Before asking for their prayers and encouraging them to share with one another both their fellowship and his letter, Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica to “prove all things; hold fast that which is good; abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22).  Though intending this to be the process by which humanity determines everything’s acceptability in the light of the New Testament (cf. Colossians 3:16-17) our world has reversed this exhortation to prove the Bible unacceptable in light of everything else.  Though we know the New Testament to be the word of God (2 Timothy 3:16-17) and therefore perfect in every way, we must be prepared to defend God’s word against the attacks of its critics (1 Peter 3:15-16).

Of first importance are the documents themselves.  The New Testament is a series of historical documents written during the first century A.D.  Like many other important works of history (e.g. Livy, Cato, Herodotus, etc.) no original copies of the New Testament are still in existence.  The sheer number, agreement and accuracy of extant manuscripts, however, more than establish the historicity of the New Testament.  There are over 5,000 Greek, 8,000 Latin and 7,000 manuscripts in other languages.  While these manuscripts may differ in word order, spelling and other minor areas over 85% of their readings remain identical; a figure almost unheard of among classical works.  And not only has the New Testament not been corrected by other historical accounts, it has even accounted for certain historical facts long before historians followed suit.

The writers themselves are also of great importance.  As many as nine men recorded their respective accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.  Though they wrote from various backgrounds and unto various peoples they have never once contradicted each other due to truth of their own eyewitness testimony (1 John 1:1-3), the recording of the accounts of others (Luke 1:1-4) and even the Spirit of God Himself (2 Peter 1:19-21).  How is it then many claim these men to be either liars or madmen?  Only because the message which they speak is too powerful to given any credence to otherwise (cf. Matthew 21:23-27).

The final and most important proof regarding the authenticity of the New Testament is the character and teaching of the Author Himself:  Jesus Christ.  While many have attempted to deny the perfection of Jesus while He lived on earth the arguments introduced to support such a conclusion are exceeded in their ignorance of the Bible only by their ignorance of history in general.  They can’t understand, for example, why the best Son to have ever lived would refer to his mother as, “Woman” (John 2:4) nor how the most patient Man could angrily run out those whose attachment to the temple was merely for monetary gain (Mark 11:15-19).  Throughout these accounts, however, we see the character of God manifested (Hebrews 1:1-4).  It is because of this that Peter later wrote that, “Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that ye should follow his steps:  who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth” (1 Peter 2:21-22).

As hard as the world tries there is no document whose origins are surer, whose accuracy so well-established, whose writers more trustworthy and whose Author is more authoritative than that of the New Testament.  And such is exactly what we should expect from the word of God (1 Peter 1:22-25).