WE have established the Bible is both inspired and understandable But is what we have today accurate? Since we don’t have the autographs, has the Word of God been corrupted in transmission? Back to Basics – 2014 The Bible

Can We Rely on Our Bibles Today?

In this lesson we will show why what we have today is reliable We will introduce the subject of Bible canonization, transmission and translation Why? 1) To answer critics 2) To give us confidence Back to Basics – 2014 The Bible

Canon – (κανών, kanon) - a reed. Came to mean a measuring rod and eventually a standard Canon – the collection of religious writings divinely inspired and hence authoritative. Is the Bible today complete?

The Bible consists of 66 books – 39 OT, 27 NT. Some question whether the books we have determined to be canon is a complete list. The OT Apocrypha After NT – other gospels and epistles Some question those in the Bible Is the Bible today complete?

The Old Testament Jewish documentation verifies what we have. Prior to our Lord coming, the books of the OT were accepted. While in a different order, it agrees with the 39 books we call the Old Testament. Is the Bible today complete?

The Old Testament The process included: Was it written by a prophet? Miraculous signs and accuracy of fulfillment Internally consistent with the revelation of God, esp. what God gave Moses. Is the Bible today complete?

The Old Testament The New Testament: Quoted the OT frequently ( direct quotes). Often appeals to OT as from God – Matt. 21:42, 1 Cor. 14:21 Fulfilled prophecies in NT Is the Bible today complete?

The Old Testament The New Testament: Luke 24:44, “Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.”” Is the Bible today complete?

The Old Testament The New Testament: Lk 24:44 The Hebrew Bible consisted of 24 books in 3 sections - Torah (Gen – Deut) - Nevi’im History and Prophets – 8 books including Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and “the twelve” - Kethuvim – writings – 11 books – including psalms, Daniel, Ezra- Nehemiah, Chronicles, etc. Is the Bible today complete?

The Old Testament The New Testament: Luke 24:44, “Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses (Torah) and the Prophets (Nevi-im) and the Psalms (Ketuvim) concerning Me.”” Is the Bible today complete?

The New Testament Some believe we ought to add other books to the 27 we have in our New Testament First published list with the 27 books was 367 AD, a letter to Athanasius. Is the Bible today complete?

The New Testament Does this mean they guessed which books to include? NO! Most books were strongly accepted centuries earlier 7 books were questioned (but admitted based upon criteria) Is the Bible today complete?

The New Testament Criteria for inclusion as canon Did it have the quality of inspiration? Flow, claims, etc. Was the author an apostle or had apostolic authority? (1 st century) Does its teaching agree with “the rule of faith”? Does not contradict other established books. Is the Bible today complete?

The New Testament Criteria for inclusion as canon Did the work receive wide circulation? Cf. Col. 4:16, Rev. 1:4, Gal. 1:1-2, 1 Pet. 1:1 Such standards would reject most works and with cause! Is the Bible today complete?

The New Testament The 7 “questionable” books Hebrews – author not named James – supposedly contradicted Paul 2 Peter – different style than 1 st Peter Is the Bible today complete?

The New Testament The 7 “questionable” books 2 & 3 John – brevity and too personal Jude – a quote by Enoch. Revelation – its apocalyptic natures. Is the Bible today complete?

The New Testament The 7 “questionable” books These books were NOT rejected, but simply questioned. That demonstrates the standard in place. Is the Bible today complete?

Transmission means the process of copying Greek and Hebrew manuscripts to preserve them for future generations and to provided greater distribution Textual criticism – the process of determining the accuracy of texts Manuscript – a hand written document (MS or MSS) Transmission of the text

Dilemma? Is what we have linear transmission and thereby subject to errors and corruption? NO! The process is not linear. Transmission of the text

A rich collection of documents Fragments – portions of a text. Some of our oldest documents are of this type. There are about 120 of this type. Transmission of the text P52 Oldest Fragment. Shows a portion of Jn. 18:31-33 Wikimedia.com File:P52_recto.jpg

A rich collection of documents Uncials (3 rd -8 th Century) – about 300 including Codex Sinaticus and Codex Alexandrinus Miniscules (9 th century and later) - about lectionaries 19,000 manuscripts in other languages Transmission of the text

A rich collection of documents Total – 5,686 Greek mss 19,000 copies in (Syriac, Coptic, Latin & Aramaic) Transmission of the text

What about variants? A variant is a difference between 2 mss. Critics note there are thousands of variants and thus unreliable – about 200,000. The numbers are designed to shock, but not a problem. Transmission of the text

What about variants? The overwhelming majority of variants are minor (“typos”) such as spelling errors, transposing words, omitting a word or line of text (198,000). Many are copy errors (i.e. if 4000 copies record the same misspelling that counts as 4000 errors). Only about 2,000 have any significance, but nothing with any bearing on the truth. These variants are documented and can be verified. All in all, the Bible is about 99.5% accurate! Transmission of the text

An example The Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) Found in caves around the Dead Sea in the 1940s. Dating to around 100 BC, a product of the Essenes. Contain substantial portions of the OLD Testament. Transmission of the text

The Dead Sea Scrolls One document of Isaiah 53 was examined with 166 words and compared with later mss. There were 17 differences 10 – spelling, 4 – stylistic, 3 letters that comprise a word (light – vs. 11) Again, our methods incredibly accurate! Transmission of the text

What we have is incredibly accurate. Whether or not we accept it is another story!