M-A-P-S to Guide You through Biblical Reliability
By Hank Hanegraaff
Use M-A-P-S to guide you through Biblical
reliability: Manuscripts, Archaeology, Prophecy, Statistics.
Have you tried to show someone the historical
reliability of the Scriptures, and not known where to start? A quick
trip to your local well-stocked Christian bookstore likely will overwhelm
you. Where among the dozens of impressive, comprehensive reference books
should you start?
Fortunately, while there is a wealth of information
available to support the reliability of Scripture, you don't have to
burn, the midnight oil to give a reasonable answer to those who ask,
"How can we know the Bible is reliable?" Four basic principle chart
your way to understanding basic biblical reliability.
To help you remember, I've developed the simple
acronym "MAPS." Remember the word MAPS and you will be able to chart
Bible reliability.
Manuscripts
Manuscripts relates to the tests used to determine
the reliability of the extant manuscript copies of the original documents
penned by the Scripture writers (we do not possess these originals).
In determining manuscript reliability, we deal with the question: How
can we test to see that the text we possess in the manuscript copies
is an accurate rendition of the original? There are three main manuscript
tests: the Bibliographic, Eyewitness, and External (a second acronym
- BEE - will help you remember these).
The bibliographic test considers the quantity
of manuscripts and manuscript fragments, and also the time span between
the original documents and our earliest copies. The more copies, the
better able we are to work back to the original. The closer the time
span between the copies and the original, the less likely it is that
serious textual error would creep in. The Bible has stronger bibliographic
support than any classical literature - including Homer, Tacitus, Pliny,
and Aristotle.
We have more than 14,000 manuscripts and fragments
of the Old Testament of three main types: (a) approximately 10,000 from
the Cairo Geniza (storeroom) find of 1897, dating back as far as about
AD. 800; (b) about 190 from the Dead Sea Scrolls find of 1947-1955,
the oldest dating back to 250-200 B.C.; and (c) at least 4,314 assorted
other copies. The short time between the original Old Testament manuscripts
(completed around 400 B.C.) and the first extensive copies (about 250
B.C.) - coupled with the more than 14,000 copies that have been discovered
- ensures the trustworthiness of the Old Testament text. The earliest
quoted verses (Num. 6:24-26) date from 800-700 B.C.
The same is true of the New Testament text.
The abundance of textual witnesses is amazing. We possess over 5,300
manuscripts or portions of the (Greek) New Testament - almost 800 copied
before A.D. 1000. The time between the original composition and our
earliest copies is an unbelievably short 60 years or so. The overwhelming
bibliographic reliability of the Bible is clearly evident.
The eyewitness document test ("E"), sometimes
referred to as the internal test, focuses on the eyewitness credentials
of the authors. The Old and New Testament authors were eyewitnesses
of - or interviewed eyewitnesses of - the majority of the events they
described. Moses participated in and was an eyewitness of the remarkable
events of the Egyptian captivity, the Exodus, the forty years in the
desert, and Israel's final encampment before entering the Promised Land.
These events he chronicled in the first five books of the Old Testament.
The New Testament writers had the same eyewitness
authenticity. Luke, who wrote the Books of Luke and Acts, says that
he gathered eyewitness testimony and "carefully investigated everything"
(Luke 1:1-3). Peter reminded his readers that the disciples "were eyewitnesses
of [Jesus'] majesty" and "did not follow cleverly invented stories"
(2 Pet. 1:16). Truly, the Bible affirms the eyewitness credibility of
its writers.
The external evidence test looks outside the
texts themselves to ascertain the historical reliability of the historical
events, geographical locations, and cultural consistency of the biblical
texts. Unlike writings from other world religions which make no historical
references or which fabricate histories, the Bible refers to historical
events and assumes its historical accuracy. The Bible is not only the
inspired Word of God, it is also a history book - and the historical
assertions it makes have been proven time and again.
Many of the events, people, places, and customs
in the New Testament are confirmed by secular historians who were almost
contemporaries with New Testament writers. Secular historians like the
Jewish Josephus (before A.D. 100), the Roman Tacitus (around A.D. 120),
the Roman Suetonius (A.D. 110), and the Roman governor Pliny Secundus
(A.D. 100-110) make direct reference to Jesus or affirm one or more
historical New Testament references. Early church leaders such as Irenaeus,
Tertullian, Julius Africanus, and Clement of Rome - all writing before
A.D. 250 - shed light on New Testament historical accuracy. Even skeptical
historians agree that the New Testament is a remarkable historical document.
Hence, it is clear that there is strong external evidence to support
the Bible's manuscript reliability.
Archaeology
Returning to our MAPS acronym, we have established
,the first principle, manuscript reliability. Let us consider our second
principle, archaeological evidence. Over and over again, comprehensive
field work (archaeology) and careful biblical interpretation affirms
the reliability of the Bible. It is telling when a secular scholar must
revise his biblical criticism in light of solid archaeological evidence.
For years critics dismissed the Book of Daniel,
partly because there was no evidence that a king named Belshazzar ruled
in Babylon during that time period. However, later archaeological research
confirmed that the reigning monarch, Nabonidus, appointed Belshazzar
as his co-regent whi1e he was away from Babylon.
One of the most well-known New Testament examples
concerns the Books of Luke and Acts. A biblical skeptic, Sir William
Ramsay, trained as an archaeologist and then set out to disprove the
historical reliability of this portion of the New Testament. However,
through his painstaking Mediterranean archaeological trips, he became
converted as - one after another - of the historical statements of Luke
were proved accurate. Archaeological evidence thus confirms the trustworthiness
of the Bible.
Prophecy
The third principle of Bible reliability is
Prophecy, or predictive ability. The Bible records predictions of events
that could not be known or predicted by chance or common sense. Surprisingly,
the predictive nature of many Bible passages was once a popular argument
(by liberals) against the reliability of the Bible. Critics argued that
the prophecies actually were written after the events and that editors
had merely dressed up the Bible text to look like they contained predictions
made before the events. Nothing could be further from the truth, however.
The many predictions of Christ's birth, life and death (see below) were
indisputably rendered more than a century before they occurred as proven
by the Dead Sea Scrolls of Isaiah and other prophetic books as well
as by the Septuagint translation, all dating from earlier than 100 B.C.
Old Testament prophecies concerning the Phoenician
city of Tyre were fulfilled in ancient times, including prophecies that
the city would be opposed by many nations (Ezek. 26:3); its walls would
be destroyed and towers broken down (26:4); and its stones, timbers,
and debris would be thrown into the water (26:12). Similar prophecies
were fulfilled concerning Sidon (Ezek. 28:23; Isa. 23; Jer. 27:3-6;
47:4) and Babylon (Jer. 50:13, 39; 51:26, 42-43, 58; Isa. 13:20-21).
Since Christ is the culminating theme of the
Old Testament and the Living Word of the New Testament, it should not
surprise us that prophecies regarding Him outnumber any others. Many
of these prophecies would have been impossible for Jesus to deliberately
conspire to fulfill - such as His descent from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
(Gen. 12:3; 17:19; Num. 24:21-24); His birth in Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2);
His crucifixion with criminals (Isa. 53:12); the piercing of His hands
and feet at the crucifixion (Ps. 22:16); the soldiers' gambling for
His clothes (Ps. 22:18); the piercing of His side and the fact that
His bones were not broken at His death (Zech. 12:10; Ps. 34:20); and
His burial among the rich (Isa. 53:9). Jesus also predicted His own
death and resurrection (John 2:19-22). Predictive Prophecy is a principle
of Bible reliability that often reaches even the hard-boiled skeptic!
Statistics
Our fourth MAPS principle works well with
predictive prophecy, because it is Statistically preposterous that any
or all of the Bible's very specific, detailed prophecies could have
been fulfilled through chance, good guessing, or deliberate deceit.
When you look at some of the improbable prophecies of the Old and New
Testaments, it seems incredible that skeptics - knowing the authenticity
and historicity of the texts - could reject the statistical verdict:
the Bible is the Word of God, and Jesus Christ is the Son of God, just
as Scripture predicted many times and in many ways.
The Bible was written over a span of 1500
years by forty different human authors in three different languages
(Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek), on hundreds of subjects. And yet there
is one consistent, noncontradictory theme that runs through it all:
God's redemption of humankind. Clearly, Statistical probability is a
powerful indicator of the trustworthiness of Scripture.
The next time someone denies the reliability
of Scripture, just remember the acronym MAPS, and you will be equipped
to give an answer and a reason for the hope that lies within you (1
Pet. 3:15). Manuscripts, Archaeology, Prophecy, and Statistics not only
chart a secure course on the turnpikes of skepticism but also demonstrate
definitively that the Bible is indeed divine rather than human in origin.
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