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NASB | Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing [what is told], and what is heard comes by the [preaching of the] message concerning Christ. |
Bible Question:
I have been exchanging posts with some atheists in an online forum about the reliability of the Bible. I have written that there are tens of thousands of extant manuscripts and that they all agree with each other, with only about 1 percent discrepancy. I wrote this because I have read numerous articles that say this. One of the atheists posted that John Mill documented 30,000 variations in the manuscripts he studied and that many of these inconsistencies involve accounts of Jesus virgin birth and resurrection. I found the reference to 30,000 inconsistencies in a Wikipedia article, but it doesnt give any detail about his findings and the pros and cons of his conclusions. Can anyone please explain this to me? Is Mills work a valid criticism of the manuscript consistency? Are the articles I have read about the NTs incredible level of manuscript accuracy correct? Thank you for your help,Kevin |
Bible Answer: Hello Kevin, Keep in mind, "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ" (Rom. 10:17) Might I recommend, "DIFFICULTIES IN THE BIBLE: Alleged Errors and Contradictions", By R. A. Torrey Torrey himself wisely notes. "The first thing we have to say about these difficulties in the Bible is that from the very nature of the case difficulties are to be expected. Some people are surprised and staggered because there are difficulties in the Bible. For my part, I would be more surprised and staggered if there were not. What is the Bible? It is a revelation of the mind and will and character and being of an infinitely great, perfectly wise and absolutely holy God. God Himself is the Author of this revelation. But to whom is the revelation made? To men, to finite beings who are imperfect in intellectual development and consequently in knowledge, and who are also imperfect in character and consequently in spiritual discernment. The wisest man measured on the scale of eternity is only a babe, and the holiest man compared with God is only an infant in moral development. There must, then, from the very necessities of the case, be difficulties in such a revelation from such a source made to such persons. When the finite try to understand the infinite, there is bound to be difficulty. When the ignorant contemplate the utterances of one perfect in knowledge, there must be many things hard to be understood, and some things which to their immature and inaccurate minds appear absurd. When beings whose moral judgments as to the hatefulness of sin and as to the awfulness of the penalty that it demands, listen to the demands of an absolutely holy Being, they are bound to be staggered at some of His demands; and when they consider His dealings, they are bound to be staggered at some of His dealings. These dealings will appear too severe, too stern, too harsh. It is plain that there must be difficulties for us in such a revelation as the Bible has proved to be. If someone should hand me a book that was as simple to me as the multiplication table, and say, “This is the Word of God; in it He has revealed His whole will and wisdom,” I should shake my head and say, “I cannot believe it; that is too easy to be a perfect revelation of infinite wisdom.” There must be in any complete revelation of God’s mind and will and character and being, things hard for the beginner to understand; and the wisest and best of us are but beginners. The second thing to be said about these difficulties is that a difficulty in a doctrine, or a grave objection to a doctrine, does not in any way prove the doctrine to be untrue. Many people think that it does. If they come across some difficulty in the way of believing in the divine origin and absolute inerrancy and infallibility of the Bible, they at once conclude that the doctrine is exploded. That is very illogical. They should stop a moment and think, and learn to be reasonable and fair. There is scarcely a doctrine in science generally believed today, that has not had some great difficulty in the way of its acceptance." I hope that this in some way helps, BradK |