How do we know the Bible is true?

There are evidences, on every hand, many and varied and of the very best; evidences both direct and indirect. The world is full of them, and they may be seen every day; museums of antiquity contain them; evidences of the Bible's veracity are writ large on Egyptian and Assyrian monuments and temples; the ruins of buried cities and the tombs of forgotten kings abound with them, even mummies bearing mute testimony to what the "scripture of truth" declares; and the spade of the excavator brings to light fresh witnesses every year. The natural sciences, astronomy, geology, physiology, anatomy, including even that most exact of all sciences, mathematics, all bear united and harmonious witness to the truth of Scripture, written with "the finger of God."

The external evidence of the divine authenticity of scripture is very weighty, especially when we consider that to the Jews were "committed the oracles of God," and from time immemorial to the present, it is well known that they have retained the different books of the Old Testament pretty much as we have them, and regard them as given to them by Jehovah. Our object now, however, is not to look so much at the external evidence, as to the internal testimony the scriptures give of their being the word of God. It is interesting, however to know, that in the early centuries of what is called the Christian Era, there is abundance of proof from the writers of that time, that they quoted largely from the books of the New Testament. It is said also, that Lord Halles, a Scotchman, having searched the writings of the so-called Christian Fathers who lived during three hundred years after Christ, found, with all their blunders, nearly all the writings of the New Testament as we have them in different parts of their books.

As we have already seen, there is first of all the Bible's own claim to be the inspired Word of God. But can the biblical Christian prove this claim? There is plenty of historical and scientific evidence for the Bible's validity and evidence in the form of fulfilled prophecy. The Old Testament contains over 300 references to the Messiah that were fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Computations using the science of probability on just 8 of these prophecies show the chance that someone could have fulfilled all 8 prophecies is 1017 power, or 1 in 100 quadrillion.

As for scientific evidence, archaeologists have proved again and again the accuracy of Scripture accounts, the names of peoples, places and dates. Nelson Glueck, eminent Jewish archaeologist, has categorically stated that "no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference."' William F. Albright, recognized as one of the greatest of archaeologists, testified that there is no doubt that archaeology "has confirmed the substantial historicity of Old Testament tradition.

Another piece of evidence for the Bible's inspiration is its unity. The Bible was written by 40 authors over a period of 1,600 years. Most of these writers never knew the others. When J. B. Phillips began work on his New Testament in Modern English, he was not predisposed to regard the Bible as verbally inspired (that the very words were God-breathed). But as the work progressed, Phillips was increasingly impressed and amazed at the unity that existed throughout the books of the Bible. He said, "In their different ways and from their different angles, these writers are all talking about the same thing and talking with a certainty as to bring a wonderful envy into a modern heart." [.]

The introduction of the Word of God leads the Apostle to state the character and uses of all Scripture. He says, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works" (or, "every good work"). vv. 16, 17. All or every scripture is then divinely inspired, given by the operation of the Holy Ghost through human vessels as a revelation of the divine mind (see 2 Peter 1:21), and the Apostle in another place claims this inspiration for the words in which he delivered his message: "Which things also we speak," he says, "not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which [in those which] the Holy Ghost teacheth" (1 Cor. 2:13). It is not only therefore that the Scriptures contain, but they also are the truth; and they are thus absolutely infallible and, as such, have attached to them God's authority because they are the expression of His own mind. They are therefore to be received, unquestioningly received, as the voice of the living God to our souls; and thus the only proper attitude to be taken up when they are read is that of Samuel, who said, "Speak, for thy servant heareth."

Hence the inestimable value of those from whom Timothy had learned, and of the written word known by him from childhood. This gives the apostle the occasion to predicate of every scripture (be it Old or New Testament) qualities that constitute it the only abiding rule of faith, not only the fullest source, but the sole unfailing and perfect standard of truth. That they all were "God-inspired" implies this in one word to the mind that knows God.

We have moreover, to remember that there is no absolute necessity for our investigating the condition of the text of the Old Testament, before the time of our Lord and His apostles. After all, we have only to arrive at a knowledge of what the text was in the days of the first promulgation of Christianity. For we have their, and especially His, infallible mark of approbation fixed on the Scriptures as then existing; and it is clear that no possible evidence could be stronger.

Now we arrive at a knowledge of that text, through several separate and independent channels. In addition to the original Scriptures themselves, in the Hebrew; we have many very ancient translations, some made before the time of Christ; and these reach us quite independently of the original text; so that in any point where they all concur, we have, it is plain, a proof of the most convincing nature, that we have the text, as it existed, before the separation of these several witnesses. And where they differ, as they do in unimportant respects, we have all the more reason for being persuaded of their value. We are quite sure that there has been no collusion or deceit. Joined to this evidence, we have also that which is furnished by these books being quoted in ancient writers. They supply us with an additional testimony to the words which they have used. Thus we know that the Old Testament is very frequently quoted in the New. We receive the New Testament through altogether a different source from that whereby the Old comes to us; and we therefore feel sure that if the christian books report Moses or Isaiah to have said such and such words; and we find the books of Moses and Isaiah, which have been in possession of the Jews, (the avowed enemies of christianity), saying the same words, we have no hesitation in perceiving that we could have no better proof of the fact that those words were actually used.

The original writings were copied on manuscripts, in painstaking accuracy. This was assured through various techniques, such as counting the number of occurrences of each letter, etc.

Evidence for the accuracy of transmission abounds. Until 1947, the oldest known OT manuscripts were from around 1,000 AD. Bible critics claimed that these had to be very inaccurate because so many centuries had elapsed. The famous Qumran discovery, in 1947, proved them wrong (the critics, not the manuscripts). The caves in Qumran contained copies of all books of the Old Testament (except Esther) - from 100 - 200 years BC. A careful comparison showed that these manuscripts were virtually identical to the ones that had been known before (from 1000 AD).

75 Again, take the whole body of scripture, a collection of books written by various persons during a period of fifteen hundred years — of about eight hundred, by Mr. N.'s admission. All these develop an immense system. The sacrifices of the old are far the fullest development of every moral truth contained in the great historical fact and doctrine of the new, yet comparatively without meaning, till that fact appeared and that doctrine developed its bearing — circumstances and histories, full of instruction for our present walk, which in themselves are simple histories of patriarchs or of Israel (the application of them being totally unknown to those who wrote) — a unity of design, a completeness of structure (yet written when the connection of the subsequent part with the former was impossible to be known to man), which proves the unity of the mind of the Being whose revealing power and controlling thought and knowledge run through it all from beginning to end.

One of the most impressive things in Scripture is its unity. This unity is impossible apart from inspiration. When we find writers, separated by centuries, writing in different countries, writing on themes utterly beyond human ken, writing from different standpoints, writing, as a Puritan author happily phrased it, “without collusion or collision,” we can only come to the conclusion, that these writers were divinely inspired.

One of the most striking proofs of inspiration is the fact that the Bible is a collection of books by different authors, written at different times, the first and last books differing by a period of many hundreds of years. And yet there is a perfect unity of design running right through the whole Bible, the separate parts being perfectly linked up with each other, so that it is evidently the work of one mind producing the harmonious whole — even the work of the Spirit of God. The various authors lived and died, and yet the true Author remains from the first book to the last, all being fitted in according to His mind. I hope to show later, more in detail, how the various parts fit in one with the other, each filling its place so naturally that, until removed, one is not aware how important it is. The existence of a Master Mind guiding the hand of the various writers must be admitted by all serious students of Scripture.