Can We Trust the Bible?
“The Bible has been translated so many times. It’s been changed over the centuries. How can anyone know what it originally said?”
If you’ve spent any time online, you’ve probably heard statements like these.
“The Bible is full of contradictions.”
“Emperor Constantine rewrote the Bible.”
“The church picked the books that supported its agenda.”
“It’s just a collection of legends written centuries after the events.”
For many people, these aren’t just criticisms. They’re reasons to dismiss Christianity altogether. After all, if the Bible isn’t reliable… Why should we trust anything it says about God?
These are fair questions. If Christianity is true, it shouldn’t be afraid of honest investigation.
In fact, Christianity has a long history of encouraging people to examine the evidence.
Luke begins his Gospel by saying he carefully investigated the events surrounding Jesus so that his reader “may have certainty” about what they had been taught (Luke 1:1–4).
God has never asked people to embrace blind faith. Biblical faith isn’t believing without evidence. It’s trusting what has good reason to be believed.
Why This Question Matters
Imagine someone hands you a letter that claims to be from a loved one. Before believing its message, you’d probably want to know a few things.
Is it authentic? Has it been altered? Does it actually say what the original author wrote?
The same is true of the Bible.
Before asking whether we should obey it…
It’s reasonable to ask whether we can trust it. That’s exactly what we’ll explore.
Not by ignoring difficult questions… But by looking honestly at the evidence.
What Is the Bible?
One of the biggest misconceptions is that the Bible is a single book that appeared all at once.
It isn’t.
The Bible is a collection of sixty-six books written over roughly fifteen hundred years by around forty human authors.
Those authors came from remarkably different backgrounds. Kings. Prophets. Shepherds. Fishermen. Doctors. Government officials. Yet together they tell one unified story.
Creation.
Humanity’s fall into sin. God’s plan of redemption. The coming of Jesus Christ. And the promise of a restored creation.
Despite being written across centuries, on different continents, in different cultures, and in three primary languages, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, the Bible presents one unfolding story centered on God’s relationship with humanity.
That unity is one of the reasons Christians have found it so compelling throughout history.
Isn’t the Bible Just an Old Book?
In one sense… Yes. Parts of the Bible are thousands of years old. But age alone doesn’t determine whether something is true or false.
We don’t dismiss the writings of Plato because they’re old. We don’t reject Aristotle simply because he lived centuries ago.
The real question isn’t, “Is the Bible old?” The question is,”Has it been faithfully preserved, and does it accurately communicate what its authors wrote?”
That’s a historical question. And history gives us some fascinating answers.
Before We Continue…
So far we’ve asked the right question. Not, “Do I like what the Bible says?” But, “Can I trust that what I’m reading today reflects what was originally written?”
That’s where many of the biggest objections begin. Has the Bible been changed? Was it copied accurately? Who decided which books belonged in it?
Those are exactly the questions we’ll tackle next.
Has the Bible Been Changed?
Perhaps you’ve heard someone say, “The Bible has been translated so many times that we have no idea what it originally said.”
It sounds convincing. But it isn’t how Bible translation actually works.
Modern English Bibles are not translated from other English Bibles. They’re translated directly from the oldest available Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek manuscripts.
Imagine you have a handwritten letter from your great-grandmother. Over the years, your family makes copies so everyone can have one.
If one copy contains a spelling mistake, you don’t lose the original message. You compare it with the other copies.
The more copies you have, the easier it becomes to identify accidental mistakes. That’s essentially what biblical scholars do.
Thousands of Ancient Manuscripts
The New Testament is one of the best-attested documents from the ancient world. Today, scholars have access to thousands of Greek manuscripts, along with thousands more ancient translations into languages like Latin, Coptic, and Syriac.
Not every manuscript is identical. Copyists occasionally made mistakes. Sometimes they skipped a word. Sometimes they repeated a line. Sometimes they misspelled a name.
But here’s what’s remarkable. Because we have so many manuscripts from different places and time periods, those differences can usually be identified and compared.
No major Christian doctrine depends on a disputed passage. The overwhelming message of the New Testament remains consistent across the manuscript evidence.
Rather than weakening confidence in the Bible, the large number of manuscripts actually helps scholars reconstruct the original text with a high degree of confidence.
What About the Dead Sea Scrolls?
In 1947, a shepherd searching for a lost sheep made one of the greatest archaeological discoveries in history. Inside caves near the Dead Sea were hundreds of ancient Jewish manuscripts.
Among them was a copy of the book of Isaiah that was over one thousand years older than the oldest complete Hebrew copy scholars previously possessed.
People wondered… “Would it be completely different?”
It wasn’t.
There were small differences in spelling and wording, as you would expect from hand-copied manuscripts. But the overall message remained remarkably consistent.
The Dead Sea Scrolls demonstrated that the Jewish Scriptures had been preserved with extraordinary care over many centuries.
Didn’t Constantine Rewrite the Bible?
This claim appears often online. But there is no historical evidence that Emperor Constantine rewrote the Bible or invented its books.
Constantine lived in the fourth century. By that time, Christians had already been reading the four Gospels, Paul’s letters, Acts, and many other New Testament books for generations.
The Council of Nicaea, held in A.D. 325, did not vote on which books belonged in the Bible. Its primary purpose was to address the teachings of Arius concerning the nature of Christ.
The books of the New Testament weren’t created by church councils. They were recognized because Christians had already been reading them as authoritative Scripture throughout the early church.
Councils later affirmed what had already become widely recognized.
Is the Bible Full of Contradictions?
This is another common objection. Some passages can certainly be difficult to understand. Some require historical context. Others require careful reading.
Christians have wrestled with challenging passages for centuries. At the same time, many supposed contradictions turn out to be misunderstandings, differences in perspective, or incomplete readings of the text.
For example, two eyewitnesses describing the same car accident may emphasize different details. That doesn’t necessarily mean either witness is lying.
Different perspectives often complement one another rather than contradict. Christians don’t claim every question has an easy answer. But they do believe the Bible is capable of standing up to careful examination.
Historical evidence can tell us a great deal. It can help us understand whether the biblical text has been faithfully preserved. It can help us evaluate whether the books of the Bible are rooted in history.
But even if someone became convinced that the Bible is historically reliable… Another question still remains.
Can an ancient, historically reliable book also be God’s Word?
That’s the question we’ll explore in the final part.
If you’ve made it this far, thank you. We’ve looked at some of the biggest objections people raise against the Bible.
We’ve talked about manuscripts. The Dead Sea Scrolls. Ancient copies. The formation of the biblical canon.
Perhaps you’re beginning to see that the Bible isn’t nearly as fragile as many people assume. But another question remains.
Even if the Bible has been accurately preserved… How do Christians know it’s actually God’s Word?
That’s a different question.
Historical evidence can show us that the text has been faithfully transmitted. It cannot, by itself, prove divine inspiration.
That requires us to consider the Bible’s own claims, and the person at the center of its message.
What Did Jesus Believe About Scripture?
For Christians, this is one of the most important questions. If Jesus truly is who He claimed to be… Then His view of Scripture matters.
Throughout the Gospels, Jesus consistently treated the Old Testament as God’s authoritative Word.
When tempted by Satan in the wilderness, He answered repeatedly, “It is written…” (Matthew 4:1–11)
When teaching crowds… When correcting religious leaders… When explaining God’s plan… Jesus continually appealed to Scripture as truth.
He even declared, “Scripture cannot be broken.” (John 10:35)
For Christians, confidence in the Bible ultimately flows from confidence in Christ. If we trust Jesus… It makes sense to take seriously the Scriptures He affirmed.
One Story, Many Authors
One of the things I find most remarkable about the Bible is its unity. Remember… It wasn’t written by one person sitting at a desk.
It was written over roughly fifteen centuries. By around forty different authors. On three continents. In three primary languages.
Yet from Genesis to Revelation, one story unfolds.
Creation.
Humanity’s rebellion. God’s promise to redeem. The coming of the Messiah. The death and resurrection of Jesus. The promise that one day God will make all things new.
Different books. Different writers. One unfolding story.
That doesn’t prove divine inspiration. But it is certainly remarkable.
The Bible Was Written to Be Read
Sometimes people imagine the Bible as a mysterious book that only scholars can understand. The Bible presents itself differently.
Moses read God’s Law before the people. The prophets proclaimed God’s message publicly. Jesus taught openly. Paul’s letters were written to ordinary churches and read aloud to believers.
God’s desire has never been to hide His truth. His desire has been to reveal Himself. That’s why the Bible repeatedly invites people to listen, learn, and respond.
Faith Isn’t the Opposite of Evidence
Sometimes people think Christians check their brains at the church door. But biblical faith isn’t blind faith.
Faith is trust.
And trust is strongest when it’s grounded in truth. When you sit in a chair… You trust it because you have good reason to believe it will hold you. When you board an airplane… You trust it because you believe it is capable of carrying you safely.
In a similar way, Christians don’t trust the Bible because they ignore evidence. They trust it because they believe the evidence points toward its reliability. And because, through its pages, they have come to know the God it reveals.
Faith doesn’t replace evidence. It responds to it.
The Question Behind the Question
I’ve noticed something. When people ask, “Can we trust the Bible?” They’re often asking something deeper.
“Can I trust God?”
“Has He really spoken?”
“Is there anything in this world that is truly reliable?”
The Bible’s answer is yes. Not because every question has been answered. Not because every mystery has been solved.
But because God has revealed Himself most clearly in Jesus Christ.
The Bible doesn’t point people toward itself. It points people toward Him.
My Takeaway
I’ll be honest. There are passages in Scripture that challenge me. Some are difficult to understand. Others confront my pride. Still others leave me with questions I continue to study.
But that’s never caused me to trust the Bible less. If anything, it’s encouraged me to dig deeper.
The more I study Scripture, the more I see a book that is historically grounded, remarkably preserved, internally consistent in its grand story, and centered on Jesus Christ.
I don’t believe the Bible simply because someone told me to. I believe it because I believe it faithfully tells the story of the God who came to rescue us. And every time I open its pages…
I meet Him there.
Questions to Reflect On
– Have you rejected the Bible because you’ve examined the evidence, or because of something you’ve heard someone else say?
– If Jesus trusted the Scriptures, what does that mean for those who follow Him?
– What would happen if you approached the Bible with a willingness to investigate rather than simply assume?
– If God truly wanted to reveal Himself, what kind of book would you expect Him to give us?
If you’ve read this entire blog, thank you. Maybe you’re convinced. Maybe you’re still skeptical. That’s okay.
Questions worth asking deserve honest investigation.
My encouragement is simple: Don’t let social media, popular culture, or even this blog post make up your mind for you.
Read the Bible for yourself. Ask difficult questions. Study its history. Examine the evidence. And most importantly…
Meet the Person its pages are pointing to. Because from Genesis to Revelation, the Bible tells one extraordinary story.
A holy God pursuing sinful people through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If that story is true… Then it changes everything.
~~*~~
Father,
Thank You for giving us Your Word and for preserving it throughout history. Thank You that You have not left us to wonder who You are, but have revealed Yourself through Scripture and most fully through Your Son, Jesus Christ.
For those reading this who have doubts, give them a desire to seek truth with humility and honesty. Help them to ask hard questions without fear, knowing that You are not threatened by sincere investigation.
For those who already trust Your Word, help us not only to read it but to live it. Shape our hearts, renew our minds, and make us more like Christ each day.
May Your Word continue to be “a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105), and may everything we do point others to Jesus.
In His precious name,
Amen.
Questions Worth Asking series
Next Question: Why Doesn’t God Just Prove He Exists?
If God wants people to believe in Him, why doesn’t He just make His existence obvious? Why does faith seem necessary at all? We’ll dive into these questions in the next blog. Come back next Saturday!
Scriptural Musings with Booferchick 