2. ALL ANSWERS

3.  2 Timothy 3:16-17  16 All Scripture* is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;  17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. NAU

4.  All Scripture  Old Testament  1 Tim 5:18  2 Peter 3:14-16  Inspired  Theopneustos – breathed of God  Profitable  DiReCT

5. Inspiration?  Autographa : God possessed and made them write like a puppet?  Dictation : God said “write this down... “ and they did.  The Finger of God – God wrote the text and gave it to them  Men’s words, guided by God – Men who walked with God wrote, the Spirit with them - content true

6. Which is it?Which is it?  SMALL AMOUNT: The Finger of God – God wrote the text and gave it to them – (The 10 Commandments)  A SMALL, BUT SIGNIFICANT PORTION: Dictation : God said “write this down... “ and they did. (Several Times in the Prophets and Revelation)  MAIN APPROACH TO A PROPER UNDERSTANDING OF INSPIRATION: Men’s words, guided by God – Men who walked with God wrote, the Spirit with them - content true

7.  2 Peter 1:20-21  20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy* of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation,  21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. NAU

8.  Prophecy  Does this just refer to prophecy – foretelling?  Context of verses 16-19  What does this do for the veracity of the Biblical account?  Moved  Present passive participle – “constantly being moved along”  Luke 27:15 & 17

9.  Psalm 119:160  John 17:17

10. Do you agree? Some disagree Some attack Is this valid? Does the Bible have veracity?

11.  We are more advanced in all ways today  Literarily  Logically  Forensically/Ethically – trustworthiness of report  We can use the logic of today to understand the Biblical text

12.  The Gospel accounts are eyewitness and researched accounts that circulated within the communities in which the original events occurred in the same and adjacent generations during which the events occurred. To imagine that these accounts could circulate freely, without significant challenge is imagination, indeed!

13.  The disciples had no money and no practical gain  The Jewish people had no Messiah  Suffering and persecution  Jewish and Roman government conspiracy  Yet, they grew and flourished  The accounts were spread in copious copies  His word is truth

14.  NT Greek Manuscripts – 5300+  Within 100 years  Homer’s Illiad – less than 650  After 1000 years  Tacticus’ Annuls of Imperial Rome – 1  After 700+ years  Josephus’ The Jewish War – 9  400-1100 years after

15.  No Originals in possession ( Picture slideshow )  Copies span several regions, several languages – tremendous agreement  200,000 variants  Misspellings – if a word is misspelled and then appears in 3000 copies, that is considered 3000 variants  Numbers  Order  Nothing doctrinally crucial

16.  Different families of copies (Alexandrian, Byzantine, Western)  The King James Bible  Textus Receptus  1 John 5:8  Those footnotes in your English Bibles  A better translation is..  Brackets  John 8  Mark 16

19.  Proofs, archeological evidences, etc.  Church Authority  Experience of self and others  Internal Testimony of the Holy Spirit

20.  Inerrancy  Infallibility  Inspiration  Canon  Illumination  Preservation

21.  The idea that Scripture is completely free from error. It is generally agreed by all theologians who use the term that inerrancy at least refers to the trustworthy and authoritative nature of Scripture as God’s Word, which informs humankind of the need for and the way to salvation. Some theologians, however, affirm that the Bible is also completely accurate in whatever it teaches about other subjects, such as science and history.  Stanley Grenz, David Guretzki and Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 66.

22.  The characteristic of being incapable of failing to accomplish a predetermined purpose. In Protestant theology infallibility is usually associated with Scripture. The Bible will not fail in its ultimate purpose of revealing God and the way of salvation to humans. In Roman Catholic theology infallibility is also extended to the teaching of the church (“magisterium” or “dogma”) under the authority of the pope as the chief teacher and earthly head of the body of Christ.  Stanley Grenz, David Guretzki and Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 66.

23.  A term used by many theologians to designate the work of the Holy Spirit in enabling the human authors of the Bible to record what God desired to have written in the Scriptures. Theories explaining how God “superintended” the process of Scripture formation vary from dictation (the human authors wrote as secretaries, recording word for word what God said) to ecstatic writing (the human authors wrote at the peak of their human creativity). Most evangelical theories of inspiration maintain that the Holy Spirit divinely guided the writing of Scripture, while at the same time allowing elements of the authors’ culture and historical context to come through, at least in matters of style, grammar and choice of words.  Stanley Grenz, David Guretzki and Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 66.

24. Canon  canon. Literally meaning “standard” or “rule,” the term is most closely associated with the collection of books that the church has recognized as the written Word of God (Scripture) and that functions as the rule or standard of faith and practice in the church. Although the various Christian traditions are not in full agreement as to which books should comprise the collection of Scripture, at the very least all agree that the sixty-six books of the Protestant Bible are canonical and therefore authoritative.

25.  The ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in the Christian person and community in assisting believers to interpret, understand and obey the Scriptures. Illumination is a matter of faith as well as intellectual assent—the Spirit’s goal in illumination moves beyond mere intellectual assent to propositions of Scripture to the moving of the human will to trust Christ and obey him.  Stanley Grenz, David Guretzki and Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 62.

26.  The standard belief that along with God divinely inspiring the text of Scripture, He has been involved in preserving that text for us today.

27. Canonization  Why these Books?  How did these books get canonized?  Are there any other writings?  Good source: Norman Geisler’s. From God to Us

28. Some Up-Front PointsSome Up-Front Points  Regarding the Canon – God’s Word:  Man doesn’t canonize, man recognizes.  Man doesn’t determine, man discovers.  Man does not scrutinize, man is scrutinized. (Chappel)  Man does not make the canon, God does – It is not the Church that canonizes, it is inspiration.  “There were criteria employed for the determining of the canonical books, all of which had to do with the nature of the texts rather than the authority of the church.” (Horton)  “THE AUTHORITY OF THE SCRIPTURES IS NOT FOUNDED THEN UPON THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH, RATHER THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH IS FOUNDED UPON THE SCRIPTURES.” (Gaussen)

29. Just as Sir Isaac Newton did not give us gravity – he observed a force that God had already given, so too the Church did not give us the Canon, God did.

30. The flow of the issueThe flow of the issue  OT Canon (TaNaK) in singular form, different arrangements – yet unchallenged because is was an intra-community Text. Officially formulated with full canon  Torah (Law)  Nev’im (Prophets)  Ketuv’im (Writings)  NT Canon recognized and used widely, but formally defined after Marcion Heresy toward Canon, appearing in many personal forms, almost complete in the Muratorian Fragment of the 2 nd century (170-180) and finalized with the statement of Athanasius in 367.

31. Criteria for Canonical Books  Is the book…?   1. Authoritative - did it come with the authority of God, i.e. “thus saith the Lord”?  2. Prophetic - was it written by a man of God, i.e. God’s mouthpiece?  3. Authenti c - did it teach the truth about God, i.e. His character and will?  4. Dynamic - did it have life-changing power, i.e. “living and active”?  5. Received - was it accepted by God’s people, i.e. true believers?

32. Some chartsSome charts

37. From God to usFrom God to us  Revelation  Inspiration  Transmission  Writing  Canonization  Preservation  Translation