Can We Really Trust the Bible?

Opening Comments

This morning we begin a new series called Christianity’s Biggest Questions.

Over the next several weeks, we are going to deal with nine questions people are asking about the Christian faith:

Show Slide

These are the exact kinds of questions being asked in classrooms, at work, around dinner tables, and even more so online, and maybe even in the minds of people in this room.

So, we are going to answer them. And we are going to answer them from Scripture, because answering the world does not begin by laying our Bibles down as though we have something to apologize for.

We use evidence. We think carefully. We answer honestly. But we do all of that with an open Bible, because Scripture is the foundation under our feet.

That means the first question must be this one:

Can we really trust the Bible?

Turn with me to 2 Timothy 3:14–17. (Pg 936)

Here the Apostle Paul, near the end of his life, is writing to Timothy, a younger pastor and protégé serving in Ephesus.

Let’s read God’s Word together.

2 Timothy 3:14–17 ESV

14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Introduction

We are living in a time full of competing voices, carefully edited clips, confident opinions, scandals, half-truths, and constant suspicion that comes at us from all directions. And the danger of living with and in a constant conspiracy mindset is that after a while, your suspicion becomes your authority.

Truth is no longer received because it is true. It’s accepted or rejected based on whether it confirms what I already suspect.

That is called “confirmation bias”; and sadly, it is how many people approach the Bible. They accept or reject it based on their own assumptions and how it makes them feel. Not on the basis of truth.

Paul is writing Timothy in a time with similar pressures, where false teachers were influencing people away from the truth and into folly. So as he is bringing his letter to a close he gives Timothy a command:

2 Timothy 3:14 ESV

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed,…

Continue- remain, abide, stay.

Timothy’s life and ministry had to stand on the Scriptures. And I propose to you, so must ours, if we are going to continue faithfully in a world filled with suspicion, objections, and pressure.

We can trust the Bible because it is God’s Word, it leads us to Christ, and it stands up under honest examination.

We’ll see that in two steps this morning. By letting the text show us what Scripture is and does. Then answering several common objections people raise against it.

1.) The Bible can be trusted because God has made Himself known through Scripture.

2 Timothy 3:15 ESV

and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings,…

A.) Scripture is holy because it comes from God.

“sacred writings”-holy writings. Writings set apart by God for worship.

Paul is referring first to the scriptures that we now call the Old Testament. This is what Timothy had been taught from childhood.

The Old Testament scriptures revealed God’s holiness, man’s sin, the need for sacrifice, the promise of a Redeemer, and the hope of salvation.

That’s why Paul says

2 Timothy 3:15 ESV

… which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

It is from the Bible where we gain the wisdom that leads to salvation.

There are two ways God has determined to reveal himself to the world.

1.) General Revelation

This is the act of God revealing himself through creation and conscience.

Psalm 19:1 ESV

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Romans 1:19–20 ESV

19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Romans 2:15 says the law is written on the human conscience.

All of that witness is enough for us to be held accountable to God.

But general revelation doesn’t preach the gospel.

It tells us there is a Creator and declares God’s glory, but it doesn’t tell us how sinners can come to him for salvation and forgiveness of sin through the work of Christ on the cross.

For that, God had to speak, and He has chosen to do so through scripture.

That’s what theologians call

2.) Special revelation.

The pages of Holy Scripture tell us the truth about sin, judgment, Christ, and salvation through faith in Him alone.

The Bible is the written revelation of God that makes sinners wise unto salvation.

And it does this because it is

B. God-breathed.

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV

All Scripture is breathed out by God...

Scripture (Graphe)- Is the greek word used for writing. Here it is being used to refer to the written Word of God.

“breathed out by God” (theopneustos.)- God-breathed. (Theos-God) (Pneuma-Spirit)

Paul is saying that Scripture is literally breathed out by God’s Spirit.

That is what we call inspiration. Meaning Scripture has its source in God. The Bible is God’s Word written through human authors. Using their own personalties, style, vocabulary, and background to convey it but it’s source is God. It is breathed out by him.

Now, if scripture is God-breathed, and God wants us to know it, then he has to give it to us in a way that is perfect and without error.

The word of God is what we call inerrant. Meaning it does not error in what it teaches, because God is incapable of error.

Now, if the scripture then is without error in all that it teaches, because it comes from God. Then it stands to reason that it is also infallible, meaning it is unable to mislead. That it conveys reliable truth in so far as it is understood properly.

Infallibility says “If God is the source of Scripture, then Scripture is true. Sense God does not lie or mislead, then Scripture does not lie or mislead. Sense God does not speak falsely, then neither does His word.”

Now notice, how much of scripture does Paul say is God-breathed? All!

All of the scriptures are inspired, inerrant and infallible, therefore, they all carry God’s authority with them.

“When the Bible speaks, God speaks.”

Denny Burk, “2 Timothy,” in Ephesians–Philemon, ed. Iain M. Duguid, James M. Hamilton Jr., and Jay Sklar, vol. XI, ESV Expository Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2018), 486.

Because scripture is holy and God breathed then that means:

C. Scripture does the work God intends.

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

“Profitable”- Useful, beneficial, advantageous.

How are they profitable?

Teaching- instruction in the truth. They teach us about God, man, sin, salvation, the church, worship, marriage, holiness, judgment, eternity, and every area of life God addresses.

Reproof- The exposing of error, refuting what is false, to convict. Scripture shows us where we are wrong. It exposes bad doctrine, sinful thinking, self-deception, and the lies we are tempted to believe.

Correction- Setting something upright again. Scripture straightens what has become crooked. It restores wrong belief and wrong living back into alignment with God’s truth.

Training in righteousness- Proper instruction for discipline and formation. Like the training a parent gives a child. Scripture forms us over time. It trains our minds, desires, conscience, and conduct.

Taken together, Paul is conveying that Scripture addresses what we believe and how we live so that

D. Scripture equips the people of God.

2 Timothy 3:17 ESV

that the man (person) of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

“Complete”- capable, fit for the task.

“Equipped”- fully supplied, thoroughly furnished.

Paul is saying Scripture gives God’s people everything they need to know Him, trust Christ, live faithfully, and obey Him in every good work He places before them.

So before we answer any objection from the outside, we need to be clear on what Scripture says about itself.

The Bible comes from God.

Reveals salvation.

Teaches truth,

Exposes error,

Corrects what is wrong,

Trains us in righteousness,

Equips God’s people for faithful obedience.

2.) Common objections do not overturn the trustworthiness of Scripture.

There are more objections than we can answer in one sermon, but there are three that come up often.

The Bible been changed over time.

The Bible was created by church councils.

The Bible is helpful in some areas, but not in others.

A. The Bible been changed over time.

People tend to think that the way in which we got the Bible was a lot like the old game of Telephone.

Where one message is whispered from person to person until, in the end, what you’re left with no longer resembles what you started with.

Biblical transmission did not work that way.

The Bible has been meticulously copied, preserved, read publicly, circulated widely, translated early, quoted often, and compared carefully all throughout history.

M&M Illustration using several small containers representing different ancient writings. The M&M’s represent the manuscript evidence for those writings.

Jar 1: The writings of Herodotus: Greek historian, often called the father of history. Historians use his writings to understand the ancient world. We have around 100 manuscripts, scraps, fragments and early copies of his work available to us today. (Drop in 1 M&M)

Jar 2: The writings of Plato. Greek philosopher whose writings shaped much of Western thought. We have a little roughly 200 surviving manuscripts, scraps, fragments, and early copies of his work surviving today. (Drop in 2 M&M’s)

Jar 3: Julius Caesar’s Gallic War. Caesar was a Roman general and statesman. His writings help us understand Rome, politics, war, and history. We have around 250 manuscripts, scraps, fragments and early copies surviving today. (Drop in 3)

Jar 4: Homer’s Iliad, one of the most famous works of ancient literature. We have around 1,800 manuscripts, scraps, fragments and early copies surviving today. (Drop in a lot more)

People trust these writings. They study, quote and conclusions and philosophies from them.

You never hear anyone say:

“Can we really know what Plato wrote?” “Can we really trust Caesar?” “Are we sure the words of Homer are accurate?

Jar 5: The Bible. For the New Testament alone, we have around 5,800 Greek manuscripts, scraps, and fragments available to us today. (Drop in family size bag.)

That’s not taking into account early translations of the New Testament from other languages. When you add those the number rises to teh tens of thousands. (Add another family size bag)

Then you can add all of quotations from the works of early Christian writers, where so much of the New Testament was quoted that scholars can compare the text from those sources as well. (Pour even more M&M’s in).

That’s just the N.T.

The Old Testament has its own remarkable preservation history.

We have over 600 manuscripts, fragments, scraps and early copies of the Septuagint. (The Greek version of the Hebrew OT)

Then comes the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the twentieth century, gave us Old Testament manuscripts roughly a thousand years older than many previously available Hebrew copies. They included copies or fragments from nearly every Old Testament book.

The Isaiah Scroll is one of the most famous examples, and it showed that the Old Testament text had been preserved with remarkable care. (Add M&M’s until they are pouring all over the place.)

People trust ancient history, ancient philosophy, and ancient literature with far less manuscript evidence. Then they treat the Bible as uniquely suspicious when the manuscript evidence is far greater because the Bible is the only one that claims authority over our lives.

So when someone says:

“The Bible has been changed,”

Ask them to produce the evidence.

Ask them why they trust ancient writings with far less evidence?

“But, there are variations between them”

Yes, that’s true but, most are spelling differences, word order differences, or small copying differences that do not change the meaning.

The number of manuscripts helps us see those differences clearly. If you had only one copy, and it contained a mistake, you would have no way to compare it. If you had thousands, comparison becomes possible. The manuscript evidence strengthens confidence.

“But there are so many Translations, how do you know which one is the right one?

Different English translations exist because translation requires careful judgment.

Sometimes a Hebrew or Greek word does not have a perfect one-word English equivalent.

Sometimes a phrase that makes sense in Greek or Hebrew needs to be carried into English carefully so the meaning is clear.

Some translations try to stay as close as possible to the wording and structure of the original languages. Others try to express the thought more smoothly in everyday English.

Faithful translations may make slightly different choices, but that does not mean the Bible has been lost or corrupted. It means translators are doing the careful work of bringing God’s Word into our language.

That should make us thankful. We have more access to Scripture than almost any generation in history. When you hold your english bible you can be confident you are holding the preserved word of God.

B. The Bible was created by church councils.

To understand this objection, we first have ti understand what a church council is:

A church council is a gathering of church leaders who meet to address major questions, settle doctrinal disputes, and give public clarity to the churches. We actually see the very first church council in Acts 15.

The objection is usually framed around a particular council in the 4th century and goes something like this:

“Wasn’t the Bible put together by powerful church leaders who voted certain books in and left others out because those books did not fit their agenda?”

Unlike the manuscript question, this objection is built more on conjecture than evidence.

It assumes a conspiracy, then treats that assumption like history.

But that is not at all how the canon (The order and books we have today) of scripture developed.

The councils did not create the Bible’s authority. They recognized what God’s people had already been receiving, reading, preaching, and treating as Scripture.

This was the same pattern followed by Jesus and his apostles regarding the Old Testament. They received the recognized and used scriptures of Israel as God’s Holy Word.

For the New Testament, the issue was apostolic authority. The apostles were Christ’s authorized witnesses, so the writings of the apostles, and writings closely connected to them, carried authority in the churches from the beginning.

That is why Paul’s letters were circulated among the churches. That is why Peter could refer to Paul’s writings alongside “the other Scriptures.” That is why the Gospels were received, read, copied, and preached.

The Bible didn’t become God’s Word because men voted on it. God had already spoken, and His people had already been recognizing His voice in the writings He gave.

All the church council did was officially affirm what the church had already recognized, through God’s providence as Holy Scripture.

C. The Bible is helpful in some areas, but wrong in others.

This one is huge in our current culture. But it’s not new. People have tried for centuries to make peace with the parts of the bible they like by cutting out the parts they don’t.

Politicians will quote Scripture when it helps their cause and ignore it when it confronts their platform.

Liberal mainline churches will keep the language of Christianity, the symbols of Christianity, and sometimes even the liturgy of Christianity, while denying the authority of the Bible where it contradicts the spirit of the age.

YouTube skeptics will praise Jesus as compassionate or revolutionary, but then turn around and reject His words on judgment, repentance, exclusivity, and obedience.

The problem with this is once you decide which parts of Scripture are acceptable and which parts are not, you have made yourself the editor of God’s Word. Suddenly, you become the arbiter of what’s true instead of God’s word.

Can’t accept the virgin birth, take it out.

Can’t accept the miracles of Jesus, take them out too.

Resurrection? Take it out.

Sin, judgment, hell, sexuality, or repentance, take those out too.

And at the end, what do you have left?

An un-authoritative book edited by your own preferences.

Friends, a Bible that cannot correct you cannot shepherd you.

A Bible that cannot confront you cannot rescue you from lies.

A Bible that cannot rebuke you cannot train you in righteousness.

A Bible that shifts with the wind of the culture, is completely irrelevant and no good.

Conclusion:

Can we really trust the Bible?

Yes

All Scripture is breathed out by God. It makes sinners wise for salvation through faith in Christ.

That means we do not get to treat the Bible casually. A trusted Bible must become a used Bible.

Read it.

Study it.

Memorize it.

Meditate on it.

Obey it.

Bring your children to it.

Shape your home by it.

Test your thoughts by it.

Measure your worship by it.

Answer your doubts with it.

Sit under its preaching with attention and reverence.

Continue in it.

Live under it.

Let it teach you, reprove you, correct you, and train you in righteousness.

Invitation

Invite people to stand

If you are here this morning and you do not know Christ, the call of Scripture is clear: turn from your sin and trust in Christ. Do not argue with the God who has spoken. Do not hide behind questions while refusing the Savior the Bible reveals. Come to Christ today and be saved.

And believer, the call is to surrender again to the authority of God’s Word. Where you have resisted it, repent. Where you have neglected it, return. Where you have been embarrassed by it, stand with confidence. Leave today resolved to live under the Word God has given.

Closing Prayer

Father,

Thank You for giving us Scripture, preserving it, and revealing Christ through it.

Teach us to trust Your Word, love Your Word, obey Your Word, and proclaim Your Word.

For those who do not know Christ, open their eyes to see the Savior Scripture reveals.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.