The Bible: Con job or God's word?

The Bible: Con Job or God’s Word?

2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:19-21

By Dr. Kent Spann

Introduction

What If?

What if the Bible we hold in our hands today and that millions have held in their hands for centuries was a fraud?

What if the book that has changed the face of the world and shaped Western civilization was the result of a cover-up?

What if the book that has sold not millions but billions was a swindle job?

What if the book that men and women have staked their lives on and even lost their lives for was nothing more than a con job?

If it were, it would be the biggest con job in the history of humanity!

It would be bigger than Orson Welles’s radio broadcast “War of the Worlds,” bigger than the Watergate scandal, and more scandalous than the Enron cover-up.

Yet that is what some would say about the Bible: The Bible is the product of man, not God.

The Bible is the result of a selective process spearheaded by a pagan emperor intended to promote a political career and suppress the truth.

The Bible we have in our hands is incomplete.

All of those claims and more can be summarized in one statement:

The Bible we hold in our hands today is neither trustworthy nor authoritative!

Roman emperors tried to destroy it;

Communism ridiculed, banned and burned it;

humanists and atheists have scorned it.

Voltaire (1694–1778), the French Enlightenment writer and philosopher who was considered to be one of the most influential figures of his time, answered the question:

“If we would destroy the Christian religion, we must first of all destroy man's belief in the Bible.”

Voltaire is right; if the Bible is false, then the Christian faith crumbles.

Check It Out

Christians need to check out the evidence for the Bible so they can give an answer for what they believe (1 Pet. 3:15).

1 Peter 3:15

15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

NIV

There are three main issues surrounding the authenticity of Scripture.

1. Inspiration: How did we get the Bible?

2. Transmission: How did we get the Bible we have today?

3. The Canon: What books belong in the Bible?

I. How Did We Get the Bible?

How did we get our Bible? Is it merely the product of man?

The clearest verse on the subject of the inspiration of Scripture is

2 Timothy 3:16.

2 Tim 3:16

16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

NIV

The Greek word Paul used here is theopneustos (theh-op'-nyoo-stos) which is a combination of two Greek words:

theos, meaning “God,” and

pneustos, meaning “breath” or “blast of wind.”

Greek Word: θεός

Transliteration: theos

Phonetic Pronunciation: theh’-os

Root: of uncertain affinity, a deity, especially (with <G3588>) the supreme Divinity

Cross Reference: TDNT - 3:65,322

Part of Speech: n m

Vine’s Words: God

Usage Notes:

English Words used in KJV:

God 1320

god 13

godly 3

God-ward + <G4214> 2

miscellaneous translations 5

[Total Count: 1343]

of uncertain affinity; a deity, especially (with <G3588> (ho)) the supreme Divinity; figurative a magistrate; by Hebrew very:- × exceeding, God, god [-ly, -ward].

Greek Word: πνέω

Transliteration: pneō

Phonetic Pronunciation: pneh’-o

Root: a root word

Cross Reference: TDNT - 6:452,876

Part of Speech: v

Vine’s Words: Blow (Verb)

Usage Notes:

English Words used in KJV:

blow 6

wind 1

[Total Count: 7]

a primary word; to breathe hard, i.e. breeze:- blow. Compare <G5594> (psucho).

James Strong, “Πνέω,”

Strong’s Talking Greek and Hebrew Dictionary (WORDsearch, 2020).

When you put the two words together it means literally “God-breathed,” which is how the NIV translates it.

What God-breathed means is that the various writers were moved, led, and guided by God’s Spirit to record exactly what God wanted,

using each of the authors’ backgrounds, vocabularies, and culture.

That is why, when you read the Bible, there are different styles of writing—poetry, wisdom, historical, narrative, etc.

It is also the reason you can read the same account in two different Gospels and get a different view or added material.

Yet each writer still recorded the Word of God exactly as God wanted it to be recorded.

That is what makes the Bible such an amazing book.

The Bible is a book of God and a book of man.

Erwin Lutzer, pastor of Moody Bible Church, in his book Seven Reasons Why You Can Trust the Bible, wrote:

“The Bible . . . is a book of God and a book of man. God’s part was to superintend the writing of the books, revealing His will. Man’s part was to write this revelation using a human language and style so that God’s message was preserved for future generations.”

God used people to record His revelation.

God protected the writers so that they recorded what He wanted (2 Pet. 1:20, 21).

2 Peter 1:20-21

20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation.

21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

NIV

The Bible we have is God’s Word.

It is trustworthy because it is true without any mixture of error.

It is authoritative because it is God’s Word.

II. How Did We Get the Bible We Have Today?

When we speak of inspiration, we are referring to the original writings. Obviously we don’t have the original writings, so how do we know that what we have today is accurate?

Here we are dealing with the transmission of Scripture.

Can we trust what we have today?

Is it reliable?

Has it been passed down accurately, or has it been radically altered?

There is much evidence for the reliability of the Bible we have in hand today.

The Manuscripts of the Text

The Number of Manuscripts

Homer’s Iliad is second only to the New Testament in the number of manuscripts available.

So how do they compare? There are 643 manuscripts for the Iliad, while there are 24,970 manuscripts for the New Testament alone.

The Date of the Manuscripts

Among the classics the Iliad has the manuscript closest to the original.

It was written around 900 BC.

The earliest copy available is from 400 BC, or five hundred years after the original writing.

The New Testament was written between AD 40 and 100.

The earliest copy available is from AD 125, or twenty-five years after the original writing.

F. F. Bruce (1920–1990), chair of biblical studies at Sheffield University and Ryland’s professor of biblical criticism and exegesis at the University of Manchester wrote:

The evidence for our New Testament writings is ever so much greater than the evidence for many writings of classical authors, the authenticity of which no one dreams of questioning . . . And if the“New Testament were a collection of secular writings, their authenticity would generally be regarded as beyond all doubt.

The Citations of Early Church Fathers

The early church fathers whose original writings we have today quoted from the text we have today.

The Protection of God

If God oversaw the giving of the Scripture, why would it be hard to believe that He would protect its transmissions?

Consider these passages that speak of God’s protection of His Word:

Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven. (Ps. 119:89)

I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. (Matt. 5:18)

Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. (Matt. 24:35)

But the word of the Lord endures forever. (1 Pet. 1:25)

III. How Did the Twenty-seven Books Get Selected for the New Testament?

This deals with the subject of the canon, or the authoritative list of the books of the Bible.

How many gospels were considered?

There were many writings claiming to be gospels, but from the earliest times, only four were considered genuine Gospels.

Who decided on what would go in the New Testament?

God, not the church, created the canon; the church merely recognized the books that were inspired from their inception.

God guided the process from beginning to end, because it is His book.

What were the criteria followed for recognizing the books?

There was a pattern.

a. Is it authoritative? Did it come from the hand of God?

b. Is it prophetic? Was it written by a man of God? An apostle?

c. Is it authentic?

d. Is it dynamic? Did it come with the life-transforming power of God?

e. Was it received, collected, read, and used by God’s people? Was it accepted by the people of God? What about the councils recognizing the canon?

There were two councils that spoke to the issue of the Canon:

the Council of Hippo (A.D. 393) and

the Council of Carthage (A.D. 397),

both of which confirmed the twenty-seven books in our New Testament as authoritative.

They did not decide which books belonged in the canon; they only affirmed what was already believed by the church to be the authoritative books.

Conclusion

So is the Bible a con job, or is it the Word of God? There is no doubt it is the Word of God (2 Pet. 1:19–21).

2 Peter 1:19-21

19 And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation.

21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

NIV

Excerpt From

Nelson's Preacher's Sourcebook

Thomas Nelson

https://books.apple.com/us/book/nelsons-preachers-sourcebook/id6443651804

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