Episode 3: Why Should We Trust the Bible?
Why You Can Trust the Bible
The Bible is more than a book of inspiring ideas. It is a unified collection of historical writings that invites examination—and gives us a foundation strong enough to build our lives upon.
Many Christians would quickly say, “I believe the Bible.” But if someone asked why, what would you say?
Perhaps you grew up in church. Maybe your parents taught you to trust Scripture, or a pastor told you it was the Word of God. Those influences can be a beautiful beginning, but borrowed confidence will only carry us so far. When doubts arise, suffering comes, or our beliefs are challenged, we need a faith rooted in more than what someone else told us.
God does not ask us to switch off our minds in order to follow Him. Jesus teaches us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Our faith includes trust, but it is not blind. We can ask honest questions, investigate the evidence, and discover that the Bible is not weak, fragile, or random.
The deeper we look, the more remarkable it becomes.
A Library With One Story
We often think of the Bible as one book, but the word Bible comes from a word meaning “books.” It is a library of 66 writings: 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament.
These writings were produced across many centuries by a diverse group of authors. They include shepherds, fishermen, kings, religious leaders, and a physician. They wrote in different places, cultures, and circumstances, using Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. The collection contains history, poetry, wisdom literature, prophecy, Gospel accounts, letters, and apocalyptic writing.
Yet these distinct voices tell one unfolding story: God’s work to redeem humanity, ultimately centered on Jesus Christ.
The Bible is like a symphony. Genesis, Psalms, Isaiah, the Gospels, and the New Testament letters each have their own voice—like different instruments—but together they play the same melody. Themes introduced in one book reappear and develop in others. Promises anticipate their fulfillment. Later writers quote and echo earlier ones. The result is an intricately connected story stretching from creation to redemption and restoration.
Jesus Himself taught us to read Scripture this way. In John 5, He told the religious leaders that the Scriptures bear witness about Him. In Luke 24, He showed His followers how the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms pointed toward His suffering, resurrection, and saving work.
The Bible is not merely a collection of disconnected moral lessons. It tells one coherent story, and Jesus stands at its center.
A Text Preserved Through History
Some people imagine the Bible’s transmission as a centuries-long game of telephone: one person tells another, the message gradually changes, and the version we possess bears little resemblance to the original.
That is not how the biblical text was transmitted.
Ancient writings were copied into manuscripts and circulated among communities. Today, scholars compare surviving manuscripts—along with early translations and quotations—to evaluate the wording of the text. Modern Bible translations are not produced simply by translating an older English Bible into newer English. Translation teams work from the biblical languages and consult the manuscript evidence available to them.
The Dead Sea Scrolls offer a striking example of this preservation. Discovered beginning in 1947 in caves near Qumran, the collection includes biblical manuscripts more than two thousand years old. Among them is the Great Isaiah Scroll, an extensive copy of Isaiah that allows modern readers and scholars to compare an ancient witness with the text preserved across the centuries.
Archaeology cannot prove every spiritual claim in Scripture. It can, however, illuminate the Bible’s historical world. Ancient places, people, inscriptions, and worship practices discovered through archaeology repeatedly give us a clearer picture of the cultures in which the biblical story unfolded. The Bible speaks about faith, but it does so in the context of real people, places, and events.
Testimony From Eyewitnesses
The writers of the New Testament did not present the life of Jesus as a myth from a distant past. They repeatedly grounded their message in testimony that could be examined.
John begins his first letter by describing what the apostles had heard, seen, observed, and touched (1 John 1:1). Luke explains that he carefully investigated the events surrounding Jesus, drawing upon accounts handed down by eyewitnesses (Luke 1:1–4). Paul writes that the risen Jesus appeared to more than five hundred people at once, adding that many of them were still alive when he wrote (1 Corinthians 15:3–8).
That last detail matters. Paul was not placing the resurrection in an unreachable legendary past. He was writing within living memory of the events and pointing to witnesses who could be consulted.
The earliest Christians did not merely adopt an abstract philosophy. They proclaimed that Jesus lived, died, and rose again—and many endured persecution rather than deny what they believed they had witnessed.
## Supernatural Events and Fulfilled Promises
The Bible does more than report unusual events. It presents them as part of a purposeful story in which God makes promises and acts to fulfill them.
The Old Testament builds an expectation of a coming Messiah. Its patterns, promises, and prophecies prepare the way for Jesus—His identity, His mission, His suffering, and His victory. The New Testament writers constantly return to these earlier Scriptures to explain what happened through Christ.
Jesus also foretold the destruction of the Jerusalem temple (Luke 21), an event that occurred in AD 70. For His first hearers, the thought would have been staggering. The temple stood at the center of Jewish religious and cultural life, yet it fell within the generation following Jesus’ ministry.
These connections remind us that the biblical story is not presented as a collection of accidents. Scripture describes a God who speaks, promises, and acts in history.
Words Breathed Out by God
The Bible does not claim to be merely human wisdom. It claims divine origin.
Paul writes:
“All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” —2 Timothy 3:16–17
The phrase translated “inspired by God” carries the idea of being God-breathed. The God who spoke creation into being has spoken through His Word. Through human authors, historical events, cultures, and literary styles, He has given us truth that continues to teach, correct, shape, and equip His people.
Empires have risen and fallen. Critics have tried to discredit the Bible, false teachers have twisted it, and authorities have attempted to suppress it. Yet Scripture continues to spread around the world and transform lives. God is still using His Word to convict, comfort, guide, and restore.
Read the Bible as a Mirror and as Glasses
Trusting the Bible is not merely an intellectual exercise. Scripture is meant to change how we live.
First, the Bible acts as a mirror. James compares God’s Word to a mirror that shows us who we truly are (James 1:22–25). It reveals our sin, exposes our motives, corrects our direction, and shows us the kind of people God created us to be. We read it to ask, “What needs to change in me? What do I need to confess? How is God calling me to love, forgive, serve, and obey?”
Second, the Bible acts like glasses. It gives us a lens through which to understand the world. Scripture helps us recognize what is true, what is broken, what matters, and where history is ultimately going. It forms our worldview rather than simply confirming the opinions we already hold.
We need both.
If we use Scripture only as a mirror, we may become consumed with our failures and never learn to live with wisdom and purpose in the world. If we use it only as glasses for judging everyone else, we can become self-righteous and lose compassion, humility, and love. God’s Word calls us to honest self-examination and faithful engagement at the same time.
A Foundation That Stands
At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus describes two people building houses. One builds on rock; the other builds on sand. Both houses face storms, but only the one founded on rock remains standing (Matthew 7:24–27).
The difference is not whether storms come. They come for everyone. The difference is the foundation.
When we know why we can trust the Bible—and when we do what Jesus teaches—we build our lives on something stronger than changing feelings, cultural trends, or inherited assumptions. We build on the truth of God.
The Bible invites your questions. Study how it came together. Examine its manuscripts. Explore the historical setting of its people and places. Trace its themes and prophecies. Most importantly, open its pages and encounter the Jesus to whom the whole story points.
God has not asked you to build your life on sand. He has given you His Word so that, whatever season or storm may come, you can have a faith that stands.
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This article is based on an episode of the Faith That Stands podcast with Pastor Angel Garcia III and Marlon Gutierrez. Listen to the full conversation for a deeper exploration of why Christians can approach the Bible with confidence.
