Transcript New Testament Survey DBA

Spiritual Maturity Training
Upper Midwest Family of Churches
FALL 2013
Spiritual Maturity Training
• Today’s Schedule
• Session 1 - 10:10-10:53 – Can We Trust Our Bibles
• Break - 10:53-11:00
• Session 2 - 11:00-11:45 – Important Themes in the NT
• Break – 11:45-12:00
• Session 3 - 12:00-12:45 – The Gospels
• Lunch - 12:45-2:15
• Session 4 - 2:15-3:00 – Hard Questions from the New Testament
• Break - 3:00-3:10
• Session 5 - 3:10-3:55 – Paul and the New Humanity
Spiritual Maturity Training
• Course Schedule
• Biblical Interpretation
Spring 2012
Mke/Mnpls
Burns
• Core Doctrines & Church LifeFall, 2012
Mnpls./Mke
Saindon/ Burns
• Reading the Old Testament
Mke/Mnpls
Alexander/Stevens
• Reading the New Testament Fall, 2013
Mad/EC
Burns/ Alexander
• Defending the Gospel
Spring, 2014
TBA
TBA
• Evidences of the Faith
Fall, 2014
TBA
TBA
• What we Believe About God Spring, 2015
TBA
TBA
• The Kingdom of God
TBA
TBA
Spring, 2013
Fall, 2015
Can We Rely on the
New Testament?
4 Common Attacks on the New Testament
1. NT Writers didn’t intend to write Scripture
(Power Struggles produced Scripture)
2. NT Canon wasn’t established until the 4th
century (or later)
3. There were many contenders to be part of the
NT
4. The texts aren’t reliable (copies of copies of
copies)
EXPECTING CANON
Canon is Covenant
• The Old Testament is organized as a Covenant
document
“Biblical canon is covenantal
canon”
– Meredith Kline, The Structure
of Biblical Authority
Jeremiah 31:31
• “The days are coming,” declares the LORD,
“when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
and with the people of Judah”
Luke 22:20
•
20 In
the same way, after the supper he took the
cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my
blood, which is poured out for you.”
A Completely New Covenant
•
15 For
this reason Christ is the mediator of a new
covenant, that those who are called may receive
the promised eternal inheritance—now that he
has died as a ransom to set them free from the
sins committed under the first covenant.
– Hebrews 9
Get rid of the Old Covenant
•
24 These
things are being taken figuratively: The
women represent two covenants. . . . 30 But what
does Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman
and her son, for the slave woman’s son will
never share in the inheritance with the free
woman’s son.”[f] 31 Therefore, brothers and
sisters, we are not children of the slave woman,
but of the free woman.
- Galatians 4
The Fulfillment of the Law
•
17 “Do
not think that I have come to abolish the Law or
the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to
fulfill them. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth
disappear [a common 1st century figure of speech
meaning “it’s not going to happen], not the smallest
letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means
disappear from the Law until everything is
accomplished. 19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one
of the least of these commands [the beatitudes that were
coming with the New Covenant as Jesus fulfilled the
Law] and teaches others accordingly will be called least in
the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and
teaches these commands will be called great in the
kingdom of heaven.
The Apostolic Authority
• John 16:13
• Matthew 10:1
• John 20:21
• Acts 1:8; 2:42; 10:41-42
• 1 Corinthians 12:28
• Ephesians 2:19-20; 3:4-6
• 2 Peter 3:2
Apostles’ Covenant Authority
• 1 Corinthians 14:37-38
• Mark 1:1
• Luke 1:1-4
• John 21:24
• 1 Corinthians 7:12
• 1 Thessalonians 2:4, 13
Publicly Read as Scripture
• Colossians 4:16
• 1 Thessalonians 5:27
• Revelation 1:3
Covenantal Curses for Altering
• Revelations 22:18-19 (see Deuteronomy 4:2)
The New Testament as Scripture
• 2 Peter 3:16
• 1 Timothy 5:18 (Luke 10:7)
Attacking New Testament Reliability
1. NT Writers didn’t intend to write Scripture
(Power Struggles produced Scripture)
2. NT Canon wasn’t established until the 4th century (or
later)
3. There were many contenders to be part of the NT
4. The texts aren’t reliable (copies of copies of copies)
The Standard - Canon Criteria
Apostolic
• Written by an apostle or companion;
Dating to the 1st Century
Orthodox
• Doctrinally sound with OT and
apostolic teaching
Catholicity
• Universally used and read in the
churches
The Standard – Received
•
3 For
what I received I passed on to you as of
first importance – 1 Cor. 15:3
• you accepted it not as a human word, but as it
actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at
work in you who believe. – 1 Thess. 2:13
• “Do not abandon the commandments of the
Lord, but guard what you have received, neither
adding to them nor taking away.” – Didache (c.
100 AD)
The Standard - Rejected
• “Hermas composed The Shepherd quite
recently—in our times, in the city of Rome,
while his brother Pius the overseer served as
overseer of the city of Rome. So, while it should
indeed be read, it cannot be read publicly for the
people of the church—it is counted neither among the
Prophets (for their number has been completed)
nor among the Apostles (for it is after their time)” –
Muratorian Fragment (c. 170 AD)
Development of Canon
Source
Year
NT Books Cited
Other Works Fully
Accepted as New
Covenant Scripture
Justin Martyr
c. 150
Quotes from 13 NT
books
None
Irenaeus
c. 185
21 (including all 4
Gospels)
None
Muratorian
Fragment
c. 170
22 (including all 4
Gospels)
None
Origen
c. 245
Mentions all 27 NT
books
None
Eusebius
Early 4th Cent.
22 (including all 4
Gospels)
Ahtanasius
367
Lists the 27 books
of the NT as canon
None
Muratorian Canon Categories
Accepted
Disputed
Rejected but
to be read
privately
Heretical
Gospels/Acts
Paul to
Laodicea
Paul’s Letters
Paul to
Alexandria
Solomon of
Wisdom
1 & 2 John,
Jude
Revelation
Apocalypse of
Peter
Shepherd of
Hermas
Arsinous
Valentinus
Basilides
Marcion
Montanists
Eusebius Canon Categories
Acknowledged
Books
Gospels/Acts
Disputed
Books
Spurious
Books
Rejected
Books
James
Apocalypse of
Peter
Gospel of
Peter
Acts of Paul
Paul’s Letters
1 John
1 Peter
Jude
2 Peter
Shepherd of
Hermas
Epistle of
Barnabas
Apocalypse of
John
Didache
Revelation
2/3 John
(Hebrews)
Gospel of
Thomas
Gospel of
Matthias
Acts of
Andrew
Acts of John
Canon of Athanasius
• 325 AD - Attended Council of Nicea
• 328 AD - Bishop of Church in Alexandria
• 367 AD - 39th Festal letter
“In these alone, the teaching if godliness is proclaimed.
Let no one add to these; let nothing be taken away
from them.”
– Athanasius finally had enough of the Gnostic
“gospels” and put his foot down, confirming them to
be heretical and no longer being patient with the
Gnostics and their teachings
Athanasius Canon Categories
“Books of the
New Testament”
To Be Read
Gospels/Acts
Wisdom of Solomon
Paul’s letters/
Hebrews
Wisdom of Sirach
Esther, Judith, Tobit
General Epistles
Revelation
Shepherd of Hermas
Didache
Heretical
Books
“there should
be no mention
of all of
apocryphal
books created
by heretics”
Other Significant Documents
The Shepherd of Hermas
The Didache
The Diatessaron
The Epistle of Barnabas
1 Enoch
The Apocalypse of Peter
The Letter of Clement
Wisdom of Solomon
Attacking New Testament Reliability
1. NT Writers didn’t intend to write Scripture
(Power Struggles produced Scripture)
2. NT Canon wasn’t established until the 4th
century (or later)
3. There were many contenders to be part of the
NT
4. The texts aren’t reliable (copies of copies of
copies)
The Pretenders - Canon
• There were disputed books through the first 4
centuries (and beyond) but there is amazing and
overwhelming agreement as the NT cannon
developed
− Only the 4 Gospels were ever accepted
− Paul’s letters were overwhelmingly accepted
− No book that is not in the 27 was ever widely
accepted as a NT book
Other Writings
Work
Approximate Year Written
Gospel of Thomas
150-200 AD
Gospel of Truth
3rd century
Gospel of May
150-180 AD
Gospel of Philip
180-350 AD
Gospel of Judas
Late 2nd – Early 3rd century
Gospel of Nicodemus (Acts of Pilate)
Late 4th century
The Gnostic “Gospels”
•
•
•
•
•
Denied the OT
Believed an evil god named Demiurge created the world
Salvation was not who you know but what you know
Elitist and intellectual-focused (self-help for those in the “know”)
Mixed the religious and philosophic beliefs of the day with a bit of
gospel (with the Cross almost entirely removed)
• Removed the Jewishness of Jesus and the Gospels
• Denied the goodness of creation and the material realm
• Modern claims of the Gnostics that they believed Jesus was married—
they would have been the last ones to claim that (they believed that you
could transfer knowledge through a holy kiss on the cheek)
− Gospel of Phillip implies that Mary was enlightened by Jesus not married
to him
Reasons for Rejecting these Other
Writings
• Clashed with Old Testament Teaching
• Did not have apostolic connections
• Were written too late to be approved by the
apostles
• Contained aberrant doctrines about Christ and
the gospel
• Were never widely accepted by the Orthodox
churches
Confirming Canon
• The Church went through a careful process of
sifting out the canon
• There was never any real debate over the four
gospels and Paul’s writings
• The Gnostic gospels were never on any canon
list—Ever!
Attacking New Testament Reliability
1. NT Writers didn’t intend to write Scripture
(Power Struggles produced Scripture)
2. NT Canon wasn’t established until the 4th
century (or later)
3. There were many contenders to be part of the
NT
4. The texts aren’t reliable (copies of copies of
copies)
Textual Criticism
(Lower Criticism)
• Concerned with the identification and removal
of transcription errors in the texts of ancient
biblical manuscripts.
Common Claims
• We have no surviving original autographs of the New
Testament
• Of the 5,800+ Greek manuscripts, no two are identical
• There are over 400,000 transcriptional variants in the
New Testament manuscripts
• There are only about 138,000 words in the whole New
Testament
• The texts have been copied so many times and so
riddled with errors that it is impossible to know what
the original autographs actually said
Papyrus
Parchment
Scroll vs. Codex
Greek Manuscript Text-Types
Alexandrian
Western
Caesarean
Byzantine
• Library
• Scholastic
• Most accurate
• Loose
• Many variants
• One or many
introductions
• Conflation text
• True text-type?
• Late date
• Majority Text
Types of Greek Manuscripts
papyri
uncials
minuscules
lectionaries
• 116 MSS
• 2nd – 8th
century
• ½ early
• 4th or
earlier
• 310 MSS
• Also called
majuscules
• 3rd – 8th
century
• 2877 MSS
• Byzantine
• 2432 MSS
• Byzantine
Common Claims
• We have no surviving original autographs of the New
Testament
• Of the 5,800+ Greek manuscripts, no two are identical
• There are over 400,000 transcriptional variants in the
New Testament manuscripts
• There are only about 138,000 words in the whole New
Testament
• The texts have been copied so many times and so
riddled with errors that it is impossible to know what
the original autographs actually said
No Twin
• Although it is true that there are no two
manuscripts that are identical:
− This is an unrealistic expectation before the printing
press
− You would not expect two hand-written manuscripts
of that size to be identical
− There is no precedent for such a thing in the ancient
manuscript world
Common Claims
• We have no surviving original autographs of the New
Testament
• Of the 5,800+ Greek manuscripts, no two are identical
• There are over 400,000 transcriptional variants in the
New Testament manuscripts
• There are only about 138,000 words in the whole New
Testament
• The texts have been copied so many times and so
riddled with errors that it is impossible to know what
the original autographs actually said
What About All Those Variations?
400,000
Variants
(errors)
What About All Those Variations?
400,000
Variants
(errors)
138,000
Words in
the Entire
NT
What About All Those Variations?
400,000
Variants
(errors)
5,800
Manuscripts
Average of
69 variants
per
manuscript
Minor Variations
• Minor spelling differences
• Confusing similar letters
• Skipped words or lines
• Repeated words or lines
• Changes in word order in a sentence
• Dropping an article like “the” before a proper
noun
What About All Those Variations?
Minor
Variations
69 Variants
per
Manuscripts
99%
of all
Variants
What About All Those Variations?
69 Variants
per
Manuscripts
What’s Left?
Less than 1%
Other Variations
• Intentional explanation notes inserted:
− John 5:3-4
− Mark 1:2
• Other Scriptural references inserted
− Matthew 6:13 (1 Chronicles 29:11)
• Inserted sections:
− John 7:53-8:11
− Mark 16:9-20
• Unresolved variants (.002% of NT text)
− An extremely small handful of passages are left (and we know
what they are!
− They make NO difference in our understanding of any biblical
doctrine, belief, or practice
How Do the NT Manuscripts
Stack Up?
How Far Away?
Your
House
60 m. –
Could you How
hear your about at
mom?
500 m.
How
about at
1,200 m.
How
about at
1,400 m.
Gap between original and earliest copies
Your
House
Year the
Text
Was
Written
NT
60 m.
Homer
500 m.
Plato
1,200 m.
Aristotle
1,400 m.
How Many Candy Bars?
Candy
Bars
Would you be
happy with 7
Candy bars?
How about
49?
How about
643?
What about
5,800? You
would be
set for life
How Many Manuscripts?
Plato
7 manuscripts
Aristotle 49
manuscripts
Number of
Manuscripts
Homer
643 manuscripts
NT 5,800+
manuscripts
How Does the NT Stack Up?
Date
Written
Earliest Copy
Approximate Time Span
between original & copy
Number of
Copies
Accuracy of
Copies
Pliny
61-113 A.D.
850 A.D.
750 yrs
7
----
Plato
427-347 B.C.
900 A.D.
1200 yrs
7
----
Herodotus
480-425 B.C.
900 A.D.
1300 yrs
8
----
Euripides
480-406 B.C.
1100 A.D.
1300 yrs
9
----
Aristophanes
450-385 B.C.
900 A.D.
1200
10
----
Caesar
100-44 B.C.
900 A.D.
1000
10
----
Tacitus
circa 100 A.D.
1100 A.D.
1000 yrs
20
----
Aristotle
384-322 B.C.
1100 A.D.
1400
49
----
Sophocles
496-406 B.C.
1000 A.D.
1400 yrs
193
----
900 B.C.
400 B.C.
500 yrs
643
95%
1st Cent. A.D.
(50-100 A.D.
2nd Cent. A.D.
(c. 130 A.D. f.)
less than 100 years
5600
99.5%
Author2
Homer
(Iliad)
New
Testament
Reliability – A Case Study
• Muhammad solely records revelations from
“Gabriel” over a period of 23 years (even
Muhammad questioned this process at first)
• He wrote down some of the revelations on palm
fronds, bones and tablets but the majority was
entrusted to certain individuals to be memorized
• After Muhammad’s death, Abu Bakr decided to
collect all of the revelations into one volume partly
because many of the men who had memorized
portions had been killed in battle and there was a
fear of losing the majority of the revelations
Reliability – A Case Study
• Abu Bakr decided what would be included (during
this process several new verses were found and
accusations were made that some were changed)
• Throughout the ensuing years, the Caliph of Islam
completely controlled the Qur’an and all copies
made
• There were other copies with different verses and
different orders that were seized and destroyed
• Because of this, there is no guarantee that the
Qur’an as it is today is what Muhammad originally
revealed
Reliability – A Case Study
• On the other hand, from the earliest days, copying
the Bible was freely encouraged so that people could
read it and encounter God
• The manuscripts were spread so quickly and widely
that despite there being minor manuscript variants,
large-scale changing of the text would be rendered
impossible because manuscripts could be compared
against one another
• It would appear that God once again used human
beings (in a slightly messy way) to bring about the
best possible circumstances and display his glory
Common Claims
• We have no surviving original autographs of the New
Testament
• Of the 5,800+ Greek manuscripts, no two are identical
• There are over 400,000 transcriptional variants in the
New Testament manuscripts
• There are only about 138,000 words in the whole New
Testament
• The texts have been copied so many times and so
riddled with errors that it is impossible to know what
the original autographs actually said
The Encouraging News
• God always uses human beings in his plans
• This leads to a bit of messiness but God’s plans
are never thwarted
− What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify
God’s faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true, and every
human being a liar. – Romans 3:3-4
• God always leaves room for faith
• The New Testament Texts that we have are
incredibly reliable