Ephesians 6:14a: The Reliability of the Bible

Outline

• The self-attestation of the Bible
• The unity of the Bible
• The prophecies of the Bible
• The archaeology of the Bible
• The transmission of the Bible
• The Spirit’s testimony to the Bible

Introduction

Do you believe the bible is the reliable Word of God? Do you believe that the Bible’s view of history, that God made all things out of nothing; its description of humanity as spiritual beings made to worship in God’s image who have fallen into sin; its teaching on the need for salvation in Jesus Christ as our only hope; its revealing of the spiritual forces at work in the world of angels and demons, and our eternal destinies of either heaven or hell; do you agree with its analysis of sin as the source of evil and suffering? We live in an age that has cast off its confidence in the bible and the result is that in the place of a belief in God there is the belief in Darwinian evolution; in the place of humanity as made in God’s image for a specific purpose, we are now merely another species of animal existing for no reason at all; We have no reason to be here, no design or purpose for our lives, no objective morality, love is nothing more than a chemical reaction in the brain, spiritual realities are fantasies, and our society has never been in a more dangerous position. Politicians, actors, spiritual quacks and many other false saviours are going to step into the gap and we are going to be a ship without a rudder tossed to and fro.

But the bible is God’s word and it is reliable. And it is the belt of truth that we must wear to fend of the lies that are taking humanity in the direction it is going. We need it to strong as Christians and to equip us for the task of fulfilling the great commission. So today, I feel a deep need to give you a confidence boost in the bible. It is slandered on every side. The most effective evangelists against the Bible are not the antagonistic new atheist spokesmen like Richard Dawkins, but rather the popular films and books that have popularized myths. The book and film the Da Vinci Code being one of them. Within 6 years of its release it had sold 80 million copies in 44 languages, and has also been made into a blockbuster film. The book claims in the beginning to be full of facts and correct representations giving a credibility to its claims that many people who really don’t want to believe have gladly latched onto. In many discussions with people on the streets you will encounter the myths told in this book.

The book claims that the Emperor Constantine in a political move to create a religion to unite the Roman people created the present religion of Christianity which believes in Jesus as divine. And that the Emperor sanctioned a bible that agrees with this new enforced religion to be propagated and all other rivals to be burnt. Brown claims that Jesus and Mary were married and had a daughter, and when he died Mary was appointed the head of the church. This so called true history was rewritten to show Mary as a prostitute and that Peter was the head of the church so that the seat of power would continue in Rome. It is claimed that when the bible was to be decided upon that there were 80 other gospels that could have been added but were not. Brown claims that the recently discovered gnostic gospels uncovered in the 1940s are examples of these gospels, and that no one believed Jesus was the Son of God until the council of Nicea in the 4th century. The Holy Grail is supposed to be the direct blood descendants of Jesus and Mary.

The book is full of lies and misrepresentations. Firstly, the gnostic gospels discovered in the 1940s are all written after 150 AD, and so have no weight as original eye witness accounts. Secondly, the Gnostics did not believe in a human Jesus as Dan Brown claims, but rather the Gnostics so emphasized Jesus divinity that He ceased to be fully human and merely appeared human. Thirdly, Constantine did not burn the so called other 80 gospels that could have been included in the Canon and decide upon the four gospels that suited his agenda at the council of Nicea. The question of the Canon of the bible, which books should be in it was not even raised at the council. The book is a protracted conspiracy theory easily refuted with just a little bit of historical research.

Let’s turn now then and look at some reasons why we should see the Bible as reliable.