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     How do we know the Bible is actually God’s word?  As in a court of law, we demand evidence that it is genuine.  A reputed witness to a crime, must have seen the crime (authenticity as a witness) and he must be credible (relied upon to tell the truth).
     When ancient documents such as the Bible are offered in evidence, authenticity (authorship) and credibility (accuracy of the narrative) must also be established.  In this article, we will only consider the Bible’s authenticity.
     Establishing the Bible’s authenticity is to ascertain that it is without changes.  The ancient New Testament manuscript evidence (5600 Greek mss.) is overwhelming, beginning in the A.D. 4th century.  What about the 300 years between the first and fourth centuries?  Infidels, such as Thomas Paine, asserted the New Testament was written 300 years after Jesus.  Can we be certain that the copying of the manuscripts gave us the authentic New Testament, i.e. as originally written?
     Early church writings confirm the New Testament’s authenticity.  In the late second century, Tertullian wrote, “... visit the apostolic churches in which the very chairs of the apostles still preside, in which their very authentic letters are read.”  He then refers the reader to the churches in Corinth, Philippi, Thessalonica, Ephesus and Rome who were recipients of seven of the apostle Paul’s letters.  In other words Tertullian said, after over 100 years the original autographs still exist, go see for yourself!
     In the third century, Origen (A.D.230) wrote an exposition of all the New Testament books, quoting 5745 New Testament passages, Tertullian (A.D.200) quoted over 3000 passages.  In the second century Clement of Alexandria (A.D.194) quoted 380 verses, Irenaeus (A.D.178) quoted the New Testament 767 times and Polycarp, personally acquainted with the Apostle John, quoted 36 passages in one letter he wrote in the early second century.  These quotes do not vary from the New Testament manuscripts.  Additionally, at various times between A.D. 315 to 397 and individually, eleven sources (church writers or councils) cataloged the 27 New Testament books as we have them today.
     Further, the New Testament’s style points conclusively to its first century origin.  It contains Hebraic and Greek idioms and phrases peculiar to Judea at the time of the apostles, which were not used after the first century.  This style died after Jerusalem, Judea, Galilee and Samaria were destroyed by Rome between A.D. 67- 73 and the Jews were removed from Palestine.
     Also, even Christianity’s enemies did not challenge the authenticity of the New Testament.  Hierocles, governor of Bithynia, who cruelly persecuted Christians (A.D. 303), wrote against Christianity, quoting from 20 books of the New Testament, assuming its authenticity.  Later in 361, Julian the Apostate challenged the claims of the New Testament, but never its authenticity.  He conceded the date of the New Testament as correct and even quoted the individual books by name as the authentic works of their respective writers.  Indeed, not only early church writings prove the authenticity of the New Testament, but so do the enemies of Christianity.  The New Testament we have is authentic.

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