“We have a reliable collection of historical documents written down by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses. They reported supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophesies and claimed that their writings are divine in nature rather than of human origin.”
Voddie Baucham
The foundation of our faith is, of course, Jesus Christ and the sacrifice He made for all of us. The gospel is Jesus Christ, who was fully God and fully man and was born of the virgin Mary. He lived a perfect and sinless life while teaching the true nature of God and was wrongfully beaten, tried, and convicted of blasphemy. He was crucified, died, was buried, and rose again. He commissioned His followers to spread the teachings He had given, ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead and to bring the Kingdom of God and eternal life to all who have believed in Him.
But how is it that we know that is the gospel? Because those followers that He told to share His teachings either wrote them or had them written, or others who witnessed what Jesus did wrote them or had them written. They, combined with the Scriptures of the Old Testament, are what we call our Bible.
But how can we really trust the Bible?
The most compelling physical evidence is the manuscripts and copies of manuscripts that we have. The New Testament Greek manuscripts that we have total approximately 5,800. These books were written from 50-100 AD, and our earliest manuscripts date back to 130 AD. Comparing the Bible we have today with the manuscripts found of the Old and New Testaments; it is 99.5% accurate. This means that the Bible is trustworthy: "The textual evidence is greater for both the Old and New Testaments than any other historically reliable ancient document.”1 Obviously, there is more textual evidence for the New Testament, but the New Testament points back to the Old Testament on many different occasions and vice versa. Logically, then, if we can trust Jesus, who claims to be God, of whom John says in his Gospel, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1), and who Himself often quotes the Old Testament, the Old Testament must be reliable as well. This points to the Bible's divine inspiration, which Mr. Baucham spoke of in the quote at the beginning of this blog. That’s what we will discuss next.
Now, let’s take a look at the last line of the quote from Voddie Baucham, where he says, “They…..claimed their writings are divine in nature rather than human origin.” That would bring me to my next item, which is the motivation or inspiration of those who wrote about Jesus. We have multiple authors with consistent stories writing about and through the divine inspiration of God, the Holy Spirit. Those who wrote these books and epistles were not motivated other than by the divine. They did not profit from them. They were not elevated in fame.
Quite the contrary, the people who wrote these books were persecuted. Many were martyred for their faith in Christ and for spreading the gospel. As a matter of fact, they knew that it would happen. Jesus told them in Matthew 10:22, You will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. Those who proclaimed the gospel knew from the start they would be hated. That would be enough for most people back then, and especially now, to say, “Nah, I am good. I will just love Jesus by myself and not risk it.” But to know that they knew they were going to be hated and then took that truth with them to the grave, in some cases horrible deaths, is an even greater testimony to how strongly they believed who Jesus was and is.
I have a 7-year-old boy who is super stubborn, and he will hold his lie as long as anyone. But he cracks under questioning most of the time and under the threat of being unable to go outside and catch lizards (one of his favorite things to do) the rest of the time. These men held on to something so tightly they were willing to be beaten and martyred for it. I know no one who claimed firsthand knowledge of something would die for a lie if it didn’t benefit them in some way (if I do this, my family will be taken care of or something like that). These men gained nothing in this world. But what they did gain was even greater: the promise that Jesus gave in the second half of Matthew 10:22, ... but the one who stands firm till the end will be saved. To do that, they had to believe who Jesus was, who He claimed to be, and what He did in front of them. They had to believe all the things recorded in the Bible.
Next, I would like to look at the Gospel of Luke. Luke was not a disciple. He was most likely a gentile physician, a well-educated man. Scholars point to his absolute command of the Greek language as a sign of his education. Of course, Paul calls him the beloved physician in Colossians 4:14. You may wonder why I chose Luke over Matthew or John when they are actual eyewitnesses. The answer is that Luke is more like us in his pursuit of Christ. He didn’t have the opportunity to see what Jesus said and did firsthand, so he had to go to different sources. The beginning of his Gospel starts like this:
Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
Luke 1:1-4 NIV
Many things can be taken from this simple introduction.
Many had written about what they saw and experienced with Jesus. See the writings of Mathew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, and Paul in your Bible. He is saying that many people are talking about this and taking account of everything they have seen. Eyewitnesses and those who heard from eyewitnesses. This is how we date this close to the time of Christ. He says as much, saying, Eyewitnesses and servants of the word.
He then goes on to say, With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. Luke heard all these stories. He investigated and put together his orderly account.
See, he had to do exactly what each follower of Jesus must do; you must put together the evidence in an orderly way to give you certainty of the things you have been taught.
There is far more evidence. The historicity of Jesus. The 500 eyewitnesses who saw Him raised from the dead. Christianity growing in such a way that Emperor Nero, who hated Christians, reportedly tried to blame the Christian people for the great Roman fire of 64 AD (only approximately 30 years after Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection). Paul meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus and going from being the chief persecutor of Christians to one of the champions of the faith.
As you may have noted, I have not used many scriptural references, and that is only because I believe (and many may disagree) that it is a logical fallacy to try to prove the trustworthiness of something based on itself. However, there is a lot to be said about the many authors who have written many books over the course of thousands of years, all of whom agree and point to one person, Jesus Christ. That is hard proof of the trustworthiness of something.
This entire blog was me listing ways you can know that the Bible is trustworthy. But as pastor Cliff Knechtle, whose videos I enjoy watching when he goes to college campuses, says,
“You would be a fool to follow Jesus because I tell you to. Go look at the gospel, look at the personhood of Jesus Christ and the absolutely perfect moral teachings, research him for yourself, and make your own decision.”
So, to sum up all of this, sit down with the Bible and ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you through the words on the pages. Put aside the preconceived notions about the Bible and just let God open your eyes to His wisdom and shut down all earthly knowledge. I had attended church, seen the Bible, and read some Scriptures, but until I encountered God personally on a bike ride to work a little over 13 years ago, the Bible was just a book.
After I encountered the living God and realized that He was the same God that my Bible preaching pastors and the little bit of Bible wisdom I had gained pointed to, that is when I knew I could trust the Bible. That is when I knew that it was the living Word. That is when I knew that it must be God who allows you to see the trustworthiness of His Word, not man. My prayer is that you will have your own unique and very personal encounter with God and learn these truths for yourself. It will change your life.
FOOTNOTES: