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2 Timothy 3:12-15
• Now in fact all who want to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But evil people and charlatans will go from bad to worse, deceiving others and being deceived themselves. You, however, must continue in the things you have learned and are confident about. You know who taught you and how from infancy you have known the holy writings, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
“The Bible is a product of man,
my dear. Not of God. The Bible
did not fall magically from the
clouds. Man created it as a
historical record of tumultuous
times, and it has evolved through
countless translations, additions,
and revisions. History has never
had a definitive version of the
book.” (p. 231)
Da Vinci Code Attacks on the Bible
‚The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the 1950s hidden in a cave in Qumran in the Judean desert. And of course, the Coptic Scrolls in 1945 at Nag Hammadi. In addition to telling the true Grail story, these documents speak of Christ’s ministry in very human terms… The scrolls highlight glaring historical discrepancies and fabrications, clearly confirming that the modern Bible was complied and edited by men who possessed a political agenda ” to promote the divinity of the man Jesus Christ and use His influence to solidify their own power base (p. 231-34)
The Coptic Scrolls Lie
DVC On Constantine & NT“Because Constantine upgraded Jesus’ status
almost four centuries after Jesus’ death,
thousands of documents already existed
chronicling His life as a mortal man. To
rewrite the history books, Constantine knew
he would need a bold stroke … [He]
commissioned and financed a new Bible,
which omitted those gospels which spoke of
Christ’s human traits and embellished those
gospels which made Him godlike. The
earlier gospels were outlawed, gathered up,
and burned.” (234)
Essential Definitions
• De Facto• literally,
from the fact
• in reality
• Actually
• Not
government
approved
• De Jure• by right
• As a matter of
legal of right
• Government
approved
• Ex
Cathedra• literally, from
the chair
• by virtue of or
in the exercise
of one's office
or position
How We REALLY Got Our
New Testament Canon
Apostolic Period
AD 30-100
Persecuted
Church
AD 100-300
Imperial Church
AD 300-500
EX CATHEDRAAUTHORITY
DE FACTO
CANON
DE JURE
CANON
Authority
Recognized but
Canon Incomplete
Canon Complete
and Recognized in
Fact
Canon Complete
and Recognized in
Law
• 1 Corinthians 14:37 “ If anyone thinks he is a prophet
or spiritual, let him recognize that the things which I write to you are the Lord’s commandment.
Paul Calls His Own Letters the
Lord’s Commandment
Paul Calls His Own Writings
the Word of God
• 1 Thes. 2:13“ ‚For this reason we also constantly thank
God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.‛
Paul Calls Luke/Acts
Scripture
• 1 Tim. 5:18
• “For the Scripture says, ‘YOU SHALL NOT MUZZLE THE OX WHILE HE IS THRESHING’ [Deut 25:4], and ‘The laborer is worthy of his wages’‛ [Luke
10:7].
Peter Calls Paul’s
Letters Scriptures
• 2 Pet. 3:15-16
“ ‚. . . and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.‛
c. 95 AD, Clement Cites
93% Of The New Testament
John 7:32, 2nd Century Papyrus
• wrote a single
letter to the
Corinthians
around AD 96
• Quotes from
21/27THS
• Alludes to
4/27THS MORE
c. 100 AD,
Polycarp Cites
74% of the New
Testament
• Quotes from 15 of the
27 books
• Alludes to 5 more
James Ch 1
Matthew 6:9-13 in Greek 2nd Cen Papyrus
c. 110 AD,
Ignatius Cites 44% of the NT
• Quotes 9/27THS
– Alludes to 3/27THS
It is not possible
that the
Gospels can be
either more or
fewer in
number than
they are
[FOUR]. -
Irenaeus,
Against
Heresies,
Chapter 3.11.8
c. 190 AD
Tertullian Cites 81% Of The NT
• quoted from 22 books of the 27.
Hebrews 4:2, 2nd Century Papyrus
Diocletian persecutions
(c. 302-305)• caused the
Christians to be
more attentive to
establishing the
definite canon.
POxy 1780
3rd Cen AD
100% NT “Canon” of
Athanasius, c. 367 AD
• Writes “Easter Letter” in 367 A.D.
• Same 27 books that are in today’s New
Testament
CANON TIME LINE
30-33 AD
50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500
NT WRITTEN
Edict of
Milan
310 AD
Council of
Nicaea
325 AD
De Facto Canon De Jure Canon
Final Impetus for Finalizing the
Canon
“I have thought it expedient to
instruct your Prudence to order
50 copies of the Sacred
Scriptures, the provision and
use of which you know to be
the most needful for the
instruction of the church, to be
written on prepared parchment,
in a legible manner, and in a
commodious and portable
form, by transcribers
thoroughly practiced in their
art.”
Constantine
Two Church Councils
Make De Facto Canon De Jure Canon
• 393 AD, Synod of Hippo
– affirmed that the 27 books
of our NT were the only
books of apostolic origin
and were to be accepted
as Scripture.
• 397, AD, Council of
Carthage
– affirmed our current N.T.
canon. Forbid any from
claiming any other writing
as Scripture.
Council Criteria: Apostolic Authority
• Was it written by an apostle or one closely acquainted with an apostle?
• Apostolic Authorship
– Matthew, John, 13 Paul’s epistles,
– 1 & 2 Peter, 1-3 John, Revelation
• Authority by association
– Luke-Acts, Mark, James, Jude
• Rejected
– Epistle of Clement For lack of claim to divine authority
– Didache for lack of clear authorship
Council Criteria: Antiquity
• When was it written?
• For a writing to be the work
of an Apostle or of someone
closely associated with an
Apostle it must belong to the
first century.
• Writings of later date,
whatever their merit, could
not be included among the
canonical books.
• Rejected: Gnostic Gospels,
etc.
Council Criteria: Traditional Use
• Was the book in
use by the
churches from the
earliest period?
– If it wasn’t good
enough to be read
next to the OT in a
church service
context, it cannot be
part of the canon.
Council Criteria: Universal Use
• Was the book widely
accepted by the
Church?
• The writings must be
accepted universally.
• They often began with
merely local acceptance,
such as epistles to the
churches, but gained
widespread recognition.
Council Criteria: Inspiration
• Does it have a self-
authenticating nature?
– There must be evidence of
activity of the Holy Spirit
contained within the context
of the writings.
• Had the book evidenced
power in the lives of
believers?
Council Criteria: Non-
Contradiction• Did it contradict
known Scripture?
• Consistent with OT
• Consistent with
Paul?
• Rejected for
Incompatibility
(heretical positions)—
Apocryphal gospels
‚More than eighty gospels were considered for the New Testament, and yet only a relative few were chosen for inclusion ”Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John among them…Fortunately for historians… some of the gospels that Constantine attempted to eradicate managed to survive.‛ (p. 231-34)
The 80 Gospel Lie
“Of the “80” gospels available, the church
chose only four of the gospels and even
these four present a distorted portrait of Christ as the Divine
Son of God.”
‚These are photocopies of the Nag Hammadi and Dead Sea Scrolls, … the earliest Christian records. Troublingly, they do not match up with the gospels in the Bible.‛
Da Vinci Code
Allegation of
Excluded Books
“Nag Hammadi Library”
The Eradication
of True Gospels Lie
• Hundreds, if not
thousands of
other “earlier
gospels were
outlawed,
gathered up, and
burned.” (p. 234)
Walking Talking Cross in
Gospel of “Peter”
– 10. When therefore those soldiers saw it, they
awakened the centurion and the elders; for they too
were hard by keeping guard. And, as they declared
what things they had seen, again they see three men
come forth from the tomb, and two of them supporting
one, and a cross following them: and of the two the
head reached unto the heaven, but the head of him
that was led by them over passed the heavens. And
they heard a voice from the heavens, saying, Thou
hast preached to them that sleep. And a response
was heard from the cross, Yea."
The Gospel of Mary Magdalene
• “Jesus loved her more than other women”
• Jesus loved Mary more than the 12 Disciples.
• “When the soul had overcome the third power, it went upwards and saw the fourth power, which took seven forms. The first form is darkness, the second desire, the third ignorance, the fourth is the excitement of death, the fifth is the kingdom of the flesh, the sixth is the foolish wisdom of flesh, the seventh is the wrathful wisdom. These are the seven powers of wrath.”
Gospel of Mary Magdalene
• fragmentary text
• Mary “Magdalene’s” name is not mentioned in the text, and it could be any one of the other six Marys from the New Testament
• "Let us rather praise his greatness, for he prepared us and made us into men.
• "But Andrew answered and said to the brethren, 'Say what you think concerning what she said. For I do not believe that the Savior said this. For certainly these teachings are of other ideas."
• "Peter also opposed her in regard to these matters and asked them about the Savior. "Did he then speak secretly with a woman, in preference to us, and not openly? Are we to turn back and all listen to her? Did he prefer her to us?"
Mary Magdalene in
Gospel of “Philip”
• There were three who
always walked with the
Lord: Mary, his mother, and
her sister, and Magdalene,
the one who was called his
companion. His sister and
his mother and his
companion were each a
Mary.
Mary Magdalene in the
Gospel of “Philip”• And the companion of the ___________________
Mary Magdalene. _______________ more than ______________the disciples, ________________ kiss her ______________on her ________________.The rest of the disciples _____________________. They said to him "Why do you love her more than all of us?" The Savior answered and said to them, "Why do I not love you like her? When a blind man and one who sees are both together in darkness, they are no different from one another. When the light comes, then he who sees will see the light, and he who is blind will remain in darkness.
Gospel of “Philip”
• Jesus took them all by stealth, for he
did not appear as he was, but in the
manner in which they would be able
to see him. He appeared to them all.
He appeared to the great as great. He
appeared to the small as small. He
appeared to the angels as an angel,
and to men as a man.
Gospel of “Philip”
• It is not possible for anyone to see anything of the things that actually exist unless he becomes like them... You saw the Spirit, you became spirit. You saw Christ, you became Christ. You saw the Father, you shall become Father. So in this place you see everything and do not see yourself, but in that place you do see yourself - and what you see you shall become.
Gospel of “Thomas”
“ "These are the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke and which Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down.
“ And he said, Whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death. Jesus said, Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. When he finds, he will become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished, and he will rule over all."
Gospel of “Thomas”
“ Verse 15: Jesus said to his disciples, "Compare me to something and tell me what I am like." Simon Peter said to him,
"You are like a just messenger.‛
Gospel of
“Thomas”
“ Jesus said: "The kingdom of the [Father] is like a certain woman who was carrying a [jar] full of meal. While she was walking [on the] road, still some distance from home, the handle of the jar broke and the meal emptied out behind her [on] the road. She did not realize it; she had noticed no accident. When she reached her house, she set the jar down and found it empty".
Gospel of
“Thomas”“ Verse 114: “ Simon Peter said to them, "Make
Mary leave us, for females don't deserve life." Jesus said, "Look, I will guide her to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every female who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of Heaven."
GOSPELS TIME LINE
30-33 AD
50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500
All 4 NT
GospelsGospel of
Thomas
Edict of
Milan
310 AD
Council of
Nicaea
325 AD
Canon
Councils
Gospel
of
Peter
Gospel
of
Philip
Gospel
of Mary
Earliest Gospel
Manuscripts
1 Thess. 2:13
• “For this reason we also constantly thank God that
• when you received the word of God
• which you heard from us,
• you accepted it
• not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God,
• which also performs its work in you who believe.”
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