In preparation for our upcoming series through the Old Testament book of Genesis, our sermon Sunday responded to the question, “Why read the Old Testament?” In showing that the OT is God’s word (and thus pure as well as powerful and life-giving), I made a couple quick comments about the Bibles that we read today. Many people ask, can we trust the Bibles we have today, because we don’t have the original writings, and we are also reading a translation, and things change when translated.
I wanted to expand on this a bit, as well as provide some links for further reading, since I know a lot of people are curious about this.
First, even though we don’t have the original writings of the Old and New Testaments (and it is these original writings that we should see as possessing all the qualities of God’s word we discussed), the Bibles we have today are incredibly trustworthy. The number of manuscripts that exist, and the relatively early date of some of these manuscripts allow textual critics to meticulously cross check for accuracy and be confident with 99.5% of the biblical texts. And in the one half of one percent where there is not certainty, no major Christian doctrine is affected.
Regarding the NT documents, Randy Alcorn writes,
“The earliest copies of Julius Caesar’s writings go back to 900 A.D.—about 950 years after they were penned. We have none of his originals, yet who questions whether they are accurate representations of what he wrote? There are only seven copies of Plato’s writings, the first of which was copied by a scribe 1,200 years after Plato died! Yet the vast majority of people are confident that what we have is what Plato wrote.
In contrast, there are about 5,686 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament and over 19,000 in Syriac, Latin, Coptic, and Aramaic. This makes nearly 25,000 manuscripts, and some of them date to within 100 years of the originals.” (source)
Regarding the OT documents, Josh McDowell explains how the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947—containing about 300 texts from the Bible, from every OT book except Esther–confirmed the accuracy of our OT:
“Once the Dead Sea Scrolls were compared with modern versions of the Hebrew Bible, the text proved to be identical, word for word, in more than 95 percent of the cases. The 5 percent deviation consists mainly of spelling variations….
In other words, the greatest manuscript discovery of all time revealed that more than 1,000 years of copying the Old Testament had produced only very minor variations, none of which altered the clear meaning of the text or brought the manuscript’s fundamental integrity into question.” (source)
There is much more information out there that is both astounding and encouraging to read, and I will include some links below.
A second reason I would give for trusting the Bibles we have today is found in John 12:48, where Jesus says, “The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.”
Think about this: Jesus is saying that there will be a judgment on the last day, when we all will stand before him. This is a weighty, serious matter, which no one should take lightly.
And what will judge us on that day? The WORDS that Jesus has spoken!
Now, if this is the case, and if God is at all good and just, surely God will leave us a trustworthy account of his words. Right?! Surely, a loving and just God would not judge us by words that the vast majority of humanity throughout time has had no way to hear, know, or follow!
And if this is true about Jesus’ words in the NT, we should recognize that Jesus speaks with ultimate confidence in the truth and authority of the OT. In fact, he submits his life to, and even goes to his death to fulfil, the OT (Matthew 26:53-54, 56).
And then a third and final reason for trusting the Bibles we have is this: it has been pointed out that God saw fit that his word would be written down in more than one language: Hebrew, Greek, and some Aramaic. This fact seems to argue for God’s intention for his word to be translated and read.
It’s not a specific language that matters; God wants to be known by people in all tongues. This is different than what Muslims believe about the Koran, where any translation is no longer the Koran itself, but an interpretation of the Koran.
Unless we want to say that God intends for only human beings fluent in Hebrew and Greek to encounter his true, living and powerful word, then it seems clear that God ordained his word to be translated into various languages, and that it would not lose its quality as true, living and powerful through that process.
In conclusion, we should acknowledge that God is sovereign over all things, and he can ensure that a faithful and trustworthy account of his words—OT and NT—remains until he returns. And we should approach our Bibles—his word—with humility, teachability, awe, and expectation.
Here are some resources for further study:
How Reliable Are the Ancient Biblical Manuscripts in Our Possession?, article by Randy Alcorn (with some recommended books on the subject)
Manuscript evidence for superior New Testament reliability (with a helpful chart)
Testing the Historical Reliability of the Old Testament, by Josh McDowell
Two Reasons There Are Variants in Our Copies of the Bible, by Peter Gurry of the Text and Canon Institute
Textual Variants: It’s the Nature, Not the Number, That Matters, by Tim Barnett and Stand to Reason