In mid-March, archeologists uncovered a fresh fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls in a cave on the outskirts of Jerusalem. It is a small piece around 2,000 years old, and it bears a verse from a Greek translation of the Old Testament prophets.
The first batch of the Dead Sea Scrolls was discovered in 1947 by a Bedouin herder who tossed a rock into a cave and heard a cracking sound. He investigated and found a pot containing leather and papyrus scrolls. Scholars dove in and, over the years, uncovered over 10,000 scrolls across eleven caves, mostly dating between 300BC and AD 68.
The scrolls include an array of Jewish documents written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, including nearly every book in the Old Testament except Esther, preserved in parts, fragments, or even whole pages.
Why does this matter to you and me? Scholars assume that the earlier a manuscript copy was produced, the closer it is to the original. So, for instance, let’s say your Great-Great-Nana’s recipe for apple pie is passed down through generations, copied time and time again along the way. Then somewhere along the line a health-conscience relative changes the word “sugar” to “sweetener.”
Suddenly, whenever someone on that side of the family brings apple pie to your holiday gatherings, it tastes funky. You say the sweetener changed it. They bristle at your accusation. They claim Nana always meant it to have sweetener because that’s what their recipe says. How do you solve this? You look for the original. But if you cannot find that, or it is lost in the family history, the next best thing is to find the copy closest to the original and you’ll find what Nana most likely said, and meant, and wanted. Sugar, that is.
That’s the value of discoveries like the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The biblical manuscripts found in the caves were around 1,000 years older than any manuscripts that scholars had at the time. So, in studying the scrolls and parchments, biblical scholars had an opportunity to either verify or refute the authenticity of the texts that we had prior to 1947. In other words, is your Bible true to the original documents or has it been altered?
It’s no surprise that the Dead Sea Scrolls verified the authenticity of the biblical texts that we have used all along! In fact, despite thousands of years between the writing of those texts and the Bible you hold in your hands, very few differences exist between them, and those few differences are small and have no impact on the meaning of the texts.
This testifies to the power of God to preserve and pass down the Scriptures, reminding us just how reliable our Bibles really are!
So, remember this particular principle of scholarship: The earlier a manuscript was produced, the more likely it matches the original. But, this principle is not just for scholars. It bolsters our faith in other ways that, if you are not careful, you might overlook.
1 Corinthians 15:3-5 is embedded in a conversation that Paul has with young Christians in Corinth. He writes, “For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.”
Notice the phrase, “For I passed on to you as of most importance what I also received.” Scholars believe that Paul is quoting a Christian confession of faith, something that, apparently, all early Christians learned and passed along as the factual foundation of their faith. In a world where most of the population was illiterate, memorizing key facts was not only common but also crucial.
Paul wrote 1 Corinthians around AD 54. But scholars believe that this confession predates the letter by as much as 20 years. That means that Christians were memorizing these words almost as soon as Christ rose from the grave! Let that sink in! These verses contain the facts of the gospel that were preserved by God for all Christians and passed along to fortify their faith, beginning right after Christ rose from the grave!
What are those facts? There are four: (1) “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, (2) that he was buried, (3) that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and (4) that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.”
Seen this way, the truth is clear. This creed was designed to certify the facts of Easter. First, that Christ died according to the Scriptures, so that our sins could be forgiven. His crucifixion was not an accident or an afterthought. It was God’s plan.
And second, that He was really dead. Buried, in fact, so those who buried Him verified His death. True death is required for a true resurrection. So, third, that He rose, just like He said He would, three days later! And not only that, multiple witnesses, starting with His closest followers (“Cephas” is the Aramaic word for “Peter”), actually saw Him alive and could testify to what they saw. And many more saw Him after that (15:6-8).
Archaeology confirms it. The Bible is true, accurate, and trustworthy. And when we celebrate Easter, we are not simply participating in a Christian tradition. We are celebrating the foundational facts of our faith. The earliest Christians memorized the same truths and confessed the same facts. We are connecting with centuries of Christians just like us, whose hope, joy, and salvation are grounded in this truth: Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and on the third day He rose from the dead!
*First written for my church family, the First Baptist Church of Shallotte