Christians believe that the Bible is God’s Word and therefore true in all that it teaches. But many in our culture today are asking, “Why do you believe that the Bible is true?” To make a case for the truthfulness of the Bible, we can look to history, authorship and content.
The Bible is historically accurate: manuscripts
When it comes to ancient history, the New Testament far surpasses any other ancient document in regard to its historical reliability. This means we can be confident that the Bible we have in our hands today accurately reflects what was originally written down.
There are two ways that historians go about testing the reliability of an ancient document. First, they count the number of manuscripts that we have found for any given document. A manuscript is an ancient, handwritten copy. The more copies, the more reliable the attestation. Then, they date those manuscripts. The older the manuscript, the more reliable the copy is because of its proximity to the original writing and events.
For the New Testament, we have thousands more manuscripts than any other ancient document. Furthermore, the manuscripts that we have found are closer to the original writing and events than any other ancient document. This data is confirmed by expert historians from all walks of life, not only Christians. These are known facts, undisputed within the field of ancient historical analysis.
The Bible is historically accurate: variants
A question often posed in regard to the accuracy of the Bible is, “What about all the changes that have been made to the Bible over the years?” This question implies that there have been intentional changes to the Bible that have altered the meaning of the text. But this is not true.
The manuscripts we have of the New Testament documents do have variants in them, but these variants must be understood for what they are. A variant is essentially an ancient typo. And since we have thousands more manuscripts than any other ancient document, we have found more variants in the New Testament manuscripts compared with other ancient works. However, these variants do not change the meaning of the text. They are copyist errors that include slips of the pen, spelling differences and variations in word order. The latter may sound concerning unless we understand that in Koine Greek, the original language of the New Testament, word order does not change the meaning of the text.
The Bible is historically accurate: copies
Another doubt often raised is, “Since we only have copies, how do we know what the originals really said?” Textual criticism is the painstakingly, arduous task of pouring over each manuscript in order to identify every single variant that exists between manuscripts. By identifying the differences between the copies, the agreement is also highlighted. This agreement reveals the original message. When it comes to the New Testament, we have full agreement in all areas except for inconsequential variants that do not alter the meaning of the text and make up less than 1 percent of our textual data.
The Bible was written by trusted eyewitnesses
When a person is called into court as an eyewitness, their character is often examined because it bears weight upon their testimony. Some critics of the Bible have called into question the testimony of the Apostles by attempting to smear their reputation.
There are at least three ways to verify the Apostles’ testimony as trustworthy: They included evidence against interest, they lacked any motive for lying, and they were willing to risk their lives and even die for their testimony.
Lawyers call the inclusion of embarrassing details in one’s testimony evidence against interest. The Apostles include many embarrassing details about themselves that would not be included if they were attempting to make up a story to attract an audience. For example, they include the fact that some of the disciples fell asleep during Jesus’ time of greatest need. They claim that it was women who first witnessed Jesus’ empty tomb, even though women in the first century were distrusted and not permitted to provide testimony. It is also written that Peter denied Christ a total of three times! One of those times was in response to the questions of a female servant. Certainly these men were committed to telling the truth.
J. Warner Wallace, former homicide detective and expert in eyewitness testimony, explains that there are only three reasons people ever lie: power, lust or money. In other words, people lie when there is something to gain. The first disciples of Jesus did not gain any of these things by preaching about the risen Lord. In fact, they lost every worldly gain you can imagine. Some left stable work as fishermen to go on the road with Jesus. All of them were committed to a life of purity as followers of Christ. And Paul left a position of great power to preach the gospel, which resulted in hunger, beatings and imprisonment. Simon Greenleaf, former lawyer and professor at Harvard Law School writes, “[If] their testimony was not true, there was no possible motive for its fabrication.”
The Apostles of Jesus faced many hardships, but the greatest sacrifice they made was with their very own lives. When the people in Caesarea pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem for fear he would be harmed, he answered them by saying, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 21:13). Paul was later beheaded for his testimony.
The Bible is true in its content
We can recognize the truth of the Bible by observing how what it teaches lines up with what we experience in our everyday lives. God’s Word begins with a perfect creation where human beings are in complete harmony with God, nature and each other. It concludes by describing a day in the future when all things will be set right again. It is universally true that human beings long for such things as relational harmony and the setting right of all things. As C.S. Lewis pondered, “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world” (Mere Christianity).
The Bible teaches us that there is something very wrong with the world. So wrong, in fact, that the holy and perfect Son of God had to enter time and sacrifice Himself in order to make things right again. We all look around at the world and recognize evil. Not all worldviews affirm that evil is real, however, but the Bible does. God’s Word validates our heart cries in response to evil and acknowledges that we are rightly devastated by its consequences.
Jesus taught that the source of evil is the human heart (Mark 7:20–23). The honest person knows his heart is far from perfect. People desperately want to be better than they are but continue to fall short. The prophet’s words ring true when we read, “The heart is deceitful above all things … who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9).
Our culture today is wrought with anxiety, depression and fear — all manifestations of the sin nature we have inherited. We long to be rescued from the evil all around us as well as from the evil within us. God’s Word explains how this longing can be realized. In Christ, we can be forgiven for our sins, reconciled to God, experience harmony in our relationships, and live in light of the promise of full redemption one day.
— Faith Thompson earned her M.A. degree in Christian Apologetics from Veritas Evangelical Seminary. She serves as a director with Ratio Christi, an apologetics ministry serving high school and university students. Thompson is passionate about helping believers learn how to offer an intellectually robust defense for Christ. She also leads evangelism trainings that address the most common roadblocks for believers today.