Is the Bible reliable?
Maybe someone told you the Bible was rewritten over the centuries, or that it’s a collection of myths. Maybe you want to believe it but need to know you can trust it. That’s a fair question, and it has good answers.
Yes. The Bible is the most thoroughly preserved book from the ancient world. We have over five thousand ancient Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, some within a few generations of the originals, and the Dead Sea Scrolls showed that the Old Testament was copied with remarkable accuracy over a thousand years. Archaeology has repeatedly confirmed the people and places it describes. We believe it is the Word of God: “All Scripture is God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16).
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Luke checked the facts
Luke was a doctor, not a fisherman, and he opened his Gospel by explaining his method: many had written accounts from eyewitnesses, so he “carefully investigated everything from the beginning” to write an orderly account, so that his reader would “know the certainty” of what he had been taught (Luke 1:1–4). The Bible doesn’t ask for blind faith. It invites you to check.
Was it changed over time?
Scholars compare thousands of manuscripts from different places and centuries. Where copies differ, it is almost always spelling or word order, and none of the differences changes a core teaching of the faith. When the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 1947, they contained copies of Isaiah about a thousand years older than any we had, and the text was essentially the same.
Does history back it up?
Archaeologists have found evidence of figures once doubted, like the inscription naming the “House of David,” and the pool of Siloam described in John 9. Roman and Jewish historians outside the Bible, such as Tacitus and Josephus, mention Jesus and His execution.
How the books were chosen
The New Testament books were recognized, not invented. Churches across the Roman world were already reading the letters and Gospels connected to the apostles. Councils later confirmed what the churches had long received.
What the Bible says
- 01
God-breathed.
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work.”
2 Timothy 3:16–17 - 02
Carefully investigated.
“Many have undertaken to compose an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by the initial eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.”
Luke 1:1–4 - 03
Not clever stories.
“For we did not follow cleverly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.”
2 Peter 1:16 - 04
The word stands forever.
“The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.””
Isaiah 40:8 - 05
Every word is true.
“The entirety of Your word is truth, and all Your righteous judgments endure forever.”
Psalm 119:160 - 06
Living and active.
“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
Hebrews 4:12
Scripture from the Berean Standard Bible.
Read Luke 1:1–4 and then Luke 24. Ask yourself: does this read like legend, or like someone recording what witnesses saw?
Common questions
Wasn’t the Bible written long after the events?
Paul’s letters were written within about 20–30 years of Jesus’ death, and the Gospels within the lifetime of eyewitnesses. That is very close by the standards of ancient history.
Doesn’t the Bible contradict itself?
Most apparent contradictions disappear when you read the context, the genre and the different perspectives of eyewitnesses. Four witnesses describing the same event in their own words is a sign of honesty, not invention.
Which translation should I read?
Become uses the Berean Standard Bible: accurate and easy to read. Any faithful modern translation is a great place to start.
Read it with a guide.
Become’s study Bible explains every chapter in plain language, with a reading plan that starts in John and walks you through the whole story, in your language.