Can I Trust the Bible?

I have often heard the accusation leveled against the Bible that it is so full of mistakes, contradictions, etc. that it cannot be trusted. And while my usual response is to say “that’s silliness” and move on – after all most accusations of contradiction stem from ignorance and animosity more than anything else – it is, I believe, important to address the issue of errors. You mean there really are errors in the Bible? gasp! – yes there are. But being informed on this issue will help us to respond appropriately and to appreciate how unproblematic these errors are. To make my point, I want to look at an issue that arises in the text we studied this past Sunday at Liberty: 1 Thessalonians 2:7. Though before we get there, let us remind ourselves that when we talk about the New Testament scriptures, we are talking about writings that are nearly 2000 years old, have been translated from Greek to English (as well as many other languages) and yet have been preserved remarkably well. Let us further remember that we have zero original manuscripts. While we acknowledge that Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians for example, we do not have the manuscript that Paul wrote (or dictated). We don’t even have a manuscript from his lifetime. What we do have are copies that were made from copies that were made from copies that trace back to that original, lost document. And yet we can still have remarkable certainty that what we are reading is accurate to the original. How? well for one, by looking at the errors that we do know exist. And so I direct your attention to 1 Thessalonians 2:7 reproduced below.

“though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children.” (NRSV) The NRSV further has a note by the word “gentle” in this verse, stating “other ancient authorities read infants” and herein lies our issue. In 1 Thessalonians 2:7 and surrounding, Paul is reminding the 1st century believers in Thessalonica of his conduct amongst them. He is reminding them of his love for them, his tender care, and his desire to see them grow in the faith. And it is here, just as he is about to use the imagery of a mother or a wet-nurse to describe his maternal instincts toward them that he says that he was __________ among them. But what exact word did he use? The shortest answer is quite frankly we don’t know! There are two options. You see, some of the ancient manuscripts we have use the Greek word epioi which we would translate “gentle”. But other manuscripts use the Greek word nepioi which is translated “infants” or “babes”. Now please note that while the English words “gentle” and “babes” look nothing alike, the Greek words epioi and nepioi are nearly identical, only word letter separates them! So which one did Paul use?

From a purely logical standpoint, I think we could all agree that “gentle” makes the most sense here. Paul is about to describe himself in motherly terms and what better way to do that than to suggest that he was gentle? But this is actually reason to assume that “gentle” may be the wrong word here. Let me explain. Let us imagine for just a moment that “babes” (nepioi) is actually the word Paul used here. Isn’t it at least possible that sometime during the first several hundred years of the church, a scribe was making a new copy of Paul’s letters? He comes to 1 Thessalonians 2:7 and being both an able translator and a biblical scholar he notices that in the span of one sentence Paul describes himself as both “babes” and a wet-nurse. That’s odd he thinks (not impossible but odd) and then it occurs to him that epioi actually makes a lot more sense here. Maybe (he thinks to himself) Paul accidently added an “n” at the front of this word…or even more likely, a scribe like me making a copy of a copy added an accidental “n”. I’ll fix this he thinks, and so he changes the word to epioi. This change is then picked up by future copiers carrying on this (incorrect) change. Paul, for whatever reason actually did want to compare himself both to a baby and a mother! While this is likely (or at least plausible) it is very unlikely that a scribe would intentionally change epioi to nepioi unless he simply made a careless error. The manuscript evidence that we have actually backs up the argument I have just made. The older manuscripts we have tend to favor nepioi while the more recent ones tend to go with the more logical epioi.

But here is the point of all of this and it is huge! Whether the correct word here is “babes” or “gentle” – and by correct I mean the word that Holy Spirit of God inspired Paul to write – it really doesn’t change the meaning, does it? Here Paul is expressing deep love for the Thessalonians. He is using familial language and painting a picture of an intimate relationship, and this comes through loud and clear either way! And this my friends is what the vast majority of the “errors” in the Bible are like. Legitimate? absolutely. Confusing? sure. But do they change the meaning of the text…at all…even slightly? No, not at all. We can have confidence in the Bible we read and one of the great proofs for its accuracy is actually the inaccuracy it contains!