Introduction
Is
the Bible reliable? Is the Bible a
trustworthy book? In other words, is the
Bible from God? These are valid
questions if we plan to base our lives – and our eternal destiny – on the
Bible. If it is not reliable and not
from God, then we may gain as much benefit from reading any other religious or
philosophical book. If, however, the
Bible can be reasonably shown to be historically accurate and trustworthy,
there are critical and profound implications for each of us today. One key point to remember in making this
determination is that the burden of proof should not exceed that found in
modern courtrooms: One should not be
presumed guilty; rather, one should be presumed innocent until proven guilty. In other words, we should not enter this
inquiry with a presupposition, which many have done, that the Bible must be
inaccurate. The books of the Bible
should receive the same benefit of the doubt as any other ancient historical
books.
The
authenticity of the New Testament has already been covered on this website, so
this article will address the Old Testament.
Because so much of the N.T. is dependent on the O.T. and vice versa,
demonstrating the reliability of one comes very close to validating the other. Four major categories of evidence for the truth
of the Old Testament are covered here:
manuscript evidence, the New Testament, prophecy, and archaeology.
I.
Manuscript Evidence
The
Old Testament was completed around 400 B.C., according to conservative
scholars.[i] At a minimum, we know the O.T. was completed
at least by 250 B.C. because the Hebrew scriptures were translated into Greek
at that time. Alexander the Great
reigned from 336-323 B.C. and, during this time, many of the Jews were
scattered throughout the Greek empire.
Shortly thereafter a need arose for the Hebrew scriptures to be
translated into Greek, which many Jews had learned to speak. During the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, the
Greek version of the O.T. was produced, with at least some of it completed
around 285 B.C. The Pentateuch, or first
five books of the Bible, was translated first, then other books later.[ii] This Greek version is known as the Septuagint
(or simply LXX), from the Latin word for seventy, because there were seventy
translators who worked on the project.
The Septuagint was completed by approximately 250 B.C., indicating that
the Hebrew scriptures were, of course, finished before that time. Philo of Alexandria (c. 20 B.C. – A.D. 50)
evidently knew the Greek version of the scriptures and Josephus (c. A.D.
37-100) generally depended on the Septuagint when writing Antiquities.[iii] Exact dates are not critical; the point is
that there is ample evidence the O.T. was completed prior to the first
century.
One
of the first questions that needs to be addressed is whether the documents
which are the Old Testament have been reliably copied and transmitted to us
today. The O.T. was written over a
period from approximately the fifteenth century to the sixth century B.C. The oldest manuscript (MS) of the Hebrew text
of the Old Testament that was available prior to 1947 is the Cairo Codex, dated
around A.D. 895. This is located in the
British Museum and contains both latter and former prophets. The earliest complete MS of the O.T. is the
Codex Babylonicus Petropalitanus (A.D. 1008), now located in Leningrad.[iv] Were the original documents faithfully copied
by scribes for more than a thousand years?
There are several reasons to believe they were. One, the New Testament writers during the
first century A.D. quoted the Old Testament numerous times and those quotes
match very closely with the manuscripts.
Second, early church fathers, writing from the second century on, quoted
the O.T. numerous times. Third, a very
significant discovery occurred in 1947, when the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in
caves near Qumran. In these caves were
found approximately 600 scrolls and thousands of fragments, which contained
portions of all of the O.T. books except Esther. The entire book of Isaiah was found and this
was dated to around 125 B.C. The Essenes
or other Jewish group had hidden these scrolls in 11 caves near the Dead Sea to
preserve them from the impending attack of the Romans around A.D. 68. So, the scrolls can be dated at least to the
first century A.D. and some, such as the book of Isaiah, were dated by
paleographers to around 125 B.C., placing these more than 1,000 years earlier
than any manuscripts we previously possessed.[v] A comparison of the Isaiah manuscripts –
separated by about 1,000 years - showed that the copies from Qumran “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.”[vi] Comparisons of other books led to the same
conclusion: The Old Testament has been
reliably copied and transmitted through the years to us today.
II. Corroboration with the New Testament
Another reason to
believe that the Old Testament is reliable and authoritative is that the New
Testament writers directly quoted or alluded to O.T. writings, citing them as
divinely inspired. Roger Nicole stated,
concerning New Testament quotations and references to the O.T., “a very
conservative count discloses unquestionably at least 295 separate references to
the Old Testament. These occupy some 352 verses of the New Testament.”[vii] If clear allusions are taken into account,
the figure is much higher. Every N.T.
writer directly quoted or referenced O.T. scriptures as true. Jesus Christ referred to many of the most
questioned O.T. passages, such as the creation of Adam and Eve (Matthew
19:4-5), Jonah and the great fish (Matthew 12:40-41), Noah’s flood (Matthew
24:37-39) and the creation of the world (Mark 13:19). Jesus spoke of these and other O.T. events as
real historical occurrences. Jesus spoke
of the imperishability of the O.T. when He stated, “Do
not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to
abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say
to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke
shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished” (Matthew 5:17-18). In John 10:35, He also stated, “the scripture
cannot be broken (cancelled or annulled).
Jesus taught that the scriptures are the truth of God when He asked the
Father to “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17). Jesus included the entire O.T.in His
acceptance of authoritative books when He stated, “from
the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah”
(Matthew 23:35). Abel is
mentioned in Genesis 4 and the book of Zechariah was at the end of the first
century Jewish Bible.
Luke validated the
authority of the Psalms when he wrote, “the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which
the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas” (Acts 1:16,
reference to Psalm 41:9). Paul cited the
O.T. numerous times as holy scripture, for example in writing to the Romans,
“For what does the scripture say?
‘Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness’”
(Romans 4:3, reference to Genesis 15:6).
James 2:23 cites the same verse in Genesis, stating “the scripture was
fulfilled”. Peter asserted the authority
of the O.T. by stating, “For this is contained in scripture: ‘Behold I lay in
Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone and he who believes in Him will not
be disappointed’” (1 Peter 2:6, reference to Isaiah 28:16). If Old Testament historical accounts are not
accurate, then we must throw out the New Testament as well. Jesus and the New Testament writers believed
that the Old Testament is true and inspired by God.
III.
Prophecy
Did
the prophecies foretold in the Old Testament come true? This would be a valid test for the divine inspiration
of prophetic messages. Conversely, if
some are clearly demonstrated to be false, the divine inspiration would be
disproven. Many of the prophecies in the
O.T. told of specific details concerning the life, death, and resurrection of
Jesus Christ. Depending on the
specificity, if one or two of these prophecies were fulfilled by Jesus, they
may be dismissed as coincidence. But, as
numerous references made hundreds, even a thousand years before Jesus, and some
very unusual and specific, the case for a divine inspiration of these writings
becomes overwhelming. Jesus appealed to
messianic prophecies on a number of occasions, such as is recorded by Luke, who
wrote, “beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He [Jesus] explained to
them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures” (Luke 24:27). New Testament writers also appealed to prophecies
fulfilled in Jesus, including Acts 10:43, which states, “Of Him all the
prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him
receives forgiveness of sins.” Josh
McDowell, in his landmark book Evidence
that Demands a Verdict, states that the O.T. contains over 300 references
to the Messiah that were fulfilled in Jesus.[viii] In the book, 61 of these are listed in
detail. A few examples here will
illustrate the point sufficiently.
A. Bethlehem
One
of the clearest references to Jesus in the Old Testament is in Micah 5:2,
written around 700 B.C., which states, “But as for
you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you
One will go forth for me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from
long ago, from the days of eternity."
Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem was recorded in Matthew 2:1, Luke 2:4-7, and
John 7:42.
B. Thirty
pieces of silver
The prophet Zechariah, around 520 B.C., provided at least three
distinct prophecies regarding the betrayal of Jesus when he wrote, “I said to them, ‘If it is good in your
sight, give me my wages; but if not, never mind!’ So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver
as my wages. Then the Lord said to me, ‘Throw it to the potter, that
magnificent price at which I was valued by them.’ So I took the thirty shekels of silver and
threw them to the potter in the house of the Lord.” (Zechariah
11:12-13). About 550 years later,
Matthew wrote, “Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had
been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the
chief priests and elders, saying, ‘I have sinned by betraying innocent
blood.’ But they said, ‘What is that to us? See to that yourself!’ And he threw the pieces of silver into the
temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself. The chief priests took the pieces of silver
and said, ‘it is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury, since it is
the price of blood.’ And they conferred
together and with the money bought the Potter's Field as a burial place for
strangers.” (Matthew 27:3-7). This one O.T. passage, fulfilled in one N.T.
passage, details three specific and unusual prophecies: 1)thirty pieces of silver, 2)thrown into the
house of the Lord, and 3)used to buy a potter’s field.
C. Hands and
feet will be pierced
Approximately
1,000 years before the birth of Jesus, King David wrote several very specific prophecies,
including much of Psalm 22, which states in one verse, “A band of evildoers
has encompassed me; they pierced my hands and my feet” (Psalm 22:16). Then, Luke records that Jesus proved His
identity to the disciples by showing them the scars in His hands and feet: “’See
My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does
not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’ And when He had said this, He showed them His
hands and His feet” (Luke 24:39-40).
David predicted that Jesus’ hands and feet would be pierced.
[i]
Norman Geisler, Systematic Theology (Bloomingham, MN: Bethany House Publishers, 2002), 439.
[ii]
F. F. Bruce, The Canon of Scripture
(Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press,
1988), 43.
[iii]
Ibid., 46.
[iv]
Josh McDowell, Evidence that Demands a
Verdict (San Bernadino, CA: Here’s
Life Publishers, 1972), 56.
[v]
Ibid., 58.
[vi] Gleason
Archer, A Survey of the Old Testament
(Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1964), 19.
[vii] Roger
Nicole, in Revelation and the Bible, ed. Carl. F.H. Henry (Grand Rapids: Baker,
1958), 137.
[viii]
McDowell, 144.
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