Can I Trust the Bible?
Sermon Series: Big Questions
Sermon Title: Can I trust the Bible?
Scripture Reference: 2 Timothy 3:15-16
Pastor: Nate Crew
Questions:
1. Pastor Nate explained that all religions can't be true because they contradict each other on basic questions like whether there's one God or many gods, and different paths to salvation. In what areas of your life do you sometimes act like 'all roads lead to the same place' when making decisions? How might understanding absolute truth change the way you approach important choices?
2. When you hear people say the Bible isn't historically reliable, how does the “manuscript evidence” Pastor Nate laid out help you respond? What other areas of your life do you accept things as true with much less evidence than what the Bible provides?
3. If you truly believe the Bible is 'breathed out by God,' how should that change the way you read it and apply it to your daily decisions? What would be different about your Bible reading if you approached it with this level of confidence?
4. When you face uncertainty about God's promises in your life, how might remembering God's track record of fulfilled prophecy help strengthen your faith and trust in His word?
5. Looking at your own life and the lives of people you know who follow Jesus, what evidence do you see of the Bible's power to transform people? How might sharing these testimonies help others consider trusting Scripture?
Sermon Highlights:
Context:
The Bible claims two extraordinary things about itself: it presents the way of salvation, and it is literally "breathed out by God" (2 Timothy 3:15-16). If these claims are true, then the Bible is the most important book in human history. If they are false, Christianity collapses. The Bible is a historical document that can be evaluated with the same tools we use for any ancient text—manuscript evidence, archaeological confirmation, internal consistency. The confidence that these means of critique provide us forces us to address claims of the Bible’s spiritual authority. The Apostle Peter, an eyewitness to Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, anchors his testimony not in "cleverly devised myths" but in the reliable, Spirit-inspired Word of God that leads people to salvation through faith in Christ; thus, so should we.
The Bible's testimony about Jesus—that He is the Savior, that He died and rose again, and that salvation comes through faith in Him alone—is trustworthy. This is not cleverly devised mythology but documented, verified, Spirit-inspired truth.
Internal Consistency
The Bible teaches on consistent message.
The Bible is 66 books, approximately 740,000 words, written by 40 authors from three continents over 1,500 years.
Despite this diversity, it presents one unified message: God created the world perfect, sin broke it, God sent Jesus to fix it through His death and resurrection, and salvation comes through faith in Him.
The odds of such consistency without supernatural authorship are statistically impossible, that that requires supernatural explanation.
The Bible is based on reliable manuscripts.
The Greek New Testament has 5,800 manuscripts; including other translations, nearly 24,000 total manuscripts exist.
The oldest manuscripts date to the early second century, within 50 years of the New Testament's completion.
The Gospels were written within 40–60 years of Jesus' death and resurrection—within the lifetime of eyewitnesses.
We often accept, without question, historical events and people that we only know about from much less reliable manuscripts.
Homer's Iliad: 1,700 manuscripts, earliest copy 1,000+ years after original
Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars: 10 manuscripts, earliest copy 1,000 years later
Plato's writings: 7 manuscripts
Aristotle's writings: 10 manuscripts
Beowulf: 1 manuscript (half damaged by fire)
The Bible has mountains more evidence than any other document in ancient history.
If we trust Julius Caesar existed based on 10 manuscripts copied 1,000 years after Julius Caesar would have lived, we have no rational basis to doubt the New Testament with its 6,000 manuscripts written down within a generation of Christ’s resurrection.
The Bible is full of fulfilled prophecy.
The Bible contains approximately 2,500 prophecies; 2,000 have already been fulfilled.
Jesus fulfilled 300 Old Testament prophecies.
Mathematician Peter Stoner calculated the probability of one person fulfilling just 8 prophecies at 1 in 100 quadrillion—like covering Texas two feet deep in silver dollars, marking one, blindfolding someone, and having them pick it on the first try.
The statistical impossibility of these prophecies being randomly fulfilled demands supernatural explanation.
External Credibility
The world, that has no reason to be biased toward Christianity, confirms the Bible.
Archeological Verification
Approximately 23,000 archaeological discoveries have confirmed people, places, dates, and events described in the Bible.
Zero archaeological discoveries have contradicted a historical claim in the Bible.
Scottish archaeologist Sir William Ramsay set out to disprove the Book of Acts using archaeology. The evidence was so overwhelming that he converted to Christianity and declared Luke (the author of Acts) a "top-tier historian."
Secular Historians verify the existence of Jesus, of early Christians, and many of the New Testament claims.
Suetonius (Roman historian)
Tacitus (Roman senator and historian)
Josephus (Jewish historian)
These unbiased sources confirm the basic facts of the New Testament narrative.
If you believe anything about ancient history, you must believe the Bible. It has more evidence, earlier evidence, and more corroborating evidence than any other ancient document.
Personal Testimony
The Bible's impact on individuals and civilizations is undeniable and worth considering.
"We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty... And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place." 2 Peter 1:16-19
The Testimony of Societal Transformation points to the reality of the Bible.
Christian ideals rooted in the Bible are the foundation for:
Hospitals
Universal education
Abolition of slavery
Women's rights
Equality of all people
No other religious text has produced such widespread human flourishing.
Personal Transformation points to the veracity of Scripture.
The Bible is the best-selling book of all time—by billions of copies.
Studies show that people who read the Bible four or more times per week report significantly higher levels of well-being and personal flourishing than those who don't.
Throughout history, countless individuals have experienced radical life change through the Bible's message—including the Apostle Paul (who persecuted Christians before encountering the risen Christ) and James (Jesus' own brother, who didn't believe until he saw Jesus alive after the resurrection).
The Bible is the Word of God that you can build your life on.
Peter, an eyewitness to Jesus' resurrection, urges believers to build their lives on the trustworthiness of Scripture. He emphasizes that:
The Bible is not myth or human invention
Scripture comes from men who "spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:21)
God's Word functions as "a lamp shining in a dark place"—a sure guide for life's uncertainties, temptations, and decisions