Why is the Bible Reliable?

And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. - 2 Peter 1:19-21

In a world that is filled with multiple religious texts, the inevitable question must be asked, “Why can we trust the Bible over other religious texts?”  Similar questions may be asked such as, “What makes the Bible right and everything else wrong?” Regardless of how it gets asked, Christians have to be able to answer the question if we are to expect anyone to believe the Gospel we preach since it is found in the Bible.  In this week’s article, I aim to give you an answer to that question so you may share it with others as you witness to them.  Here are three reasons the Bible is different from other religious texts and can be trusted.

It is Divinely Inspired

First, the Bible is divinely inspired. What does that mean? It means that God is the author, but the human writers were the agents through which God wrote. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God.” The writers did not fall into a trance or anything odd like that, but rather they wrote what God laid on their heart to write, nothing more and nothing less. The Holy Spirit led Luke to write his two volumes (Luke and Acts) to Theolphilus. The Holy Spirit gave Paul the words that each church he wrote to needed to hear. Every biblical author was led by the Spirit of God. So even though they were not sinless men, what they wrote was without error. For us as Christians, this means that the Bible we have is exactly what God wanted us to have and we can trust and receive it as such. The Bible is without error and is therefore not only trustworthy but authoritative in the life of the believer.

Further, it will be the standard by which all people will be judged when they stand before God. No one who rejected the Gospel will be able to claim ignorance on that day because God has clearly spoken to us in His word and communicated both the need for and the means of salvation to us as fallen humanity. Divine inspiration is what truly sets the Bible apart from other religious texts, and why we should give it the attention and respect it deserves. While we may be able to prove the Bible historically, (see below) divine inspiration is what gives it weight and meaning.

It Was Written by Eyewitnesses

The events of the Scriptures differ from other religious texts primarily because they are written by eyewitnesses to public events.  In 2 Peter 1:16, Peter explains, “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.”  Peter was a firsthand witness to the most incredible events in the Gospels and in all of history.  Peter watched Jesus miraculously heal the sick and raise the dead.  He watched Jesus touch a leper without contracting leprosy.   He saw Jesus transfigured on the mountain.  He saw Jesus die, He saw Jesus after He’d risen from the dead, and He saw Jesus ascend into heaven.  Peter and the apostles did not have individual religious visions, they watched with their own eyes, heard with their ears, and touched with their own hands the Lord Jesus Christ.

John the Beloved says something very similar to Peter, “That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3-4).  Why does this matter?  Because an eyewitness account is what we would call “falsifiable,” meaning it could be proven wrong.  Paul speaks of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:4-6, “He was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,  and that he appeared to Cephas, 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” (italics mine).  Five hundred people plus the apostles saw the exact same thing: a crucified yet risen Jesus.  The fact that these events were recorded while the eyewitnesses were still alive means that if they were improperly recorded or sensationalized, someone living at the time could have contradicted the claims.    

Compare this with other religious texts such as the Book of Mormon for example.  This was written by Joseph Smith after his own private revelation.  There were no eyewitnesses to support his claims and no means of proving him wrong.  One can choose to believe or not believe what he wrote, but no one can prove him wrong because no one was there to see it.  Interestingly enough, Mormonism is not supportive of questioning the teachings of Joseph Smith, and doing so can get you ousted from the Latter-Day Saints.  Eyewitnesses lend credibility to a claim and the biblical authors were eyewitnesses to the events they wrote about and taught.

It is Supported by History

Outside of Scriptural evidence, we find other ancient historical means through which the validity of the Scriptures can be confirmed.  We should note that any sources outside of the Bible should not be treated as in any way authoritative and they do not speak to the divinity of Christ or the Gospel He preached. To the contrary, many of them denied both.  Citing these is not meant to support their view of the Gospel or of Christ, but merely to show that the events of Scripture are elsewhere recorded and that Jesus was a real, historical figure who was well-known and whose claims were known, even if they were not received. 

One example is Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, who wrote about Jesus in Antiquities stating, “At this time there was a wise man who was called Jesus. His conduct was good, and he was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews and the other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. But those who had become his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion, and that he was alive.” Here we have an outside, reliable historical source confirming what the Scriptures tell us about Christ.

Generally speaking, there have been somewhere in the realm of 25,000 archaeological digs related to biblical material.  Of these, none have outright disproved the biblical claims, and many have confirmed them.  One example is the Pool of Siloam where Jesus instructed the blind man to wash (John 9).  The unearthing of this site, while it does not address the claims and the events that occurred there, certainly lends credibility to the biblical narrative.

Summary

This was short and there is certainly more to say, but in just these two examples we find that the Bible is reliable.  We do not have blind faith in one person’s private vision, we have sure faith in a book that was written by God through eyewitnesses.  For this reason, among many others, the Bible is reliable and trustworthy.

Soli Deo Gloria

References

“Top Ten Historical References to Jesus Outside of the Bible.” Bible Archaeology Report, November 18, 2022. https://biblearchaeologyreport.com/2022/11/18/top-ten-historical-references-to-jesus-outside-of-the-bible/.

Windle, View All Posts by Bryan. “Top Ten Historical References to Jesus Outside of the Bible.” Bible Archaeology Report, November 18, 2022. 

https://biblearchaeologyreport.com/2022/11/18/top-ten-historical-references-to-jesus-outside-of-the-bible/.