Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

[SLIDE 1] Opening comments.

[SLIDE 2]

Do You Read the Bible YouTube Video.

MSU 2016.

[SLIDE 2] Awkwardness about talking about the bible.

Awkwardness about talking about the bible.

The bible says...

So what?

Assumption - a fact or statement taken for granted

Video - a number of assumptions about the bible

We assume the bible is God’s word (what that means is coming…)

Today

Everyone makes a lot of assumptions about God (last week) and the bible (this week)

Christian assumptions about the bible: Fact and Fiction (from our Faith and Practice)

How we got it

Why people don’t accept it as truth

How we Got it

What it is and isn’t and what it means for our faith, being disciples and ministry

Why starting with “The bible is the truth” when talking with someone about God may not be the best plan

How we got it

How we got it

What it is and isn’t and what it means for our faith, being disciples and ministry

[SLIDE 3]What is it?

Scripture is different than bible.

Scripture grew out of the life of a community chosen by a God it barely understood and often did not want to follow, yet who would not let them go.

Scripture grew out of the life of a community chosen by a God it barely understood and often did not want to follow, yet who would not let them go.

It reflects God’s word and the community’s response to that word.

Stories - oral tradition handed down from generation to generation until they became...

Sacred writings that are a record of God revealing himself pulled together in a canon (a measuring rod).

Books that are determined to be authoritative for believers as a set of books that are the standard by which other books are measured.

Many genres

Our 66 books (39 OT, 27 NT) weren’t finalized until the 4th c.

Different Christian traditions have more and arrange them differently.

Record of divine revelation

In the NT, scripture is: Law of Moses, writing of the Prophets, the wisdom literature - anything in what we call the OT.

Assumes God’s authority.

Inerrant in All it Affirms

for us - both OT and NT is scripture

 It reflects God’s word and the community’s response to that word.

Role of the Scriptures in History

Role of the Scriptures in History

Up to Enlightenment - Widely accepted lens to understand reality - general assumption: It and the interpretations of it was truth.

Science - Wait a minute; some things don’t add up.

Christianity - on the defensive; using scientific approach to argue for keeping its status.

Where we get the words inspired, inerrant, infallible, authority of Scripture.

True, trustworthy, inspired

s status.

[SLIDE 4]Inspired

 It reflects God’s word and the community’s response to that word.

Inspired

When We hear the word...

Motivated

Moved emotionally or intellectually

2 T

The Who

Inspiration defined: The bible as a whole was accomplished by an extraordinary stimulation and elevation of the powers of men who devoutly yielded themselves to God’s will, and sought, often with success unparalleled elsewhere, to convey truth useful to the salvation of men and of nations (Reid, The Authority of Scripture).

The influence of God on the writers of Scripture that gave them the ability to write his revelation of himself.

For early church, OT was inspired: God said; God spoke; (Jesus: it is written)

What about NT? Gospel given through words to the apostles through the holy spirit later written down.

The NT then also became God’s written word.

The How

Inspiration - God gave

2 Timothy

Every Scripture that is able to make you wise for salvation is God-breathed (reflecting the creative activity of God.

Not suggesting a theory of inspiration but reflecting the understanding that has come through Judaism.

Inspiration happens where three things come together (The Exodus):

Key events in the life of the community of faith and their witness to the ongoing presence of God before, during and after them that led to how they understood God, themselves and their relationship with him.

Their situation.

New situations forced them to reflect on their past in order to step into their changing future.

New understanding lead to new ways for the next generation to understand itself in relationship with God and the life he is calling them into (Old truth, new forms).

A

Interpreters.

Prophets, preachers - those who help the body move forward.

To interpret is to bring out the true meaning of something written or spoken, particularly by restating it in other words.

One synonym is simply “to explain”; another is “to translate.” 1

The biblical writers - prophets, kings, apostles, disciples - all interpreted, explained, translated God’s inspired word

And today’s preachers, prophets, teachers, continue to do the same.

As OUTSIDERS.

Faithlife Outsiders Video

SUMMARY

What did the passage mean for the person who first spoke these words or wrote them and for the people who first heard or read them?

The first task is to enter into the circumstances of the person who first wrote or heard or read the passage and then try to understand the meaning in the light of the whole Bible.

What should the passage mean to a reader today?

What should the passage mean to a reader today?

[SLIDE 5]Inerrant in All it Affirms

Memoirs, autobiographies, biographies.

Movies based on real life.

Always someone who says: It didn’t happen that way.

But is what is being communicated (the message) true?

Inerrant - Free from error

Error - something produced by a mistake; imperfection; something not right

Are there errors in the bible?

Yes.

For one reason, they didn’t have all the knowledge that came later.

At the time of its writing, they wrote and God spoke to the people in their context which included their knowledge.

A mustard seed is not the smallest of seeds.

Both Jesus and Paul pointed out discrepancies in the OT.

The Gospels - Scripture developed from oral accounts or from the combination of a number of sources.

Discrepancies likely come from different accounts and/or who the writer got their information from that have been combined in our biblical books.