How did we get the Bible?
Gaining a deeper understanding of how and why we can trust the Bible.
As Christ Followers, we must hold the Bible as our standard.
Your Word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path… How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
What we believe about the Bible
At Devoted City Church we have a high view of scripture (View our beliefs). We believe it is the inspired, inerrant, infallible word of God in its original manuscripts. The original writers were and are unlike any other writers, as they were given special guidance by the Holy Spirit to write down God’s revelation of Himself to humankind.
Therefore, we accept the Bible as the final authority for all matters of faith and practice.
Since we hold the Bible to be the standard for our faith, and view it as authoritative in our lives, it’s logical to ask the question, ‘How did we get it?’
The books we have today have been recognized by God’s people as God’s word from a thousand years before Christ, all the way to the New Testament, which was less than 100 years after Christ.
Three important people believed these books were true and the Word of God:
- Jesus quoted the Old Testament 78 times as the word of God. Jesus believed the Old Testament was true. If he believes it, we should too!
- The Apostle Paul believed he was writing the words of God.
If anyone thinks they are a prophet or otherwise gifted by the Spirit, let them acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command. But if anyone ignores this, they will themselves be ignored. 1 Corinthians 14:37-38 - Peter believed he was writing something supernatural, too.
Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:20-21
How do we know someone didn’t just make it all up?
How do we know that as it was handed down, things weren’t changed or misunderstood, like a game of telephone?
We start with evidence and probability. In school, we all learned that the works of Julius Caesar, Josephus, Plato, and Homer are true. Historians have determined this because of three things: when the events happened compared to when it was written about, how much time passed between the original event and the manuscript, and how many copies we currently have.
Historical evidence of the Bible compared to other historical documents:
Caesar’s Commentary on the Gallic wars
- Written around 50 BC
- Earliest manuscript is from 950 years after the fact, around 900 AD
- Total manuscripts: 10
The Iliad, written by Homer
- Written around 800 BC
- Earliest manuscript is from 900 years after the fact, around 100 AD.
- Total manuscripts: 643
The New Testament
- Written over a 45 year period between 50-95 AD
- Earliest manuscript is from 50 years after the fact, around 125 AD. This means a lot of people from when the events happened were still alive, and could dispute what was written down if it was false.
- Total manuscripts: 5000
What does this mean?
When we hold the New Testament against other ancient works, it is clearly superior. And, looking at the Old Testament, the book of Isaiah is considered to have no difference from what people read 4000 years ago based on historical and archeological evidence.
We don’t want to focus on only the historical facts, because we’ll miss the deeply spiritual and supernatural nature of the Bible. Even if we didn’t have all these facts, the Bible is still the word of God based on faith.
The Word of God reveals the heart and truth of God.
The Bible is not just words on a page. They are words driven by the Holy Spirit that can, if we let them, transform us as we search for truth.
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
More Resources
The content from this post is from our teaching series, Bible 101, where we dealt with the questions and doubts we face about the Bible.
