Ramsey testifies concerning the trustworthiness of Scripture

Sir William Ramsey had no particular axe to grind. By this I mean that he was no avowed Evangelical and did not feel constrained to show the Bible in a favourable light.

As a scholar with high qualifications he set out to see how far the Bible can endure when tested and brought under the light of modern archaeological discoveries.

Ramsey's corpus of literature has proved, for all those who want proof, the accuracy and trustworthiness of the Bible.

The Evangelical does not seek for proof; being taught by the Spirit, he is content to receive the Spirit's witness about Christ, about salvation and spiritual things as they are to be found in Scripture. He does not doubt the veracity or the integrity of the Bible. Unbelievers, though, have their mouths shut (or at least they should realise that the best they can do is to keep it shut) when research work such as Ramsey's is presented to them. Ramsey was an acknowledged classical scholar and archaeologist, and is undoubtedly an outstanding authority on the life of the early church. His work has excellent academic quality, and what is even more significant, is that Ramsey himself never claimed to be an Evangelical.

His testimony concerning the trustworthiness of Scripture is resounding. For instance: "I set out to look for truth on the borderland where Greece and Asia meet, and found it there (in Acts). You may press the words of Luke in a degree beyond any other historian's and they stand the keenest scrutiny and the hardest treatment..."

His work on the New Testament is equivalent to Robert Dick Wilson's in the Old Testament. He began in doubt and mockery, and ended in a sure persuasion that the New Testament is wholly reliable, and a pure source of historical accuracy. His labour in Bible research puts to nought the meagre arguments of the opponents.