piece of literature.”

J. John Ryland MSS (130 AD): A portion of John’s gospel Chester Beatty Papyri (200 AD): Contains major portions of the New Testament Bodmer Papyrus II (150-200 AD): Contains most of John Codex Sinaiticus (350 AD): Contains almost all of the New Testament Codex Vaticanus (325-350 AD): Nearly all of the Bible Codex Alexandrines (400 AD): Almost the entire Bible Codex Ephraemi (400’s AD): Almost all of the Bible Codex Washingtonensis (450-500 AD): The four gospels Codex Claromontanus (500’s): The epistles of Paul

K. Much of the accuracy of transcription can be attributed to the discipline of the Talmudists and the Massorites who copied these precious documents.

L. The Talmudists (AD 100-500)

M. They had strict regulations on writing materials, the assembling of the documents, the length and width of each column, etc. Other strict codes included, ” An authentic copy must be the exemplar, from which the transcriptionist ought not in the least deviate. No word or letter, not even a yod, must be written from memory, the scribe not having looked at the codex before him. The copyist must sit in full Jewish dress, wash his whole body, not begin to write the name of God with a pen newly dipped in ink, and should a king address him while writing that name he must take no notice of him.” One reason we do not have the original documents is that the copyists took such great care copying and were verified by examiners that the originals were placed in a credenza with old scrolls which were not referenced any more or most often buried in the ground, lest any damage or defacement should cause any wrong transcription in the future.

N. The Massorites (AD 500-900) were well disciplined and treated the text with the greatest imaginable reverence.

O. They devised a complicated system of safeguards against scribal slips. They used devices such as counting every letter in a book and locating the middle letter; counting every word and locating the middle word; listing the number of times a word or phrase was used in the Bible.

P. Later manuscripts when compared to the oldest manuscripts shows an extremely high accuracy rating.

Q. The famous Isaiah Scroll dated at 125 B.C., the oldest scroll of the book of Isaiah, was compared to the Massoretic text of Isaiah from 916 AD, 1000 years later. ” Of the 166 words of Isaiah 53, there are only 17 letters in question. 10 of these letters are simply a matter of spelling, which does not affect the sense. 4 more letters are merely stylistic changes, such as conjunctions. The remaining 3 letters comprise the word light in verse 11 and does not affect the meaning greatly. Furthermore, this word is supported by the LXX. Thus, in one chapter there is only one word (three letters) in question after a thousand years of transmission-and this word does not significantly change the meaning of the passage.” The Septuagint, abbreviated LXX, a translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into the Greek made around 250 B.C. is very close to the Massoretic Text (AD 916) yet there is 1300 years of transmission between them. The Samaritan text of the fifth century B.C. has insignificant areas of disagreement with the Massoretic text in comparison with the areas of agreement. This spans a period of almost 1500 years of transmission.

III. Archaeological Support

A. The Bible has met centuries of attack by historians and archaeologists only to be validated by later findings.

B. Time and experience should teach us that when the Bible and ” available knowledge” conflict one should wait until all of the evidence is found.

C. Examples

D. The Hittites were once a people found only in the scripture, yet the abundance of discoveries has established their existence without a doubt. In fact more evidence of the Hittites exist than for many other nations. It was thought that there was no census and that Quirinius was not governor when Jesus was born but recent finds have removed all doubt about both. Luke used titles such as praetor, Gallic as proconsul, Publius as the first man of the island, and the politarchs of Thessalonica were assumed wrong until recent discoveries proved that Luke was mechanically correct in his usage of these titles. Characters mentioned in the Bible such as Lysanias the Tetrarch of Abilene (Luke 3:1) and Erastus the treasurer of Corinth (Romans 16:23) have been identified although their existence was once questioned.

E. The Bible has faced much criticism from the ” scholarly” and ” experts” for many centuries, yet it always prevails.

F. The theories of men come and go but the word of God remains. Why are we so eager to believe the ” scholars” when something in the Bible is said to be in question? Burrows states it best, ” The excessive skepticism of many liberal theologians stems not from a careful evaluation of the available data, but from the enormous predisposition against the supernatural.” Its endurance amid attempts to destroy it; its textual accuracy preserved through the centuries; and is relevance to all men of all nations, tongues, races and times is a testimony to the supernatural intervention and inspiration of the Holy Scriptures.

IV. The Uniqueness Of The Bible

A. The brevity of the record, considering the great subject, shows divine work.

B. The life of Jesus

C. Only three years and a few childhood events told. John 2:25 – Much more could be told History of the church - 30 years of history in a small epistle

D. Incidents of the Bible

E. Life of Jesus About 30 separate days recorded Short accounts of great events: Jesus’ baptism and resurrection Brief information about the crucifixion Persecution of the church by Saul: Four verses This stands in contrast to historians who have written volumes on the persecution, the early church, martyrdom and more

F. The Bible is impartial. It shows the weaknesses of its heroes.

G. The high moral law is unlike any of man’s devising

H. These things do not prove inspiration but are worth serious consideration

V. Scientific Foreknowledge

A. A Round Earth: Isaiah 40:22; Proverbs 8:27 - contrasted with the ” scholars” flat earth.

B. Earth hung upon nothing: Job 26:7 - contrasted with the world on Atlas’ shoulders.

C. Waters in one bed: Genesis 1:9-10

D. Circulatory system/Blood contains life: Leviticus 17:11,14)

E. All races come from one blood: Acts 17:26

F. Difference in flesh: 1 Corinthians 15:39 - contrasted to continuity scientists

G. Paths of the Sea: Psalm 8:8 - Charted by Matthew Fontaine Maury when he heard this verse read.

VI. Prophesy

A. Daniel 2,7: Foreknowledge of nations

B. Isaiah 13:19-22 - Eternal destruction of Babylon

C. Joshua 6:26 – Jericho will not be rebuilt

D. Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22 - Predictions of Christ’s crucifixion

E. Numerous prophesies of Jesus, the Messiah, especially in Isaiah. Remember the Isaiah scroll is dated to 100-125 BC. These prophesies were in a document that existed about 96-121 years before Jesus’ birth

F. Many more could be chosen

VII. Conclusion

A. There is overwhelming evidence supporting the Bible’s claim to be God’s word given to men.

B. Accurate documents after thousands of years of transmission Vast number of documents many dated near the first century Archaeological support Uniqueness of the Bible Scientific foreknowledge Accurate prophecies

C. Will you obey it?

VIII. Information gleaned from:

IX. Evidence That Demands A Verdict , Josh Mc Dowell

X. Inspiration of Scripture, Homer Hailey

XI. Is The Bible Fully Inspired? A Debate, Gordon Wilson and Dan Lion

XII. The Inspiration Of The Scriptures , Thomas G. O’Neal

XIII. ” Inspiration from the Once-Active Pen of J.W. Mc Garvey” , Words of Life

XIV. The Bible Is The Inspired Word of God , Jimmy Thomas