Doctrine of the Bible:

How did we get our Bible?

October 4, 2009

THE COPPER SCROLL

GOD’S REVELATION

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. - Heb 1:1-2

Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. - 2 Pet 1:20-21

GOD’S REVELATION

• General Revelation – What can be known about God through creation

• Special Revelation – Objective, verbal communication

ANCIENT WRITINGS

“The starting point of our Bible is preceded and determined by another story, the history of ancient books and writing. It is necessary to know this story because the Bible is composed of documents which were not only written long ago, but have been transmitted and preserved through the years by means of writing. To know then something of the early history of writing and the origin of ancient books will provide an interesting background of the history of the Bible and at the same time will contribute immeasurably to the understanding of the life situations in which the Word of God had its birth. Thus the whole history of the Bible is conditioned on (1) the history of writing, and (2) the history of the materials used in the making of ancient books.”

- Neil Lightfoot

ANCIENT MATERIALS TO WRITE ON

• Leather

• Papyrus

• Parchments/Vellum

TIMELINE

• Leather (OT)

• Papyrus (4th cent. BC to 1st cent. AD)

• Parchment/Vellum (2nd cent. BC)

• Codices (2nd cent. AD)

PROOF OF ANCIENT WRITINGS

Code of Hammurabi Ebla Tablets

This clay tablet (ca. 3 in. square) is from the end of the Protoliterate period (3750-2900 B.C.). This tablet represents a transition from the pictographic signs of the earliest tablets to the more abstract cuneiform signs. In this account of fields, crops, and commodities, circles evidently represent the number ten and lengthened circles the number one (A. Hoerth, Archaeology and the OT, 43).

The Cyrus Cylinder

WAS MOSES LITERATE?

• Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” - Exod 17:14

• Then Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel…When Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book to the very end. - Deut 31:9, 24

WAS MOSES LITERATE?

• Just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the people of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses… - Josh 8:31

• Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

- Luke 24:44

OTHER BIBLICAL WRITERS

• And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took a large stone and set it up there under the terebinth that was by the sanctuary of the LORD. - Josh 24:26

• Then Samuel told the people the rights and duties of the kingship, and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the LORD. Then Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his home. - 1 Sam 10:25

OTHER BIBLICAL WRITERS

• Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah until today. - Jer 36:2

• And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the LORD had commanded Israel…They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.- Neh 8:1, 8

ANTILEGOMENA

• Song of Solomon• Ecclesiastes• Esther• Ezekiel• Proverbs

APOCRYPHA

WHY REJECT THE APOCRYPHA?

• They were never included in the Hebrew Old Testament.• They were never accepted as inspired by Jesus or the

Apostles.• They do not have the same qualities as inspired books.• They do not even lay claim to inspiration.• They were not accepted by some of the most significant

biblical scholars and early church fathers.• Their inclusion into the Bible has always been opposed

by the majority of the church.• The Catholic Church does not have the infallible

authority to make or declare a book to be inspired.

PSEUDEPIGRAPHA

EXTRABIBLICAL BOOKS

• Teach the sons of Judah the song of the bow; behold, it is written in the book of Jashar. - 2 Sam 1:18

• Now the acts of King David, from first to last, are written in the chronicles of Samuel the seer, in the chronicles of Nathan the prophet and in the chronicles of Gad the seer. - 1 Chr 29:29

• Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, from first to last, are they not written in the records of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat? - 2 Chr 9:29

PRESERVATION OF THE BIBLE

• God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? - Num 23:19

• And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed.

- Josh 23:14

PRESERVATION OF THE BIBLE

• The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. - Isa 40:8

• For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. - Matt 5:18

• Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. - Mark 13:31

SCROLL STORAGE

preservation collection in sets

British Library Codex Or. 4445 -- A.D. 820-950?

The Aleppo Codex -- A.D. 930

Codex Leningradensis B19A -- A.D. 1008

SignificantMedieval Hebrew Manuscripts

British Library

Codex Or. 4445A.D. 820-950?

Aleppo CodexAleppo CodexDeut 32 ADeut 32 A

ALEPPO CODEX

A.D. 930

Leningrad Codex B19aLeningrad Codex B19aEcclesiastes 5Ecclesiastes 5

Leningrad B19aA.D. 1008

DEAD SEA SCROLLS

Psalms 93-150 + 8 Noncanonical Psalms

11QPsa

1st Psalms scroll found in Qumran Cave 11

No Poetic FormatDifferent Order

xvxv xvixvi xviixvii

136:26; 118:1, 15-136:26; 118:1, 15-

16, 8-9, 29; 145:1-716, 8-9, 29; 145:1-7 145:13-21+145:13-21+ 154:3-19154:3-19

xviiixviii

CODEX SINAITICUS

A.D. 375-400

CODEX ALEXANDRINUS

Codex Vaticanus

CODEX VATICANUS

A.D. 325-350

PRESERVATION OF THE BIBLE

The Bible is much more reliable than any other ancient manuscript!!!

SOME THINGS TO CONSIDER

• How does what we’ve learned give us greater confidence in our Bible?

• How does it give us a greater love for our Bible?

SCHEDULE

09/27 Introduction

10/04 How did we get our Bible?

10/11 How do we know we have the true Bible? (Part 1)

10/18 How do we know we have the true Bible? (Part 2)

10/25 Why are there so many different translations?

11/01 How do we know the Bible is true? (Part 1)

11/08 How do we know the Bible is true? (Part 2)

11/15 The testimony of Scripture to itself (Part 1)

11/22 The testimony of Scripture to itself (Part 2)

11/29 Thanksgiving

12/06 The testimony of the early church

12/13 The testimony of extrabiblical sources

12/20 The testimony of changed lives

12/27 Christmas