Can you trust your Bible?  (Part 3)

By Spencer Gear [1]

bible

A. INTRODUCTION

Hebrews 4:12 (ESV) states: "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

I was reminded of the truth of this text when I read of

A short-term missionary [who] gave a report on her experience overseas. She and several others were entering a communist country. At the border the guards asked them, 'Do you have any guns, drugs, or Bibles?'
    What an interesting combination! Guns are weapons of destruction that kill the body. Drugs can alter and distort the mind. The Bible can expose and destroy all that is false. But it is much more than a threat to atheism. It can enrich life, instill hope, and free the human spirit even when a person is confined [in a prison camp for spreading the Gospel]. No wonder an atheistic government would fear its power and put it in a class with guns and drugs. [1a]

The story is told of
A young boy who was in the habit of going to church. [But he] was unable to attend one Sunday because he was ill. So he went upstairs to his bedroom and read his Bible. He was unusually quiet, and his mother began wondering if he was up to some mischief.
    Finally she called out, 'What are you doing, Andy?' He replied, 'I'm watching Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead!'
    What a beautiful answer! He was reading John 11, and his childlike faith made the scene come alive. [2]
Someone has said that there are three stages of Bible study:     Which stage have you reached? [3]

In spite of the fact that it is a very old book, the Bible is still "the most popular and widely read book in the world with more than one hundred million new copies, in whole or in part, produced every year." [4]

But at what a price?

On October 6, 1536, William Tyndale was burned at the stake because he dared to translate the Bible into English so that the common person could read it. In Foxe's Book of Martyrs it records:

At last after much reasoning, when no reason would serve, although he deserved no death, he was condemned by virtue of the emperor's decree, made in the Assembly at Augsburg. Brought forth to the place of execution, he was tied to the stake, strangled by the hangman, and afterwards consumed with fire, at the town of Filford, A.D. 1536; crying at the stake with a fervent zeal, and a loud voice, "Lord! Open the King of England's eyes."  [5]

Why would people like Tyndale and others risk their lives to translate the Scriptures into the native language of people? We have the Bible in English today, thanks to the work of one who became a Christian martyr, William Tyndale, and earlier work by John Wycliffe who made his "first version of the New Testament in Middle English" in 1380, "and a second edition appeared in 1388 after his death. . . The first edition was a word-for-word translation of the New Testament from the Latin Vulgate, in places following the Latin so closely that the meaning was obscure." [6]  Wycliffe lived from about 1329-1384. [7]

"There are several major differences between Wycliffe's translation and Tyndale's:

1. Wycliffe's Bible was a translation of Jerome's Latin Vulgate [Jerome lived ca. 340-420], but Tyndale's went back to the original Greek and Hebrew.

2. Wycliffe's Bible was a hand-copied manuscript, whereas Tyndale's Bible was printed.

3. Wycliffe translated into Middle English, but Tyndale's version belongs to the Modern English period." [8]

"Why would generations of Hebrew scribes meticulously copy the Old Testament Scriptures, repeatedly checking their work letter by letter, even counting the letters to ensure their accuracy?  The answer lies in the belief that the Bible is the very Word of God, thus necessitating its accurate transmission and its availability to people of any language."[9]

 Why is the Bible considered to be the Word of God and how can we know its accuracy and trustworthiness? We're travelling on a journey of attempting to validate the Bible. Can you trust your Bible? Today this is such a critical issue because of the anti-God, anti-Bible culture here in Australia.
 
B.    Review

It is especially important that we validate the reasons for the Bible being the trustworthy Word of God since there are challenges from other religions.

Second Timothy 3:16 in the Bible (ESV) reads:
 
"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness."

Jesus said:  "Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth" John 17:17 (ESV)

      button The New Testament of the Bible says that all of the Bible is "breathed out by God" (inspired by God). Jesus said, "Your word is truth?"

So far, I have suggested two historical tests that historians use for any historical document, including the documents of other world religions, the Bible, Captain Cook's writings or the works of Shakespeare.

If we want to test the trustworthiness of any historical document, historians put it through 3 tests (plus something that TIES them together) suggested by the acronym: T.I.E.
 
T: The Transmission Test

I: The Internal Evidence Test
bibleThe third test for historical authenticity is:

C. THE EXTERNAL EVIDENCE TEST

In this Test, we look for evidence outside of the Bible that confirms people, places and events in the Bible.

 
1. Secular Evidence for Jesus
a. Jewish Historian, Josephus, (A.D. 37-100)
Eminent New Testament scholar, the late F.F. Bruce wrote: "Here in the pages of Josephus, we meet many figures who are well-known to us from the New Testament: the colourful family of the Herods; the Roman emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Claudius, and the procurators of Judea; the high priestly families--Annas, Caiaphas, Ananias, and the rest; the Pharisees and the Sadducees; and so on" [10]

Josephus wrote of "the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James . . ."[11]

There is also a disputed passage (that I do not recommend that you use) in Antiquities of the Jews that states:

"Now there was about this time [he means Pilate's time, AD 26-36] Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works -- a teacher of such men who receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men against us, had condemned him to the cross, 
[12] those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day,[13] as the divine prophets had foretold these and many other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day."[14] Michael Green says "no attempts to impugn its authenticity can be said to have succeeded. It has as good attestation as anything in Josephus, it is included in all the manuscripts. We know that the fourth century Christian historian Eusebius had this quote in his copy of Josephus. He quoted it twice." [15]
What can we conclude from Josephus? A contemporary of Pliny (whom we will meet soon), Cornelius Tacitus is considered the greatest historian of Imperial Rome.  Michael Green explains: "He tells us how the Christians, hated by the populace for their `crimes' (alluding no doubt to the Christian emphasis on `love' which was given a sinister twist by the pagans and construed as incest) were made scapegoats for the Great Fire of AD 64 by the Emperor Nero. `The name Christian,' he writes, `comes to them from Christ, who was executed in the reign of Tiberius by the procurator Pontius Pilate; and the pernicious cult, suppressed for a while, broke out afresh and spread not only through Judea, the source of the disease, but in Rome itself, where all the horrible and shameful things in the world collect and find a home.'" [18]

He wrote of Nero's attempt to relieve himself of the guilt of burning Rome: "Hence to suppress the rumor [ie. that Nero had set fire to the city of Rome], he falsely charged with the guilt, and punished with the most exquisite tortures, the persons commonly called Christians, who were hated for their enormities. Christus, the founder of the name, was put to death by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea in the reign of Tiberius: but the pernicious superstition, repressed for a time broke out again, not only through Judea, where the mischief originated, but through the city of Rome also." [19]          

c. Greek satirist, Lucian (second century)

Lucian alludes to Christ:

". . . a man who was crucified in Palestine because he introduced this new cult into the world. . . Furthermore, their first lawgiver persuaded them that they were all brothers one of another after they have transgressed once for all by denying the Greek gods and by worshipping that crucified sophist himself and living under his laws." [20]

    d. Roman historian, Suetonius (about AD 120)

 He was a court official under Emperor Hadrian. He made two specific references to Jesus. He wrote: "As the Jews were making constant disturbances at the instigation of Chestus [another spelling of Christus or Christ], he expelled them from Rome." [21]

In the Lives of the Caesars,[22] Suetonius wrote: "Punishment by Nero was inflicted on the Christians, a class of men given to a new and mischievous superstition."[23]

          e. Pliny the Younger (about AD 112)

He was governor of the province of Bithynia (now in northern Turkey) and was writing to the emperor, Trajan, about his achievements. He gave information on how he had killed multitudes of Christians--men, women and children. He said that he had attempted to "make them curse Christ, which a genuine Christian cannot be induced to do." In the same letter[24] he wrote of Christians:

"They were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verse a hymn to Christ as to a god, and bound themselves to a solemn oath, not to do any wicked deeds, and never to deny a truth when they should be called upon to deliver it up." [25]          

f   Samaritan-born historian, Thallus (about AD 52)

His work is lost, but a fragment of it is preserved in the second-century writer, Julius Africanus (ca. A.D. 221), who tells us:"Thallus, in the third book of his histories, explains away this darkness [at the time of the crucifixion] as an eclipse of the sun--unreasonably, as it seems to me."[26]

It is "unreasonable" because a solar eclipse could not take place at the time of the full moon, which was the phase of the moon at the time of the Passover (paschal) when Christ died.

              g. Mara Bar-Serapion (after AD 73)

In a Syriac manuscript in the British Museum, there is a remarkable letter which this man wrote to his son in prison (although some say it was Mara who was in prison). He compares the deaths of Socrates, Pythagoras, and Jesus:

"What advantage did the Athenians gain from putting Socrates to death? Famine and the plague came upon them as a judgment for their crime. What advantage did the men of Samos gain from burning Pythagoras? In a moment their land was covered with sand. What advantage did the Jews gain from executing their wise King? It was just after that that their kingdom was abolished. . . But Socrates did not die for good; he lived on in the teaching of Plato. Pythagoras did not die for good; he lived on in the statue of Hera. Nor did the wise King die for good; he lived on in the teaching which he had given." [27]          

h. The Jewish Talmud (completed by AD 500)

The Talmud consists of "two books known as the Babylonian Talmud and the Jerusalem Talmud. . . They contain the oral teaching of earlier rabbis (Mishnah), which was an explanation of the law of Moses together with discussions of this teaching (Gemara). Christian scholars find these helpful for knowledge of Jewish interpretations of the Hebrew Bible."[28]

The Babylonian Talmud[29] contains this explicit reference to Jesus:

"On the eve of Passover they hanged Yeshu (of Nazareth) and the herald went before him for forty days saying (Yeshu of Nazareth) is going to be stoned in that he hath practiced sorcery and beguiled and led astray Israel. Let everyone knowing aught in his defense come and plead for him. But they found naught in his defense and hanged him on the eve of Passover." [30]

In another Talmud section, it was written concerning Jesus: "I found a genealogical roll in Jerusalem wherein was recorded, Such-an-one is a bastard of an adulteress." [31]  Jewish belief was that Jesus was an illegitimate son and demon-possessed, similar to accusations against him in the NT. [32]

If we combine this secular testimony to Christ, what picture do we get?

(1) Jesus was crucified under Pontius Pilate at Passover time.
(2) He was believed by his disciples to have risen from the dead three days later.
(3) Jewish leaders charged Christ with sorcery and believed he was born of adultery.
(4) The Judean sect of Christianity could not be contained but spread even to Rome.
(5) Nero and other Roman rulers bitterly persecuted and martyred early Christians.
(6) These early Christians denied polytheism, lived dedicated lives according to Christ's teachings, and worshiped Christ. This picture is perfectly congruent with that of the New Testament. [33]

2. Archaeological Confirmation of the New Testament

While there has been confirmation of the general outline of New Testament history, here the focus will be on Luke's writings. There are hundreds of archaeological finds that support specific persons, events and facts presented in Luke-Acts, including some that were once thought to be incorrect.

          a.    Official titles

We need to especially note Luke's correct usage of official titles. He calls the rulers of Thessalonica "politarchs" in Acts 17:6, 8. [34]  In the NIV it is translated as "city officials." It means "magistrates" and

"Was once dismissed as a mistake of the writer of Acts. . . because the term did not appear in any other context. Seventeen examples from [inscriptions] now are listed. . .
[35]  The examples cover a century and a half from the beginning of the first century to the middle of the second. One is housed in the British Museum and came from an archway in Salonika. The same inscription, curiously enough, contains names that occur among those listed as members of the Thessalonian church. It is obviously a Macedonian term, and its use conforms to Luke's consistent practice of employing the correct official terminology commonly accepted. In similar fashion he called the petty officials of the Roman colony of Philippi 'praetors.'"[36] Other titles of note from archaeology include:
These descriptions were once thought to be part of the fertile imagination of Luke the fantasiser. Now, they have solid historical backing, thanks to the meticulous work of archaeologists.
b. Chronological references
Luke is known to be correct in these references. He refers to "Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene" at the time John the Baptist began his ministry (AD 27), once thought to be incorrect, but now confirmed to be correct by Greek inscriptions. Lysanias was tetrarch between AD 14 and 29. Other chronological references are known to be correct, including those referring to Caesar, Herod, and even Gallio (Acts 18:12-17).

Numerous places in the Gospels, including the Pool of Siloam (John 9:7-11) and the "judgment seat" near Corinth (2 Cor. 5:10) have been verified by archaeology.

Other names of persons mentioned in the NT that were thought to be false, have been confirmed through archaeology. Another example is a first-century marble slab that was found at Corinth in 1929 with this inscription, "Erastus, in consideration of his appointment as curator of buildings, laid this pavement at his own expense." [43]  It is possible that this person is Erastus, one of Paul's co-workers from whom Paul sent greetings according to Rom. 16:23. He was the city treasurer in Corinth. [44]

[For further examples, see Michael Green, World on the Run, pp. 40-42]

c.  Stunning new evidence for Jesus
Christianity Today (CT) magazine reported on "an archaeological landmark" from the Biblical Archaeological Review (BAR), reported in its November-December 2002 issue:  “Scholars have recently examined a box carved out of soft limestone, made to hold the bones of a first-century Jew. On its side is carved an Aramaic inscription, ‘James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.’"

In a news conference called by the Biblical Archaeological Review, it was stated that  the ossuary (bone box) was not discovered in an archaeological excavation.  Instead, it surfaced on the antiquities market, thus eliminating potentially important evidence that might have been available if archaeologists had discovered it in an excavation site.

However, experts consulted by BAR and CT seem to be satisfied that it really is a 2,000-year old artifact. Retired Wheaton College professor John McRay, author of Archaelogy and the New Testament, says that the lab report was convincing. "Six different pieces of the patina of the stone were looked at through that laboratory," he said. "It was verified, by people who are not Christians, that the date on this is first century and there is no evidence of recent disturbances of the box."

"I have no question it is an ancient artifact from the first century," said Eric Meyers, the Bernice and Morton Lerner Professor of Judaic Studies and Director of the Graduate Program in Religion at Duke University. "It appears to be the oldest extra-biblical, non-literary mention of Jesus in the context of the nascent Christian church, and that's pretty significant. . .  They're everyday sort of names in the first century. What is most compelling to me is the use of 'brother of.' We don't have the designation of siblings common in the epigraphy of the Second Temple or early Roman period. That's kind of a clincher for me.'"
BAR editor, Hershel Shanks, told CT that the ossuary had been in the private collection of an Israeli citizen for about 15 years. "I asked the owner why he didn't recognize it. He said, 'I never thought that the Son of God could have a brother.'"

McRay said he had anticipated a discovery like this when he wrote his book a few years ago. "Two thousand years have passed and you would expect something like this to be there. It could be, probably, the most significant archaeological discovery of this generation." Shanks calls it "the most important find in the history of New Testament archaeology." [44a]

           d.   Conclusions
These kinds of archaeological finds cause eminent people to reach some startling conclusions.

A.N. Sherwin-White, distinguished Roman historian, says this about Luke's writings: "For [the Book of] Acts the confirmation of historicity is overwhelming. . . Any attempt to reject its basic historicity even in matters of detail must now appear absurd.  Roman historians have long taken it for granted."[45]

Luke is commended by classical historian, G.A. Williamson, for demonstrating "complete familiarity with the thought, expression, and habitual terminology of the speakers, and . . . what memories the people of that time possessed!--if not on written notes, which we have reason to believe were commonly made."[46]

Thanks to the archaeological efforts of the late Sir William Ramsay, many of the critical views of the NT have been overthrown. Ramsay himself was converted from the critical view of liberal theology. He wrote:

"I began with a mind unfavorable to it [the Book of Acts], for the ingenuity and apparent completeness of the Tubingen theory had at one time quite convinced me. It did not lie then in my line of life to investigate the subject minutely; but more recently I found myself often brought into contact with the book of Acts as an authority for the topography, antiquities, and society of Asia Minor. It was gradually borne in upon me that in various details the narrative showed marvelous truth." [47]

Renowned archaeologist and paleographer[48], William F. Albright, notes: "All radical schools in New Testament criticism which have existed in the past or which exist today are pre-archaeological, and are, therefore, since they were built in der Luft [in the air], quite antiquated today."[49]

Let's recap. If we want to test the trustworthiness of any historical documents, historians put them through three tests:

    T: The Transmission Test,

    I: the Internal evidence test,     E: the External evidence test.[50] The NT documents can be relied upon to give an accurate picture of Jesus Christ. Let's go to those documents and investigate who Jesus Christ is and why He died on the cross.  There's an "S" that T.I.E.S. them all together.
 
D.    Conclusion:

The Psalmist loved the Word of God. Listen to some of his words about the Word in Psalm 119:

Psalm 119:11 (ESV) I have stored up [OR, hid] your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

Psalm 119:16 (ESV) I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.

Psalm 119:97 (ESV) Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.

Psalm 119:103 (ESV) How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Psalm 119:105 (ESV) Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
 
"One measure of your love for God is your love for God's Word"[51]

Endnotes:

 1. I am an Australian family relationships' counselling manager, doctoral student in biblical studies, an active Christian apologist, and may be contacted at: 
P. O. Box 3107, Hervey Bay 4655, Australia.
 1a. Our Daily Bread: For Personal and Family Devotions. Grand Rapids: Michigan: Radio Bible Class, April 1, 1987, "Guns, Drugs, and the Bible."
 2. Our Daily Bread, August 5, 1987, "When the Bible comes alive."
 3. Based on ibid.
 4. Paul D. Wegner, The Journey from Texts to Translations: The Origin and Development of the Bible. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1999, p. 19.
 5. W. Grinton Berry (prepared by), Foxe's Book of Martyrs,. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, reprint 1978, pp. 151-152. Suggested by Wegner, ibid., p. 19,
 6. Wegner, p. 280.
 7. Ibid., p. 279.
 8. Ibid., p. 287.
 9. Ibid., p. 19.
10. F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1943/1960 (Rev.), p. 104.
11. William Whiston, (transl.), Josephus: Complete Works: Grand Rapids, Michigan: Kregel Publications1867, 1963, (Antiquities of the Jews.XX, IX:1) p. 423.
12. A footnote is "A.D. 33, April 3."
13. A footnote, "April 5."
14. William Whiston (Transl.), Josephus: Complete Works. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Kregel Publications, 1960, XVIII, III. 3, p. 379. I was alerted to this quote by Michael Green, World on the Run Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1983, p. 34.
15. Michael Green, ibid. p. 34.
16. Ibid.
17. These points about Josephus are gleaned from ibid.
18. Ibid., p. 29, from Tacitus' Annals, 15.44.
19. Tacitus Annals, XV, 44; in Norman Geisler, Christian Apologetics, p. 323. In Whiston,   Josephus, the quote is:

"Nero, in order to stifle the rumour [that he himself had set Rome on fire] ascribed it to those people who were hated for their wicked practices, and called by the vulgar, Christians: these he punished exquisitely. The author of this name was Christ, who, in the reign of Tiberius, was brought to punishment by Pontius Pilate the procurator" (Appendix, Dissertation I, p. 639, emphasis in original).
20. On the Death of Peregrine, quoted in Geisler, Christian Apologetics, p. 323.
21. Life of Claudius, 25.4, in Geisler, ibid., p. 324.
22. 26.2, in, ibid.
23. In, ibid.
24. Epistles X. 96, in ibid.
25. In ibid.
26. In ibid., p. 324.
27. In F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents, p. 114. Geisler suggested this, ibid.
28. J. D. Douglas, Walter A. Elwell and Peter Toon, The Concise Dictionary of the Christian Tradition. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Regency Reference Library (Zondervan Publishing House, 1989, p. 370.
29. Sanhedrin 43a, "Ever of Passover," according to Geisler, ibid.
30. In Geisler, Christian Apologetics, p. 324
31. Yeb. IV 3; 49a, in Geisler, ibid., p. 325.
32. In Geisler, ibid, pp. 324-325.
33. Ibid., p. 325.
34. Greek politarchos, Acts 17:6, 8.
35. See the American Journal of Theology, July 1898, pp 598-632.
36. E. M. Blaiklock, "Politarch," in Merrill C. Tenney (gen. ed.), The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible (vol. 4). Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976, p. 815.
37. Acts 18:12 NIV.
38. Acts 19:35
39. Michael Green, World on the Run, p. 41.
40. Acts 28:7 NIV.
41. Acts 28:7 NASB.
42. Green, World on the Run, p. 41.
43. Ibid.
44. From ibid., p. 42.
44a. The above details are from the article, "Stunning New Evidence that Jesus Lived: Scholars link first -century bone box to James, brother of Jesus," by Gordon Govier in Christianity Today magazine, and was located at:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/141/11.0.html, posted 21st October 2002  (retrieved 30th October 2002).
45. A. N. Sherwin-White, Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963, p. 189, in Josh McDowell, More Than a Carpenter. Eastbourne: Kingsway Publications, 1979, p. 55.
46. G. A. Williamson, The World of Josephus. London: Secker & Warburg, 1964, p. 290, in Geisler, Christian Apologetics, p. 326.
47. William M. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1896, p. 8, in Geisler, Christian Apologetics, p. 326.
48. A paleographer is one who studies and gives scholarly interpretation to ancient written documents [based on the definition of "paleography" in William Morris (ed.), The Heritage Illustrated Dictionary of the English Language. Boston: American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc. and Houghton Mifflin Company, 1975, p. 944.]
49. William F. Albright, "Retrospect and Prospect in New Testament Archaeology," in The Teacher's Yoke, ed. F. Jerry Vardaman, p. 29, in Geisler, Christian Apologetics, pp. 326-327.
50. C. Sanders, Introduction to Research in English Literary History. New York: MacMillan Company, 1952, pp. 143 ff.
51.  Our Daily Bread, March 11, 1987, "A Book to Be Loved."
 
Why would people like Tyndale and others risk their very lives to translate the Scriptures into the native language of people? 

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Copyright (c) 2007 Spencer D. Gear.  This document is free content.  You can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the OpenContent License (OPL) version 1.0, or (at your option) any later version.  This document last updated at Date: 5 May 2007