Where the Bible Came From

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Where the Bible Came FromThe History

søndag 26. april 2009



• 1500 years to write• 40 writers• 20 different occupations• 10 different countries on 3 continents•

3 languages• 2930 characters• Yet harmony and continuity• Main theme: God's redemption of man through Christ

Do you want to hear the voice of God?You already have hundreds of pages of it!Read the Bible first.

Bible Facts







• ‘Canon’:

✴ Greek: ‘measuring rod’.

✴ Came to mean ‘standard’ or ‘rule’.

✴ Authoritative collection of Holy Scriptures

• Actualized by:✴ The Gnostics - who wrote new and unknown writings

✴ Marcion - the first to make his own canon

✴ The Montanists - who claimed continuing revelation

• Not by a church council but gradually and over time

✴ Most of it was clear around 200 AD

✴ Declarations at councils did not happen until the end of the 300s, andthen to officially end the question.

✴ The council in Nicaea in 325 had nothing to do with this. This legendcan be traced back to the late 9th century.

Canonization




2 groups:

1. Writings used everywhere in the church

• The gospels, Acts, Paul’s 13 letters, 1 Peter, 1 John.

• About 90% of the NT.

2. Writings used only in some churches

• Hebrews

•

James• 2 Peter

• 2 and 3 John

• Jude

• Revelation

The New Testament




Our NT by 200 AD

90 %

10 %

Holy Debated




Main criterion: Apostolic

• Written by an apostle or an apostle’s co-worker

• Younger writings would not be accepted

Supporting criteria:

1.Right teaching• Had to agree with the oral tradition from the apostles

• The church existed for many years before anything waswritten

2.Tradition• Had to have been used in churches

• Especially those founded by apostles

• Many churches participated in the process




2 groups:





• Hebrews

•

James• 2 Peter

• 2 and 3 John

• Jude

• Revelation

The New Testament




2 groups:





• Hebrews - question of authorship

• James

• 2 Peter

• 2 and 3 John

• Jude

• Revelation

The New Testament




2 groups:






• James - seemed to contradict Paul

• 2 Peter

• 2 and 3 John

• Jude

• Revelation

The New Testament




2 groups:







• 2 Peter - differs in style from 1 Peter (5:12)

• 2 and 3 John

• Jude

• Revelation

The New Testament




2 groups:








• 2 and 3 John - question of authorship

• Jude

• Revelation

The New Testament




2 groups:









• Jude - quotes non-canonical books

• Revelation

The New Testament




2 groups:









• Jude - quotes non-canonical books

• Revelation - strange, question of authorship

The New Testament




• What is correct?

The church determined the canon.

The church discovered the canon.




• What is correct?

x The church determined the canon.

✓ The church discovered the canon.

• The church is not over the canon, but under.

• Trust that God controlled the selection. Theharmony bears witness to this.




The Apocrypha

• Catholic and Orthodox churches

• The reformed churches

• The Lutheran and Anglican churches

Holy!

We don’t wantthem at all!

They are not part

of the OT but can still beuseful to read.




• Apocrypha = “hidden” (Jerome, 400 AD)

• The books:✴ Tobit

✴ Judith✴ Additions to Esther

✴ Book of Wisdom

✴ Sirach

✴

Baruch✴ Letter of Jeremiah

✴ Additions to Daniel

✴ 1 and 2 Maccabees

The Apocrypha




• Prayer of Manasseh - part of the Catholic OT

• 3 & 4 Ezra (1 & 2 Esdras) - part of English apocrypha• Psalm 151 - part of the Orthodox OT

• 3 Maccabees - part of the Orthodox OT

Sometimes also:




1. They are too young (200 – 100 BC)

2. Not written by prophets

• 1 Macc 9:27 - “since the time that prophets ceased toappear among them”

• Mostly unknown writers

3. No council accepted them until 397. Still not as

Holy Scripture but as instruction and history.

Why not Holy Scripture?






5. They contain errors and contradict the Bible

• Tob 6:13 – Death penalty in the law for marryingsomeone from another tribe

• Tob 12:9 – Alms save from death and atone for every sin

• 2 Macc 12:44-46: Teaches prayer for the dead

6. They have never been among the Jewish Scriptures!

7. They are never quoted in the NT!

• Seems to have been viewed as ‘secondary’ even thoughthey may have been included in the Septuagint.







• By 500 AD:✴ Bible reduced to only one language: Latin

✴ Most people didn't speak Latin.

• People used relics to get closer to God because theydidn't know anything about it because they didn't have theBible. Many relics were of course fake.

• They paid for their sins with money, later they even paid inadvance. Sometimes to finance wars.

The Middle Ages







1320 – 1384• Professor of theology at

Oxford.

• “The pope is not the voice of God on earth, the Bible is. Thepope might not even be among

the ones chosen for heaven.”• First to get away with it

because of his position, but hisdisciples were executed.

• Fuelled the reformation.

• Translated the whole Biblefrom Latin to English in 1380(first English translation).

• 1408: Archbishop of Yorkbanned Wyclif e's Bible

John Wycliffe




"We therefore decree and ordain, that from hence

forth no unauthorized person shall translate any

part of the Holy Scripture into English or any otherlanguage, under any form of book or treatise.”

Archbishop of York, 1408







1483 – 1546• Probably thought it was his last day

on earth when he stood before

the emperor and stated that he

had to be convinced by the Bible

to admit that he was wrong, and

that his conscience was captive to

the Word of God.

• Translated the NT from Greek to

German in 1523.

Martin Luther







1494 – 1536

• First translation of the NTfrom Greek to English

• The copies were burned

• Accused of heresy and

hunted for 11 years

• Burned at the stake

William Tyndale







1. Nobody has ever changed the content of the Bible!

2. Don’t take the Bible for granted!

Application


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Where the Bible Came From