Evidence

Why Believe Scripture?

Why should I believe what the Bible says? You do not have to be a Christian, or to have read the Bible, to ask.

This page looks at what can be checked: objects in museums, ancient writers who were not followers of Jesus, and the manuscripts that carried the text to us. Some evidence is strong, some is disputed, and some questions no artifact can settle.

Each section gives a plain answer, then three lines: what it shows, what it does not show, and where faith begins. Open "Go deeper" for sources.

British Museum, LondonThe Taylor Prism
The Taylor Prism: a tall, six-sided baked-clay prism covered in rows of small cuneiform writing, on display in the British Museum.
The Taylor Prism, British Museum. Photo: Gary Todd, CC0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons (file page). Resized.

A six-sided clay prism in the British Museum (museum number 1855,1003.1, also cited as BM 91032) carries a royal record written for the Assyrian king Sennacherib. The museum lists its production date as 691 BC. It records his campaign of 701 BC against Judah, including tribute from King Hezekiah, a campaign the Bible describes in 2 Kings 18.

What it showsA king named in the Bible appears in an official record from outside it, about an event the Bible also reports.
What it does not showThe prism does not claim that Jerusalem was captured. Its city and people counts are Assyria's own claims. It does not say why the Assyrian army withdrew.
Where faith beginsWhether the Bible's account of God's part in those events is true is not something a clay record can settle.
Go deeper: sources and qualifications

Tribute figures differ between the two accounts. The silver is 300 talents in 2 Kings 18:14 and 800 in the prism; the gold is 30 talents in both.

Israel Museum, JerusalemThe Tel Dan Stele
The Tel Dan Stele: a dark, broken basalt slab with faint lines of Aramaic inscription, displayed against a pale wall in the Israel Museum.
The Tel Dan Stele, Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Photo: Oren Rozen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (file page). Resized and compressed; otherwise unchanged.

Fragments of a stone inscription in Aramaic, dated to the 9th century BCE, were found at Tel Dan in northern Israel. Most scholars read one line as "house of David." The inscription was probably set up by Hazael of Damascus, a king the Bible also mentions.

What it showsAn inscription from a neighboring kingdom, written outside the Bible, most likely refers to a dynasty of David.
What it does not showOther readings of the line exist. It does not show how large David's kingdom was, and it says nothing about David's faith or God.
Where faith beginsWhether the history in the Bible carries divine meaning is a question the stone leaves open.
Go deeper: sources and qualifications

Sources give the years of discovery as roughly 1993 to 1995.

Israel Museum, JerusalemThe Great Isaiah Scroll

Found at Qumran near the Dead Sea and dated by the Israel Museum to about 125 BCE, this scroll contains all 66 chapters of the book of Isaiah. It shows that Isaiah existed in full roughly a century before Jesus.

What it showsThe text of Isaiah was being copied carefully before the time of Jesus. A few hundred substantive differences from the later Masoretic text have been counted, mostly spelling and wording (Anchor Bible Dictionary).
What it does not showIt is not identical to later copies. It does not settle whether Isaiah had one author or several.
Where faith beginsThat the text was carefully copied does not prove it is inspired. That is a conviction readers bring.
Go deeper: sources and qualifications

A 2-minute video from the museum is on the Learn page.

Codex Sinaiticus ProjectCodex Sinaiticus

A Greek Bible manuscript from the fourth century (about 330 to 360), one of the oldest nearly complete copies of the New Testament. It has the complete New Testament but only part of the Old Testament.

What it showsEarly Christians were copying and circulating these books within a few centuries of Jesus. On the project's own viewer, Mark ends at 16:8, and John runs from 7:52 straight to 8:12, with no 7:53 to 8:11.
What it does not showIt does not show what the original writings said word for word.
Where faith beginsThese two omissions are why many modern Bibles footnote those passages. Scholars discuss why. What a reader makes of them is a matter of judgment and faith.
Go deeper: sources and qualifications
Jewish historian, first centuryJosephus

Flavius Josephus was a Jewish historian who was not a follower of Jesus. In his Antiquities of the Jews, passage 20.200 mentions "James, the brother of Jesus called Christ," and passage 18.63 to 64 (the Testimonium Flavianum) speaks of Jesus directly. Both passages exist in the surviving manuscripts.

What it showsA non-Christian writer of the first century knew of Jesus and of James. A large majority of scholars accept the James passage as genuine; a skeptical minority doubts it.
What it does not showThe Testimonium is most often seen as partly authentic with later Christian additions. The Arabic version derives from Eusebius and is not an independent witness. The surviving Greek manuscripts are medieval (9th to 11th century).
Where faith beginsJosephus tells us Jesus was known to a historian. He does not tell us who Jesus was.
Go deeper: sources and qualifications

For Book 18 the earliest listed Greek manuscript is from the 11th century, alongside a Latin translation from the 5th or 6th century (Pearse, a scholar-run website).

Roman historian, early second centuryTacitus, with Pliny and Suetonius

In his Annals (15.44), written in the 110s AD, the Roman historian Tacitus says that Christus was executed under Tiberius by Pontius Pilatus, and that Nero blamed Christians for the fire of AD 64. Pliny the Younger wrote about Christians in a letter dated 110 to 112, and Suetonius also mentions them in the early second century.

What it showsRoman writers who disliked Christianity treated Jesus' execution under Pilate as known history.
What it does not showTacitus names no sources and says nothing about the Resurrection. He calls Pilate a procurator, while the Pilate Stone says prefect. The only manuscript of this part of the Annals is an 11th-century copy (the Second Medicean).
Where faith beginsTacitus reports that Christians existed and what was said about their founder. Whether their founder rose from the dead is outside what he writes.
Go deeper: sources and qualifications

The passage survives in a single medieval copy of the Annals.

Old Testament and the GospelsProphecy

Isaiah existed before Jesus: the Great Isaiah Scroll shows it. Some Old Testament passages are read by Christians as pointing to Jesus. Below are four, each labeled so you can see what is record and what is interpretation.

What it showsThe texts existed before Jesus, and the Gospel writers read them as pointing to him.
What it does not showWhether a passage was meant to predict Jesus is disputed, and in some cases the Gospel writers shaped their accounts to echo the passage.
Where faith beginsReading these passages as fulfilled is an act of Christian faith, not a result a lab can reproduce.
Go deeper: sources and qualifications

Micah 5:2

The book is traditionally placed in the 8th century BCE, but Britannica says its restoration chapters (4 and 5, including 5:2) are generally dated several centuries later. Claimed fulfillment: Jesus born in Bethlehem (Matthew 2; Luke 2). Matthew 2:1-6 changes Micah's wording. Some historians suspect the Bethlehem setting is theological.

Christian interpretationThe text and its date are matters of record. The claim of fulfillment is an interpretation.

Isaiah 7:14

A sign given to King Ahaz during the crisis of about 735 to 732 BCE (USCCB study notes). The Hebrew word almah means a young woman; the Greek translation uses parthenos, "virgin," and Matthew 1:23 follows the Greek. The passage first addresses Ahaz's situation.

Christian interpretationIsaiah is in the Great Isaiah Scroll, so the text predates Jesus.

Isaiah 53

Most scholars date chapters 40 to 55 to the Babylonian exile in the 6th century BCE (Britannica). That is a majority scholarly conclusion, not an established fact. Chapter 53 is in the Great Isaiah Scroll, which predates Jesus. Christians apply it to the suffering and death of Jesus (Matthew 8:17, Acts 8, 1 Peter 2). Many Jewish readers read the servant as Israel, and Isaiah 49:3 calls the servant Israel.

Christian interpretationThe text in the scroll is a matter of record. The date of composition is a scholarly conclusion, and the meaning is a real interpretive dispute.

Psalm 22

Its heading attributes it to David. The Gospels apply it to the crucifixion (Matthew 27:35, 46). The wording of verse 16 is textually disputed: the Hebrew Masoretic text reads "like a lion" and the Greek Septuagint reads "they dug." A scroll from Nahal Hever dates to the first century CE, so it is not pre-Christian evidence.

Christian interpretationTextual evidence is mixed, and fulfillment is an interpretation.

Stoner's probability illustration

In the mid-20th century, the mathematics teacher Peter Stoner offered a well-known illustration. For each of eight Old Testament prophecies, he estimated what fraction of people could have fit it, then multiplied those fractions to suggest how unlikely it would be for one person to fit them all by chance.

The result depends entirely on his own estimates, on the assumption that the events were independent of one another, and on whether each event truly fulfilled the passage. Each of those is disputed, and the last is a matter of interpretation. The multiplication is only as strong as those assumptions. Treat this as an illustration offered by a believer to make a point, not as scientifically demonstrated odds. The American Scientific Affiliation, which published his 1952 paper, said its committee found the probability mathematics sound and did not endorse the theological conclusions.

The center of the Christian messageJesus and the Resurrection

Everything above points toward one question. This section keeps three levels apart: what historians can say, what the first Christians believed, and what is disputed or taken by faith.

What it showsJesus was a real person who was executed under Pilate, and his first followers proclaimed his resurrection very early.
What it does not showIt does not show that the Resurrection happened. Historians disagree about the empty tomb.
Where faith beginsWhether God raised Jesus from the dead. Christians say yes, and they say it by faith.
Go deeper: sources and qualifications

What historians can say. Jesus of Nazareth was executed under Pontius Pilate: Tacitus, a Roman historian who disliked Christians, says so, and Josephus writes about Jesus in a passage scholars debate. Within a few years his followers were proclaiming that he had risen. Paul, writing in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, passes on an earlier summary: that Jesus appeared to Peter, to the Twelve, to more than five hundred, and to James. Bart Ehrman, a historian who is not a believer, calls that creed very old and pre-Pauline and says the disciples sincerely believed Jesus appeared to them.

What the early Christians believed. That God raised Jesus bodily, that he appeared to many people, and that this changed everything for them. These are their reported beliefs and testimony, recorded in the New Testament.

What is disputed, and what is faith. Historians disagree about whether the tomb was empty. Ehrman thinks it probably was never found empty and that historians cannot establish that a miracle occurred. N.T. Wright argues that bodily resurrection best explains the empty tomb and the appearances. History can show what the first followers believed; it cannot settle whether God raised Jesus. That conclusion is a matter of faith, and Christians hold it.

What this evidence does not prove

Evidence can make the Bible's history credible, because people and events in it appear in sources outside it. It cannot prove that God exists, that Jesus rose from the dead, or that Scripture is inspired. Each reader weighs the evidence, reads Scripture, and, for Christians, trusts by faith.

Next: which Bible to read, or four videos that go further.