Christians for Origins and Religious Research CORR presents

Christians for Origins and Religious Research (CORR) presents: CORR Bible Study every Monday, 12: 30 -1: 20, 207 RSC How did God bring us the message of the Cross? Origin of Bible Thursday Oct. 19 th at 7: 00 pm For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4: 12) Hubbard Hall Room 218 rd 3 st & ch t 1 ys Ea e Me rsda th n u Th Mo

How did God bring us the message of the Cross? Origin of Bible CORR Presentation October 19, 2006

A Work of the Holy Spirit And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1: 19 -21

The Cross from Eternity Past … knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. (1 Peter 1: 18 -21)

The Eternal Word In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. John 1: 1 -5

The Light of the World He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1: 10 -13

The Lamb of God The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! … And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. … this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. ’ And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God. ” John 1: 29 -34

Peter becomes a disciple One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas” (which is translated, A Stone). John 1: 40 -42

The Word of God • Jesus Christ – He is God. – He is man. • The Bible – Written by God – Written by man

The Bible as a Human Book

The Bible as a Human Book The term "Bible" was not used to designate the Holy Scriptures until the time of the Early Church Fathers about A. D. 400. These Latin Scholars borrowed the word from the plural Greek word, biblia, meaning "rolls" or "scrolls. " … Technically, the term "Bible" means "Book of Books, " or an especially important (or authoritative) collection of books. Huber L. Drumwright (adapted)

The Bible as a Human Book During the approximately 1, 600 (Moses to Apostles) when its materials were being written, the Bible did not circulate as a single book. It was not until the 4 th century A. D. that all of its units were copied together in a single volume. Although no term that appears in the Bible itself refers to that volume as it is known today, several terms are used in the Scriptures to designate various portions of the modern Bible. "The Law" (Josh. 8: 34; Neh. 3: 2; Lk. 10: 26); "the Book of the Law" (Josh. 8: 34); "the Law of the Lord" (Lk. 2: 23); "the Law of Moses" (Josh. 8: 31 -32; Neh. 8: 1; Lk. 24: 44); "the Scriptures" (Mat. 21: 42; Mk. 12: 24; Jn. 5: 39); "the Holy Scriptures" (Rom. 1: 2); "the Book of the Covenant" (Ex. 24: 7) are among the terms used for various portions of the Bible. Huber L. Drumwright (adapted)

The Bible as a Human Book The most recent of Old Testament books, Malachi, was written in about 400 B. C. The full list of Old Testament books, as recognized by Protestant Christians today, was fixed and declared authoritative by the Jewish Rabbinical Council of Jamnia (about A. D. 90).

The Apocrypha During the last two centuries before Christ and the first Christian century, a number of other Jewish writings appeared. These writings, now called “Apocrypha, ” failed to gain acceptance from the Jewish Rabbinical Council of Jamnia. The term “Apocrypha” comes from a Greek term meaning “hidden” or “secret. ” Originally its use suggested that the books so designated contained esoteric truth to be communicated only to the initiated, being hidden from the outside world. Huber L. Drumwright (adapted)

The Apocryphal books are not recognized by Protestant Christians or Orthodox Jews as canonical (inspired by God). The New Testament writers never quoted from the Apocryphal books, and that the Apocrypha was never considered part of the canonical Jewish scripture. However, the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox churches include the Apocrypha in their Bible. www. septuagint. net (adapted)

Holy Bible: A General Overview The Holy Bible is comprised of 66 books, written over approximately 1600 years, by at least 40 distinct authors. The Old Testament (Old Covenant) contains 39 books written from approximately 1500 to 400 BC, and the New Testament (New Covenant) contains 27 books written from approximately 40 to 90 AD. The Jewish Bible (Tenach) is the same as the Christian Old Testament, except for its book arrangement. The original Old Testament was written mainly in Hebrew, with some Aramaic, while the original New Testament was written in Greek. www. allabouttruth. org/holy-bible. htm (adapted)

Holy Bible: The Old Testament The Holy Bible begins with the Jewish Scriptures. The historical record of the Jews was written down in scrolls and tablets over centuries, and the authors included kings, shepherds, prophets and other leaders inspired by God. In Exodus, God tells Moses to write the Law (Torah) in a book. About 450 BC, all of the Jewish scriptures were collected and arranged by councils of rabbis, who then recognized the complete set as the inspired and sacred authority of God. www. allabouttruth. org/holy-bible. htm (adapted)

Holy Bible: The Old Testament Although the Jewish Scriptures were copied by hand, they were extremely accurate copy to copy. The Jews had a phenomenal system of scribes, who developed intricate and ritualistic methods for counting letters, words and paragraphs to insure that no copying errors were made. In fact, scribal tradition was maintained until the invention of the printing press in 1455. As far as manuscript accuracy, the recent discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls has confirmed the remarkable reliability of the Old Testament texts over the years. www. allabouttruth. org/holy-bible. htm (adapted)

Holy Bible: The New Testament After approximately 400 years of scriptural silence, Jesus arrived on the scene in about 4 BC. Throughout His teaching, Jesus often quotes the Old Testament, declaring that He did not come to destroy the Jewish Scriptures, but to fulfill them. In Luke 24: 4445, Jesus proclaims to his disciples, “All things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. ” www. allabouttruth. org/holy-bible. htm (adapted)

Holy Bible: The New Testament Starting in about 40 AD and continuing to about 90 AD, the eye-witnesses to the life of Jesus Christ, including Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, James, Peter and Jude write the Gospels, letters and books that later become the New Testament. These authors quote from 31 books of the Old Testament, and widely circulate their material so that by about 150 AD, early Christians were referring to the set of writings as the New Covenant. During the 200 s AD, the writings were translated into Latin, Coptic (Egypt) and Syriac (Syria) and widely disseminated. At this time, at least 21 of the writings were considered canonical. Thereafter, in 397 AD, the current 27 books of the New Testament were formally confirmed and canonized in the Synod of Carthage. www. allabouttruth. org/holy-bible. htm (adapted)

Holy Bible: The New Testament Like the Old Testament, we now have significant evidence that the New Testament we read today is remarkably accurate as compared to the original manuscripts. Of the thousands of copies made by hand before the printing press, we have approximately 24, 000 manuscripts, including more than 5, 300 Greek manuscripts from the New Testament alone. The Bible is better preserved, by far, than accepted writings of Homer, Plato and Aristotle. www. allabouttruth. org/holy-bible. htm (adapted)

Holy Bible: The New Testament The Bible was carried from country to country, and translated into their languages. Other than grammatical and cultural differences, God’s Word has been remarkably preserved and translated over the years. The Bible now gives inspiration to hundreds of millions throughout the world. The Bible is truly the inspired Word of God (2 Timothy 3: 16 -17 and 2 Peter 1: 20 -21). www. allabouttruth. org/holy-bible. htm (adapted)

The Bible as a Divine Book The Word of God

The Bible has been passed down to us throughout the years intact and with extreme authority. Originally, God’s prophets wrote down His message to us. The original documents wore out and new copies were made. The copying process was done with extreme care. http: //www. ntm. org/books/ffless. html (adapted)

The Illustrated Bible Dictionary describes the process. “They used every imaginable safeguard, no matter how cumbersome or laborious, to ensure the accurate transmission of the text. The number of letters in a book was counted and its middle letter was given. Similarly with the words and again the middle word of the book was noted. . . ” http: //www. ntm. org/books/ffless. html (adapted)

The Illustrated Bible Dictionary describes how seriously the Jews were about the Scriptures. “. . . it is important to recall the attitude of the Jews toward their Scriptures. It can best be summed up in the statement by Josephus (a Jewish writer of the 1 st century A. D. ). ‘We have given practical proof of our reverence for our own Scriptures. For, although such long ages have now passed, no one had ventured either to add, or to remove, or to alter a syllable; and it is an instinct with every Jew. . . to regard them as the decrees of God. . ’” http: //www. ntm. org/books/ffless. html (adapted)

The Bible There are more copies of the manuscripts of the Bible than any other ancient manuscript, and not just a few, more, hundreds more. All of the manuscript copies that have been found over the years are extremely close in content and they differ only in minute details, which do not alter the message of the Bible at all. http: //www. ntm. org/books/ffless. html (adapted)

The Dead Sea Scrolls In 1947, about 15 miles from Jerusalem, a shepherd boy threw a rock into a cave, hoping to scare out one of his animals that had strayed into the cave. He heard the sound of pottery breaking and went inside the cave to investigate. To his amazement, he saw that some pottery urns had some ancient scrolls in them. These “Dead Sea Scrolls” had been hidden in caves in the area by the Dead Sea by a religious sect over 2000 years ago, during the 100 years before Jesus Christ was born. http: //www. ntm. org/books/ffless. html (adapted)

The Dead Sea Scrolls At the time of this discovery, translators were using manuscripts, which had been copied about 900 years after Christ was born. When scholars compared the Dead Sea Scrolls with the manuscripts, which they had been using, there were no significant differences in text! Even though these manuscripts were separated by almost 1000 years, the older manuscripts were virtually identical with the newer ones. God preserves His Word. http: //www. ntm. org/books/ffless. html (adapted)

The Bible is God’s personal message to each one of us. There are four foundational themes that run through the Bible’s story. These are: 1. 2. 3. 4. God’s nature and character Man’s sinfulness and rebellion God’s hatred and judgment of sin God’s only provision through a promised Redeemer, Jesus Christ, and His sacrifice on the Cross.

The key to fully understanding the Bible is to view it through the “lens” of Christ’s work on the Cross. The Cross is the key for: • • • What God has done to save us from the penalty of sin and its consequences What God has done to deliver us from the power of sin in our daily lives What God will do in the future to save us from the presence of sin

Parts of the Bible: Typical things found in the Bible are: • • • Table of Contents. Old Testament. New Testament. Chapters and verses. Footnotes and various helps. When we are talking about the Bible, we are only talking about the text of the Bible. Not the chapter numbers, verse numbers, table of contents or any notes.

The Bible proclaims itself as the “Word of God. ” The existence of the Bible reflects God’s desire to communicate with man. Here is what the Bible says of itself. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (Timothy 3: 16)

The Bible proclaims itself as the “Word of God. ” God inspired men to write down true history and what He wanted to communicate. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1: 20, 21)

God gave His message to the world in the Bible and He used the Jewish people to do it. In Isaiah 43: 10 God says of Israel (Jewish people): "You are My witnesses, " saith the LORD. God’s message of Christ and the Cross are for all people. In Isaiah 45: 22 God says, Look to me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is no other else.

God’s Word does not change. The Bible is God’s Word, and does not need to be changed or revised. His original thoughts and desires are still with us today and they are expressed to us in His Word. For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. (Psalm 119: 89)

Conclusion • The Bible is the most quoted, published, translated, and influential book in the history of mankind. • The Bible is God’s personal message to you. • He wrote it to communicate important information.

Suggested Closing Prayer Dear God, I pray that you would forgive my sins, save my soul, and empower my life through your Holy Spirit in accord with the provisions and promises secured by the great sacrifice and victory on the Cross of Calvary two thousand years ago by your Son, Jesus Christ. In His name I pray, Amen.