The Reliability of Scripture

How do we know that the Bible is reliable? How do we know that the Bible we have is anything like the Bible that was originally written for its original audiences? How much of the accuracy of the Bible has been lost in the ancient multiple copies of it that have been made? How much accuracy has been lost in the many translations that it has gone through? This is an important subject for the serious Bible Student. I recommend two good books on the subject: The New Testament Documents by F.F. Bruce and The Story of the Bible by Larry Stone.

Any ancient writing confirms its authenticity by the number of manuscripts and the accuracy and dating of those manuscripts. The Old Testament is a remarkable collection of documents preserved by the Hebrew people over thousands of years. Archaeological discoveries such as the Dead Sea Scrolls confirm many parts of the Old Testament. These scrolls were preserved for centuries in clay pots, which were remarkably effective at preserving them.

 There are nearly 5000 manuscripts for the New Testament. The amazing thing is that many of these early manuscripts date back only a few hundred years from the original writing. The New Testament has more historical support than many other ancient historical works. For example, Caesar’s Gallic War, Tacitus’s Histories, Thucydides’ History, Herodotus’s History, Plato, and Aristotle, to mention a few, have only a few manuscripts. And these manuscripts were written much later. Rarely do people question the authenticity of these historical works or the classics. At the same time, there are few documents to attest to their authenticity, unlike the Bible, Sir Frederic writes in F.F. Bruce’s book mentioned above: 

The interval then between the dates of original composition and the earliest extant evidence becomes so small as to be in fact negligible, and the last foundation for any doubt that the Scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written has now been removed. Both the authenticity and the general integrity of the books of the New Testament may be regarded as finally established.

 How were the sixty-six books placed in the Bible? We owe the first division, the Old Testament to the Jewish People. However, the second division, the New Testament, was chosen or canonized by two church councils, Hippo Regius in 393 and Carthage in 397 AD. However, these books were confirmed by these councils as those that the churches had accepted. They were books that proved superior in their writing, their quality, and acceptance for many years. Truly, it was the work of the Holy Spirit putting the New Testament in its present form.