Reasons to Believe in the Bible
Big Idea: The Bible is the most reliable, influential, and transformative book in history, supported by evidence of divine inspiration and significant global impact.
If you ever want to make an elevator ride more interesting, here's an idea. Turn around and casually ask your fellow elevator riders what they think of the Bible. And then hope you're in a tall building, because it seems that everyone has an opinion on the Bible.
The range of opinions is just incredible. Some people believe it's a flat-out pack of lies. And then other people call it the hope of the world. I guess I would be interested in knowing what your opinion is this morning. What do you really think about the Bible? How seriously do you take it in your life? Is it just nice to have around? Or do you read it and obey its teachings? Is it a guide in your life, a compass? How impressed are you by its wisdom?
I'll bet there is a wide range of responses in this church this morning.
The Uniqueness of the Bible
No matter how you feel about the Bible, its uniqueness is undeniable, and that’s not just an opinion. The facts speak for themselves: the Bible stands apart in countless ways.
Composition
The Bible was written over 1,600 years by about 40 authors from various cultures, in three languages, and across three continents. Yet, it weaves an unmistakable thread of continuity throughout its pages, making its composition truly unique.
Circulation
The Bible is unparalleled in its circulation, standing as the most published book in history. Billions of copies have been printed and purchased, with tens of millions still sold and distributed every single year. No other book has consistently stayed at the top of the bestseller list for centuries, while most authors would be thrilled to have their work there for even a week or two.
Translations
The Bible is unparalleled in its translations, standing as the most translated book in history. A dedicated team of full-time translators is working hard to expand coverage from over 1,200 languages to more people around the world.
Durability
The Bible is unmatched in its durability. It has withstood bans, burnings, ridicule, and relentless criticism. Countless kings and rulers have sought to destroy it, yet it endures. It has outlived its fiercest opponents, and its influence continues to grow.
Impact
The Bible is unique in its impact. Countless people testify that it has profoundly shaped their lives. While most books are read, shelved, and forgotten, the Bible is different. Serious readers never truly finish it; when they reach the end, they simply start again. Even now, millions are gathered to read and study its pages, drawn by its transformative power. The truths they’ve encountered in Scripture have changed their lives and reshaped their worldview. How many other books can claim such a lasting and life-altering effect?
The Bible is history's most remarkable book, having been written over 1,600 years by 40 different authors. It has sold billions of copies, been translated into over 1,200 languages, survived centuries of attempts to destroy it, and significantly influenced countless readers worldwide.
So you say, "Okay, I'll admit the Bible is unique, but let's go on to some bigger questions."
Questions About the Bible
Let's ask some hard questions about the Bible.
Is it accurate?
More than a few people spout off about this issue, don't they? You've heard them. "Of course it's not accurate! It's riddled with mistakes and contradictions." "It has nothing to do with historical fact." Have you heard these things said about the Bible?
If you have, you should know the truth. The Bible passes the historicity test with flying colors. The Bible references many historical events, places, and people, which raises the possibility of contradictions with historical records. But for the most part, there is remarkable agreement between the historical record and the biblical account. In cases of contradiction between historical records and the Bible, archaeology often supports the biblical account as more accurate.
For example, the Old Testament makes frequent reference to an enemy nation of the Israelites called the Hittites. Historians have never been able to come up with any trace of evidence of the existence of the Hittite nation. Of course, they criticized the Bible for making reference to this nation called the Hittites. In 1906, an archaeological dig confirmed the Hittite nation's existence by uncovering their capital city and 40 other cities in the empire. The Biblical account was the more accurate account.
In Daniel 5, the Bible references a man named Belshazzar, the king of Babylon at that time. The historical record has held that Nabonidus was the king of Babylon at that time. A clear-cut contradiction. Historians said that, obviously, the Bible is wrong. It's an open-and-shut case. We have proof that Nabonidus was the king. But in 1956, archaeologists unearthed 3 stones that contained inscribed information that solved the problem. It seems that Nabonidus decided to lead his armies out to battle at a faraway battlefield. And so he installed his son as king in his absence. And his son's name was Belshazzar. Once again, it was determined that the Biblical account passed the test of historicity.
Over the last 100 years, many archaeological discoveries have resolved previously unexplainable contradictions between historical accounts and the Bible. The renowned Jewish archaeological expert Nelson Glueck once said, "It may be categorically stated that no archeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference, not even once."
Incidentally, the Book of Mormon, when subjected to the test of historicity, fails horribly. The Book of Mormon tells the story of a large civilization that is said to have existed in the Americas from around 600 BC to 400 AD. It records the names of tribes and cities and mountains and rivers and coinages of that civilization. Most Mormons fully believe in the book. No historian, whether affiliated with the Mormon church or not, has ever provided artifacts or evidence to support the claims made in the Book of Mormon. The historical record cannot substantiate a single city, river, tribe, or mountain mentioned in the book. Friends, this is devastating. It suggests to many, including myself, that the whole work may very well be a hoax. Thank God that the Bible has no trouble passing the historicity test.
In the handful of remaining conflicts between history and Scripture, the jury is still out. One can fully expect, though, that the Bible's track record of accuracy will still stand. Once all evidence is gathered and excavations are complete, the Bible will likely maintain its historical credibility.
Many Bible critics underestimate the amount of manuscript evidence supporting the Bible's credibility. Here's what I mean. In university, the professor assigns Homer's Iliad or Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars. Their writings have had an enormous impact on society over the years. They are some of the most famous books of ancient Greece. Nobody questions the content of their works – their reliability or historicity. Nobody says that errors have crept into their manuscripts in transmission over the centuries. They are just basically accepted at face value as being accurate representations of what the authors originally wrote.
But did you know that there are ten existing copies of the ancient manuscripts of Caesar's Gallic Wars? Less than ten to study and compare in order to determine accuracy in transmission throughout the years. With Homer's Iliad, there are only 643 copies. How many copies of the New Testament still exist for comparison and study to confirm its accuracy? The New Testament, what do you think? Wouldn't it be great if there were 1,000? Or 2,000? That way we could say it's 3 to 1 more manuscript evidence than Homer's Iliad.
There are 5,366 manuscripts that verify the accuracy of the New Testament over the years. Hand-copied manuscripts discovered in Palestine, Syria, and Egypt show consistent agreement across all locations.
You might have heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were found in a cave near the Dead Sea in 1947. They contained two copies of the Book of Isaiah from the Old Testament, dating back 1,000 years earlier than the second oldest manuscripts. Do you know what they found? The copies "proved to be word for word identical with our standard Hebrew Bible in more than 95 percent of the text. The 5 percent of variation consisted chiefly of obvious slips of the pen and variations in spelling."
The Old Testament text has remained largely unchanged for the last 2,000 years, with minimal alterations prior to that. No wonder it is said that the Bible is the single most documented piece of literature there is. Simply put, there is no equal with respect to manuscript documentation.
In the New Testament, out of 184,590 words, how many are considered questionable? Words on the disputed list raise questions about their grammar, meaning, or interpretation. Of 184,590 words, guess how many are on the disputed list that scholars are still working on? 400. And none of the 400 make any difference to any major teaching or doctrine. But that is a fraction of one percent. Incredible accuracy in manuscript evidence!
Norman Geisler writes:
We have 100 percent of the New Testament and we are sure about 99.5 percent of it.
But even if we did not have such good manuscript evidence, we could actually reconstruct almost the entire New Testament from quotations in the church fathers of the second and third centuries. Only eleven verses are missing, mostly from 2 and 3 John. Even if all the copies of the New Testament had been burned at the end of the third century, we could have known virtually all of it by studying these writings.
Some people have balked that inerrancy is an unprovable doctrine because it refers only to the original inspired writings, which we don’t have and not to the copies that we do have. But if we can be this certain of the text of the New Testament and have an Old Testament text that has not changed in 2,000 years, then we don’t need the originals to know what they said. The text of our modern Bibles is so close to the original that we can have every confidence that what it teaches is truth.
The Bible stands as the most historically reliable and well-documented ancient text, supported by overwhelming manuscript evidence, archaeological discoveries, and remarkable consistency across centuries, affirming its accuracy and credibility.
What about the miracles recorded in the Bible?
"Whales, floods, walking on water, resurrections—how can anyone believe this?" It’s important to distinguish between God and the Bible, which records His actions. We’ve already established four compelling arguments for God’s existence, defining Him as non-contingent, all-powerful, eternal, and limitless. A God capable of creating the universe is certainly capable of extraordinary acts within it—floods, healings, even resurrections. For a limitless God, miracles are not impossible but entirely within His nature.
The Bible’s role is to document these miraculous works of God. The fact that it records them doesn’t make them fantasies or fabrications. Most of the miracles in Scripture occurred publicly, witnessed by multitudes, both believers and skeptics. If these accounts had been fabricated, they would have faced immediate public outcry and demands for retraction.
What’s more, the New Testament documents were circulated within a remarkably short time after the events they describe. This proximity to the events left no room for myths or legends to develop without being challenged by eyewitnesses. After the early church was established, these documents spread quickly. They included mentions of supernatural events, but there was little disagreement about their content. This historical context underscores their credibility.
Friends, the Bible is unique. It is historically accurate and backed by manuscript evidence. But maybe one more question is the most important one.
Is the Bible inspired? Is it the book that God wrote?
Or is it a collection of religious stories that man wrote? Which is it?
You should know that without apology, the Bible itself claims to be inspired.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
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. (2 Peter 1:21)
Over 3,000 times in the Bible, the writers used the expression, "Thus says the Lord." So let there be no mistake as to what the Bible claims. It confidently claims that God inspired people to write exactly what he wanted, using their unique personalities and styles.
People often ask, is there evidence to support the Bible's claim of divine inspiration? The answer is yes, and one of the strongest pieces of evidence is fulfilled prophecy. The Bible, written over 1,600 years, features bold predictions by authors about events occurring centuries later. This alone builds a compelling case for its divine origin.
Take the birth of Jesus Christ, for example. His arrival was predicted with great detail many years prior, including his lineage, birthplace, manner of birth, ministry, and death. How could such precise prophecies be fulfilled to the letter unless God Himself authored them?
Consider another example: the city of Tyre. In the fifth century BC, the prophet Ezekiel predicted its complete destruction, even declaring that no city would ever be rebuilt on its site. At the time, such a claim seemed absurd, akin to someone today predicting the fall of a major city like Boston. Yet, a few centuries later, Ezekiel’s prophecy was fulfilled in astonishing detail. The city of Tyre was destroyed, and to this day, its original site remains a barren expanse of flat rocks.
How can we explain the fulfillment of these prophecies, along with many others, without attributing it to divine inspiration from God? The evidence speaks for itself.
Jesus also stated repeatedly and categorically that the Scriptures are the word of God.
The Bible’s Penetrating Personal Accuracy
Can I say one more thing about the accuracy of the Bible?
This is more subjective. I have found the Bible to be penetratingly accurate in what it says about me. Painfully, penetratingly accurate in what it says about me. It speaks truthfully about who I really am. About what my human tendencies are, about what my nature as a man is. You'll never read a book that cuts through the veneer as the Bible does, that gets to the root issues.
Many people seem to know just enough about the Bible to avoid engaging with it. Because they know that if they read it, it is going to speak truthfully to them, and they'll have to change.
A woman named Joan Olsen was an agnostic, although her parents were Christians. They had many discussions about the Bible, until Joan and her husband agreed to study Christianity. Listen to what they found. Dr. Olsen writes:
I implied that our study would be honest and objective, a sincere search for truth. But our agnostic bias made us begin the search in a diabolically clever way. We would prove that the Bible is not the Word of God…
"First," I said [to Joan], "we will review all the agnostic arguments we heard during university and medical college years. Second, we will pick out and list the scientific mistakes in the Bible. These mistakes will prove it to be the word of men, not the Word of some infallible Creator."
After an intense study, listen to the conclusions of these agnostics:
The Bible…represents God, motivated by an eternal love, reaching down to tell us about Himself and His plan for us…We also noted the remarkable unity and consistency evident in the Christian Scriptures…
Contrary to our previous understanding, we found the Bible to be historically accurate. To the science of archeology the Bible owes its vindication in the matter of historical accuracy…
Then there is the remarkable scientific accuracy of the Bible. Here was the exact target of the attack Joan and I had launched to disprove Christianity and Christ… We encountered great difficulty, however, in finding scientific mistakes in the Bible. Again and again we were forced to cancel out seeming mistakes because of more up-to-date evidence or information.
After months of serious questioning, Dr. and Mrs. Olsen concluded that the Bible is indeed God's message to mankind. Based on this belief, they both accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. Later, the journeyed to East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) where they have served as missionaries since 1962.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.
(Isaiah 40:8)
Friends, the Bible is accurate, it is reliable, it is the very Word of God. I guess I would ask you the questions I began with this morning: what do you really think about the Bible? How seriously do you take it in your life? Is it just nice to have around? Or do you read it and obey its teaching? Is it a guide in your life, a compass?
Adapted from a message by Bill Hybels
