A Ready Defense for Christianity 1 Peter 3:13-16
A Ready Defense for Christianity Apologetics: Refers to a logical, reasoned case Defense lawyer Not a way to lead someone to Christ 2
A Ready Defense for Christianity The Bible and Its Reliability
Who Decided What to Accept? Old & New Testament Canon: 1. Canon = Reed = Measuring Standard 2. The standard by which we are to measure and evaluate 3. Old Testament = 39 books 4. New Testament = 27 books 4
39 Books: The Law The Prophets The Writings 5
27 Books: Gospels History Paul s letters to churches Paul s letters to friends General letters 6
Tests to determine reliability: 1. Bibliographical Test 2. Internal Evidence Test 3. External Evidence Test These tests are the same used for all historical documents 7
Bibliographical Test: An examination of how the documents reach us; how reliable are the copies we have 1. Number of manuscripts 2. Time interval between original and existing copies 8
Bibliographical Test: (New Testament) 1. 5,300 known Greek manuscripts 2. 10,000 Latin Vulgate manuscripts 3. 9,300 early versions 4. Math = more than 24,000 manuscripts 5. Time interval = 25 years from originals 9
Bibliographical Test: (New Testament) 1. Comparison #1: Iliad by Homer 643 manuscripts (2 nd in history) 1 st complete preserved text of Homer 1200 1300 A.D. Work Written Earliest Copy Timespan # of Copies Homer (Iliad) 900 B.C. 400 B.C. 500 years 643 New Testament 40 100 A.D. 125 A.D. 25 years > 24,000 10
Bibliographical Test: (New Testament) 1. Comparison #2: 7 extant plays by Sophocles 193 manuscripts 1 st complete preserved text of Sophocles 1000 A.D. Work Written Earliest Copy Timespan # of Copies 7 extant plays (Sophocles) New Testament 496 406 B.C. 1000 A.D. 1,400 years 193 40 100 A.D. 125 A.D. 25 years > 24,000 11
Bibliographical Test: (New Testament) 1. Comparison #3: Caesar s Gallic Wars 10 manuscripts 1 st complete preserved text of Caesar 900 A.D. Work Written Earliest Copy Timespan # of Copies Gallic Wars (Caesar) New Testament 100 400 B.C. 900 A.D. 1,000 years 10 40 100 A.D. 125 A.D. 25 years > 24,000 12
Bibliographical Test: (Old Testament) 1. Talmudists Responsible for cataloging and COPYING Hebrew law 17 rules for cataloging/copying Read excerpt pg. 48 When completed the NEW copy had equal authority with the old 13
Bibliographical Test: (Old Testament) 1. Oldest manuscript (copy) 900 A.D. 2. Hebrew Old Testament completed 400 B.C. 1,300 timespan Prior to Dead Sea Scrolls discovery 14
Bibliographical Test: (Old Testament) 1. Dead Sea Scrolls 40,000 inscribed fragments 500 different books Many extra-biblical books Fragments of every Old Testament book except Esther Complete text of Isaiah 15
Bibliographical Test: (Old Testament) 1. What s the value of the Dead Sea Scolls? The Isaiah scroll is dated at 125 B.C. 1,000 years earlier (900 A.D.) Text from both version match almost identically! 16
Bibliographical Test: (Old Testament) 1. What s the text comparison differences? Isaiah 53 contains 166 words 17 letters are different 10 are a matter of spelling 4 are stylistic changes (conjuctions) 3 remaining letters comprise the word light in vs. 11 which doesn t change the meaning 17
Internal Evidence Test: 1. Bibliographical test only proves that what we have is what was originally written many years ago. 2. Internal evidence test will prove if the written record is credible and to what extent. 18
Internal Evidence Test: 1. Contradictions Ability to tell the truth consistently 2. Factual inaccuracies Nearness to events Chronologically Geographically 19
Internal Evidence Test: 1. New testament authors Luke 1:1-3 & 3:1 2 Peter 1:16 John 19:35 1 John 1:3 Acts 2:22 & 26:24-28 20
External Evidence Test: 1. Does historical material confirm or deny the internal testimony of the document 2. Conformity or agreement with other known historical or scientific facts 21
External Evidence Test: 1. Best example Book of Acts Secular Roman historians have consistently taken this book as historically accurate 2. Other examples Contemporary authors (Eusebius & Polycarp) Archeology 22
Homework: The role of old testament biblical prophecy as External evidence for reliability. 23