SURVEY OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE
by Andrew Corbett
1. Does the English word 'Bible' appear in the Scriptures? (Use a concordance)
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The English word 'Bible' comes from the Greek word biblion. This word means "roll" or "book". It was usually a roll of papyrus or reed-like plant that was dried and fashioned into a writing material. This word occurs in the LXX (this expression will be explained later) copy of Daniel 9:2, and in Revelation 10:2. But today the word "Bible" means much more than just a book. It carries a sense of majesty as being the ultimate book par excellence.
2. Some people think that the Bible isn't that old, and that only one man wrote it. But, what do the following Scriptures reveal? Ex. 24:4,7; Josh. 24:26; 1Sam. 10:25.
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3. What do we know from 2 Peter 1:20-21 about the origin of Scripture?
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The Bible was penned by men. Although written by men, the Holy Spirit was its author. In a way that can only be described as mysterious, He was able to take the personalities, experiences, emotions and poetic talents of various men and use them to precisely express God's revelation to man. Theologians call this Plenary Inspiration. It stands in contrast to Natural Inspiration (the product of highly intelligent men), Partial Inspiration (only some parts of the Bible are inspired), and Mechanical Dictation (God commanded men to write verbatim every word He uttered).
4. Did these men always understand what they were writing? (Dan. 7:15-16)
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5. What would this suggest about the genuiness of what they were writing?
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Some religions claim that their sacred writings came directly written by God. That is, they believe that no man ever wrote down any of the original words. Christianity makes no such claim. The Bible was written by real men. This is an important point to understand: God used men to write His Bible. It bears the stamp of a man upon it. The number six repeatedly refers to man throughout the Bible. The Book of Isaiah, known as the mini-Bible, contains sixty-six chapters. Not coincidently the entire Bible contains sixty-six books. This possibly emphasises the stamp of man upon it, without making it absolutely the work of man (ie. "666").
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6. What was the Bible known as from the time of Moses? (Ex. 24:7)
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The idea of covenant is connected to the very central theme of the Bible. God chose to use Moses as the author of the first five books. From the beginning of the Bible, Moses is inspired to write about the basis of the covenant between God and His people.
7. To which of the Ten Commandments would Genesis 1:1 be related?
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8. How do the first two chapters of the Bible show us that God has a right to dictate to us?
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It would seem to make sense that if the Genesis account is correct, we could expect some communication with the Great God. Possibly the stories contained in Genesis were passed down through the generations by accurate word of mouth. Not until God wanted to establish His covenant with His people did He commence His written Word.
Beyond the accounts of Moses, God chose to write His Word through others. Many times we read through the prophets that God told them to 'write down these words'. But, much of the coming together of the Old Testament didn't happen until after the exile. Under Ezra, God inspired him to compile much of the Old Testament and to even write several books. Perhaps the most significant piece of Ezra's work is the Book of Psalms.
9. Which one of the Psalms speaks of the glory of God's word?
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After the last Old Testament book was written, Malachi, another significant event took place. Due to most of the then known world speaking Greek, the Old Testament was translated from Hebrew and Aramaic to Greek by seventy scholars. Today, some have regarded this as a move of God through these men. Although there will always be slight human errors in even the best attempts to do anything, after these men completed their work, we were left with a very tidy compilation of the Old Testament. Their work is symbolised by the symbol - LXX (meaning, 'the seventy', refered to as "The Septuagint").
10. What example of the LXX 'inspired' tidying up do you see in 1 Sam. 24:13?
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In 367 A.D. a list of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament appeared in a letter from Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria. The order was Gospels, Acts, General Epistles, Pauline Epistles and Revelation. But it wasn't until the church fathers were able to meet free from persecution in that same fourth century that a consensus was reached. This took place at Carthage in 397 AD. Their decision was that these twenty-seven books were the only inspired writings of the New Testament.
As the original copies of the New Testament were distributed among the relevant churches, more editions were made by copyists. This painstaking process was carried out by hand. Under the persecution of Diocletion, the Christian Bible was outlawed and destroyed when found. Yet, when Constantine became favorable to Christianity, he immediately ordered the production of fifty Bibles by skilled copyists using nothing but the best materials.
Today the original manuscripts are believed lost. Yet this casts little doubt on the authenticity of what we now have. We know from early quotes made by the readers of the original letters that what we have is very accurate. Up until the advent of the printing press in the fifteenth century, a Bible cost one year's wages. There are currently around 24,000 manuscripts written by and before the fifteenth century still in existence today*.
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Papyrus - the most common writing material of the ancient world. It is made from the reeds of the papyrus plant. This material was highly perishable. The oldest papyrus fragment dates back to 2400 BC. It was still being used up until the third century AD.
Parchment - made from animal skin.
Vellum - this was the name given to dried calf skin. It was usually dyed purple with the writing being either silver or gold. The ink used on manuscripts was usually a combination of charcoal, gum and water. Sheets of papyrus were glued together to form scrolls. Some ancient scrolls have been found up to 144 feet (approx. 40 meters)long, while the average length appears to be around 20 - 30 feet (8 - 10 meters). Scrolls then developed into Codex or book form. The sheets of papyrus were written on both sides and bound together to form a book.
Originally the Bible was not written with chapter and verse divisions. Verses were universally standardised around 900 AD, while the chapters were first used after Stephen Langton divided the Bible in 1227.
This is the word used to describe those books that have been recognised as inspired and infallible. The word basically means standard. The tests used to determine whether a work should be accepted as inspired or not included:
(i) Does it openly claim to be the infallible Word of God?(ii) Is it consistent with what is already regarded as the Word of God?
(iii) Is it authored by a credible servant of God? eg.- a recognised prophet, or a recognised apostle?
(iv) Are its facts verifiable? eg.- its use of geopgraphy, historical world characters, known historical events etc.
11. What determines whether a book is inspired of God or not?
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As early as the second century A.D. most of the New Testament was compiled. By the fourth century A.D. it was exactly as we have it today.
12. Could there be divinely inspired books that were not included in the Canon?
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Amen.
* Josh McDowell, "Evidence That Demands A Verdict", Here's Life Publishers, 1988
©
1999-2002 Andrew Corbett, Legana, Tasmania
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