Can we trust the Bible?

There are two basic ways we learn about God: by looking at the world and by listening to His Word. Creation does speak. Scripture says God’s fingerprints are everywhere—whether you’re looking through a telescope or a microscope. The universe points to an intelligent, powerful, eternal Creator. And your conscience points too. That inner sense of “right and wrong,” even in a child who cries, “That’s not fair!” suggests there’s a real moral standard above us.

But here’s the limitation: nature can tell you that God exists; it can’t clearly tell you what God is like, what He’s doing in history, or how you can be made right with Him. The most important things about God are things we can only know if He speaks—if He reveals Himself in words. That’s what Christians believe the Bible is: God’s message to the human race, telling us what to believe about Him and how to live.

Of course, any book can claim to be God’s Word. So it’s fair to ask: is believing the Bible just a blind leap?

# The “Chinese Whispers” fear—and why it doesn’t hold up

A common objection goes like this: “The Bible has been copied and recopied for centuries. Surely it’s been distorted beyond recognition—like a 2,000-year game of Chinese whispers.” It’s a reasonable question. After all, we don’t possess the original manuscripts—the actual papyrus Paul wrote on or the physical scrolls Moses used. Papyrus decomposes, and the printing press didn’t arrive until 1440. So yes, what we have are handwritten copies… and copies of copies.

But that’s true for all ancient literature. The real question is: how do we know whether an ancient text has been preserved accurately?

Two factors matter most:

First, the more copies you have, the better. If you only have a handful of manuscripts, it’s hard to check accuracy. But if you have thousands, you can compare them and identify where a scribe misspelled a word or accidentally skipped a line.

Second, the earlier the copies are, the better. The closer a manuscript is to the original, the fewer “copying generations” there were for errors to creep in.

Here’s where the Bible becomes genuinely remarkable.

# The Bible’s manuscript evidence is in a league of its own

Compared to other ancient works, the New Testament is shockingly well-attested. For example, we have about 10 copies of Julius Caesar’s Gallic Wars, around 20 of Livy’s history of Rome, and 643 manuscripts of Homer’s Iliad (which is considered very strong by ancient standards).

But for the New Testament, there are around 25,000 manuscripts (complete or partial). That’s not a small difference—it’s a different category.

And it’s not just the number. It’s also the early dating. For many classical authors, the earliest copies we have are 1,000+ years after the originals. But for the New Testament, we have papyrus fragments and manuscripts dating from as early as the 2nd century—roughly 100–150 years after the originals were written. One famous fragment, P52, contains verses from John 18 and dates roughly 100–125 AD, remarkably close to John’s Gospel (often dated around 85 AD). That’s not “legend growing over centuries.” That’s early, checkable history.

# “But aren’t there differences between manuscripts?”

Yes—and that’s not the scandal some people think it is. When you compare thousands of handwritten copies, you find variations—spelling differences, repeated words, skipped words, and other normal human copying mistakes. In fact, it would be suspicious if there were no differences across 25,000 manuscripts from different places and centuries.

What matters is this: when the obvious copying errors are accounted for, the New Testament text is about 98.33% in agreement across manuscripts. And among the relatively small number of places where variants are meaningful (often estimated around 50), no core Christian doctrine depends on a disputed reading. The Trinity, justification by faith, the call to holiness—these aren’t hanging by a thread.

Even the Old Testament, though represented by fewer manuscripts (over 100), was copied with extreme care. Jewish scribes were famously meticulous—counting words and letters, tracking middle letters and middle words, and building in checks to guard accuracy.

# A simple next step for your faith

If you’re trying to grow spiritually, here’s the invitation: don’t treat the Bible like a fragile heirloom you’re afraid to examine. Treat it like a treasure that can handle honest questions. God is not threatened by investigation.

And if you’re not yet sure what you believe, consider this: trusting the Bible isn’t “intellectual suicide.” It’s a reasonable step—one supported by unusually strong historical evidence. Ultimately, yes, we need God’s Spirit to convince our hearts. But God has also given our minds solid ground to stand on.

The Bible has been preserved with a reliability that’s rare in the ancient world—and that means you can open it with confidence, expecting to hear God speak.