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The Reliability of the Bible

The Reliability of the Bible. 2 Timothy 3:16 says the Scriptures are inspired

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The Reliability of the Bible

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  1. The Reliability of the Bible 2 Timothy 3:16 says the Scriptures are inspired Inspired-from the Greek word- “theopneustos”-combined form of God-breathed. By inspiration is meant- God’s guidance exerted on human writers so that the product of their writing retained individual style, yet exactly expressing the mind of God. God used man to achieve His revelation in the Bible. The Bible does not CONTAIN God’s word. The Bible does not BECOME God’s word. The Bible IS God’s word. The atheist has to use the Bible to describe the kind of God he denies. The Bible has both human and Divine elements. Some sections of the text are appeal to our human traits and there are sections of the Bible that are so obviously spiritual it thrills.

  2. Transmission Of The Text • 4800 manuscripts in Greek • 8000 in Latin • 1000 in other languages. • Comparisons can be made from one century to the next as well as between languages which verify the text to be accurate. The finding of the Dead Sea scrolls only confirmed what the Bible has told us and what Jesus had said about the Bible. The accuracy is proof of Divine inspiration

  3. Verbal and Plenary Inspiration • Verbal-every word in the original languages is inspired of God. • Plenary- whole Bible is inspired (concepts, historical facts, names and everything that makes up the Scriptures in the original languages. • Transmission of the Scriptures- The Bible did not arrive whole. Until the invention of the printing press in the 1500s the Bible was painstakingly composed and copied by hand, one letter at a time.

  4. Canonicity- A Standard • Canonicity refers to how the Bible got it’s acceptance. • The authority of the OT was determined by whether or not a book was written by a prophet. A succession of prophets in Israel began with Moses and ending with Malachi. The litmus test of a prophet was whether or not the things prophesied came to pass or not. The test for the NT was whether or not the writer was inspired by the Holy Spirit. After the apostles died no other books would be accepted as inspired.

  5. What About Other Writings? • Aprocrypha- extra books in Catholic Bibles. • All were written after Malachi for OT. • Not once were they quoted by Christ or any other NT writer. • Other than Augustine no early church leader accepted them as inspired. • Many of them make good history reading but they fail the test of being God- breathed.

  6. Can We Be Sure? • The question of biblical accuracy is important if we men are to appropriately serve God. It is the Book that prepares man for eternity. Man has not need for alarm when wondering if we have the books that belong. Overwhelming evidence exists to confirm the Bible as we have it is the complete uncorrupted word of God.

  7. Canon of the OT • Phil. 3:16- “…let us walk by the same rule (canon). Gal. 6:16- “…as many as walk according to this rule (canon)…” • The OT has never been seriously doubted. The prophets quoted one another and recognized each other as inspired of God (Mic. 4:1-4; ISa. 2:2-4; Dan. 9:2). Joshua received Moses teaching as the Word off God and some of the writing prophets are even listed in the Bible 1 Chron. 29:29). Historically the OT can be traced to the time in which they were written and agree with all known facts of the time. All the OT books are quoted in the NT except Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon. Jesus places His approval of the entire OT in Luke 24:44; Matt. 23:35)

  8. Canon of the NT • The determining factor was always the integrity of the book not the integrity of the church. The merit and divine qualities of the NT books themselves determined the NT canon. NT writers believed their writings to be inspired and commanded Christians to circulate them as inspired books (1Thess. 5:27;Col. 4:16;Rev. 1:3). Peter recognized Paul’s writings as Scripture (2 Pet.3:16). Warning appear in the NT about deviation from or corruption of the NT (Gal. 1:6-9; Rev. 22:18-19).

  9. How to Test Ancient Documents • Bibliographic Test- textual flow from the original document to the copies and manuscripts of that document we have today. • Time- What length of time passed between the original and earliest copies. • Location- where the copies were found • Variance- what variances exist between copies. • Copies- how many copies are available.

  10. Testing The Documents • If there are a lot of copies they can be compared to each other so that variations might be identified as errors, omissions or changes. High degree of similarity of several copies (dated over a long period of time), increases the reliability of the text. • If all copies came from one place, collusion would be possible, but if copies are discovered in places far apart in time, collusion is not considered.

  11. Copies of Hebrew Text of OT

  12. Earlier Manuscripts of OT • Septuagint-Greek translation of Hebrew Bible dated 300-130 B.C. 70 Jewish scholars- found in Alexandria Egypt. • Codex Vaticanus- contains a complete Bible (66 books) Old and New Testament. 4th century • Codex Alexandrinus- complete Bible- 5th century. • Is there need for alarm over the lack of very old copies of the OT? NO when consider the nature of copying techniques used by Hebrew scribes (Talmudists 100-500 AD who transcribed text for spiritual and civil purposes). Confirms reliability of copies we have today. ---Rules followed---

  13. Location • Ex. 12:24- “Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said.” Deut. 31:24-26- document put into the Ark of the Covenant. Joshua added to them and Samuel did also (1 Sam. 10:25- he “wrote them down on a scroll and deposited it before the Lord.” • After the dispersion of the Jews. Hebrews were spread throughout Asia and the Mediterranean area. As the Jews dispersed so did various copyists. The Septuagint was prepared in Egypt and copied in Greek (130 B.C.) This would have been the “scriptures” the Apostles and Jesus would have learned from.

  14. Can I Trust My Bible To Be Inspired Of God? • “We can now be sure that copyists worked with great care and accuracy on the Old Testament even back to 225BC…indeed it would be rash and unreasonable skepticism that would deny that we have the Old Testament in a form very close to that used by Ezra when he taught the word of the lord to those who had returned from Babylonian captivity.”—Can I Trust MyBible, R. Laird Harris (Chicago Moody Press 1963), p. 124. • “…that the Hebrew text should have been transmitted by copyists through so many centuries is a phenomenon unequaled in the history of all literature.” --Investigating the Old Testament, Robert Wilson, Moody Press, 1959.

  15. Copyist Rules • Synagogue Roll must be written on clean animal skin. • Must be prepared for the use of the synagogue by a Jew. • These must be fastened together with strings taken from clean animals. • Every skin must contain certain number of columns, equal throughout the entire codex. • Length of each column must not extend over less than 48 or more than 60 lines; and the breadth must consist of 30 letters. • The whole copy must be first-lined; and if three words be written without a line, it is worthless. • Black ink only prepared by specific recipe. • An authentic copy must be the exemplar, from which the transcriber must not in the least deviate. • No word, letter, not even a yod, must be written from memory, the scribe not having looked at the codex before him… • Between every consonant the space of a hair or thread must intervene • Between every new parashah, or section, the breadth of nine consonants • Between every book three lines. • The 5th book of Moses must terminate exactly with a line; but the rest need not do so. • The copyist must sit in full Jewish dress, • He must wash his whole body before scribing. • He must not begin to write the name of God (YHWH) with a pen newly dipped in ink. • Should a king address him while writing that name he must take no notice of him until he is finished writing the name.

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