Many who have wanted to defend the credibility of the Bible have claimed that is inerrant—that is, without error of any kind. But the Bible itself does not make such a claim. The Bible does not claim to be inerrant, however it does claim to be true. "The entirety of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever” (Psalm 119:160, NKJV). It is important to note that "true” does not mean "inerrant.” (For more information see the topics: "Bible: Does it contradict itself?” and "Bible: Is it inspired by God?”)

 

Some have felt that if the Bible is not correct in every detail, then it can’t be relied upon. However, the "all or nothing” position is not a biblical one, even if it has been proclaimed by great men and spiritual giants. John Wesley, for example, wrote in his journal for August 24, 1776: "Nay, if there be any mistakes in the Bible, there may as well be a thousand. If there be one falsehood in that book, it did not come from the God of truth.” However, Paul tells us, "But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law, for they are unprofitable and useless” (Titus 3:9, NKJV). He also counsels us not to "give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith” (1 Timothy 1:4, NKJV).

 

Once we get over the need to harmonize all the biblical details, fear disappears, and we can turn to the all-important task of listening to the essential message of Scripture, seeking to understand God’s will so that His truth can live in us. Whatever minor contradictions may seem to exist in the Bible, God has apparently let creep in. So although there may be minor discrepancies or details in the Bible, we can trust its teachings completely. Jesus said that heaven and earth would pass away before any of it would fail (see Matthew 5:17,18).

 

Over the centuries God has had faithful witnesses to whom He has committed His truth and who have preserved His Word. The manuscripts of the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures have been preserved through the ages by the miraculous care of God.

 

Many Bible readers, if they think they have found an inconsistency in its pages, often take the position that if they cannot trust every detail of the Bible record, they cannot trust it at all. The basic question, however, is: Does trustworthiness demand absolute perfection? If we view the Bible as a treatise on philosophy or science or history, then perhaps one might point to incidental flaws. But Scripture is more like a letter from a dear friend or family member. And if we determine its trustworthiness in much the same way as we do a trustworthy person, then absolute perfection is not required. The Bible has not been given to us in grand supernatural language, but in the language of ordinary humans. In order to reach human beings where they were, Jesus took on the form of humanity—the divine united with the human. Likewise, the Bible is a blend of the divine and human—God speaking to us through human beings.

 

We need to come to the point where we can take the Bible just as it is—the Inspired Word of God. We need to let God take care of His own Book, His living oracles, as He has done for ages. If those who focus on what they see as errors in Scripture, instead would cling to the Bible and obey its teachings, their criticisms in regard to its validity would come to an end, and not one of them would be lost.

 

For nearly a century liberal, critical scholars have stressed the diversity in the documents of the Scriptures, but current theological thinking contains a renewed emphasis on the essential unity of the Bible. Its great unifying principle, its central theme, is the plan of salvation and the working out of that plan in human history. However, the unity of the Bible must not be interpreted as uniformity. In the various books of the Scriptures the plan of salvation is viewed from various angles and stress is laid on various aspects, with varying emphasis.

 

Like its author, Jesus Christ, the Bible is the result of a mysterious combination of the divine and the human. Just as the human mind is incapable of fully explaining how Jesus, the divine Son of God, could become a man and live with us on earth, so it cannot fully explain the Bible’s unity of the divine and the human. In writing the various books of the Bible, the authors’ own personalities had full play, and their own style and vocabulary are reflected in the finished product. Yet the Bible, is nevertheless "given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16, NKJV). While men did the writing, they did so as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (see 2 Peter 1:21). Therefore, in a special sense the Bible is the Word of God.

Concerning Biblical numbers, genealogies, and dates it would be wise if both the casual and the analytical reader would consider them interesting, even fascinating events rather than crucial events requiring a higher level of precision than is evident in the Scriptures themselves. Leaving it at that, they could live at peace with their respective conclusions.

 

Yes, there are variations in scripture such as in specific numbers, in facts within stories, and in the words of Jesus. Let's take a look at those.

 

 

Many question the number variations listed in Ezra 2 and Nehemiah 7. There is a slight difference in what was supposed to be two identical lists. Nehemiah's list was used nearly a century later to guide him in the resettlement of Jerusalem. Of the 42 numbers given by Ezra (v. 3-60), 18 differ from the corresponding numbers in Nehemiah 7. The differences are small, and can be explained by assuming that the lists were drawn up at different times, and that during the interval the population figures varied, owing to deaths and births, or for other reasons. There are also varying forms between the two lists that refer to certain individuals but that occurs throughout the Bible. This is particularly true in the New Testament when there are references to names in the Old Testament.

 

 

The question of the 2 demon possessed men of Matthew 8:28-34 versus the one man in Mark 5:1-20 is often disturbing to people. One Bible commentary tries to explain it in this fashion: "Matthew speaks of two men. Apparently, however, one was outstandingly fierce. Similarly, Matthew speaks of two blind men at Jericho (ch. 20:30), where Mark (ch. 10:46) and Luke (ch. 18:35) speak of but one, probably for some similar reason. It is worthy of note that Matthew, no doubt an eyewitness to both events, mentions two men in each instance."

 

 

In various places in the Gospels the writers report differently the words of Christ. They also give different accounts of certain matters, for example, the inscription on the cross. These variations have been seized upon by skeptics as proof that the Gospel writers are unreliable, even false, and thus certainly not inspired. A careful examination proves the opposite. Those who wrote the Gospels, along with the other followers of Christ, considered themselves witnesses of the events of our Lord's life. They staked everything on truthfulness of their witness.

 

 

In a court today, if witnesses all testify precisely the same regarding an incident, the conclusion is, not that they are truthful, but that they are perjurers. Why? Because experience teaches us that no two people see an event exactly alike. One point impresses one witness; another point impresses another. Again, they may all have heard exactly the same words spoken in connection with the event, but each reports the words a little differently. One witness may even report certain parts of a conversation that the other witnesses do not report. But so long as there is no clear contradiction in the thought or meaning of the variant statements, the witnesses may be considered to have told the truth. Indeed, apparently contradictory statements may often prove to be not contradictory at all, but actually complementary.

 

All experience, and especially the experience of the courts through the long years, leads to the conclusion that truthful witnessing need not be - indeed, should not be - equated with carbon-copy identity of testimony of the different witnesses to an event, including their testimony as to what was said at the particular event.

Many prophecies in the Bible have been fulfilled, and this fact develops faith in the Bible. As we study world history in the light of these prophecies it adds authenticity. Consider a very basic and wonderful prophecy in which God gave a Babylonian king an outline of history from his time to the end of the world. Read this remarkable dream in Daniel, chapter 2. God outlined for King Nebuchadnezzar the four great world kingdoms from his time right on down to our time: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. Then the Roman Empire would be divided into ten divisions, which are the European nations that exist today. The Great King, who is represented by the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, refers to the coming of Jesus and His eternal kingdom.

Other chapters in Daniel give the same information with added details and in a different way.

Many prophecies recorded in the Bible were given many years, even hundreds of years, before the event took place. Yet events happened exactly as the prophecy said they would.

Why should we believe the Bible is true? First, only God can foretell events hundreds of years before they happen. Second, as we study we find the answers to many of today's questions, even though they were written centuries ago.

Evidence of the book's inspiration includes prophecy, archeology, cohesive unity, accuracy, and Christ revealed.

PROPHECY - See the following and compare them with history: Babylon (Isaiah. 13:19-22), Tyre (Ezekiel 26:3-5), Sidon (Ezekiel 28:21-23), Cyrus (Isaiah. 44:28,45:1), Medo-Persia & Greece (Dan. 8:20,21), and Jesus' Birthplace (Micah 5:2).

ARCHAEOLOGY - Moabite stone discovered in 1868 at Dibon, Jordan, confirming Moabite attacks on Israel as recorded in 2 Kings 1 & 3.

The Lachish letters discovered in 1932-1938, 24 miles north of Beersheba, describing the attack of Nebuchadnezzar on Jerusalem in 586 B.C. History confirms this.

The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1948. They date back to 150-170 B.C. and contain all or parts of the Old Testament books except the book of Esther. They confirm the Bible's accuracy.

Cyrus' Cylinder records Cyrus' overthrow of Babylon and his subsequent deliverance of the Jewish captives. Again, this is supported by history.

The Rosetta Stone discovered in 1799, in Egypt, by Napoleon's scientists, was written in three languages - hieroglyphics, demotic, and Greek. It unlocked the mystery of understanding hieroglyphics. Understanding hieroglyphics helps to confirm the authenticity of the Bible.

COHESIVE UNITY - Evidence of the Bible's inspiration also includes its cohesive unity. In more than 3000 places the Bible declares itself inspired (2 Peter 1:21). Making such claims of itself implies that the Bible is either inspired by God or a fraud. When one studies the Bible keeping it's context clean and understanding the central theme, there is a cohesive unity throughout the Bible that clears apparent contradictions.

ACCURACY - Certainly it is inconceivable that a book so accurate through the centuries could be considered anything less than inspired by God. No other book has ever been compiled by this many writers over such an expanse of time.

CHRIST REVEALED - the greatest evidence of the Bible's inspiration is evidenced in the Christ it reveals and the changes in those who study it (see John 5:39, Acts 4:12, Matthew 11:26-28).

The King James Version of the Bible, released in 1611, was authorized by King James in order to have as accurate a translation as possible, which could be printed and widely circulated. The original Old Testament writings were in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek. Jerome (5th century) translated the Bible into Latin, called the Vulgate, which has become the official Roman Catholic Bible. The Council of Trent in 1546 met to consider doctrines and published a list of books, which were to be considered canonical, that is, to be included in the Bible. This list included the 39 books of the Old Testament, plus 7 Apochraphal books, plus the New Testament 27. The Jews, however, do not accept the 7 Apochrapha as canonical. The Jewish Bible is limited to the Old Testament. The Greek translation of these books is known as the Septuagint which is the oldest known translation of any large literary work and most widely used translation of any ancient writing. It is thought to have originated toward the end of the 3rd century BC or the beginning of the 2nd century BC. The earliest reference to this work dates around 132 BC. This translation is much older than the Masoretic translations of the first five centuries AD.

Since the Bible was hand written in the centuries prior to the invention of the printing press, few copies were available. The Latin translation (Vulgate) was the most common. Reformers such as Luther and Tyndale translated portions of the Latin Bible into the common language of the people; Luther into German and Tyndale into English. Wycliffe translated the Bible into the English language in about 1400 AD. While Luther was opening a closed Bible to the people of Germany, Tyndale was impelled by the Spirit of God to do the same for England. Wycliffe's Bible had been translated from the Latin text, which contained many errors. It had never been printed, and the cost of manuscript copies was so great that few but wealthy men or nobles could procure it. Furthermore, being strictly proscribed by the church, it had had a comparatively narrow circulation.

In 1516, a year before the appearance of Luther's theses, Erasmus had published his Greek and Latin version of the New Testament. Now for the first time the word of God was printed in the original tongue. In this work many errors of former versions were corrected, and the sense was more clearly rendered. It led many among the educated classes to a better knowledge of the truth, and gave a new impetus to the work of reform. But the common people were still, to a great extent, kept from God's word. Tyndale was to complete the work of Wycliffe in giving the Bible to his countrymen. Since the discovery of the "Dead Sea Scrolls" the accuracy of the Bible has been verified. In more recent years many translations of the Bible have been done.

The New King James version uses the Stuttgart edition of the Biblia Hebraica, the Septuagint along with a variety of ancient versions of the Hebrew manuscript including manuscripts found in the Dead Sea Caves.

We advise that several translations be used by those who cannot read the original Hebrew and Aramaic.

Several translations are available at Bible Gateway, which makes it easy to find verses and compare different versions at the same time.

The prophet Moses began the first five books of the Bible sometime before 1400 B.C. The apostle John penned the last book of the Bible, Revelation, about A.D. 95. Scripture contains books and letters from over 40 prophets and messengers of God, all of whom wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. See 2 Tim. 3:16,17.

The various Bible writers lived at different times, some separated by hundreds of years. In many cases they were complete strangers to one another. Some were businessmen or traders, others were shepherds, fishermen, soldiers, physicians, preachers, kings-human beings from all walks of life. They served under different governments, and lived within contrasting cultures and systems of philosophy. But here is the wonder of it all: When the 66 books of the Bible with their 1,189 chapters made up of 31,173 verses are brought together (KJV), we find perfect harmony in the message they convey. As the great scholar F.F.Bruce noted: "The Bible is not simply an anthology; there is a unity which binds the whole together."

The Bible writers gave God's messages by voice and pen while they lived, and when they died, their writings lived after them. These prophetic messages were then gathered together, under God's leading, in the book we call the Bible.

The Scripture says in II Peter 1:20-21, "You must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."

The Holy Spirit revealed to the prophets the messages of Scripture. The writers of the Bible wrote not according to their own will or whim, but only as they were moved, or controlled, by the Spirit of God. The Bible is God's own book!

II Timothy 3:16-17, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." The Holy Bible affects human beings so profoundly because "all" the Bible is "God-breathed." It's more than a nice collection of moral principles; it's more than a great book; it's an inspired document, God's book. The prophets related what they saw and heard in human language, but their message came directly from God.

The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew, and the New Testament was written in Greek.

The first translation of the English Bible was initiated by John Wycliffe and completed by John Purvey in 1388.

A few chapters of the books Ezra (ch. 4:8-6:18; 7:12-26) and Daniel (ch. 2:4 to 7:28), one verse in Jeremiah (ch. 10:11, and a word in Genesis (ch. 31:47) are written, not in ancient Hebrew, but in Aramaic. Aramaic is about as closely related to Hebrew as Spanish is to Portuguese. However, the differences between Aramaic and Hebrew are not those of dialect, and the two are regarded as two separate languages.

From which language was the KJV was translated? Here is how it came about: 54 college professors, preachers, deans and bishops ranging in ages from 27 to 73 were engaged in the project of translating the KJV. To work on their masterpiece, these men were divided into six panels: two at Oxford, two at Cambridge, two at Westminster. Each panel concentrated on one portion of the Bible, and each scholar in the panel was assigned portions to translate. As guides the scholars used a Hebrew Text of the Old Testament, a Greek text for the New. Some Aramaic was used in each. They consulted translations in Chaldean, Latin, Spanish, French, Italian and Dutch. And, of course, they used earlier English Bibles—at least six, including William Tyndale's New Testament, the first to be printed in English. So what language did they use? Everything that was available.

The first American edition of the Bible was probably published some time before 1752.

The Bible has been translated in part or in whole as of 1964 in over 1,200 different languages or dialects.