WHY STUDY THE BIBLE?

The Answer

The answer is quite simple: God has spoken! He has revealed Himself to His creation. He tells us who we are and where we're going. His words answer our deepest probing and take us to the highest hope.

To believe, thus act upon, the Bible as God's revelation, one must first believe that a Creator God exists. For a time in my late teens and early 20s, I did not believe in a Creator God. What changed my mind? Facts, logic and the Power of God!

• FACT: The Bible is unique. It was written by more than 40 authors over a period of 1,600 years (more than 60 generations), on three continents and in 3 languages. The authors, though from different backgrounds and stations in life, held to identical themes. F.F. Bruce wrote: "... the bible is not simply an anthology; there is a unity which binds the whole together. An anthology is compiled by an anthologist, but no anthologist compiled the Bible." (The Books and Parchments, Fleming H. Revell)
• FACT: The Bible is reliable. What I mean by this is that the Bible is historically reliable. We can put the Bible through the same tests that all historical docents are tested. Three major tests of historiography are: (1) the bibliographical test, (2) the internal evidence test, and (3) the external evidence test.

Keep in mind that there being no original writings is something all ancient documents have in common. Some examples:

1. Caesar wrote between 100 and 44 BC. However, the earliest copy is dated from 900 AD. That's a span of about 1,000 years between original writing and oldest copy. The total of Caesar copies is 10.
2. Sophocles wrote between 496 and 406 BC. The oldest copy is dates 1,000 AD. That's a span of 1,400 years between original and earliest copy. There are 100 copies.
3. Plato wrote between 427 and 347 BC. The earliest copy is dated 900 AD. That's a span of 1,200 years. There are 7 copies.

The New Testament portion of the Bible was written by several authors between 40 AD to 95 AD (approx.). There are some 13,000 manuscript copies of portions of the New Testament. In addition, early Christian writings quote heavily from the New Testament.

The oldest (earliest) copy of a portion of the New Testament is dated 130 AD. That's less than 50 years after the original writing. It is a copy of John's Gospel, written about 85 AD.

Other copies date back to 150 AD, 200 AD, 350 AD, and 400 AD. All within 100 to 300 years from the original.

For further study into manuscript authority, read about the following:

1. The John Ryland Manuscripts (130 AD)
2. The Chester Beatty Papyri (200 AD)
3. The Bodmer Papyrus II (150-200 AD)
4. Codex Sinaiticus (350 AD) Contains most of the Bible
5. Codex Vaticanus (325-350 AD) Contains most of the Bible
6. Codex Alexandrinus (400 AD) Contains most of the Bible
7. Codex Ephraemi (400s AD) Contains most of the Bible
8. Codex Bezae (450 AD) Gospels and Acts
9. Codex Washingtonensis (450-550 AD) Gospels
10. Codex Claromontanus (500 AD) Paul's letters

Conclusions

Here are some conclusions from other students of ancient writings:

Howard Vos - "From the standpoint of literary evidence the only logical conclusion is that the case for the reliability of the New Testament is infinitely stronger than that for any other record of antiquity."

(Can I Trust My Bible, Moody Press)

Sir Frederick Kenyon - "... 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 now be regarded as finally established."

(The Bible and Archaeology, Harper and Row)

F.F. Bruce - "There is no body of ancient literature in the world which enjoys such a wealth of good textual attestation as the New Testament."

(The Books and the Parchments, Fleming H. Revell)

Ancient literature was rarely translated into other languages, but the Bible is different. It is God's Word to the world. It had to be translated from original writings in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek to hundreds of other languages so the entire population of Earth could read and know the will of God.

Some of the early translations of the Greek New Testament were Syriac, Latin, Coptic, Armenian, and Georgian. Since then, the Bible has been translated into hundreds of languages and dialects. It has been read by more people than any other book ever published.

Studying God's Word

I study the King James Bible and New King James Bible along with The New International Version. You can also look at the Masoretic Text for Hebrew and Nestle's Text for Greek. Compare work from the Dead Sea Scrolls for Hebrew and Westcott and Hort and Weiss for Greek.

The Old Testament does not have the abundance of close manuscripts that the New Testament has. However, the Dead Sea Scrolls have greatly supported the reliability of the Old Testament. If you are interested in learning more about this, study the work of the Talmudists and Massoretes. They were ancient scribes who copied Old Testament writings.

Also study other important copies of the Hebrew text:

1. Cairo Codex
2. Codex of the Prophets of Leningrad
3. Codex Babylonicus Petropalitanus
4. Aleppo Codex
5. British Museum Codex
6. Reuchlin Codex of the Prophets

These copies of the Old Testament are all from a time period after the death of Christ and the fall of Jerusalem. How do they compare to even older copies? The answer comes to us in the Dead Sea Scrolls. They are some 40,000 inscribed fragments that helped reconstruct more than 500 books. A Bedouin shepherd boy stumbled upon the scrolls in a hole in a cliff about 8 miles south of Jericho. This was in the spring of 1947. The scrolls of Biblical writings were dated at 125 BC and even 200 BC. These ancient copies were compared with the Massoretic texts of 900 AD. The comparison showed the amazing accuracy of the copyists over a period of 1,000 years.

Other proof of the Old Testament comes from the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. It's called the Septuagint and dates to approximately 260 BC. It demonstrates the reliability of the Massoretic Text.

Other texts of interest to the serious student are:

1. Samaritan Text (450 BC)
2. The Targums (500 AD)
3. The Mishnah (200 AD)
4. The Gemaras (200 AD and 500 AD)
5. The Midrash (100 BC to 300 AD)
6. The Hexapla (200 AD)

Other proofs of the Old Testament reliability include the many quotations of the OT by people in the New Testament and archaeological confirmation. Some examples are the ancestry of Israel coming from Mesopotamia, the common origin of all languages, the history of the Horites, the wall of Jericho falling outward, the dating of the brass mirrors of the laver, the discoveries of Bethel, Shiloh, Bethshan, Gezer, Nineveh, Babylon, and Ur, ziggurats and the Tower of Babel, the presence and power of the Philistines, ancient gods of heathen nations, the development of music and musical instruments, and hundreds of other evidences.

New Testament examples from archaeology include the reliability of Luke's history of Christ and the early church, the regular census of Jewish taxpayers by Rome, Quirinius as Governor of Syria, the location of Iconium, Lysanias the Tetrarch, Erastus of Corinth, the theater of Ephesus, Philippi as a district of Macedonia, the title of magistrates in Roman colonies, the discovery of the remains of the court where Jesus was tried by Pilate, excavations of the Pool of Bethesda, proconsul Sergius Paulus, politarchs as rulers of Thessalonica, and hundreds of other evidences.

The Facts

The facts are clear. The Bible is unique. It is one of a kind. The Bible is reliable. We can believe it!

(Our thanks to Josh McDowell for writing "Evidence that demands a Verdict" in 1972. It guided thousands of young Christians, like us, in understanding the importance of Bible study. It continues to be one of the best works on Christian apologetics available today.)

GraceLife Ministries is excited about the release of our new book about the wonderful words of hope and encouragement found in the Bible, God's Word! You can read more about how to order "GraceLife - Words of Hope and Encouragement in a Discouraging World."

We also invite you to learn more about our new reference book which addresses the most important issues of life: A History of Man's Quest for Immortality.