2 Pet. 1:16-21

Apokalupsis – “to uncover, unveil (apo, from; kalupto, to cover) (Vine). God “may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him” (Eph. 1:17). It is revealed, Rom. 1:16,17; 16:25

Man cannot know God’s will by nature, Ps. 19:1-3 Man cannot know by intuition/feeling, Prov. 16:25; Jer. 10:23 Man cannot know by human wisdom, 1 Cor. 1:21 Only by revelation, 1 Cor. 2:9-13

Respected in accuracy: the flood (Mt. 24:37-39), the big fish (Mt. 12:39-41), the tense of a verb (Mt. 22:32; Ex. 3:6). Relied on it in temptations, Mt. 4:1-11 Respected it as from heaven, Lk. 20:1-8 Everything we do is from heaven or from men!

Claim it is “full of contradictions” – not a compliment! “Prove anything by…” How do you know you have the genuine? We do not have the originals – to so affirm compromises your credibility

When Written? Earliest Copy Number Plato B.C 900 A.D. 7 Tacitus 100 A.D.1100 A.D. 20 Herodotus A.D. 8 Aristotle A.D. 5 N. T A.D. 130 A.D. 5,656+ About 2 pages of variation – no doctrine affected

Sinaitic – entire N.T., most of O.T., dated – 350 A.D. Vatican – Greek text; lacks Gen. 1-46,32, Psalms, N.T. ends at Heb. 9:14 – dated 350 A.D. Alexandrian – 4 th century; N.T. lacks 2 Thess., 2 Jn., parts of others Dead Sea Scrolls – only Esther missing, 1,000 to 1200 yrs. older than others; disc. 1947

John Wycliffe ( ) – translated whole Bible from Latin, 1832, improved William Tyndale (in Germany) – N.T. in 1525 – “so influenced the wording of the Bible in English that it has been said that nine-tenths of the KJV is the work of William Tyndale… called ”the father of English Bible”…burned at the stake 1536 as a heretic.

The Geneva Bible, primarily based on Tyndale’s work Bishop’s Bible, revision of Geneva Bible. King James Bible, 1611 – a revision of the Bishop’s Bible, by 47 of England’s scholars. American Standard, 1901 – American’s preferences over the English Revised,

“Evidence archaeology has afforded thus far, especially providing additional and older manuscripts of the books of the Bible, strengthens our confidence in the accuracy with which the text has been transmitted through the centuries …our knowledge is neither increased nor altered by any of the manuscript discoveries” (via F. Jenkins, p 83).

Mt. 24:35 – “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” 1 Pet. 1:23 – “having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.” God’s word is truth, Jn. 17:17