Why Jesus Apologetics

In a world drowning in information yet starving for truth, few questions are more vital than this: Can we still trust the Bible? Many modern people view Scripture as myth, outdated, or culturally conditioned. But what if the Bible’s credibility is stronger today than ever before? In this first part of our series, we uncover the roots of skepticism and why recovering confidence in the Bible is essential for our faith and future.

Why Confidence in the Bible Matters

In every generation, confidence in the Bible has been tested. From the serpent’s subtle question in Eden—“Did God really say…?” (Gen. 3:1)—to the skeptical inquiries of the modern academy, humanity has wrestled with the authority, accuracy, and divine inspiration of Scripture. In our own time, this challenge has taken new forms: social media skepticism, historical revisionism, and the growing influence of postmodern relativism have made many question whether the Bible can truly be trusted as God’s Word.

Yet the crisis is not merely intellectual; it is profoundly spiritual. A shaken confidence in Scripture leads to a shaken faith in God. The Word of God is not merely a collection of ancient texts—it is the revelation through which God discloses His nature, His will, and His redemptive plan. As the Apostle Paul declared, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). When faith in that Word falters, the moral and spiritual foundation of individuals and societies begins to erode.

Throughout Christian history, believers have drawn strength and wisdom from Scripture because they were convinced of its divine origin and reliability. The early Church defended the apostolic writings as inspired; the Reformers championed Sola Scriptura—the conviction that Scripture alone is the supreme authority in faith and practice; and modern evangelical scholarship continues to affirm that the Bible, rightly interpreted, remains “true in all that it affirms.”

As New Testament scholar F. F. Bruce observed,

“The historic Christian belief in the trustworthiness of the Bible rests not on blind faith but on solid historical evidence and the self-authenticating power of the divine message.”¹

Today, recovering confidence in the Bible requires both heart and mind—a renewed spiritual reverence for the Word of God and an informed understanding of why it can be trusted historically, textually, and morally.

This article explores the major foundations upon which a rational and living confidence in Scripture can be built. We will consider its historical reliability, internal coherence, fulfilled prophecy, moral and spiritual power, and respond to modern objections that seek to undermine its credibility.

Ultimately, true confidence in the Bible is not mere intellectual assent but a conviction rooted in the character of God Himself—because to trust His Word is to trust His Person.

The Bible’s Historical Reliability — Manuscripts, Archaeology, and Transmission

Skeptics often assert that the Bible has been so copied, translated, and edited through centuries that its original message has been lost. Yet, careful historical and textual research has consistently shown that the Scriptures are among the most reliably preserved documents of antiquity. Far from being a product of distortion, the Bible’s textual integrity and archaeological confirmation make it a unique literary and historical phenomenon.

a) The Reliability of Manuscript Transmission

When assessing any ancient work, historians ask: How many manuscripts exist? How old are they compared to the original? The closer an more numerous the copies, the greater the textual reliability. By this standard, the Bible stands unparalleled.

For the New Testament, over 5,800 Greek manuscripts, 10,000 Latin, and more than 9,000 early versions in other ancient languages (Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, etc.) exist.² Some fragments, such as the John Rylands Papyrus (P52), date as early as AD 125, barely a generation after the apostle John.³ This proximity to the original composition is unmatched among classical works. For comparison, Homer’s Iliad—often considered textually rich—has around 1,800 manuscripts, the earliest of which appear 500 years after the original.⁴

As New Testament scholar Daniel B. Wallace notes,

“The New Testament is copied in a way that no other ancient document can compare. The abundance of manuscripts allows us to reconstruct the original text with over 99% accuracy.”⁵

The Old Testament also demonstrates remarkable preservation. Before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (1947–1956), the oldest Hebrew manuscripts dated to around AD 1000. But the Dead Sea Scrolls—copied between 250 BC and AD 70—contained nearly every Old Testament book, showing that the text had remained virtually unchanged over a thousand years. When the Isaiah Scroll (c. 125 BC) was compared with the medieval Masoretic Text, scholars found word-for-word agreement in over 95% of the text, with variations largely limited to spelling or style.⁶

As the renowned scholar Gleason Archer summarized,

“The Dead Sea discoveries proved beyond any reasonable doubt that the Old Testament has been transmitted with the utmost fidelity. The Isaiah Scroll is practically identical to our modern Hebrew Bible.”⁷

These evidences collectively demonstrate that the Scriptures have not undergone the legendary corruption often alleged. Instead, they have been carefully transmitted and faithfully preserved by generations of scribes who regarded copying Scripture as a sacred duty.

b) Archaeological Corroborations

Archaeology—once used by critics to challenge the Bible—has repeatedly confirmed its historical reliability. Over the last century, thousands of discoveries have illuminated the cultures, peoples, and events described in Scripture.

For example, the Tel Dan Inscription (9th century BC) mentions the “House of David”, confirming that King David was a historical monarch, not a mythical figure as once claimed.⁸ The Mesha Stele (Moabite Stone) similarly references Israel’s kings, corroborating biblical accounts in 2 Kings 3.⁹ The discovery of the Cyrus Cylinder (6th century BC) provides external validation of the Persian policy of repatriation described in Ezra 1:1–4, showing that the decree allowing the Jews to return from exile was entirely consistent with Persian law.¹⁰

In the New Testament, archaeology has verified the existence of Pontius Pilate, whose inscription was found at Caesarea Maritima in 1961, and of Sergius Paulus, the proconsul of Cyprus (Acts 13:7), whose name appears in first-century records.¹¹ Luke’s frequent references to regional titles—such as “politarchs” in Thessalonica (Acts 17:6)—have been confirmed by inscriptions discovered in Macedonia, leading the eminent archaeologist Sir William Ramsay to conclude,

“Luke is a historian of the first rank. Not merely are his statements of fact trustworthy; he should be placed among the very greatest of historians.”¹²

Each archaeological discovery adds credibility to the biblical record, not by proving every miracle or event, but by demonstrating that the Bible consistently reflects accurate geography, customs, and historical context—traits characteristic of eyewitness testimony, not mythic fiction.

c) The Faithfulness of Transmission Through Translation

Another modern objection is that translation errors have distorted the Bible’s message. While languages inevitably differ, the abundance of ancient manuscripts enables scholars to verify the meaning of virtually every passage. Modern translations are based not on medieval copies, but on critical editions that compare thousands of early manuscripts, ensuring fidelity to the original text.

Furthermore, the early spread of Christianity across linguistic boundaries—Greek, Latin, Syriac, Coptic, and later Gothic and Armenian—acted as a safeguard against centralized textual corruption. If one group had altered the text, thousands of copies in other languages would have exposed the inconsistency.

As Craig Blomberg observes,

“The multiplicity of early translations and citations in the Church Fathers make large-scale conspiracy or corruption of the biblical text impossible. The diversity of witnesses ensures the stability of the message.”¹³

Thus, translation does not destroy reliability—it demonstrates it. The Word of God has survived persecution, exile, language barriers, and modern criticism precisely because its preservation depends not on human ingenuity but on divine providence.

A Historically Grounded Faith

The evidence from manuscript transmission, archaeology, and translation history collectively provides a strong intellectual foundation for trusting Scripture. The Bible has not only endured history—it has preserved it. It remains the most documented, studied, and verified ancient text in human civilization.

But historical reliability, though essential, is only part of the story. The Scriptures possess an internal unity and divine coherence that transcends human authorship. In the next section, we will explore this remarkable unity and consistency—how sixty-six books written by over forty authors across fifteen centuries speak with one voice about God’s redemptive plan.

In the next part, we’ll step beyond opinions and explore hard evidence. How reliable are the manuscripts of the Bible? What does archaeology reveal about its claims? Join us in Part 2 as we examine how history itself bears witness to the trustworthiness of God’s Word.

Endnotes

1. F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981), 19.

2. Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland, The Text of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989), 29.

3. Bruce Metzger, The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992), 39.

4. Josh McDowell, The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1999), 38.

5. Daniel B. Wallace, “The Reliability of the New Testament Text,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 46, no. 2 (2003): 237–257.

6. Emanuel Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2012), 107.

7. Gleason Archer, A Survey of Old Testament Introduction (Chicago: Moody Press, 1994), 25.

8. Avraham Biran and Joseph Naveh, “The Tel Dan Inscription: A New Fragment,” Israel Exploration Journal 45 (1995): 1–18.

9. André Lemaire, “The Mesha Stele and the Omride Dynasty,” Biblical Archaeology Review 20, no. 3 (1994): 30–37.

10. Amélie Kuhrt, The Persian Empire: A Corpus of Sources from the Achaemenid Period (London: Routledge, 2007), 70.

11. John McRay, Archaeology and the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1991), 193–202.

12. William M. Ramsay, The Bearing of Recent Discovery on the Trustworthiness of the New Testament (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1915), 81.

13. Craig L. Blomberg, The Historical Reliability of the Gospels (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2007), 33.