Is the Bible the Word of God?

Introduction:

1.      Use an illustration to make the point: Believing the Bible is God's Word is fundamentally a moral, not an intellectual, issue—God wants us to know with our mind and heart.

2.      Outline the lesson:

a.       Look at a few claims the Bible makes about itself, Interesting questions that have been raised, where do we start when we have little to no faith.

 

Main Points:

1.       What does the Bible claim to be?

a.     2Timothy 3:16-17 –

                                                             i.      "All Scripture…is God-breathed (NASB-inspired by God)" 

                                                           ii.      Useful…so that you may be thoroughly equipped – I think we can all imagine not being equipped in something.  Maybe our nightmare to be caught inadequate?

                                                        iii.      Here the Bible says it comprises God's words to us, and that it is what God gave us in order to equip us and makes us adequate men and women of God!

b.     2Peter 1:20-21 –

                                                             i.      "Above all you must understand"…What?  The Bible does not come by man's will but by God's will!  

                                                           ii.      Test: What three things represent the will of man in our world?  Money, Sex, Power—isn't it amazing that history shows those things have always represented the will of man?!

1.     The Bible shows to limit man's will in these areas, quite different than the world's example and other religions.

c.      John 12:48 –

                                                             i.      "There is a judge," what is that judge? 

                                                           ii.      Where are the words of Jesus? 

1.     In the Bible—Really, He is speaking about the whole Bible because Jesus is the constant message of the whole Bible, plus He is the known as the ultimate fulfillment and pinnacle of the whole Bible.  

                                                        iii.      So, the Bible makes the claim to be what we are going to be judged by—it is like an open book test.  That can sound overwhelming because the Bible is a big book, but it is comforting when you take in those passages that disclose its main point—knowing God, loving Him with everything, and loving others as yourself.

d.     Write the acronym on the board for extra help from D. Jacoby's Shinning Like Stars: The Bible makes the following claim for why it is so hard for men to see it as the word of God: EXIT acronym to represent that men have EXITed the way of God, thus making it the narrow way.   E—Easy way (2Timothy 4:2-3; Isaiah 30:10-11; John 8:31-32); X—eXtra teaching (Proverbs 30:6; Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32; 1Corinthians 4:6; Revelation 22:18-19); I—Ignorance (Matthew 22:29; Hosea 4:6; Isaiah 1:2; 2Timothy 2:15); T—Tradition (Matthew 15:6-9; Mark 7:6-9).

2.       Interesting points and questions [ [1] Shinning Like Stars (Jacob y), Evidence that Demands a Verdict (McDowell), Jesus and Christian Origins Outside the New Testament (Bruce), The New Testament Documents: Are they Reliable? (Bruce), How we Got the Bible? (Lightfoot). ]:

a.     What references are there apart from what the Bible tells us?

                                                             i.      Roman—Tacitus; Suetonius; Thallus; Pliny

                                                           ii.      Jewish—Josphus; Rabbinical literature

                                                        iii.      NT Apocrapha

                                                         iv.      Early Church Fathers – Origin, clement (some 30,000 citations dated before 325 AD)

                                                           v.      Muslim—Koran (7^th Century AD)

b.     How did the Bible come together?

                                                             i.      Process is called "Canonization."  Kanon in the Greek means "reed, measuring rod, cane."  

                                                           ii.      The earliest recorded canon, acknowledgment of inspired books, is probably the "Muratorian Canon" from 180 AD, although the books were in circulation for many years according to the other sources for dating the books plus the build-up of international recognition took a lot longer than we would understand word spreading today.  

                                                        iii.      The books recognized are not inspired because they are recognized but canon has to do with accepting the claim from the text that it is inspired.   Hence, the books themselves hold the authority and the people simply recognized this authority. 

c.      Is the Bible accurate? 

                                                             i.      The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered near the Dead Sea in 1947 by a shepherd boy named Mohammed. 

                                                           ii.      They date from around 200 BC to 100 AD.  The earliest OT manuscript dated around the 10^th Century AD before its discovery.  

                                                        iii.      Two things revealed by this scientific discovery: 1. The remarkable similarity to the more recent, showing the excellent textual transmission of the scribes, and 2. Particularly of Isaiah 53, a key Messianic prophecy that depicts His death.

d.     Another remarkable thing I found in my research is the number of manuscripts + their earliest dating compared to other ancient works.  

                                                             i.      The total number of ancient manuscripts of the New Testament in Greek is growing all the time as discoveries are being made—Over 5,600 Greek NT mss to date.   Over 20 thousand NT mss total as of 2004.  Homer's Illiad is second in manuscript authority with 643.  

                                                           ii.      Aside from the quantity, the other works of antiquity there is at least a 1000 year gap between the event and the dating of copies we have today, where as we have copies within a few hundred years for the Bible.

e.     Are there inspired writings other than the Bible?  

                                                             i.      Not according to the document – Galatians 1:6-9, 12 

                                                           ii.      The gospel must not be tampered with, altered, or added to.  It is the original, not a variation of the original (1Cor. 4:6; Deut 4:2; 12:32).

3.       Conclusion: Where to start?

a.     Romans 10:17   - faith comes through "hearing" the message – you should spend time hearing the message, reading the Bible.

b.     John 20:30-31 – the details recorded are there so that we can have faith…in Jesus!

c.      John 7:17 – Jesus makes the issue clear: we must be willing to put it into practice if we want to receive His message as the truth from God.