The Cannon of Hebrew & Christian Scripture

The Bible

• Most hated book• Simultaneously the most loved• Most revered• Most damned• Has inspired many of man’s greatest and noblest acts• Has been blamed for man’s most damnable and degenerate

acts.

• Inspired revolutions.• Has brought kingdoms down.• All world-views have sought to justify their actions by

it. (Liberals, capitalists, marxists, dictators, militarists, pacifists, feminists,

etc.)

The Bible

What do you believe about the Bible?

Luke 24:13-27 - Jesus and his approach

Jesus accepted Scripture as historically accurate and spiritually relevant.• Matt 12:39-41 – Jonah & Nineveh• Matt 19:4-6• Matt 24:37-39 – Days of Noah• John 5:39, 46 – Asserts that the scripture testifies of Christ

• His disciples believe him to be dead.• Before revealing himself or performing miracles he explains the

Scripture to them.• If they understand the scripture they would understand the events

of the past week.

General Revelation & Special Revelation

• General Revelation – The insight into God’s character that history, human behavior, conscience, and nature provide is called “general revelation”.

• General Revelation is available to all and appeals to reason.

Questions (General Revelation)?

• Design & Complexity of nature and the universe.

• Can highly designed and complex structure come about by chance or by a deliberate process (a mind) implementing them?

• What accounts for densely packed information? Can densely packed information occur randomly from nature?

Questions (General Revelation)?

• The precise nature of universe and the forces governing it? How do you explain this?

• How do you explain the existence of the universe? How does something come out of nothing?

• How do you account for morality (Good and Evil)?

General RevelationPsalm 19:119 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork.

Romans 1:2020 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

General Revelation• The world gives us mixed signals presenting many more

questions than answers.

• Reveals a conflict between good and evil but gives no real insight into why this is.

Basically we still cant figure out God with general revelation.

Special Revelation• This is where the Bible comes in – Sin obscures God’s self-

revelation through creation by limiting our ability to interpret God’s testimony.

• Through the old and the new testament He discloses himself in a specific way, leaving no questions about His character of love.

• First through the prophets; then His ultimate revelation, through the person of Jesus Christ.

Special Revelation

Hebrews 1:11 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

John 17:33 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Ephesians 4:2121 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:

God Breaks through our mental, moral, and spiritual limitations to communicate who he is.

Can the Bible be Trusted ?

But there are other claims to Special revelation• Koran• Hindu writings• Bhuddhist writings• Every other belief system /religion

Manuscript Consistency- New Testament

• 27 New Testament Books – written in Greek

• Autographs are gone

• Over 5000 Extant Greek manuscripts from 2nd century (pieces or whole new testament)

• Degree of consistency/sameness = (97 – 99)%

• Differences are punctuation – minor points.

• Interval between the events and writing is about 20 -60 years after the events (few other documents have such a small interval)

Manuscript Consistency – Old Testament• Jews took very seriously the preservation of the old testament

cannon.

• 1947 – Dead Sea Scrolls – Pots containing scrolls only portions of old testament books dated to between 600 BC and 200 BC.

• All books were found except Easter.

• The whole scroll of Isaiah was there –compared to modern Isaiah perfectly preserved.

Historical Reliability• The Bible is considered one of the most reliable documents when it comes

to history.

• Luke in particular- Luke is considered one of the best and most thorough historians in antiquity.

Luke 3:1-23 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene,

2 Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.

Historical ReliabilityThe Existence of Hittites Genesis 23 reports that Abraham buried Sarah in the Cave of Machpelah, which he purchased from Ephron the Hittite. Second Samuel 11 tells of David’s adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. A century ago the Hittites were unknown outside of the Old Testament, and critics claimed that they were a figment of biblical imagination. In 1906, however, archaeologists digging east of Ankara, Turkey, discovered the ruins of Hattusas, the ancient Hittite capital at what is today called Boghazkoy, as well as its vast collection of Hittite historical records, which showed an empire flourishing in the mid-second millennium BC. This critical challenge, among many others, was immediately proved worthless — a pattern that would often be repeated in the decades to come.

The Merneptah Stele. A seven-foot slab engraved with hieroglyphics, also called the Israel Stele, boasts of the Egyptian pharaoh’s conquest of Libyans and peoples in Palestine, including the Israelites: “Israel — his seed is not.” This is the earliest reference to Israel in non-biblical sources and demonstrates that, as of c. 1230 BC, the Hebrews were already living in the Promised Land.

http://www.equip.org/article/biblical-archaeology-factual-evidence-to-support-the-historicity-of-the-bible/

Archaeological Accuracy

Archaeology is the study of human activity in the past, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that has been left behind by past human populations, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts (also known as eco-facts) and cultural landscapes (the archaeological record).

• Archeology used to verify and validate names, places, time-periods

• No Contradictions - There is not a single archeological discovery that contradicts a single properly understood Biblical statement.

• When archaeologist go to the middle east one of the books that they always take with them is the Bible.

The Merneptah Stele - Egypt 

Obelisk of Shalmaneser III. In 2 Kings 9–10, Jehu is mentioned as King of Israel (841–814 BC). That the growing power of Assyria was already encroaching on the northern kings prior to their ultimate conquest in 722 BC is demonstrated by a six-and-a-half-foot black obelisk discovered in the ruins of the palace at Nimrud in 1846. On it, Jehu is shown kneeling before Shalmaneser III and offering tribute to the Assyrian king, the only relief we have to date of a Hebrew monarch.

Scientific Compatibility

All true science will support biblical teaching.

However the Bible is not a science book and has very little science to contradict.

The main literary styles in the Bible are:

• Historical Narrative• Poetry/Psalms• Prophecy/Apocalyptic literature• Didactic Teaching – Moral Instruction

Timeless Personal Relevancy

Why are we still reading the bible today?

The Bible is still relevant today in a modern context as in an ancient context.

Transformational Potency

Powerful to change lives.

1 Peter 1: 22 – 23 - you cannot be born again if we don’t go into and struggle with the word.

2 Tim 3:15-1715 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

Acts 17:10-12

John 5:3939 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

Predictive Prophecy

• 30% of the bible is prophecy.

• Rise and fall of nations (Dan 2, Dan 7, Dan 8, Dan 9)

• Time-prophecy - 1260 days prophecy.

• Little/No prophecy in the writings of other religions (eg. Koran, etc.)

Predictive Prophecy(1) Mt 24:1-2 –Prediction: c. 31A.D., destruction of the temple, not one stone to be left on another.Fulfillment: 70 A.D. destruction by the Romans under Titus; today the Dome of Rock is found in the place of the temple.

Predictive Prophecy(2) Eze 26:1-14 –Prediction: 6th century B.C.; Nebuchadnezzar will destroy Tyre; debris to be thrown into the sea; Tyre to become a bare rock, a place for the spreading of nets; Tyre will not be rebuilt Fulfillment: After a thirteen year siege Nebuchadnezzar took hold of mainland Tyre, but he could not reach the island not far from the sea shore on which many inhabitants had fled.

About 200 years later Alexander the Great connected the mainland withthe island. As building material he used the debris of the old mainlandcity. He conquered the city on the island. Tyre became a bare rock. Todayfishermen dry their nets there. In spite of the favorable location and somesprings the old city was not rebuilt.

Predictive Prophecy(3) Isa 13:17-22–

Prediction: 740 B.C.; the Medes and Persians would fight against Babylon;destruction of Babylon; Babylon to become a deserted city.

Fulfillment: 539 BC Babylon was conquered by the Medes and Persians. Although partially destroyed by Xerxes, even during the Hellenistic period the city was still densely populated. But at the time of the Roman emperor Nero (54 - 68 A.D.) the city was in ruins and was used as a quandary. Babylon was excavated but not repopulated.

Another type of marvelous and precise prophecies are the Messianic prophecies. In another study we will deal with some of them.

The Bible is Reliable

• Consistency of the Bible• 40 authors• 3 continents• No collusion• No-contradictions.

Because the bible can be trusted because of its accuracy, its historicity, its verification in archaeology, it ability to forecast 

future event it lends itself to also be trusted in spiritual matters.

Claims- All scripture is given by inspiration of God.

• 2 Peter 1:19 – Prophecy- holy men of god spoke as they were moved by the Holy spirit.

• Heb 4:12 – thoughts and intents of the Heart – convicts people of sin – god speaks through his work.

Authorship of the Scriptures• The Bible’s authority for faith and practice rises from its

origin. Its writers viewed the Bible as distinct from other literature:

- Holy Scriptures (Rom 1:2) - Sacred writings (2 Tim 3:15) - Oracles of God (Rom 3:2; Heb 5:12)

• God in the person of the Holy Spirit, has revealed himself through the Holy Scriptures. He wrote them 40 pairs of hands over a period of 1500 years. Since God the Holy Spirit inspired the writers, god, then, is its author.

theopneustos – “inspiration”

• Paul says – “All scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Tim 3:16)

• theopneustos – “inspiration” – “God breathed”

• God “Breathed” truth into men’s minds. They, in turn, expressed it in the words found in the Scriptures.

Process of Inspiration

• These revelations were embodied in human language with all its limitations and imperfections, yet they remained God’s testimony.

God inspired men – not words.

2 Peter 1:2121 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

• Bible writers convey divine commands, thoughts, and ideas, in their own style of language.

• The writers of the Bible were God’s penmen, not his pen.

• Inspiration acts not on a man’s words or his expressions but on the man himself, who under the Holy Spirit is imbued with thoughts.

Process of Inspiration

Divine Truth in Human language

• The 10 Commandments – God Spoke and wrote the exact words. They are of divine and not human composition. (Ex 20:1-17; 31:18; Deut 10:4,5)

• Even these had to be expressed within the limits of human language.

The Bible is therefore divine truth expressed in human language.

Infinite communicating with the flawed and finite

• Our limitations restrict what God can communicate with us.

• The divine-human combination makes the Bible unique among literary works.

Questions/Comments?…