Was The Bible Inspired by God?
This is probably the most basic question in a Christian’s walk. If we’re going to live by what the Bible commands, shouldn’t we know for sure that it is what it claims to be, the very inspired Word of God? So, how can we tell? The New King James Version (NKJV) translates the Greek word, “theópneustos” in 2 Tim. 3:16 as, “inspiration.” The English Standard Version translates it as, “breathed out by God,” and that’s exactly what it means. 2 Peter 1:20-21 tells us that the writers of the Bible were “carried along by the Holy Spirit,” the Third Person of the Trinity. So, the Bible itself claims to be inspired by God. Can we check to see if that’s true? Let’s see. If the Bible is from God, there should be a supernatural aspect to it. Predicting things before they happen would be pretty good evidence.
The ancient city of Tyre existed in two parts, half on the coast of the Mediterranean and half on an island about a half mile off shore. Early in the sixth century B.C., Nebuchadnezzar II laid siege to Tyre for 13 years. Since Nebuchadnezzar did not have a navy, the citizens of Tyre could still survive by trading with the outside world by sea. Nebuchadnezzar’s forces eventually broke through the walls of Tyre but found the people had packed up and moved to the island offshore. Since Nebuchadnezzar had no navy, he was forced to return home.
In 332 B.C., Alexander the Great came to Tyre demanding they surrender. Since Alexander also had no navy, the Tyrians on the island felt safe in denying Alexander. Over the following seven months, Alexander’s men used the rocks and debris from the old city of Tyre to build a land bridge between the mainland and the island city, even scraping the rocks and scraping the very dust from the site of the old city. Alexander then conquered the island city. Today, fishermen dry their nets on the site of the ancient city because it has no rocks to snag their nets.
Ezekiel wrote this prophecy about 586 BC: “therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves.
4 They shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers, and I will scrape her soil from her and make her a bare rock.
5 She shall be in the midst of the sea a place for the spreading of nets, for I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD. And she shall become plunder for the nations,
6 and her daughters on the mainland shall be killed by the sword. Then they will know that I am the LORD. Ezekiel 26:3-6 (ESV)
In 68 A.D., Vespasian, soon to be emperor of Rome, laid siege to the city of Jerusalem. During that time, Nero died at his own hand, and Vespasian was made emperor. He left his son, Titus, in charge of the siege on Jerusalem, and returned to Rome to take Nero’s place. In 70 A.D., Titus broke through the walls and sacked Jerusalem including setting fire and destroying the temple such that nothing is left of it today except one of the walls of the outer court, the Wailing Wall. 40 years earlier, Jesus predicted this to His disciples about the Temple: “Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple.
2 But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” Matthew 24:1-2 (ESV)
The Bible is filled with supernatural occurrences, prophecies, and descriptions. These are just two that can be checked by examining secular sources for their fulfillment. There is a supernatural aspect to the Bible. After all, it’s God’s Book.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NKJV)
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV)
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
2 Peter 1:20-21 (ESV)
20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.
21 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.
Ezekiel 26:3-6 (ESV)
3 therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves.
4 They shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers, and I will scrape her soil from her and make her a bare rock.
5 She shall be in the midst of the sea a place for the spreading of nets, for I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD. And she shall become plunder for the nations,
6 and her daughters on the mainland shall be killed by the sword. Then they will know that I am the LORD.
Ezekiel 26:3-6 (ESV)
The Destruction of Tyre:
The Destruction of the Temple
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/jewishtemple.htm
Is My Bible Authentic? (Old Testament)
Just how careful were the guys who copied the Bible up until the printing press was invented? Does the Bible we have today compare well with the originals (the autographs)?
The copying of the Old Testament was very exact. According to Geisler and Nix’s A General Introduction to the Bible, there were at least 17 rules that needed to be followed by the scribes when they copied the Old Testament to create a Synagogue Scroll. Among the rules were these: “(1) A synagogue roll must be written on the skins of clean animals, (2) prepared for the particular use of the synagogue by a Jew, (3) These must be fastened together with strings taken from clean animals, (4) Every skin must contain a certain number of columns, equal throughout the entire codex, (5) The length of each column must not extend over less than 48 nor more than 60 lines; and the bredth must consist of thirty letters, (6) The whole copy must be first-lined and if three words should be written without a line, it is worthless, (7) The ink should be black, neither red, green, nor any other color, and prepared according to a definite recipe, (8) An authentic copy must be the exemplar, from which the transcriber ought not in the least deviate, (9) No word or letter, not even a yod, must be written from memory, the scribe not having looked at the codex before him. (10) Between every consonant the space of a hair or thread must intervene (11) Between every new parashah or section, the breadth of nine consonants, (12) Between every book three lines, (13) The fifth book of Moses must terminate exactly with a line, but the rest need not do so, (14) Besides this, the copyist must sit in full Jewish dress, (15) wash his whole body, (16) not begin to write the name of God with a pen newly dipped in ink, (17) and should a king address him while writing that name he must take no notice of him.
So, you get the idea that the scribes copying the Old Testament had to be extremely careful and reverent at their jobs. When the scribe came upon the very name of God and needed to copy it, he was expected first to take a bath, dress in newly washed clothes, use a new pen and freshly prepared ink. This meant when the scribe copied Ps. 4:3 or Ps. 6:2, he had to go through this ritual twice since God’s name appears twice in those verses.
On top of that, the scribe was expected to count the letters in the newly copied page and count the number of letters in the manuscript being copied. If the numbers matched, he was to hold a thread across the text from the top left corner to the bottom right corner. Another thread was held from the top right corner of the text to the lower left corner. If the letter in the center where the two threads crossed was the same as the letter in the same position on the manuscript being copied, then the copy was approved. If not, it was destroyed.
This extremely conservative approach to copying the manuscripts gives us the reason why, when the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, they match almost precisely our modern manuscripts.
So, because today’s Old Testament matches a copy from more than two thousand years ago, we can be pretty certain the Old Testament we hold in our hands and study is an extremely reliable and authentic representation of the Old Testament autographs. Geisler and Nix say it is more than 99% an accurate copy. The less than 1% in question contains no doctrinal issues.
Recommended Books — links to these books on Amazon can be found under “Recommended Books” in the menus: A General Introduction to the Bible by Geisler and Nix. Also, The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible by Holden and Geisler.
Is My Bible Authentic (New Testament)
While the Old Testament was passed down to us in a fairly ritualistic fashion, the New Testament, not so much.
The New Testament is a collection of 27 biographies, letters, and a book of prophecy written by about eight authors over nearly 50 years. These documents were sent to individuals (Luke 1:1-4; Acts 1:1), to particular churches (Rom. 1:7) and to the church at large (Rev. 1:1-3).
When these letters and books arrived, some in the congregation would borrow them to make copies for themselves and friends. This helped to spread the Gospel. Occasionally, though, it led to discrepancies. Let’s imagine I borrowed someone’s copy of the Gospel of Luke. As I copied it, I might make some comments in the margin as certain passages impact me. After all, it’s my personal copy, why not include notes? Two problems arise, perhaps my friend who owns the manuscript I’m copying did the same thing. I might see what he wrote and, thinking it Scripture, include it in the text as I copy it. Then when I pass my copy on to another friend so she could copy it, she might well copy my friend’s notes and as well as mine. Usually, the notes were recognized as such, but you can see how some manuscripts might be corrupted in this way.
In order to deal with this, we have textual critics who compare all the manuscripts with various priorities in mind (age, geographical area where it originated, etc.) in order to come to a complete text which they believe represents as precisely as possible the originals (autographs). Because of this research, we believe we can reproduce the New Testament with better than 99% precision, and the portions in question are not doctrinal. This is one reason why most modern translations are made from the oldest known manuscripts. There is less time from the original writings to the known manuscript for error.
Besides this, even if we had no manuscripts of the New Testament at all (and we have over 24,000), we can reproduce nearly all of the New Testament from the writings of the early church fathers.
So, rest assured that the New Testament you hold in your hand on Sunday morning is the most accurately reproduced ancient document in history. You can rely on it fully.
2 Peter 3:14-16 (ESV)
14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.
15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,
16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
Luke 1:1-4 (ESV)
1 Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us,
2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us,
3 it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,
4 that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.
Acts 1:1 (ESV)
1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach,
Romans 1:7 (ESV)
7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Does My Bible Have Contradictions?
The quick answer is “no.” Let’s define a couple of terms, “Contradictory” and “Contrary.” Two things contradict if they cannot both be true. “The Bible says, Jesus loves me,” and “The Bible does not say, Jesus loves me,” are contradictory statements. “I was in California today,” and “I was in Arizona today,” are contrary statements, they may seem contradictory, but they can both be true.
So, when we read Mary Magdalene went to the tomb ((John 20:1) but elsewhere that more than one woman went to the tomb (Mark 16:1) there isn’t a contradiction here anymore than saying, “I saw John at the fair yesterday,” and someone else saying, “I saw John, Mary, and their kids at the fair yesterday.” It’s the same thing with the number of possessed men. There are two mentioned in Matthew 8:28-34 but only one mentioned in Mark 5:1-20. This seems to be contradictory but is only contrary. Both can be true, just one of the possessed was the important one in the story.
No contradictions appear in the passages mentioned. There are other passages where we do see what appears to be contradictions such as Gen. 22:2 where Scripture says Abraham had only one son. Yet, in Gen. 25:6, Scripture says he had more than one. The answer here is similar to that of the passages above. One son alone is of the line to the Messiah. One son, Isaac, was the only son of Sarah. Between Gen. 22:2 and Gen. 25:6, we are told Abraham had other children through Keturah (Gen. 25:1). So, yes Abraham had more than one son.
This is similar to the old question, “If Adam and Eve had just Cain and Able, where did Cain’s wife come from? Geographically, it appears Cain’s wife came from the land of Nod. But, that’s not the question. Cain married one of his sisters (Gen. 5:3-4). Then the question of incest comes up. But, incest was not outlawed until the Mosaic Law (Lev. 18:6-18). No reason is given why the change, but it’s hard to reproduce if you are forbidden to do so through family members when that is the only option. It may also be that the gene pool was not corrupt enough to cause problems until the time of Moses.
Both the “Cain’s wife” problem and the “Abraham’s sons” problem are simple problems of ignorance. Those who pose the problem simply haven’t read the Scriptures concerning these “contradictions.”
John 20:1 (ESV)
1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
Mark 16:1 (ESV)
1 When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.
Matthew 8:28-34 (ESV)
28 And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way.
29 And behold, they cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”
30 Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them.
31 And the demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs.”
32 And he said to them, “Go.” So they came out and went into the pigs, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters.
33 The herdsmen fled, and going into the city they told everything, especially what had happened to the demon-possessed men.
34 And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.
Mark 5:1-20 (ESV)
1 They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes.
2 And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit.
3 He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain,
4 for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him.
5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.
6 And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him.
7 And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.”
8 For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”
9 And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.”
10 And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country.
11 Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside,
12 and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.”
13 So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.
14 The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened.
15 And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.
16 And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs.
17 And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region.
18 As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him.
19 And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”
20 And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.
Genesis 22:1-2 (ESV)
1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
Genesis 25:6 (ESV)
6 But to the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, and while he was still living he sent them away from his son Isaac, eastward to the east country.
Genesis 25:1-2 (ESV)
1 Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah.
2 She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.
Genesis 5:3-5 (ESV)
3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.
4 The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters.
5 Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.
Leviticus 18:6-18 (ESV)
6 “None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness. I am the LORD.
7 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother; she is your mother, you shall not uncover her nakedness.
8 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness.
9 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether brought up in the family or in another home.
10 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your son’s daughter or of your daughter’s daughter, for their nakedness is your own nakedness.
11 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter, brought up in your father’s family, since she is your sister.
12 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister; she is your father’s relative.
13 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s relative.
14 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother, that is, you shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt.
15 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is your son’s wife, you shall not uncover her nakedness.
16 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness.
17 You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and of her daughter, and you shall not take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to uncover her nakedness; they are relatives; it is depravity.
18 And you shall not take a woman as a rival wife to her sister, uncovering her nakedness while her sister is still alive.
Recommended books: Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible, and Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties. Both can be found under “Recommended Books” in the menu.
Believers Armed and Dangerous 