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How to Study
the Bible
Lesson One
- God's Word
PART ONE:
Inspiration
We
believe that the Bible is inspired.
(2 Tim 3:16-17 KJV)
All scripture is given by inspiration of
God,
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness:
{17} That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly
furnished unto all good works.
The word
translated "inspired" in the King James Version of the Scriptures is the
Greek word "theopneustos" - a combination of the word "theos" meaning
"God" ( where we get our word "theology") and the word for wind, air or
breath (from which we get the English word "pneumatic" "pneumonia"
etc.). The Greek word in II Tim. 3:16 literally means
"God-breathed". This "inspiration" is much different than the
inspiration an artist may receive to paint a great painting or the
inspiration an author may feel to write a
novel.
By
"inspiration" we mean: "God's guidence exerted upon the human writers of
the Bible so that the product of their writing retained individual
personality and style, yet exactly expressing the mind of God. It is
the means God used to achieve His revelation in the Bible." (Gary
Kinnaman)
NOTE:
The Bible does not
CONTAIN God's word.
The Bible does not
BECOME God's word.
The Bible IS God's word!
(Even an atheist has to
use the Bible to describe the kind of God he does not believe
in.)
As Jesus Christ is both
HUMAN and DIVINE so the Bible is also. It has both a HUMAN and
DIVINE element. Some sections of the Bible are so "human" that it makes
you wonder if the Bible really is inspired. Then there are the sections
that are so obviously inspired it thrills you. The Bible is a
miracle book
There are
two main words used by theologians to define inspiration. Don't let
these words scare you. They are the words "verbal" and "plenary" and
are used this way: "We believe in the verbal, plenary inspiration of
the Scriptures." Now, let me define them for
you.
"Verbal"
means every word in the original languages is inspired by
God. Why would we believe such a thing? There are several
reasons:
The linguistic
argument: Thoughts depend on completely on the very words used to
express them. Change a word and the whole thought can change.
If God really wants to communicate His will to us, then the very words He
chose are important. He spoke to us so that we could understand His
desires and will. The words used originally were His
words.
The Biblical argument:
(Matt. 5:18 KJV)
"For verily I (Jesus) say unto you,
Till heaven and earth pass,
one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law,
til all be fulfilled."
Jesus being quoted here
in Matthew says that the smallest part of the Hebrew alphabet will not be
destroyed or left out of the Scriptures (the "jot" and the
"tittle"). And here, as in other places, Jesus referred to the
Scriptures as "God's word".
The logical argument:
In many places in the Scripture, the meaning of the verse or passage
depends completely on a single word. The very words are
important. Compare Galations 3:16 where Paul's argument rests upon
the fact that the word in question was singular and not plural in the
original writings.
Gal 3:16 (KJV)
Now
to Abraham and his seed were the promises made.
He
saith not, And to seeds, as of many;
but
as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
"Plenary"
means THE WHOLE BIBLE is inspired. The inspiration extends to
concepts, numbers, names, organization and everything that makes up the
Scriptures in the original writings.
PART TWO: Transmission - How the Bible has come
down to us through time.
It may
come as a surprise to some to learn that the Bible did not arrive "whole".
The 66 different books of the Bible were written by different authors over
a period of a thousand years. Until the invention of the printing
press in the 1500's the Bible was painstakingly composed and copied by
hand, one letter at a time! The New Testament was hand-copied for
1500 years! (Of course, this is true for all ancient
books.)
The story
of the Bible coming down through the centuries is a story of Divine
protection. The number of hand-copied manuscripts of the New
Testament is overwhelmingly greater than the copies of any other ancient
book. The ancient literary works of Greece and Rome are represented
by as few as one surviving manuscript to as many as several hundred.
Of the New Testament however there are more than 4800 manuscripts in
Greek, 8000 in Latin, and over 1000 in other languages. So many
manuscipts assures the reliablity of the text. Comparisons can be
made from one century to another as well as between languages and thus the
text can be shown to be accurate.
The
finding of the Dead Sea scrolls only confirmed what the Scripture has told
us and what Jesus had said about the Bible. The accuracy of the Bible as
we have it, even the Old Testament, is proof of the Divine inspiration of
this Book.
PART THREE:
Canonicity - the Standard
The word
"canonicity" is from the Greek word "kanon" meaning "a reed used for
measuring, A STANDARD". The dictionary defines "canon" as "an
authoritaritive list." "Inspiration" refers to how the Bible got
it's AUTHORITY. "Canonicity" refers to how the Bible got it's
ACCEPTANCE. Canonicity is concerned with recognizing the
God-inspired, authoritative books of the Bible, of which there are now and
finally 66 in number.
The
Canonicity of the Old Testament
The
authority of the Old Testament books was determined by whether or not a
book was written by a PROPHET. A succession of prophets in Israel began
with Moses, who was the great prototype prophet and who, wrote the first
five books of the Bible. The chain of prophets ended with Malachi. The
Talmud, the ancient non-Bible book of Jewish law and tradition, states,
"After the latter prophets Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, the Holy Spirit
departed from Israel." This view is also supported by other ancient
Jewish sources, like the books of Maccabees and
Josephus.
Christian
scholar R. Laird Hams writes, "what was prophetic was regarded as
the Word of God. What was not prophetic was not regarded as the Word of
God. The canon grew as the prophets succeeded one another in their
ministry; it was finished, as Josephus says, when the Holy Spirit ceased
speaking through the prophets in Israel. Moses, the great precursor of the
prophetic line, specified tests to be applied in determining the reality
of prophecy... when all these tests were applied and the prophet was
acknowledged to be true, his words and writings were received by the
faithful as from God."
The Canonicity of the New
Testament
The canon
of the New Testament was determined by whether or not the book was written
by an original APOSTLE. Harris writes, 'The test of the Early Church was
not arbitrary nor was it arrived at long after, by intuition or the
general leading of the Spirit. It is actually witnessed to within the
apostolic period ... The early Church was conscious that the apostles held
their position by virtue of the double relationship of Christ's commission
and the Holy Spirit's enduement. No other men could claim this twofold
ministry, and none did. This authority extended to the ministry of the
apostles to such an extent that all their words were regarded and the
writings preserved.
Another
Christian scholar, Pache, writes, 'The fact is that, right from the
start, the writings incontestably apostolic were considered as being
themselves the Scriptures, and then were added to the already existing
sacred books (of the Old Testament) .... The church was providentially
kept from accepting any illegitimate books throughout the whole two and a
half centuries while the canon was coming into being. They examined freely
and unhurriedly the books presented to them. At times,
certain ones hesitated for a while before coming to complete agreement,
but never did the believers as a whole make a definite choice which they
later had to repent of.... One can therefore see an astonishing fact
emerge: the church definitely and firmly accepted as divine some books
unfavorable to its own inclinations, and everywhere it rejected as merely
human others which would favor its inclinations the
most.
What about the Apocrypha, those "extra" books in Catholic
Bibles? (1) All were written after prophecy was recognized to have
departed from Israel, that is, after Malachi (2) Not once are they
quoted by Christ or the other NT writers. (3) Jesus did not receive them
as God's word. (4) With the exception of Augustine, no leader of the early
church accepted them. (5) There is no 'thus saith the Lord' in any or
them. (6) Even the Roman Catholic church did not accept them as God's word
until after Martin Luther in the 1500's, and they did so more or
less as a reaction to the new Protestant movement which was
'protesting',"Sola Scriptura! ie. Only the Bible! Only the Bible!"
The Catholic church had some doctrines that could not be proven without
using these extra books. (7) They are interesting, informative, and even
inspirational, but they are not 'God-breathed.'
(2 Sam 23:1-3 KJV)
Now
these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said,
and the
man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the
sweet psalmist of Israel, said,
{2} The
spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue.
{3} The
God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me,
He
that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of
God.
(Mar 12:36
KJV)
For David
himself said by the Holy Ghost,
The LORD
said to my Lord,
Sit thou
on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy
footstool.
(Act 1:16
KJV)
Men and
brethren, this scripture must needs have been
fulfilled,
which the Holy Ghost
by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas,
which was guide to
them that took Jesus.
(Heb 3:7-11
KJV)
Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith,
To day
if ye will hear his voice, (8) Harden not your hearts, as in the
provocation,
in the
day of temptation in the wilderness:
(9) When your fathers tempted me, proved me,
and saw my works forty years.
(10)
Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said,
They do
alway err in their heart; and they have not known my
ways.
(11) So I sware in
my wrath, They shall not enter into my
rest.
(Heb 4:9-16
KJV)
There remaineth
therefore a rest to the people of God.
(10) For he that is entered into
his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God
did from his.
(11) Let us labour therefore to
enter into that rest,
lest any man fall after the same
example of unbelief.
(12) For the word of God
is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any
twoedged sword,
piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow,
and is a
discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
(13) Neither is there any
creature that is not manifest in his sight:
but all things
are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with
whom we have to do.
(14) Seeing then that we have a
great high priest, that is passed into the heavens,
Jesus the Son of God, let us hold
fast our profession.
(15) For we have not an high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities;
but was in all points tempted
like as we are, yet without sin.
(16) Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace,
that we may obtain mercy,
and find grace to help in time of
need.
IXTHEUS CHRISTIAN GROWTH
DEVOTIONALS
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God Bless
You
In Christ.....brother
bob.......<><
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