Why the Bible?Part 2

Series: WHY?Passage: 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20Date: May 29, 2011

WHY SHOULD I TRUST THE BIBLE?

– Is the Bible the product of GOD or MAN?– Is the Bible RELIABLE, or has it been

REVISED and corrupted by people throughout history?

– How were the books of the Bible selected?

– Is the Bible RELEVANT?

QUESTION #1

Is the Bible RELIABLE or has it been REVISED throughout

history?

Old Testament Manuscript Evidence

The Dead Sea Scrolls:

Reveal concretely that the 39 books we have in our Bible today are accurate copies of the same scripture used by the Jews thousands of years ago.

New Testament Manuscript Evidence

The Bibliographic Test:

The process by which a scholar evaluates all the current copies of a document to test for consistency.

1. Number of copies

2. Duration of time between original & copy

The Bibliographic Test

The Gallic Wars

by Julius Caesar

10 current copies

1,000 years time gap

The Bibliographic Test

The History of Rome by Livy

Partial copy 400 year gap

Complete copy 1,000 year gap

The Bibliographic Test

Annuals of Roman History

by Tacitus

20 current copies

1,000 year gap

The Bibliographic Test

Iliad

by Homer

643 Current copies

400 year time gap

The Bibliographic Test

New Testament Manuscripts

5,686 Greek Manuscripts

19,284 Manuscripts in other Languages

24,970 manuscripts50 – 225 year gap

“No other work from Greco-Roman antiquity is so well attested by manuscript tradition as the New Testament. There are many more early manuscripts of the New Testament than there are of any classical author, and the oldest extensive remains of it date only about two centuries after their original composition.”

W.F. Albright: The Archaeology of Palestine and the Bible.

“…to be skeptical of the resultant text of the New Testament books is to allow all of classical antiquity to slip into obscurity, for no documents of the ancient period are as well attested bibliographically as the New Testament.”

John Warwick Montgomery: History and Christianity.

Unintentional Scribal Errors: HEISNOWHERE THE THE

Intentional Scribal Errors: Luke/Matthew- The Lord’s Prayer 1 John 5:7-8- re: the Trinity

“Although there are certainly differences in many of the New Testament manuscripts, not one fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith rests on a disputed reading.”

Dockery, Matthews, Sloan as cited in New Evidence that Demands a Verdict. P. 35Josh McDowell

QUESTION #2

How were the books of the Bible selected?

Canon= measuring rod

The recognized list of authentic books that make up the Bible.

Criteria for Inclusion:1.Apostolic- Was it written by an apostle or by a student

of one of the apostles?

Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know.

Acts 2: 22

We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.

2 Peter 1:16

That which we have seen and heard we declare to you…" 1 John 1:3

Regarding the Gnostic gospels:

They no more challenge the basis of the church’s faith than the discovery of a document from the nineteenth century written in Ohio and defending King George would be a challenge to the basis of American democracy.

Gopnik, Jesus Laughed, The New Yorker, April 17, 2006

Criteria for Inclusion:2. Orthodox- Is it consistent with what Jesus taught?

From the Gospel of Thomas (Rejected Gnostic Gospel)

Simon Peter said, “Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of life.” Jesus said, “I myself shall lead her in order to make her male so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who will make herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven.”

The Gospel of Thomas, saying 114

Criteria for Inclusion:3. Catholic (Universal)- Does it have widespread acceptance among the established churches?

For the Scripture says, "Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain," and "The worker deserves his wages."

1 Timothy 5:18

…just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

2 Peter 3:15-16