LMD Week 16 Assignment Notes (Year 2)

Systematic Theology: Grudem Ch 2-8

The Word of God is Jesus

This is used only in John 1 and possibly 1 John 1:1.

God the Son has the role of communicating the character of God

God’s word as decrees and cause things to happen

God speaks words to humans

This however was uncommon in Scripture p35.

God speaks his word through human prophets

Completely God’s words

No less authoritative than God’s words spoken himself

But God must command them to speak his word

Deuteronomy 18:18–20 “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’”

The Canon is completed, thus God’s word through human lips ceased.

God’s word THE SCRIPTURE

Exodus 31:18 “And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.”

Better than oral repetition

This the Bible the only way to study theology

The Old Testament Canon

the 10 commandments are the earliest and beginning of biblical canon.

This was the terms of the covenant between God and his people.

Moses writes not to add or take away (Deut 4:2), but Joshua later adds along with Samuel etc.

Genesis to death of Moses 3000 years.

OT Canon records and interprets creation, calling of Abraham and descendants, exodus from Egypt, wilderness wanderings, establishment of God’s people in Canaan, establishment of the monarchy, the Exile, and the return from captivity. Ends with expectation of Messiah.

OT Canon Ended in 435 BC (Maccabees/Apocrypha was later) in the time of Artaxerxes I the Persian King in which Esther lived.

Josephus (around 95 AD) felt that there were no more words God after 435 BC and the Jews had the Canon fixed for ages. The books written afterward on the “complete history” are not considered worthy because of failure of exact succession of the prophets.

Holy Spirit also left Israel after Haggai, Zehcariah, and Malachi died.

Jesus agreed with the Jews on the OT Canon without dispute p44. Jesus and NT authors referred to OT books 295x but not apocrypha.

The Jews themselves did not include the Apocrypha in the canon. p46 lists the doctrinal shortfalls of these books***.

Athanasius and Melito for some reason exclude Esther.

ECUMENICAL COUNCILS are HUGE. Nicea and Chalcedon

p46 lists at the bottom the significant dangers and differences of Catholics and Protestant church beliefs like adding to scripture by the church, faith plus works justification supported by Apocrypha.

The New Testament Canon

Coming of the Messiah

The authors: they were told in John 14:26 that the Holy Spirit would teach them and help to remember all Jesus said - author says this pertains to the apostles being gifted to write actual Scripture.******We have the Spirit but can’t write it.

Again, John 16:13–14 “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

Office of the Apostle p48 equal to OT prophets with authority to speak God’s very words.*

Matthew, John, James, Peter, and Paul - apostolic authors - p51 author says automatically establishes it as divine authority by God.

Left over are Mark (perhaps confirmed by Peter), Luke/Acts (perhaps confirmed by Paul), and Jude (Jude brother of Jesus and perhaps confirmed by James).

But Hebrews is unknown. Put in through Self-attestation by the church???**** p 51

But not everything the apostles wrote or said was perfect aside from the Scripture, right?

Peter confirms all Paul’s letters are Scripture in 2 Peter 3:16 “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.”

graphe = OT scripture (greek word used in the NT)

Paul references both Deut 25:4 and Luke 10:7 in 1 Tim 5:17-18 saying they are both Scripture.

Paul wrote other letters to Corinthians and Laodiceans, and there were other oral teachings that the author said had divine authority but not PRESERVED as scripture.

So the apostles had to direct which books would be canon p50.

367 AD Athanasius confirms the list of 27 NT books - these were already the accepted books by the churches in eastern Mediterranean (p52), then 397 AD Council of Carthage agrees.

Jesus Christ is the final and greatest revelation to man in redemptive history p52. No more canon needed. Rev 22:18-19 refers to the book Revelation AND the bible as a whole the author states.

Was Revelation written last by John compared to the other books?***

The main reason we can trust the Canon of Scripture is because of God’s faithfulness not because man found a sensible way to put everything together, though there is historical data to support us.

God would not withhold some essential like his Scripture from us for 1900 years if there was ‘another of Paul’s letters’ somewhere.

There are still no good candidates for addition into the Bible. Gospel of Thomas ends really weird.

Inerrancy defined: the original manuscripts do not affirm anything that is untrue p 85

Inerrancy vs Precision

All measurements communicated by man are approximations, though one may be more precise than another (p86).

Inerrancy has to do with truthfulness, not degree of precision.

Measurements in order to be true then depend on degree of precision implied by the speaker and expected by the hearers originally.

Quotations - the Greeks had no quotation marks, therefore loose quotes were to communicate the correct content not exact verbatim and can still be inerrant.

Even spelling errors do not affect truthfulness. A statement could be rife with misspelling but still true.

Infallible - now used today to describe that the Bible will not lead us astray in only matters of faith and practice.

Jesus did not affirm a falsehood to condescend to us so we could understand a topic.***

IE, When Jesus talks about the mustard seed being the smallest, he must not mean the smallest of all types of seeds, but it is the smallest agricultural seed (which grow crops).***

It is all true. Everything the bible says does not affirm falsehood in any shape or form, big or small. If not, then there excuse for a white lie for a good purpose, which goes against God’s truthfulness which it is impossible for him to lie.

99 percent of words from current manuscripts are inerrant (p92)

3 difficult passages

Order of Jesus temptation

Josephus vs Gamaliel records of Theudas and Judas rebellions

Take or do not take staff and sandals