Faith in the News Christian News
Here are five reasons we can believe the Bible was inspired by God.
Mountains of Manuscripts
It’s hard to know where to begin because there’s just so much evidence, like there are over 25,000 New Testament manuscripts of which 5,000 of these date from the first century. There are over 6,000 of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the margin of error with current manuscripts is less than 0.01%, and these are errors of insignificance. One might say “in Jesus Christ” while another would say “in Christ Jesus.” The tiny differences never undermine the essentials of the faith. Today we have 6,000 complete or fragmented Greek manuscripts, 10,000 Latin manuscripts, and over 9,000 manuscripts in various other ancient languages, and again, all agreeing in context. In all, over 27,000 manuscripts and fragments exist today.
Archeological Evidence
What many archeologists are discovering is that what they’ve uncovered matches what is written in the Bible. There are literally thousands of finds like a 2,700-year-old seal of King Hezekiah found in Jerusalem, dating from the time he reigned and the earliest non-biblical reference to King David was found in an Egyptian inscription, written around 1100-650 BC, and what is believed to be the phrase “The Heights of David,” meaning the Golan Heights perhaps, or Jerusalem, because Jerusalem was always “up” for those who had to go there from the surrounding areas. [1] There are over forty seven thousand archeological finds that are dated and descriptive of accounts in the Bible.
Eye Witnesses
Since we know the Bible is true, think about all the eye witnesses who saw Jesus killed and then saw Him after the resurrection. The Apostle Paul said after Christ was raised (1st Cor 15:3-4), “that he appeared to Cephas (Peter), then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep” (1st Cor 15:5). Later, Paul says he was an eyewitness of Christ (1st Cor 15:8). If you had that much evidence to bring into a court of law, you could legally prove Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, on which the whole gospel hinges!
Israel’s Survival
This is often overlooked, but the fact that the Jewish people have survived as a nation is a remarkable evidence of God’s promises to the children of Abraham. Many have tried to exterminate them but they never will; however I don’t think you can find a Philistine, a Perezite, a Sodomite, an Ammonite, or an Amalekite today. Israel has forsaken God, at least for a time, but God again will gather His people to Himself when the kingdom arrives on earth (Ezk 39:25-29). Today, as in Paul’s day, the Jews in Israel have a veil over their eyes, and they are blinded to the gospel (2nd Cor 4:3-4). But that veil will lift when they actually behold the Son of God, their promised Messiah that they missed the first time, and they will acknowledge Him as the One Who was to come, and is the Son of David, the very Son of God.
Changed Lives
If you have ever heard of John Newton, the man who wrote “Amazing Grace,” and later became a preacher, you’d know that this man was a vile, crooked, evil man who made his living on selling slaves. He lived in such drunken debauchery that to look at him, you’d say there’s no way this man would be saved. Then there is Saul. He “was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison” (Acts 8:3). Who would ever dare to go up to Paul and share the gospel with him!? It took an act of God to convert Saul…who became Paul. And it took God’s amazing act of grace to save a wretch like John Newton (and me), so this is one of the strongest evidences that the Bible is true; it changes lives and changes their eternal destiny.
Conclusion
What reason would you add that makes you know that the Bible is inspired by God? Believer’s know that “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2nd Tim3:16), so it’s not man-inspired but God-breathed. The Spirit of God gives the Word of God, or “which God gave him” (Rev 1:1), or God gave man.
May God richly bless you,
Pastor Jack Wellman
1. Biblical Archaeology Review for Jan.-Feb. 1999, Kenneth Kitchen
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