Should We Trust the Bible?

Should we trust

the Bible?

I remember a time when if you had asked me the question, ‘What is the Bible?’, I would have responded with something like; ‘It’s an ancient book, filled with myths and weird stories, with some half decent morals, written by monks hiding in round towers and it tells a story about a man named Jesus who apparently turned water into wine.’

Many of us have developed our thoughts about the Bible from what we’ve learned in school, heard at church or discussed with our family or friends. Maybe the Bible isn’t something you’ve put a lot of thought into at all. I know that when I was growing up the Bible was a scary, complicated, big book and I thought that only specific people with special training could understand it.

In this article I’d like to walk you through some of the things I’ve learned about the Bible over the past few years. Even though the Bible is complex, I believe it’s accessible for people of all ages and backgrounds. I’ll begin by talking about the content of the Bible and then I will share some thoughts about the story of the Bible.

But before we get going, ask yourself the question, ‘What do I think of the Bible?’

The Bible: Its Content

Yes, the Bible is one big book — but you’d be surprised to know that it’s actually a collection of 66 books, split into two main sections called the Old Testament and the New Testament. There are 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. You’d also be shocked by the unique nature of the contents of the Bible.

Here’s a bit of a taster. The Bible was written over a span of 1500 years, by more than 40 authors from many different backgrounds. Those authors were political leaders, kings, fishermen, peasants, philosophers and scholars. They wrote from many different places — from the desert wilderness to palaces and prison cells. It includes a diverse collection of literary styles — from history, to law, to romance (yep it’s in there), to poetry and parables.

The Bible was written on 3 continents; Asia, Africa and Europe. The three languages that the different sections of the Bible were originally written in are Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek (McDowell 1999, p.4- 6).

The uniqueness of the Bible doesn’t stop there. When we take a closer look at the New Testament (mainly written in Greek) and the ancient manuscripts that are available to us, the case for its historical reliability is incredible. The total Greek manuscripts we have today are 5,686. When we consider manuscripts from other languages that total shoots up to almost 25,000 (McDowell 1999, p.34). It is true that we don’t have any of the original texts — but when we compare the time gap between the date of the original text and the earliest copies, as well as the total number of copies, with other ancient literature, the Bible stands out as significant.

Let’s take Plato’s writings, for instance, whose original date is estimated to be 400 B.C. The earliest copies of his writings that are available today are dated to 900 A.D. That’s a time gap of 1,300 years and we only have 7 copies of his work. The original dates of the various books of the New Testament have been estimated to be between 50 - 100 A.D. The earliest copies of these documents, in the form of small fragments and full books, have been dated between 114- 325 A.D. That time gap is between 50 - 225 years of the original date and the total number of copies is 5,366 (McDowell 1999, p.38).

When I first heard about this evidence I couldn’t get past the feeling that there is something special going on in the Bible. “OK”, you think, “this may be good information for a pub quiz, but what’s it all about?” That’s a good question! In the next section I’ll take a quick look at the story in the Bible and why I think it’s worth investigating.

The Bible: Its Story

Before I knew anything about Jesus and the Bible, I found myself asking the question: ‘What is truth?’ When I first heard Jesus’ words from John 14:6, ‘I am at the way, and the truth, and the life’, it became clear to me that I needed to take a deeper look into what the Bible had to say. I was surprised by what I found.

Although the Bible is a collection of 66 books, there is a consistent narrative that runs through every page— the story of God’s relationship with His creation. In the beginning of the Old Testament we see how God creates the universe, the earth and humanity, and calls it ‘very good’ (Genesis 1:31). God sets the people He made- apart from the rest of creation, creating them ‘in his own image’ (Genesis 1:27).

His desire is for humanity to steward his creation and help life flourish.

His one request is that they would be obedient to Him and do things His way.

But before we finish reading the 2nd page, we see how humanity disregards God’s command and rebels against Him. They try to take matters into their own hands and the result isn’t good.

Humanity lived in peace with God but now their relationship is severed. It’s this first act of rebellion that we see throughout the Bible showing humanity’s sin and broken nature. Even though humanity messed up— and messes up— the whole way through the Bible, there is a specific theme that follows alongside.

Over and over again, we see the faithfulness of God and His love for His people, calling them back into relationship with Him. There are many ups and downs throughout the Bible, as God’s people come close to Him but inevitably go back to their own ways because of their sin. We realize that it’s only possible for humanity to be restored to their relationship with God by Him making a way. And so, He provides a Rescuer.

The Apostle Paul— whose writings take up a big chunk of the New Testament— wrote in the 1st letter to the Corinthians, ‘For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures’ (1. Cor. 15:3-4). This little passage is very important to us as we read the story of the Bible. Here we see how the entire Old Testament sets up the stage for Jesus Christ to enter into creation— as the ultimate answer to our sin and bringing humanity back into relationship with God. I want you to notice how the people respond to Jesus in Luke 18:26, ‘Then who can be saved?’ Jesus answers in the next verse, ‘What is impossible with man is possible with God’.

The Bible: Worth a read?

I was drawn to the Bible because of the fascinating person of Jesus Christ. I started to grapple with the reliability and historicity of His accounts in the Gospels, but I didn’t want to stop there. I realised that the more I read about what Jesus said and did in the New Testament, and how He is revealed in the Old Testament, the more I couldn’t get past the fact that the Bible cut to the core of my own issues and provided the only answer that could ever satisfy.

That answer was the person of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the key to unraveling the Bible. Without Jesus I saw the Bible as a book of rules and I always felt like it wanted me to sit in shame because of my sin. Getting to know Jesus changed all of that. The Bible was no longer a guidebook for me to work my way back to God but the most amazing news about the God who gave everything to bring me back into His arms.

But don’t take my word for it! I invite you on the same journey, exploring the uniqueness of the Bible. What else would you be doing during Covid- 19 anyway?

References 1. Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2. McDowell, J. (1999). The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict. Nashville, Tenn.: T. Nelson.