The primary purpose of the bible is God revealing Himself in person and truth to fallen man for the purpose of glorifying Himself and saving man. Central to Christian belief is the understanding that there is absolute truth and that truth has been established directly by the only true God. God provided man, his creation, with a number of documents that were written by the hands of men under the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. Subsequently, under the continued inspiration of God, those documents were collected into one book called the bible. God is unchanging throughout time and therefore His perfect truth as revealed through the bible is unchanging. His bible will always exist as scripture within the bible attests that “the word of our God endures forever.” (Isaiah 40:8)
So, why would one believe the bible? The basis for belief in the bible can be categorized in a broad number of ways, but some of the major areas for consideration include:
- History
- Accuracy
- Honesty
- Internal Evidence
- Experience
Scholars have written entire books on the history of the bible. For the sake of brevity, consider that the oldest copy of preserved bible manuscripts date back to over 1000 BC. The number of copies of the ancient manuscripts is significant numbering in the tens of thousands and continues to increase as more are found. God made the Hebrew tribe of Levi responsible for preserving and teaching the holy scripture (Deuteronomy 31:26). That included making copies for use and preservation. The proliferation of high accuracy documentation attests to the fact that they achieved their goal. There are also large numbers of the later documents of the New Testament attesting to their accuracy in preservation. Commenting on the text of the Hebrew Scriptures, scholar William H. Green stated: “It may be safely said that no other work of antiquity has been so accurately transmitted.” Regarding the Christian Greek Scriptures, or so-called New Testament, Bible scholar F. F. Bruce wrote: “The evidence for our New Testament writings is ever so much greater than the evidence for many writings of classical authors, the authenticity of which no one dreams of questioning.” He also said: “If the New Testament were a collection of secular writings, their authenticity would generally be regarded as beyond all doubt.”
The consistency of the bible attests to the fact that it had but one author, God, while many hands wrote the inspired words. There were more than 35 independent individuals that contributed to the work of the text and the writing spanned thousands of years, but the content is completely consistent. Additionally, the theme seamlessly flows from the first page of Genesis to the end of Revelation. The beginning of the bible starts with the revelation of God through his creation of all things, highlights man’s fall with its effects on all things, proceeds to the redemption of man by God and ends with God making all things new to restore all things to their perfect initial state.
The correlation of the bible with secular texts is easy to establish. Writings of Flavius Josephus, a Roman historian and Philo attest to the accounts in the bible through the eyes of non-Christian viewers. Many extra-biblical documents still remain which attest to first century events occurring in the bible. Some of the early works by Ignatius of Antioch, Pope Clement and others were written by individuals that were eye witnesses to many accounts and may well have known individuals appearing in the bible personally.
The prophetic, historical and geographic accuracy is also without question. There are hundreds of fulfilled prophesies related to the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the beginning of the bible, it is predicted that “He shall bruise you head and he shall bruise your heel” (Genesis 3:15). This is first account of Jesus’ victory over evil paving the way for the reconciliation of man to God and the eventual restoration of all things.
“Ezekiel 26:4-5 predicted that the walls of the island fortress of Tyre would be destroyed and scraped clean and become a place for fishermen to dry their nets. When Ezekiel was living, the island fortress of Tyre had not yet been built. Two hundred years later, in 332 B.C., Alexander the Great conquered Tyre by building a causeway from the old mainland city, scraping away everything but bare rock.”[1] Many of the prophecies within the bible have been fulfilled, but there are clearly many more to go.
When one contrasts the content of the bible with so called “sacred documents” from other world religions, one stark contrast becomes evident. The bible provides an accurate picture of the men and women who are depicted. It does not present a picture of achieving a higher plane of existence or leading a life that is without trouble or sin. The bible is absolutely honest. As one looks at the lives of various individuals, you see one who committed murder, committed adultery, lied, made serious mistakes, lost faith for a period of time, etcetera and yet the bible portrays them transparently and accurately.
The bible also contains internal evidence of its accuracy and the reason for believing it. Beginning near the beginning of the bible we see that “Moses wrote all the words of the LORD” (Exodus 24:4). Over 5,000 times the bible states “Thus says the Lord”, indicating it is an accurate quote. In the New Testament, Timothy states “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.” (2nd Timothy 3:16)[2]. Finally, Jesus himself also attested to the veracity of scripture.[3]
The final point that I would make is that the bible has the power to change lives. In its pages are the words of God himself. They lead one through many years of God’s personal revelation, utilizing many different individuals writing in different types of literature to reveal his love for each person individually. As one reads the text it becomes apparent that no one is perfect. In the light of a perfect God, it becomes apparent that salvation from the sin that separates us from God is required. That salvation can only be obtained by realizing that Jesus is Lord and has made atonement for each person. As an individual, all we need to do is admit we are sinners in need of His salvation, that He is the Lord of all things, especially us, and accept his free gift of salvation.
[1] https://www.icr.org/article/prophetic-accuracy
[2] Similar quotes elsewhere, 2 Peter 1:21, 2 Peter 3:16, Hebrews 4:12, 2nd Peter 1:16-21
[3] Lk 21:33, Matt 4:1-11, Matt 5:17-19, Jn 5:39-40
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