The Dead Sea Scrolls Point to Inerrancy

My husband and I were blessed to be able to see the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit that came to the Milwaukee Public Museum years ago. Seeing those manuscripts up close left me with a deeper reverence for the Bible. I know that what we read today is the same Bible that has been read by millions of people for thousands of years! The 1947 discovery of these scrolls is a great apologetic since there is overwhelming evidence substantiating the Old Testament copyists’ accuracy. 

Authors Geisler and Nix discuss in their book, “the result of comparative studies reveals that there is a word-for-word identity in more than 95 percent of the cases and the 5 percent variation consists mostly of slips of the pen and spelling.”¹ The Dead Sea Scrolls date from the 3rd century BCE to the first century CE.² Being that these scrolls are that old while retaining a high of percentage of accuracy is an excellent polemic against the liberal textual critics today who claim the copying of the scriptures have undergone radical revisions. This is now proven untrue.

Others have argued that since we don’t have the autographs, we cannot be sure that the Bible we have today is what the original authors wrote. But here is a fact of history – there are no original historical autographs from the ancient period. Once the manuscripts were carefully copied onto new scrolls, the older versions were systematically destroyed. That was just how it was done back then. Despite slight imperfections that did not change the meaning of the text (i.e mispellings or flipped numbers), the job of a scribe was technical, precise and thrived on accuracy. Strict rules were used to ensure the scriptures were copied scrupulously. The Dead Sea Scrolls attest to this accuracy.

If the Old Testament manuscripts were found to be that accurate, we can rest assured that the New Testament is also reliable not only because it was written much later in history, but because thousands of manuscripts have been recovered that textural critics use to compare and contrast ensuring the documents are accurate in our Bibles today.

As Geisler and Nix point out, the written word conveys truths in a precise manner, which is easier to preserve from corruption (despite slight copyist error) than oral tradition, explaining visions, dreams, or angelic visitations. The written word is a powerful tool, and it always will be.

With all the manuscripts available to us today, Geisler and Nix conclude that “no major document from antiquity comes into the modern world with such evidence of its integrity as does the Bible.”³ It saddens me that few in the West today take the time to open up the Bible and read it. 

“When all the facts are known, the Bible (in its original writings) properly interpreted in light of which culture and communication means had developed by the time of its composition will be shown to be completely true (and therefore not false) in all that it affirms, to the degree of precision intended by the author, in all matters relating to God and his creation.” – David Dockery (on the definition of inerrancy).⁴

So does inerrancy mean that scribes were perfect? No. There are many definitions of inerrancy but from my understanding, it means that the Bible teaches the truth and does not wander from it.⁵

1.  Norman L. Geisler and William E. Nix, A General Introduction to the Bible (Chicago: Moody Press, 1986).{Archer, Survey of the Old Testament Introduction, p. 44.}, 382.
2. Ibid, 360.
3. 365.
4. Crosswalk.com, “What Does Inerrancy” Mean? Sam Storms, Nov. 15, 2018.
5. Truth on these things: God as Creator, His interactions with humanity, and His method of salvation