THE BIBLE From God to Us JoLynn Gower Spring 2017 493-6151 jgower@guardingthetruth.org 1
WORD FOR THE JOURNEY 2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. Scripture: graphe: writing, especially the Holy Bible text Inspired by God: theopneustos: God-breathed: the concepts and wording came from God, via the Holy Spirit, to men who wrote it down 2 Peter 1:20-21 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. GOD SPOKE, MEN WROTE 2
A REVELATION OF GOD IN THE BEGINNING, GOD…. The Bible never tries to prove the existence of God; He is everywhere in scripture assumed to exist Exodus 3:14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" Tetragrammaton: YHWH; Yahweh or Jehovah The name wasn’t spoken; other words such as Elohim or Adonai were frequently substituted or in English G-d In our Bible, when we see LORD, the word being transliterated is Yahweh 3
STARTING WITH MOSES? Exodus 24:3-4 Then Moses came and recounted to the people all the words of the LORD and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice and said, "All the words which the LORD has spoken we will do!" Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. Then he arose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. The first five books are credited to Moses’ authorship; however, some rabbis believe Moses had written down the Genesis account prior to the Sinai experience Isaiah 30:8 Now go, write it on a tablet before them and inscribe it on a scroll, that it may serve in the time to come as a witness forever. 4
IT IS WRITTEN Jesus gave tremendous validity to the Old Testament, quoting it often Our Bible consists of two “Testaments” which are basically covenants The Old Covenant was a “beriyth” which means “contract” It is an agreement made between two persons or groups; It may be conditional or unconditional It may be timeless or have a time limit The New Covenant was a “diatheke” which is something like a Last Will and Testament Hebrews 9:16-17 For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. For a covenant is valid only when men are dead, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives. 5
WHAT’S INSIDE The Protestant Old Testament consists of 39 books; the Catholic Old Testament has 46, which includes 7 books that we consider to be apocryphal The Protestant Old Testament has the exact same content as the Jewish scriptures, which are called the T A N A K H T = Torah; N = Nevi’im (prophets), K = Ketuvim (writings) The Jewish scripture has only 24 books 1,2 Chronicles are Chronicles 1,2 Samuel are Samuel 1,2 Kings are Kings Ezra and Nehemiah combined into one book The 12 minor prophets are combined as one book 6
Pentateuch: Genesis – Deuteronomy Historical: Joshua – Esther Poetic: Job – Song of Solomon Major Prophets: Isaiah – Daniel Minor Prophets: Hosea - Malachi 7
WHAT’S INSIDE The Protestant and Catholic New Testaments both contain 27 books; the Jewish scriptures lack a New Testament but the Protestant version is studied in Israeli schools as a historical book The original scriptures were written without chapter or verse divisions; these were later added for convenience Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury is believed to have first divided chapters in 1227; the Wycliffe Bible (in English) used these divisions in 1382 A rabbi named Nathan divided the OT into verses in 1448 Robert (Estienne) Stephanus, a printer, first added verse numbers to the New Testament in 1551-1555 8
WHAT’S INSIDE The Bible is believed to have originally been written in three languages. The Old Testament is primarily Hebrew with some Aramaic (Daniel 2:4 – 7:28 and Ezra 4:8-6:18 and 7:12-26 are in Aramaic) The New Testament was primarily written in Greek with a few aramaic words here and there The writing dates range from 1800 BC to about 100 AD Approximately 40 different authors from three continents authored biblical content; they wrote from palaces, prisons, wilderness, and exile; they express love, anger, joy, and frustration; yet there is flawless internal consistency. The Bible never contradicts itself. 9
INERRANT AND INFALLIBLE? Yes, but… The original autographs themselves, or perfect manuscripts copied by others, are considered inerrant Every English “translation” on the market is not! Choosing a translation is extremely important A translation may be contained within several different Bible formats Know your editors! The original autographs of the text were inspired by God; the footnotes are not! Translations are generally considered to be: Literal: word for word Dynamic Equivalent: thought for thought Free: paraphrase 10
TRANSLATION CHART NASB: New American Standard 1995 NIV: New International Version AMP: amplified 1965 1984 ESV: English Stadard Version 2001 TNIV: Todays NIV 2001, 2005 RSV: Revised Standard 1952 NCV: New Century Version KJV: King James 1611, revised 1769 NLT: New Living Translation 2004 NKJV: New KJV 1982 NIrV: NIV easier reading HCSB: Holman Christian Standard GNT: Good News 2004 CEV: Contemporary English Version NRSV: New Revised Standard 1989 Living: Living Bible 1950 NJB:New Jerusalem Catholic Message: The Message 1991-2004 11
WHICH TRANLATION TO CHOOSE? The original language is always best! For serious students who are using associated tools, a literal translation gives the best opportunity for correct hermeneutics or teaching format. NASB, ESV, HCSB; having an interlinear that defines parts of speech, tenses, etc. is helpful For school use and larger groups where the idea of a text is more important than literal word study, or in a sermon format, the NIV is usually chosen For younger children and new believers without much biblical knowledge, a carefully chosen paraphrase may be appropriate – but I would stay away from the Message because it has an added agenda 12
SUMMARY The Bible is infallible in its original autographs and carefully copied manuscripts God gave information to people, who in turn wrote it down at His direction The New Testament apostles and others believed that the Old Testament Scripture was entirely trustworthy; the church has accepted this position on the New Testament as well Not all Bible translations are equal; serious Bible students who cannot study from the original languages must carefully choose both their translation and the editor of a selected format 13
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