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Thirty-Five Things Worth Knowing
About the Bible
by Greg Williamson (c) 2008
COPYRIGHT RELATED INFO
Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotations are
from the
New English Translation (NET).
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11 |
WHO SAID WHAT
A man who loves his wife will love
her letters and her photographs because they speak to him of her. So
if we love the Lord Jesus, we shall love the Bible because it speaks
to us of him.
-- JOHN R. W. STOTT (1921-
)
[REF] |
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Does the Bible contradict itself?
If God really did inspire men to write the Bible, then
we would expect the Bible to be free of contradictions and errors. Which is
exactly what the doctrine of inerrancy (inerrant = "without error")
teaches: when correctly interpreted (a crucial point) the Bible is
completely true and trustworthy in all that it affirms.
[REF]
Many Bible critics have pointed to errors
or contradictions in the text -- only to be proved wrong following new
archaeological discoveries, new manuscript evidence, etc.
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SCRIPTURE SAYS
Every scripture is inspired
by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for
training in righteousness, that the person dedicated to God may be
capable and equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
Above all, you do well if you recognize66
this: No prophecy of scripture ever comes about by the prophet’s own
imagination, for no prophecy was ever borne of human impulse; rather,
men carried along by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. (2 Peter
1:20-21) |
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APOLOGETICS 101
Hasn't the Bible been
translated and copied so many times that what we have today cannot
be trusted?
Of course it's true
that the Bible has been translated into a vast number of languages.
In fact, the Bible is the most translated book in the world, and in
many cases a language was first put into writing by Christian
missionaries for the express purpose of making the Bible available
to a specific people group. And it's also true that the Bible
manuscripts were repeatedly copied by hand for many hundreds of
years (until the advent of the printing press, invented in Europe in
the 15th century). In both cases, mistakes were made.
Far from making the
Bible unreliable, however, the vast number of translations and
thousands of hand copied manuscripts still in existence help to
ensure the accuracy and reliability of our modern Bible. How so?
Through the science of textual criticism, which can be defined as:
"Comparison and evaluation of the different readings of the
manuscripts of the Bible in order to construct the history of the
text through its various stages and to establish, as far as
possible, the original."
[REF]
In the case of the NT,
today there exists nearly 5,700 Greek manuscripts, some fragments of
which can be dated to within only a few years of Jesus' death and
resurrection. This number has been said to be embarrassingly high
when compared with other ancient writings. While no two manuscripts
are exactly alike, modern Bible scholars have arrived at a text that
is very nearly 100% accurate. What's more, any questions or
uncertainties that remain do not impact any major Bible doctrine.
[REF] |
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What about the other books not included in the
Bible?
For both the OT and the NT, there arose a
number of books from the same time period that were not included. The
process of determining which books to include and which to exclude is
known as the "canonization" of Scripture (canon = "an accepted principle
or rule"
[REF]). There were certain strict criteria that had to be met
before a book could become part of the Bible. The book had to: be
written by a prophet (an official spokesman for God); be confirmed by
miraculous acts; speak the truth about God; and be accepted by the people
of God.
[REF]
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WHO SAID WHAT
All things desirable to men are
contained in the Bible.
-- ABRAHAM LINCOLN (1809-1865
)
[REF] |
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Why was the NT written?
During the earliest years of the Christian
mission there was no real need for a written record of Jesus and his
teachings. The material contained in the writings that we know today as
the NT gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) was circulated by word of
mouth, and there were lots of eyewitnesses still alive to verify what
was being said. As the eyewitnesses eventually began dying out,
their testimony was preserved in writing.
Various problems and difficulties arose within the new churches that
were being started far and wide. This situation resulted in what we know
today as the NT epistles (= letters), most of which were written by the
apostle Paul in an effort to help the fledgling churches work through
their difficulties and, most of all, fully understand and live out the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul and the other apostles were guided by God's
Holy Spirit in communicating his truths that remain valid and binding to
this day.
[REF]
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APOLOGETICS 101
Isn't it narrow-minded for Christians to think that only they have
the truth? Isn't all truth relative?
Christians claim that God is the source of all truth. And since the
Bible is the inspired, authoritative Word of God, we must check our
view of reality against it.
Jesus
said: "I am the
way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except
through me"
(John 14:6). If that sounds narrow, it's because truth is narrow.
For example, it's true that 1 + 1 = 2, period.
By
definition, "truth" is what corresponds to reality and is true for
all people, at all times, in all places. While our understanding or
perception of truth may change with time, truth itself never
changes.
Today it's common to
hear someone say that "all truth is relative." But such a statement
is self-defeating for two reasons: 1) it itself is making an
absolute claim regarding truth, and hence 2) if it's true, it's
false.
[REF] |
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How did the NT develop, and how old are the
copies of the NT writings we have today?
At first the NT books were circulated
individually. By late in the first century and early in the second, they
were being grouped together into the fourfold gospel, the book of Acts,
and Paul's letters. By about AD/CE 150 the Church at large had accepted
most of the NT books as authentic (some of the books found at the end of
the NT were disputed). But by AD/CE 367 the limits were firmly in place,
and a church council meeting in 393 ratified what had already been
accepted by the Church at large as the limits of the NT writings.
[REF]
The NT writings were copied by hand and distributed
abroad. Today there exist in various languages more than 25,000
manuscripts, with more than 5,600 in Greek. The earliest NT manuscript in
existence is dated to the beginning of the second century AD/CE (circa
114); manuscripts of entire books are dated circa 200; manuscripts for
most of the NT are dated circa 250; and manuscripts of the entire NT are
dated circa 325. This can be compared, for instance, to Homer's Iliad.
Originally written in 800 BC/BCE, the earliest copy dates 400 years later
(circa 400 BC/BCE), and there are less than 650 copies in existence.
[REF]
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Are there any ancient sources other than
the NT that speak of Jesus?
Early non-Christians whose writings speak of
Jesus and/or the movement he founded include:
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Cornelius
Tacitus (circa 55–120), Roman historian.
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Gaius
Suetonius (circa 69–140), Roman historian.
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Flavius
Josephus (37–circa 100), Jewish military officer and historian.
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Pliny the
Younger (circa 61–c. 113), Roman writer and administrator.
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Emperor
Trajan (52–117).
-
Lucian
(circa 125–circa 190), Greek writer.
[REF]
[REF]
While none of
these secular sources offer any facts beyond what is recorded in the NT
gospels,
[REF] they do help to confirm
that:
[REF]
-
Jesus was a real person who lived a wise and morally upright life
despite which he was put to death by crucifixion under Pontius
Pilate in Jerusalem on the charge of being "the king of the Jews"
-
he
performed extraordinary acts and was worshipped as divine by followers who
rejected polytheism (= the belief in many gods)
-
and his small group
of followers multiplied rapidly, including establishing a presence in the
the very heart of the empire, the city of Rome.
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APOLOGETICS 101
Wasn't Jesus just a
great moral teacher, but not God in the flesh (as Christians claim)?
As has often been
pointed out, a close examination of Jesus' own claims about himself
leaves us with only one of three conclusions:
In addition, only
Jesus Christ said and did what we would fully expect
God-in-the-flesh to say and do, including:
[REF]
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being born in a way
different from any other human being
-
being completely
perfect
-
performing
tremendous miracles
-
teaching the
greatest truths ever taught
-
having a profound
and universal influence
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satisfying our
deepest spiritual hunger
-
overcoming our
greatest enemy: death
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