Do the Gospels contradict each other? Is the Bible anti-science? Does archaeology support the Bible’s claims? How can we trust the Bible when it was written by various individuals over a course of more than a thousand years? These and other questions provoke a broader one: can we trust the Bible?
Asking the question is easy. Providing answers that will satisfy is . . . complicated. Consider the relationship between science and the Bible. Giving an adequte account involves philosophical and theological concerns (e.g., What is the proper model of the relationship?), historical issues concerning the development of science (e.g., What brought about the scientific revolution?), as well as hermeneutical questions related to the biblical text (e.g., How do we best interpret the six days of creation?). And this is just one of the issues. If you are a Christian looking for answers, or trying to satisfy an inquirer, be prepared to investigate these questions over the course of months and even years.
Now, I am not opposed to doing prolonged research over these issues. In fact, I think every Christian ought to study the Bible in depth. But there is a simpler, more fundamental approach to defending the reliability of the Bible.
Rather than investigating these issues one by one to build an overall case for the Bible’s reliability, the argument first establishes that the Bible is divinely inspired, and then concludes that it is trustworthy on that basis.
Steven Cowan, in Is the Bible the Word of God? (In Defense of the Bible (B&H Academic, 2013)), argues for the first step. His idea is that since Christ regarded the Old Testament as divinely inspired and he commissioned the New Testament, we should regard the Old and New Testaments as from God. If his argument establishes his conclusion, then we can use it to argue for the further claim that the Bible is reliable.
Initially, this argument may seem circular. After all, we mainly know about Jesus from the Bible. But to trust the information about Jesus, we first need to know that the Bible is reliable. So aren’t we assuming the Bible’s reliability in order to establish it?
The argument is not circular. It does start with the assumption that the Bible is generally reliable as an historical document. But this is not problematic. Most historians work on the assumption that a text is innocent until proven guilty (see Craig Blomberg, The Historical Reliability of the Gospels, 2nd edition, 304). Without this principle, historical work would be much more difficult. But the argument ends with a different claim: that the Bible is trustworthy since it is from God.
In other words, it starts with a historical claim and ends with a theological one.
In making his case, Cowan first establishes on the basis of the Gospel accounts that Jesus claimed to be God. Second, Cowan relies on historical evidence to argue that Jesus rose from the dead. Finally, he claims that if God raised Jesus from the dead, this shows his approval of Jesus and his message, including his claims of divinity.
After establishing that Jesus is God, Cowan considers Jesus’ view of the Scriptures. Regarding the Old Testament, he claims that Jesus considered it to be divinely inspired. As for the New Testament, while Jesus did not directly speak of it, he is responsible for it. He commissioned the apostles, making them his representatives and spokespersons in the establishment of the new covenant. With the new covenant is the expecation of a new canon.
If Cowan is right, then God Incarnate believed that the Old Testament is divinely inspired and “promised the inspiration of the NT” (Cowan, 462). If the Scriptures are God’s revelation to humanity, he would ensure the reliability of the message.
While the issues related to the reliability of the Bible are complex and varied, there is a simple case to be made. If Jesus is God and rose from the dead, then Christianity is true and the Bible is trustworthy.
The particular issues that crop up – however thorny – do not threaten our trust in the Bible, nor do they sink Christianity. Instead, they should be viewed as opportunities to dig into God’s Word to understand it better, knowing that if Christ trusted the Scriptures, we can trust them, too.
