YBible

By YBible

We know the Bible is God’s preserved word because of His promises…

That was written 2,700 years ago, God’s word still stands today. If God can create a universe surly He can preserve His words for each generation.

Likewise Jesus said this 2,000 years ago:

That’s a promise from both the Old and New Testament of the Bible. Stand on the promises of God.

Summary of the Reliability of the Bible

Old Testament (O.T.): Warned to not change (Dt. 4:2; Pro. 30:6). Promised to be preserved forever: “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.” - Isaiah 40:8 (Psa. 12:6-7)

• Jews & Christians independently kept the O.T. (Tanakh). Today only the order of books is different. Dead Sea scrolls prove no changes.

• Faults, failings & disobedience of the Jewish people painfully recorded (Psa. 106; Isa. 59). Would they convict themselves?

New Testament (N.T.): Warned to not change (Rev. 22:18-19). Jesus' promise: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” - Matthew 24:35 (Mt. 5:18)

• 20,000+ N.T. manuscripts (5,856 in greek) 0.5% variation, nearly all is spelling/punctuation. Parts written at different times/locations & many authors. Copies/parts spread rapidly: N.T. could not have been consolidated/edited. Manuscript lines world-wide show no substantial contradictions besides spelling/punctuation when cross-checked.

Cross Examination

Manuscript copies spread throughout the world rapidly after the originals were written. This means if a line of manuscripts in one area of the world were changed you can compare this line with manuscripts from other regions and know what was done. Cross checking has found differences between the lines are near entirely spelling and punctuation. No doctrine is in question.

Lost Books

Hollywood occasionally claims other gospels or Bible books were written and they contain hidden truths. These claims are sensationalism, it’s expected eventually some would write fake Bible books but when they did the churches always rejected them. You or I could write our own gospel right now, nobody would take it seriously but maybe a Bible critic 1,000 years in the future would use it to cast doubt on the true texts.

The Dead Sea Scrolls

In 1946 at the Dead Sea in Israel a trove of ancient Bible scrolls was discovered stored away in small caves on the sides of cliffs. A local shepherd was throwing rocks into the caves when the sound of pottery breaking revealed the treasures lying dormant for millennia.

The scrolls date from about 300 BC to AD 100. This means that the Dead Sea Scrolls are more than 1,000 years older than the previously oldest Hebrew manuscript of the Old Testament still in existence, which was dated at around AD 1000.

Many books where discovered but non more significant then what has been called “the great Isaiah scroll” this copy of Isaiah is near identical to what we have today. The reason this is so important is because the book of Isaiah contains arguably the greatest prophecies of Jesus Christ.

The Council of Nicea

Some have claimed that the Council of Nicea determined what books belonged in the Bible. In reality it was a theology debate amongst a sect of Christians, imagine your local First Christian Church meeting to argue the finer points of a doctrine while the other churches in your city could care less because they had the matter settled for themselves.

The Bible vs. other Ancient Literature

There is more evidence for the Bible’s reliability than for any other literature of antiquity. There are some 25,000 early manuscripts in existence, almost 6,000 of which are Greek texts and the others being early translations of the Greek New Testament. The earliest textual evidence we have was copied not long after the originals within 25-100 years. In contrast:

• Homer’s Iliad (the next best): Roughly 1,500-1,800 manuscripts. The earliest copy 400-500 years after it was written.

• Ceasar’s Gallic Wars: 10-250 manuscripts (depending on how fragments are counted). The earliest copy 900-1,000 years after it was written.

• Plato: 7-210 manuscripts. Tacitus’s Annals: 20-30 manuscripts. Thucydides, Herodotus, Aristotle, etc.. usually fewer than 100, often under 20-50. The earliest copies for all of these are around 1,000-1,400 years after they were written.

No other ancient work comes close to the New Testament’s volume of copies and brevity of time between the originals and the copies we have.

In short: If the manuscript evidence is sufficient for us to trust that we essentially have what Caesar, Plato, or Tacitus wrote, then the vastly superior evidence for the New Testament makes the case for its textual preservation even stronger. The New Testament is simply in a class by itself among ancient literature.

Furthermore: Early Christian writers quoted the New Testament so extensively that nearly the entire text can be reconstructed from their writings alone.

By the late 2nd and early 3rd centuries (roughly 100–200 years after the New Testament books were written), commentators cited Scripture tens of thousands of times. These quotations are so extensive that even if every New Testament manuscript disappeared, we could recover nearly the entire New Testament from their writings.

Facts about the New Testament Canon

• There were only ever the four Gospels used by the churches for the life and ministry of Jesus. Other pseudo-gospels were written but these were immediately rejected by the churches across the empire as spurious.

• The Acts of the Apostles and 13 letters of Paul were all accepted without question or hesitation from the earliest records.

• Apart from James, Jude, 2 and 3 John, 2 Peter, Hebrews, and Revelation, all other New Testament books had been universally accepted by A.D. 180. Only a few churches hesitated over these seven.

• Well before the close of the first century, Clement of Rome quoted from or referred to more than half the New Testament and claimed that Paul wrote “in the Spirit” and that his letters were “Scriptures.”

• Polycarp, who was martyred in A.D. 155, quoted from 16 NT books and referred to them as “Sacred Scriptures.”

• Irenaeus of Lyons, one of the most able defenders of the faith, around A.D. 180 quoted over 1,000 passages from all but four or five New Testament books, and called them “the Scriptures” given by the Holy Spirit.

• Tertullian of Carthage, around A.D. 200, was the first serious expositor and used almost all the NT books. They were equated with the Old Testament, and he referred to “the majesty of our Scriptures.” He clearly possessed a canon almost, if not wholly, identical to ours.

And these are just a few examples.

Source

Why 66?

Catholics/Orthodox add the Apocrypha to the Old Testament making 73/~76 total books in their Bible.

How do we know the Apocrypha isn't inspired?

1. Jesus affirmed the Hebrew canon in Luke 24:44 (the law, prophets and psalms. Jews still divide their Old Testament into those three parts) & Luke 11:51/Matthew 23:35 (martyrs from Abel in Genesis to Zechariah in Chronicles: the last book in the Jewish order). No Apocryphal books or events are included.

2. New Testament writers directly quote the Old Testament roughly 290 times, & more broadly 800-900 times. Not once are the Apocryphal books referenced.

3. Isaiah foretold the completed canon. Isaiah begins with a reference to Genesis 1:1; chapter 39 ends with judgment (Malachi 39th book of the Bible); Isaiah 40 opens with "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness" (John the Baptist 40th book - Matthew); & Isaiah 66 ends with a new heavens & new earth (Revelation 66th book); 66 total chapters, not a coincidence.