The Doctrine Of Textual Criticism (and Preservation)

The Doctrine Of Textual Criticism (and Preservation)

Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI

Biblical Authority Ministries, December 10, 2025 (Donate)

The Doctrine of Textual Criticism is a good thing. Some confuse it with “higher criticism”, which is an 1800s attack on the Bible, but textual criticism is something that is done to honor the text of Scripture and systematically study its manuscripts.

What Is Textual Criticism?

Textual criticism of the Bible (specifically the New Testament) is the scholarly process of comparing all available manuscript copies to determine the earliest and most accurate form of the biblical text.

Just to give you an idea, there are over 24,000 ancient copies and fragments of the New Testament and over 86,000 quotes of the Bible in church fathers’ writing in the first 200 years alone. How do we assess these and study all these? It is through textual criticism that it is done.

Paul (and his colleagues) were authors of several New Testament original-autograph books; Photo of a discontinued exhibit in the Creation Museum by Bodie Hodge

Because the original autographs of specific Bible books, by apostles for example, no longer exist, scholars examine thousands of handwritten manuscripts, early translations, and quotations from church fathers to identify where small differences (variants) occur and which readings best reflect the original wording.

The method works by analyzing external evidence and internal evidence. External evidence considers the age, geographical distribution, and textual family of the manuscripts. Earlier manuscripts and those found across different regions often carry greater weight.

Internal evidence evaluates what the author is most likely to have written and what scribes were likely to have changed, whether accidentally or intentionally (e.g., cultic groups or enemies infiltration for instance). Scholars consider context, grammar, style, and which reading best explains how the others could have arisen.

Most variants are trivial, such as spelling differences (as languages change) or word order changes that do not affect meaning—keep in mind that many later copies of Koine Greek New Testament were made by people who were not fluent in it—the language was a dead language by around AD 400. So spotting a misspelling was more difficult and copying mistakes were more prone.

Even so, only a small fraction of variants are meaningful enough to warrant deeper study, and none undermine essential Christian doctrines. With the massive number of manuscripts available, especially for the New Testament, scholars can cross-check readings rather easily.

Through this comparison process, scholars using textual criticism identifies the reading that makes the most sense in the context based on manuscript evidence. Modern Bible translations use this research to present a text as close as possible to the original.

Overall, textual criticism works by carefully sifting the manuscript evidence, weighing the text in context, and reconstructing the earliest attainable form of the biblical text (often called “standard texts”. Most Bible translations today come from standard texts like the (1) Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece, (2) United Bible Societies Greek New Testament, and (3) [for Hebrew] Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia text. The result is that believers can rest assured the Bible has been preserved.

Erasmus and Early Textual Criticism

Erasmus (Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus) produced the first printed Greek New Testament (1516) using only a small handful of manuscripts, mostly late Byzantine copies (I discuss this text family in a later section). His textual criticism relied on collation and comparison: he placed his manuscripts side by side, noted differences, and selected the reading he believed was original, usually favoring the majority or clearest reading.

Erasmus, AD 1500s, Public Domain

Because he lacked complete manuscripts for some sections (such as the ending of Revelation), he back-translated from the Latin Vulgate into Greek to fill gaps. Erasmus also consulted earlier editions of the Latin to judge which Greek readings seemed most authentic.

His work was rushed for publication, yet subsequent editions refined his choices as he attainted more manuscripts. Over time, later printers incorporated marginal notes and corrections until this adjusted printed text became known as the Textus Receptus, the “received text,” which shaped Tyndale’s Bible Translation, the Geneva Bible and the King James Version.

Despite limited resources, Erasmus sought to restore the New Testament’s earliest attainable form. As more manuscripts became available it was time to look at them in a systematic way.

Discussion On Textual Criticism

Dr. Ron Rhodes, a well-known evangelical scholar and apologist, affirms the value of textual criticism as a necessary and God-ordained tool for preserving and understanding the biblical text. His position is broadly in line with conservative evangelical scholarship. The reliability of Scripture and the usefulness of textual analysis is a great confirmation of that reliability.

Rhodes points out that the Bible we possess today is trustworthy, even though it has been transmitted through thousands of manuscripts. He stresses that textual variants do exist, but the vast majority are minor issues such as:

·       Spelling differences

·       Word order changes

·       Stylistic variations that do not alter essential doctrine.

The existence of variants is expected because these copies were being done by fallible people. This actually shows the transparency and honesty of biblical scholarship.

Textual criticism is the primary means by which God has ensured the preservation of His Word (more on this in the next section). The New Testament manuscripts are exceptionally numerous (tens of thousands) and very early compared to other ancient texts (many in the first and second century).  

Christians should reject skeptical or liberal approaches to textual criticism that assume the biblical text is fundamentally corrupt or that reconstructing the original autographs is impossible. This violates God’s Word where He promised to preserve His Word. Textual criticism shows a continuity with the original text and confirms Christian doctrines rather than threatens them.

No essential Christian doctrine hangs on any of the alleged disputed textual variants. While acknowledging a handful of significant passages discussed in scholarly literature (for example, the ending of Mark is debated in variants), Rhodes stresses that even these do not affect the core message of Scripture—since all things at the end of Mark match with other Gospel accounts. Christians should understand the basics of textual criticism and be informed, not fearful of it.

What Does Textual Criticism Look Like?

Dr. Ron Rhodes give a nice example of what textual criticism looks like in practice. Once you see it, it is difficult not to understand. The process is rather easy to grasp. Rhodes brilliantly explains:

“Let us suppose we have five manuscript copies of an original document that no longer exists. Each of the manuscript copies are different. Our goal is to compare the manuscript copies and ascertain what the original must have said. Here are the five copies:

Manuscript #1: Jesus Christ is the Savior of the whole worl.

Manuscript #2: Christ Jesus is the Savior of the whole world.

Manuscript #3: Jesus Christ s the Savior of the whole world.

Manuscript #4: Jesus Christ is th Savior of the whle world.

Manuscript #5: Jesus Christ is the Savor of the whole wrld.

Could you, by comparing the manuscript copies, ascertain what the original document said with a high degree of certainty that you are correct? Of course you could.

This illustration may be extremely simplistic, but a great majority of the 150,000 variants are solved by the above methodology.

By comparing the various manuscripts, all of which contain very minor differences like the above, it becomes fairly clear what the original must have said.”[1]

Of course, when you look at families of manuscripts (copies of copies from the same text tradition), you tend to get the copy variants. For example, there are two primary families of text—the Alexandrian and the Byzantine.

Alexandrian Text Family

Alexandria was a Greek city in Egypt. It was very influential and a hub for Christianity for about 600 years. Many manuscripts came from this area. The Alexandrian text family consists of Greek manuscripts that are earlier and generally considered closer to the original wording by most scholars—because of their age. They come mainly from Egypt and include Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus.

The obvious reason this text family ceased being copied after some time was due to the Muslim invasions and the imposition of their false religion by the sword which stifled the copying process in these lands.

Byzantine Text Family

The Byzantine text family represents the later, majority of Greek manuscripts which had wider use in the Greek-speaking early church. This family of texts is what Erasmus used to generate the Textus Receptus and many other Western texts. With a thousand more years of copying—there are a lot more in this text family.

There are other text families as well. But even with all these variants, it is rather easily to see using all these texts to largely see what was clearly written in the original autographs of Scriptures. Having more copies actually helps.

Modes of Preservation

God promised to preserve His Word. This task is easy for an all-powerful God. Consider some of the Scriptures relating to preservation:

1. Psalm 12:6–7 (NKJV) “The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. You shall keep them, O Lord, You shall preserve them from this generation forever.”

2. Psalm 119:89 (NKJV) “Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven.”

3. Isaiah 40:8 (NKJV) “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.”

4. Matthew 24:35 (NKJV) “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”

Peter, in 1 Peter 1:23–25, explicitly cites Isaiah 40:8 and applies it to the preached Word of God showing that it is enduring and incorruptible. However, Christians have generally appealed to two very different models of how God preserved Scripture.

One Inerrant Copy Model

The “one inerrant copy” view teaches that God kept a single, perfect, error-free manuscript line intact through history. Some say this is done for each language as well. According to this model, a particular copy or printed edition (often associated with the Textus Receptus (TR)—although the TR was developed by 6 copies—none of which were complete). Adherents of this position suggest the TR, which all its updates over the years, uniquely represents God’s preserved Word without meaningful variation. Preservation is understood as perfect, continuous, and traceable through one providentially protected “stream”.

Body of Manuscripts Model

The “manuscript copies with textual criticism” view teaches that God preserved His Word through the entire body of manuscripts, not one perfect copy. Because Scripture was copied thousands of times, minor variations arose, but the abundance and geographical spread of manuscripts allow scholars to compare them and rather easily determine the earliest, original readings. Preservation is understood by the abundant copies that exist and through careful comparison.

Both methods still rely on textual criticism to a degree (Erasmus’ early form with only a few fragmented copies) versus the latter systematic form utilizing thousands of copies.

Conclusion

Textual criticism is a good thing. Having a multitude of copies and following their ever so slight variants spellings and word order show that what we have today is an accurate reflection of the original autographs of Scripture in the New Testament text.

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Bodie Hodge, Ken Ham's son in law, has been an apologist since 1998 helping out in various churches and running an apologetics website. He spent 21 years working at Answers in Genesis as a speaker, writer, and researcher as well as a founding news anchor for Answers News. He was also head of the Oversight Council.  

Bodie launched Biblical Authority Ministries in 2015 as a personal website and it was organized officially in 2025 as a 501(c)(3). He has spoken on multiple continents and hosts of US states in churches, colleges, and universities. He is married with four children. 

 

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[1] Ron Rhodes, Manuscript Support for the Bible's Reliability, Accessed December 10, 2025,  https://www.gospeloutreach.net/manevbib.html.

The Modern Debate Over Founders

The Modern Debate Over Founders

Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI

Biblical Authority Ministries, December 9, 2025 (Donate)

For those who know, there is a debate over the beliefs of the Founding Fathers. This includes secular beliefs as well as varying understandings by David Barton and Gregg Fazer.

Barton Et Al

The debate surrounding David Barton et al centers on how to understand and represent the religious beliefs of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Barton and others in his camp argue that America was explicitly founded as a Christian nation, out of a Christian nation (Britain), and that most founders were sincere, orthodox Christians. He argues that their political philosophy flowed directly from the Bible.

Colonial Church; Image requested by Bodie Hodge (ChatGPT)

Barton points out extensive religious language in colonial charters, state constitutions, early laws, sermons, and the personal writings of a number of founders. They also point to public proclamations of prayer, thanksgiving, and fasting, as well as general references to Providence, the Creator and using the Bible in schools and recommended by Congress, as well as biblical morality.

I would lean in Barton’s direction (which was also Charlie Kirk’s position), but I understand that sometimes certain claims can be overstepped. But that doesn’t neglect the case. I would urge caution on this of course—I would rather be accurate and look at original documents in context and based on the cultural situations at hand.  

Critics, naturally playing on this, counter that Barton often overstates some claims by relying on selective quotations, or blur distinctions between personal belief, public rhetoric, and original documents’ purpose. However, going back and reading these documents and seeing the various Christian protestant churches represented where most of these men attended leans strongly for a Christian heritage.

Secular Objections

Secular humanistic historians who critique Barton argue that many founders were not orthodox Christians but held a spectrum of beliefs including Protestant Christianity, various degrees of deism, unitarianism, rational theism, and Enlightenment moral philosophy. But with a little research most founders were members of triune Protestant churches—with minor exceptions and remember that exceptions aren’t the rule.  

Secular humanists recognize that the founders lived in a predominantly Christian culture and frequently used religious language, attended Christian churches, and argued for Christian morality. But they want to argue that the nation’s founding documents (Declaration of Independence, Northwest Ordinance, Articles of Confederation, State Constitutions, etc.), especially the Constitution, intentionally avoided establishing a specific religion[1] and protected broad religious liberty. The founding documents all refer to God, the Lord, Creator, or Providence somewhere—even the Constitution.

Supporters of Barton point out that modern secular historians often underplay the influence of Christianity because of contemporary secular biases—which should be obvious. They argue that the founders were deeply shaped by Scripture, the Protestant Reformation, and English common law which are based on biblical concepts.

They also note that all aspects of early American culture and education permeated with Christian beliefs, and that many founders did speak of Christian doctrines, not doctrines of other religions, and were active members in churches, and spoke favorably of the Bible’s authority. Critics need to be careful of creating an artificial divide between private faith and public philosophy which were intertwined in those days.

This controversy remains lively because of modern discussions on roles of church and state, religious liberty, and national identity. Consider for a moment that the government is trying to govern by leaving God and His Word out of it—yet God and His Word are the basis for morality, education, and even for law! In other words, law is a Christian concept.

Education is a Christian concept—to leave the Bible out of it, is to say that law and education don’t really exist (in their own professed worldviews if they were consistent). If one looks at our culture we see a breakdown of laws and education and morality—these are the natural consequences of trying to have those things without God and His Word being the authority over them.  

Theistic Rationalists

Trying to find middle ground, Gregg Frazer, in The Religious Beliefs of America’s Founders, argues that many key founders were neither orthodox Christians nor deists but belonged to a distinct category he invented and called theistic rationalists (e.g., unitarian, moralistic). According to Frazer, theistic rationalists believed in a rational, benevolent Creator who governed the world and expected moral behavior, but they reduced God's perfect, infallible Word to the fallible whims of imperfect human reason.

Certain founders agreed with Christian moral teachings yet rejected essential doctrines such as the Trinity, the deity of Christ, substitutionary atonement, and biblical inerrancy. For Frazer, theistic rationalism blended elements of Christianity, deism, and Enlightenment rationalism into a unique categorized belief system.

Frazer applies this framework to influential founders such as Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, and others. He argues that their writings show a consistent pattern: they praised Jesus primarily as a moral teacher, but then elevated reason above Scripture, denied key doctrines, and saw religion’s chief value in promoting public virtue rather than saving faith. Thus, Frazer concludes that America’s founding political philosophy was shaped more by theistic rationalism than by orthodox Christianity.

However, this may only be true for certain few founders—Jefferson and Franklin for example—but many others were not in their category—but openly Christian. Many founders would disagree with one another like Adams who was a blatant unitarian for instance. Recall, most were active church members who would have opted to rather be known by their local denominational name or simply Christian than the category of theistic rationalist.  

Frazer opposes both secularists and Christian-influenced position. He contends that secularists ignore the founders’ belief in a personal God, use of the Bible, and moral order, while those who argue for more Christian influence inaccurately portray the founders as orthodox Christians. Of course, not all were, but most were via their local denominational standing.

Frazer’s category of theistic rationalism tries to lump Christians, unitarians, and rationalists together into a single category as a precise historical description of the founders’ actual beliefs. When taken a little deeper, this would label most denominations of the day as being in opposition to orthodox Protestant beliefs which may be a stretch.

Conclusion

So further balance must be taken and we need to be careful lumping people, particularly Christians who were members of local churches, as something they themselves would have been opposed to be labelled as. The purpose of this short article is not to hash out all the positions and debate points but give a brief overview of basic talking points.

So please don’t get me wrong, there are aspect of Frazer’s position that I like and respect, but there are also aspects of Barton’s position where I think he nailed it. What I want you to know is that there is a debate over this and I want to encourage you learn these positions better.

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Bodie Hodge, Ken Ham's son in law, has been an apologist since 1998 helping out in various churches and running an apologetics website. He spent 21 years working at Answers in Genesis as a speaker, writer, and researcher as well as a founding news anchor for Answers News. He was also head of the Oversight Council.  

Bodie launched Biblical Authority Ministries in 2015 as a personal website and it was organized officially in 2025 as a 501(c)(3). He has spoken on multiple continents and hosts of US states in churches, colleges, and universities. He is married with four children. 

 

 

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[1] They were more than happy for  Christianity and the Bible, but not one denominational view should be imposed like they did in Britian with Anglicanism.

USA And The Gospel

USA And The Gospel

Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI

Biblical Authority Ministries, December 8, 2025 (Donate)

The Protestant USA Has Been Inundated With All Other Religions

This heading really speaks for itself. But let's unpack this a little more. 

The United States, which was at one point one of the most Christian nations on earth, has been inundated by all sorts of [false] religions—Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, sexual humanism, New Age, paganism, atheism, secular humanism and the like. Sadly, the United States was even the source of some new false religions like Scientology, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Mormonism.

The fact is that all religions are false except God’s, which is based on the 66 books of the Bible. God and His Word are the very foundation for the concepts of truth and falsity or right and wrong—God defines it. Even the concept of truth comes from the Bible’s foundation.

Image requested by Bodie Hodge (ChatGPT)

Like other places in the world, people in the United States can be deceived to believe false religions. With religions like secularism and atheism (i.e., no God, big bang, evolutionism, naturalism, materialism, etc.) being freely taught in government schools, it’s easy to see how so many kids for generations have been led into false beliefs.

Furthermore, when people are taught religions like atheism, which are not defensible logically, they are easy targets for false religions to swoop in and steal their minds like sea gulls on a buffet line on a beach.

And yet, Christianity continues to grow and is defensible against all opposition. It is fastest growing religion on earth—particularly by conversions (by the power of the Holy Spirit!). In fact, there are more Christians alive today than there ever has been. Consider that we started with about 11 disciples (Judas hung himself and then his body was split open by rocks below).

Even groups that disagree with biblical teachings like Jehovah’s Witnesses (denial of Jesus deity), Mormons (polytheistic), and Muslims (denial of Jesus resurrection), they all agree the Bible is true—of course, they want to put their religious qualifications on it. Nevertheless, when tallied, this means that more than half of the world’s population is connected to the belief that the Bible is true.

In Hinduism, which is monistic (i.e., “all is one”), their supreme “god” who manifests into 3 gods (Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma), and then millions of gods, is Brahman. Interestingly, pondering the oneness of Brahman and Bramha and doing a little research, reveals that he married Sarasvati and had of course there is another woman convoluted in the lore, Ghaggar.

One can’t help but see the how real people Abraham (Brahman/Brahma), Sarah (Sarasvati) and Haggar (Ghaggar) were elevated to a god-like status in this religion showing it is just a form of ancestor worship predicated on the Bible’s truth about Abraham. Whether Hindus realize it or not, their religion took from a godly man in the Bible and then warped and paganized him into a monism religion. If all is one then being logical and illogical are one and the same; therefore, everything is meaningless in that religion—if they were consistent and if they were not consistent!

On top of all these, Confucianism, Shinto, animism, Voodoo, witchcraft, veganism, wicca, Taoism, agnosticism, spiritism, and so many more religions have all made their way to the USA. The USA today is a melting pot of cultures…and religions. Sadly, many want to mix religions together—this is called syncretism or compromise.

Catholic Church building in Cusco, Peru; Photo by Bodie Hodge

I saw Catholicism in Peru mix (syncretize) with the local pagan gods. In the USA, people from Peru look at us and wondered why some Christian churches mix their Christianity with secular humanism (i.e., they add big bang and millions of years and evolution instead of six-day creation). Other churches mix a form of Christianity with sexual humanism (i.e., the sexual immorality movement (SIM) with LGBT).

When churches do this, they mock God’s Word by denying its clear teachings and accept tenets from false religions and elevate false beliefs to supersede what God says. Sadly, there are many in the United States (and the Western World) that need to get back to God’s Word from the first to the last verse. God is ultimate truth and it is by His Word that we will be judged on Judgment Day.

Of course, the Bible is true and the source of all truth that God, who is the truth, revealed to us. God promised to preserve His Word and He has done that—there are tens of thousands of manuscripts and fragments that show what we read today is the same that they read 2000 years ago.

The Bible’s Vital Teaching

So, what does the Bible teach? Let’s start with the good news, then let’s discuss the bad news, and then the Good News—yes, we capped it for a reason.

The “good news”

The good news is that God created everything perfect and very good. He tells us this in Genesis 1:31 and Deuteronomy 32:4. This is what was expected from a perfect God—a perfect world. There was no death or bloodshed or diseases or natural disasters. There were no cancers or heart attacks.

God is a God of life and the source or all life and all things. So the world was full of life and there was no death. God created Adam and Eve—the first two people and our direct ancestors. Your and my life came from them.

God made them unique from animals, plants, angles, and rocks. God made man in His eternal, ruling, intellectual, covenantal, image (Genesis 1:26-27). God gave us something to rule over (dominion) and had a covenant with Adam (e.g., Hosea 6:7), and made us in a way to have a covenant relationship with Him. Because we are made with a non-physical eternal aspect (our soul/spirit), this means it will go on forever.

The “bad news”

The bad news is that all people are sinners by nature and by choice. Ever since Adam’s (and Eve’s) rebellion in Genesis 3—which was basically high treason against God, mankind has inherited a sinful condition. This also means we are separated from a close relationship with God through spiritual death. We also have corruption and suffering to our bodies that will lead to physical death.

Image requested by Bodie Hodge (ChatGPT)

God is perfectly holy and just, so every sin must be punished. Scripture teaches that “the wages of sin is death,” meaning eternal separation from God under His righteous judgment (i.e., eternal conscious punishment in Hell). No human effort, good works, or religious acts can erase guilt or earn forgiveness—thus, all these false religions that try to “earn” a form of salvation are meaningless. Any war waged against an infinitely all-powerful God will easily lose. 

Left to ourselves, we stand condemned, unable to meet God’s perfect standard and wholly incapable of saving ourselves. The nature and punishment for sin has to do with the nature of God and His infinite power. God is infinite and eternal and so the just punishment from God would be an infinite punishment that would go on for eternity.

Having God’s infinite wrath on us for eternity is not something anyone would want for their sin! This is devastatingly bad news: mankind is stuck in a hopeless situation without divine intervention.

The “Good News”

The Good News is that the triune God Himself provided the solution in Jesus Christ. Out of love, God the Father sent His Son to take on human flesh, live a sinless life, and willingly bear the penalty for sin on the cross. Jesus willingly laid down His life (John 10:17) because He loved us (John 3:16-18).

Jesus died as the perfect infinite substitute, fully satisfying God’s infinite justice. His bodily resurrection on the third day proved His victory over sin and death and confirms that His eternal sacrifice, which was once for all, was accepted.

Salvation is a free gift of God’s grace and mercy, not earned but received through repentance and faith in Christ alone. Those who believe are forgiven and reconciled to God. We are seen as spotless and righteous before God because Christ’s perfect righteousness was transferred or “imputed” to us (Romans 4:23-5:1).  

Image requested by Bodie Hodge (ChatGPT)

Christ took our sin, and covered its full cost on the Cross and with His bodily resurrection gifted believers an eternal life. We too will follow our Lord in bodily resurrection. This is the Good News (also called the Gospel, which literally means, “good news”). We become new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17) passing from death to life (1 John 3:14), adopted as God’s children (Ephesians 1:5), and gifted the Holy Spirit who lives in us to walk in obedience and hope (Acts 2:38).

Regardless of what country you live—the USA or internationally—it is time for an important question: Have you received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? It doesn’t matter how bad you’ve been and how far from God you were or what false religion you have been entertaining, it is only one step back to Him.

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Bodie Hodge, Ken Ham's son in law, has been an apologist since 1998 helping out in various churches and running an apologetics website. He spent 21 years working at Answers in Genesis as a speaker, writer, and researcher as well as a founding news anchor for Answers News. He was also head of the Oversight Council.  

Bodie launched Biblical Authority Ministries in 2015 as a personal website and it was organized officially in 2025 as a 501(c)(3). He has spoken on multiple continents and hosts of US states in churches, colleges, and universities. He is married with four children. 

St. Nicholas Day

St. Nicholas Day—December 6^th 

Rob Webb (Rocket Rob), M.S. and B.S. and Bodie Hodge M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI

Biblical Authority Ministries, December 6, 2025 (Donate)

Introduction 

Did you know that December 6^th is “St. Nicholas Day” (also commonly known as “St. Nicholas’ Feast Day”) and is widely celebrated in many parts of Europe and some parts of Asia today. A number of protestants [as well as many Catholics, and Orthodox (December 19^th in their case)] have been celebrating this day for ages honoring this bishop (i.e., an older name for overseer, minister, or pastor, e.g., 1 Timothy 3:1-2, Titus 1:7). Though this holiday is not very popular among some denominations, particularly in the USA and abroad. 

For many people, this is a day for gift giving and merrymaking with family and friends. The celebration typically starts on the eve of the day (the 5^th) with people sharing and lighting candles, eating loads of chocolate and festive candies.  Children also may leave carrots or hay in their shoes and stockings in exchange for small gifts.  And in some countries, like Germany and Poland, boys will even dress up as red-robed bishops begging alms for the poor. 

Terra Byzantica; St. Nicholas. Feast day; December 6, Fresco from the church of Agios Nikolaos tis Stegis (St. Nicholas of the Roof), Cyprus; 11^th-13^th century; Public Domain

Is Nick’s Feast Day Related To Christmas? 

You might be wondering, is this St. Nicholas’ Feast Day just another “version” of Christmas?  I’ll let the reader decide, but first let’s go over a little history behind this holiday. 

Many of these Feast Day festivities really began taking root among Protestants in Europe during the Reformation in the 16^th century. Although many Reformers during this time were abandoning the All Saints Day (remembrance of the saints) celebrations, some (primarily in the Netherlands) still tightly held onto St. Nicholas as a popular figure, especially among those with children. Hence, over the next few centuries, the Feast Day tradition quickly grew in popularity across Europe. 

At one point, the Puritans had actually done away with St. Nicholas celebrations altogether (and other special holidays), but the Dutch kept hold of their tradition and eventually brought it to North America.  Once arrived, they told stories about “Sint Nicolaas” (Dutch version of St. Nicholas), which later transformed into “Sinter Klaas”, as a bishop dressed in red garments that brought gifts on this Feast Day. 

The English-Americans would later mispronounce this name as “Santa Claus”. Because the Christmas season begins four Sundays before Christmas (i.e., the four Advent Sundays that count down to Christmas), this meant that December 6^th always fell during the first part of the Christmas season. 

So over the years, St. Nick, as he is affectionately known, became associated with Christmas. And over time, this celebration veered off into something similar to what we see today (associating St. Nick with December 25^th rather than the original December 6^th day). 

Fast forward to today and our culture has essentially forgotten the history of St. Nicholas and replaced it with mythical-like Santa Claus, where St. Nick has falsely taken on godly attributes of God. And now, sadly, a paganized version of St. Nick (“Santa”) has become the primary focus for many during the Christmas season (rather than the true reason of the season: the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ). 

Who Was St. Nick? 

So now you’re probably wondering, who actually was St. Nicholas? Was he just based on some fabled character, dressed in a red robe with a big belly and a white beard, that somehow magically (and with omnipresence) zips around the world once a year to break into people’s houses through chimneys? Or was he a real person in history named St. Nicholas of a bishop/minister of the gospel in Myra (also spelt Mirea), who lived in the 4^th century and was considered a great Christian man and hero of the faith? 

Many in society today tend to lean toward the former, largely because of a famous published poem called "A Visit From St. Nicholas” published in the 1820-1830s attributed to Clement Clarke Moore. However, the latter is really the one we (especially Christians) should remember and celebrate, mainly because of his stance on biblical truth and principles commanded by Jesus. The life of St. Nicholas and his awesome example of faith is should not be neglected. 

The Real “Santa Claus” 

According to Legenda Aurea (The Golden Legend)[1] also called Lives of the Saints, Volume 11, by Jacobus de Voragine who was the Archbishop of Genoa in AD 1275, Nicholas was born sometime in the late 3rd century. Furthermore, he was born in Patras to wealthy Christian parents, Epiphanes and his mother Johane/Joanna, who left him a hefty inheritance when they died. Being raised as a devout Christian, he desired to follow Jesus’ command (literally) as recorded in the Bible to give everything to the poor (Matthew 19:21) and so he distributed his entire inheritance to the less fortunate.   

The Golden Legend is an ancient and popular book. Image thumbed from a portion of an old book cover.

At a young age, he was made Bishop of Myra in Lycia and quickly became known for his generosity to those in need, especially children. He had a reputation of throwing bags of money into homes, even sometimes down the chimney, during the night in order to avoid being seen by people (Matthew 6:1-4).  I’m sure you can start to see the faint resemblance to the mythological Santa Claus… 

We read of Nicholas helping a poor man with three daughters offer a dowry (something of value to offer a prospective husband). Without this, a woman during this time period was unable to marry and typically sold into slavery or prostitution as a result. As the account goes, Nicholas aided them by tossing bags of gold through a window into the house, which apparently landed in their shoes/stockings left by the fire, on three separate occasions. This story may just be a legend (or at least embellished), yet still considered plausible and reiterated by many people today. 

Nonetheless, the main point we should draw from this history (embellished or not) is the reputation that Nicholas had for his selfless generosity, which is a fundamental Christian principle we see throughout both the Old Testament (e.g., Deuteronomy 15:11, Psalm 41:1, Proverbs 22:9) and the New Testament (e.g., Romans 12:13, Ephesians 4:28, Hebrews 13:16). Do we see this principle in the Santa Claus celebrated today? Obviously not.  Children in society today are told to earn Santa’s favor and gifts, which is clearly the opposite of the biblically motivated actions of the real Nicholas. 

The principles that the original St. Nick was known for are clearly a stark contrast to the Santa Claus of today, who represents many things (such as greed, envy, selfishness, etc.) that are completely antithetical to Christianity. But this actually makes sense from a biblical worldview. The Bible says that our enemy Satan, the ruler of this world (John 12:31, Ephesians 2:2), has blinded and ensnared (2 Corinthians 4:4, 2 Timothy 2:26) many in our world to keep them from seeing the light of Jesus and ultimately the gospel. 

In other words, Satan has tactfully diverted people’s attention away from what’s really important (i.e., the message of Christ) and instead dragged them into the commercialism that we see dominating the Christmas season today. But note, this is not to say that Satan rules the world completely; God is still sovereign. Satan is only allowed to operate within the boundaries established by God (e.g., Job 1:12). 

So obviously the historical St. Nick is the real person and the godly attributes (omniscience, Judge, omnipresence) applied to Santa Claus are a form of ancestor worship and pagan in their mannerisms. St. Nick, unlike this mythological Santa Claus, should be recognized and remembered (1 Thessalonians 5:21). But he was way more than just a generous giver who looked out for children and the poor—he was a genuine hero of the Christian faith. 

St. Nick—A Hero Of The Faith 

There are many (outlandish) stories that are told about him, such as bringing children back from death, and even once calming a mighty storm to save sailors lost at sea. But moving past these miraculous stories/legends to (at least more probable) history, St. Nicholas was actually one of the great heroes of the Christian faith in the 4^th century that was known for his passion and zeal for the gospel. According to the small amount of history that’s available, he was one of the major defenders of orthodoxy in the early church against the destructive heresies and idolatrous paganism of that time. 

After being elected as a bishop, he immediately started challenging the worshippers of popular Greek/Roman gods (specifically the “god” Artemis) at the main temple in his district (i.e., in the public square), calling the people to repentance and faith in Christ. However, this was around the same time (AD 303) when Emperor Diocletian directed the persecution of Christians across the Roman Empire, which resulted in Nicholas being tortured, chained, and thrown into prison with many other Christians. 

According to tradition (see recommended reading), he was regularly beaten to the point of his skin becoming the color of vermilion (ouch!), yet endured this persecution, and still managed to selflessly care for others in prison and even intervene on behalf of unjustly charged prisoners.  It wasn’t until the Edict of Milan about 10 years later (AD 313), when Emperor Constantine ordered the cessation of all persecution, that Nicholas and other Christians were released from prison (just remember this story next time you’re having a bad day!) 

Furthermore, Nicholas had a vital role in battling the Arianism heresy (an unbiblical belief that rejects the divinity of Christ) that was heavily plaguing the early church. St. Methodius (who lived in the 9^th century) had said, “thanks to the teaching of St. Nicholas, the metropolis of Myra alone was untouched by the filth of the Arian heresy, which it firmly rejected as death-dealing poison.” 

Nicholas supposedly[2] attended the Council of Nicaea in AD 325 (it was here when Arianism was officially declared heresy) where he got into a heated debate with Arius himself about whether there was a time when the Word did not exist (John 1:1-3).  And, as the story goes, the debate “ended” when Nicholas punched (knocked out) Arius, laying him out on the council floor! We obviously do not condone that type of behavior (Romans 12:17-19), but we should at least appreciate his passion for biblical truth! 

Finally, Nicholas died on December 6^th in Myra around AD 350 and said to have been buried in his cathedral church. Thus, the anniversary of his death became the date for his Feast Day. And, like the old saying goes, the rest is history. 

Conclusion 

So this Christmas season, don’t miss the opportunity to tell others about the real St. Nicholas; a solid Christian, hero of the faith, who dedicated his life to serving others and whole purpose was to point people to the good news of Jesus Christ. Especially for parents, this is a great opportunity to tell your children of the godly example that was set by the real St. Nicholas. 

We can assume that St. Nicholas was familiar with the amazing words spoken to Joseph: 

But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”  (Matthew 1:20-21, ESV) 

And the words from the prophet Isaiah, regarding the birth of our Messiah: 

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. (Isaiah 9:6-7) 

If you haven’t bent the knee to the Mighty King seated on the eternal throne of David, now is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). Repent (turn from your sins) and put your trust in Christ (the same way you would with a parachute), and you will be saved from the wrath of God to come (Romans 5:9). None of us know when we’re going to die so this is a time-sensitive message. Turn to Christ for life today and give the glory to Him who was born in a manger! 

References:

Beth Bevis, God With Us: Rediscovering the Meaning of Christmas, “History of the Feast of Saint Nicholas”, The St. Nicholas Center, 2007. https://www.stnicholascenter.org/how-to-celebrate/resources/articles/st-nicholas-and-justice/history 

James Parker III, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, “Persecuted, Jailed, Passionate: That’s my kind of Santa Claus”, The St. Nicholas Center, 2003. https://www.stnicholascenter.org/how-to-celebrate/resources/articles/st-nicholas-and-justice/my-kind-of-santa 

Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopedia, “St. Nicholas”, The Encyclopedia Britannica, 2020. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Nicholas 

Biography.com Editors, “Saint Nicholas Biography”, The Biography.com, 2014. https://www.biography.com/religious-figure/saint-nicholas

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Rob Webb has a M.S. and B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Colorado-Boulder and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University respectively. He worked as an engineer in industry and worked for Answers in Genesis for several years.   

Bodie Hodge, Ken Ham's son in law, has been an apologist since 1998 helping out in various churches and running an apologetics website. He spent 21 years working at Answers in Genesis as a speaker, writer, and researcher as well as a founding news anchor for Answers News. He was also head of the Oversight Council.  

Bodie launched Biblical Authority Ministries in 2015 as a personal website and it was organized officially in 2025 as a 501(c)(3). He has spoken on multiple continents and hosts of US states in churches, colleges, and universities. He is married with four children. 

Originally at Answers in Genesis; Edited; Republished by permission.

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[1] Two different translations here: [1] https://pages.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/scriptorium/nicholas/Nicholas.html; and [2[ https://www.stnicholascenter.org/who-is-st-nicholas/stories-legends/classic-sources/the-golden-legend. 

[2] Apparently this is debated, and we are forthright about that. The St. Nicholas Center associated with Virginia Theological Seminary writes int the article “Where Was Nicholas?”: “Some accounts list Nicholas as present at the Council of Nicaea and some do not. Some say that his name was not on some lists because he was thrown in jail. Others say his name is missing because he was sleeping and missed some of the Council’s deliberations.” https://www.stnicholascenter.org/who-is-st-nicholas/stories-legends/traditional-stories/life-of-nicholas/where-was-nicholas, accessed November 22, 2021. So of course, take this section with a grain of salt.

The Flood And Its Fossils

The Flood And Its Fossils

Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI

Biblical Authority Ministries, December 5, 2025 (Donate) 

The Flood of Noah’s day comes under attack openly (and subtly) in today’s culture. Many atheists and unbelievers openly denigrate the Flood and call the event "mythological" and "mere story telling". Interestingly, these same people stand on and next to miles of Flood sediment and mockingly ask "where is all the evidence of the Flood?"

Image requested by Bodie Hodge (ChatGPT)

Anytime someone appeals to millions of years in the rock layers that contain fossils (as textbooks, museums, and media commonly purport), it is a subtle denial of a global Flood. These rock layers were laid down by the Flood, not slow gradual accumulations over millions of years.

Global!

The Flood described in Genesis 6-8 was a global, worldwide event that engulfed everything under the whole heaven over the course about a year.

The text of Genesis repeatedly uses universal terms such as all flesh, every living thing, and under the whole heaven, which indicate worldwide scope rather than regional or local event. The depth of the water is described as covering the highest mountains by at least fifteen cubits, which could not be achieved by any local flood. Water was that high, or more appropriately, the land was that low during that phase of the Flood (consider Psalm 104:8-9)

A local flood make little sense of the text of Scripture when the Ark floated 15 cubits higher than the highest mountain; Image from Presentation Library

A local event would not require an Ark of the enormous size God commanded Noah to build. If it were a local flood, Noah and the animals could simply have migrated to nearby safe regions, something unnecessary if the Flood was global.

God’s Promise

The covenant God made afterward, promising never again to destroy all flesh by a Flood, also becomes meaningless if local floods have continued to occur thousands of times since biblical history. It was not a mere local catastrophe as God promised, at the end of the Flood that a Flood like that would never again occur, yet we have local floods all the time!

Image from Presentation Library

Furthermore, the global Flood is tied to God’s judgment on pervasive human wickedness—but consider that the Bible says all flesh corrupted itself on the earth—which includes animals! Since wickedness was worldwide, the judgment was also worldwide.

The Geology

The geological implications are that the vast sedimentary rock layers found across continents, containing billions—perhaps trillions—of fossilized plants and animals, are explained far better with a massive globe-covering watery and sedimentary catastrophe than with slow local-flood processes.

Many sedimentary layers stretch across continents and even correlate across continents, showing signs of rapid deposition such as cross-bedding, polystrate fossils, and the absence of long-term erosional features between strata (see creationists researchers’ technical articles about these things).

Fossil layers forming during the Flood; Image requested by Bodie Hodge (ChatGPT)

These features are extremely difficult to explain with small, regionally isolated floods. Marine fossils located on high mountains, including the Himalayas or the Andes mountains (where I’ve been), are consistent with the uplift of seafloor sediments during and after the Flood.

Global “mega-sequences”—which are continent-sized sedimentary layers that were rapidly deposited by successive high-energy surges—used in Flood geology models are expected with rapid, continent-wide inundation and retreats of the water. The existence of these enormous, continent-wide sedimentary layers, which blanket regions, states, and whole portions of large countries for thousands of miles.

Image from Presentation Library

These layers often show little to no erosion between them (e.g., things like roots didn’t have time to grow on them or worms disturb them!). This means that they were deposited rapidly in successive, high-energy pulses rather than over long ages of millions of years. The Flood’s advancing and retreating waters, commonly discussed in Flood geology models, produced these large-scale, stacked sediment packages. This makes sense in a worldwide deluge rather than a bunch of small, localized events.

The Theology

The New Testament also reveals a global Flood. Jesus referred to the days of Noah in a context that portrays sudden, universal judgment, and the apostle Peter explicitly connects the Flood with a destruction of the world that then existed, contrasting it with the coming final judgment of the entire earth—which will also be global.

If the New Testament writers understood the event as global, Christians have no basis for reinterpreting it as merely regional—unless they are influenced by outside ideas to reinterpret Scripture. Sadly, this commonly happens in churches—where people are influenced by “millions of years” and have to reject a global Flood.

When Christians mix millions of years with the Bible it is called syncretism or compromise—what is really happening is they are mixing or syncing two different religions together. This new syncretism is no different from syncretism in the Old Testament when the godly would mix their religion with Baal worship, Molech worship, or start worshipping a golden calf! God was never happy with them and judgement was on their doorstep.

You have to understand that you can’t have both millions of years and a global Flood. If rock layers were laid down slowly over millions of years AND you have a global Flood, the Flood action would destroy the previous layers, churn it to sediment with the water and lay down new rock layers! So, you can’t have both at the same instance.

Same rock layers, two different interpretations depending on your worldview; Christians should stand on a worldview based on Scripture, hence a global Flood; Image from Presentation Library

The Flood, as a local catastrophe, undermines biblical authority because the text itself gives no indication of limited geography. Instead, Scripture overtly refers to total destruction on a global scale.  

The Flood destroyed all people and land-dwelling and air breathing animals outside the Ark. It was a “reset” of human civilization due to sin, not a targeted judgment on one valley or nation. The whole world was in sin against God.

A local Flood could leave survivors or man and animals outside the affected region, contradicting Scripture’s statement that only those on the Ark lived through the judgment. The [boring] genealogies of post-Flood man also assume a single surviving family from which all nations descend (though Babel and dispersed).

The rainbow covenant, where God promised to never again send a Flood like that, shows that the event was unlike anything before or after—it was a true global deluge. The Flood was a literal, global event, not a localized disaster.

Local flood models destroy God's meaning in the rainbow; Cartoon by Dan Lietha in Presentation Library

Fossils

The fossil layers found worldwide are the results of the rapid, catastrophic processes during Noah’s global Flood. The fossils generally require rapid burial to prevent decay, scavenging, and weathering. It seals out the oxygen and makes them candidates for fossilization.

Massive Graveyards Of Flood Fossils In Sediment

The Flood provides those absolutely necessary conditions: massive sediment-laden waters sweeping across continents, quickly entombing and burying critters and vegetation in thick layers of mud, sand, pressure, and silt. A rapid Flood gives us a good reason for the exceptional preservation seen in many fossils, including soft tissues (even jellyfish!), articulated and disarticulated skeletons (full skeletons and partial or sparse ones).

Jellyfish fossil; Image from Presentation Library

It also explains why there are vast fossil graveyards containing mixed land and marine creatures. These animals fled to higher ground until there was nowhere to go; then they were swept into mass burials together with marine organisms. The slow, gradual processes models by the evolutionary side rarely create such conditions, whereas a violent global catastrophe makes sense of the evidence.

One of the whales in a large whale grave yard in Peru; Photo by Bodie Hodge

Marine Fossils On Mountains

Again, the presence of marine fossils, like shells, ammonites, and so on, on high mountains, like the Himalayan and Andes mountains, is interpreted as Flood-deposited seafloor sediments that were later uplifted during Flood (and possibly some residual post-Flood) tectonic activity. Fossilized sea creatures far inland are cited as additional evidence that the waters once covered the continents.

Closed shell fossils over 2 miles high in the Andes Mountains; Photo by Bodie Hodge

Coal and Oil

Coal and oil were largely formed during the global Flood when vast quantities of vegetation, marine organisms, and other organic material were rapidly buried under massive layers of sediment. Before the Flood, the world had abundant forests, swamps, and lush ecosystems that produced huge amounts of biomass.

When the Flood’s violent waters tore through these environments, they uprooted and transported enormous mats of vegetation and stripped bark and buried them quickly in thick sedimentary deposits, preventing full decay and causing the right conditions (temperature and pressure) for coal formation.

The heat and weight generated as heavy layers sat above compressed the plant material into peat and rapidly transformed it into coal layers and seams. Many of these extend for hundreds of miles and are consistent with large-scale catastrophic processes rather than slow local swamp formation commonly talked about in secular textbooks. We can even mimic coal formation in laboratories and it only take a few weeks.

Coal; Photo by Bodie Hodge

Oil and natural gas originated from marine organisms such as algae and plankton and even plants and animals that were likewise rapidly buried by Flood sediments. The sudden entombment of this organic matter, followed by increasing pressure and temperature as more layers were deposited, initiated chemical reactions that converted the material into hydrocarbons. These hydrocarbons were acted on by water taking them down through cracks and striations in the layers to open areas where they pooled and separated into crude oil or gas chambers.

Crude oil tanks; Image by Bodie Hodge

These processes occur much more quickly than secular uniformitarian models propose (i.e., over millions of years), especially under the extreme conditions produced during and immediately after the Flood. The worldwide distribution of oil-bearing strata and the huge reserve scale of these deposits are evidence of the Flood. Oil has been shown in labs to be produced quickly hours to days—in one case (from algae) in as quickly as 30 minutes.

Polystrate Fossils

Another cool and common find are polystrate fossils—tree trunks or other organisms preserved upright through multiple (~poly) sediment (~strata) layers. They are rightly cited as evidence of rapid, continuous deposition of the rock layers. These organisms could not remain upright and intact for the supposed long ages that are required by secular humanism’s slow geological interpretations.

Image from Presentation Library

Expected Order During The Flood

Similarly, massive fossil beds, such as dinosaur bonebeds and marine invertebrate layers, are considered consistent with sudden, large-scale death events associated with the Flood. Rather than long evolutionary ages, the sorting of fossils within Flood layers is attributed to natural actions like:

1.     Buoyancy, where they were living on the original inundated continents (called “ecological zonation”)

2.     The natural sorting power of water (called “hydrodynamic sorting”)

3.     How far and fast creatures could try to escape (called “differential mobility”)

Conclusion

The global Flood was a reality of the past—and the fossiliferous flood sediment we stand on all over the world is a testimony to it. So much more could be said but I wanted to keep this as a shorter concise article.

But just so you know, I did co-write a powerful book on the subject—A Flood of Evidence, with Ken Ham. In short, the Bible can be trusted against the false allegations leveled against it in today’s secularized culture.

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Bodie Hodge, Ken Ham's son in law, has been an apologist since 1998 helping out in various churches and running an apologetics website. He spent 21 years working at Answers in Genesis as a speaker, writer, and researcher as well as a founding news anchor for Answers News. He was also head of the Oversight Council.  

Bodie launched Biblical Authority Ministries in 2015 as a personal website and it was organized officially in 2025 as a 501(c)(3). He has spoken on multiple continents and hosts of US states in churches, colleges, and universities. He is married with four children.