2 Tim 2:15 (HCSB)
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed,
correctly teaching the word of truth.
2 Tim 3:16-17 (HCSB)
All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for
training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good
work.
2 Pet 1:21 (HCSB)
…because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were
moved by the Holy Spirit.
1/30/13
Apriori – a statement based on an assumption without having given adequate demonstration of
that assumption
Epistemology – The study of how people come gain knowledge/certainty
General Revelation – When God speaks to All people in All places at All times
Steps: Pray, Form a Guiding Question, Gather Data, Organize the Data, Apply and Evaluate
Form a guiding question: Does God reveal some things to all people regardless of their
situation
Gather Data: All people are made in the image of God (Gen 1:26-27)
o The glory and Handiwork of God (Ps 19:1-4)
o Moral Expectations (Matt 25: 31-46, Acts 17:22-31, Rom 2:14)
o Provision (acts 14:15-17)
o Invisible Attributes (Rom 1:18-21)
o Grace (Tit 2: 11-13)
o Natural Theology
▪
It is possible to construct a theology apart from the Bible through nature,
history, and human personality
▪
Thomas Aquinas and his proofs of God’s Existence
Cosmological Argument: First Cause
Teleological Argument: Design
Anthropological Argument: Moral Impulse
o John Calvin
▪
God has given objective revelation regarding Himself through nature,
history, and human personality
▪
Sin has marred a person’s perception of general revelation
▪
People need to put on their “spectacles of faith” to see general revelation
clearly
o Karth Barth
▪
God is too infinite/perfect to communicate in any other way than radical,
special revelation
o Your Personal Experience
▪
What does the order of the world around you tell you about God
▪
What does a common moral impulse tell you about God
▪
What does the size and beauty of the universe tell you about God?
Organize the Data
o Does God reveal some things to all people regardless of their situation or context?
▪
God’s glory (Ps 19:1)
▪
God’s handi work (Ps 19:1)
▪
God’s moral expectations (Matt 25:31-46, Acts 17:22-31, Rom 1:18, Tit
2:12-13)
▪
God’s provision (Acts 14:15-17)
▪
God’s invisible attributes (Rom 1:20)
▪
God’s grace (Titus 2:11)
Apply and Evaluate
o There are many things that can be known about God from His creation by all
people in all places at all times
o Not Everything about God can be known by all people in all places at all times
▪
The ramifications of Jesus’ identity and ministry
3 General answers to the question: Do the people never heard go to hell?
Pluralism – Everyone is correct
Inclusivism – it doesn’t matter what you believe, everyone goes to heaven through jesus
Exclusivism – You’ll go to heaven if you believe correctly, if you don’t, you wont
o Restrictivist View – Salvation is restricted to those who have heard the Gospel
and have made a conscious decision to accept it
o Universal Opportunity View – If a person is willing to accept Christ as Lord, the
all-powerful God will find a way to give that person the opportunity
o Postmortem Evangelism view – People are given a chance to accept or reject
Christ after death
2/1/13
Concluding thoughts about General Revelation
God does reveal some things to all people
All people are responsible for what they do with what they know
God is just
Special Revelation – When God speaks to specific people in specific places under specific
circumstances
The Big Questions
o Who?
▪
From whom? God
▪
To Whom?
▪
Does God ever reveal specific things directly to people outside of His
“family”
Paul / Balum (talking donkey) / God communicated to Pharaoh
(Abrahams time) / Nebuchadnezzar / Hand writing on the wall
o What?
▪
Specific Things about Himself
▪
Specific things about His expectations for us
o Where
▪
Happens in one specific location
▪
Usually made known more broadly
o How
▪
Divine Appearances: “theophanies (appearance of God in OT)”
Examples:
▪
Divine Speech
Directly audibly spoken words to humans
Private visible messages
o Dreams
o Visions
Define acts
Miracles (healing)
Nature (flood, famine, sun abnormalities)
▪
Words of God-Appointed Messengers
Angels
Prophets
Scripture
▪
Signs
Casting Lots
Urim and the Thummim
Gideon’s fleece
2/6/13
o When?
▪
Before the Fall
▪
After the Fall
▪
During the Patriarchal Period
Cain
Noah
Patriarchs (Abraham, Jacob, Job)
▪
During the National Period
Early (Moses, Joshua, Judges)
Kingdom (mostly prophets, sometimes kings)
Captivity and Post-Captivity (only prophets)
▪
During the New Testament Era
Jesus
Holy Spirit
Primarily Apostles and secondarily prophets
▪
During the Church Era
Bible
Holy Spirit
▪
During the End Times
Tribulation Events (angels, prophets, nature)
In person once again (millennium, judgment, future eternal state in
Heaven)
o Why?
▪
Why did God choose to use “special” revelation to communicate to
people?
General revelation was not enough
o Personal connection with the Creator
o Sin obscures what can be known through general
revelation
o In His grace He involved people in the dispensing of
revelation
o So What?
▪
Increased knowledge
Better Relationship with God
Increased Responsibility
Function more in line with God’s purposes
Origin of the Term “Bible” (Biblios - greek)
Meaning
o By the 5th century AD ‘Bible’ was being used to refer exclusively to scripture
Origin of the term “Scripture” (grafh - greek)
Meaning
o Secular/General: written communication
o Sacred/Specific: collection of canonical books
The singular form appears 32x in the NT
o Used 26x to refer to a specific OT passage
o Used 6x to refer to the canon as a whole
Origin of the Term “Testament” (testementum – latin)
Old and New have been used since the end of the 2nd century AD
Origin of the term “Canon” (kanon – greek)
Secular meaning: a carpenter’s measurement
Sacred/Specific: Current trends in definitions
o Relative: Books that are special to a group
o Absolute: Books that are in a class by themselves
What does God revel in the Bible?
Most of what is revealed in the Bible is about our relationship with Him
Many things are not revealed
Sufficiency of scripture
2/8/13
Old Testament Authorship
Before Moses
o About 2500 years of events happened
o Events communicated in a variety of ways:
▪
Oral Tradition
▪
Rituals
▪
Art
▪
Written Tradition
Moses
o God directly wrote the 10 Commandments
o God directly instructed Moses what to write
Prophets
o God directly spoke to His prophets
o The Holy Spirit moved the prophets to write what they wrote in scripture
Scribes
o God indirectly authorized scribes to write some portions of the OT through
the direct authority of the leaders of Israel
o Examples:
▪
Most of the historical books
▪
Baruch
Old Testament Canon
Roles of God and People
o Canonicity is determined by God
o Canonicity is recognized by people
▪
2nd century BC: Jewish community approved of the current form of the OT
▪
Jesus and His Disciples treated the OT canon as Scripture
▪
“The Law of Moses, Prophets, and Psalms” – Luke 24:44
▪
All branches of Judaism and the Christian church have consistently testified to
the current form of the OT canon
4 Degrees of Acceptance
o Legomena: generally accepted
▪
Pentateuch
▪
Historical books
▪
Psalms
▪
Prophets
o Antilegomena: sometimes rejected
▪
Esther (no mention of God)
▪
Song of Songs (sensual content)
▪
Ecclesiastes (horizontal worldview)
▪
Ezekiel (apocalyptic)
o Apocrypha (“hidden away”): sometimes accepted
▪
Written in Greek (200BC – AD 100)
▪
Supposedly contained ideas hidden from normal people, yet reserved for the
intellectual community
▪
Never quoted in the NT
▪
Treated with various levels of esteem unity they were officially accepted by
Council of Trent (1546) as “deutero-canonical” (reaction to Protestants’
teaching against the RC doctrine of purgatory)
o Pseudepigrapha (false writings): generally rejected
▪
Written between 200 BC and AD 200
▪
Written to imitate canonical scripture, so certain extrabiblical, ideas could
claim biblical authority.
▪
No precise number (about twenty major ones)
▪
New Testament authors referred to three.
o Book of Enoch (Jude 14-15)
o Assumption of Moses (Jude 9)
o Penitence of Jannes and Jambres, (2 Tim 3:8)
Other Books Mentioned in Scripture (never considered Canonical):
o Book of the Wars of the Lord (Num 21:14)
o Book of Jasher (josh 10:13)
o Book of the Annals of Solomon (1 Kings 11:41)
o Records of Samuel the Seer (1 Chr 29:29
o Records of Nathan the Prophet (1 Chr 29:29)
o Records of Gad the Seer (1 Chr 29:29)
New Testament Authorship
Apostles
o Were regarded by the church as authoritative
▪
Firsthand account of Jesus’ words and actions
▪
Appointed by Jesus to carry out His ministry
▪
Paul refers to himself as the “least of the apostles” (1 cor 15:9)
o Some were channels of God’s written word in the same manner as Old Testament
prophets
Direct Witnesses: Mark, James, Jude
o Firsthand account f Jesus’ words and actions
o Some were channels of God’s written word in the same manner as other biblical
authors
Indirect Witness: Luke
o A historian who functioned much like an Old testament scribe (under Paul’s
supervision)
o Wrote the gospel of Luke and Acts of the Apostles
New Testament Canon
The main difference between the canonization of the Old and New Testaments is Jesus
o Because He is the very Word of God
o Because He is the Center of human history
set of ramifications of Who He is and What He has done
Stage 1: Circulation
Stage 2: Collection
Stage 3: Conversations
o Divine Criterion: because God said so
o Human Criteria
▪
Apostolic Authority
▪
Church-wide Acceptance (aka tradition)
Stage 4: Canonization
4 Degrees of Acceptance
o Legomena of the NT (generally accepted)
▪
Four Gospels
▪
Acts
▪
Pauline Epistles
▪
1 Peter
▪
1 John
o Antilegomena of the NT (sometimes rejected)
▪
Hebrews
▪
James
▪
Jude
▪
2 Peter
▪
2 & 3 John
▪
Revelation
o Apocrypha of the NT (sometimes accepted)
▪
Accepted by some
▪
Not intended to be falsehood
▪
Examples:
Epistle of Barnabas
Shepherd of Hermas
Apocalypse of Peter
Acts of Paul and Thecla
o Pseudepigrapha of the NT (generally rejected)
▪
Written in the first few centuries AD
▪
Intended to teach heresy
▪
Usually Gnostic
▪
Photius listed 280
When exactly did the church agree on our present sixty-six book canon?
o Generally speaking all 66 books were treated as canonical before formal lists were
made and voted on
o Since the end of the 4th century there has been little serious debate about the
canonicity of the present 66 books
2/11/13
Transmissions of the Bible – Copy of the bible
Old Testament Manuscripts
o Until the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947
▪
The oldest surviving was 9th century AD
▪
The oldest complete OT was from AD 1008
o First stage: Only consonants, no spaces (ndhsd)
o Second Stage: Words and paragraphs divided (nd h sd)
o Masoretic Stage: added vowels (and he said)
Papyri: 80+
▪
2nd-8th centuries
o Unicals: 267+
▪
All caps on parchment
▪
1st – 9th centuries
o Miniscules: 2764+
▪
Cursive
▪
9th century or later
o Early, Complete Translations into English
▪
John Wycliffe (1384)
▪
William Tyndale (1530)
▪
Miles Coverdale (1535)
▪
Thomas Matthew (1537)
▪
The Great Bible (1538)
▪
The Geneva Bible (1557)
▪
The Bishop’s Bible (1568)
o Major Translations in the Past Century
▪
Revised Standard Version (1952)
▪
The Living Bible (1971)
▪
New American Standard Version (1971)
o Editions of the King James Version
▪
The 1611 KJV has nine editions
▪
Based on an edition of the Textus Receptus
▪
Additions found in no ancient greek texts
Two Sentences in Acts 9:5-6
Trinitarian Formula in 1 John 5:7-8
2/13/13
Why are there so many translations?
o Languages change (Ye Ol Anglish)
o Certain words have variety of meaning, so theological choices have to be made
o Purposes of translations vary
o New linguistic information becomes available
Types of Translations
o Formal equivalence
▪
Word for word, hardest to read efficiently
o Dynamic equivalence
▪
Short idea for short idea, easier to read
o Paraphrase
▪
Long idea for long idea, easiest to read
Does the bible claim to be God’s word
o 3808 times the bible says “God said”
o The prophets claim to hear a word of the Lord and write it in a book
o Jesus & Apostles’ quote old testament and say “God said this…” even though a
book written by David
o Paul claims his Epistles are the words of God
o Peter refers to Paul’s letters as “Scriptures”
Theo-Pneustos – God-Breathed
Pheromenoi – Carried Along
Theories of Inspiration
o Dictation: God dictated every word to the writers
2/15/13
o Degree: Parts of the Bible are more inspired than others
o Partial: Only some parts of the Bible are inspired
o Intuition/Natural: God gifted certain people in general, and some of them wrote
scriptures
o Illumination/Mystical: God heightened the normal powers of the writers
o Neo-Orthodox: The Bible becomes the Word of God when we encounter God
personally in it
Theological Terms
o Verbal – the words themselves are inspired
o Plenary – All of the words are inspired
o Confluence – Divine and human activity mysteriously yet wonderfully entwined
with one another to produce the original autographs
Inerrancy
Scripture states that God’s word is:
o Tahor: pure in a ceremonial way
o Tsarach: purified in a refined way
o Tamom: Perfect, complete, unblemished
o Aman: Reliable, verifiable
o ‘emeth: True
o Tsadek: Righteous
o Settled in the Heavens
