Transcript How We Got the Bible - Glenpool Church of Christ

How We Got the Bible
INTRODUCTION
General Outline
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Introduction, Canon, & Inspiration
Oral Transmission & Early Forms
“Discovering” the Law (Josiah & Ezra)
Apocryphal Writings
Early Gospel Sources
The Writing of the New Testament
General Outline
7. The Dissemination of the New Testament
8. The New Testament Canon
9. Gnostic Gospels & Beyond
10.Textual Criticism
11.The Catholic Era & The Reformation
12.The Bible in Your Hand
What Will Be Covered
To understand how the book we call “the
Bible” came to be in our hands, we will need
to study:
• Several Thousand Years of History …
• Doubt: Created and Destroyed
• Myths & Misrepresentations
• LIGHTFOOT: “Living in a day when books are
written and printed by the thousands, we are
apt to overlook the fascinating drama that
lies behind our Bible.”
Inspiration
A Comparison for Sake of Brevity
• A WORD IS MADE OF TWO PARTS.
• The Living Word: Jesus is every bit divine and
every bit human.
• The Written Word: The Bible is every bit
divine in origin and yet is still very human.
• Inspiration is the process whereby a human
communicates a divinely given message.
• 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV) All Scripture is
breathed out by God …
The Canon
• kanon (Greek) / qaneh (Hebrew) – “reed”
• A canon is a standard rule of measuring.
• R.T. Beckwith: “With respect to the Bible, it
speaks of those books that met the standard
and therefore were worthy of inclusion.
Since the fourth century kanon has been
used by Christians to denote an authoritative
list of the books belonging to the Old
Testament or New Testament.”
The Bible
• biblia – “the books”
• Two Covenants/Testaments
– Old Testament
– New Testament
• At least 40 humans participated in the
writing of the Bible
• Around 1500 years transpire from the first
writing to the last
The Bible’s View of Itself
• Daniel 9:2
• Matthew 21:42
• 2 Peter 3:15-16
Hebrew Designations
Hebrew Scriptures or tanak
• TORAH – Law
• NEVI’M – Prophets
• KETHUVIM – Writings
• Matthew 5:17 (ESV) "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.”
Hebrew Designations
Josephus (Against Apion 1:8): For we have not
an innumerable multitude of books among us,
disagreeing from and contradicting one
another, [as the Greeks have,] but only
twenty-two books, which contain the records
of all the past times; which are justly believed
to be divine; and of them five belong to
Moses, which contain his laws and the
traditions of the origin of mankind till his
death. …
Hebrew Designations
Josephus (Against Apion 1:8): … This interval
of time was little short of three thousand
years; but as to the time from the death of
Moses till the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia,
who reigned after Xerxes, the prophets, who
were after Moses, wrote down what was
done in their times in thirteen books. The
remaining four books contain hymns to God,
and precepts for the conduct of human life. …
Hebrew Designations
Josephus (Against Apion 1:8): … It is true, our
history hath been written since Artaxerxes very
particularly, but hath not been esteemed of
the like authority with the former by our
forefathers, because there hath not been an
exact succession of prophets since that time;
and how firmly we have given credit to these
books of our own nation is evident by what we
do; …
Hebrew Designations
Josephus (Against Apion 1:8): … for during so
many ages as have already passed, no one has
been so bold as either to add any thing to
them, to take any thing from them, or to make
any change in them; but it is become natural to
all Jews immediately, and from their very birth,
to esteem these books to contain Divine
doctrines, and to persist in them, and, if
occasion be willingly to die for them.
Hebrew Designations
Hebrew Scriptures or tanak: Modern Designation
• Law: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy
• Prophets:
– Former Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel,
Kings
– Latter Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,
Book of the Twelve
• Writings: Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of
Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel,
Ezra/Nehemiah, Chronicles
Hebrew Language
Hebrew Language
• Hebrew originally had consonants and no
written vowels.
• Vowels were added in the 7th Century AD.
• Hebrew reads from right to left.
• Hebrew is a lyrical, poetic language.
• A small portion of the Old Testament is
written in Aramaic, as used in the Captivity.