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THE BIBLE - THE CANON, ITS TRANSMISSION AND ITS TRANSLATIONS
THE CANON - WHY 66 BOOKS?
The O.T. 39 - How they were determined to be God's books:
1) A prophet's credentials was required: Miracles and fulfilled prophecy
(Exod 4:1-9; Deut 18:22)
2) They needed to be consistent with previous revelation (Deut 13:1-3)
3) They needed to be written by God's chosen men (Jer 1:5,9,30:2)
4) Jesus regarded them as God's Word: Divinely inspired (Matt 22:43);
indestructible (Matt 5:17,18); infallible (Jn 10:35); the final authority (Matt 4:4,7,10) historically accurate (Matt 12:40; 24:37) scientifically accurate (Matt 19:2-5); factually innerrant (Jn 17:17; Matt 22:29); predictive of Him (Mt 21:42; Lk 24:27,44; Jn 5:39); and sufficient for salvation (Lk 16:31). He believed in the historical Solomon (Matt 26:29), Moses (Matt 8:4), Abraham (Matt 8:11), Sodom and Gomorrah's judgment (Matt 10:15). He quoted the O.T. (Matt 21:13,16,42).
5) The Apostles regarded them as God's Word (II Tim 3:16; Acts 17:2,18:28; Rom 1:2, 4:3, 9:17, 10:11, 11:2, 15:4; I Cor 15:3,4; Gal 3:8,22, 4:30; I Tim 5:18; II Pet. 1:20,21)
6) There are about 2600 times in the O.T. where it says that God spoke to or through the writers of the O.T. (The O.T. books were either written by God or full of lies claiming that it was written by God!) (Examples: Exod 3:4,14, 19:3-6; I Sam 13:11-14; Isa 6:8-10; Ezek 3:4; Dan 12:8,9)
The N.T. 27 - How they were determined to be God's Word:
1) An Apostle's credentials were required (II Cor 12:12; Hebrs 2:3,4)
2) All N.T. books were written by Apostles, companions of Apostles (Mark, Luke, Acts, and possibly Hebrews) or by brothers of Jesus (James and Jude)
3) The Apostles themselves regarded them as Scripture ( I Cor 14:37; II Pet 3:2,16; I Tim 5:18 - Paul refers to both Deut 25:4 and Luke 10:7 as Scripture)
4) The early Christian leaders during the time right after N.T. times regarded them as Scripture (Clement, Iraeneus, Ignatius, Justin Martyr and others)
5) They were distributed regionally at first (Col 4:16; II Thess 2:15) and then they were collected together. The first N.T. list or "canon" that is the same as the Bible was used by Athanasius in 367 AD. The later Church Councils only recognized that a book was given to the Church by God - recognized by the Church Councils of Hippo in 393 AD and Carthage in 397 AD.) (There were counterfeits Scriptures - II Thess 2:2) (Some books were challenged at first – James, Jude, II Peter, II & III John, Revelation, and Hebrews)
6) Ultimately, Divine inspiration was the determiner of which books became
"canon" or part of the Bible (The Greek word kanon mean rule, standard,
measuring rod).
ITS TRANSMISSION - Has the Bible been transmitted to us dependably? Is what they wrote what we got?
1) We do not have the originals: They were written on perishable materials:
Papyrus, parchment, vellum, ostraca, clay tablets, etc.
2) What if we did have the originals?
3) The copies are trustworthy
a) The O.T. was meticulously copied by Jewish scribes and by the Massoretes.
b) The Dead Sea Scrolls confirmed their accuracy: Before the dead Sea Scrolls, we had no copies dated before 900 AD. After the Dead Sea
Scrolls, we have copies dated 125 BC. The difference between the copies from 900 AD and the copies from 125 BC (a 1000 year difference) showed few differences except for minor errors.
c) There are thousands of existing manuscripts of part or all of the N.T.:
New Testament manuscripts 24,633 (5,309 in Greek)
The works of Plato 7
The works of Aristotle 49
Homer's Iliad 643
ITS TRANSLATIONS
1) No translation is inspired by God
2) We (the U.S.A) have many translations, while most nations in the world
have only one or a few translations.
3) Usually the difference in translations is in the wording and not in the meaning.
4) Four reasons for new English translations:
a) Changes in the English language (idioms, grammar, the meaning of words)
b) New manuscript discoveries (the Dead Sea Scrolls, for example)
c) Different purposes (word for word, readability- dynamic equivalence, easy reading, etc.)
d) Advances in Biblical scholarship
5) Many translations are both a problem and a blessing:
a) A problem: It is difficult to follow when the Bible is read or taught in a
translation that is different than your translation. It is difficult when you have memorized verses in different translations.
b) A blessing: Different translations help us to see the different possible ways the Greek and the Hebrew words can be translated into English.
RESOURCES: EVIDENCES THAT DEMANDS A VERDICT Volumes I & II; THE KING JAMES ONLY CONTROVERSY by James White
ASSIGNMENT: 1) Do you believe that some translations are more inspired than other translations? Explain your answer.
2) Do you believe John 7:53-8:11 and Mark 16:9-20 are God's Word? Explain your answer.