Part 1: Establishing the Text

Heavenly Father,

You created the world by Your Word.

!

You created the world by Your Word.

! You make the dead live by Your Word.

Your Son, Jesus Christ, our precious Lord, His incarnate Word.

So Lord, we realize that we can't take the study of Your Word too seriously.

And it's my heart, my prayer this afternoon that You would equip every single one of my

dear brothers and sisters here.

That they might cherish Your Word more.

That might know how to study Your Word more deeply.

To gain greater faith and confidence in the authority, the reliability of Your Word.

So to that end, please help us by Your Holy Spirit.

Give us minds to ask questions, to understand, and to apply what we're learning.

That it will serve these dear brothers and sisters for the rest of their lives.

Amen.

We depend on You, Lord.

I can't do nothing apart from You.

So help me.

So help me.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

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You have it, Jason?

You look like you had it for a while.

Why don't you go ahead and read it?

2 Timothy 3, verse 16.

2 Timothy 3:16

All scriptures breathed out by God

are profitable for teaching, for reproof,

for correction, and for training in righteousness.

The man of God may be complete,

and equipped for every career.

Can you go ahead and read 15 as well?

Yeah.

And how from childhood

you have been acquainted with the sacred writings,

which are able to make you wise for salvation

through faith in Christ Jesus?

So, this is the most significant text

on the authority of Scripture itself

and why it's so significant in the life of a believer.

And verse 15 gives us one main reason.

It's that the sacred writings are able

to make us wise for salvation

through faith in Christ Jesus.

It's not the Bible itself that saves us, right?

We don't worship the Bible.

We worship Jesus.

We worship God.

But the Bible is the means that God has appointed

through which we come to encounter and meet Jesus.

Right?

Because we have...

No one comes to saving faith

from simply examining the historical facts

and looking at the death and resurrection of Jesus

and then saying,

oh, that must be God's way of saving us.

You need a theological interpretation

of that historical fact.

How do you just,

from looking at the fact that Jesus died on the cross

and was raised from the dead,

know that that was for our atonement,

that that's for our vindication and justification.

You don't know that

unless you have an authoritative interpretation of that.

And so that's what Scripture provides for us.

And that's why Scripture is so important

for missions work.

Translating work is so important.

And that's why even in like areas

where there's hardly no gospel access at all

and you read stories of missionaries

and of how people come to faith in those areas,

often they'll see a vision from the Lord

telling them where they can get a Bible,

where they can meet a Christian,

direct them to a Bible.

And it's through the Word that God reveals Himself.

And so the Scriptures are the ways

that God has appointed to make us wise

for salvation through faith in Christ.

So that's one very, very important reason.

And then the second reason is given

in the verses 16 to 17.

All Scripture is breathed out by God

and profitable for teaching,

for reproof, for correction,

and for training in righteousness

that the man of God may be complete,

equipped for every good work.

And I think people sometimes,

do you do any more seats?

You guys good?

I think we can, in case more people come,

let me just separate this out here.

Oh, you guys head down.

Get some nice times together.

Bye, Ziya.

Bye.

Sometimes people make the mistake of thinking

that inspiration,

that the Spirit,

it resides with the people

who wrote the books permanently

rather than the Scripture books themselves,

the writings themselves.

In a similar way,

we think about how, you know,

someone's inspired performance.

We say, like,

the Christian writers were inspired

to write these things.

Well, of course,

the Spirit of God inspired them

and helped them to write it.

But the end product,

the Scriptures,

what is written,

the graphe,

the writings themselves,

all Scriptures,

are breathed out by God.

And what do you guys think that means?

I have a question.

Yeah, Tony, go ahead.

I think I asked it in the first version class.

Yeah.

I didn't understand.

Wait, first what class?

The first version class.

No, first class, okay.

So it says,

it says, like,

to make you wise to tell a mission,

but the preceding,

preceding versus

from infancy,

you have known the Scriptures.

So this,

the Scripture is

before the compilation

of the New Testament

that he's referring to.

Yes.

So I guess, like,

how can we say that

it's the entire current Bible

that these are the verses

that it's applying

to what we have right now?

Yeah, yeah.

That's a great question.

So that's a little bit,

I'll talk about it a little bit

because it's an important question,

but it's a little bit

outside the preview

of what I was going to talk about.

So Tony's question,

just so you guys could hear me

if you didn't hear him.

This was clearly

before the completion of the canon,

before the New Testament

was codified.

And so it's,

when it says all Scripture,

how do we know

that it includes the New Testament

and not only,

not just the Hebrew Old Testament

through Scripture,

which is a good question.

If you turn to 2 Peter,

2 Peter 3,

2 Peter 3:15–16

verses 15 to 16.

It says,

So we have a clear instance here

of Apostle Peter

referring to the writings of Paul

as the Scriptures

because he compares it

to the other Scriptures

because it's showing

that he considers them

to be authoritative.

If you turn to 1 Timothy 5,

1 Timothy 5:18

verse 18.

It's in the context

of talking about how

the church ought to treat elders

and those elders who rule well

should be considered worthy

of double honor,

especially those labor

and teaching and teaching.

And then he cites the Scriptures.

He says,

For the Scripture says,

You shall not muzzle an ox

when it treads out the grain.

Do you guys know

where that comes from?

Deuteronomy.

Yeah.

So that's from

the Old Testament Scriptures.

But what about the next one?

And the laborer

deserves his wages.

So that comes from

Matthew 10.10.

So that's actually

Jesus' words.

The things that Jesus said

and taught

and probably the tradition

of the Gospels

circulating at the time.

And he's citing that

already as Scripture

on par with the same authority

as the Old Testament Scriptures.

Right?

And so there's some

definitive clues

in the Scriptures

that tell us that

the New Testament

is considered authoritative

as much as

the Old Testament.

Does that answer

your question

someone, Tony?

If you have further questions,

I think I'll question.

I think I'll read it.

But I have more questions later.

Okay.

Okay.

That's fine.

And that's why

it's important to recognize

also that it's the

New Testament apostles

who are in the same

authoritative tradition

as the Old Testament

Scripture writing prophets.

It's the apostles

who have the authority

as Jesus promised

and I will bring to remembrance

by the Spirit

everything that I taught you.

And they're the ones

recorded reliably for us.

And so all of Scripture,

I'd say,

both Old and New Testament,

66 books of the Bible,

39 in the Old Testament,

27 in the New Testament

are inspired by God.

Inspired meaning

breathed out by God.

Meaning God's spoken.

And it says that

it's able to equip us

for every good work.

That means it's sufficient

for us to be able

to become the kind of Christians

that God wants us to be.

You don't need

additional information.

You don't need

additional

books even.

That's why

I know sometimes

we recommend books

and we say to people,

well, that's a must read.

Biblically,

there's no must read book

except for the Bible.

For the Christian truly,

there's just the only

must read book

because everything

you need to know

is already in here.

And that sufficiency

is very free.

You know,

and if there's something

that you're wondering

in your life about,

you have questions about,

and you don't really know

what God wants you to do,

and you search the scriptures

diligently and scripture

says nothing about it,

then there's an area

where you can exercise

freedom of conscience.

If God hasn't told you

in scriptures about it,

then you don't have to know.

And within the wisdom

that you derive

from God's word,

you make the best decision

you can.

And you just seek

to honor the Lord in that.

Now,

that's where we get

the term inspiration

of scripture.

It's talking about

how God's the one

who breathed it.

He's the one who spoke it.

And as people

who take the Bible

seriously in that way,

that God himself

spoke these words,

we obviously can't

tamper with God's word.

And we need to make sure

that the word

that we are studying

is the word

that God intended

to be written,

which is why

the idea of establishing

the text

and choosing good translations

and knowing that

you're working

with the right passage

is so important.

But how do we know

that the scriptures

authoritate?

You guys have any ideas?

Because he said it.

Because what?

He said it.

Besides the fact

that he said

it was authoritative,

we know it really is.

Yeah, Jesus said

it is authoritative, right?

And he quotes it

as authoritative.

Okay, I thought

there was another answer.

That's the answer?

Yeah.

No, that's a good answer.

That's a good answer.

That Jesus said it

is good enough for me.

But how do we know

Jesus said it?

Because it's in the Bible.

Well, it's in the Bible.

So how do we know

that what's in the Bible

is authoritative?

If that's what...

That's where Jesus tells us

that scripture is authoritative.

You guys see what I'm asking?

Mm-hmm.

You have to believe

that someone wrote down

that someone did write

about Jesus' words accurately.

Okay, yeah.

So maybe you're saying

you need to believe

that someone wrote down

Jesus' words accurately.

Jason, what were you going to say?

Are you trying to get

at like let the scripture

enter the scripture?

Yeah, so there's a principle

that we call this

that the scripture

is self-authenticating.

And in 1 Thessalonians 2.13

it says,

We also thank God

constantly for this

that when you receive

the word of God

Oh, do I have something here?

Yeah.

When you receive

the word of God

which you heard from us

you accepted it

not as the word of men

but as what it really is

the word of God

which is at work

in you believers.

Right?

Much like

2 Timothy 3.16 and 17

when Paul simply said

all scripture is breathed out

by God

and these are scriptures

there's no proof here

that scripture is authoritative.

They don't offer

that kind of proof.

They just take for granted

that when God speaks

that people will receive

those scriptures

as God's word

and not as the words of men.

Right?

And if you look at

Hebrews 6.13

it says,

Since God

had no one greater

by whom to swear

he swore by himself.

This is

I'm getting at that idea

that the Bible

is the final authority.

It's the ultimate authority.

When you're a student

in grad school

writing a paper

then you need to cite

your proper authorities.

Right?

But if you are

the authority

on the subject

you don't cite

other people

because you're

the authority.

You speak on it

authoritatively.

Right?

God speaks

on his own authority

and no one else

can establish his authority

and so the word of God

itself is

the final authority

and that has to have

self-authenticating authority.

And this is so important

because until you have

you could establish

that the Bible

and the doctrines

taught in it

is fully credible

as the word of God.

Until you have

know beyond a shadow

of doubt

that God

is the author

of these words

it's not going to have

the full intended effect

in the application

in our lives.

But isn't that

circular reasoning?

Right?

Scripture is God's

authoritative word.

How do you know that?

Well because Scripture says

it's God's authoritative word.

But why is Scripture

authoritative?

Well because it's God's word.

Right?

How do you know that?

Because Scripture says so.

Right?

It's like a circular

reasoning.

The logic uses

its own conclusion

as evidence

to prove itself

which makes it circular.

But because our God

is triune

and this logic

isn't viciously circular.

And this is where

the importance

of the Holy Spirit

and his testimony

comes in.

Look at John 10

2-3

and says

The sheep hear

the shepherd's voice

and he calls

his own sheep

by name

and leads them out.

The sheep follow him

for they know

his voice.

How do the sheep

follow the right voice?

God simply says

the sheep know

his voice.

They know how

to recognize

his voice.

1 Corinthians 2

12-14

says

Now we have received

not the spirit

of the world

but the spirit

who is from God

that we might

understand the things

freely given us

by God

and we impart this

in words

not taught by

human wisdom

but taught by

the spirit

interpreting spiritual

truths to those

who are spiritual.

The natural person

does not accept

the things

of the spirit of God

for they are

folly to him

and he is not

able to understand

them because

they are spiritually

discerned.

So it's the spirit

of God himself

who confirms

to us that

what is objectively

the word of God

the written scriptures

is God's word.

So the trying

God is working

in intent

for the father

the father speaks

the word

he's the one

that breathes

out the word

Jesus is the

incarnate word

and the spirit

is the one

who attests

to this

and confirms

this in our

hearts

and that's why

unless the spirit

of God removes

the veil

that's over

our hearts

and unless

the spirit

of God

shines into

our hearts

the light

of the knowledge

of the glory

of God

in the face

of Jesus Christ

it says

in 2 Corinthians 3-4

that we cannot

see the glory

of Christ

we cannot

understand

it and grasp

it.

So then there

is an objective

dimension

to the inspiration

and the authority

of God's word

and there is a

subjective dimension

to it.

The objective

dimension

it is objectively

the authoritative

word of God

the written word

but it is

subjectively

confirmed as

truth

as God's word

by the Holy Spirit

in our hearts

and this is important

both of these things

are important

because on the one

hand

the objective

dimension

that the scripture

is objectively

God's written

word

helps us

to steer clear

of radical

individualism

and you see

that in certain

evangelical circles

where people say

things like

well I

determine my own

truth

whatever I say

whatever my

interpretation

whatever my

spiritual experience

is that's truth

that kind of idea

that radical

individualism

is very prevailing

in our culture

you probably heard

things like

live your truth

speak your truth

create your own

reality

but you can't

do that

if scripture

is God's

objective word

then we have

to submit

to it

we have to

subordinate

all our

priorities

and purposes

and desires

and thoughts

to it

on the other

hand

the subjective

dimension

helps us

to steer

clear of

what I might

call

Catholic

institutionalism

which says

that the church

determines truth

right

individual

Christians

cannot be

left to

interpret

scripture

and determine

truth for

themselves

that would

render

Christianity

subjective

and so for

the sake

of certainty

and uniformity

only the church

the institutional

church

can determine

truth

but what

of the fact

that the church

itself

has erred

and misinterpreted

scripture

throughout history

that the

popes themselves

have done

that

and 1st

John 2

27

says

but the

anointing

that you

receive from

him abides

in you

and you

have no

need

that anyone

should teach

you

but as

anointing

teaches you

about everything

and is true

and is no

lie

just as it

has taught

you

abide

in him

right

this is

a radical

teaching

that all

of us

when we

are regenerated

we have

the indwelling

spirit

who enables

us to

discern

truth

who confirms

the truth

of God

into our

hearts

so we

can learn

the Christians

who are

submitted

to the

objective

authority

of God's

word

who are

guided

by the

inward

testimony

of the

Holy Spirit

who indwells

them

are capable

of discerning

the truth

and it's

this conviction

that makes

reformed

Protestants

like us

eager to

put this

Bible

in the

hands

of every

Christian

you don't

see that

kind of

same impulse

in Catholic

circles

and you

definitely

haven't seen

that throughout

history

throughout

church

history

look at

all the

major

Bible

labs

that you

guys

have

on

your

phones

almost

certainly

every

single

one of

the ones

that are

most

used

they all

have

Protestant

evangelical

origin

it's because

of this

reformed

Protestant

conviction

this is

not to

say

the church

or those

who occupy

its teaching

office

the elders

have no

authority

they do

have

authority

and the

church

tradition

and the

creeds

do have

authority

for that

reason

the creeds

of church

tradition

like the

Nicene

Creed

Apostles

Creed

Chasedonian

Creed

these are

all important

for our

history

but we

call them

in Latin

norma

normata

which means

they are

a rule

that is

ruled

and whereas

with scripture

we call it

norma

normins

it's a

rule

that

rules

so yes

creeds

church

authorities

tradition

have

authority

to a

certain

degree

but that

authority

is always

subordinated

to the

authority

of scripture

it's a

rule

that is

rule

and this

is a

key

distinction

because

the

Catholic

church

for example

claims

that they

have

magisterial

authority

they claim

to be

the

magisterium

and that

comes from

the Latin

word

magister

which means

master

meaning

that

according

to them

the Catholic

church

has

master

like

authority

to determine

this is

what scripture

means

this is

what it

says

everybody

who disagrees

is wrong

they have

the magisterium

but Protestants

would argue

that no

the church

does not

have

magisterial

authority

they only

have

ministerial

authority

the church

is a

servant

of the

word

and as

an elder

as a

pastor

who

occupies

the teaching

office

I am

a servant

of the

word

I don't

get to

give a

decisive

interpretation

that everybody

must agree

with

people contest

that

like the

Bereans

in Acts

contest

that

is it

actually in

accordance

with the

scriptures

and so I

have a

subordinate

a servant

like role

which is what

minister means

servant

so Lucas

did you have

a question

yeah

yeah

great question

so Lucas's

question is

about

apocrypha

books that

they have

added to

what we

hold as

canon

as a

Protestant

canon

how does

that work

so

apocrypha

just comes from

the Greek

word means

hidden away

it means

that the

origin of

their origin

is unknown

we don't know

who wrote

them

and that's

partly why

they're

questioned

did the

apostles

or their

cultists

like Luke

and Mark

actually write

them

or not

and

it's not

true that

Martin Luther

just kind

of

picked

because

the canon

that we

have

the 66

books of

the Bible

actually

is the

most ancient

canon

it's the

ones that

were historically

and universally

accepted

by the

historical

church

and so

even if

you look

at

probably

the best

Catholic

biblical

scholar

in history

is Jerome

he's the

one who

single-handedly

translated

Latin

Vulgate

from the

original

languages

and in

the introduction

to the

Latin

Vulgate

Jerome

sets apart

the apocrypha

as not

canon

and so

this is

separated

from canon

if you look

at the

Jews

and the

Old Testament

writings

you look

at the

way

the Dead

Sea Scrolls

were preserved

the scriptures

that we

hold from

the Old

Testament

are preserved

in these

ornate

fonts

in this

really

secure

containments

within your

compartments

whereas the

apocrypha

are not

given that

kind of

treatment

in terms

of scroll

the Jews

clearly made

that distinction

and the Jews

were the ones

who to whom

God entrusted

the stewardship

of the Old

Testament

canon

and so

the way

we have it

from the Jews

the way we

have it

throughout church

history is

what we

have to

be in 66

books of

Bible

so

I've

answered

a

ask your

pastors

question

on that

and I

can

I'm happy

to send

you a

more detailed

answer to

that I

will

if you

guys are

interested

in reading

that

yeah

Tony go

ahead

yeah

yeah

we don't

know

exactly

who

wrote

Hebrews

some

people

say

maybe

it was

Apollo

or maybe

it's

however

it was

because

it was

historically

accepted

the

kind of

criteria

of

canonicity

that was

used

in church

history

maybe

by

the

formulated

by

Vincent

of

Lawrence

is that

it has

to have

been

accepted

by

all

Christians

in all

places

at all

times

and

that's

the

and

this

Hebrews

can hold

that claim

better than

any of

the

apocryphal

books

and

the

pseudepigrapha

is like

another

category

of books

that sometimes

people study

but

pseudepigrapha

are like

known

forgeries

like they

claim to

be

an author

that they

are not

like

book of

Enoch

claims to

be written

by Enoch

but it's

not by

Enoch

the

assumption

of

Moses

right

it's

like

these

are

not

actual

canon

apocrypha

is not

canon

either

but

those

are

even

more

suspect

than

the

apocrypha

yeah

go ahead

for us

is it accurate

that all

of scripture

speaks

of each

other

like

the

old

testament

all

has a

link

to

the

new

testament

and

the

new

testament

all

has a

link

to

the

old

so

they

are

intertwined

they

are

and that's

not

the

case

with the

mentioned

like

the

scriptures

not

quoted

like

the

scriptures

throughout

the

new

testament

there

is

in

jude

second

pheter

there

is

mention

of

some

random

things

from

the

pseudepigrapha

but it's

not quoted

as

scripture

in the

same way

Paul quotes

Greek

philosophers

in

act

17

it quotes

these things

sometimes

but it's

never quoted

as

scripture

whereas

the 66

books

that we

have

repeatedly

over and

over again

consistently

cited

as

scripture

in the

testament

so

that's

another

really

strong

evidence

for that

I'm just

kind of

like

this is

just

the

intro

guys

why

do we

want to

study

the

bible

that's

why

there's

no

competition

to

nothing

more

important

than

to

study

than

the

scriptures

for us

the

text

that we

have

is

very

authoritative

I'll

kind of

blaze

through

this

because

I think

I feel

like I have

a lot of

time right

now

but

it always

turns out

that I

don't have

enough

time

there

and so

I'm

just

going to

anticipate

that

and then

kind of

breeze

through

this

where

you know

I mean

how many of

you guys

have seen

Odyssey

recently

yeah

it's

a

controversial

film

I know

but

I'm

a

classic

major

how many of

you guys

have read

it

yay

!

so

Homer's Odyssey

was written

in the 8th

century

BC

it's one

of the

best

preserved

ancient

literature

because

it was

so

beloved

and so

popular

and so

but

even for

this

best

preserved

ancient

documents

there's

only

about

thousand

ancient

manuscripts

of it

before the

advent

of the

printing

press

and

then

the

oldest

surviving

fragment

of it

which

is

only

about

a

paragraph

is

from

the

3rd

century

BC

which

is

five

you know

you know

which

many

years

hundreds

of years

removed

from the

original

manuscript

this

is

the

earliest

full

text

of the

Odyssey

is dated

to the

10th

century

AD

which

is

like

1700

years

removed

from the

original

manuscript

if you

compare

other ancient

manuscripts

that we

have

that people

teach

this is

what

Homer

wrote

this is

what

Caesar

wrote

the

Gallic

War

they

don't

have

nearly

as

many

attestations

but

you

contrast

that

with

the

scriptures

and

we

have

5801

Greek

manuscripts

not even

that's not even

counting the

ancient

like handwritten

manuscript

translations

there is

if you

if you

count more

there's

10,000

Latin

manuscripts

!

9,300

manuscripts

in other

languages

like Syriac

and Coptic

a whopping

total of

25,000

manuscripts

so we

have a

very

very

good

idea

that

the

scriptures

that

we

have

is

exactly

what

was

originally

written

and

the

earliest

Greek

manuscript

that we

have

is

the

Gospel

of

John

and

it's

dated

around

125

80

which is

like

50

years

removed

from

its

original

authorship

and

so

the

art

or the

study

of

determining

which

texts

are

original

what should

be in

the

scriptures

is

called

textual

criticism

and

we

have

benefited

from

really

hard

work

by

many

scholars

so

like

a

very

renowned

scholar

named

F.J.

Hort

was a

textuals

critic

according

to his

lifetime

research

and study

he says

he concluded

that

not more

than

one

thousandth

part

of the

whole

New

Testament

is

affected

by

differences

of

reading

like

0.1

percent

and

the

Old

Testament

though

not as

well

attested

New

Testament

because

it's

more

ancient

is

better

attested

than

any

of

the

other

ancient

contemporaries

there are

about

11,000

Old

Testament

manuscripts

and

the

mesoretic

text

is

the

complete

Hebrew

Bible

that

the

Jews

use

which

is

the

basis

of

our

English

Bibles

and

that's

dated

to

the

9th

century

AD

and

the

discovery

of the

Dead Sea

Scrolls

have you guys

seen the

Dead Sea

Scrolls

it's

come to

the

Boston

Science

!

Museum

in

the

past

which

is

amazing

Museum

of

Science

you guys

should

check

those

things

out

sometimes

we have

a wealth

of resources

available to us

living in the

city

and

nowadays

online

you can

even find

digital

ways you can

view the

Dead Sea

Scrolls

and these

things

have

brought

the

manuscripts

date

back

far as

200

BC

confirming

once again

the

accuracy

of the

mesoretic

text

we have

and

showing

that

the

Old

Testament

A good

preservation

of

what was

written

and so

the fact

that the

Bible

is passed

down to

us like