James McBride: There are literally billions of copies of "The Bible" scattered around the world. It's said to be the world's most read book. You'll find it in almost every top drawer in any hotel. It ranks year by year as the top-selling title. Millions pick it up every day - for guidance in life, for intense study, for comfort.
But what is it? Certainly the Christian religion is based on the Bible. The word "Bible" (Gk. biblia) means "books". Indeed without the Bible Christianity would not exist. But what if it could be shown to be riddled with error? That it depicts non-events? That it is simply imagination run riot? That it is inconsistent? That's what scholars - many of them professing to be Christians have long sought to do.
The Bible has been undermined in the public mind to such an extent that it is now largely scorned - and sidelined to the point of irrelevance as a source of religious truth.
Yet many of the world's great have extolled its virtues and testified to its value for them.
"...the [Bible] is the Book that has held together the fabric of western civilization...it has unified and kept together great masses of people...it is the handbook of life to countless millions of men and women, it has explained the world to the mass of our people and has given them moral standards and a form into which their consciences could work." [H.G. Wells]
"If we abide by the principles taught by the Bible our country will go on prospering." [Daniel Webster]
In this lesson of Bible Basics we explore the question Can you trust the Bible? Using the sciences, using the study of the very text of the Bible, using the records of history we will investigate the "book that nobody knows" to find out whether or not you can literally "stake your life" on it.
If the Bible is "just another book" then any future lessons of Bible Basics will be pointless. But if it is indeed "the Word of God" - and can be shown to be so - then all of us need to sit up and take notice.
Pick up any full Bible in the Protestant tradition and you will find it has sixty-six "books". Some are long narratives, some are short letters. There are histories, songs, practical manuals, biographies, prophecies. You will see it has two divisions - named the Old Testament and the New Testament. (The word testament means a covenant.)
Jesus and his apostles used only the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament. The original Scriptures were arranged differently from our own versions. These were in three divisions: the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms (Luke 24:44). The Law was the Torah, the first five books of our Bible. "Torah" means "instruction". The Prophets were Joshua, Judges, Samuel, kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the 12 minor prophets. The Psalms (or The Writings) comprised the remaining books (including Daniel). It was upon these - collectively termed The Scriptures that they based their teachings (Luke 24:27,32)
Paul commended the inquirers in Thessalonia for their diligent checking of his teaching compared to the Scriptures (Acts 17:11). See, too, his comment to Timothy (II Timothy 3:14-15). Be sure to follow up all references in your own Bible! Read not only the verses indicated but also the context.
It's clear that the church of the first century based their teachings on the Old Testament [OT]. Indeed, there are over 275 direct quotations from the OT in the New. The apostles, while holding firmly to the meaning of the inspired text of the OT, quoted freely from a Greek translation (the Septuagint or LXX) as their primary source. Note, too, that not always did they quote the text exactly.
The documents we know as the New Testament (NT) were written many years after the first NT Pentecost in 31 AD. The earliest was probably Paul's letter to the Thessalonians (ca. 51 AD). Fragments of the gospel of John are dated soon after 100 A.D.
Precise dating of events in the New Testament is not possible, so we give the most likely dates, considering all the evidence. For details of the complexities of dating, see the book "Chronos, Kairos, Christos" edited by J. Vardaman and E.M. Yamaguchi, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1989.
all major changes from the teachings of the OT are documented in the NT, e.g., circumcision, see Acts 15; the sacrificial regime, see Hebrews
There are many teachings widespread in Christianity church today which do not have the backing of the Scriptures, e.g., the observance of the 40 days of Lent.
any changes or additional teaching required clear divine approval if it were to be acceptable to the Jews. God demonstrated this approval in a most obvious manner through the apostles and prophets - by "signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit"... Hebrews 2:4, Acts 2:43, 5:12, 14:3
The NT books were written in the first 100 years after Christ's crucifixion. Since then, no more NT books were written, because God's guidance through the Spirit was always in accord with the OT and the NT.
Paul required Timothy to pass on to others "what you have heard from me before many witnesses"...II Timothy 2:2
the Bible provides clear guidance as to the will of God, so that all doctrinal innovations contrary to the spirit and teachings of the canon of Scripture are heretical and mere human tradition. Jesus warned of the dangers of such traditions...Mark 7:1-9
Christians take a variety of positions regarding the authenticity of the Bible. Since the middle of the 19th century, it has been attacked and its authority undermined by some "scholars". But, at the same time, other scholars have demonstrated into trustworthiness! Sadly, in this materialistic age, the Bible's moral influence has sharply declined. Many more now read the Scriptures than a century ago - but it has little impact on life. Even professing Christians pay mere lip-service to its teachings. The Bible presents itself as the very Word of God. It claims divine inspiration. Yet if it is shown to be in fundamentally flawed then how can we believe its claim to be God's revelation to mankind - of his nature' of his purpose for us, of the one and only way of salvation through Jesus Christ?
So - can you trust the Bible?
Attacks on the Bible focus on the text, on its historical references, on whether or not it is mere myth - i.e., man's attempt to make sense of life through imagery.
Is the text of Scripture reliable?
Recall that Jesus stated the essential meaning of the Scriptures would remain intact through time... Matthew 5:18, Luke 16:17, John 10:35.
there's overwhelming evidence that the texts we have of both the Old and the New Testaments are reliable.
After the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D., available copies of the OT were collected together and a master copy produced by the Masoretes (from masorah = tradition). The older texts had consonants only, but they placed under these the traditional vowel sounds. It is from copies of their work that the OT is now translated.
the earliest complete manuscripts (MSS) we have of the OT books (written in Hebrew and Aramaic) date largely from around 1000 A.D. The text of the Hebrew Bible was accurately copied, with even the letters being counted and diligently compared with the original. It is known as the Masoretic text.
Yet there is remarkable conformity with those texts of the OT, written more than a thousand years earlier, recovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of Bible-related and other MSS discovered in 1947, and since, in caves near the Dead Sea in Israel. They have been described as "the most important MSS discovery of modern times". Scholars date them 150 B.C. to 68 A.D.
in one chapter of Isaiah only one word differed from Dead Sea MSS and the modern Hebrew text. In a fragment of the book of Kings only one consonant differed. Odds against this have been computed at one in 750,000,000,000!
the canon of Scripture are those books God inspired and which were then formally recognized by the Church. Different Christian groups recognize different canons (lists of inspired books). The most widely recognized canon of the NT was not made formal until the Council of Carthage (397 A.D.), but all books included in that canon had been in use from the earliest times.
The evidence for the reliability of the New Testament texts is equally strong:
Scholars have researched many thousands of MSS and have for the most part agreed on the original Greek text.
Scholars focus on the textus receptus largely compiled by Erasmus and printed by Stephen (1550), on which the King James version is based. This Greek text became known as the textus receptus when reprinted by the Elzevirs (1624). Other Greek texts have been compiled by later researchers, such as Westcott and Hort, on which are based modern versions from the late 19th C. Textual scholars now regard Aland's editions as the most reliable.
Textual scholars assert that the older MSS are often, but not always, the best. They rely particularly heavily on the Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus MSS - both (possibly) dating from the 4th C. A.D. and the earliest extensive MSS. However both of these can be demonstrated - from the multitude of corrections in their texts - to be "derived from a common and very corrupt source". Accordingly careful Bible scholars and students must compare and contrast to make sure that no corruption of the text occurs. One obvious such case that slipped into the KJV is I John 5:7 - compare several translations and check this out for yourself. I John 5:7 was a copyist's pious thought, probably written originally in the margin, that later got copied into the main text of some Greek MSS.
the earliest copies of the NT documents were carefully copied, and as they wore out were just as carefully replaced. The "original text" can be accurately traced by comparing thousands of copies, by the use of quotations of early texts by early Christian writers, and by comparison of early translations from Greek - eg the Syriac and Old Latin versions. The original copies of the latter translations are far older than any of the Greek MSS, yet in meaning they are almost identical to the meaning of the Greek texts underlying the KJV and most modern translations. This is also true of the early quotations of the NT in other writings.
In the NT "....there are 200,000 variants in 20,000 MSS which are confined to 10,000 places and of which only 400 affect meaning - only 50 of significance. In not one of these [50] is a single article of faith or practice which is not abundantly sustained by other and undoubted passages, or by the whole tenor of Scripture teaching [Philip Schaff: Companion To the Greek New Testament].
"...the last foundation for any doubt that the Scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written has now been removed" [Sir Frederick Kenyon: Handbook To the Textual Criticism of the New Testament]
"It cannot be too strongly asserted that in substance the text of the Bible is certain" [Kenyon: Our Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts]
We can rest assured that we have a reliable text both for the OT and the NT.
At this point in your studies, list - and file for later reference - all your own favorite doctrinal beliefs and practices. Refer to this list as we proceed through Bible Basics.
The Bible claims: "All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." II Timothy 3:16-17
CAUTION: be aware of the changed meaning of our language since the last revision of the King James Version. Cross-check with a modern version easily misunderstood KJV words like "tarry" and "prevent".
Biblical research over the last decade has revealed that God may have "made his mark" on the very text of Scripture. Through the use of the incredible search power of modern computers, scholars seem to have discovered hidden depths to the text of the Scriptures.
The results of these researches have been published in the learned Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, the Bible Review and Statistical Science Journal. Each has the most rigorous screening process to ensure published items are thoroughly checked by experts, are scientific and won't bring the journals into disrepute.
In essence, stimulated by a 14th C. A.D. Rabbinical comment, a Jewish scholar discovered - in 1988 - hidden "codes" underneath the text of the Hebrew Scriptures. Normal statistical coincidence is no more than 1 in 20. But the chance of such codes occurring are one in tens of thousands, even billions in some instances. In one search the chances of its occurrence coincidentally was calculated at one in fifty quadrillion. The method is known as equidistant letter spacing.
In Equidistant Letter Spacing, the Hebrew text, without spaces. is analyzed to identify hidden words the letters of which are separated by equal numbers of letters. For example, the word torah was repeatedly found using every 50th letter of the text of Genesis and Exodus. The odds against this are three million to one!
Computer searches uncovered numerous "coincidences" including historical persons and events - in and out of the Scriptures - later than when the books were written.
Did "holy men of God spoke as they were moved of the Holy Spirit" [II Peter 1:21], or is the Bible just a collection of fables on a level with the Brothers Grimm? Or is it real history, an account of real events of long ago, of real people and nations and empires?
When the blind prejudices of scientists in many disciplines are set aside, then the Bible stands out for its integrity and its ability to honestly and accurately reflect its times. It was written by more than forty-four authors over a period that may stretch for nearly four thousand years, yet it has a unity of purpose and perspective unique in all religious history.
The Bible accounts are confirmed by archaeology and historical records:
inscriptions by Nebuchadnezzar confirm the account of the Tower of Babel, including the detail that it was never completed... Genesis 11:2-8
an 18th Century B.C. poem confirms the seven years of famine and seven "fat" years under the premiership of Egypt.
"Luke [author of his Gospel and Acts] is a historian of the first rank: not merely are his statements of fact trustworthy, he is possessed of the true historic sense.... In short. this author should be placed along with the very greatest of historians" [Sir William Ramsay who set out to prove Luke was wrong]
"It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference" [Nelson Glueck: Rivers in the Desert]
under Joseph,Genesis 41, the historian Manetho records details of the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. It is also confirmed by the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus. "In ancient times there occurred a great plague in Egypt and many ascribed the cause of it to God. [Expelled by the Egyptians] those foreigners...were obliged to leave, and retired into the country now called Judaea" [Diodorus]
Diodorus Siculus and Strabo confirm inscriptions and artifacts in their day in the Sinai. Others in recent centuries confirm they are in an old Hebrew script, some describing the Red Sea crossing by the fleeing Israelites... Exodus 12ff.
freed from the chains of traditional chronologies, archaeologists have in recent years been able to relate archaeological artifacts with the record of the Scriptures. Writes archaeologist David Rohl: "Archaeologists have been looking in the right place, but in the wrong time" for evidence of Biblical sites and events. "Egyptian chronology may be wrong by some 250 years and a completely new picture of Biblical archaeology can be developed which at least restores harmony between the historical and stratigraphical records!' [Peter James: Centuries of Darkness]
David Rohl unfolds in stone the histories, among others, of Joseph, the Israelites, David, Solomon and those with whom they interacted on the world stage. "From an Old Testament of myth and legend we have uncovered a living history." This is how David Rohl summarizes his detailed researches in A Test of Time.
Truly, the lives and events recorded in the Scriptures of both the Old and New Testaments - and now vindicated by the finds of history, archaeology and paleontology - leave no doubt that the skeptics of years gone by were totally wrong in assigning the Scriptures to the trash-pile of ancient mythology.
"Faith comes by hearing [the message] and hearing by the Word of God." [Romans 10:17]
You can indeed trust the Scriptures as the sure record of God's dealings with mankind since his original direct creation by God "from the dust of the ground". It is the record of God's revelation of his perfect way, of his dealings with rebellious man, of his plan to ultimately raise mankind to become integrated into God's Family.
Future lessons of Bible Basics will address important aspects of Bible teaching. Lesson 3 will consider the pivotal figure of Jesus Christ. Did he really live? Who was he? Was he resurrected from the dead? These are among the questions answered in our next lesson.
Reprinted with permission of Church of God, UK. Email comments to: COGUK@aol.com
Editor: James McBride.
Request literature mentioned from Church of God Outreach Ministries at information@cgom.org
Bible Basics is published by:
Churches of God Outreach Ministries
TULSA OK 74155-0621 USA
http://www.cgom.org
COGUK Bible Basics 1. Preparing to study the Bible.
COGUK Bible Basics 2. Can you trust the Bible?
COGUK Bible Basics 3. Jesus, the Messiah
COGUK Bible Basics 4. What is Man?
COGUK Bible Basics 5. God's Grand Design (the Kingdom of God)
COGUK Bible Basics 6. When God Reigns (6,000 years of history + 1,000 years ahead)
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