The Bible and Us Bible Truth why it’s so important and why we can trust it Emmanuel Chesham Summer Bible School 2011.

The Bible and Us

Bible Truthwhy it’s so important

and why we can trust it

Emmanuel CheshamSummer Bible School 2011

housekeeping

• thanks again for coming back!• thanks for your questions

– they’ve helped me improve the material– so did doing this with our Home Group– other information came from references on

next page

for more information• Brian H Edwards, Nothing But The Truth

– revised since 1986 – now 3rd ed (2005)• John McDowell, New Evidence That Demands

A Verdict, (2010)– revised since 1972!

• Robert Dick Wilson, Is The Higher Criticism Scholarly? (1922)– eg http://heartoftn.net/users/gary27/wilson.htm

• see also references in the text

what this is about• what we believe about the Bible

– it’s true, and we need it– it’s the Word of God, written via human agents– in fact, pretty-much by eye-witnesses

• why we can be confident in the Bible– what we don’t believe: “it was made up later”, or “it was

changed a lot afterwards anyway”– we’ve already seen: copyists, and manuscripts– OT truth: prophets, and Robert Dick Wilson– NT truth: Luke

what this isn’t about• “truth” is a big subject!

– truth of the resurrection of Christ– truth of the [other] miracles in the Bible– truth in the Bible vs truth in science

• we aren’t covering everything here– just the Bible itself

• we aim at “truth”, not “proof”– based on good historical evidence

• in line with your conscience and experience– not based on controlled experiments, or on

deduction from axioms

what we believeabout Bible truth

what we believe

• “The Bible, as originally given, is the inspired and infallible Word of God. It is the supreme authority in all matters of belief and behaviour.”

– UCCF Doctrinal Basis, clause c• most evangelical organizations have a

similar statement– including the Church of England, Article VI

we need the Bible to know God(Calvin’s argument, Institutes, Book I)

• we need God’s own written word because– although God can be seen in creation, and in our

consciences– that knowledge is lost or changed, due to

ignorance, or to sin• the Bible, the Spirit, and reason

– we need the Spirit, to understand the Bible– we need the Bible, not just immediate revelation

from God– the Bible commends itself to human reason

the Word of God• 2 Tim 3.16, “all scripture is God-breathed”• 2 Pet 1.20-21, “no prophecy of Scripture came

about by the prophet’s own interpretation ... men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit”

• 1 Pet 1.10-12, “the prophets searched ... trying to find out the time ... to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing ...”

• Jn 10.35, “the scripture cannot be broken”– and Jesus’+apostles’ whole attitude

written by eye-witnesses(pretty-much)

• 2 Pet 1.16, “we did not follow clever-invented stories ... we were eye-witnesses of his majesty”

• Acts 26.25-26, Paul, “What I am saying is true and reasonable. The king is familiar with these things ... none of this has escaped his notice, because it was not done in a corner.”

• Lk 1, “... handed down ... by eye-witnesses ... I have carefully investigated ...”

what’s at stake?

an alternative view(which we don’t believe)

• the OT was made up by the Jews in exile!– the Torah in ~500-400BC, to cement Jewish culture

and national identity after catastrophe– Daniel, in ~170-150BC, to encourage and then to

celebrate resistance to Antiochus• the NT was made up after the fall of Jerusalem!!• no miracles ever happened!!!• God doesn’t exist, and doesn’t relate to

people!!!!

pre-Conquest

Conquestto Exile

post-Exile

life ofChrist

earlyChurch

creation

patriarchs

wanderings

judges

united k’dom

divided k’dom

exile

return

birth

ministry

death and res

Pentecost

mission

Revelation

Genesis

Ex, Lev, Num, Deut

Josh, Judg, Ruth

1-2 Sam, 1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chr

Ezra, NehemiahEsther

Is, JerLam, Ezek, Dan Obadiah

Hag, Zech, Mal

Am, Hos, Joel, Jon, Mic, Nah, Hab, Zeph

Gospels and Acts

Revelation

Rom, 1-2 Cor, Gal, Eph, Phil, Col, 1-2 Thess, 1-2 Tim, Titus, Phm, Heb, Jas, 1-2 Pet, 1-3 Jn, Jd

2000

1400

1000

600

500

350

0

30

50

90

history prophets and lettersso instead of this ...

Job

Ps

Prov

Ecc

Song

wisdom

pre-Conquest

Conquestto Exile

post-Exile

life ofChrist

earlyChurch

creation

patriarchs

wanderings

judges

united k’dom

divided k’dom

exile

return

birth

ministry

death and res

Pentecost

mission

Revelation

most of the Old Testament

Gospels and Acts Revelation

Rom, 1-2 Cor, Gal, Eph, Phil, Col, 1-2 Thess, 1-2 Tim, Titus, Phm, Heb, Jas, 1-2 Pet, 1-3 Jn, Jd

2000

1400

1000

600

500

350

0

30

50

90

history... we’d get this

Daniel

prophets and letters wisdom

why we can be confidentin Bible truth

why we can be confident

• textual evidence– see Bible History

• internal evidence– prophecy

• the testimony of Robert Dick Wilson– on the Old Testament and the ancient world

• the testimony of Luke– on the New Testament and the Roman world

prophecy• of Christ

– hundreds of prophecies in OT– Ps 22: crucifixion, described 1000BC– Isaiah: extant MSS from 125BC

• of the exile and return• of the Greek and Roman empires

– Daniel 2, BabylonPersiaGreeceRome– Daniel 11, Greek rule over Judah

• see Olyott, Dare to Stand Alone, for [loads of] detail

Robert Dick Wilson, 1856-1930• Prof Semitic Philology, Princeton

– ie, a “word geek”• “life statement”, age 25:

– 15 years studying languages– 15 years studying OT and literature– 15 years disseminating findings

• result:– 45 languages – all OT to 600AD– monumental evidence re OT dating and truth

• accessibly summarized in a 1922 paper

Wilson on kings’ names• Wilson studied names and titles of kings

– eg in Genesis 14, and in Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Damascus, Tyre, Moab

• found that OT mirrors palace records• OT spelling mirrors original spelling

– 24 kings, 120 consonants in names– OT gets it exactly right

• Assyrian histories get Egyptian wrong!• Arabic histories get Persia and Greece wrong!• Greeks get Egypt, Assyria and Babylonia wrong!

Wilson on style and time

• Wilson studied non-Hebrew words in the OT• you can tell by doing this, some information

about when it was written– the more you know about the languages, and

the bigger the documents you have available, the more you can tell

– Wilson noted this phenomenon in other ancient languages as well as Hebrew

– you can even do this in English! ...

• “loot” came into English in 1780s from India

• no “loot” in AV!– just German/Latin

pre-Conquest

Conquestto Exile

post-Exile

creation

patriarchs

wanderings

judges

united k’dom

divided k’dom

exile

return

Genesis

Ex, Lev, Num, Deut

Josh, Judg, Ruth

1-2 Sam, 1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chr

Ezra, NehemiahEsther

Is, JerLam, Ezek, Dan Obadiah

Hag, Zech, Mal

Am, Hos, Joel, Jon, Mic, Nah, Hab, Zeph

2000

1400

1000

600

500

350

Job

Ps

Prov

Ecc

Song

findings re borrowed wordssome Babylonian in Gen 1-2

some Egyptian in accountx of Joseph

Indian, Assyrian and Hittite in Solomon

Assyrian and Babylonian from Kings on

Persian from Daniel on

Aramaic: half Ezra, half Daniel, words from exile onv

no non-Hebrew borrowings in Exodus – 2 Sam, or in Job – Song

no Greek in entire OT except the names of two musical instruments in Daniel

Robert Dick Wilson: conclusion• historical evidence: reliable in content at

whatever point it could be verified against other documents

• manuscript evidence: copying of the names of kings demonstrated amazing original accuracy, amazing copying

• linguistic evidence: documents could only have originated at the time and place they say (or imply) that they originate

• breadth of evidence: utterly unrivalled

Luke the Evangelist

• wrote Luke and Acts– both dedicated to Theophilus

• gospel: not an eyewitness– but an extremely diligent historian

• Acts: an eyewitness of much of it– “we” passages in Paul’s journeys– 16.10-40, 20.5-21.19, 27.1-28.16 (at least)

Luke on titles

• Cyprus, proconsul, Acts 13.7• Philippi

– Roman colony, 16.12– stratagoi, “magistrates”, 16.38

• Thessalonica, politarchs,“city officials”, 17.6

• Ephesus, asiarchs, “officialsof the province”, 19.31

• Malta, protos, “chief official”, 28.7

Politarch Inscriptionin the British MuseumList of the city rulers in

Thessalonica, 2nd century

Luke on Quirinius• “the first census which took place while

Quirinius was governor of Syria”• independent evidence: Quirinius was

– military governor, 10-8BC– governor, 6AD

• censuses were an Egyptian custom adopted by the Romans, done about every 14 years

• he probably ran both the 6BC census during which Jesus was born, and a ~8AD one

“Luke the doctor” (Col 4.14)• Luke is specific on medical details• eg on fasting

– Luke 4.2, “he ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry”

– this is exactly what happens!• here as elsewhere Luke gives more details

than Matthew and Mark– 4.38, high fever, 6.6, right hand, ...

• also in Acts, eg Elymas’ blindness, 13.11

Luke: conclusion

• Luke’s gospel: he was diligent• Acts: he was there• he is more detailed on geography, politics

and medicine than any other NT writer• on every testable point, he’s proved right

conclusion

conclusion• the Bible itself is thoroughly reliable

– there’s no proof here– but there is evidence-based truth– what we can verify, stands the test

• historical links to language, politics and geography• manuscripts and translations

– so we can trust what we can’t verify• in fact our experience and conscience confirms it

• let’s uphold it confidently– in church life, in home life, in outreach

• let’s rejoice in the God who gave it