Theology 101

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Can I Trust My Bible?Reliability of the Old
New Testament
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Question

• What specific issues have you heard raised
  against the reliability of the Bible as an
  historical document?
• Why might it be important to establish it as
  historically before getting into defending it
  being Gods Word?

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• Christian Faith is not an irrational leap.
  Examined objectively, the claims of the Bible are
  rational propositions well supported by reason
  and evidence. Chuck Colson
• Defend the Bible? I would as soon defend a lion!
  Unchain it and it will defend itself. 
• Charles Spurgeon

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Before we begin

• Do not get bogged down in the details. I am not
  expecting you to remember all of them, but just
  be aware that they exist.
• Think about questions you would have regarding
  some of these things and think through the
  information.
• It is good to just know that there is support so
  that you dont get tossed by every wind of
  doubt.

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Tests of Reliability

• Bibliographical
• How many copies?
• How early are those copies (distance of dates)?
• External evidence
• What do other authors say that were writing at
  the same time?
• What archeological/historical evidence do we have
  for/against the report of this document?
• Internal evidence
• What does the document claim to be?
• Is that message consistent throughout the
  document(s)?

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Bibliographical Evidence

• How many copies?
• How early are those copies?

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The Old Testament

• The Scribes were professionals.
• They believed they were transcribing the Word of
  God and were therefore very careful.
• The earliest complete copy of the Old Testament
  is the Massoretic Text, written in Hebrew, from
  around 900 A.D.

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The Old Testament

• When the Massoretes copied a book, they would add
  up the letters and find the middle letter. If it
  didnt match the original, they tore it up and
  made a new one.

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The Dead Sea Scrolls

• The Dead Sea Scrolls comprise thousands of
  fragments from every book of the Hebrew Old
  Testament except Esther, including a complete
  copy of the book of Isaiah. They were found in
  about a dozen caves near Qumran, Israel between
  1949 and 1956. The manuscripts were dated by
  Carbon-14, style of writing, spelling, and
  pottery at between 300 B.C. to 100 A.D. This is
  over 1000 years earlier than the Massoretic text.

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The Dead Sea Scrolls

• The Dead Sea Scrolls agree at a 95 level with
  the Massoretic Text. The remaining 5 is due to
  spelling changes.

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The Old Testament

• The Septuagint or LXX (thought to be translated
  by 70 Jewish scholars in Alexandria)
• The Septuagint is a Greek translation of the Old
  Testament from around 200 B.C. and is what Jesus
  and the New Testament writers quoted from and
  strongly agrees with the Massoretic text.

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Conclusion about the OT

• In his book, Can I Trust My Bible (p. 129-130),
  R. Laird Harris concluded, We can now be sure
  that copyists worked with great care and accuracy
  on the Old Testament, even back to 225 B.C. . . .
  indeed, it would be rash skepticism that would
  now deny that we have our Old Testament in a form
  very close to that used by Ezra when he taught
  the word of the Lord to those who had returned
  from the Babylonian captivity.

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New Testament Biographical Evidence

• The degree of validity for a historical document
  is measured by the number of manuscripts (copies)
  in existence, and the date of the manuscript.
• How many for Homers Iliad?
• 643 manuscripts
• Do we trust Aristotles poetic writings?
• written is 343BC, and earliest manuscript is
  dated 1100 AD (almost 1400 years).
• Does anyone doubt the validity of these? Do you
  think this sounds like a large number of
  manuscripts??
• New Testament 20,000 manuscripts, and the date
  between the original and the manuscripts is too
  small to be accounted for, according the
  manuscript experts.

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Most updated evidence shows that we have 5,366
manuscripts dating less than 40 years from the
original writing.
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New Testament
The number of manuscripts of the New Testament,
of early translations from it, and of quotations
from it in the oldest writers of the Church, is
so large that it is practically certain that the
true reading of every doubtful passage is
preserved in some one or the other of these
ancient authorities. This can be said of no other
ancient book of the world. (Sir Frederick
Kenyon, The Bible and Archaeology, Harper, New
York, 1940, p. 55)
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New Testament
The interval, then, between the dates of
original composition and the earliest extant
evidence becomes so small as to be in fact,
negligible, and the last foundation for any doubt
that the Scriptures have come down to us
substantially as they were written has now been
removed. Both the authenticity and the general
integrity of the books of the New Testament may
be regarded as finally established. (Sir
Frederick Kenyon, The Bible and Archaeology,
Harper, New York, 1940, p. 288)
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Canon of the Bible

• Internal witness of the Spirit
• Apostolic in origin or sanction
• Usage by the Church (at that time)
• Content of the letter (and how it agrees with
  other works)
• Spiritual and moral effect
• Attitude of the early church
• No evidence that we have missing books as is
  sometimes suggested

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Biographical Evidence

• Why might this information be important?
• Were you familiar with this information before?
• If not, how might this impact your faith?

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External Evidence

•  What do other authors say that were writing at
  the same time?
• What archeological/historical evidence do we have
  for/against the report of this document?

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External Evidence

• If a document contradicts history, we know it is
  false (like the Book of Mormon).
• History and our understanding of it help us to
  understand the future and the things we must
  know. The Bible must stand true in light of
  history if it is to be considered true.
• Why is this necessary?
• Have you heard evidence for/against the Bible?

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External Evidence

• No archaeological discovery has ever
  controverted a biblical reference. Scores of
  archaeological findings have been made which
  confirm in clear outline or exact detail
  historical statements in the Bible. Nelson
  Glueck (Jewish Archaeologist).
• In actuality, a lot of what we know about history
  is drawn from the Bible.
• Even more, many archaeologists setting out to
  disprove the Bible have become Christians as a
  result of their findings.

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External Evidence Archaeology

• Archeology is an inexact science dealing with
  fragmentary evidence from unrepeatable events.
  Therefore interpretations depend heavily on prior
  assumptions.

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Genesis

• The Ebla Tablets were found in Syria in 1974 and
  are composed of over 16,000 clay tablets dating
  to 2580-2450 B.C., the oldest written material
  known. They confirm names like Ur, Sodom,
  Gomorrah, Baal, Adam, Eve, and Noah.
• The creation account speaks of one God who
  created the heavens, moon, stars, and earth as
  well as the concept of creation out of nothing.

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Genesis

• The Tower of Babel is confirmed from tablets from
  Iraq that confirm a king of Ur built a ziggurat
  (2000 B.C.) to worship a moon god that was
  destroyed, the men scattered, and their language
  made strange.
• Archeology has also shown that the names, places,
  and customs of the patriarchs are as Genesis
  relates them.
• Sodom and Gomorrah have been identified and
  evidence of intense heat and earthquake activity
  destroying the cities has been found.

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Saul, David, and Solomon

• Sauls fortress at Gibeah has been excavated.
• A coin was recently excavated in Jerusalem that
  contained the inscription, The House of David.
• A small ornament found in a shop in Jerusalem in
  1979 was inscribed Belonging to the Temple of
  Yahweh.

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The Captivities

• 26,000 Assyrian tablets affirm every Old
  Testament reference to an Assyrian King including
  Sennacharib and his failure to capture Jerusalem,
  including that thousands of his men died and the
  rest were scattered.
• Records found in ancient Babylon affirm the
  treatment of the Hebrew royal family, Belshazzar,
  and Cyrus decree allowing the Jews to rebuild
  the Temple (Ezra 11-4).

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The New Testament

• The fragment of John 18 from 125 A.D.
• Lukes meticulous history has been verified even
  in places that it was originally thought he got
  it wrong.
• Unique places in Jerusalem from Johns Gospel
  have been located such as the Pool of Bethesda,
  Pool of Siloam, and Jacob's Well.
• The census of Luke 2 is not known specifically
  but such censuses were taken at that time and the
  right rulers are mentioned for that time.

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Conclusion

• While there is much in the Bible that has not
  been specifically confirmed by archaeology,
  nothing has been found that unequivocally refutes
  any statement in the Bible.

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Other Authors

• The early historian Eusebius preserved writings
  of Papias, the bishop of Hierapolis in 130 AD,
  which explain the Apostle John telling of the
  attention taken by Mark in his job of interpreter
  of the Apostle Peter.

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Other Authors

• Irenaeus, the bishop of Lyons in 180 AD wrote
  about how Matthew published his gospel among the
  Jews in the Hebrew language, while Peter and Paul
  were preaching and founding churches. He further
  tells of Mark writing his gospel from the
  teachings of Peter, Luke writing his gospel from
  the teachings of Paul and that John wrote his
  gospel while living at Ephesus in Asia.
• Archaeology has confirmed many portions of
  Scripture, with the largest confirmation being
  the book of Acts. A. N. Sherwin-White is a
  classical historian and he writes
• "... for Acts the confirmation of historicity is
  overwhelming". He further writes "... any attempt
  to reject its basic historicity even in matters
  of detail must now appear absurd. Roman
  historians have long taken it for granted."

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Questions

• What difference does external evidence make?
• What challenges lie in trying to both understand
  and explain this?

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Internal Evidence

• What does the document claim to be?
• Is that message consistent throughout the
  document(s)?

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Internal Evidence What does the Bible claim for
itself?

• The Old Testament
• The Old Testament claims to be God speaking over
  3800 times.
• Jesus referred to the Old Testament as
  authoritative. (Matt.5 17-19)
• Jesus and the apostles quoted from the Old
  Testament as their authority. (Matt. 19 4,5 II
  Tim 3 16-17 1 Pet. 110,11)

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Internal Evidence What does the Bible claim for
itself?

• The New Testament
• Hebrews 11-2 makes clear that Jesus authority is
  on a par with the Old Testament.
• HEB 11 In the past God spoke to our forefathers
  through the prophets at many times and in various
  ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to
  us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all
  things, and through whom he made the universe.
• Paul declared that his message was specifically
  from God. (2 Thess. 215 1 Cor. 417 Gal.
  111,12)

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Consistency of the Message

• The Bible was written over a period of at least
  1500 years (time of the exodus 1400 BC to NT
  times AD 100) by around 40 authors from many
  locations (Israel, Babylon, Sinai, Greece,
  Turkey, and Italy) covering controversy, problems
  and disagreements, yet unified in its overall
  message.
• However, it would be ridiculous to claim the fact
  that the Bible says it is the Word of God to be
  the pivotal argument for its authority.

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Is the Bible an Historically Reliable Document?

• Certainly the Bible is the most accurate and
  attested document of the ancient world. To reject
  it as Gods Word is far more likely due to
  personal bias than the evidence.
• - Ray Bohlin, PhD

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Roadblocks to Reliability

• Genre
• Backwards Interpretation
• Original Manuscript Inspiration
• Misunderstood Infallibility
• Paradoxes

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• It is helpful for us to learn that the Bible is
  historically accurate, that it is internally
  consistent, that it contains prophecies that have
  been fulfilled hundreds of years later, that it
  has influenced the course of human history more
  than any other book, that it has continued
  changing the lives of millions of individuals
  throughout its history, that through it people
  come to find salvation, that it has a majestic
  beauty and a profound depth of teaching unmatched
  by any other book, and that it claims hundreds of
  times over to be Gods very words. All of these
  arguments and others are useful to us and remove
  obstacles that might otherwise come in the way of
  our believing Scripture. But all of these
  arguments taken individually or together cannot
  finally be convincing.
• Wayne Grudem

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Questions Archaeology

• What is convincing?
• What are some thoughts you have?
• What questions do YOU have?
• Where should we go from here?

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