Training Manual: The Bible (Audio Podcast)
4. 0 Training Manual: The Bible
The Christian soldier does everything by “the Book,” it is our
only rule of faith and practice. Since so much depends upon it, we need
absolute confidence in it.
4.1. What the
Bible says about itself
* The
written word of God. Ex 34:1, 27-28; Jer 36:2, Rev 1:10-11
*
Preserved by God. Ps 119:89; Mat 24:35; 1Pet 1:25
* Not to
be altered. Deut 4:2; 12:32; Pr 30:6;
Rev 22:19
*
Trustworthy 1Kings 8:56; Ps 111:7; Matt 5:18
4.1.1. Reliability
of the Bible
(From "Evidence that Demands a Verdict" by Josh
McDowell.)
Unique in its Continuity
It was
written over 1,500 year time span, Over 40 generations, by 40 different
authors, in 3 different languages. (Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek.) On 3 different
continents, (Africa, Asia, Europe.) Yet it speaks with one voice, the voice of
God.
Unique in its Circulation
To
print every Bible, New Testament and individual portion of the Bible, published
up to 1974, one printer would have to produce: 1 copy every 3 seconds, 20
copies every minute, 1,200 copies every hour, 28,800 copies every day, 10.5
million copies every year nonstop for 245 years. That's enough pages of
scripture to circle the globe 1,000 times.
In 1998 alone the United Bible Society distributed 20
million Bibles, 20 million New Testaments. That is just one society and does
not include the millions published by the major Christian publishing houses,
independent publishers or the millions of copies now produced digitally on
computers, tablets and smart phones. One Bible app, YouVersion has been
downloaded more than 50 million times as of 2015! That is only one app maker,
there are literally hundreds that produce the Bible. No other book in all of
time and history has been distributed as much as God’s Word, none even come
close and given its incredible lead none ever will.
Unique in its Translations
The Bible was the first major book to be translated into
another language, Hebrew to Greek, 250 BC called the Septuagint. The Bible has
been translated into more than 2200 languages. Though this is only a third of
the 6500 languages know today it represents over 90% of all the earth's
languages that are most commonly used worldwide. Wycliffe Bible Translators
alone has over 6000 translators working with more than 850 languages to create
Bibles in native tongues for the first time. At this rate the Bible will become
the first book every universally translated.
Unique in Survival, Preservation
No other ancient writing has more documentary evidence than
the Bible and no other writing of antiquity has as much manuscript evidence as
close to the writings of the originals.
|
Work of Antiquity
|
Written
|
Earliest Copy
|
Time Span
|
Surviving Copies
|
|
Pliny
|
61-113AD
|
850AD
|
750 yrs
|
7
|
|
Plato
|
100-44BC
|
900AD
|
1,200 yrs
|
7
|
|
Caesar
|
427-347BC
|
900AD
|
1000 yrs
|
10
|
|
Aristotle
|
384-322BC
|
1100AD
|
1400 yrs
|
49
|
|
Sophocles
|
496-406BC
|
1000AD
|
1400yrs
|
193
|
|
Homer (Illiad)
|
900BC
|
400BC
|
500yrs
|
643
|
|
New Testament
|
40-100AD
|
114AD
|
50yrs
|
5800
|
4.2. Inspiration
of the Bible
Revelation is the communication of truth that cannot be
otherwise discovered, inspiration is how that truth is recorded.
Theories of the modes of inspiration
Which of the following definitions of inspiration is correct
since we hold to a verbal (every word), plenary (every thought) inspiration of
scripture?
* Intuition: a superior insight on the part of the natural
man into moral and religious truth.
* Illumination: an intensifying and elevation of the
religious perceptions of the believer.
* Dynamic: God supplied the enabling need for the
trustworthy transmission of the truth in matters of faith and practice.
* Dictation: the writers of scripture were secretaries who
recorded God's exact words.
* Guidance: the Holy Spirit guided the authors of scripture
even in the employment of the words used, and preserved them from all error and
omission.
Inspiration because it is a miracle of God, is difficult to fully
comprehend or understand but the mode of inspiration called guidance seems to
best describe the way God transmitted His truth to those men he wished to
record it.
"It is essentially 'guidance'. That is, the Holy Spirit supervised the
selection of the materials to be used and the words to be employed in
writing. (He) finally, preserved the
authors from all error and omission. “We
have, therefore, in the Bible the verbally inspired Word of God." -Henry
Thiesen in Lectures in Systematic Theology.
Internal evidence of inspiration
2 Timothy 3:16-17 Scripture is inspired by God and we need
nothing else.
1 Peter 1:10-11 Writers recorded what they didn't fully
understand.
2 Peter 1:21 Writers were moved, empowered by the Holy
Spirit.
Revelation 1:1 Writers reported on what they saw.
Quotes
" Whenever the Bible writers allude to themselves, they
invariably say that their words are not their own but that they come from
God. God used their facilities, traits
and abilities. Some write that God put
words in their mouth; others that God directed them to use their own words to
convey what God had transmitted unto them….
but all are unanimous in declaring that their writings came direct from
God and that God simply used them as agents...." – W. A. Criswell
"John Wesley argued that the Bible must have been
written by bad men or angels, good men or angels, or by God. He showed that it could not have been written
by bad men or angels, for it condemns their souls to hell for all eternity: nor
could it have been written by good men or angels, for they would not say,
"Thus says the Lord" when it was they who said it; it must, therefore
have been written by God."-Henry Thiesen
4.3. Confirmation
of the Bible
The Bible, like God, does not need to be confirmed or
proven, it is true no matter what I can or cannot prove. Still there is ample evidence to show time
and again that the Bible is absolutely without error or omission.
Confirmation by Archaeology
Jericho was destroyed by Joshua and the invading Israelite
armies in Joshua 6:20. The city of
Jericho was excavated in 1930-36. They
found the wall had fallen down flat just as the Bible had said.
The Five Cities of the Plain are recorded in Genesis
14. These were considered fictitious until
the discovery of the Kingdom of Elba site, which not only mentions the cities
but even lists them in the same order on clay tablets 1000 years before Moses
wrote Genesis.
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