Like the Quran for Muslims, the Bible for Christians is considered to be the "Word of God." But Christians do not mean exactly the same thing as Muslims when they use that term. Believers in the historic foundations of the Christian faith [followers of Christ] believe that the Bible is "inspired" of God, and believe that the original manuscripts of the Bible are without error – "inerrant" and "infallible."
They also accept the view that the Bible has come to us from human writers whose unique personalities and literary styles are evident in the style of the text. Christians also acknowledge that the Bible of today, while extremely faithful to the original texts, is subject to slight variances. However, any such variance is minor and never changes the inspired message God conveys to humanity.
Muslims have been taught that the Bible has been grossly corrupted. Many non-Muslims wonder about this possibility as well. Therefore, it is appropriate to submit the Bible to rigorous scholarly evaluation. This is a vital exercise because the Christian faith rests on the reliability of the Bible. With that objective in mind, let’s touch on a few key points.
Yusuf Ali, the famous modern translator and defender of the Quran, has said that the earliest date for an Old Testament manuscript is 916 AD. This is quite wrong. In 1947 there was a discovery of ancient biblical and non-biblical manuscripts now known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. These manuscripts contain portions of or complete copies of every Old Testament book except Esther. They have been reliably dated from 250 BC to 68 AD (Dead Sea Scrolls).
In addition to the Dead Sea Scrolls, there are other manuscripts of the Old Testament that date before Christ. Yet it is the remarkably extensive discovery in the Dead Sea Scrolls that confirms that the modern day Old Testament has been unchanged since before the time of Christ.
The Dead Sea discovery verifies that today we are in the possession of the Old Testament that Jesus read and used in his ministry. And Jesus himself testified as to the correct books of the Old Testament and to their accuracy and authenticity. (Here are just a few of many examples: Matthew 5:17-18, 12:40, 13:14-15, 19:3-9, 23:35; Luke 16:31, 24:44; John 5:46-47, 10:35. Jesus' testimony is an important substantiation that the Old Testament was consistently preserved up to his time. Absent any contrary evidence, the belief that the Old Testament has been reliably preserved is well warranted.
The Dead Sea Scrolls also contain what many scholars believe are fragments of New Testament books, including Mark, Acts, Romans, 1 Timothy, 2 Peter, and James. The fragments are small enough that some scholars are skeptical. But the importance of the discovery is that it adds to already existing evidence that the New Testament was written in the first century, after Christ died on the cross. The modern Bible agrees with the earliest manuscripts, so we have an unbroken chain from very early in the Christian era.
While we do not have the original New Testament manuscripts, we do have over 25,000 ancient copies of New Testament manuscripts, or pieces thereof. Careful analysis by scholars can compare the various manuscripts and reproduce the originals with great precision. Only about 40 lines of text in the New Testament are in debate, and these do not affect any Christian doctrine.
Since there are numerous extant New Testament manuscripts from hundreds of years before Muhammad which agree with the modern Bible, the Muslim charge that the modern Bible has been changed is a hollow and vindictive claim. Thus, the Bible (Old and New Testaments) being read during Muhammad's time and hundreds of years prior is the same Bible the world has available today.
There is no longer any real doubt that the New Testament is what it claims to be—a reliable record of Jesus and his apostles written by eyewitnesses and interviewers of eyewitnesses of Jesus. Scholars are convinced that the entire New Testament was written between 40 and 70 AD.
In addition to the manuscript evidence itself, there are many quotations from the New Testament by the early church fathers (from 97 AD to 325 AD). These quotations allow reconstructing all but eleven verses of the modern New Testament — even without any manuscripts themselves. This evidence should be significant to Muslims, since these attestations are from hundreds of years before Muhammad was even born.
Yusuf Ali, the aforementioned Muslim scholar and critic of the Bible, has said that the New Testament of today is not the same as in Muhammad's time. Wrong again. The accumulation of evidence proves that the case is really closed in this matter. The New Testament has been reliably preserved through the ages.
A final charge by Muslims is that the Apostle Paul changed the message of Jesus. There is absolutely no evidence for such a claim. Besides, there are simply too many well-attested ancient manuscripts for this to be even remotely possible. Further, Paul's message was both checked and approved by the original apostles (Galatians 1-2; 2 Peter 3:15-16)! By the way, the Bible is easier to verify than the Quran, because unlike the Quran there has never been any wholesale destruction of ancient manuscripts. The historical evidence is vast for biblical scholars as well as opponents of Christianity to investigate. There is nothing hidden or swept under the rug with regard to the Bible's origin.
Also significant for Muslims is that the Quran itself has a high view of the Bible, indeed proclaiming it as without error! While this will be a bit tedious for non-Muslim readers, it is important to document that the Quran does indeed support the Bible in key areas. The information was compiled by Dr. William Campbell and outlined in his book The Quran and the Bible in the Light of History and Science. I encourage any Muslim readers to obtain a copy of this book or at least look up these passages for yourself in the Quran:
- These passages show that the Torah was true at the time of Jesus: Suras 3:48-50, 5:44-49, 5:110, 19:12, 61:6, 66:12.
- These passages show that the Torah and the Gospel were true and unchanged at the time of Muhammad: Suras 2:91, 3:3, 4:162-163, 5:44-49, 6:154-157, 9:111, 10:37, 12:111, 35:31, 40:69-70, 46:12, 46:29-30.
- There are 24 passages in the Quran where Muhammad actually quotes or appeals to the Torah and/or the Gospel.
- 55 other verses say that the Torah or the Gospel are good. Some of these include Suras 3:187, 4:47, and 5:46-48.
- No one has ever brought forth a copy of the Torah or Gospel that differs from the one we have now.
- Sura 10:94 specifically says, "If thou wert in doubt As to what We have revealed Unto thee, then ask those Who have been reading The Book [the Bible] from before thee: The Truth hath indeed come To them from thy Lord: So be in no wise Of those in doubt."
See also: Suras 2:41, 2:136, 5:68, 2:285, 3:3, 3:70, 3:184, 5:44-46, 5:77, 6:34, 6:91, 10:34, 10:37, 11:110, 17:2-4, 17:14, 19:12, 19:30, 20:52, 21:7, 23:49, 25:35, 28:2, 28:43, 28:52, 29:46, 32:23, 37:117, 40:53, 41:45, 45:16, 48:23, 56:78, 57:25-27, 62:5, 98:4.
But the unjust deny the communication of Allah (Surah 6:33). Surely they who disbelieve in the communications of Allah, they shall have a severe chastisement; and Allah is Mighty, the Lord of retribution (Sura 3:4).
The logic and reasoned conclusions are unavoidable. The Quran says that the Bible was true at the time of Muhammad. The manuscript evidence unequivocally verifies that the Bible we have today is the same as the one in Muhammad's time (and before). So Muslims who say the Bible is corrupted are either mistaken or else the Quran is wrong. Since Muslims cannot accept that the Quran is wrong, the Bible must be accepted as reliable and true as validated in the Quran.
Let's summarize the evidence as to why the Bible can be trusted. There are four important approaches to considering the evidence for the reliability of the Bible:
Manuscript Evidence. Regarding the New Testament, the evidence supports the view that all of the New Testament was written by eyewitnesses or other contemporaries of Jesus, and that it has been reliably preserved. There are no abrogations or destruction of manuscripts as there have been in Islam.
Archeological Evidence. Over 25,000 sites have been discovered that pertain to the Bible. As Nelson Glueck, renowned Jewish archeologist said, "It may be stated categorically that no archeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference." This is really an amazing testimony for the Bible.
Prophetic Evidence. Some 2000 biblical prophecies have already been fulfilled, including over 350 about Jesus—with no prophetic failures. The probability of just 16 predictions being fulfilled without an error is 1 in 10 to the 45th power.
Do you know what 1 in 10 to the 45th power looks like expressed numerically? Here it is... 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000... a quattuordecillion! For more than 2000 predictions to be correct without a failure is an inconceivable probability number!!! There is nothing at all like this “singular piece of evidence” in any other religious book or in any other sector of human experience or endeavor!
Statistical Evidence. The Bible contains 66 books, written by approximately 40 different writers, over 1600 years, on 3 different continents, in 3 different languages, on thousands of different subjects—with no errors or contradictions.
Norman Geisler in his book written with Abdul Saleeb discusses this, and emphasizes that from his 40 years of studying the Bible he has concluded that every so-called error or contradiction is a red herring. Yet there is one beautiful central theme in the Bible: God's redemption of mankind from sin won for the whole world by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So, regarding the Bible, there are multiple reliable witnesses, many of whom did not know each other, whose stories can be corroborated. This compares to the Quran, which was revealed by one very violent man who, according to Islamic sources was bewitched (Bukhari 4:400, 4:490, 8:400), and in which are found numerous confirmed errors and contradictions.
These are the facts that support the Christian view that The Holy Bible is indeed the one and only inspired message from God to humanity that has ever existed.
The only apparent reason why Muslims claim that the Bible has changed is that there is so much contradictory content in the Quran that they want the Bible to suffer the same flaws and failures. There is no evidential basis for any claim that the Bible is anything but inspired, authentic, accurate, trustworthy and reliable. It is the true message from God!
If the Bible is true, and it is, then Allah is not God, Muhammad was not his prophet, and the Quran is not a message from God.
