The Bible is a historical writing that seeks to explain the origin of life, its purpose and how a creator God provides individuals with the opportunity to know him. The Bible is the bestselling (over five billion copies sold),1 most translated2 (complete Bible in 636 languages),3 most quoted, most published, most circulated and most influential book of all time.
But, is the Bible actually true? Can it be trusted in substantiating its many claims? The following is evidence that supports the reliability of the Bible.
Uniqueness Of Its Writing
The Bible is a book that is clearly one of a kind. It is a collection of 66 different documents (39 Old Testament, 27 New Testament). It was written by 40 different authors with different educational and cultural backgrounds, over a period of more than 1,500 years on three different continents (Asia, Africa and Europe) and in three different languages (Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew).4 Yet, despite all of the divergent aspects related to its writing, it is miraculously consistent and harmonious like no other book in history. All of these findings point to the Bible as being a writing that was orchestrated by one master author: God.
The Bible has more manuscripts, or hand-written copies, than other books written during its time. Today, there exists over 24,000 complete and partial manuscripts of the New Testament alone with less than 30 years between the original writing and earliest copies. In second place is Homer’s Iliad, which has only 643 manuscripts with about 500 years between the original writing and earliest copy.5 The reason this is significant is that by having so many manuscripts of the Bible with a short time period between the original writing and earliest copies, it ensures that words written in the Bible over 2,000 years ago have remained accurate and are reliable today.
More astonishing proof for the reliability of the Bible comes from early church leaders, such as Polycarp, Justin Martyr, Tertullian and Eusebius. In letters to each other and various churches, they quoted Old and New Testament scripture. There are over 86,000 quotations of the New Testament alone from these letters that could reconstruct 99.86% of this section of the Bible today!6
Bible scribes went through a painstaking and meticulous process to guarantee precision in copying manuscripts from their originals. For instance, scribes verbalized each word aloud as they wrote, counted every letter and word, and confirmed the middle word and letter.7 If the numbers were not the same as the original or if a single error of any kind was found, the copy was thrown away.8 The documented historical evidence of how the Bible was compiled provides confidence in the accuracy of its text.
Although completed 2,000 years ago before the invention of telescopes and satellites, the Bible is amazingly accurate scientifically. For example, the Bible describes the sun on an orbit through space (Psalm 19:6)9 when many thought it was stationary. The Bible declares that the earth is round (Isaiah 40:22) when the world believed it was flat. Before 1608, astronomers, like Hipparchus, Ptolomy and Kepler, thought that there were less than 1100 total stars in the universe,10 while the Bible proclaims that the stars are so many that they “cannot be numbered” (Jeremiah 33:22). The Bible has proven to be scientifically credible.
Fulfilled Prophecy
The Bible stands alone in documenting hundreds of fulfilled prophecies (successful predictions of the future). Over 25 percent of the Bible contains prophecy. There are over 100 fulfilled prophecies about Jesus alone,11 and the following is just a sample of some concerning his ancestry (Genesis 22:18, 49:10, Jeremiah 23:5), his birth (Isaiah 7:14, Micah 5:2), his ministry (Psalm 78:2, Isaiah 35: 5-6), his death (Psalm 22:16-18, Isaiah 53:4-12, Zechariah 12:10) and his resurrection (Psalm 16:10, Isaiah 53:10), all written in the Old Testament hundreds of years before Jesus was born! One can verify that these predictions actually occurred by seeing their fulfillment in various books of the New Testament, such as Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and in ancient writings outside the Bible.12
It lends tremendous credibility to the validity of the Bible for it to have so many fulfilled predictions. The Bible stands alone in comparison to other religious books in regard to fulfilled prophecy. Historically, there have been many failed attempts by individuals to accurately predict the future. The Bible is set apart from any book in history as reliably predicting the future through its fulfilled prophecies.
Archeology
Archeologists have made over 25,000 discoveries in the region known as the “Bible lands” that confirm the historical reliability of the Bible.13 These findings validate the Bible’s detailed records of various events, customs, persons, cities, nations and geographic locations.
Among the many discoveries are those that verify over 50 persons mentioned in the Bible.14 The existence of Roman governor Pontius Pilate, who sentenced Jesus to death, was substantiated with the 1961 finding of his inscription on an outdoor theater’s limestone pillar. There was the validation of Caiaphas, the Jewish high priest during the time of Jesus, when archeologists uncovered his tomb in 1990 two miles south of Jerusalem. The verification of King David was made in 1993 when evidence was unearthed in the Israeli town of Dan about which Time Magazine wrote, “The skeptics’ claim that King David never existed is now hard to defend.” Archeological confirmation of Jesus’s existence was also discovered in the Israeli town of Megiddo in 2005.15
Non-Biblical Writings
Another impressive piece of evidence supporting the validity and trustworthiness of the Bible is the availability of non-biblical writings that corroborate the historical accuracy of its people, places and events. For instance, these writings confirm that at least 80 persons mentioned in the Bible were actual historical figures (50 Old Testament, 30 New Testament).16
There are also more than 39 different sources outside the Bible that confirm over 100 facts about Jesus’s life, teachings, crucifixion and resurrection.17 One of those is first century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus who wrote the following in Antiquities, “At this time there was a wise man who was called Jesus. And his conduct was good, and he was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews and the other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified to die. And those who had become his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They reported that he appeared to them three days after his crucifixion and that he was alive.”18 The facts recounted in this quote confirm what occurred as documented in various writings of the New Testament.
Among the other non-biblical writings that authenticate the people and events of the Bible are those written by Roman historians, government officials, Jews and others who had no vested interest in promoting Christianity. These sources, which include Tacitus, Thallus, Pliny the Younger, the Talmud and Lucian,19 are compelling evidence that the Bible is historically valid and accurate.
Commitment by His Disciples
Jesus had 12 disciples who were his closest friends and followed him throughout his ministry. They were eyewitnesses to many of the things written in the New Testament about Jesus. Following Jesus’ death, most of them died as martyrs for their unwavering belief that Jesus was who he claimed to be, the Messiah and son of God, and that he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. The death of his original disciples have been documented by historians and include Matthew (killed by sword in Ethiopia), Andrew (crucified), Bartholomew (skinned alive), James (beheaded in Jerusalem), Barnabas (stoned to death), Peter (crucified) and Thomas (run through by spear in India).20
It is very hard to believe that these individuals were lying about their beliefs. If the events that occurred during Jesus’ ministry did not actually happen and were simply made up, his disciples would have known it since they were with Jesus. People may be willing to die for something they think is true (a radical terrorist, for example), but nobody is willing to die for something they know for sure is a lie. The commitment of Jesus’ disciples to the point of death is further testimony to the truth and believability of the Bible.
When evaluating all of the evidence to discover whether the Bible is true, it is easy to see that the Bible is a book like no other. It is uniquely designed and constructed. The Bible’s facts are verifiable and it lives up to its claims more than any book in history. If we follow the evidence where it leads, it takes us to place where we can have confidence that the Bible is true.
So let’s review what we have discovered so far. We have presented compelling evidence that there is a creator or God who made all things. We have identified the Bible as a book that can be trusted in accurately describing the creation of the world and historical events of both Old Testament and New Testament times.
You may now have questions such as: Who is this Jesus mentioned above? How can I have a close relationship with God? Find the answers on the “Who is Jesus?” and “Know God Personally” pages. Also take a look at the “Video Gallery” and “Got Questions?” pages. Your life will be forever changed!
1 “Best-selling book of non-fiction.” Guinness World Record. Guinness World Record, 2016.
2 Christensen, Ingrid. “The 20 Most Translated Texts in History.” INGCO International. INGCO International, 11 June 2014.
3 “Scripture and Language Statistics 2016.” Scripture Access Statistics. Wycliffe Global Alliance, Oct. 2016.
4 Campbell, Charlie H. “Can We Trust the Bible?” Always Be Ready Apologetics Ministry. Always Be Ready Apologetics Ministry, 2000-2016.
5 McDowell, Josh. Evidence That Demands a Verdict – Volume I. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1979, p. 43.
6 Geisler, Norman and Nix, William. General Introduction to the Bible. Chicago: Moody Publisher, 1986, p. 430.
7 Manning, Scott. “Process of Copying the Old Testament by Jewish Scribes.” Historian on the Warpath, 17 March 2007.
8 Cagle, Jeremy. “Was the Bible Copied Accurately?” justthesimpletruth. justthesimpletruth.com, 2006-2016.
9 The ESV Study Bible. Wheaton: Crossway, 2008. [utilized for all Bible references]
10 Campbell, Charlie H. “Can We Trust the Bible?” Always Be Ready Apologetics Ministry. Always Be Ready Apologetics Ministry, 2000-2016.
11 Ibid.
12 Habermas, Gary R. The Historical Jesus. Joplin: College Press Publishing Company, 1996, p. 187-242.
13 Wiseman, Donald J. “Archaeological Confirmation of the Old Testament.” Carl F.H. Henry, editor. Revelation and the Bible: Contemporary Evangelical Thought. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1958, p. 301.
14 Mykytiuk, Lawrence. “Archaeology Confirms 50 Real people in the Bible.” Biblical Archaeology Review. Biblical Archaeology Society. March/April 2014.
15 Campbell, Charlie H. “Can We Trust the Bible?” Always Be Ready Apologetics Ministry. Always Be Ready Apologetics Ministry, 2000-2016.
16 Geisler, Norman and Turek, Frank. I Don’t Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist. Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2004, p. 270.
17 Campbell, Charlie H. “Can We Trust the Bible?” Always Be Ready Apologetics Ministry. Always Be Ready Apologetics Ministry, 2000-2016.
18 Josephus, Flavius. Antiquities. (from Charlesworth, James H. Jesus Within Judaism, Garden City: Doubleday, 1988. p. 95.)
19 Habermas, Gary R. The Historical Jesus. Joplin: College Press Publishing Company, 1996, p. 187-207.
20 Foxe, John. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs.
