Recap of Session Three Question: Is the Bible authentic? Why? Answers: 1.Fulfilled Prophecy 2.Historical Accuracy 3.Scientific Accuracy 4.Indestructibility 5.Unique Structure 6.Universal Influence 7.Life –Changing Effect

Psalm 119:160 (NIV) 160 All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal. 1 Peter 1:25 (NIV) 25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.” [a] And this is the word that was preached to you.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV) 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness

Transmission the Bible Old Testament The 39 books of the Old Testament were written over a period of 1000 years ( BC). The earliest manuscripts (Dead Sea Scrolls-1947), date from approximately 150BC-70AD. The Masoretes ( AD) meticulously translated and persevered the Old Testament. The Septuagint (LXX) ( BC) is the earliest Greek translation of the Old Testament. 70% of the OT references in the NT came from the LXX.

Transmission the Bible (continued) New Testament The 27 books of the New Testament were written in the first century A.D. Widespread persecution, the unavailability of professional scribes, and the demand for copies for people in different places resulted in a vast amount of copies that contain many variants. There are over 200,000 variants among the many New Testament manuscripts. Many of these are the result of copyist errors such as misspellings. 1 misspelled word that occurred 3000 times would be 3000 variants.

John 3:16 Greek - English 16 Οὕτως γὰρ ἠγάπησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν κόσμον, ὥστε τὸν υἱὸν τὸν μονογενῆ ἔδωκεν, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν μὴ ἀπόληται ἀλλ' ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον. 16 Thus for he loved the God the world that the son the only/unique he gave so that every the one believing in him not may perish but have life eternal.

King James 1611 vs Version 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Manuscript Evidence Old Testament Dead Sea Scrolls and Masorete Text New Testament Over 5000 Greek manuscripts. Some fragments as early as 125AD. Over 8000 Latin manuscripts The variants that are present in these manuscripts only affect 6% of the entire New Testament and less than 1% have any bearing on the meaning of the text.

How the Bible Should Be Read

Since the Bible is an ancient document we should not try to transplant every word of it into today’s contexts. When you are reading the scriptures you should ask yourself: 1.What is the context of the situation? 2.What was the author trying to get across to the original audience? 3.What principles apply to me today?

When someone reads the Bible without looking at the context of the situation and seeking to understand the author’s original intent, the danger is that the Bible will seem to err. This is why many people say that Paul and James contradict each other or that the Gospel accounts are four different stories. When read properly, the Bible can be clearly seen as the divinely inspired, inerrant, infallible, Word of the Living God!