Questions About the Bible
Note: Some of the answers in this section are taken directly from writings posted elsewhere on the Christian Way Web site. These excerpts have been used with permission from the authors of those writings.
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Is the Bible divinely inspired or simply the writings of men?
Early Bible manuscripts were copied by hand. Didn’t that introduce mistakes into the Scriptures?
Is the Bible divinely inspired or simply the writings of men?
One of the strongest arguments that the Bible is divinely inspired involves prophecy – the prediction of future events. The Bible was written by some 40 authors over a period of approximately a thousand years, yet it weaves together into a single theme (the coming of Christ) and includes hundreds of prophesies that are both made and fulfilled within its pages. Josh McDowell states:
"One of the unique and fascinating aspects of the Bible is that in no other religious literature do we find the accuracy of fulfilled prophecy. Biblical predictions recorded sometimes hundreds of years in advance of their happening are fulfilled in minute detail." (Bill Wilson, compiler, The Best of Josh McDowell: A Ready Defense, p. 56)
McDowell gives several examples of Bible prophecies and their fulfillment, including the prophet Isaiah’s prediction (Isaiah 44:28) that a king named Cyrus would command that the Temple be rebuilt in Jerusalem. McDowell states:
"At the time of Isaiah’s writing, the city of Jerusalem was fully built and the entire temple was standing. Not until more than 100 years later, in 586 B.C., would the city and Temple be destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar. . . .Isaiah predicted that a man named Cyrus, who would not be born for about a hundred years, would give the command to rebuild the Temple, which was still standing in Isaiah’s day and would not be destroyed for more than a hundred years. This prophecy is truly amazing, but it is not isolated. There are, in fact, hundreds of prophecies which predict future events." (A Ready Defense, p. 56-57)
The Old Testament contains hundreds of prophecies regarding the coming Messiah, all of which were fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus and his disciples repeatedly appealed to Scriptural prophecy as proof that Jesus was, indeed, the Messiah. For example, after his crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus revealed himself to two of his followers on the road to Emmaus, saying:
"’How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself." (Luke 24:26-27, New International Version)
It is clear, from Jesus’ statement, that he considered the Old Testament Scriptures to be divinely inspired. His apostles agreed with him, as indicated by the following comments:
Paul said: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Tim. 3:16-17)
According to Peter, ". . . no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." (2 Pet 1:20-21)
Paul and Peter refer to New Testament writings as "Scripture," implying that they are also divinely inspired. (Peter refers to Paul’s writings as "Scripture" in 2 Peter 3:16, while Paul quotes Luke 10:7 as "Scripture.")
For detailed discussions regarding divine inspiration and prophecy within the Bible, see:
Josh McDowell, The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999).
Bill Wilson, comp., The Best of Josh McDowell: A Ready Defense (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1993).
Early Bible manuscripts were copied by hand. Didn’t that introduce mistakes into the Scriptures?
The manuscripts from which the Old Testament books were translated have been shown to be remarkably faithful to their original texts. The Jews followed strict rules and procedures when copying their Scriptural manuscripts. As a result, the copied manuscripts contain almost no significant variation from their original texts. This high degree of accuracy was confirmed after the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947. The Dead Sea Scrolls contained manuscripts nearly a thousand years older than Old Testament manuscripts possessed at that time; however, almost no variation was found between the earlier and later manuscripts. For example, the book of Isaiah "proved to be word for word identical with our standard Hebrew Bible in more than 95 percent of the text. The 5 percent of variation consisted chiefly of obvious slips of the pen and variations in spelling." (Gleason Archer, A Survey of Old Testament Introduction, p. 19. Quoted by Josh McDowell in The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict, p. 79.)
The books of the New Testament are the most highly documented pieces of surviving ancient literature. In his discussion of the New Testament’s historical validity, Josh McDowell reports:
"There are more than 5,686 known [partial or complete] Greek manuscripts of the New Testament. Add over 10,000 Latin Vulgate and at least 9,300 other early versions [manuscripts], and we have close to, if not more than, 25,000 manuscript copies of portions of the New Testament in existence today. No other document of antiquity even begins to approach such numbers and attestation. In comparison, Homer’s Illiad is second, with only 643 manuscripts that still survive." (McDowell, The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict, p. 34)
Based on these manuscripts and upon the writings of early Christians who frequently quoted the Scriptures, there is overwhelming evidence that the New Testament was translated from accurate representations of the original texts. Thus, there is no reason to assume that our modern Bible is full of clerical mistakes. For a detailed discussion of the Bible’s historical authenticity, see:
Josh McDowell, The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999).
Bill Wilson, comp., The Best of Josh McDowell: A Ready Defense (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1993).
Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ: A Journalist’s Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus, Grand Rapids, MI: ZondervanPublishingHouse, 1998.
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