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By Hank Walker | Pastor at Peach City Fellowship

Last week, we looked at internal evidences for the authenticity of the Bible. Those examples demonstrated the Bible’s uniqueness from all other religious texts. This week, we will consider external evidences for the authenticity of Scripture.

First, we have MANUSCRIPT evidence. Although we do not have the ORIGINALS (the documents that actually came from the prophet’s, scribe’s, or apostles’ pens), that does not present the kinds of obstacles that skeptics suggest. For instance, there are nearly 6,000 extant manuscripts, hand-copied between the second and fifteenth centuries. Moreover, these manuscripts have no inconsistencies affecting the Bible’s message; they are primarily misspellings and errors with individual words or sentences. These “problems” are easily identified—sticking out like a sore thumb—because we DO have so many surviving manuscripts. In addition to whole manuscripts, we have thousands of individual pages and sections of the Bible—some dating to the lifetimes of the apostles and/or their acquaintances. No other historical religious texts come close!

The second type of evidence is ARCHAEOLOGICAL. Whether it is the discovery of the “House of David” (dating to the 9th century BC), or the so-called “Pilate Stone” that identifies Pontius Pilate as the Procurator (governor) of Judea and Jerusalem, discoveries have been made constantly, and consistently over the past 170 years (since the advent of modern archaeology), that prove the Bible’s content is accurate in what it records of the periods and epochs with which the text deals. Moreover, NOT ONE PIECE of archaeological data has been discovered that contradicts or disproves A SINGLE biblical claim!

HISTORICAL EVIDENCE is our next form of external evidence. This may sound like archaeological evidence, but it transcends the category. For instance, the Bible describes historical people, places, and events that are confirmed by lots of other extrabiblical sources (for instance, the histories of Tacitus and Flavius Josephus). Again, NOT ONE piece of historical evidence has ever disproven biblical narrative.

Finally, EARLY VERSIONS (e.g., Syriac, Latin, Armenian, Georgian, Coptic, and Byzantine) translations—dating back to the second century—contain all the same books and those translations agree with one another.

At the end of the day, NOTHING in history has as much external evidence for its authenticity as the Bible. Thanks be to God that by His providence He has preserved His Word for us today!

Grace and peace, y’all! Soli Deo Gloria