How Do We Prove the Bible Is True?

Why do we want to talk about: “why the bible is true?” We certainly understand that God has vindicated his Word over and over again. However, the subtle attacks of the devil in this age seek to paint the Bible as outdated, malicious, misogynistic, etc. Schools, the media, entertainment and culture continually attempt to convince us the Bible is not true; and even our own sinful nature, oftentimes, tells us the Bible is not true.

It’s important to understand that we can have full confidence in the Bible. It is the blueprint for how we must live our lives. It teaches us God’s plan for the world, for our families, for our friends and for ourselves. It is not just a book written by men: it’s the word of God!

We can clearly realize that the Bible is true by reading what is inside of it and studying history, which validates it.

Objections

There are many common objections we hear against the Bible. The first objection is that the Bible is written by men, not by God. It definitely was written by men. However, that is not the entire picture.

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” 2 Timothy 3:16

It is written by men through the inspiration of God. The phrase, “inspiration of God” is one word in Greek and it means God-breathed. It came from God’s mouth. God breathed his Word into the minds of men ordained for that purpose.

“For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” 2 Peter 1:21

It came from the mouth of God and was breathed into holy men of God who spoke and wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. It was written by God through men.

Another objection that is given is that it contradicts itself. This section is not dedicated to dealing with ever supposed contradictions; however, every single contradiction has an answer to it. Another significant objection against the Bible is that scientific discoveries contradict it. First, science doesn’t deal with conclusions, but with observations based upon testing. Quite frequently accepted science becomes categorically false as more observations become available and new theories become accepted as the norm. Another important point is that it is the Bible and its worldview that brings us to the logical conclusion that there are truths to be discovered in the world if we study it. Without the Bible we assume this, but rather, there would be chaos and no meaning to the natural world. Science assumes there are answers and that there is order to the natural world and this worldview is derived from the Bible not from atheism.

How do we know the Bible is true?

The Bible has the same message that is cumulative, little by little over the course of history. What is the main point of the Bible? It is the same message through the entire Bible. No other book does this over the period of 3400 years written by forty different authors. It is revealed progressively, over time, and the revelation of God’s purpose gets more clear, over time, without drastically changing at any point.

There are four different ways the Bible is different from other books, especially the books of its time, in antiquity. No other ancient books have so many copies that are found. The copies are all very much the same, whether they are old or new. The other books of its time hide the evil things that kings did. The Bible tells the sins of kings, priests and prophets alike. In the Middle East there is no other book that teaches belief in one God. Every other culture of the time believed in multiple gods.

Archeological finds over history have demonstrated the amazing accuracy of the Bible in describing historical events. Time and again, they find artifacts attesting to the accuracy of the Bible. In 1993 in Israel they found a broken rock that said the king of Syria killed the kings of Israel and the King of the House of David. You can read that in 2 Kings 13:1-25. In 1843 they found an old city that they thought was fiction that is spoken of in Isaiah 20:1.

The prophetic nature of the Bible proves its accuracy. Isaiah 53 was written 800 years before Jesus was crucified. Psalm 22:16 and John 20:25 describe the crucifixion. These were not normal punishments during the time of David or Isaiah. It was used by the Romans for a short amount of time and it was written about 1,000 years before it happened. Zechariah 9:9 is fulfilled by Matthew 21:2-4 when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and the people hailed him as king: Zechariah prophesied 600 years before it happened. Micah 5:2 was written 800 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Daniel 2 speaks of the next three empires that would come at that time: Persia, Greece, then Rome.

There is also divine insight into how the planet works scientifically. Isaiah 40:22 speaks about the continual expansion of the universe, but this was not discovered until the 1920s. Job 26:10 shows that the earth is a sphere and Job 26:7 shows the earth is hanging in space and not resting upon anything. This was written 3500 years before science discovered it. To finish this section, I will leave you with a short statement from the book, “How We Know the Bible is True:”

By external we mean non-biblical sources. The facts are clear: Compared to all ancient books (e.g., Homer’s Illiad, Plato’s Republic, Caesar’s Gallic Wars), the Bible has the oldest copies, the most numerous copies, and the most accurate copies.

Sir Frederick Kenyon declares, “It cannot be too strongly asserted that in substance the text of the Bible is certain: especially is this the case with the New Testament. The number of manuscripts of the NT, of early translations from it, and of quotations from it in the oldest writers in the church, is so large that it is practically certain that the true reading of every doubtful passage is preserved in some one or other of these ancient authorities. This can be said of no other ancient book in the world.”

All but eleven verses of the Bible can be reproduced from quotes by the Church Fathers. It is not myth; it is not fabricated. Your students need to know that the Bible is infallible and inerrant. Infallible refers to not misleading. Thus, Scripture is a safe, reliable guide in all matters. Inerrant means free from all falsehood or mistakes, and so the Bible is trustworthy. God Himself says His word cannot be broken (John 10:35b).

Secular historian and archeologists give support to many of the claims in the Bible. As Nelson Glueck, a well-known Jewish archeologist, wrote, “It may be stated categorically that no archeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference.”

“William F. Albright (called, “The father of modern archeology”) said, “There is no doubt that archeology has confirmed the historicity of the Old Testament.”