Introduction to the Bible

Best Kept

You the reliability of an ancient manuscript (of a book) based on the copies and pieces of copies available today. The two big questions you need to ask is how much time passed between the writing of the manuscript and the earliest copy we now have; and how many old copies or parts of copies do we have to compare and judge the internal accuracy of the copies

Based on this criteria Homer’s Iliad is the second most reliable Ancient Greek manuscript. It was written in 900 BC and the earliest copy we have today is from 400 BC only 500 years between the original and the oldest copy available. The number of old copies we have is 643. When the copies or parts of copies are compared the internal accuracy is 95%; so few doubt the historicity of the Iliad.

The New Testament outdoes the Iliad by far! The earliest parts of copies in exist- ence date from only one hundred years from its writing (which means people who were alive at its writing were still alive when these copies were made). There are over 5,600 copies and parts of copies (and that’s just in Greek) and the comparison of these copies demonstrates an internal accuracy of 99.5%. Iliad: 400 years / 643 copies / 95% accuracy Bible: 100 year / 5,600 copies / 99.5% accuracy THE OLD AND THE NEW The Old Testament is cited, partially quoted or referred to over 4,000 times in the New Testament. Plan A never changed. It was hidden in the Old and revealed in Christ by the Holy Spirit in the New. The New Testament hands us the keys to seeing in the Old Testament the completeness of what we have been given in Christ. BIBLE BASICS 1 Peter 1:10-11 (HCSB) 10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that would come to you searched and care- fully investigated. 11 They inquired into what time or what circumstances the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating when He testified in advance to the messianic sufferings and the glories that would follow. 1 Peter 1:12 (HCSB) 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you. These things have now been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Angels desire to look into these things. 26 KEYS JESUS GAVE TO HELP US UNDERSTAND GOD’S WORD Matthew 5:17-20 (ESV) 17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these com- mandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Phari- sees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 7:12 (ESV) 12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

1. Every detail of God’s Word is from Him and unchangeable except through fulfillment in Christ… pro- gressive revelation of the Grand Narrative. 2. God’s righteousness and nature is the standard for human behavior; and our ability to live that way, was fulfilled in Christ Jesus through redemption. Matthew 22:29 (HCSB) 29Jesus answered them, “You are deceived, because you don’t know the Scriptures or the power of God. Matthew 22:31-32 (HCSB) 31 Now concerning the resurrection of the dead, haven’t you read what was spoken to you by God: 32 I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” 3. Deception comes from not knowing God’s Word and doubting His power (therefore you can know, and He will do). 4. What the Bible says, Father has the power to do… “the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation” and it’s not to be doubted or canceled. 5. The Bible is written and kept in detail and accuracy; and should be read and trusted that way. 6. What is “Spoken by God” carries weight! (Types of literature.) 7. “I Am the God of…” Jesus’ approach to the Bible was SIMPLE, not difficult or complicated! Matthew 22:42-45 (ESV) 📷📷📷42 …saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” 43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, 44“‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet”’? 45 If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” 8. The Word—and every word—is inspired by the Holy Spirit. 9. All scripture must be viewed together (He is called the Son of David, and the Son of God). 10. Let things that seem out of place be an invitation to revelation; dig. Matthew 26:53-54 (HCSB) 📷📷53 Or do you think that I cannot call on My Father, and He will provide Me at once with more than 12 legions of angels? 54 How, then, would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way? Matthew 26:56 (HCSB) 📷📷56 But all this has happened so that the prophetic Scriptures would be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted Him and ran away. 11. We are to (and therefore can) understand and cooperate with prophecy in the Bible. 12. All prophecy will be fulfilled. prophecy in the Bible. Luke 24:25-27 (HCSB) 📷📷📷📷📷📷25 He said to them, “How unwise and slow you are to believe in your hearts all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Didn’t the Messiah have to suffer these things and enter into His glory?” 27 Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted for them the things concern- ing Himself in all the Scriptures. 13. Jesus is in ALL scripture and is the Key to interpreting all scripture. 14. All scripture agrees and points to the Grand Narrative. 15. All Old Testament is God’s infallible Word—and all the scripture that Jesus had and was referring to, is all there is. Luke 24:44 (HCSB) 📷📷📷📷📷44 Then He told them, “These are My words that I spoke to you while I was still with you — that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Luke 24:45-47 (HCSB) 📷📷📷📷📷45 Then He opened their minds to under- stand the Scriptures. 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 16. Everything Jesus spoke during His ministry on earth was taken from scripture. We need to find it there 17. Everything said about Jesus in the New Testament must be collated with what’s said in the Old Testament—because what’s written in the Old is what is being fulfilled. 18. The Bible’s end-game is the redemption of the nations. 19. Jesus is our Teacher and the oly One who can reveal scripture to us. We cannot get it, and live it, unless He reveals it to us. 20. With Jesus as the Key to scripture, and our personal Teacher, it’s not hard to get it and understand (one session). John 5:38-39 (HCSB) 📷38 You don’t have His word living in you, because you don’t believe the One He sent. 39 You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, yet they testify about Me

John 5:40 (HCSB) 📷40 And you are not willing to come to Me so that you may have life. 21. The Word must live in us (..receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls... James 1:21) 22. All study (pouring over) scripture must be done in light of Jesus—the Grand Narrative. 23. We must see the purpose of scripture as us coming to Jesus and having life in Him now. Matthew 19:4-5 (ESV) 📷📷📷4 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the begin- ning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? (Genesis 2:24) 24. Again and again, Jesus affirmed the historical truth of the Old Testament. Matthew 15:3-4 (ESV) 📷📷📷3 He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother, ’and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’

Matthew 15:5-6 (ESV)

📷📷But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” 6 he need not honor his father. ’So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God….

Luke 20:17-18 (ESV)

17 But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written: “‘The stone that the builders rejected.

has become the cornerstone’? 18 Every- one who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

25. You must not change His Word but be broken and changed by it.

Matthew 26:12-13 (ESV)

📷📷📷📷12 In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. 13 Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”

26. Jesus knew the NT was predetermined. One Book, One Author.

2 Peter 3:15-16 (ESV)

📷📷15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

Expect Him to teach you; read, study, expect to understand, and BELIEVE!

Acts 17:11 (ESV)

📷📷11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

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