Category: Bible

Where Do We Get the Power to Morph?

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My Bible study class is discussing Chip Ingram’s book, The Miracle of Life Change. These few pages are my notes for that class.

Life-change Begins with Truth:

We are continuing in Ephesians 4:7-10. We often think that life-change begins with our experience, but it actually begins with truth (John 17:17). Jesus said that He wants us to reflect who They are and what They’re like.

Jesus even had a group of early believers (John 8:31-32). Think about how many Christians you know who are truly free. Are they really free from all the old habits they struggle with? Free of anger outbursts, free of lust; really living in a loving and authentic way? The truth underlying or relationship with Christ is that the power of sin has been broken… we don’t have to sin (Philippians 2:13, 1 John 4:4). Believers are free, forgiven and secure; the truth is that sin is defeat and you are free.

Life-change Demands that We Act on the Truth:

This action goes by the title, “faith.” Remember that there is a process of holy transformation, and it is not enough to just simply know the truth. Here are great passages about faith (Romans 1:16-17, 4:2-3, 18:21, 5:1-2, 10:17, Hebrews 11:6, 1 Peter 1:6-9, 1 John 5:4-5).

Many people think the Christian life is primarily about morality; do more good deeds than bad deeds. People want to act Christianly. It comes down to a list of “shoulds” and “oughts,” rules and guilt. People need transformation.

Life-change is Both a Gift and a Responsibility:

Even when we intellectually believe the right stuff about Jesus, we usually experience very little genuine change. This is active and passive. Passive in that we are given a gift, active in that we have a responsibility to act.

The gift of grace: we see both in the life of Paul (Romans 1:5-6). This is the gift that helps believers to morph (Ephesians 4:7). This grace gift is really a spiritual gift. The word gift has to do with our capacity for service; spiritual gift has to do with the area of service. Every believer has a spiritual gift. Only God can bring about life-change, but He never does it alone; it is done in the context of community. Change comes by grace and not self-effort (1 Corinthians 3:6-7). We’ve been given a gift and it is our responsibility to use it for God’s glory.

The Team Together:

The church functions together by using individual parts. Gifts are described in Ephesians 4:11. The purpose of these gifts are given in Ephesians 4:12-13. Leaders equip (or prepare others) for service. Christians are to become mature, like Christ, reaching full potential, working in ministry, thinking like Jesus, loving like Jesus, responding to enemies like Jesus.

The next three verses provide a clear-cut description of what maturity looks like (Ephesians 4:14-15).

Four Tests of Spiritual Maturity:

Check these out when determining your maturity ion Christ (Ephesians 4:14-15).

  1. Can you handle the Scriptures well enough to spot false teachers and trendy religion?
  2. Do you have the ability to speak the truth in love?
  3. Are you fitted with a spiritual gift? Do you know and use your gift?
  4. Do you have an ever expanding love for God and others?

Three Reasons We Fail to Morph

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My Bible study class is discussing Chip Ingram’s book, The Miracle of Life Change. These few pages are my notes for that class.

Spiritual Ignorance:

Many people don’t understand their identity in Christ, or what it means to be in Christ. Here are some theological words regarding salvation:

Justification: this is what happened when we first came to Christ (Acts 13:39, Romans 3:24, 28, 4:25, Galatians 2:16-17, Titus 3:7). Our debt column now has “paid in full” written across all the entries. Righteousness was imputed or deposited into our account. It’s grace, getting what we don’t deserve.

Sanctification: this is being set apart for a purpose (John 17:17, Romans 15:16, 1 Thessalonians 4:3, 5:23). We can be set apart and transformed into the likeness of the Son (Romans 8:29). This also involves walking by faith. We need to be the master of the contents and doctrines of the Bible. We need daily and systematic reading of the Bible, becoming a part of a small group, memorizing Scripture so that we will not sin against God. I like this tip for getting God’s Word on your hand and in your heart:

Hear it – faith comes by hearing.

Examine it – make sure what it says, look for words and phrases, and meanings.

Analyze it – find other places that teach the same truths, dig in to the text.

Remember it – memorization is a good thing, to help transform the mind, attitude and behavior.

Think about it – meditation is a positive step, to really dwell on the teachings and how God is speaking to you.

Spiritual Isolation:

A butterfly transforms in isolation while a believer transforms in community. Mark 3:13-14 is a key life verse for me, we are to first be with Jesus, then be sent out on a mission. Other verses on transformation in community are Acts 2:44-47, Romans 12:15, Galatians 6:1-2, Colossians 3:16, Hebrews 10:24, James 5:16).

Spiritual Myopia:

We often fail to see the magnitude of what is at stake in our relationship with Christ. Myopia causes us to not see clearly. This is subtle, because we feel it is no one’s business but mine. But people wonder if the church is real, we are the billboard for Christ that people see everyday. What is your hindrance (of these three so far)? The issue is not if Christianity works for someone, but whether or not we will be obedient to the holy, omnipresent, all-powerful God who’s got a plan for the planet and for us.

Facing Our Biggest Challenge:

What keeps us from morphing? It’s easy – sin (Romans 6:1-4). How do you deal with the sin problem? In Ephesians 4:7-10, Paul is teaching that breaking the power and penalty of sin demands a clear understanding of what it means to die with Christ. He explains what Jesus was doing between the crucifixion and the resurrection. After all, is death punctuated with a period or a comma (John 12:24-25)?

A Glimpse Beyond the Grave:

In Ephesians 4:7-10, circle the words grace, gift and therefore. In Ephesians 4:8, Paul quotes an obscure passage about leading captives and giving gifts to men. Eventually we understand about spiritual giftedness, but the captives are interesting.

What Christ did there: Christ came in power to free the captives. It is a picture of a conquering king riding back on a white horse leading the captives, who would become slaves, these trophies of war. The word is triumph (2 Corinthians 2:14). Wagons loads of the spoils of war followed. Once the king arrived, the next order of business was to divide the spoils. These gifts were a reminder of a great victory over an enemy. Jesus reminds us of the reason He won the battle, over sin and death, and these gifts were proof of that victory.

Where He did it: The “lower parts” refers to sheol, which is a place of the dead. All those who died went there, the righteous and the wicked, all men being made equal. It was not until Jesus time that there became a paradise and a place of torment. Luke 16:19-31 has a story that illustrates what Jesus accomplished on the cross. 1 Peter 3:18-19 tells us where Jesus was while He was in the grave. He went to the punishment compartment and preached, not a message of salvation for the hearers, but a proclamation or royal announcement of victory.

1 Peter 4:6 mentions Jesus preaching to the faithful of God in the Old Testament. This word is different than in 1 Peter 3:19, it is the word for gospel, the good news. He visited paradise to inform and confirm the faith of Old Testament saints.

Why Christ did it: That He might fulfill all things (Ephesians 4:10). He established His right to reclaim creation. He declared the defeat of sin and death. He provided the basis for spiritual freedom and transformation. To be transformed we must die with Christ.

It’s Morphing Time

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My Bible study class is discussing Chip Ingram’s book, The Miracle of Life Change. These few pages are my notes for that class.

The Call: (Romans 12:2)

The key word here is transformation, metamorphoo, something that is passive rather than active in our lives. “Be transformed” by the renewing of your mind. We don’t transform ourselves. Morphing is expected, normal, possible and even commanded.

Paul gives instruction about this transformation (Ephesians 4:1). He wants our life to match who you are in Christ. “Worthy” describes the way we are to walk, or live. Transformation is the basis of our salvation (Ephesians 2:8). We were once dead but are now alive in Christ.

The Process:

Transformation does not begin with activities, it begins with relationships. Here’s Paul’s outline for holy transformation (Ephesians 4:2-3): humility, gentleness, patience and bearing one another. Natural morphing takes place in secret, like in a cocoon, but spiritual transformation takes place in community (Ephesians 2:19-22, Hebrews 10:25).

Four Attitudes:

These attitudes create life transformation:

Humility: to have an accurate view of yourself, no having a low view of yourself (Romans 12:3). Relationships must focus on others rather than yourself – servanthood is a good summary.

Gentleness: to be considerate, power under restraint or control (1 Thessalonians 2:7-8). Are we willing to give up our rights, not impress others, and not fight for approval?

Patience: to be steadfast and strong in suffering, like a long fuse before you get angry. Those who get made are defending their rights, don’t really like themselves, and are insecure.

Bearing one another: to put up with other people, their quirks, failures and idiosyncrasies.

Why Morphing Matters:

The Bible doesn’t order us to achieve unity, only that we maintain it (Ephesians 4:3). We must practice godly things even when we don’t feel like doing it. Like-change is about becoming more like Christ, becoming clear on seven things (Ephesians 4:4-6). Morphing is imperative.

What Unity Looks Like:

Unity can be describe as the “one” in each phrase (Ephesians 4:4-6). Notice each member of the Trinity receives special attention. “One” emphasizes unity; “all” emphasized inclusion.

  1. The first triad refers to us, the church (body, Spirit, hope) – the Spirit allows us to have many things in common.
  2. The second triad refers to the Son (Lord, faith, baptism) – baptism being our shared identity in Christ.
  3. The third triad refers to the one God and Father of all (like a sovereign summary) beginning with the unity of God, the Spirit leads through the lordship of Christ, to the sovereignty of God the Father.

The likeness of Christ is not just an agenda that God has for us as individuals, but a plan for His church and for the world.

Why is Sanctification Needed?

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A simple yet profound definition of sanctification is the life-long process of becoming more and more like Jesus. Some pseudo-Christian groups teach that believers will actually becomes like Jesus… like a god to rule over your own world, but I’m talking about becoming more and more Christ-like in our thoughts, attitudes, actions, and habits.

 

Salvation comes to a person is multiple ways. Notice I did not say that there are multiple ways to be saved! When someone decides to commit themselves to Jesus and become a follower of Christ, he is saved from every sin he has ever committed, and will ever commit. This is justification (becoming just as if I’d never sinned). Sanctification is the process of becoming more like Christ and then glorification occurs when we finally see Jesus face to face, basically when we make it to heaven. There, we will finally be able to not sin! Three facets of one salvation. So in answering the question of my salvation, I can honestly say, “Yes, partly and no.”

 

So what biblical support can I give that growing in faith and godliness is the right thing for a follower of Christ to do?

 

  • Peter tells us to keep growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ – 2 Peter 3:18
  • We should not be content to remain immature in the faith, which was the case for many early believers – Hebrews 5:12-14
  • God works in us (through His word) to bring us to spiritual maturity (to sanctify us) – John 17:17, Colossians 3:16, 1 Peter 2:2-3, Psalm 119:11, 119:105
  • The Bible is the source of our faith and practice, to correct us, train us and equip us for every good work – 2 Timothy 3:16-17
  • The Holy Spirit teaches us and reminds us of the word of God – John 14:25-26
  • The word of God is immeasurable effective in bringing growth – Hebrew 4:12
  • We are to be like a runner in a race, pressing on and continuing toward our goal – Philippians 3:12-14
  • We are to rid ourselves of everything that hinders us from movement toward the goal – Hebrews 12:1
  • We are to fix out eyes on Jesus because of what He has done for us – Hebrew s12:2
  • We are to train ourselves to be godly, like an athlete trains for his sport – 1 Timothy 4:7-8
  • We are encouraged to put much effort into living a godly life – 2 Peter 3:14
  • We are to abide in Christ so that we may bear much fruit – John 15:5
  • We are to become imitators of Christ – 1 John 2:6
  • Peter tells us many Christ-like virtues – 2 Peter 1:5-9
  • We should be motivated to grow in our faith, after all Christ did for us – 1 Corinthians 15:57-58, 2 Corinthians 7:1, Romans 12:1-2
  • God uses His word to revive our soul, make us wise, give us joy, and much more – Psalm 19:7-8
  • God requires that we keep working toward our salvation (not to earn grace but to demonstrate faith), and He works in us by His word and His Spirit – Philippians 2:12-13
  • God is graciously transforming every Christian into the likeness of His Son – 2 Corinthians 3:18

 

It is amazing to me that someone could pray a prayer, come to Christ, receive His salvation and yet not commit to God wholeheartedly enough to eliminate sin and ungodliness from their life, and be content to remain a “baby” Christian until they die. To me, it seems like a situation of premature death.  

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Discipleship is About Life Change

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A great word regarding this life change is transformation, like we read in Romans 12:2, “do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” The original word in the New Testament is metamorphoo, from which we get our word metamorphosis. According to Strong’s lexicon, it means “a permanent state to which a change takes place.” There is much biblical support for doing away with the old and bringing in the new:

 

  • Tearing down the old altar and building a new one – Judges 6:25-26
  • The Spirit will come upon King Saul and he will become a different person – 1 Samuel 10:6
  • Your scarlet sins will become white as snow – Isaiah 1:18
  • Jeremiah saw the potter take the clay jar, smash it and start over – Jeremiah 18:4
  • God takes a stony, stubborn heart and replaces it with a tender, responsive heart – Ezekiel 11:19
  • Angels cleanse the High Priest, changing his clothing – Zechariah 3:3-4
  • Jesus said we all must be born again – John 3:3
  • The transformation of Paul is an illustration – Acts 9:1-18
  • Repentance put into action, burning the old books of magic – Acts 19:18-19
  • We are dead to sin and alive to God – Romans 6:11
  • We are not to be conformed to this world but transformed – Romans 12:2; 1 Peter 1:14.
  • We are to be a new creation in Christ – 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 4:22–24
  • We pass from darkness into light – Ephesians 5:8–10
  • Unbelievers will be surprised at your transformation – 1 Peter 4:4
  • Because of transformation, we now are able to do what is right – 1 John 2:29

 

So, in looking at your own transformation, how are you continuing on the road of discipleship?

 

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What is Repentance?

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What is repentance and why is it so important that we do it? It’s a churchy word that means to turn from going in one direction; making a 180-degree turn and go in the other direction; to turn from sin and turn to the Savior. While repentance is not the act that saves us (since we are saved only by God’s grace and our faith in what Christ did for us on the cross) there is biblical support that we need to repent… basically how could one really be saved if we leave repentance out of the picture? So, we are not saved by repentance, but practically, how can we be saved without it?

 

Here are some of the biblical foundations for repentance:

 

  • Jesus called sinners to repentance – Luke 5:31-32
  • Jesus called needy sinners to repentance, which leads to their salvation – Matthew 4:17
  • Repentance must be from a genuine heart – Mark 7:20-23, Jeremiah 4:3-4, Joel 2:12-13
  • Godly sorrow brings repentance, which leads to salvation – 2 Corinthians 7:10-11
  • Repentance brings joy in heaven – Luke 15:7
  • God calls for people to seek Him, turn from their wickedness, and He promises to forgive them – Isaiah 55:6-7
  • God calls for people to forsake their idols and forsake practicing evil – Ezekiel 14:6
  • Life comes to the one who repents – Ezekiel 18:21-22
  • God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked – Ezekiel 18:23
  • The lord calls earnestly for sinners to repent – Ezekiel 18:30-32
  • Jesus pronounced judgment on those who refuse to repent – Matthew 11:20-24
  • God calls for repentance out of His kindness – Romans 2:14
  • Refusal to repent brings punishment, but life if you do – Romans 2:5-6
  • Disaster comes to those who do not heed God’s call to repentance – Proverbs 1:24-28
  • Repentance brings forgiveness – Luke 7:37-38, 48-50
  • God’s anger is poured out on the unrepentant – Isaiah 42:23-25
  • Return to God and He will return to you – Malachi 3:7
  • If God’s people turn from their wickedness, He will forgive them – 2 Chronicles 7:14
  • Paul preached that we must repent, turn to God and do deeds that prove our repentance – Acts 26:19-20

 

A great resource on this topic is John MacArthur’s The Gospel According to Jesus. The basic foundation is that when someone encountered Jesus in the Bible, they did not just get saved by praying a prayer, their lives where transformed.

 

BTW, if you are looking for a Sunday class at 9:45, I’m starting a new six-week study on the miracle of life change, beginning on April 26. Transformation is much more significant than just believing the right stuff about Jesus!

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Kingdom Economics

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I was reading Os Hillman today, who wrote an interesting piece on the economy we find in Kingdom living. On the heels of my writing about Moses, his excuses and obedience, Hillman’s key verse is Joshua 24:13 – “So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.”

 

In the world of business we are taught to do whatever it takes to produce a desired outcome. Competitive forces can drive companies to go beyond the limits of ethics and integrity to achieve a desired outcome. Men and women can become work-a-holics as the need for competitive advantage is passed down the various management levels in order to meet sales and marketing goals. This sweat and toil mentality contradicts God’s Kingdom Economy.

 

The Kingdom Economy is found in the above verse in Joshua. When the people of Israel were coming out of Egypt, a place of sweat and toil and slavery, God was trying to teach them a new economy of receiving. Instead of sweat and toil, He wanted them to learn obedience. Now their income would be based on their obedience, not their skill or their sweat and toil.

 

This new Kingdom Economy meant that there would be times when what you receive from your efforts might be less than the commensurate time invested. Yet, there would also be times when you would receive more compared to your time invested.

 

I used to determine whether I would meet with a person based on my perceived return on that investment. I justified that behavior as being a good steward. God says we are to determine if He wants us to meet with that person or be involved with an endeavor based on His leading alone, not based on the perceived outcome. It is His responsibility to bring fruit from the activity.

 

This will result in a new freedom in your work life. Stay vertical with God and let Him determine your next activity.

 

The very next verse goes on to emphasize service – Joshua 24:14 (obedience if you will). The interesting part about this is that we are given a choice (Joshua 24:15). We can look at this Kingdom Economy and still choose to live as if we are in slavery, back in Egypt. Keith Green wrote a song 30 years ago with that same title, So You Wanna Go Back to Egypt. We conclude that the wandering Israelites are foolish for desiring the familiarity of Egypt (along with it’s slavery) rather than to embrace the next great adventure that God had in store for them. Are we that much different than them?

 

Joshua encouraged the people to make a choice. If it is disagreeable to follow God (like you can still weigh the pros and cons and choose not to) you still need to choose this day whom you will serve. Bob Dylan penned the words… You gotta serve somebody, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you gotta serve somebody. Let’s choose to embrace the Kingdom Economy; serve God, follow in obedience, receive His guidance, and desire the best that He has in store for us.

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Refuse to be a Target

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The Men of Steel looked into this topic; how often do we wrestle with God?

  1. The Enemy within Me
  2. God Sparing Your Life
  3. Refuse to be a Target
  4. God Wrestles with You… Alone
  5. Why Does God Wrestle with Men?
  6. The Reality of the Spirit Realm

Men, if we don’t confront our frailty and capacity for sin, we will always have a target on our back, just ripe for the enemy to shoot his flaming arrows into and make us fall – Ephesians 6:16. Beware guys; this is another depressing post about being on your guard against the enemy. This is part three of the wrestling match series.

I read a great book years ago called, Ordering Your Private World. Years later the same author wrote another book called, Rebuilding Your Broken World. The basis for the first book was to help Christians order their lives in such a way that they live on purpose and for God. The second book was written after the restoration process the author went through due to a moral failure. He mentions the one thing he could never see himself doing was committing adultery… and that’s what took him down. A prominent pastor and author did not see himself as vulnerable to the enemy’s attack.

We need to admit to ourselves that we are vulnerable. There’s something in every man of steel that acts like kryptonite, which has a sole purpose of bringing each of us down. If you don’t believe that you can commit a certain sin, you remain vulnerable to it. Why? Because if we are so sure we will never do it, we never set up safeguards against it. Without safeguards, you are vulnerable to any sin.

  • You never thought you could get that angry.
  • You never thought you could get that aggressive.
  • You never thought you could have an affair.
  • You never thought you could be that weak.
  • You never thought you could be addicted to porn.
  • You never thought you could be an alcoholic.
  • You never thought you could leave your family.
  • You never thought you could be that hurtful.

For many men, they never thought they could… so they did. You’ve got to look square in the mirror and say to yourself, “I could commit every sin.” Whatever your problem may be, there’s always a problem behind your problem, and the Bible calls that problem sin.

  • What is it that makes a 40 year old married man try to act like he’s 20 and single?
  • What makes a man try to drown his trouble in alcohol or illegal drugs?
  • Why does a man need to prove himself by doing daredevil stunts?

It’s called our sin nature! This is the part of you that wants to do the bad stuff rather than what is right. When we accept Christ, this old nature is trying to fight back for control in your life. But it is this sin nature that is supposed to be put to death while we are made alive in Christ – Galatians 2:20. If we continue to sin, it shows where our loyalties really lie – 1 John 3:8.

If you’ve messed up… forgiveness is ready for all who submit to Christ, putting their faith in Him and allowing His Spirit to help us to repent of our sin. It’s a conscious effort to repent, which is to turn from sin and turn toward God. Remember that He is ready and able to forgive – 1 John 1:9. Restoration of relationships takes more time, because while we are forgiven for our past sin, the consequence of our sin may remain for a long time.

I’m glad that you are a part of the Men of Steel. It shows a commitment to being the best man that you can be, for God’s sake, for your wife’s sake and your kids’ sake.

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Does Archaeology Confirm Scripture?

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At first the ancient cities were the targets of study, but soon there were found names and places that are in the OT. Persian governors spoke through their letters and Egyptian Pharaohs in gold-lined coffins can now be identified. Scholars found rich discoveries about the neighbors of the early Israelites. Reliability of the Bible has been affirmed in a number of important areas, substantiating the claims of the Bible.

Mostly the goal is to verify some specific biblical events that were doubted or ridiculed. Another is to help explain biblical culture and practices. When an apparent conflict exists, rather than conclude that the Bible is wrong, it is best to admit the problem exists and hold it open to further discoveries.

Sources for archaeologists:

There have been over 25,000 sites excavated in the Holy Land. Some sites the names have changed and others have remained the same for 3500 years, like Damascus.

How can these finds be dated?

Cities were rebuilt on top of the previous one. Fashions of pottery change. King’s had inscriptions on temple door hinges, and the names of the gods were written. Sumerian scribe had a catalogue system. A few miles from Ur there was found an inscription of a king with an unknown name, of the first dynasty of Ur, which the scribes speak as the third dynasty after the great flood. This is 3100 years before Jesus and 1000 years before Abraham.

Abraham’s time:

Places could not be identified until in 1933 a party of Arabs unearthed a stone statue that revealed a name of an elaborate palace called Mari (covering six acres and 260 rooms). 20,000 cuneiform tablets were found describing the culture. Another city, Nuzi, east of Mari on the Tigris River, discusses the customs that Abraham faced in Genesis 15:4 and Genesis 16:1-2, regarding Ishmael and Isaac. Hammurabi’s code required the slave’s child be kept, which was preempted by God’s command for Hagar to flee with Ishmael.

Writing in the patriarchal times:

The city of Ebla has the most extensive discovery unearthed in the New East, dating back to the third millennium BC. It was a modern city, a highly developed culture. There was a room that had been burned, discovered in 1975, with 20,000 clay tablets on the floor; 5000 years of history. We know that biblical history took place in a world where writing was common.

The biblical kings:

Solomon’s splendor had been questioned, the large navy with no suitable coastline for a harbor. An army of 1400 chariots, and 1200 horses. Huge building projects… confirmed by excavations.

Solomon’s gold – 1 Kings 10:21

The description is breathtaking – 1 Kings 6:21-22, 9:11. This is not a scribe’s exaggeration, but a reflection of ancient times.

A conflict described:

In 1868, the Moabite Stone was discovered and the local Arab men thought they could get better prices by selling more pieces, so they heated it and then poured on cold water to break it. The archaeologists had already made an impression of the stone so the story was not destroyed. Chemosh is confirmed – 1 Kings 11:33, 2 Kings 23:13, Jeremiah 48:3. The stone also mentioned the God Israel, YHWY.

Daniel and Belshazzar:

Daniel names Belshazzar as the last king of Babylon, while Nabonidus is named in ancient Babylonian documents. Later discoveries were that Nabonidus removed himself for a ten-year stint in Arabia, leaving his son Belshazzar in charge, for all purposes he was the king. Prior to the Babylonian chronicles, Daniel is the only one that named Belshazzar as the king.

New Testament accuracy:

This is not so much digging for ancient civilizations, but finding written documents, with public or private inscriptions: shopping lists, private notes, legends on coins. Turns out the NT Greek was very similar to the language of the common people.

Stone inscriptions:

Luke took history very seriously and was right on all accounts. He includes many lines of historical details – Luke 2:1, 3:1.

No pious forgery:

Paul’s timeline confirmed at Felix’s replacement by Festus (Acts 24:27) in Nero’s fifth year, before October AD 59. Jerusalem was destroyed in AD 70 and a new pagan city was built on the site in AD 130. Keith Schoville, “Archaeological excavations have produces ample evidence that the Bible is not a pious forgery.” Basically, he says the Bible has never been proven false.

Are the Bible Documents Reliable?

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You have probably read stories about all the supposed errors that are in the Bible. The theory is that mistakes were made through two thousand years of translations and what we have today is a pale reflection of the original writings. But Christianity is rooted in history, and history has not changed. If the historical references in the Bible are not true, we can then doubt the reliability of the rest of the book. We will also ask the question, “Why do we have these books and no others?”

Who wrote the words?

The work of the scribe was a highly professional and a carefully executed task. There are no complete copies of the Hebrew OT earlier than around AD 900 (Masoretic Text), but it is evident that it has been faithfully preserved since AD 100 or 200.

There are translations from Hebrew into Latin and Greek. All copies that came from the Masoretic Text are in remarkable agreement, which attests to the skill and detail of the Masoretes.

Dead Sea Scrolls:

Discovered in 1947, the greatest archaeological discovery of the century. Clay jars in Qumran, dated 150 BC to AD 70. They hid the scrolls in preparation for the Roman invasion, in cave on the west side of the Dead Sea. There is a complete book of Isaiah and another with Isaiah 38-66, the books of Samuel, and two chapters of Habakkuk.

By comparing the Dead Sea Scrolls with the Masoretic Text we see remarkable accuracy. For example, in Isaiah 53 only 17 letters differ from the Masoretic Text. Ten of these were merely spelling differences (like honor to honour) that produce no change of meaning at all. Four are minor like the presence of a conjunction (which is often a matter of style). The other three letters are the Hebrew word for “light” which is added after, “they shall see” in Isaiah 53:11. Of 166 words in the chapter, only one word is in question and it in no way changes the sense of the passage.

The Septuagint:

This is the Greek translation of the Hebrew text, referred to as LXX, for the 70 scholars taking 70 days to complete, in the third century BC. So in comparison to the Masoretic Text, it appears that nothing has changed since 200 BC! It seems to be a rather literal translation. There is also another text called the Samaritan Pentateuch, but this has a Samaritan leaning and emphasis.

Three families of texts:

The question is, “What is the original version of these three families of texts?” It is said that what we have since 225 BC is just about the same document that Ezra read before the people after the Babylonian captivity.

New Testament documents:

Evidence tells us that the same is true for the NT. Generally anything that differs from early manuscripts would be variations in grammar or spelling, not more than 1/1000 part of the whole NT. There are about 6000 manuscripts that have survived to our time. Papyrus was used early, and highly durable. Another material was called parchment, skins of sheep or goats, used up until the middle ages until paper replaced it.

The dates of the NT documents indicate that they were written during the lifetime of the contemporaries of Christ. People were still alive who could remember that events. Many Pauline letters predate the gospels. These early documents can be compared to other ancient documents that have been accepted without question to their authenticity. Nine or ten copies of Caesar’s Gallic War exist, and they were written about 900 years after Caesar’s time! The history of Thucydides (400 BC) with about 8 copies, dated to AD 900. These copies are 1300 years after the original. By contrast, two excellent copies of the NT date to the fourth century. Fragments date back to 100 or 200 years earlier. There is a papyrus codex of John 18:31-33, 37 that dates back to AD 130.

The question of canon:

How do we know these are the books that are supposed to be in the Bible? Protestants accept the same books that the Jews accept in the OT. Catholics at the Council of Trent in 1546 decided to add others, called the Apocrypha. OT books were authoritative based on the utterances of people inspired to declare God’s Word. It’s not clear why they were accepted but it is clear that they were accepted. Jesus even agreed with the Pharisees on the authority of the OT, just not the traditions holding the same authority. The council of Jamnia in AD 90 closed the OT canon. The discussion was on which books to include rather than on which books to exclude.

Apocryphal books:

These were never received into the Jewish canon. Jews and Christians had never accepted them, and they are no where quoted in the NT. Some books like 1 Maccabees is valuable in retelling history, but are not considered as inspired sacred writings. Although not included at first the LXX included them for ecclesiastical purposes only.

What about the New Testament?

These were included based on their inspiration rather than by majority vote. Many claimed apostolic authority (1 Peter 3:15-16). Jude 1:3 mentions 2 Peter 3:3 is a word from the apostles. Early church fathers like Polycarp, Ignatius and Clement mention a number of books of the NT as authoritative.

The second century brought on many heresies, so there needed to be a debate on which writings were authoritative. In the East, the final fixed canon for the NT dates back to AD 367 (a letter from Athanasius), which books were used as sole sources for religious instruction and which could be read for information. In the West, it was decided at the Council of Carthage in AD 397.

The criteria for selecting the canon: could it be attributed to an apostle? Was it used in the church? Was there conformity to standard church doctrine? Luke 21:33 is a solid conclusion on this topic of God’s written Word.