The Church has changed the Bible over time.

The Devotional Answer

The devotional answer is that the God who breathed out His Word (Inspiration) is the same God who faithfully preserved it (Providence).

The Bible is a supernatural book, and God's plan required it to remain reliable across thousands of years so that all generations could know the truth about Jesus Christ.

When you read your Bible, you can have a deep and confident faith that you are reading the same essential message that the early apostles and prophets intended to convey. Trust in the faithfulness of God to protect His own message.

The Simple Answer

No, the Church has not fundamentally changed the Bible over time.

While the process of copying ancient documents by hand (before the printing press) inevitably led to minor scribal errors (misspellings, transposed letters, etc.), the original message and all core Christian doctrines have been preserved with astonishing accuracy.

We can be confident in this because of the field of Textual Criticism, which compares the enormous number of ancient manuscripts available. The sheer volume and consistency of these manuscripts act as powerful checks against any deliberate or accidental alteration.

The Deeper Dive

The evidence for the reliable preservation of the biblical text is stronger than for any other ancient book in history.

1. The Quantity of Manuscripts

For the New Testament, we have over 5,800 Greek manuscripts and thousands more in other ancient languages. This number dwarfs the evidence for classical works like Homer's Iliad (which has only a few hundred manuscripts). The more manuscripts you have, the easier it is to compare them and filter out any accidental errors or deliberate changes.

2. The Time Span is Tiny

The time gap between the New Testament's original writing (1st century AD) and our earliest complete manuscripts is remarkably short—only about 200 to 300 years.

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the mid-20th century was a monumental finding for the Old Testament. These Hebrew scrolls, dating back to the 2nd century BC, were over 1,000 years older than the previous oldest copies. When scholars compared the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Bibles we use today, they found near-perfect agreement on all major texts, confirming that the Jewish scribal tradition was meticulous in its preservation.

3. The Nature of Discrepancies

When scholars find differences between manuscripts, they are called variants. Over 99% of these variants are minor, such as different spellings or word order, and are easily resolved. No essential doctrine of the Christian faith hinges on any disputed variant. For instance, the doctrine of the deity of Christ, the Trinity, or salvation by grace are equally clear and affirmed in all versions of the ancient text.

God’s Assurance

God assures you that His promise to preserve His Word for all generations is unbreakable, making the Bible a stable foundation for your faith.

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." — Matthew 24:35 (NIV)

You are assured that the God who spoke the universe into existence is fully capable of safeguarding the words of salvation and truth for you today.

Your Takeaway Thought

Do not let the claim of biblical corruption diminish your faith. When you read the Bible, you are reading a text that has been scrutinized and verified by scholars for centuries. Use this knowledge to deepen your conviction.

The Bible is not a collection of fragile, easily corrupted human ideas; it is the preserved, powerful, and trustworthy message of God.