6 Reasons Why The Bible Is Reliable & Historically Accurate

When looking at human history in terms of the civilizations, empires and cultures that have existed over millennia, we can see that people everywhere have had differing concepts, thoughts and answers to who, why, and what life is all about. Countless books have been written over the years covering a multitude of subject matters. It is nearly impossible to know the exact number of books that have been published, but as of 2023 the best estimate is roughly over 158 million. That number doesn’t include all the self-published and e-books.

In this blog post, we are going to look at one of those books, the Bible, and provide 6 reasons why the Bible is reliable and historically accurate.

Let’s jump into reason #1.

It is interesting that the number one best-selling book of all time is the Bible, with an estimated over 5 billion sold (alltopeverything.com; en.m.wikipedia.org). The most published by far. Subject matters such as relationships, finances, religion, sex, and life in general have been written about in other books. However, the person of Jesus Christ has been the focus of more books than anyone in history. The most by far.

In his book, “Person of Interest”, J. Warner Wallace reports that Peter Dickson, a CIA analyst, “in 1999 used his considerable investigative skills to identify the historical figure who has been the subject of more books than anyone else.”

J. Warner Wallace further noted as Dickson explained, “the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. is the world’s largest library, containing nearly 110 million volumes in every language and format.” How big is the collection? “It houses 532 miles of bookshelves! It is the world’s most comprehensive record of human creativity and knowledge.” Dickson’s analysis of 18 million volumes found that twice as many books have been written about Jesus Christ, than the second-place individual, William Shakespeare.

One might think the Library of Congress would likely have a bias toward Western Civilization and its history as Wallace pointed out, thus giving Jesus an edge over non-Western figures. However, with today’s technology and the much further development of internet search engines, he found as recently as 2020, Jesus Christ remains the most written-about figure in human history by far.

The top four persons (rounded off) are:

• Jesus Christ: 109 million times
• George Washington: 59 million times
• Plato: 28 million times
• Aristotle: 21 million times

It should come as no surprise then from an historical perspective, that the book most widely purchased, and the person whom the book is chiefly about, would be the most debated, questioned and “controversial” of all time as well. In listening to and reading many of the arguments, opinions and positions people take regarding the bible, there appears to be just an outright clear bias against it because of one’s life experiences and or the chaos, confusion and suffering we see in the world today. Not based on actual evidentiary historical facts.

I find that one of THE most interesting and contradictory things about those who question the credibility of the bible, especially in academia, is that very few people question the reliability of the manuscripts we have of other ancient documents, which on average were written a shockingly 1000 years from the original dates. For example, there was an approximate 1200-year span between the original writing and earliest copies of Plato. Likewise, an approximate 1000-year period between the original of Caesar and earliest copies, 1400-year period between the original of Aristotle and earliest copies (carm.org).

The same approximate time spans can be said for other ancient documents as well, which are widely accepted by the “educated and uneducated” masses without hesitation or question. Not only that, but it is equally amazing, based on the most recent data that there are only 7 copies of Plato, 10 of Caesar and 49 of Aristotle. Compare that to the over 5,500 manuscripts we have of the Greek New Testament alone, not including the approximate 19,000 copies in Latin, Coptic, Syriac and Aramaic combined (carm.org). Yet very few seem to question the credibility of these documents. We do not hear of or see any protest or storming the halls of administration buildings of the reputed higher institutions of learning, i.e., the prestigious colleges and universities such as MIT, Imperial College of London, Stanford, Oxford, Harvard, etc., just to name a few.

This inconsistency is not only unreasonable and irrational, but clearly hypocritical as well. There is such overwhelming evidence for the credibility of the bible for those who are interested, that the arguments against it are almost laughable if the consequences were not so serious. But as stated in some of my previous blog posts and videos, no amount of evidence, no matter how strong, will convince anyone who is not open. The information that can be presented on this subject is so voluminous that it could easily go well beyond the multi-part series I will present here. But because of the obvious constraint with this medium, I will limit the focus to only a few of the most striking points.

Reason #3: The Historical Accuracy of the Bible

One of the most often used arguments against the bible is the historicity factor, i.e., it cannot be trusted because of the length of time over which we are looking. That argument works for the reliability of the Bible rather than against it for a couple of major reasons, as well as others.

Firstly, because of the long period involved, there has been more than ample time for examination and findings in the areas of archeology, biology, geology and other fields of specialties to refute the Bible.

To date, after all these millennia, there has not been one single credible finding to negate what has been written in the scriptures from any of the specialized sciences (though there have been many attempts).

The bible is not a science book, but where it does record science (which means knowledge), it has never been disproven. For example, the bible states in Leviticus 17:11 that “the life of the flesh is in the blood….” That is a biological truth. The red cells transport oxygen required for our heart to beat and brain to function. White cells defend us against invasion from lethal disease. God spoke that Leviticus passage through the prophet Moses approximately 1500 years before Jesus came to earth. Yet, the discovery of the cellular components of blood did not begin to emerge until approximately 1658, some roughly 3,000 years after God revealed this truth to Moses.

That is just one example of many “scientific” facts that if researched, would yield other findings as well. It is important to note, however, when we make these scientific observations, we are not attempting to argue for the credibility of the bible from that perspective. Rather, we are simply pointing out obvious well-established facts from scripture.

Related: The Human Body – Clear Evidence of God!

When scientific “discoveries” are revealed to us, they only confirm what was already communicated in the scriptures centuries before.

It is also important to note that we do NOT use scientific methods to evaluate historical events, because to use those methods something would have to be 1) observable 2) measurable 3) repeatable. Obviously, the accounts of any event or person in ancient history cannot be observed, measured or repeated.

Secondly, if we really examine the total content and history of the Bible in terms of what we have and how it came to be, there would be no other logical or reasonable conclusion to come to other than its credibility (to the open minded).

Why?

Consider these sets of facts:

The Bible was put together over an approximate 1600-year period, across 3 continents by close to 40 different authors, in 3 languages. Some were kings, teachers, shepherds, fishermen, a doctor, a tax collector and other various backgrounds. Yet, with all this variety of differences, over such vast periods and cultures, writing in different genres of literary from law, history, poetry, narrative, epistles, and prophecy, we find amazing consistency and harmony in what has been communicated regarding the person of Jesus Christ, who is the central figure in the entirety of the Bible.

Those who do not find that harmony in the Bible to be remarkable, should consider or think about the following:

How likely would it be to find 30 people, living at the same time, speaking the same language, with similar backgrounds, separate them and ask them to write their opinion about who God is, and what is the purpose of life here on earth. Would we expect their writings to agree? Absolutely not. There would likely be 30 different opinions.

In the Bible, we have a reliable collection of historical documents. Why are they reliable? Because they were written by eyewitnesses (or their associates) during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses. They reported supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies. (The Bible is approximately one-third prophecy, most of which has already been fulfilled.) Those facts alone should give any reasonable, open minded rational thinker pause to at least consider or see, that the Bible, though physically written by man, was given by inspiration of Almighty God (2 Timothy 3:16), literally God “breathed” in the Greek.

As pointed out above; to be consistent, the entirety of other ancient documents and writings should be disregarded if people are going to disregard the Bible based on the time frame argument.

Why?

Because if using the time frame comparison as a criterion, it would not even be a close call. No other ancient book, documents or writings which are widely accepted today, comes anywhere close to the Bible based on that standard.

There are other points that apply to this area as well which we will see as we go further.

Related: There Is No Creator God? Really?

Reason #4: The Timespan Between the Original Manuscripts and the First Copies

The time frame issue regarding the span between when the ancient manuscripts were written and the earliest copies, clearly show the Bible to be much more credible and reliable from that standpoint.

There is also another aspect regarding the time factor that is equally important.

Who were the people recording the events? Were they actual eyewitnesses to the event or had access to their associates? Equally important, how soon after the events occurred were they written down?

It would be much more difficult to fabricate an event if it was recorded early on when more people who were alive at the time could refute it, if it were not accurate.

Further, what location was the event being told in? Was it well out of the area where the event occurred and could not be refuted by those who were there? Obviously, all the technical devices we have at our disposal today were not available in ancient times so corroboration or refutation was not possible.

This should all contribute to the credibility of any historical manuscript. As we have shown, copies of ancient writings other than the Bible were so far removed in time from the original date written, the accuracy of their accounts should legitimately be called into question, if we are going to evaluate the Bible by that same standard.

The significance of the time cannot be overstated with respect to credibility and reliability of ancient documents.

Let’s look at a comparison between the Bible as just an ancient historical document (which many scholars only view it as), not the actual Word of God which it claims to be, with other ancient well accepted ancient documents.

From an historical perspective, a substantial argument can be presented that would establish the very early dating of the biography of Jesus, which is essentially what the gospels are. A key component in determining the dating of the gospels is in deducing the date the Book of Acts was written. Most credible recognized historians believe putting Acts to have been written at A.D. 63 to be correct. This is extremely significant because in terms of timing in antiquity, that is like a “news flash” from the time of the events. The nearly unanimous dating of the crucifixion of Jesus accepted by most historians and scholars is 30-33 A.D. That puts the writing of the book of Acts at roughly an astonishing 30 years from the event itself. That time frame from an event is unheard of with ancient manuscripts.

Why is that so important?

Because once the timeline of the writing of the book of Acts has been established, we can pretty much deduce the dates of the four gospels. Acts, written by Luke the physician/historian, also wrote the gospel that bears his name.

Reason #5: The Accuracy of the Book of Acts

Liberal critics of the Bible have often asserted that Acts is not a reliable document from a historical standpoint. However, that belief has been thoroughly discredited.

Sir William Mitchell Ramsay (1851—1939) was a Scottish New Testament scholar and archeologist who became recognized as “the foremost authority of his day on the topography, antiquities, and history of Asia Minor in ancient times” a pursuit that would become his life’s devotion (gotquestions.org). Ramsay actually set out to prove that Luke’s account of history in his gospel and the book of Acts was unreliable and not truthful, which he intended to prove were myths through archeology.

After years of thorough research and investigation, however, he became convinced that these New Testament manuscripts were historically accurate to the minutest detail.

In dig after dig, he uncovered precision and truth in every geographical and historical detail of Luke’s writings. He summed up his findings by saying, “The present writer takes the view that Luke’s history is unsurpassed in respect of its trustworthiness.” (The Bearing of Recent Discovery on the Trustworthiness of the New Testament, p. 81)

Other well-respected scholars and historians have also echoed what Sir Ramsay has stated about the book of Acts.

J. B. Lightfoot was one of the greatest scholars of his day. He made vast contributions to the literature of the New Testament. In one of his works defending the supernatural character of the New Testament, he said of the book of Acts: “…[N]o ancient work affords so many tests of veracity; for no other has such numerous points of contact in all directions with contemporary history, politics, and topography, whether Jewish, Greek, or Roman” (Essays of the Work Entitled Supernatural Religion, pp. 19-20).

There are other well-respected scholars who have studied this document in much detail and confirm the accuracy of its content.

Suffice it to say, it would seem that anyone who discounts the abundance of evidence that exists in support of its credibility just intentionally chooses not to believe.

Related: In the Beginning God – A Logical Argument for God’s Existence

Reason #6: The Historical Reliability of the Gospels

The gospels are a biography of Jesus’ life, death and brief glimpse of His 40 days appearance after His resurrection. Clearly not everything Jesus did in the presence of disciples were written down (John 20:30-31).

A major clue as to when the gospels were written is what is not included in their eyewitness account, namely the siege of Jerusalem in 68-69 A.D. and the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. These are two well-attested historical events.

Think of it this way. If a biographer or historian were writing about New York City and left out the catastrophe on September 11, 2001, at the World Trade Center, we would likely conclude that the event hadn’t occurred yet, or the writing lack vital information.

It would seem logical to conclude that since no gospels record the siege of Jerusalem and destruction of the temple, those events likely had not occurred yet. Especially since Matthew mentioned Jesus’ prediction of those events in chapter 23.

There is no unanimous agreement on the specific dating of the gospels, but there is very little, if any, argument that they were all written in the first century. That is very significant as previously pointed out when comparing that to the writing’s other ancient manuscripts.

There is an abundance of more information that could be presented here regarding the credibility and reliability of the New Testament documents. However, we will move on to Part 2 to cover other aspects of this extremely important subject. The best way I think to stress why this is such an important matter is to quote Jesus.

“Therefore, I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins” – John 8:24 NASB

Jesus was not trying to scare people but simply warning them because of His deep love for humankind of the consequences in leaving this life without the cleansing power of His blood upon our lives (Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14).

I realize that many people all over the world have decided for whatever reason(s) that they do not believe Jesus is who the bible very clearly states He is. At the very least, every reasonably-minded person should consider and carefully examine all the credible historical information available to make a well thought out decision. That is the purpose of this series for unbelievers.

For believers, its 1 Peter 3:15, which states, “…always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you…….”

As well as 2 Peter 3:18, “but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever.”