The document discusses the Bible and its authority. It notes that the Bible is both the most loved and hated book, as it has inspired great acts but is also blamed for terrible acts. It then discusses evidence for the reliability and authority of the Bible, including its historical accuracy validated by archaeology, accurate prophecies, and manuscript consistency with very few errors. The document argues that both general revelation in nature and special revelation in the Bible are needed to fully understand God, and that the Bible has transformed many lives due to its timeless message. It concludes the Bible can be trusted as the inspired word of God.

1. The Cannon of Hebrew &
Christian Scripture

2. The Bible
• Most hated book
• Simultaneously the most loved
• Most revered
• Most damned
• Has inspired many of man’s greatest and noblest acts
• Has been blamed for man’s most damnable and degenerate
acts.

3. • Inspired revolutions.
• Has brought kingdoms down.
• All world-views have sought to justify their actions by
it. (Liberals, capitalists, marxists, dictators, militarists, pacifists, feminists,
etc.)
The Bible

4. What do you believe about the Bible?
Luke 24:13-27 - Jesus and his approach
Jesus accepted Scripture as historically accurate and spiritually relevant.
• Matt 12:39-41 – Jonah & Nineveh
• Matt 19:4-6
• Matt 24:37-39 – Days of Noah
• John 5:39, 46 – Asserts that the scripture testifies of Christ
• His disciples believe him to be dead.
• Before revealing himself or performing miracles he explains the
Scripture to them.
• If they understand the scripture they would understand the events
of the past week.

5. General Revelation & Special Revelation
• General Revelation – The insight into God’s character that
history, human behavior, conscience, and nature provide is
called “general revelation”.
• General Revelation is available to all and appeals to reason.

6. Questions (General Revelation)?
• Design & Complexity of nature and the universe.
• Can highly designed and complex structure come about by chance or by a
deliberate process (a mind) implementing them?
• What accounts for densely packed information? Can densely packed
information occur randomly from nature?

7. Questions (General Revelation)?
• The precise nature of universe and the forces governing it? How do you
explain this?
• How do you explain the existence of the universe? How does something
come out of nothing?
• How do you account for morality (Good and Evil)?

8. General Revelation
Psalm 19:1
19 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament
showeth his handiwork.
Romans 1:20
20 For the invisible things of him from the
creation of the world are clearly seen, being
understood by the things that are made, even
his eternal power and Godhead; so that they
are without excuse:

9. General Revelation
• The world gives us mixed signals presenting many more
questions than answers.
• Reveals a conflict between good and evil but gives no real
insight into why this is.
Basically we still cant figure out God with general
revelation.

10. Special Revelation
• This is where the Bible comes in – Sin obscures God’s self-
revelation through creation by limiting our ability to interpret
God’s testimony.
• Through the old and the new testament He discloses himself
in a specific way, leaving no questions about His character of
love.
• First through the prophets; then His ultimate revelation,
through the person of Jesus Christ.

11. Special Revelation
Hebrews 1:1
1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the
fathers by the prophets,
John 17:3
3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Ephesians 4:21
21 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is
in Jesus:
God Breaks through our mental, moral, and spiritual
limitations to communicate who he is.

12. Can the Bible be Trusted ?
But there are other claims to Special revelation
• Koran
• Hindu writings
• Bhuddhist writings
• Every other belief system /religion

13. Manuscript Consistency- New Testament
• 27 New Testament Books – written in Greek
• Autographs are gone
• Over 5000 Extant Greek manuscripts from 2nd century (pieces or whole new
testament)
• Degree of consistency/sameness = (97 – 99)%
• Differences are punctuation – minor points.
• Interval between the events and writing is about 20 -60 years after the
events (few other documents have such a small interval)

16. Manuscript Consistency – Old Testament
• Jews took very seriously the preservation of the old testament
cannon.
• 1947 – Dead Sea Scrolls – Pots containing scrolls only portions of old
testament books dated to between 600 BC and 200 BC.
• All books were found except Easter.
• The whole scroll of Isaiah was there –compared to modern Isaiah
perfectly preserved.

17. Historical Reliability
• The Bible is considered one of the most reliable documents when it comes
to history.
• Luke in particular- Luke is considered one of the best and most thorough
historians in antiquity.
Luke 3:1-2
3 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar,
Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being
tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea
and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of
Abilene,
2 Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God
came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.

18. Historical Reliability
The Existence of Hittites Genesis 23 reports that Abraham buried Sarah in the Cave of
Machpelah, which he purchased from Ephron the Hittite. Second Samuel 11 tells of
David’s adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. A century ago the
Hittites were unknown outside of the Old Testament, and critics claimed that they
were a figment of biblical imagination. In 1906, however, archaeologists digging east
of Ankara, Turkey, discovered the ruins of Hattusas, the ancient Hittite capital at what
is today called Boghazkoy, as well as its vast collection of Hittite historical records,
which showed an empire flourishing in the mid-second millennium BC. This critical
challenge, among many others, was immediately proved worthless — a pattern that
would often be repeated in the decades to come.
The Merneptah Stele. A seven-foot slab engraved with hieroglyphics, also called
the Israel Stele, boasts of the Egyptian pharaoh’s conquest of Libyans and peoples
in Palestine, including the Israelites: “Israel — his seed is not.” This is the earliest
reference to Israel in non-biblical sources and demonstrates that, as of c. 1230 BC,
the Hebrews were already living in the Promised Land.
http://www.equip.org/article/biblical-archaeology-factual-evidence-to-support-the-historicity-of-the-bible/

19. Archaeological Accuracy
Archaeology is the study of human activity in the past, primarily through the
recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that has
been left behind by past human populations, which includes artifacts,
architecture, biofacts (also known as eco-facts) and cultural landscapes (the
archaeological record).
• Archeology used to verify and validate names, places, time-periods
• No Contradictions - There is not a single archeological discovery that
contradicts a single properly understood Biblical statement.
• When archaeologist go to the middle east one of the books that they always
take with them is the Bible.

20. The Merneptah Stele - Egypt
Obelisk of Shalmaneser III. In 2 Kings 9–10,
Jehu is mentioned as King of Israel (841–814
BC). That the growing power of Assyria was
already encroaching on the northern kings
prior to their ultimate conquest in 722 BC is
demonstrated by a six-and-a-half-foot black
obelisk discovered in the ruins of the palace at
Nimrud in 1846. On it, Jehu is shown kneeling
before Shalmaneser III and offering tribute to
the Assyrian king, the only relief we have to
date of a Hebrew monarch.

21. Scientific Compatibility
All true science will support biblical teaching.
However the Bible is not a science book and has very little
science to contradict.
The main literary styles in the Bible are:
• Historical Narrative
• Poetry/Psalms
• Prophecy/Apocalyptic literature
• Didactic Teaching – Moral Instruction

22. Timeless Personal Relevancy
Why are we still reading the bible today?
The Bible is still relevant today in a modern context as
in an ancient context.

23. Transformational Potency
Powerful to change lives.
1 Peter 1: 22 – 23 - you cannot be born again if we don’t go into and struggle with the
word.
2 Tim 3:15-17
15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make
thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof,
for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
Acts 17:10-12
John 5:39
39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they
which testify of me.

24. Predictive Prophecy
• 30% of the bible is prophecy.
• Rise and fall of nations (Dan 2, Dan 7, Dan 8, Dan 9)
• Time-prophecy - 1260 days prophecy.
• Little/No prophecy in the writings of other religions (eg.
Koran, etc.)

25. Predictive Prophecy
(1) Mt 24:1-2 –
Prediction: c. 31A.D., destruction of the temple, not one stone to be left on
another.
Fulfillment: 70 A.D. destruction by the Romans under Titus; today the Dome
of Rock is found in the place of the temple.

26. Predictive Prophecy
(2) Eze 26:1-14 –
Prediction: 6th century B.C.; Nebuchadnezzar will destroy Tyre; debris to be
thrown into the sea; Tyre to become a bare rock, a place for the spreading of
nets; Tyre will not be rebuilt Fulfillment: After a thirteen year siege
Nebuchadnezzar took hold of mainland Tyre, but he could not reach the island
not far from the sea shore on which many inhabitants had fled.
About 200 years later Alexander the Great connected the mainland with
the island. As building material he used the debris of the old mainland
city. He conquered the city on the island. Tyre became a bare rock. Today
fishermen dry their nets there. In spite of the favorable location and some
springs the old city was not rebuilt.

27. Predictive Prophecy
(3) Isa 13:17-22–
Prediction: 740 B.C.; the Medes and Persians would fight against Babylon;
destruction of Babylon; Babylon to become a deserted city.
Fulfillment: 539 BC Babylon was conquered by the Medes and Persians.
Although partially destroyed by Xerxes, even during the Hellenistic period the
city was still densely populated. But at the time of the Roman emperor Nero
(54 - 68 A.D.) the city was in ruins and was used as a quandary. Babylon was
excavated but not repopulated.
Another type of marvelous and precise prophecies are the Messianic
prophecies. In another study we will deal with some of them.

28. The Bible is Reliable
• Consistency of the Bible
• 40 authors
• 3 continents
• No collusion
• No-contradictions.
Because the bible can be trusted because of its accuracy, its
historicity, its verification in archaeology, it ability to forecast future
event it lends itself to also be trusted in spiritual matters.

29. Claims
- All scripture is given by inspiration of God.
• 2 Peter 1:19 – Prophecy- holy men of god spoke as they were moved by the
Holy spirit.
• Heb 4:12 – thoughts and intents of the Heart – convicts people of sin – god
speaks through his work.

30. Authorship of the Scriptures
• The Bible’s authority for faith and practice rises from its origin.
Its writers viewed the Bible as distinct from other literature:
- Holy Scriptures (Rom 1:2)
- Sacred writings (2 Tim 3:15)
- Oracles of God (Rom 3:2; Heb 5:12)
• God in the person of the Holy Spirit, has revealed himself
through the Holy Scriptures. He wrote them 40 pairs of hands
over a period of 1500 years. Since God the Holy Spirit inspired
the writers, god, then, is its author.

31. theopneustos – “inspiration”
• Paul says – “All scripture is given by inspiration of
God” (2 Tim 3:16)
• theopneustos – “inspiration” – “God breathed”
• God “Breathed” truth into men’s minds. They, in
turn, expressed it in the words found in the
Scriptures.

32. Process of Inspiration
• These revelations were embodied in human
language with all its limitations and
imperfections, yet they remained God’s
testimony.
God inspired men – not words.
2 Peter 1:21
21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of
God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

33. • Bible writers convey divine commands, thoughts, and
ideas, in their own style of language.
• The writers of the Bible were God’s penmen, not his
pen.
• Inspiration acts not on a man’s words or his
expressions but on the man himself, who under the
Holy Spirit is imbued with thoughts.
Process of Inspiration

34. Divine Truth in Human language
• The 10 Commandments – God Spoke and wrote the
exact words. They are of divine and not human
composition. (Ex 20:1-17; 31:18; Deut 10:4,5)
• Even these had to be expressed within the limits of
human language.
The Bible is therefore divine truth expressed in human
language.

35. Infinite communicating with the
flawed and finite
• Our limitations restrict what God can communicate
with us.
• The divine-human combination makes the Bible
unique among literary works.

36. Questions/Comments?…