The Reliability of the Bible

The Bible’s Trustworthiness and Transmission

How do we know that the Bible can be trusted? Does the Bible we have today match the original writings? Does it include prophecies that have actually come true? How can we know it's been reliably transmitted over the centuries?

Stick around to find out. The Bible has been translated into over 2 ,000 languages and is one of the most widely printed and studied books in the world. So, there must be something special about it. The Bible includes 66 books written by over 40 authors in 3 languages over a 1 ,500-year time span, and studies show it's consistent both internally and historically.

The Bible says that it was breathed by God but written by man, and recent discoveries show that it has been reliably copied over the centuries. Let's take a quick look at just one book in the Bible, the book of Isaiah, which was written in the 8th century before Christ, about 2 ,700 years ago.

The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Preservation of Isaiah

How can we know whether this book was reliably copied over the centuries? Well, something incredible happened in 1947 that allowed us to find out. A shepherd boy found a cave filled with jars holding 900 ancient scrolls.

This collection, now called the Dead Sea Scrolls, turned out to be one of the most significant archaeological discoveries of our time because it shows just how reliably the Bible has been transmitted over the centuries.

Let's zero in on just one of the chapters in Isaiah, chapter 53, which is important because it includes several prophecies about Jesus that came true about 700 years after it was written. Isaiah 53 describes a Messiah, a Savior, who would be despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, a man who would be despised and not esteemed by others, one who would bear the griefs and carry the sorrows of humanity.

These descriptions could apply to many people throughout history, but it gets more specific as it continues by saying that people would consider him to be stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted, and that he would be wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, and the punishment for our peace would be set upon him.

Then it says, by his stripes we would be healed, and that the Lord would lay upon him the iniquity or sins of us all. The passage continues to be incredibly specific about Jesus' death and crucifixion by stating that he would be oppressed and afflicted, yet like a lamb led to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers would be silent, he would not even open his mouth in defense.

It even says that his grave would be made with the wicked, and his death with the rich. Even the very purpose that Christ came was forged by this chapter, stating that he would pour out his soul unto death so that he would bear the sin of many.

And acquainted with grief, he was oppressed and afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearer is dumb, he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.

Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted, that he was wounded for our transgressions. He was abused for our iniquities. Through his wounds, we are healed.

Is there any other person throughout recorded history who fits these descriptions better than Jesus Christ? Not only does this chapter show how the Bible predicted Christ's life, crucifixion, and burial, it demonstrates just how reliably the Bible has been transmitted over the centuries.

The Dead Sea Scrolls as Evidence of Accurate Copying

Consider this. There's the original book of Isaiah written in the 8th century before Christ. Next, there's the copy found in the Dead Sea Scroll collection that dates about 125 years before Christ. Then we have the copies that are from about 1 ,000 years ago.

And finally, today's version. Now that the Dead Sea Scrolls have been discovered, we have proof that these incredibly specific prophecies were written before Christ was even born, showing their divine inspiration.

We can now also test how reliably the Bible has been transmitted over a 2 ,200-year period. The results? Incredible. Famous theologian Dr. Norman Geisler writes, of the 166 words in Isaiah 53, there are only 17 letters in question.

10 of these letters are simply a matter of spelling, which does not affect the sense. Four more letters are minor stylistic changes, such as conjunctions. The remaining three letters comprise the word light, which is added in verse 11 and does not affect the meaning greatly.

Thus, in one chapter of 166 words, there is only one word with just three letters in question after 1 ,000 years of transmission, and this word does not significantly change the meaning of the passage.

Wow.

Over two millennia of copying this text, and over 99 of it matches an original written before Christ. In the incredibly specific prophecies it tells about Christ, all of them came true.

Why Denying Inerrancy Undermines Scripture

To a person who says that he is a Christian, but denies the inerrancy of Scripture, I would say several things. You are denying God's own claim for the Bible. You're denying what God, the Holy Spirit, who authored Scripture, says about Scripture, that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, that every word is pure, that the Scripture is God-breathed.

Not only that, not only those explicit statements are you denying, but you're denying every time in Scripture it says, thus says the Lord, and then you're denying the overall superintending power of God over his revelation.

Now, what that does essentially is say this, you are the judge of Scripture. You've just made yourself the authority over the Bible. So you're going to be the one we have to trust to tell us what's true and what's not true in the Bible.

And here's the problem with that. If you deny inerrancy, the only reason you would ever deny inerrancy would be essentially to deny something in the Bible that you don't like. And when you've done that, you've now said what the Bible says about that, it can't be true, it's not true.

Once you have broken the link in the chain, how do we know that anything is true? So when the Bible claims inspiration for all of it and you break that, then where do you go? How do you trust any of it?

You could start, for example, say, well, I don't believe Genesis 1 and 2. I don't believe in a six-day creation. I believe in some kind of evolutionary process. That's not in Genesis 1 and 2. So the question is, if that's not true, what else isn't true?

And who's the person that's going to tell us what else isn't true? And what isn't true is hiding something that is true and where do we go for that? You literally unravel the scripture if you deny its inerrancy.