Biblical Apologetics - How We Received The Bible

Introduction

1 Peter 3:15 KJV 1900

15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

Pray — Be seated

Review

We laid out our objectives for this series.

To settle any doubts in our hearts as to what we believe to be true.

Learn to identify where people are starting from so we can lead them to where God wants them to be.

To build our faith that God can use us to give an answer to the questions that people will have about your worldview.

We talked about the cultural changes in the U.S. over the past 50 years or so & how the church needs to adopt different methods of reaching them.

We talked about the two things people need to acknowledge before salvation is possible.

They need to acknowledge God as creator of everything.

They need to acknowledge the foundational and absolute authority of God’s Word.

We defined terms

Presuppositions - Things or ideas we presuppose to be true

Worldviews - The lenses through which we see the world

Apologetics - The defense of the Christian worldview against alternatives and against criticisms.

We began to detail how we received the bible in the form we have it today

Writing materials and methods

Body

Reminder: Again, this is not a college course on the subject matter, but an introduction that should assuage any doubts we may have had concerning the reliability of scripture.

Old Testament Canon

Canon - From a Hebrew-Greek word meaning “cane” or “measuring rod”, passed into Christian usage to mean “norm” or “rule of faith.” The church fathers of the 4th century first employed it in reference to the definitive, authoritative nature of the body of sacred Scripture.

The Apostle’s Witness to God’s Word

2 Peter 1:20–21 KJV 1900

20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

Most will tell you they believe man wrote the bible, but that’s not true!

The Apostles declare that man wrote the words down, but the author was God.

So we have Peter, speaking with Apostolic Authority, and under the unction of the Holy Ghost, declaring that God was the author, not man.

Christ’s Witness to the Old Testament Canon

Luke 24:44 KJV 1900

44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.

Jesus was here referring to the three divisions of the Hebrew Bible

Torah - Instruction, or Law, also called the Pentateuch.

Includes Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy

Nevi’im - Prophets

Further divided into the Former Prophets, the Latter Prophets, and the Twelve

Former Prophets - Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings

Latter Prophets - Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel

The Twelve - Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi

Ketuvim - Writings

Further divided into:

Religious poetry and wisdom literature - Psalms, Proverbs, and Job.

The Five Megillot (five scrolls) - Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Ester

The books of Daniel, Ezra Nehemiah, and Chronicles

Jesus referred to ‘the Writings’ as ‘the Psalms’ probably because Psalms is the first and longest book in the third division.

Luke 11:51 KJV 1900

51 From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.

Again, Jesus is confirming His witness to the extent of the Old Testament canon.

Abel is the first martyr mentioned in the Bible (Genesis 4:8)

Zechariah is the last martyr to be named (at least in the Hebrew Old Testament order, II Chronicles 24:21)

Genesis is the first book in the Hebrew bible, Chronicles is the last.

Jesus is saying the entire Old Testament as understood by the Jews of His day, carries with it God’s Authority.

What About the Apocrypha?

Apocrypha - From the Greek word “apokruphos”, meaning “hidden, or concealed”

These books being generally recognized as: I & II Esdras, Tobit, Judith, Rest of Esther, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremy, Song of the Three Children, Story of Susanna, The Idol Bel and the Dragon, Prayer of Manasseh, I & II Maccabees.

You’ll find these books included in the Catholic Bible, but not in the Protestant Bible. Why not?

They abound in historical and geographical inaccuracies and anachronisms (chronological Inconsistencies).

They teach doctrines which are false and foster practices which are at variance with inspired Scripture.

Example: The book of Tobit includes a statement that almsgiving atones for sin.

They resort to literary types and display an artificiality of subject matter and styling out of keeping with inspired Scripture.

Jesus does not quote from them.

The Apostles do not quote from them.

The early church fathers do not quote from them.

New Testament Canon

Tests for Including a Book in the New Testament

The basic factor for determining New Testament canonicity was inspiration by God, and its chief test, apostolicity.

Ephesians 2:19–20 KJV 1900

19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;

Acts 2:42 KJV 1900

42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

The term ‘Apostolic’ as used for the test of canonicity does not necessarily mean ‘Apostolic authorship,’ or ‘that which was prepared under the direction of the apostles,’ but rather Apostolic authority, or Apostolic approval.

Please note that Jesus Christ is the one, supreme authority in the Church, and indeed, in all of creation. All other authority (including Apostolic authority), is derived, or delegated. Whenever the Apostles speak or write with authority, they do so as exercising the Lord’s authority.

The New Testament Canonical Books

There were three reasons for a need to determine a New Testament canon.

A heretic, Marcion (140 AD), developed his own canon and began to propagate it. The church needed to offset his influence by determining what the real canon of New Testament Scripture was.

Many Eastern churches were using books in services that were definitely questionable. It called for a decision concerning the canon.

The Edict of Diocletian (AD 303) declared the destruction of the sacred books of the Christians. Who wanted to die for just a book? They needed to know that their lives were being risked for the actual Word of God!

Who Recognized the New Testament as Canon?

The writings of Irenaeus (AD 180) attest to the canonicity of just about every New Testament book we have today.

He recognizes the fourfold Gospel, Acts, Romans, I & II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I & II Thessalonians, I & II Timothy, Titus, I Peter, I John, and Revelation.

His writings indicate that the fourfold Gospel was so universally accepted as to be recognized as an established fact.

Polycarp (AD 115), Clement and others refer to the Old and New Testament books with the phrase “as it is said in these scriptures.”

Athanasius of Alexandria (AD 367) gives us the earliest list of New Testament books which is exactly like our present New Testament.

Shortly after Athanasius, two writers, Jerome and Augustine, define the canon of 27 New Testament books.

The Synod of Hippo in AD 393 list officially the 27 books of the New Testament we have today.

They only recorded their previously established canonicity, authority that they recognized as already possessing.

Four years later at the Third Synod of Carthage, this ruling was re-established.

The Manuscripts

Autographs - Here this word refers to the original manuscripts that scripture was written on.

The cities receiving the actual Autographs were in the region of Asia Minor (Syria), Greece and Rome (the area of activity of the Apostles and the early Church).

The Bible itself attests to the proliferation of God’s Word:

Acts 6:7 KJV 1900

7 And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.

Acts 12:24 KJV 1900

24 But the word of God grew and multiplied.

Acts 13:49 KJV 1900

49 And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.

Acts 19:20 KJV 1900

20 So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.

Wilber Pickering, TH.M in Greek Exegesis from Dallas Theological Seminary and M.A. and Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Toronto says:

“We may reasonably assume that in the earliest period of the transmission of the text, the most reliable copies of the Autographs would be circulating in the region that held the Autographs. With an ever-increasing demand and consequent proliferation of copies throughout the Graeco-Roman world and with the potential for verifying copies by having recourse to the centers still possessing the Autographs, the early textual situation was highly favorable to the wide dissemination of MSS in close agreement with the original text … It follows that within a relatively few years after the writing of the N.T. books, there came rapidly into existence a ‘Majority text’, whose form was essentially that of the Autographs … the science of statistical probability demonstrates that a text form in such circumstances could scarcely be dislodged from its dominant position … in every age, from the apostolic to the nineteenth century, the text form in question … was the one that the church in general recognized, used, and transmitted.”

Scholars agree unanimously on the overwhelming dominance of this New Testament ‘Majority Text’ in the early church and throughout history.

Today the Majority Text is also called the Syrian Test, the Byzantine Text, and the K (Kappa) or Common Text.

This text type is available today in English in the King James Version, or Authorized Version.

What about the other translations?

The 1% Minority

There is another body of manuscripts that disagrees with the other 99% (the Majority text). These include:

Vaticanus (B)

Sinaiticus (Aleph)

Bezae (D)

Papyrus 75

Dean John Burgon, the scholar who has collated the most early New Testament witnesses (87,000), writes concerning the four uncials, Aleph, B, C, and D,

“All four are discovered on careful scrutiny to differ essentially, not only from the 99 out of 100 of the whole body of extant manuscripts, but even from each other.”

In 1881 this 1% minority text type supplanted the Majority Text with its almost two millennia standing. A ‘New’ Greek Text, using the Vatican manuscript (B), was introduced by Wescott and Hort and has been used as the Greek Text for all subsequent versions.

Pickering speaks of these manuscripts:

“The distressing realization is forced upon us that the ‘progress’ of the past hundred years has been precisely in the wrong direction – our modern versions and critical texts are found to differ from the Original in some six thousand places, many of them being serious differences … they are several times farther removed from the originals than are the A.V. and TR [King James Version and its foundation, the Greek Texus Receptus]. How could such a calamity have come upon us … much of the work that has been done is flawed …”

Zane Hodges, professor of New Testament Literature and Exegesis at Dallas Theological Seminary and co-editor of a Greek New Testament refers to new versions as,

“Monstrously unscientific, if not dangerously obscurantist. The average well-taught Bible-believing Christian has often heard the King James Version corrected on the basis of ‘better manuscripts’ or ‘older authorities’ … Lacking any kind of technical training in this area, the average believer probably has accepted such explanations from individuals he regards as qualified to give them.”

Conclusion

The Dead Sea Scrolls

Discovered in February or March of 1947 by a Bedouin shepherd boy named Muhammad who was searching for his lost goat. He tossed a stone into a hole in a cliff on the west side of the Dead Sea, about eight miles south of Jericho. He heard the sound of shattering pottery. Investigating, he discovered an amazing sight. On the floor of the cave were several large jars containing leather scrolls, wrapped in linen cloth. Because the jars were carefully sealed, the scrolls had been preserved in excellent condition for nearly 1,900 years. (They were evidently placed there in A.D. 68).

One scroll found was a complete MS of the Hebrew text of Isaiah, dated to around 125 B.C., more than 1,000 years older than any MS previously discovered.

Of the 166 words in Isaiah 53, there is only one word (three letters) in question after a thousand years of transmission – and this word does not significantly change the meaning of the passage.