The Bible: Its Unity & Accuracy (1)
by Harry Osborne
February 15, 2009

That the Bible claims to be inspired is easily seen by anyone who takes the time to examine its text.  The fact that such a claim is made, would not of itself guarantee that the claim is genuine.  Other documents assert inspiration (e.g., The Book of Mormon), yet are clearly impious frauds!  The question, therefore, is this: is there sufficient evidence to warrant the conclusion that the Bible is, in fact, a volume of divine origin?  There is indeed, and it is to such evidence that the reader’s attention is now directed.

THE UNITY OF THE SCRIPTURES
Do you think that it seems reasonably possible that forty men, from various backgrounds, and scattered across more than a thousand years in time, could have designed some sixty-six metal components which accidently came together to form a precision machine that revolutionized the world?  Impossible!  Exactly — from the human vantage point!  But that is precisely the kind of thing that happened in the case of the Bible.

The sacred Scriptures were written by some 40 different persons, over a span of some 1,600 years.  These authors, from a variety of cultural and educational backgrounds, writing in three different languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek), produced a volume of 66 books that is characterized by such an amazing unity and beautiful continuity as to be inexplicable on the basis of merely human origin.

For example, from Genesis to Revelation there is a marvelous unfolding of the general theme of man’s fall from his holy estate, god’s plan for his redemption (as carefully worked out across the centuries), the atoning death of Jesus Christ, and the ultimate victory of the Christian system.  No serious student of this matter can fail to be awed by this vast body of consistent evidence, which can argue only for an inspired document.

Moreover, there are countless thousands of instances of minute agreement between the biblical writers in matters of history, culture, geography, biography, etc., for which there is absolutely no explanation save that there was a divine oversight involved in the production.  Those who would explore this point further are encouraged to study J.J Blunt’s Undesigned Coincidences in the Writings of Both of the Old and New Testament (London, 1884), and William Paley’s “Horae Paulinae” in The Works of William Paley (Edinburgh, 1839).

THE FLAWLESS ACCURACY OF THE BIBLE
If the Bible is the verbally inspired Word of God, one ought to expect it to be absolutely accurate in the various areas of subject matter upon which it touches.  Works that are strictly human—no matter how scholarly or painstaking the authors—are always characterized by unintentional mistakes which betray fallibility.  For example, when the famous Tacitus penned his renowned History and Description of Germany, it was flawed with so many errors that modern scholars are shocked.  When the Encyclopaedia Brittanica was first published, it contained so many mistakes regarding places in America that the publishers of the New American Cyclopedia issued a special pamphlet exposing the blunders of its rival!

The Bible, though, is always amazingly accurate in its historical and geographical details.  For example, biblical evidence indicates that Moses authored the Pentateuch (Exodus 17:14; Joshua 1:7; Mark 12:26).  This is confirmed by Josephus (Against Apion, 1,8), and a number of pagan writers.  Hecataeus, Manetha, Lysimachus, Eupolemus, Tacitus, Juvenal, and Longinus all credit Moses with the laws that distinguished the Jews from other nations (see George Rawlinson, Historical Evidences of the Truth of the Scripture Records, New York, 1877, pp 254ff).  Critics once scoffed at the mention of the Hittites in the biblical narratives [supposedly they never existed] (Genesis 23:10; 26:340, but the archaeological discoveries at ancient Boghazkoy (in Turkey) have exploded that criticism and confirmed the “authenticity of the ‘background material’ of the Old Testament” (Bulletin of the American School of Oriental Research, Vol, 129, 1953, p 18).

In the late 1800's, Sir William Ramsay, a scholar who was skeptical of the authenticity of the book of Acts, set out upon an archaeological expedition in Asia Minor with the declared intention of disproving the historicity and accuracy of Luke’s narrative.  After years of research, literally digging up the evidence, Ramsay was forced to conclude that Acts was historically accurate.  In Acts, Luke mentions thirty-two countries, fifty-four cities, and nine Mediterranean islands.  He also mentions ninety-five persons,  sixty-two of which are not named elsewhere in the New Testament.  And his references, where checkable, are always correct.  This is truly remarkable in view of the fact that the political/territorial situation of his day was in a state of almost constant flux.  How does one account for Luke’s precision?  Inspiration!

In his monumental work, Lands of the Bible (Philadelphia, 1881), J.W. McGarvey included a chapter entitled, “An Argument from the Agreement of the Land and the Book.”  Therein he states: “A fictitious narrative, located in a country with which the writer is not personally familiar, must either avoid local allusions or be found frequently in conflict with the peculiarities of place and of manners and customs.  By this conflict the fictitious character of the narrative is exposed” (p. 375).  McGarvey goes on to observe that there are hundreds of instances in which the Bible can be checked for accuracy in such matters.  For example, are the Scriptures always topographically correct, or are compass references accurate?  Is Egypt “down” from Jericho (Joshua 7:2)?  Is the way from Jerusalem to Gaza “south” of Samaria (Acts 8:26)?  Is Bethel really “west” of Ai (Genesis 12:8)?  McGarvey points out that “in not a single instance of this kind has any of the Bible writers been found at fault” (p. 378).  In concluding his profoundly impressive argument, the author asks: “How could they [the Bible writers] have done what learned and careful men of their own age and of subsequent  ages have failed to do, unless they were guided, as they claim to have been, by wisdom from on high?” (p. 386).

--- Continued Next Week ---

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