Test Everything, Hold Fast
Why Should I Trust the Bible?
John 20:30-31
Edward Rangel · August 23, 2026
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God-breathed Scripture leads us to the risen Christ.
Testimony. Transmission. Recognition. Obedient faith.
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Legends. Corrupt copies. Powerful councils. Blind faith.
Those are claims to examine, not conclusions to fear.
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Do not answer skeptical slogans with Christian slogans.
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but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.
John 20:31 · NASB
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Five Questions
Define the claim
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Hear Scripture
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Examine the copies
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Trace recognition
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Face Jesus
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Define the question before answering it.
Different claims require different evidence.
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Questions About the Bible
Inspiration
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Canon
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Transmission
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Translation
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Interpretation
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Copying, translating, and interpreting are different questions.
Do not confuse one with another.
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Hand copying made mistakes possible.
Surviving witnesses let us test the wording.
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Ask what was changed—and what evidence proves it.
Copying? Translation? Canon? Interpretation?
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One honestly studied claim outruns ten quick accusations.
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Scripture claims God as its source.
Its writers give testimony meant to be examined.
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and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
2 Timothy 3:15 · NASB
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All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
2 Timothy 3:16 · NASB
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God’s word teaches, reproves, corrects, and trains.
It has the right to govern our lives.
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for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
2 Peter 1:21 · NASB
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1 Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, 2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word have handed them down to us,
Luke 1:1-2 · NASB
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3 it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus; 4 so that you might know the exact truth about the things you have been taught.
Luke 1:3-4 · NASB
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16 For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, "This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased"—
2 Peter 1:16-17 · NASB
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and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.
2 Peter 1:18 · NASB
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3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
1 Corinthians 15:3-5 · NASB
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6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; 7 then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.
1 Corinthians 15:6-8 · NASB
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If Jesus rose, His identity and authority are vindicated.
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III
The text was copied—not lost.
Comparison exposes differences and recovers wording.
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The original pages are gone.
The wording remains recoverable through surviving copies.
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Copyists could misspell, repeat, or skip words.
Copies also spread beyond one person’s control.
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Many copies expose differences instead of concealing them.
More witnesses provide more evidence.
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A variant is a difference between surviving witnesses.
The kind of difference must be identified.
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Most variants are small; some affect interpretation.
Responsible confidence treats both honestly.
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Responsible translations mark the larger questions.
No essential doctrine rests solely on an uncertain reading.
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IV
The canon was recognized—not created.
A council did not manufacture apostolic authority.
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15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.
2 Peter 3:15-16 · NASB
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Churches distinguished apostolic Scripture from later writings.
Recognition did not create inspiration.
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Nicaea addressed a dispute about the Son.
Its surviving rulings contain no biblical book list.
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Nicaea did not create the Bible or Jesus’ deity.
Christians confessed Jesus before Constantine.
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The matching twenty-seven-book list appears in AD 367.
Forty-two years after Nicaea.
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V
Honest examination must reach Jesus.
The written testimony calls for a verdict.
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A contradiction affirms and denies the same claim.
Difference and omission are not automatic contradictions.
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State both claims precisely and read both contexts.
Check notes. Ask whether either account is exhaustive.
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“I do not yet know” outruns an invented answer.
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The evidence is cumulative—and centered on Jesus.
The investigation must reach the risen Christ.
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but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.
John 20:31 · NASB
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Do not admire the Bible while refusing its Lord.
Biblical faith trusts and obeys the risen Christ.
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Define one claim and examine its evidence.
Record what is known, possible, and uncertain.
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Make room for serious questions and strong answers.
Teach Christians how to examine manuscript notes.
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Do not let scattered objections hide the hinge question.
What happened after Jesus was buried?
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The written testimony brings us to Jesus Christ.
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Believe the risen Christ and obey His gospel.
Repent, confess Him, and be baptized for forgiveness.
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Bring doubt into the light and return to Christ.
Seek truth honestly and repent of protected sin.
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The evidence brings you to Jesus. Obey Him.
John 20:31
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Created with Ed Slide Gen · Keeping the Faith