Thy Word is a Lamp Unto My Feet Outreach

The Bible is Reliable

Why would YHWH give us His Word and not give us evidence that enables us to trust it?

EVIDENCE FOR RELIABILITY
Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth. [John 17:17]

From the start, Satan has hated the Bible. After all, it reveals the plan of salvation for Mankind. Many have been his attempts over the centuries to destroy it; because of massive circulation, this tact hasn’t worked. So, he devised a new approach: destroy the Bible’s credibility. Hence, the arrival of what’s known as “higher criticism.” For many scholars, the Bible is just another ancient text — a “Jewish version” of, for example, the Egyptian Book of the Dead.

There is, however, one problem: we’re using what Scripture says about itself to verify its own reliability. That’s circular reasoning; how is it possible? YHWH has supplied plenty of reasons to trust in the Book’s reliability. We’ve been given external and internal evidence so that we can trust what it says. It’s not necessary to believe just because it says to believe. YHWH gives reasons to trust in Scripture as His Word, even though in the end, we have to go by faith. The bottom line, however, is that we can trust the Bible because YHWH has given us many good reasons to do so.

THE “OLD” TESTAMENT
But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. [Galatians 3:22]

The fulfillment of prophecies show how both Testaments — “old” and “new” — are reliable; each one works to help establish the validity of the other. But there’s more!

For many years, “high critical scholars” have said the Bible can’t be trusted. After all, there are no complete copies of the Hebrew Old Testament dated earlier than around 900 AD. Certainly, “many errors” have since been entered into the existing texts, right? In early 1947, the world learned about what was called “the greatest archaeological discovery of the century.” In caves near the Dead Sea, ancient jars were discovered containing the now-famous Dead Sea Scrolls, many of them dated from about 150 BC to 70 AD, which means these texts were more than 1,000 years older than many of the other known texts. The find included the earliest manuscript copy yet known of the complete book of Isaiah and fragments of almost every book in the Old Testament. The books of Samuel, in a tattered copy, were also found, along with two complete chapters of Habakkuk.

In comparing the Dead Sea Scrolls with the other manuscripts, scholars were amazed to find just how accurate the Bible is. The discovery of the Scrolls gives great external evidence on just how reliable the text of the Old Testament is.

THE “NEW” TESTAMENT
For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. [Revelation 22:18, 19]

One of the most amazing things about the New Testament — something that gives incredible evidence for its reliability — is that so many copies of its manuscripts are still in existence, so many more than other ancient manuscripts. The Lord has left us with a wealth of manuscript evidence that attests to the accuracy of the New Testament we have today.

There is also much external evidence; that is, there are many quotations and excerpts from the early copies of the New Testament found in commentaries, sermons, and letters of the early Church Fathers. The Apostolic Fathers — mostly writing between years 90-160 AD — showed great familiarity with most books of the New Testament. This external evidence were the reading lessons used in public church services. By the mid-20th century, more than 1,800 of these reading lessons had been classified. Because they so closely reflect the New Testament as we have it today, these early church manuscripts also give us many reasons to trust in the reliability of the New Testament as handed down through the years.