Skeptics like to claim that the Bible has been changed so much that we can’t possibly know what was originally in it. This statement has undermined some people’s faith in the Bible as the Word of God. Thus, many may not bother to read it since it’s assumed to be full of errors.
According to a recent survey conducted by Lifeway, lots of Americans own a Bible but don’t read it. Could it be that people are influenced by the assumption made by these critics? Is this assumption true?
In a special, one-night only showing April 24, 2018, my husband and I watched the documentary, Fragments of Truth, which set out to answer the critics’ claims of corrupt transmission of the Biblical manuscripts. This film agreed with what I recently taught in a presentation regarding the reliability of Scripture.
One thing that I teach is that as Christians, we can no longer afford the trite saying, “…because the Bible tells me so!” Many simply don’t believe that anymore. The Bible is not viewed as a source of truth in a culture that has been secularized. We must “rethink” how we present the truth of the Bible to an ever-growing skeptical society. We must focus on its reliability as a historical document first.
The Reliability of Scripture
First off, the New Testament has more manuscript evidence than any other ancient text. Why is this important? It’s important because it allows textual critics to analyze all the manuscripts against each other to verify the accuracy of transmission with the oldest manuscripts available. Since there are many thousands of New Testament manuscripts, over 5,800 at recent count, scholars who know these ancient languages can reconstruct the wording to the original autographs. Yes, there are no original autographs of Scripture remaining, as to current discoveries. Although many of the originals survived much longer than our modern paperback books, ancient documents were not archival. Scribes had to copy the originals to preserve the texts. It is important to note that this is common for ALL ancient historical books. Everything we know of ancient Greek history, for example, comes from copied texts of originals.
Accuracy of Transmission
How do we know if Scribes got it right? With more copies available of an ancient text, the transmission is more reliable. Yes, scribes made spelling errors and flipped numbers occasionally, but those errors are easily corrected when comparing them to the numerous manuscript copies available. So, if John was spelled “Joan” in one manuscript, but spelled in four other documents correctly as “John,” which spelling do you think the textual critics go with? Of course! ‘John’ is the obvious correct spelling.
These are called Textual Variants, and variants are anywhere that one manuscript disagrees with another. These variants are mostly spelling errors (70%), flipped numbers or the words “Amen” inserted in some documents and left out of others. 99% of these variants do not affect doctrinal issues, according to expert in the field, Dr. Dan Wallace.
It’s important to note what these experts, like Wallace, do in this field of study. It is a complicated and detailed process. Transmission of ancient texts is not akin to the game of Telephone Tag, where one person whispers something in one person’s ear and then it goes around the circle to come out with a completely different meaning. Textual criticism is when scholars go back to the oldest manuscripts available to ensure that today’s copy of the Bible matches up to those.
When compared to other ancient documents, Homer’s Iliad has the second most amount of ancient manuscripts, with a bit over 650 known copies. (Notice that no one argues over whether the Trojan Horse story is accurately transmitted.) When compared to the Greek New Testament gospels, there are more than three-times the amount of manuscripts than the Iliad. Credible scholars agree that the New Testament is the most attested ancient document in history.
Early Dating
The closer the time-gap between when an original was written and the first copy made also validates the accuracy of transmission. Some skeptics claim that the copies of the New Testament were dated as late as two or three hundred years after the events of Christ’s life. This is not true! The John Rylands Library owns a fragment of John dated at about 125 AD. This fragment only dates from about 25 or 30 years after the Gospel of John. This is very early indeed. There is also talk of a recent find suggesting there is a fragment of Mark’s Gospel dated as early as 80 to 100 AD, but that is not been verified as of today.
According to Dr. Craig Evans in The Fragments of Truth movie, the original autographs may have lasted over 100 years. This means that they were still in circulation during the time that other eye-witnesses were alive to corroborate the stories, and also for others to compare the Gospel copies to the originals for accuracy. So, does all of this mean we can rest assured that we have what the original authors wrote? Yes it does!
The evidence shows that the accusation that the Bible has been radically changed over the centuries is false. Share on XThe Old Testament
The 1947 discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls verifies that 97-99% of the Old Testament has not been changed – it is the same as the copies we have today. In this collection of Biblical manuscripts, the Book of Isaiah, for example, is Carbon 14 dated to approximately 150 BC. (Remember, Isaiah contains prophecies of the Messiah that were fulfilled in the life of Jesus Christ. This also suggests the inspiration of Biblical texts.)
Keep posted for the 2nd half of this blog post, where I discuss the uniqueness of the Bible, the Canonization process, and why the Bible is relevant today.
I am so thankful we can trust the reliability of the Bible. Thanks for sharing the history behind our beloved Word of God.
Hi Heather! Thank you for your comment. When I first began to study this issue, I was a bit disappointed to find out that we didn’t have the original autographs of the Apostles (yet, we don’t have the originals of any ancient historical document!). However, after studying how the textual critics diligently work to ensure the accuracy of transmitting the ancient Bible manuscripts to our modern-day versions, I can rest assured that the words of our Lord have been preserved. Blessings to you, Lisa Q
Great post, Lisa. We really dropped the ball in passing along respect for scriptures. We need to know how to defend them now. Thanks for posting! God bless!
Hi Nancy! Yes, I think we did “drop the ball” when it comes to the Scriptures, but hopefully, with the grace of God, we can pick that ball up again and roll with it! Thanks for your comment. Bless you, Lisa Q
Hi Lisa!
Hope you’re doing great!
What I especially like about you as a blogger is that you rely heavily on the Christian tradition and defend a traditional view of Christianity. Perhaps I’m wrong, but that’s how you come across to me as a reader of your blog, and I really like that.
I’m familiar with the Lifeway-study and it’s interesting in many ways. You asked if it could be because they’re influenced by the critics, which you mentioned.
I think that’s worth thinking about; my add to that would be that I believe many Christians do more harm than good when they try to communicate Christianity with Bible verses etc. In short, my opinion is that this is not the way modern people think, and Bible verses without a context is the most dangerous thing we can get involved in.
I think many non-believers don’t like to read the Bible because they have too many memories of people who have used the Bible with a word-by-word approach. Although I’ve been Christian all my life, I’ve met so many ‘good Christians’ where I think, no this is not the way we’re supposed to use the Bible.
I don’t know if this is aligned with what you say about the “. . . because the Bible tells me so!”
What you write about in this blog post is THE MOST IMPORTANT topic I can think of among Christian bloggers. I’m pleased to see that you’ve written about it here.
My favourite argument in this discussion is the fact that our calendar is based on Christianity 🙂
Job well done!
God bless!
Edna Davidsen
Hi Edna,
Thank you for your comments. I agree 100% with your statement that: “Bible verses without a context is the most dangerous thing we can get involved in.” Context is SO important, so we need good Bible scholars that can teach the stories in the Bible not only within the context of the verses but with a knowledge of the culture in which it was written, too. The bottom line, however, is that what is written in our Bibles today is the real deal – these are the words penned by the Apostles and inspired by the Holy Spirit. The words are life-changing for the believer!
Thanks again and God bless you, too!
Lisa Q
Hello Lisa
Wow you would make a brilliant researcher. A lot of work went into this post.
My first bible was shredded from overuse but as the years went by I started to leave it to the side. These days I rely on the voice – not so much on the letter.
But it is vitally important to test what you hear because scripture does keep you honest.
Great post looking forward to No 2
Thanks, Tony! I just finished a Master’s degree in Apologetics and research is still very fresh to me. I had to do a ton of research papers during my studies! I learned SO much in that process, and now I get to share it with you guys. Blessings! Lisa Q
This is so great! So encouraging to hear all the evidence. It truly is amazing how well preserved the Bible is!!
Excellent presentation! It is my belief that these facts should be taught on a regular rotating basis in all of our Sunday schools for older elementary children and on up to the adults. That would be a fine task for any pastor to take on and incorporate into their church. This is essential information. We schooled our children in these facts. Thank you for this clear explanation of textual criticism and the ages of the copies. I’ve been able to see some of these at the University of Michigan, and it’s a joy to stand on the other side of the glass from ancient papyri and to be able to read excerpts in Greek from a letter from Paul that is part of our Bible.
Thanks Melinda! I agree that this stuff should be taught in our churches because we’re loosing lots of young people because of their lack of a basic apologetics training. Once folks realize how reliable the Bible is, and how many evidences there are to show that Christianity is a “thinkers religion” not based on blind faith, but good reasoning, I think we’d see more people remaining steadfast.
My husband and I were blessed to see an exhibit several years ago of the actual Dead Sea Scrolls. That was fascinating to see, for example, parts of the great book of Isaiah.
Amen. We need to share with each other that God’s Word is the truth. His Word can’t be changed. All Scripture is from Him. Great post. 🙂
I LOVE this post! I took a Bible class in college and learned a few of these things, but wow this post is so rich in history and truth. It’s so encouraging to hear this and find confidence that what I’m reading IS the truth and IS accurate. Thank you for this!
Thanks, Sydney, for your comment. To know my blog has blessed you is a blessing to me! Yes, it is a good thing to know the truths of the Bible not only spiritually, but intellectually. We live in a time of great skepticism, where truth is not even considered something definable, so it is goes for Christians to know truth is definable in our faith.
This is great! It’s so true that we need to reach beyond giving simple answers to complex questions. I believe this is one reason why some young people leave church once they move out or head to college. They are bombarded with real, heavy realities in the grown up world, & we need to be able to offer more than the Sunday school answers they’ve already heard. I am a millennial, & I work at a college, so I see this often.
Thanks for writing this!
Thanks, Elizabeth! I think the statistics have shown you are right in why some young people are leaving the church. So, we need to be able to give them good answers for why Christianity is true and how the Bible is reliable. Hopefully, that will help those who struggle with doubt. God bless you!
Before I became a believer, I had these skeptical thoughts about the Bible. However now as a believer, I believe that the Bible is 100% inspired and accurate. I love the AMP, NKJV, and NASB versions the most.
Thanks great, Milton. Having skeptical thoughts about our faith is normal. There are great answers backing up the Christian faith like no other. Evidence for the reliability of the Bible is the foundational truth for believing everything else about Christianity.
There is a new Bible version you might be interested in obtaining, too. It is the NET Bible (http://netbible.com). It’s a new version that incorporates all the recent manuscript findings, making the Bible even more accurate to the oldest discoveries yet. Bless you!