The Bible Q&A (March 2023; Full Sentences)
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Introduction:
It is time for our quarterly Bible Q&A
This is the first of four times that we will do this in 2023
I know that I have explained many times why it is so important for teens to be asking questions about God and the Bible, so I will keep myself brief here.
The wisdom that we are searching for as Christians is best found through the use of questions
You know what this means? Your questions MATTER
They matter to God, and they matter to us at EBC|YOUTH
Asking questions is also one of the main ways that you can take your next step in your walk with Jesus
So them, let’s look at the three questions that were submitted!
Body:
Question #1: What should we think of the books of the Bible Martin Luther removed?
This question will probably take the most time to explain
As I go, please feel free to ask questions
In order to truly understand what this question is asking, there are several different terms that we have to define first.
Ask: What does the word “canon” mean in reference to Scripture?
Canon: - “The collection of books that the church accepts as inspired or authoritative.”
This word began to be used by the fourth century AD in reference to Christianity
Ulimately, the reason that we use this word to describe the Bible is because it isn’t just an ordinary book; it is the word of God
2 Timothy 3:16 (ESV)
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
This is what it means for the books of the Bible to be “inspired” or “authoritative”
The OT canon was pretty well set before the coming of Christ (around 200 BC)
This canon consisted of the 39 OT books that we know and love today
But what about the Apocrypha?
I guess that gives us another term to define
Ask: Dos anyone know what the Apocrypha is?
Apocrypha: Other Jewish theological works written between 200 BC and AD 100.
Apocryphal books:
Tobit
Judith
1 Maccabees
2 Maccabees
Wisdom of Solomon
Ecclesiasticus (also known as Ben Sirach),
Baruch,
Several additions to the books of Daniel (e.g., Susanna and Bel and the Dragon) and Esther.
These books were passed around and read, but they were never considered by the Jews to be equally authoritative as the books within the Canon
Think about a book written by a pastor (say David Platt)
It was kind of like that; they considered them good to read, but they weren’t on the same level as Scripture
Also, around this time, the Septuagint was written
Ask: What is the Septuagint?
Septuagint: The original Greek translation of the Old Testament.
Many of the books from the Apocrypha were also translated into Greek and included in this collection.
And this is where the confusion began.
Here is a quote from the textbook Grasping God’s Word that sheds some light on the situation:
“While the Jewish rabbis were able to make it clear in their synagogues that these extra books were helpful but not authoritative or canonical—like our modern study notes perhaps—some in the new Christian church began to assume that if these works were included in the biblical volume, then they must be part of inspired Scripture.” -Grasping God’s Word
This was the first time that people began to regard these books as authoritative
By the time we got to the fourth century, Jerome produced the Vulgate.
Ask: Ask: What is the Vulgate?
Vulgate: The original Latin translation of the Bible.
Jerome also included the Apocrypha in this collection, but he clearly noted that they weren’t canonical.
After awhile, they, these notes were dropped, and people began to accept the works as a part of the Bible
Thus, the confusion continued.
When Latin became the main theological language of the Western church, these books were accepted as Canonical.
This was the case until the time of a guy mentioned in the question: Martin Luther
Ask: What do you know about Martin Luther?
He was a Catholic monk, but as he read the Scriptures himself, he began to see a lot of problems with the catholic church at that period of time
Namely, the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith was of special concern to him
The led him to put his 95 theses on the wall of various Catholic churches
This started what we now know as the Reformation, where people broke off from the Catholic church in an effort to return to the original intent and context of Scripture.
We are an offshoot of this movement!
Our church isn’t Catholic; it is what we call Protestant
And a big part of this movement involved the translation of the Bible into the common languages of Europe (English, German, French, etc.)
These translators bypassed the Latin Vulgate and returned to the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek manuscripts
And when they did this, they noticed something: the Apocrypha was not included in the Hebrew Bible
Thus, they either put it in the appendix of the new Bibles, or they dropped them altogether.
So, the books weren’t just randomly dropped because somebody didn’t like them; they were dropped because they realized that the earliest sources did not consider them as Scripture.
This stance was further solidified at the Council of Trent (1545-1564)
In response to this, the Roman Catholic Church declared that the Latin Vulgate was the official Bible of the true church, and that the Apocrypha was therefore canonical and equally authoritative.
Since then, us protestants have usually omitted this works from our Bibles, and Catholics include them.
So, with all of that background information taken care of… what should we think of these works?
Answer: They are useful, but they are not inspired or authoritative.
Even though these books are not canonical, that does not mean that they are pointless and should never be read.
There is a wealth of information abut Jewish culture that these books can help as understand, including the thought processes of the Pharisees and Sadducees during Jesus’ day
In particular, the two books of Maccabees are our primary source for the intertestamental period.
So, these works are helpful, but you shouldn’t read them in place of Scripture during your daily quiet time with the Lord or anything like that.
Another note here: You can see how the hand of God was moving during the process of canonization
We don’t believe that the canon was just randomly determined by man; we believe that this process was guided by God the whole time.
Ask: Does anyone have any other questions about this topic?
Question #2: What is the definition of righteous anger?
Here is a definition that I found from the International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia:
Righteous Anger: Anger at the sin and unrighteousness of man because of its grievousness to God.
Ask:What examples of this type of anger do we see in Scripture?
Here is an example of Jesus experiencing this type of anger:
Example #1: Jesus (Mark 3:5)
Mark 3:5 (ESV)
5 And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.
Jesus, who is perfect, gets angry, so obviously His anger is justifiable
And what is he angry at? The religious leaders’ hardness of heart
They were upset at Jesus because He was healing on the Sabbath
These things grieved Him
There are several other examples of righteous anger from the Bible as well
Example #2: Moses (Exodus 11:8)
Exodus 11:8 (ESV)
8 And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, you and all the people who follow you.’ And after that I will go out.” And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.
This is what Moses told Pharoah right before the Passover happened
So obviously, God was mad, too!
Let’s look at another one:
Example #3: Nehemiah (Nehemiah 5:6)
Nehemiah 5:6 (ESV)
6 I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these words.
Nehemiah is angry that people int he Jewish community were being mistreated
If you get angry at someone being mistreated, that is justifiable.
But how is this different from unrighteous anger?
Unrighteous Anger: Anger that arises because of wounded or aggrieved personality or feelings.
Ask: What examples of this do we see in Scripture?
Example #1: Cain (Genesis 4:5)
5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.
This is the earliest example we find of unrighteous anger in the Bible.
Cain isn’t angry because the unrighteousness of man; he is actually angry about his brother’s righteousness and God’s faithfulness to said righteousness.
In other words, he’s jealous!
Let’s take a look at a few more examples
We’ve seen a positive example from Moses; now, let’s flip the script and look at a negative example!
Example #2: Moses (Numbers 20:10-11)
10 Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock.
How did Moses and Aaron sin here?
But if you read further back, you’ll see that God told them to COMMAND water to come out of the rock; not to strike it!
So they struck it out of anger
And guess what? This was a really big deal
Such a big deal, in fact, that this is the reason that God did not allow Aaron and Moses to enter into the promised land. Yikes!
Well… how about one last example?
Example #3: Herod (Matthew 2:16)
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.
This one comes in fresh from the NT
Obviously, this type of anger isn’t good; it results in him murdering children!
But, how do we consolidate all of this information?
How can you tell whether or not the anger you are experiencing is righteous anger, or unrighteous anger?
How to Determine Whether or Not Your Anger is Righteous or Unrighteous:
Ask: Does my anger center more around me or God?
How you answer this question is very important
If your anger mostly centers around you more than it centers around God, than it is probably unrighteous
I will say, however, that it can sometimes be difficult to answer this question
Sometimes, what seems like it is about God might actually be about us the more that we think and pray about it
This leads us to our next suggestion:
Ask: Does my anger center more around me or God?
Spend significant time with God in prayer.
Ask “God, why do I feel this way?”
It might not be instantaneous, but if you prioritize your prayer life, God WILL make this clear.
And lastly...
Ask: Does my anger center more around me or God?
Spend significant time with God in prayer.
Ask: Am I consumed by my anger?
Prolonged anger is always unrighteous anger
We were never meant to let anger simmer for a long period of time
It should be brief; any remaining anger we may be struggling with should be given to God as an act of worship
There is one verse that especially comes to mind regarding this:
26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
Ask: What does this verse mean?
What this means is that, when we get angry, we should deal with it before the day is through.
Anger is unavoidable.
But if we hold onto it for more than a day, it gives the devil an opportunity to have a foothold that leads us into even more sin
So righteous anger is a thing, yes, but it should never last!
Ask: Does anyone have any more questions related to this topic?
Question #3: What is meant by the statement, “Everything is smoke” in the book of Ecclesiastes?
To the best of my knowledge, this is one of the verses that is in mind:
2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
This word “vanity” occurs a total of 34 times in the whole book
So, this word describes one of the major themes of the book
Ask: What does the word “vanity” mean?
“Vanity: a lack of real value; hollowness; worthlessness.” -Dictionary.com
And oddly enough, the word can also be translated as “vapor” or “breath.”
So when the author (Solomon) says that “all is vanity,” he is essentially saying “much in life is like a vapor that passes away.”
Well, that’s kinda dark
And yeah, it is!
The entire book is like this
But in order for us to truly understand what Solomon was getting at when he wrote this, we need to have a better understanding of the book as a whole
So… why was Ecclesiastes written?
Here is a quote about this from the CSB Study Bible:
“Ecclesiastes shows us that since we and our works are futile—that is, destined to perish—we must not waste our lives trying to justify our existence with pursuits that ultimately mean nothing. Put simply, Ecclesiastes examines major endeavors of life in light of the reality of death.”
Warnings about finding your purpose in the wrong things:
Intellectual accomplishments
Wealth and luxury
Politics
Religion
Don’t try to impress God
Do not wear yourself out with irrational excess
Two things we should do in light of the shortness of life:
Enjoy life
CSB Study BIible: “A life without enjoyment is no life at all.”
Fear God
Honest humility
“Awareness of our dependence on Him”
“Remembrance of the fact that He is our judge”
One of the last verses in the book really brings this home:
13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
THIS is where true purpose in life is found.
So… what can we learn from this?
Namely, the point of the phrase “everything is vanity” isn’t that life is completely purposeless, but just that we often try to find purpose in purposeless things
Answer: Many pursuits in life are purposeless, so focus on what actually matters.
True purpose is found in a life that glorifies God and enjoy Him forever.
So, find your purpose in something that is bigger than yourself!
Do we have any other questions about this topic?
Conclusion:
Where do these questions leave us as we get ready to split up into small groups?
We have talked about some pretty different topics tonight; the Apocrypha, righteous anger, and Ecclesiastes
But what they all have in common is that they were shared in the form of a question
So what questions do you have?
What would you like clarity on?
What questions do you need to ask in order to keep growing in your walk with Chirst?
Be thinking about that as we split.
PRAY
Small Group Questions
What is one thing that you learned tonight for the first time regarding the canon of Scripture?
How does seeing the way that God guided the process of canonicity strengthen your faith in Him?
In your opinion, what is the biggest difference between righteous and unrighteous anger?
What is it going to look like for you to keep your anger in check?
How does the phrase “everything is vanity” make you feel? (Be honest!)
How can you use the message of Ecclesiastes to keep your priorities in check?
