1. How we got our Bible

2. What have you heard? 2

3. 2 Peter 1:19-21
What does (and doesn’t) it mean?

4. Verbal-Plenary

5. Verbal-Plenary Verbal means “words” Plenary means “all”
Verbal-Plenary Inspiration is the belief that all words of the Bible were inspired by God
Holy control over the writing
Human personality infused

6. All written with context
Each “book” of Scripture was written…
…with purpose
…to certain people
…in a specific time
…in a specific place

7. 7

8. 8

9. “…to the churches of Galatia…”
Galatians 1:2 9

10. 10

11. We know this because…
We’ve found many copies

16. We know this because… We’ve found many copies
The manuscripts are of high quality
Papyri – earliest witnesses
Uncials – all caps; a little later
Miniscules – copies from uncials

17. From Wikipedia:
“When comparing one manuscript to another, with the exception of the smallest fragments, no two copies agree completely throughout. There has been an estimate of 400,000 variations among all these manuscripts (from the 2nd to 15th century) which is more than there are words in the New Testament.”

18. Why are there so many variants?
Think of the grueling process
Think of how you read
Think of how you think
Think of how you listen
Think of how you assume
Think of all of the copies
Think of all of the copies!!

19. A Quick Journey Through History
LXX

20. Jerome – 5th Century

21. Latin Vulgate

22. Erasmus – 16th Century

23. Pope Leo X

24. Textus Receptus

25. Martin Luther

26. writes
used by
for
excommunicates
to start
against

27. LATIN VULGATE

28. TEXTUS RECEPTUS

29. KING JAMES VERSION

32. So how do we rightly interpret this book?
How do you read a love letter?
Context is everything
“I hope you’re doing better…”
“It’s been great getting to know you…”
“See you soon…”

33. HERMENEUTICS
Hermeneutics refers to the art and science of interpretation.
Your hermeneutic is the way you interpret something.
Literal/Non-Literal
Historical/Non-Historical 33

34. HISTORICAL
LITERAL
GRAMMATICAL
PLAIN 34

35. EXEGESIS
Exegesis is the skillful application of sound hermeneutical principles to the biblical text in the original language with a view to understanding and declaring the intended meaning of the author. 35