How Do We Know the Bible Is True? -- S.U.P.P.O.R.T.
Whenever I want to know how to live or I want to know what God is like, I start by reading the Bible. What I read, I believe is true. But not everyone agrees.
People often ask, “How do you know the Bible is true?”
There are also numerous religions in the world. They each have their own form of a holy book. How do we know one is true and not the other? Is there evidence that the Bible is true?
What do I mean by TRUE?
Some people believe the Bible is true in faith and practice only. They usually mean it's true in what it says about God and spiritual things, but it doesn’t portray accurate history or science.
That's simplistic. For example, the Bible says that Jesus died on the cross for our sins (Romans 4:25; 1 Peter 2:24). What's true about that statement? Some would say the “for our sins” is true (the spiritual part), but the “on the cross” isn’t necessarily true (the historical part).
Christianity, however, is built on history. The Bible tells some of that history and explains it.
The central tenet of Christianity is that Jesus was a man who was killed on the cross and came back from the dead. If that didn’t happen, our sins cannot be forgiven. The Bible itself says that (1 Corinthians 15:13-17). So, the historical parts of the Bible, as an example, need to be true–meshing with reality.
TRUE means the Bible is accurate in all that it intends to say.
Whatever the authors of the Bible intended to say, they said accurately. If they meant to reveal history, the history is right. If they explain something about science, the science is real. The spiritual principles they describe are real.
In that sense, the Bible is true.
So, if we saw a picture of Samson, he would have long hair (Judges 16:17), at least until after his tragic rendezvous with Delilah.
If there would've been YouTube, we could've seen the Red Sea part (Exodus 14).
But we would not expect God to be a literal eagle that spreads his wings and protects because that's a metaphor (Deuteronomy 32:11).
We know we couldn’t interview the fictional character known as the “Good Samaritan” (Luke 10:33) because that story was told as fiction, a parable to make a relevant point. The point is about truth, but the story is not intended to be historical.
Most of the discernment needed to understand the intention is obvious. We read literature this way every day.
We have to interpret the Bible as it's meant to be interpreted. But when interpreted correctly, we find it is true.
We have evidence for the Bible's trustworthiness. Lots of it. The preponderance of the evidence reveals the reliability of the Bible.
So, what is the evidence?
Let me use the acronym S.U.P.P.O.R.T. to strengthen our confidence.
What follows is only a brief dip into the different kinds of evidence. We can do more research, but I hope I've provided enough to instill our trust in the Bible.
7 Pieces of Evidence that S.U.P.P.O.R.T. the Bible as True:
Scripture—The Bible’s own testimony declares its trustworthiness.
The Bible speaks about itself. and it says it's God’s word and is reliable.
The third verse of the Bible (Genesis 1:3) tells us what God said, and in the last book of the Old Testament, we're told what the Lord said (Micah 1:1). In between (over 2,000 times in the Old Testament), the Bible asserts that God spoke what was written.
The New Testament refers to the Old Testament over 40 times as the “Word of God." 2 Timothy 3:16 states that All Scripture is God-breathed, and since God reveals himself as truth, his word is supposedly true.
Psalm 12:6 says that God’s words are flawless.
When the biblical writers wrote, they knew God was speaking. They said God gave them the words (2 Peter 1:21). The testimony of Scripture claims the Bible is God’s word, and it's true. The Bible’s testimony maintains its trustworthiness.
The testimony of Scripture is important. It’s a piece of evidence, not all of it.
Even in our justice system, people's testimonies about their guilt or innocence are valued and important. To not give a statement is suspicious.
Standing up and saying, “I am telling the truth,” goes a long way. But it's not enough, and it isn’t all the whole case.
Unity—The unity of the Bible provides evidence of supernatural authorship.
Suppose I collected ten people from our city, each with the same education level, the same cultural background, speaking the same language. I told them to write a one-page opinion of the September 11, 2001 events. What are the odds that all ten of those papers would express the same opinion and come to the same conclusion without any contradictions? Not very good, are they?
Think about the Bible. Over 40 authors wrote their parts of the Bible over 1,500 years. The authors had different education levels, came from different cultures, spoke different languages, had different backgrounds (i.e., a military leader, a prime minister, a tax collector, a cupbearer, a fisherman), lived on three different continents (Asia, Africa, Europe), wrote from different settings (i.e., wilderness, prison, the island of Patmos), and wrote not on one subject but hundreds of critical topics. And yet, when their writings are pressed together, they have a unified theme and never contradict each other in any critical area, whether it's historical details, doctrinal issues, or moral lessons.
The Bible is unified. From beginning to end, it unfolds God’s plan of salvation for people.
The unity of the Bible provides evidence of supernatural authorship, and supernatural authorship is evidence to support the truthfulness of Scripture.
Prophecy—The volume and accuracy of fulfilled prophecies support the Bible's truthfulness.
The sheer number of prophecies given that have come true is powerful evidence. Add to that the specific details of many of those prophecies, and we have exponentially powerful evidence.
The Bible itself recognizes that fulfilled prophecy is evidence of the supernatural origin of its prophets:
But the prophet who prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the LORD only if his prediction comes true. (Jeremiah 28:9)
If a prophecy were made that did not come true, then the prophet would be unmasked as inauthentic.
You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD?” If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.” (Deuteronomy 18:21-22, NIV)
So, the Bible set the standard and lived up to it.
The Bible is filled with prophecies—most of which have already come true. We can, therefore, demonstrate its reliability.
The Old Testament has over 2,000 predictive prophecies. So, it's filled with opportunities to test and see if the Bible is true. These aren't vague generalities like those of modern fortunetellers (i.e., you will find success, a handsome man will soon come into your life, be patient, a light will come), but they included testable details.
Here are two different types of prophecies in the Old Testament:
1. Predictions of the coming Messiah.
Remember, these were written between 500 to 1,000 years before Christ came. Alfred Edersheim claims there are over 456 specific prophesies about the Messiah. These include very specific things like that Christ would be born in Bethlehem, of a virgin, sold for 30 pieces of silver, the silver would be used to buy a potter’s field, he would be silent when accused, and buried by a rich man. (Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Appendix IX.
You can see the appendix here:
All of them came true. We don’t need an oddsmaker or a mathematician to realize how amazing that is.
Fulfilled prophecy supports truthfulness by showing what it predicted happened, but it supports it by showing that God had to be a part of the writing for all these to come true.
2. Predictions dealing with kings and nations in the OT.
Here are some examples of these kinds of prophecies that can be tested. Hold on to your hat.
Ezekiel made prophecies about the city of Tyre being opposed by many nations (Ezekiel 26:3), the walls being destroyed, and the tower being broken (26:4), that the stones and debris would be thrown into the water (26:12). All of that happened precisely as predicted.
There are similar prophecies about Sidon and Babylon (Isaiah 13:9).
Isaiah (44:28; 45:1) predicted Cyrus of Persia would have the city of Jerusalem and the temple itself rebuilt. He made that prediction in 700 B.C. Babylon wasn't a threat to anyone then, yet Isaiah said Cyrus would take them down.
Isaiah predicted Persia would, in turn, defeat Babylon (Isaiah 21:1-10; 44:28; 45:1-7), and at that time, Persia barely existed. The city and the temple were standing strong, and no one had ever heard of Cyrus. In 586 B.C., both were destroyed and in 539 B.C., the Persian King (guess who), Cyrus, encouraged the Jews to rebuild both.
Amazing. If we can trust the Bible in these areas, it seems we can trust it in others.
Fulfilled prophecy is a powerful testimony to the truthfulness of our Bibles.
Phenomena—The miracles in the Bible validate its reliability.
One of the major reasons Jesus performed miracles was to authenticate his message. The Gospel of John calls them “signs" because they point to Jesus.
Often, people use the miraculous stories in the Bible to claim that it's not a true book but a book of fictitious tales. However, we turn that argument. The miracles of the Bible are evidence of its truthfulness.
The Bible records some strange things. Plagues, seas being opened, healings, and miraculous buffets that come from only a few fish and biscuits.
In the biblical stories, no one questioned whether or not the miracles happened. For example, in Mark 9:34, the Pharisees said Jesus was casting out demons by the power of Satan. They didn’t say he didn’t cast out demons. They sought to kill him because he healed on the Sabbath. The fact that he healed was never in question.
The Bible isn't the only source of Jesus's miracles. We have lots of extra-biblical evidence. For example, the Talmud (Jewish commentaries) records that Jesus did miracles and said that he used sorcery. They didn’t question that he did the miraculous, just that he did it with evil powers.
The Resurrection is the greatest miracle and the core of Christianity and the Bible. If the Bible is wrong about Jesus's death and resurrection, it shouldn’t be trusted on anything else.
No one has disproven the fact that Jesus came back from the dead.
Biblical writers prophesied that Jesus would return from the dead, and then they say he did. The whole book builds on the resurrection as a historical event. The gospel centers on that event.
Why, if it weren't true, would the biblical authors tell that story, especially since the eyewitnesses to his death and supposed resurrection were still alive (we're told over 500 people saw him alive after his burial; the Bible even took names; Acts 1:3; 1 Corinthians 15:5-8)? Romans 1:4 tells us that his resurrection is proof that Jesus is the Son of God.
The Phenomena of the Bible, especially the resurrection, validate its reliability.
Others—The testimony of the early church supports its credibility.
Could someone today write a best-selling book about the impotence of the Coronavirus? No way. Why? Because people are alive who can testify about the loss of lives and the crippling of the economy.
The same goes for the Bible.
The Old Testament was handed down from eyewitnesses. As the New Testament was being told verbally and then put into writing, plenty of eyewitnesses were still alive to disprove any inaccuracy. But instead, the first-century church expanded.
The Bible was quickly and immediately accepted as God’s word.
The church started reciting the story and teaching the lessons.
The Gospels were circulated and confirmed as true.
The epistles were read and followed.
The Bible was quoted, taught, and followed by the followers of Christ in the early church.
The actions and trust of others support the Bible's credibility. It didn’t just appear out of nowhere and purport a story from long ago. It was contemporary news.
Rocks—Archeological finds confirm its accuracy.
If the Bible is sloppy and inaccurate with its history and details about places and flowers, then we shouldn’t trust its spiritual truth. Anachronisms would oppose confidence in the Bible.
The Bible records God’s activity through which he teaches us about himself and life. If it's wrong about common things, we won't believe what it reports about spiritual things.
As Irwin Lutzer says,
If Moses didn’t cross the Red Sea, why should we believe that God gave the Ten Commandments on Sinai? If Abraham did not rescue Lot from tribal kings, as critics used to teach, then we cannot trust the story of God’s covenant with Abraham. If the Bible names the wrong Roman ruler when the decree was given for Joseph to return to Bethlehem, why should we believe in the Virgin Birth? Remember, it is either all true, or it is riddled with errors.
(Lutzer, You Can Trust the Bible, 65)
ROCKS are the best evidence of earthly realities; by “rocks,” I mean anything we can test through archeological discovery.
Archaeology is based on excavation and critical evaluation of the discoveries. The last 70 years have been a heyday for archaeological findings.
We don’t have space to list many discoveries or their significance. But understand this: Archaeologists discovered places, cities, tools and instruments, inscriptions, and a host of other things that confirm the accuracy of the biblical record.
The excavations at Megiddo reveal what was once thought fanciful tales about the thousands of horses the Bible claims Solomon had (the ruins have thousands of stalls for horses).
The walls of Jericho have been discovered in ruins, just as the Bible described.
The pool of Bethesda has been found right where it's said to have been in the book of John.
The altar to an unknown god is in Athens, as Paul discussed.
We could list thousands more.
Archaeologists have found over 25,000 sites that match the Bible’s stories.
No cites have been found to prove the Bible wrong.
Archeologists have said this, but we could test it: No archaeological find has proven the Bible to be wrong at any point. Quite the opposite has happened. (See this great website for details)
The rocks are crying out that God’s word is God’s word; it's true and reliable. If the details of history are so precise, the details of doctrine can also be trusted.
Testimony—A believer’s own testimony confirms its authenticity.
We began with the Bible’s testimony, and we end with ours.
Our testimony is never enough proof. I don’t believe what others say is true simply because they had some emotional or spiritual experience. Their interpretation or perception could be flawed.
If we investigate the evidence and choose to trust the one the Bible is all about, we'll receive salvation and personally encounter God. Our common testimonies become further evidence that all is true. It's another piece of the puzzle.
Each of our testimonies will be our final piece of evidence. Remember, the Bible purports to be about a real God who seeks to save real people and bring us into a real relationship. The Bible isn’t ultimately about knowledge, morals, philosophy, or doctrines.
To know Christ is to know him by experience. Our encounter with the God of the universe, the Savior of the world, and the Holy Spirit himself will be our confirming bit of evidence.
The puzzle will be complete when we follow the guidelines of God’s revealed word and see that God meets and blesses us.
For me, I have experienced the Bible as true. The more I study it, the more I am convinced it's true. The Bible answers the complicated issues of my life: how I got here, why I'm here, why there's evil, what'll happen with evil, why I love beauty and respect good, dream, love, and struggle, and where I find hope.
I've found that as I read the Bible and walk with God, the Bible makes sense, and it makes sense of me.
Mainly, I've experienced what many in the Bible say: I've met Jesus; he's alive and real and as wonderful and amazing as the Bible says.
Maybe you've found enough S.U.P.P.O.R.T to trust the Bible and align your life with Jesus. God promises this to those who do:
Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. (Proverbs 1:1-3)