WHY WE CAN TRUST THE BIBLE-THE NEW TESTAMENT

This is the companion to the other blog I wrote today called "Why We Can Trust the Bible-The Old Testament." I'll point you back there if you have questions about what is the Old Testament and how we can know that it is reliable. Here's a link to that previous article on my website: https://www.danielwestfall.com/faith-and-culture/why-we-can-trust-the-bible-the-old-testament.


With that said, the attacks against the New Testament are usually different than those against the Old Testament and therefore the arguments presented here are also a little different. There is no doubt historically from contemporary secular sources to the time of Jesus' birth, His miraculous deeds, teaching, His identity as "the Christ," and his trial death and resurrection according to the Scriptures.
"Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross,[9] those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day;[10] as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day"
Flavius Josephus: Antiquities of the Jews, Book 18, Chapter 3, 3[

So, right out of the gate, I'm going to tell everyone that I'm not going to argue with skeptics that deny history. Even a Jewish historian writing for Rome said that Jesus was the Christ (note, he did not say that he claimed to be the Christ or that others claimed that He was the Christ, but that He was the Christ—even a non-believer had to acknowledge this) and while I believe his Jewish faith kept him from coming right out and saying that Jesus was God in the flesh, he came as close as he dared to saying this (which could have been considered blasphemy--a crime punishable by death by the Jewish law). Notice how he said, "if indeed one ought to call him a man." What else is there other than a man but to assume that Josephus knew that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God (God in the flesh)?


My argument doesn't solely hang on this testimony. the New Testament also meets the criteria used by most scholars for textual criticism when it comes to reliability of the text and that is numerous copies in close proximity to the date of the original publication. The closest partial manuscripts of the New Testament are approximately 50 years past when they were supposedly written. The earliest complete copy of the New Testament is about 225 years old and there are 24, 633 partial or complete manuscripts (hand-written copies) of the New Testament according to this video posted by Josh McDowell on July 2, 2012. Since the time that I posted this original article on my website, there have been even more discoveries and I think you would find the Apologetics Canada videos by Wes Huff useful here as he addresses many of these questions as well as others that I may not directly address in this article: "Can I Trust the Bible?" - Series - YouTube


So, we have testimony to the historical accuracy of the events told in the gospels and we have more manuscripts than we can shake a stick at to show us that indeed the words we have in front of us today are reliable both in terms of authorship and the words that be believe were originally penned by the author. All of this from a strictly secular perspective ignoring that God is the true Author of the Scriptures and He has promised that “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Matthew 24:35, ESV).


I encourage you again at this point to go watch the videos that I posted in the last article (I'll repost them here). I also encourage you to search out the work of other apologists. If you seriously want to know that God exists, that His Word is true, and that He and His Word can be trusted, simply ask Him and seek him out with sincerity. He promises that He will answer you--just maybe not in the way that you expect (see the book of Job as an example of this).



Proverbs 8:17 New International Version (NIV)

17 I love those who love me,

and those who seek me find me.



Jeremiah 29:13 New International Version (NIV)

13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.



Matthew 7:7-8/Luke 11:9-10 New International Version (NIV)

7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.



James 1:5-8 New International Version (NIV)

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.



Take God at His word and ask and seek Him and see if He doesn't follow through. It is His character and name that are on the line, and He will deliver what He has promised.



​The Bible: Fact, Fiction or Fallacy (playlist): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL16ABDCF6DB496225

Is the Bible Reliable (playlist): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB9B212FAE4985850

Is the Bible True (playlist): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL90208F780F552C51

Is the Bible Accurate (playlist): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5A9CF63233837F0B

(some videos may appear in more than one playlist)

(rev. 6/23/2026)