Is the Bible Credible?

Who Is the Author of the Bible?

The Christian Bible is a compilation of 66 books divided into two categories: the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament consists of 39 books written by prophets and some kings of Israel, recording the law of God, the history of Israel, and prophecies. The New Testament comprises 27 books written by the apostles of Jesus, testifying about Jesus Christ and prophecies about the last age.

The first book of the Bible, Genesis, was mainly written by the prophet Moses 3,500 years ago, and the last book, Revelation, was written by the apostle John 2,000 years ago. Thus, the Bible was written over 1,500 years through different people’s hands and in different languages. Although the 66 books of the Bible were written by different individuals in different languages and ages, the ideas did not originate from the men who wrote the Bible but from God (2 Peter 1:19-21). We can understand this through an analogy: A rich man hires a lawyer to write his will, and the lawyer documents everything the rich man says. After it is finished, who is the author of the written will? Obviously, the rich man is, as the idea came from him, even though it was written by the lawyer.

The Purpose of the Bible

Many people think the Bible is a book about the history of Israel or a guide for moral values. Beyond these, the Bible serves a more critical role. It is an instruction manual that guides us to achieve a goal, which is to receive salvation and enter heaven (1 Peter 1:9).

Heaven is a place without pain and sorrow, where there is only eternal happiness (Revelation 21:4). This is difficult for people to believe because pain and suffering are prevalent in this world, and everything is perishable. It may also be hard to believe that the true author of the Bible is God, as we cannot see God, and science, being limited, is not yet able to prove the existence of the spiritual world.

To help people believe, God included a lot of evidence, including scientific facts and prophecies, in the Bible. The creator of everything made known to us scientific facts before scientists discovered and proved them. God, who knows the end from the beginning, also revealed what will happen in the future so that when it happens, we can believe in Him and the Bible (John 14:29).

The Bible Precedes Science

Some people think religions, including Christianity, are contrary to science. They believe that if we trust science, we should not believe in the Bible. However, the Bible is not against science; it even precedes it.

In the Bible, the Job taught us that the earth is suspended over empty space:

Job 26:7 He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing.

The Book of Job was recorded 3,500 years ago. At that time, no one could imagine the earth was suspended in empty space. Ancient India, for example, thought the earth was carried on the back of Kurma the tortoise, or The World Turtle. Ancient Greece believed the earth was carried by Titan Atlas. It became common knowledge only after the 17th century when Isaac Newton discovered the law of universal gravitation. Thus, the Bible revealed this fact 3,000 years ahead of science.

The Book of Job also recorded the water cycle (Job 36:27) 3,500 years ago, which was proven by scientists Perrault and Marriotte in the 16th and 17th centuries. There are more examples in the Bible showing it was ahead of science. The Bible describes that God is the creator of earth (Isaiah 45:18). Thus, it is natural that these facts are known to God who revealed it to the prophets.

The Bible Is a Book of Prophecy

The Bible also contains many prophecies, and the prophecies have all been fulfilled. So the remaining prophecies about the future will also be fulfilled.

In the ancient world, the powerful Babylonian Empire waged a devastating campaign against the kingdom of Judah. In 586 BCE, Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II besieged Jerusalem, leading to its fall. The city was ravaged, and Solomon’s Temple was destroyed. The Babylonians captured many Jews, forcing them into exile in Babylon, a period known as the Babylonian Captivity or Exile.

Decades later, the geopolitical landscape shifted when the Persian Empire, under King Cyrus the Great, rose to power. In 539 BCE, Cyrus conquered Babylon, ending the Babylonian Empire. This conquest set the stage for a remarkable fulfilment of prophecy.

Written around 740-681 BCE, the book of Isaiah contained a prophecy mentioning Cyrus by name:

Isaiah 45:1-3, 13 Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him… I will go before you and level the exalted places… I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron… I have stirred him up in righteousness, and I will make all his ways level; he shall build my city and set my exiles free, not for price or reward, says the Lord of hosts.

Astounded by this prophecy, written approximately 170 years before his reign, Cyrus, though a gentile, acknowledged the divine inspiration behind the scripture. Moved by Isaiah’s words and perhaps seeing himself as an instrument of God, he issued a decree that changed the course of Jewish history. He proclaimed the release of the Israelites from their captivity and authorised the reconstruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. This momentous event is documented in the biblical Book of Ezra:

Ezra 1:1-2 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia… he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

This extraordinary alignment between prophecy and historical events is a powerful testament to the Bible’s reliability and prophetic nature. The specific naming of Cyrus and the detailed prediction of his actions serve as a compelling example of fulfilled prophecy. This story underscores the belief that the Bible is not only a historical document but also a book of divinely inspired prophecies, many of which believers affirm have been fulfilled with remarkable accuracy.

(Supplementary reading: The Bible is Fact)

Is the Old Testament Bible Today a Modified or Altered Version?

In the earlier part of this article, we used the prophecies of Cyrus and the scientific facts found in the Old Testament to demonstrate that the Bible is factual. However, since the Old Testament was written several thousand years ago, it is crucial to address its credibility. The question of whether the Old Testament we read today has remained unchanged from its original form is significant for both religious adherents and scholars. Two key points provide strong evidence for the Old Testament’s consistency over millennia: the Jewish tradition of scripture transmission and the findings from the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Jewish Tradition and the Old Testament

The Old Testament, also known as the Hebrew Bible, is the sacred scripture of Judaism. According to Jewish tradition, the copying these texts were carried out with meticulous care to ensure each new copy was an exact replica of the original. Scribes, known as “soferim,” followed stringent guidelines, including counting the letters and words to avoid discrepancies. This tradition underscores the commitment to preserving the text accurately.

To verify the Old Testament’s consistency, one can compare the current Hebrew Bible with ancient Jewish scriptures. The Jewish community has preserved these texts with remarkable fidelity, and the observed consistency supports the argument that the Old Testament has not been altered over time.

The Dead Sea Scrolls

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls between 1947 and 1956 provided an unprecedented opportunity to assess the Bible’s textual integrity. These scrolls, which date from the third century BCE to the first century CE, include some of the oldest known copies of biblical texts.

Scholarly analysis of the Dead Sea Scrolls has shown that the Hebrew Bible we use today is remarkably consistent with these ancient manuscripts. For instance, the Isaiah Scroll from Qumran (1QIsa) is virtually identical to the Masoretic Text, the authoritative Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible, with only minor variations that do not affect the overall meaning. This finding suggests that the Bible has been transmitted with high accuracy over the centuries.

The Integrity of the New Testament

Given the evidence proving the Old Testament’s consistency, we must also consider the New Testament’s integrity. Several points support the claim that the New Testament we read today is the original, unaltered version.

Manuscript Evidence

The New Testament is one of the best-documented works of antiquity. There are over 5,800 Greek manuscripts, 10,000 Latin manuscripts, and 9,300 manuscripts in various other ancient languages, including Syriac, Slavic, Gothic, Ethiopic, Coptic, and Armenian. The sheer number of manuscripts allows for cross-referencing and comparison, ensuring the text’s accuracy and integrity.

Early Church Fathers

The writings of the early Church Fathers, such as Ignatius, Clement, and Polycarp, contain numerous quotations from the New Testament. By comparing these quotations with modern versions, scholars have confirmed the consistency of the New Testament text over time.

Textual Criticism

Textual criticism is a scholarly method used to reconstruct the original text of the New Testament based on the available manuscripts. Through this rigorous process, scholars have identified and corrected scribal errors, ensuring that the New Testament we read today is as close to the original as possible.

Codex Discoveries

Significant discoveries such as the Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus, dating back to the 4th century, provide substantial evidence for the New Testament’s textual integrity. These codices contain nearly complete versions of the New Testament, and their comparison with modern texts shows remarkable consistency.

Conclusion

The Bible’s credibility as an unaltered and divinely inspired text is supported by substantial evidence. The meticulous tradition of scripture transmission, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the wealth of manuscript evidence for both the Old and New Testaments all contribute to the argument that the Bible has been preserved with remarkable accuracy over millennia. Additionally, the Bible’s inclusion of scientific facts ahead of their discovery and the fulfilment of detailed prophecies underscore its divine inspiration. Therefore, the Bible stands not only as a historical record but also as a guide given by God to receive salvation and eternal happiness. This combination of historical, scientific, and prophetic evidence provides a robust foundation for the belief that the Bible we read today is a reliable and unmodified version of the original texts.