How Did We Get The Bible
How Did We Get The Bible
P2: Course Outline
P3: Road Map
P4: The Doctrine of Scripture
2 Tim 3:14-17 - "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness..."
2 Peter 1:16-21 - "For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."
When someone ask who wrote to the bible, it is the Word of God and the word of men. The scripture is inspired by God ad was written by men.
P5: The Origin Of Scripture
A. The Process of Getting Your Bible
1. Revelation & Illumination
2. Inspiration & Inerrancy
3. Canonization & Transmission
4. Translation (Lxx Translation - Septuagint) - Matthew 1:23 cites Isaiah 7:14 and said that Mary is a virgin (Greek: parthenos). But the actual Hebrew word in Isaiah said says Mary is a young woman ('Almah'). Matthew quoted from the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew bible before Jesus was born. However, whether Mary is a virgin does not depend on this Septuagint translation. Luke 1:27 called Mary as a virgin; In Luke 1:34, Mary herself admit that she is a virgin: "How will this be, since I do not know a man?"
Roman 6:2 - In original Greek, Paul response is "no no!" with a lot of emphasis. ESV translates to "by no means!"; KJV "God Forbid!" The translators either sided a literal translation or built in some emotions into the text. "certainly not" does not carry the emotional nuance, and "God forbid!" is misquote because the word "God" was not in the original Greek word.
B. The Origin of Scripture
I. God's creative Word: "And God Said" (Gen 1) - 9 times
II. God's Covenantal Word (Gen. 2:16-17) - Satan deceives Eve: Did God really say? Man seizes lordship in defying God's Word. The result is catastrophic.
III. God's Redemption Word (Gen 3:15) - Covenant & Redemption History (Heb 1:1-2); Old & New Testament (Eph 2:20). It is not just Words, it is a costly action to sacrifice his only son on the cross.
God Speaks, and humanity respond to God in two ways : They reject God's word or they worship God's word. Central to the Gospel is not what He ask us to do, but what He is going to do.
P6-P15: Scripture As The "Word of God"
Logos - refers to the enduring, universal Word (God’s truth, Scripture, or Christ Himself). The written word. John 1:14 – “The Word (Logos) became flesh” → Christ Himself as the eternal Word. Hebrews 4:12 – “The Word (Logos) of God is living and active” → Scripture as enduring truth.
Rhema - refers to a specific, spoken, or applied word in a given moment. The spoken word. Romans 10:17 – “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word (Rhema) of Christ” → a spoken word that awakens faith. Luke 1:38 – Mary responds, “Let it be to me according to your word (Rhema)” → a specific promise applied to her.
Both written or spoken words have the same authority.
Does the Bible claim to be God's Word?
1. The difference between God's word and traditional of the elders. (Mark 7:5-13)
2. Scripture is "God's own witness concerning Himself through human witness" (NDT)
3. YHWH speaks unlike mute idols: Psa 115:5; Jer 10:5; Hab 2:18; 1 Cor 12:2
Who is the speaker - the Father. "Blessed are the pure in their heart for they will see the Father" John 1 said that God has "expose" himself by Christ. Heb 11:26 - Moses saw Christ in the burning bush. Isaiah also saw Jesus.
What was the WORD the Father spoke? Jesus Christ (the WORD). Luke 24:44 - "everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” The apostles apply what Jesus said in their current situation.
How was the WORD spoken - the breath or the spirit of God carry His word to the intended audience. The WORD is carried by the Holy Spirit - Jesus (God's Word) was born through the spirit; He was led to the wilderness by the Spirit. The Spirit is the means of transmission the scripture, whether in Old or New Testament.
An example of this is from Zechariah 7:12 "They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the LORD of host had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets." God the Father is the speaker, and the Holy Spirit is the transmitter of the message to the prophets, who then deliver the message or write it down. When Jesus was on earth, He was God's Word - he speaks the same way that God would have spoken. In John 12:49-50, Jesus said: "For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment - what to say and what to speak." The Bible is a trinity book.
P16-22: Views of Inspiration
1. Verbal plenary inspiration: God used individual backgrounds, personality, and literary styles to providentially producing Scripture error free.
The scripture is inspired, not the author, as authors are not infallible. The writing was God breath, so that it is infallible.
God utilizes the people with individual personality to write. Matthew's gospel is very financials oriented as he was a tax collector. He was tracking where the bribe to Judas comes from and where it goes to. John was not familiarity with Greek, so his sentences are short. Paul is very good in Greek, and even Peter complains Paul is hard to understand (2 Peter 3:15–16). 1 Peter is good (because Silvanus wrote for him), but 2 Peter was not as good, as his Greeks are not that good.
2. Verbal disctation theory: God dictated the books of the Bible word by word.
3. Dynamic inspiration: The thoughts are inspired while the words belong to the individual writers.
4. Partial Inspiration: The Bible is infallible in matters of faith, morals and practice only.
5. Intuition Theory: The authors were wise men.
Example: God speak to Moses - Moses speak to Aaron - Aaron speak to Pharoah. Moses may say slightly different than God has told him to Aaron, and Aaron may say slightly different words to Pharoah. Though the style and words may be different, they are still the Word of God.
The process of inspiration depends on the life of the author. Inspiration did not start when they are writing, but during the life of the author. They were prepared through their life experience for the eventuality of writing the scripture.
P23-31: The Inspiration of Scripture
P32-37: The Meaning of Inerrancy
Inerrancy - focus on the question of truthfulness and falsehood in the language of Scripture
The inerrancy of Scripture means that Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact. Everything that the scriptures teaches are true. Inerrancy means the Bible did not say anything false. Eg: Solomon says life in vanity, but actually that is not true. But the scripture is right, because Solomon's context "under the sun".
Infallible means it is never wrong and thus absolutely trustworthy. Reliable guide for truth. However this is true for the original documents that the original author wrote. Our translations are not based on the original documents, but copies or copies. Some of the translation may skip some phrases that KJV has.
Sola Scriptura - "scripture alone" is the inerrant and sufficient authority for the faith, conduct and practice of the Christian. The bible is complete, authoritative, and true. The fallible individual belief in infallible scripture. For Catholics, it is fallible Individual belief in Infallible Church that is infallible declaration about Infallible Scripture. They belief in their own traditional ideas.
2 Tim 3:16-17 - sufficient for teaching spiritual truths, for reproof and correction, for training in righteousness, for equipping for every good work in spiritual maturity.
P38-44: Sola Scriptura
We cannot ask people "what does this mean to you". Rather we must ask "What does this mean". The meaning if not from us, but from God's intention.
P45-48: The Canon of Scripture.
Canon - a recognizable standard. It's a list of Authoritative Books - is it what God said through the prophets and apostles. It is not Authoritative List of Books (which is what Catholics believe).
P49: Criteria of Canonicity
- signs of wonders (Ex 5:2; 7:4-5, 17); Predictive Prophecy (Deut 18:20-22; Prov 30:5; Isa 41:23, 42:8-9, 44:8-9, 45:21-23; 46:9-10); Unity & Harmony (Num 23:19; Titus 1:2; Heb 6:18)
- Authoritative Authors - Prophets (Heb 1:1-2; Rom 1:2; 2 Pet 3:2);Apostles (Mk 3:14-15; Mt. 10:20; Lk 10:16)
- Corporate Recognition -
Scripture self-authenticate it self, by being true all the time and the prophecies are being fulfilled. It has not been proven wrong.
P50-53: The Formation of The OT Canon
1. The Tanakh = (Torah, Prophets (nevi'im), Writings (khetuvim)
b) Philo of Alexandria (AD20)
c) Qumran Fragment (4QMMT)
d) Gospels: No recorded canonical disagreement
2. The Torah or Pentateuch
a) Revelation: The LORD Speaks to Moses.
Joshua 14:6 "Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him". Caleb is a gentile, and Joshua is Ephraim - the promise land is not for Jews only, but gentiles as well. (Caleb is "dog" in Hebrew) Caleb received Hebron as inheritance in the Promised Land. Hebron is home to the Cave of Machpelah (also called the Cave of the Patriarchs), which is traditionally regarded as the burial site of the patriarchs and matriarchs of Israel: Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah
Romans 9:6-8, 24; Zech 2:10-11;4:8-9 - Jesus is the "WORD" of God.
b) Inspiration/Inscription: Moses records the Words (Ex 17:14, 24:4, 34:27; Num 33:1-2; Deut 4:1-2)
c) Canonization & Transmission: Book of the Covenant (Ex 24:7; Deu 31:9, 26; Josh 8:34, 24:26)
David (980 BC) - meditating on the Law (Ps 1:2); Jehoshaphat (880 BC) - The Law read (2 Ch 17:7-9); Josiah (620 BC): The Law found (2 Kg 22:8-13; 2 Ch 34:14); Ezra & Neh (458 BC) Revival (Ez 7:6, 10-14, 25-28); The Septuagint & NT Writings.
3. The Prophets
- The Lord speaks to the prophets typically when the people go astray (there are exceptions)
- Revelation to the prophets are similar to Moses (1 Sam 10:25).
- Inspirtation/Inscription:
- The Prophets write either themselves (Ez 24:2) or with the help of an amanuensis (Jr 36:27-28, 32)
- Their messages were either proclaimed by them or a messenger (Jr 36:5-10)
- Canonization & Transmission
- Isaiah (2 Kings 20:1, Mt 3:3)
- Jeremiah (2 Ch 35:25, Mt 16:14)
- Jonah (Mt 12:39)
- Septuagint & New Testament Writings
4. The Psalms or Writings
- Inspiration/Inscription - Written by prophets, priests, judges, and kings, as such, their authorship is often neglected.
- Internal cross-references: (1 Ch 29:29. 2Ch 9:29, 20:34, 26:22; 32:32 [Isa 36:1-38:8]
- The Psalm contain prophecies of Christ (See 110:1, 2, 22)
- Canonization & Transmission: Daniel, Job, Proverbs,
Job was mentioned in Ezekiel?
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