What is the Bible?

The Bible is the most popular and studied book in human history and for many of us, we don’t know it as well as we should. Tonight we’re going to look at several questions that people have about the Bible and several questions that you all asked last week about the Bible! If we have time afterward, we’ll have some more time for questions.

Islam vs Christianity

Islam was not a thing until the early 600s AD and was founded by a man in present day Saudi Arabia named Muhammad. He claimed to have received visions from the angel Gabriel and claimed to be the one true prophet of Allah. He conquered Saudi Arabia and his followers would conquer much of Africa/Middle East/Southeastern Europe. The main book in Islam is the Quran.

Quran - Contains historical and prophetic errors within it. The Quran states that during Moses’ leadership a Samaritan led the people into error. Moses was in leadership around 1400 BC and Samaria was founded in 870 BC. The Samaritans didn’t exist until after the nation of Israel split in 722 BC. We’re talking about a gap of over 500+ years, yet the Quran says that these people were around at the same time. This is simply not historically accurate and there are dozens of other historical inaccuracies associated with the book, not to mention theological inaccuracies.

Some say that Muslims and Christians worship the same God - while they both claim to worship the God of Abraham, they trace things very differently. Who was Abraham’s son with Sarah? Isaac. In the Bible this is the son of the promise and eventually Jesus will come from Isaac’s offspring. The Muslims trace things through Ishmael - Abraham’s son with his wife’s slave, Hagar. Because of this, there are some similarities in the stories in the Quran and in the Bible, but there are some significant differences as well!

The Quran tells Muslims to kill the infidel (non-Muslim) if the infidel doesn’t convert to Islam - Jesus tells us in the Bible to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us

Muslims believe that Abraham was not the father of the Jews but a Muslim. There are 3 different types of Muslims out there

Sunni

85% of Muslims

Relatively peaceful and mainstream Muslims

Much of Africa/Middle East

Shia

10-14%

Smaller amount but more radical

Very common in Iraq and Iran

Sufi

1-3%

More mystical than other 2 - more interested in personal knowledge than following Quran

Muslims are familiar with the Bible and often respect it but the Quran and Bible are not compatible with one another as they teach different things. The Quran praises parts of the Bible (first 5 books and parts of the Gospels) but says the other parts are corrupted and false. The Bible says that all Scripture is God-breathed and profitable.

Differences between Quran and Bible

Quran never says that God is love - Bible does repeatedly - 1 John 4:8 says that God IS love

Quran says that God cannot be approached - Bible says that God draws His people into a relationship like a father and son

Quran says that God does not seek to redeem sinners - the Bible says that God seeks to redeem sinners and sent His Son to do this - Romans 5:8 shares this truth

Quran says that God is only merciful to Muslims - the Bible says that God is merciful to all as Titus 3:5 says

Quran says that Jesus is not the Son of God - the Bible clearly says that He is

The Quran says that Jesus is not the Savior - the Bible says that Jesus is the only savior

The Quran oppresses women and tells men they can beat their wives - the Bible says that a husband must love his wife as Christ loved the church

The Quran teaches that men have greater rights than women - the Bible says that we are equally created in God’s image and that we are equal in Christ

Bible Translation

Why are there so many translations of the Bible? Which one is right? Which one is wrong?

KJV - good translation

ESV - good translation

CSB - good translation

Whenever a translation is made, people base what they translate off of the original text of Scripture: Hebrew or Greek. The KJV was translated 500 years ago and that’s why you have some language that isn’t used any more in our culture. No one goes around talking in thee or thou language - we say he or they instead. Before the KJV there were the original languages and there was Scripture in a language called Latin - used in the Roman Catholic Church. No one could understand these languages, though, and no one could read the Bible for their own. As a result, people like Willian Tyndale, John Knox, Martin Luther, and countless others broke off from the Roman Catholic Church in hopes that people would be able to possess and read Scripture in their native language and be able to worship God individually rather than simply taking someone else's word for things.

The earliest English translators used the best Greek and Hebrew manuscripts available to them: Erasmus in 1515 did this and he had a 12th century Greek manuscript for the New Testament. This means that the KJV is based on Greek manuscripts written 1000 years after Jesus’ death. Now, these manuscripts are very reliable because they are copies of other copies! But, still, a lot of time has transpired between Jesus’ life and these manuscripts. In the years since the KJV was translated, Christian historians and scientists have found thousands of additional Greek and Hebrew manuscripts that are much closer to Jesus’ day - in fact, we have some manuscripts dating to 30-40 years after Jesus’ life! These types of manuscripts are valued more in the academic community because of their closeness to Jesus’ life. Newer translations, such as the New American Standard Bible and the Christian Standard Bible, are able to use the information found in these older manuscripts and that’s why you have some differences from one translation to another.

2 reasons for different translations:

English language changes - translation matches language

Balancing literal vs dynamic method

[Insert translation chart here]

You have very literal, word by word translations on this side and more functional or thought by thought translations on this side

Many of these are good translations. Whenever you’re doing your quiet time, a translation like the ESV, CSB, or NASB is going to be helpful as it’s going to give you the literal meaning. A translation like the NIV or NLT or Message is going to be a little more thought for thought and it’s going to give you the overall idea in a different way. Here’s a Bible study tip: If you read something in the CSB (what I preach out of and use to study) and you can’t quite get the meaning, try the NIV or NLT to see if it helps. The literal one, in my mind, is better for Bible study because of its accuracy, but the other ones are helpful!

Are there Errors in Bible?

If we were able to read the Bible without a preconceived idea one way or the other, we’d find the Bible to be a relatively easy to understand book that tells us a story from cover to cover of how God loves and redeems His creation. This doesn’t mean that there aren’t difficult passages and stories! The Bible was written by 40 authors over 1500 years, of course there’s a lot of differences just among those people and their contexts. Take this for example: Paul says in Ephesians 2 that

Ephesians 2:8–9 CSB

8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— 9 not from works, so that no one can boast.

James says something different, though

James 2:26 CSB

26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

James says that we have to have faith and works - Paul says that it’s just faith and not works. Some say that this is an error and a contradiction because these 2 verses oppose one another. We have to study what they mean a little bit!

Paul is talking about what it means to be saved - we are saved by God’s grace, not through our works

James is talking about the impact of salvation on our lives - we are saved to work, not saved to sit

If you are saved, you will work because you are a new creation! This isn’t a contradiction, it’s a different perspective about a different thing.

Whenever someone tells you that there is an error or you think that there is an error do these things:

Pray and study Scripture to see if there’s a simple solution like the one above

Consult a commentary and do some research, Google is awesome but some of the stuff on there isn’t the most accurate

Ask teachers at church! Ask your pastor!

If you still can’t understand the difference after these 3 things, understand that God is God and we are not and that the solution might not be realized today, but it will be realized one day either through study or whenever you meet God in heaven

When were the Bible books written?

The Old Testament was written from 1400 BC - 400 BC and the New Testament was written from around 40-90 AD. We read in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that “all Scripture is inspired by God.” What is this talking about? Specifically, it’s talking about the autographs and originals - not necessarily the manuscripts. If someone says that there’s been editing of Scripture and things of that nature, you can point them to the copies of manuscripts that we already have that are remarkably similar. We have copies from the 2nd century that are nearly identical to ones from the 13th century. While there might be a spelling distinction from one to another, we have no difference in doctrine from one manuscript to another. They are remarkably similar across the board!

Paper and ink were expensive back in Bible times (estimated that Romans cost $4,000 to write due to expenses) and as a result, if you were making a copy for yourself or your local church, you’d want to make sure you were copying it exactly as it was written! The way this would often work is like this: Paul in Romans had someone called an amanuensis who would serve as a scribe and write down what Paul told him to write

Romans 16:22 CSB

22 I, Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord.

Think of the Christians in Rome receiving the book of Romans - this is a big book and there’s only 1 autograph to go around to several different churches. This isn’t going to work well - so they make manuscripts/copies of the autograph.

More manuscripts of Bible than any other book in human history. We have over 5,600 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament and they are 99.4% the same from one to the next. There is minimal difference and the differences that do exist in the old manuscripts don’t change key Biblical truths such as the birth of Jesus, His resurrection, or that we are saved by grace through faith in Christ.

Why are some Books in the Bible and not others?

This is a great question! We call this the canon of Scripture. What did it take to make it into the canon of God’s Word?

3 key things:

Who was the author?

Was it a prophet of God?

Was it written by someone who had a connection to Jesus?

Was it an eye witness account?

What is the message?

Is the message correct or does it not line up with other Scripture?

How widespread is the book?

Did only 1 person know about this book or did many people know it?

After these 3 questions were asked, and evaluated, a book would either be considered canon or it would not. There are many books that are interesting but not in Scripture - how did they not make it in? Because they failed one of these 3 criteria. Maybe the author wasn’t known or the message didn’t line up with other Scripture?

There are lists dating back to the early 2nd century talking about books that are stated to have authority because they are considered Scripture. Several councils of church leaders helped weed out books that didn’t belong because they didn’t meet the criteria. Important to remember that these councils didn’t decide the Bible - God did because He inspired the authors to write what they wrote. These leaders simply prayed to discern which books were inspired and make sure that they didn’t include any non-inspired book (think of books in Apocrypha)

How many of you know someone who is either Catholic or Mormon?

Many of us do!

Catholics believe that some books, Apocrypha, are considered Scripture and that they are authoritative just like Genesis, Isaiah, John, and Romans. Why do they think this way?

Apocrypha

These books were accepted into the Catholic Bible in 1546 at the Council of Trent

We find numerous examples of contradictions in these books and Jesus, who quoted from every OT section, never once quoted them (they were written 300 BC - 100 AD)

Gospel of Thomas for example: Supposed to be written by Thomas, the disciple.

Actually written around 175 AD - not by Thomas

It fails the test of Orthodoxy as it says that Jesus said this, “Look, I will guide her to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every female who makes herself male will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” This is called Gnosticism and doesn’t line up with other Scripture because this is such a low view of women.

It fails the test of being widespread because it wasn’t discovered until 1945 and wasn’t accepted by early church like other books were

Book of Mormon

Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon in the early/mid 1800s and the Mormons hold the Bible, Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants as equals. Joseph Smith talked a lot about prophecies that were coming up and said that Jesus would return in 1891 (He didn’t). Look at what Deuteronomy 18 says about false prophets

Deuteronomy 18:20–22 CSB

20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a message in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods—that prophet must die.’ 21 You may say to yourself, ‘How can we recognize a message the Lord has not spoken?’ 22 When a prophet speaks in the Lord’s name, and the message does not come true or is not fulfilled, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.

The Bible says that whenever a person claims that something will happen and it doesn’t happen, they’re supposed to be killed. This is what the founder of the Mormon religion did.

Further, Mormonism teaches that Jesus and Satan are brothers. That you can become just like God one day and create your own planet. That everyone goes to heaven unless you’re like Adolf Hitler level bad. This isn’t Christianity!

Quran

The Quran, as already mentioned, as some contradictions as well. Its author, Muhammad, had no reliable testimony to back him up and no miracles to attest to God’s power in his ministry. He wrote what he did in the 600s AD and some Muslims teach that the reason that he did was because Christianity had gotten too corrupt and had missed the boat. Muslims teach that Jesus was a good prophet, but not the Son of God. They teach that Jesus didn’t actually die and raise from the dead to forgive humans of their sins. The Quran teaches that Christians believe in 3 different Gods, not 1 God and that Christians believe in the Father, Mother, and Son. They believe that the Father had to have a Mother to make the Son. Muslims demonstrate a fundamental lack of understanding of authentic Christianity.

What Makes the Bible Authoritative?

We touched on this idea last week - what is the standard for truth? Is something true just because we think that it is? Is red the best color just because I think so? No. Is something true just because a group of people say that it is? For example, for years and years, people believed that the earth was the center of the universe and the sun revolved around the earth - is that true? No. So who gets to define what true is? The standard of truth has to be above our level. Another human cannot define what truth is because they are fallen just as we are. We talked last week about how the standard of truth has to be from God. God’s Word defines what truth is because God Himself is truth. Therefore, God is the ultimate authority in the universe because He is the creator.

So, what makes the Bible authoritative? God does! We read that the Bible is God’s Word for us.

2 Timothy 3:16 CSB

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness,

How do we know that what we read in the Bible is actually from God?

2 Peter 1:20–21 CSB

20 Above all, you know this: No prophecy of Scripture comes from the prophet’s own interpretation, 21 because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Because God is the ultimate authority, His Word has the ultimate authority in our lives. We all must obey the Bible because God is our creator. Our worldly definitions of right and wrong have no impact on what Scripture clearly teaches because Scripture by definition is the standard to determine what is right and what is wrong. The authority of the Bible extends to every area of life. Meaning that the Bible is the authority for how to act at church, at home, at school, and at work. The Bible tells us how to treat others that we like and those that we don’t like. Humans don’t make the Bible authoritative - your parents don’t make the Bible authoritative - the Bible is authoritative because God is its author.