WHERE DID THE BIBLE COME FROM?

WHERE DID THE BIBLE COME FROM?

John 5:39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me.

These scriptures are not the word of God, unless they ultimately reveal the Word of God. - Karl Barth

What is the Bible?

Essentially, it is a book of books. Comprised of two sections: (1) Old Testament (Covenant), and (2)The New Testament (Covenant)

The Old Testament (5 Sections)

The Pentateuch The first five books of the Bible; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The Pentateuch was the first collection of literature acknowledged as Scripture by the Hebrew community. The writing of these books has been ascribed to Moses. It holds supreme rank in the Old Testament canon in respect and holiness.

The Historical Books Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 st /2nd Samuel, 1 st /2nd Kings, 1 st /2nd Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. These books share a prophetic view of history describing how the obedience or disobedience of God's people is directly tied to the blessings and curses of the covenant. In the Hebrew arrangement, Joshua, Judges, & the books of Samuel & Kings form a group of books called "the Former Prophets" due to the prophetic view from which they are written.

The Poetic and Wisdom Writings Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. Unlike classical and modern poetry, ancient Hebrew poetry has no distinctive scheme of accentuation, meter, or rhythm to differentiate it from prose. It is noted for its parallelism, or the counterbalancing of ideas in phrases. To the Hebrews, wisdom included skill in living and the powers of observation. It also included the capacity of human intellect and the application of knowledge and experience to daily life..

The Major Prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel. These books were declared "major" because of the amount of text, and not because they were considered more important than the "minor" prophetic books. Prophecy in the Bible is part of God's self-revelation, by which we come to know God through what he has done in the past and what He plans to do in the future.

The Minor Prophets Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. The books of the major and minor prophets were considered to be part of the "classical prophecy" era of the Old Testament. The classical prophecy era began in the eighth century during the reign of Jeroboam II in the northern kingdom of Israel. Amos and Hosea were the earliest examples in the north, while Micah and Isaiah were the first known classical prophets in the southern kingdom of Judah.

The Old Testament Canon Canon means rule or measure. The OT Canon was collected, organized, finally brought back from Babylon to Jerusalem (according to Nehemiah) by the prophet/scribe Ezra around 400BC. However, the number of OT books differs based upon one s religious affiliation.

Jewish OT: 24 Books Protestant OT: 39 Books Catholic OT: 46 Orthodox OT: 53

The New Testament

How was the NT Canon formed? When was it finalized/approved? Is its contents trustworthy and true?

How was the New Testament Canon formed?

NT Scholar, Daniel Wallace points to three criteria that early Christian leaders wrestled with in terms of what goes in and what doesn t belong.

Apostolicity or Antiquity Is the text written by an apostle of Jesus, or a direct associate of an apostle of Jesus (before 100AD). EXAMPLE: The Gospel of Mark was not written by a direct apostle of Jesus. However, Mark was writing at the bequest of Peter who was a direct apostle of Jesus Christ.

Catholicity Was this text regularly used in the early churches, and accepted by the Apostles themselves. EXAMPLE: The Gospel of Thomas was supposedly written by Thomas (a direct apostle), and prior to 100AD (antiquity); yet, this text was not regularly or widely used or accepted by the Orthodox Churches of early Christianity due to the content regarding the authority and supremacy of Christ.

Orthodoxy It had to conform to the core beliefs (regula fide= rule of faith) already established in the doctrinal summary, hymns & sacraments. EXAMPLE: In other words, there was a standard by which all of the possible books of the NT were evaluated. Some skeptics scoff at this and point to collusion or worse. Yet, having a standard by which to gauge and grade the authenticity of a document is the cornerstone of any academic department.

CORE BELIEFS/RULE OF FAITH God is Creator Creation was good Jesus was truly human/truly divine Creation needed redemption

When Was It Finalized?

A defined set of four gospels, the Tetramorph, was asserted by Irenaeus in 180AD, who refers to them directly. By the early 3rd century, Origen may have been using the same twenty-seven books as in the present New Testament canon. In his Easter Letter (367AD), Athanasisus, Bishop of Alexandria, gave a list of the books that would become the twenty-seven-book NT canon.

Is the New Testament trustworthy and true?

Jesus and Fulfilled Prophecy The Old Testament contained over 300 prophecies concerning the coming of the Messiah. Mathematically speaking, here are the odds: 1 person fulfilling 8 prophecies: 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000 1 person fulfilling 48 prophecies: 1 in 10 to the 157 th power

The Manuscript Evidence

But What about all the contradictions and errors in the Bible?

"The purity of text is of such a substantial nature that nothing we believe to be true, and nothing we are commanded to do, is in any way jeopardized by the variants. -D.A. Carson Oxford University

Any differences, virtually all yield to vigorous textual criticism. This means that our New Testament is 99.5% textually pure. In the entire text of 20,000 lines, only 40 lines are in doubt (about 400 words), and none affects any significant doctrine. -Daniel Wallace Dallas Theological Seminary