145: Has the Bible Been Changed Over the Centuries?

A common question asked by new believers and those inquiring about the Christian faith, “How do we know the Bible hasn’t been changed over the course of centuries since the early Church? How can we be confident that the words have not been edited, rewritten, or altered in any way?” This is also a topic often brought up by critics that would seek to undermine the authority and credibility of the Scriptures. One of the primary tenants of the Christian faith is the authority of the Scriptures, but if we cannot prove that the writings are authentic, then how can we know that they are authoritative? The answer has to do with the manuscripts and fragments of manuscripts discovered by archaeologists. In this episode, Kenny uses a fun animated narrative to teach how textual critics reconstruct writings from the ancient world. Then, Kenny examines the number of manuscripts we have today for many popular works from antiquity and compares those numbers with the numbers of manuscripts we have today for the Bible. The evidence we have for the authenticity of Bible is overwhelming! Recommend Resources How We Got the Bible (Timothy Paul Jones) The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? (FF Bruce) The Books and the Parchments (FF Bruce) The Canon of Scripture (FF Bruce) Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics (Norm Giesler) The Text of the New Testament (Bruce Metzger)