Transcript Defending the Faith

The Bible:
A Unique
Book
1: Being the only one; 2: Being without a
like or equal; 3: Very rare or uncommon”
Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary
A Comparison to Other Books
“Pile them if you will, on the left side of
your study table; but place your own Holy
Bible on the right side – all by itself, all
alone – and with a wide gap between them.
For … there is a gulf between it and the socalled sacred books of the East which severs
the one from the other utterly, hopelessly,
and forever.”
(Professor M. Montiero-Williams, former
Boden professor of Sanskrit. This quote after
spending forty-two years studying Eastern
books)
(All About the Bible, Sidney Collett, 314-315)
Unique in its Continuity
• Written over a 1500 year span
• Written by over 4o authors
Kings, peasants, military leaders,
philosophers, fishermen, poets, shepherds
• Written in different places, times
(war/peace) and moods (joy, sorrow,
certainty, doubt)
• Written on 3 continents (Asia, Africa,
Europe)
• Written in three languages (Hebrew,
Aramaic, Greek)
Nehemiah 13:24
And half of their children spoke the
language of Ashdod, and could not speak
the language of Judah, but spoke
according to the language of one or the
other people.
Hebrew is called the “language of
Judah.” In Isaiah 19:18, it is referred to
as the “language of Canaan.”
Matthew 27:46
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried
out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli,
lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My
God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Aramaic, the common language of the
Near East until Alexander the Great.
Similar to Hebrew. Parts of Daniel (chs.
2-7) and Ezra (chs. 4-7) written in
Aramaic. Still spoken today.
The Greek New Testament
“The conquests of Alexander the Great
encouraged the spread of Greek language
and culture. Regional dialects were largely
replaced by ‘Hellenistic’ or ‘koine’
(common) Greek … The Koine dialect added
many vernacular expressions to Attic Greek,
thus making it more cosmopolitan.
Simplifying the grammar also better
adapted it to a world-wide culture. The new
language, reflecting simple, popular speech,
became the common language of commerce
and diplomacy.”
(Foundations for Biblical Interpretation, David S. Dockery, 224-225, 227)
Unique in its Continuity
• Written in different literary styles
(poetry, history, song, personal letters, law,
prophecy)
• Addressed hundreds of controversial
subjects that would create differing
opinions among men (divorce and
remarriage, homosexuality, authority, truthtelling VS lying, parenting, nature of
revelation, etc.) with harmony
• Despite these things, the Bible presents
a single unfolding story, God’s
redemption of man.
The Bible: One Book
“For all that, the Bible is not simply
an anthology; there is a unity which
binds the whole together. An
anthology is compiled by an
anthologist, but no anthologist
compiled the Bible.”
(The Books and the Parchments, F.F. Bruce, 88)
2 Timothy 3:16-17
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of
God, and is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness, 17 that the man of God may
be complete, thoroughly equipped for
every good work.”
The one common element in the Bible,
which results in such continuity, is the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Unique in Other Ways
• Unique in its Circulation
More copies produced than any other book
ever. (In the billions).
• Unique in its Translation
Over 2,200 languages (comprising well over
90% of the world’s population).
• Unique in its Survival
Compared with other ancient writings, the
Bible has more manuscript evidence to
support it than any 10 pieces of classical
literature combined.
OT Manuscripts
“Jews preserved it as no other
manuscript has ever been preserved. With
their massora (parva, magna, and finalis)
they kept tabs on every letter, syllable, word
and paragraph. They had special classes of
men within their culture whose sole duty
was to preserve and transmit these
documents with practically perfect fidelity –
scribes, lawyers, massoretes. Who ever
counted the letters and syllables and words
of Plato or Aristotle? Cicero or Seneca?”
(Protestant Christian Evidences, 1953, Bernard Ramm, 230-231)
Unique in its Teachings
• Prophecy
No other book speaks with such specificity
of future word events, national conditions,
or the coming of a Messiah.
Deuteronomy 18:20-22
“But the prophet who presumes to speak a
word in My name, which I have not commanded
him to speak, or who speaks in the name of
other gods, that prophet shall die. 21 And if you
say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word
which the LORD has not spoken?’ - 22 when a
prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the
thing does not happen or come to pass, that is
the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the
prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you
shall not be afraid of him.”
No unconditional prophecy of scripture
has ever gone unfulfilled
Micah 5:2
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are little among the
thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall
come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in
Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old,
From everlasting.”
Micah predicted the Messiah’s
birth in Bethlehem over 700 years
before it happened.
Isaiah 7:14
“Therefore the Lord Himself will give
you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall
conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His
name Immanuel.”
Isaiah predicted the nature of the
Messiah’s birth over 750 years
before it happened.
Unique in its Teachings
• Prophecy
No other book speaks with such specificity
of future word events, national conditions,
or the coming of a Messiah
• History
The historical narrative of Israel in the Old
Testament is significant in its detail, its
accuracy and its verifiability.
Jewish History
Archeologist William F. Albright:
“Hebrew national tradition excels
all others in its clear picture of tribal
anf family origins. In Egypt and
Babylonia, in Assyria and Phoenicia,
In Greece and Rome, we look in vain
for anything comparable. There is
nothing like it in the tradition of the
Germanic peoples. Neither India or
China can produce anything similar…”
(as quoted by Lewis Finkelstein, editor of The Jews, Their History, Culture, and Religion, 3)
Table of Nations
Concerning the reliability of the “Table of
Nations” in Genesis 10, William F. Albright:
“It stands absolutely alone in
ancient literature without a remote
parallel even among the Greeks … ‘The
Table of Nations’ remains an
astonishingly accurate document.”
(Recent Discoveries in Bible Lands, 70-72)
Unique in its Teachings
• Prophecy
No other book speaks with such specificity
of future word events, national conditions,
or the coming of a Messiah
• History
The historical narrative of Israel in the Old
Testament is significant in its detail, its
accuracy and its verifiability.
• Character
The Bible focuses on reality, not fantasy.
Even when the “protagonists” are put in a
bad light.
Character Flaws Revealed
• The Sins of the
Patriarchs are
mentioned
(Genesis 12:11-13;
Genesis 49:5-7)
• The Sins of the People
are Denounced
(Deuteronomy 9:24)
• David’s Adultery with
Bathsheba is revealed
(2 Samuel 11-12)
• The Gospel
Evangelists express
their own faults and
those of the apostles
(Matt. 8:23-26; 26:3156; Mark 6:52; 8:18;
Luke 8:24,25; 9:4045; John 10:6)
• Disorder in the
church is exposed
(1 Corinthians 1:11;
15:12)
Conclusion
The Bible is Unique
in its Influence
Upon Civilization
No other book has had a greater influence
upon mankind. Our calendars, ethics, laws,
morals, etc., are all impacted by the Bible.
The Bible’s Influence
“The influence of the Bible and its teaching
in the Western world is clear for all who study
history. And the influential role of the West in
the course of world events is equally clear.
Civilization has been influenced more by the
Judeo-Christian Scriptures than by any other
book or series of books in the world. Indeed,
no great moral or religious work in the world
exceeds the depth of morality in the principle
of Christian love, and none has a more lofty
spiritual concept that the biblical view of God.
(Norman L. Geisler, A General Introduction to the Bible, 196-197)
Romans 1:16
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God to
salvation for everyone who believes,
for the Jew first and also for the
Greek.”
More than just a unique and influential
book, the Bible is God’s Word. It is the will
of God for man, and must be heeded for
man’s redemption!