Articles - The Authenticity of the Bible
Date: Jan 29, 2019

The Authenticity of the Bible

Many a times we as Christians often don’t push back when people say the bible is made up and books like the Da Vinci code question the Word of God and it’s authenticity.  Despite hearing sermons every Sunday we don’t seem to take the message in. Despite having Bibles in our homes, we doubt our Bibles and our Christ. Let us explore the Bible, the book that can help us understand our purpose on Earth and the love of the Father.

Is the Bible authentic?What are the evidences of the Bible’s genuineness? How do we know if the Bible we have todayis the same one written thousands of years ago? Many times, we have been asked by friendsto explain ‘’what authority the Bible had?’’. When faced with such questions it has led us to question our belief in the Bible and has made us feel insecure.

And why is this important? If we do not believe in the authenticity of the Bible, then we will not believe that the Bible is the word of God. And we will miss that incredible gift that God gave for us – our Lord Jesus Christ. We explored this topic in detail in our teenage fellowship class.

What does scripture say about the Bible; what is the Canon & how were the books put together; that strange set of books the Apocrypha; how does the old & new testament compare with the other books of history and ancient writings in reliability, accuracy and authenticity and did the dead sea scrolls weaken or strengthen the already existing books of the Bible?

Let’s start with what the bible says about itself and How did Jesus use the Bible?  As we read in Matthew 4:4Jesus answered Satan and resisted temptation by referring to the scripture. Jesus showed us the need to rely on spiritual food rather than physical food.

Deuteronomy 4:2 says‘You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you This verse emphasises God’s authority. It shows how scripture is inspired by God and merely written by humans.

2 Peter 1:20-21 reads “No prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. Although they used their own minds, talents, language and style, they wrote what God wanted them to write”.

In 1 Timothy 3:16-17 it says ‘’all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good works’’. We are to believe so that we can live in the way God wants us to.

The author of Hebrews makes it clear that God’s word is to help us understand right from wrong as it says in Chapter 4 verse 12 “for the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.’’ The imagery used shows us that word of God is simply not a collection of words from God, but it has dynamic and life-changing words which penetrate to the core of our hearts. With the incisiveness of a surgeon’s knife, God’s word truly reveals who we are. It is through being aware of this which will allow us to fulfil God’s purpose and allow us to lead meaningful lives within this world.

But the question we need to ask ourselves is – Do we really believe that the Bible is the word of God? 

Let’s look at the compiling of the canon, which is our modern-dayBible. So, what is scripture? Scripture, simply put means authoritative writing. What is the canon? The Canon is a list of authoritative writings. The word ‘canon’ comes from the Hebrew and Greek word meaning a ‘reed’ or ‘cane’. Simply put… it is a measuring stick. It came to be applied to the Scriptures, to denote that they contained the authoritative rule of faith and practice, the standard of doctrine and duty. A book is said to be of canonical authority when it has a right to take a place in the scriptures.

Determining the canon was a process conducted first by Jewish Rabbis and scholars and later by early Christians. However, it is crucial to understand that it was ultimately God who decided what books belonged in the biblical canon. A book of Scripture belonged in the canon from the moment God inspired its writing. It was simply a matter of God pointing His creation which books should be included in the Bible in the power of His Holy Spirit.

In the first and second centuries after Christ, many writings and epistles were circulating among the Christians. Some of the churches were using books and letters in their services that were false. Gradually the need to have a definite list of the inspired Scriptures became apparent. Heretics were starting to circulate their own collection of what they thought was the "authoritative" writing. There was a need to know. The Emperor Diocletian also persecuted the Church with intensity. He ordered that the Scriptures be burned in 303 AD. This highlighted the need to know which of the books were really God-given and worth dying for.

Heretical movements were rising, each one choosing its own selected Scriptures, including such documents as the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary, the Apocalypse of Peter, the Epistle of Barnabas, etc.

Therefore, due to the disputes, the books had to go through a special process to maximise its effectiveness. The following 5 tests were used:

  1. Was it authoritative? - did it come from the hand of God?
  2. Was it prophetic? -was it written by a man of God?
  3. Was it authentic? Basically, the fathers had the attitude of "if in doubt, throw it out" policy. This helped enhance the "validity of their discernment of canonical books."
  4. Is it dynamic? -did it come with the life-transforming power of God?
  5. Was it received, collected, read and used? - was it accepted by the people of God?

Now let us look at the reliability of the Old Testament manuscripts.The Jewish sacrificial system was ended due to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 A.D. This had led to the Jews being scattered and this had developed a need to determine which books were the authoritative writings. 

The Jews became a people of one Book and it was this Book that kept them together. So while they gathered together in 90AD (in the Council of Jamnia) it was to confirm what was already in place as early as 150B.C.

Compared to the New Testament, there was much less controversy over the canon of the Old Testament. Hebrew believers recognized God’s messengers and accepted their writings as inspired by God. Similarly, we as Christians should listen to God’s word to be instrumental in living a life that God want us to.

Ever wondered what the Tanak is?  Well the Jewish scriptures are in 3 big buckets The Law, called the Torah, the Nebhiim which are the writings of the prophets and the Kethubhim, which are other writings like the Psalms, proverbs, etc.  This is also the reason why our old testament and the Jewish scriptures have a different order of the books.  The T from the Torah, the N from Nebhiim and the K from the Kethubhim are taken to form the word Tanak – which is actually TNK because the Hebrew language has no vowels.

 

Look at the incredible accuracy of scribes who copied the scriptures. The scribes continued copying and writing scriptures after the temples were destroyed in 70AD and these books continued to be read in temples. By AD 900 the Masocretes had their texts complete.  When the dead sea scrolls, were discovered, some manuscripts were dated as old as 150BC. And when they compared it to the Masocretic texts, the accuracy of these texts with the Dead Sea scrolls were 95%!  A 1,000 years later – copied from memory without cut and paste and google – 95%! Isn’tthat awesome?

The Apocrypha is only accepted by the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches.  The Apocrypha is part of the Old Testament in these churches. The Jewish scriptures do not have them. The Apocrypha failed the 5 tests of Canonisation. While Jesus constantly quoted from the Old Testament never once has Jesus or the New Testament writers quoted from the Apocrypha. Furthermore, the protestant church believes that there are several false teachings in the Apocrypha such as forgiveness of sins via almsgiving.So, it deviates from the central theme of Christianity – salvation by Grace by the death of Christ on the Cross.

It was at the Council of Hippo and Carthage where the 27 books of the New Testament as we know it was confirmed.  There are 13000 complete and incomplete Greek & other language copies which have survived antiquity.No other work from classical antiquity has such attestation. Other than 12-20 exceptions in texts scholars agree on the texts and the words in the New Testament. 

How many of us believe in Caesar’s Gaelic wars?Or what about what Aristotle said or Homer’s Illiad or what Tacitus the historian wrote of the Roman period? 

Many historians and philosophers would stake their life on it and most of us believe it. Guess how much evidence there is regarding Caesar’s Gaelic Wars?  The documentary historical evidence of Caesar and his Gaelic wars is less than 10 copies!!And this is the important bit. The earliest available copy is in 900 AD. That is 1,000 years after the event took place. 1000 years later!! And only 10 copies – but we believe Casee and the Gaelic wars.

Contrast that with the manuscripts there are of the New Testament? There are 5,686 historical Greek manuscripts of the New Testament today.These New Testament manuscripts have 99.5% accuracy,with only minor mistakes in spelling and punctuation. And they were written within less than a 100 years of our Lord’s resurrection!! And we doubt the word of God? How dare we?

 

An example ofmodern-day evidence are the Dead Sea Scrolls. Just over 70 years ago in 1947, in an obscure cave in the Dead Sea, Bedouin shepherds discovered some scrolls carefully placed in ten jars. Thoroughly confused, these shepherds went to a local dealer and sold the scrolls. This was the opening chapter to an astonishing archaeological find; eventually some 800 different manuscripts would be found in eleven caves near the valley called Wadi Qumran.  60,000 fragments, portions, or complete scrolls of these 800 manuscripts were retrieved, covering many subjects. So as these scrolls were painstakingly unrolled and translated, biblical scholars and Christians everywhere wondered what the results would be. Would they be contradictory?

 

Even though not all the scrolls are unrolled and translated more than half century later, the answers are coming clear. The texts are amazingly like the documents we already have. The variations are less than two percent, and not a single teaching or doctrine of the Bible we have is altered. Rather than posing a threat to the Christian faith, the Dead Sea Scroll, in fact, provided convincing support for the genuineness of God’s revelation as given to us in the Bible.So what were the variations? – well it’s spelling mistakes, prepositions, articles etc – no variation from content.

 

So how did the Bibleget translated into what we have today? The first complete English-language version of the Bible dates back to 1382 and was credited to John Wycliffe and his followers. About the time of the invention of printing in 1450, there were only 33 different translations of the Bible. By about 1800 the number had risen to 71. By the late 20th century the entire Bible had been translated into more than 250 languages, and portions of the Bible had been published in more than 1,300 of the world’s languages. What an incredible journey.

So,let us not have any doubts about this incredible book which reveals God, our personal and loving Father.The Bible is not a history book, but it has been validated in history – including archaeology. The reality is that some people still don’t treat it as the Word of God. We can have doubts about interpretation or queries and clarifications about what is in the Bible.  But, we cannot have any doubt about its authenticity or reliability – because if we do, by the same standards, we will need to reject all books of antiquity.

Let us not just read this great book but understand every verse and allow God to read to us.May it help us to imitate our Lord Jesus in fending off temptations by using the word of God. Let us open our hearts to allow God to speak to us to help judge our thoughts and attitudes and help us to realise that all of scripture is inspired by God – it is God-breathed. Treat it with respect and honour. By reading this incredible book, we can find the true meaning and purpose of our life amidst the challenges and confusions that we confrontdailyand be a witness to Jesus in this world. 

 

VERSE OF THE DAY

[John the Baptist said when asked if he was the Christ, the Messiah:] "I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him. The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete."

John 3:28-29

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