Issue

The world in which we find ourselves today, while deeply immersed in the philosophy of naturalism, is still one of very diverse spiritual opinion. However, the Christian finds it very difficult right now to follow the command of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 5:13-16 to be the “salt of the earth, and the light of the world,” due to many years of the godless theory of evolution being taught in public schools. Add to this the increasing pressure to be “politically correct,” and it becomes harder and harder to try and get people to listen to the claims of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Just try and tell people about the absolute truths in God’s Word, the Bible, and you invariably will run into the relativistic view that basically says: While that may be true for you, it is not necessarily true for me. Now, rather than get into a philosophical explanation at this point of how something is either true, or it isn’t, the purpose of this brief work is to help you to be able to trust in the Bible itself. And then, as you begin to understand that there are some very good reasons to believe that it is indeed the very Words of the one true and living God, you will then have a place to “anchor” your faith in the Lord as you share the Gospel with the people you find around you.

In 1 Peter 3:15 we are told to always be prepared to give the reason for the hope that you have. The word translated “reason” is the Greek word apologia, which was used to describe those who would stand before a judge in a court of law to plead their case. Unless we establish that God has spoken to His creation, and that His Word is what is important in every religious discussion, then all we will end up doing is going around in circles, because most people today have been conditioned to believe that no one person’s opinion can really be considered any more correct than another’s.

This is exactly the reason why so many people in our pagan culture have come to feel that whatever they believe therefore becomes right for them; and in the end they say: It really doesn’t matter anyway because there is no such thing as absolute truth. And if you personally haven’t made the time to investigate the origin and preservation of Holy Scripture, and/or you don’t have confidence yourself that the Bible was actually inspired by God, then how can you ever expect others are going to pay attention to what it says?

The Bible’s Claims For Itself

Here’s a quick look at what the Bible says about its origin. First of all, nowhere does Holy Scripture ever try to prove the existence of God. Instead, His existence is simply assumed right from its very first verse, Genesis 1:1 – In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In verse 3 we read: And God said. Turning to the final inspired book of the Bible, and it’s very last chapter, we see in Revelation 22:20, Christ Jesus, Who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”

The fact is that all throughout the Bible God is quoted as speaking to His creation, thus teaching that the Bible is to be considered as the Words of God Himself. In John 12:49 Jesus of Nazareth equates His own words with those of God when He says the Father commanded Me what to say. 2 Timothy 3:16 further informs us that all Scripture is God-breathed, and in 2 Peter 1:20-21 we see that the human authors of these Holy Scriptures did not make up what they wrote because men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. So it is simply beyond question that the Bible claims to be the very Words of the one true and living LORD God Almighty.

Preservation Of The Text

Most importantly, Jesus of Nazareth promised that the Scriptures would be preserved (see Matthew 5:18). Today, since the advent of modern archaeology, we can now verify the marvelous preservation of the New Testament manuscripts. Space here does not allow a detailed discussion on the science of textual criticism. Suffice to say that there are some 25,000 complete or partial copies of New Testament manuscripts that have been found and have been thoroughly examined by textual critics.

These experts are not necessarily religious people, but simply analyze these texts just as they would any other piece of literature to see whether or not they are accurate. Some parts of these books date back to as early as 125 AD. This could then make them copies done by some of the disciples of the very first Apostles themselves. For example, among the men Jesus of Nazareth taught was a man named John. Following the example of His Lord Jesus, and heeding the biblical command of 2 Timothy 2:2, John then went out and taught men like Polycarp and Ignatius. The manuscript scrap that dates back to 125 AD puts it during Polycarp’s lifetime, who as Bishop of the Church at Smyrna, was one of what has come to be known as the early Church Fathers.

These men were leaders in the early churches and their writings have been preserved for us down through the centuries. In fact, so copiously did these men of God quote from the Scriptures as they taught, that it is possible to reconstruct virtually the entire text of the New Testament–save for 11 verses–from the writings of these early church fathers alone! Noted Bible scholar, Dr. Ron Rhodes, of Reasoning From The Scriptures Ministries, informs us: “There are also some 86,000 quotations from the early church fathers and several thousand Lectionaries (church-service books containing Scripture quotations used in the early centuries of Christianity). Bottom line: the New Testament has an overwhelming amount of evidence supporting its reliability.”

Dr. Norman Geisler, President of Southern Evangelical Seminary, sums up our position on the amazing reliability of the New Testament manuscripts when he writes:

No other book is even a close second to the Bible on either the number, or early dating of the copies…The New Testament, however, has a fragment [that is] within one generation from its original composition, whole books within about 100 years from the time of the autograph [original manuscript], most of the New Testament in less than 200 years, and [even] the entire New Testament within 250 years from the date of its completion.

And finally, we turn to Dr. Rhodes once more:

…it becomes overwhelmingly clear that no other ancient piece of literature can stand up to the Bible. Manuscript support for the Bible is unparalleled!

The absolute truth is: God Himself made sure that the Christian today who holds the Bible in his hand can know with certainty that he has a miraculously accurate copy of what the very Creator of this universe has revealed to mankind.