Apologetics — Can I Trust This Book? | February 10, 2019

“Your Word is Truth” John 17:17b

HISTORIC CLAIMS OF THE BIBLE?
James Ussher believed Genesis 1 occurred in 4004 BC
66 books (39 Old Testament and 27 New Testament)
40 different authors
1 consistent theme

How Can We Trust a Document THAT Old?
What’s the criteria for trusting an ancient document?
Years between earliest copy and the original writing
The total number of early copies

Two Ancient Examples
Homer’s “Iliad” and Caeser’s “Gallic Wars”
Homer’s Iliad — 400 years 643 early copies
Gallic Wars — 1,000 years only 10 early copies
How does the Bible compare?
New Testament — 50 years 25,000 early copies
If we can’t trust the Bible to be historical …

Age Isn’t Everything…
Is it correct simply because it’s old?

1st Century Jewish Historians confirm it
Josephus—“At the same time there was a man named Jesus, if we may call him a man. He was a worker of miracles and a teacher of those who willingly received the truth…”

1st Century Roman Historians confirm it
Tacitus—“Christians… Christus, from whom their name is derived, was executed at the hands of the procurator Pontius Pilate in the reign of Tiberius …”

2 Peter 1:20-21… 2 Timothy 3:16… Romans 10:9-10