The Credibility of the Bible

Big Idea: The Bible demonstrates its reliability through historical accuracy, scientific validity, textual preservation, prophetic fulfillment, and transformative impact.

Distinguished members of the court, I am Darryl Dash, appearing today as defense counsel for Jesus of Nazareth. Even though Jesus is not guilty, a trial helps us analyze the evidence and uncover the truth.

We're staging a mock trial before Easter to explore the question: Why should I believe the Bible? Can we trust Christ's claims? Did Jesus really rise from the dead? What does Jesus' resurrection mean for me today? The answer to these questions is important, because the Bible claims that your eternity rests on it.

In John 8:24, Jesus told the religious rulers of his day: "I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins." According to Jesus, your eternal fate depends on how you answer the question of who He is. You can dismiss Jesus, but if you do, Jesus says, you're throwing your eternity away. So it only makes sense to examine his claims, to see if they're really true or not.

So we'll begin by examining the evidence for the Bible. The next time I preach we'll look at the credibility of Christ's claims – can we really believe that he is the Son of God? And then, on Palm Sunday, we will look at the clincher question – whether or not Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Finally, on Easter Sunday, we'll ask ourselves what this means for us today. But before we look at the evidence for the Bible, let's pray.

Father: The Bible says, "We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty" (2 Peter 1:16). I pray that you would give us open minds to examine the evidence for the Bible and for Christ's claims these coming weeks, and that you would use this to buttress our faith. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Let's begin by looking this morning at what you might call the documentary evidence for Jesus Christ. We're dealing here with a historical figure. To understand historical figures like George Washington, Plato, or Aristotle, we rely on historical documents to learn about their identities, words, and actions. The main historical documents we'll examine are the New Testament of the Bible.

So the first big question becomes this: is the New Testament accurate in recording the life of Jesus? Can we trust the Bible when it talks about God and Jesus Christ, or is the Bible full of mistakes and errors? This is a crucial question, because if we can't trust the Bible when it speaks about Jesus, who can we trust? If the Bible is just a collection of fables, what right do we have to believe anything about Jesus Christ?

In 1985, a group of scholars began meeting in Berkeley, California to begin a search for the "real Jesus." They claim that the church's portrayal of Jesus is different from the historical figure and that the Bible's accounts are unreliable. Scholars reviewed 1,500 statements and 176 events attributed to Jesus, concluding that 16-18% of them were probable or certain.

So what about the Bible? Is it true? Does it contain the words of Jesus Christ, or is it a creation of men and women? I would like to argue that the Bible is true and trustworthy, providing an accurate account of Jesus Christ's life. And let me give you five reasons why the Bible is credible and can be trusted.

It's Historically Accurate

The first reason that we can trust the documents that describe Jesus Christ is that they are historically accurate. Set aside the question of whether the Bible is the Word of God and consider: is the Bible historically accurate? And you'll be amazed what you discover. As you're aware, the Bible is full of historical references. It names people, places, events, and is very specific.

Archaeology can't prove the Bible is the Word of God, but it can confirm its historical events and geographical references. For years, Bible critics have claimed that some historical references contain inaccuracies. For instance, Luke 3:1 lists Lysanias as being the tetrarch of Abiline in about 27 AD. Scholars have long debated that this indicates Luke's ignorance, as Lysanias was recognized as the ruler of Chalcis— not a tetrarch— and ruled fifty years earlier. If Luke couldn't be trusted to get that fact right, nothing he wrote could be trusted. An inscription was discovered that identified Lysanias as the tetrarch in Abila near Damascus, confirming Luke's account.

A leading archaeologist has thoroughly reviewed Luke's mentions of thirty-two countries, fifty-four cities, and nine islands, and found no errors. The same is true of the other Gospels, and indeed the entire Bible. Things that were once viewed as biblical errors – names, dates, and so on – have one after another been dealt with. Australian archaeologist Clifford Wilson claimed that the New Testament is a highly accurate source, based on current facts. And Nelson Glueck, a Jewish archaeologist and probably the greatest authority on Israeli archaeology, has said:

No archaeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference. Scores of archaeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in the Bible. And, by the same token, proper evaluation of Biblical descriptions has often led to amazing discoveries.

Friends, the Bible is accurate in its history. It is a credible historical source.

It's Scientifically Accurate

You might have heard that the Bible is full of scientific errors. This week, I spoke with someone who delayed becoming a Christian because he noticed scientific errors in the Bible. Contrary to popular belief, no genuine mistakes have been proven in the Bible, science, history, or any other topic. The Bible is not a scientific textbook, but when it addresses scientific topics, it is accurate. Even more than this, many principles of modern science were talked about in the Bible before they were discovered experimentally.

Think about this: before we discovered certain things to be true, the Bible already recorded them as true. For instance:

• Roundness of the earth — "It is he who sits above the circle of the earth..." (Isaiah 40:22)
• Hydrologic cycle — "All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again." (Ecclesiastes 1:7)
• Vast number of stars — "As the host of heaven cannot be numbered...”(Jeremiah 33:22)
• Law of increasing entropy — "Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away..." (Psalm 102:25-27)
• Paramount importance of blood in life processes — "For the life of the flesh is in the blood..." (Leviticus 17:11)
• Atmospheric circulation — "The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns." (Ecclesiastes 1:6)
• Gravitational field — "He stretches out the north over the void..." (Job 26:7)
• and many others

No real mistakes have been shown in the Bible regarding science or any other subject. Volumes of books exist that testify that the Bible is accurate scientifically.

The Bible is accurate historically and scientifically. There's a third reason you can trust the Bible:

It's Remarkably Preserved

Most Bible critics have no idea how much manuscript evidence there is backing up the Bible's credibility. Here’s what I mean. In university, it’s not uncommon to be asked to read Homer’s Iliad or Julius Caesar’s Gallic Wars. Homer's Iliad is the most famous book of ancient Greece, and today there are only 643 copies around. Not bad; nobody doubts its accuracy. Only 10 copies of Caesar's Gallic Wars exist, with the oldest manuscript created 1,000 years after the original was written. 643 copies of Iliad, and 10 copies of Gallic Wars.

What about the New Testament? 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 about 5,366 manuscripts that help us verify the accuracy of the New Testament over the years. Hand-copied manuscripts have been discovered in Palestine, Syria, and Egypt, with strong similarities among them regardless of location. This is nothing short of amazing!

You might have heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were found in a cave near the Dead Sea in 1947. They included two copies of the book of Isaiah from the Old Testament, which are 1,000 years older than the second oldest manuscripts. Do you know what they found? The copies were over 95 percent identical to our standard Hebrew Bible. 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 past 2,000 years, with only minor variations before that.

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. Out of the 184,590 words in the New Testament, how many are considered questionable? Words on the disputed list have unclear 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 on any major teaching or doctrine. But that is a fraction of one percent. That is 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. Without the strong manuscript evidence we have today, we could still almost reconstruct the entire New Testament just from quotes in the writings of the Church Fathers from the second and third centuries. Only eleven verses are missing, mostly from 2 and 3 John. Even if all copies of the New Testament were destroyed by the end of the third century, we would still know most of it from other texts.

Let me repeat: the Bible is the single most documented piece of literature there is.

The Bible is accurate historically and scientifically, and it's remarkably preserved. There's a fourth reason you can trust the Bible:

It Contains Fulfilled Prophecies

The Bible was written over a period of 1,600 years. The Bible contains many specific prophecies, all of which have been fulfilled in detail. This fulfillment is hard to explain without viewing the Bible as the Word of God. Over 300 prophecies predicted Christ's first coming, including his lineage, birthplace, manner of birth, and ministry. Isaiah 52, Isaiah 53, and Psalm 22 detail Jesus' crucifixion decades before this method of execution was used. It was predicted the succession of four great world powers, that certain cities would be destroyed, and so on. And in each of the hundreds of prophecies, they were fulfilled perfectly.

Somebody has written, "Only the Bible manifests this remarkable prophetic evidence, and it does so on such a tremendous scale as to render completely absurd any explanation other than divine revelation." Whenever the Bible has spoken prophetically, it has been accurate. Hundreds of prophecies have been fulfilled. The Bible has proven itself over and over.

The Bible's reliability is demonstrated through its historical accuracy, scientific consistency, remarkable preservation, and fulfilled prophecies. There's one more reason you can trust the Bible:

It Changes Lives

We can trust the Bible because of the evidence from its manuscripts and its significant impact on millions of lives throughout history. The Bible is unique in the effect it has had on individual men and women, as well as nations. It’s the all-time best seller in the history of the world, and it appeals to both mind and heart. It has been embraced by people of all nations, races, and backgrounds—rich and poor, educated and uneducated, kings and commoners. No other book in history has matched its universal appeal or lasting impact.

A final evidence is the millions of people who have believed it. Many people, both in the past and present, find that its promises are true, its advice is wise, and its message of salvation is relevant for their lives now and for eternity.

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 archaeology 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, they journeyed to East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) where they have served as missionaries since 1962.

“The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever” (Isaiah 40:8).

Friends, the Bible is one book you can trust. It is an accurate historical document – one that reveals an important message, and one that is credible and life-changing. In my next sermon, I will discuss the credibility of Christ’s claims. The following week, we’ll explore the compelling evidence for Jesus Christ’s resurrection. But for this morning, let me ask you: Do you believe the Bible?

You can’t be neutral about its claims. You must either accept it, or reject it, and what it says about you. Throughout history, the Bible has changed the lives of people – people like Augustine, Martin Luther, John Newton, and C.S. Lewis. It has transformed societies – from the Celts of Ireland to the Acua Indians of Ecuador. And the Bible can change you.

Let me repeat again the words of Dr. Olsen: “The Bible… represents God, motivated by an eternal love, reaching down to tell us about Himself and His plan for us.” I encourage you to come back next week to explore more evidence supporting Jesus’ claims. For now, feel free to respond in prayer to what we’ve discussed today.