Acts 17:3 …

A Series On Evidences H Acts 17:3 H

Acts 17:3 H Acts 17:3 H Lesson 5 The Bible’s Reliability

Acts 17:3 The Bible’s Continuity  Re: the credibility of the Bible, one must consider its continuous “flow of thought”  How continual is it throughout?  Compare to other written works written by only 1 author  The Bible isn’t like any other book! The Reliability Of The Bible – Part B

Acts 17:3 The Bible’s Characteristics  Namely, we’ll focus on 3…  Inspiration  Infallibility  Inerrancy  Characteristics that stand and fall together The Reliability Of The Bible – Part B

Acts 17:3 The Bible’s Unique Doctrine  If the Bible is inspired, we can rely on it for all matters of which it speaks  If the Bible is truth, it won’t be wrong  If the Bible is from God, it is our only source for faith & authority The Reliability Of The Bible – Part B

Acts 17:3 The Bible’s Unique Doctrine  If the Bible is inspired, it is relevant to all areas of man’s life Heb 4:12  It is not an ancient “dead relic” of an unenlightened past  It is the living testimony of a powerful God who has a future planned for man The Reliability Of The Bible – Part B

Acts 17:3 The Bible’s Unique Doctrine  The Bible’s grand theme…the redemption of man from his sin Rom 3:23  God’s eternal purpose to redeem man is taught from cover to cover Gen 3 Rev 22  What the Bible teaches about salvation is clearly “unique” The Reliability Of The Bible – Part B

Acts 17:3 The Bible’s Unique Doctrine  The Bible’s unique teaching re: salvation  Sin is always revealed to be rebellion against God Jer 10:23 1 Jn 3:4  Salvation is always moral… never forced or coerced Mt 11:28-29 Josh 24:15  Man must repent…God will forgive The Reliability Of The Bible – Part B

Acts 17:3 The Bible’s Unique Doctrine  The Bible’s unique teaching re: salvation  God has always required obedient faith  From beginning to end, there is an altar, a sacrifice, and a priest  Man’s redemption always dependent upon a sacrifice acceptable to God The Reliability Of The Bible – Part B

Acts 17:3 The Bible’s Unique Doctrine  What other book could be so unique to point out man’s failures and at the same time point the way to his salvation?  The Bible has not been shown to be erroneous…it stands just like it said it would 1 Pet 1:22-25 The Reliability Of The Bible – Part B

Acts 17:3 The Bible’s Surety  Can we be sure our modern-day Bible is right, real, and true?  Just how reliable is our copy of the Bible?  This is the subject of “Textual Criticism” (field of study re: autographs, manuscripts, & versions) The Reliability Of The Bible – Part B Original documents written by Bible writers

Acts 17:3 The Bible’s Surety  Can we be sure our modern-day Bible is right, real, and true?  Just how reliable is our copy of the Bible?  This is the subject of “Textual Criticism” (field of study re: autographs, manuscripts, & versions) The Reliability Of The Bible – Part B Copies of original documents written in same language as the original

Acts 17:3 The Bible’s Surety  Can we be sure our modern-day Bible is right, real, and true?  Just how reliable is our copy of the Bible?  This is the subject of “Textual Criticism” (field of study re: autographs, manuscripts, & versions) The Reliability Of The Bible – Part B Translations of original documents into other languages

Acts 17:3 The Bible’s Surety  An admission we must make…Biblical autographs no longer exist  An argument made against relying on the Bible  What about other written works? (E.g. Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet) The Reliability Of The Bible – Part B

Acts 17:3 The Bible’s Surety  A simplistic illustration of the process known as “Textual Criticism” can help us have confidence in our modern-day Bible The Reliability Of The Bible – Part B

Acts 17:3 Sam Jack Fred Bill Joe

Acts 17:3 Sam Fred Bill Jack Joe

Acts 17:3 Sam How “reliable” is his copy? Fred Bill Jack Joe

Acts 17:3 The Bible’s Surety  Thousands of manuscripts, early versions of the Scripture are available for the type of comparative analysis just illustrated  Re: the N.T. alone, 5,000+ manuscripts & 10,000+ documents of versions  Abundant proof of the Bible’s surety! The Reliability Of The Bible – Part B

Acts 17:3 The Bible’s Surety  In addition to this internal documentation, there are historical secular writings  Men who lived at the same time of the apostles or shortly thereafter…they quote cite N.T. passages (Clement of Rome, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus) The Reliability Of The Bible – Part B

Acts 17:3 The Bible’s Surety  The Scripture declares God’s word will never pass away Mt 24:35 1 Pet 1:22-25  God has had a hand in bringing His word down through the ages in such a condition that the Bible we have today can be trusted as “reliable” The Reliability Of The Bible – Part B

Acts 17:3 Conclusion  The Bible continues to be the world’s greatest enduring book  Most recent parts are 2,000 years old  Oldest parts are at least 3,500  Untold thousands of other books have been lost due to neglect, indifference The Reliability Of The Bible – Part B

Acts 17:3 Conclusion  If the Bible is not God’s word, a believer’s faith is a hoax  If the Bible is God’s word, billions of souls will be lost forever in hell because they rejected the Bible’s main character… Jesus Christ The Reliability Of The Bible – Part B

Acts 17:3 Conclusion  If the Bible is not true, there is no absolute right & wrong…we’ve been left just to grope around in frustrating darkness  If the Bible is true… Rom 3:4  The Bible = the standard Jas 1:21  You can rely on the Bible !! The Reliability Of The Bible – Part B

Acts 17:3 …