Where did our bible come from?

Text, Canon, and Translation

19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning

star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture

comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by

the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

— 2 Peter 1:19-21 (ESV)

What is bibliology?

BIBLIOLOGY is the study of the bible.  Bibliology can be broken down into four areas:

Origin » Inspiration » Canonicity » Interpretation

What is bibliology?

BIBLIOLOGY is the study of the bible.  Bibliology can be broken down into four areas:

Origin » Inspiration » Canonicity » Interpretation

What is bibliology?

BIBLIOLOGY is the study of the bible.  Bibliology can be broken down into four areas:

Origin » Inspiration » Canonicity » Interpretation

Revelation & Inspiration

The Doctrine of Revelation

The bible describes two types of revelation:• General revelation - God’s witness to Himself through

creation, history, and the conscience of man (Romans 1 & 2).• Special revelation - God’s disclosure of Himself in

salvation history preeminently in the person of Jesus and in the inspired Word of Scripture.

The Doctrine of General Revelation

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be

known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes,

namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So

they are without excuse.— Romans 1:18-20 (ESV)

The Doctrine of General Revelation

14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show

that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their

conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the

secrets of men by Christ Jesus. — Romans 2:14-16

The Doctrine of General Revelation

14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show

that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their

conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the

secrets of men by Christ Jesus. — Romans 2:14-16

What is Inspiration?

Inspiration is the act of God by which He superintended (guided) the human authors of the bible so that using their

own individual personalities they composed and recorded without error His revelation to man in the words of

the original manuscripts.

Theories of Inspiration (Plummer)

• Intuition theory - the writers of the bible exhibit a natural religious intuition.• Illumination theory - the Spirit of God impressed

Himself upon the consciousness of the biblical writers in the same way that the Holy Spirit influences people today.• Dynamic theory - God gave definite, specific

impressions or concepts to the biblical authors but allowed them to communicate those concepts in their own words.  The phrasing is by human choice, while the content is from God.

Theories of Inspiration (Plummer)

• Dictation theory - God dictated the exact words to the human authors (like court stenographers).• Verbal-Plenary theory - The bible is inspired verbally

(the very words, not just the ideas) and completely (“plenary” means “unqualified, absolute”) — see 2 Tim 3:16.  Also called the “dual authorship” theory or “verbal” theory.

Theories of Inspiration (Plummer)

• Dictation theory - God dictated the exact words to the human authors (like court stenographers).• Verbal-Plenary theory - The bible is inspired verbally

(the very words, not just the ideas) and completely (“plenary” means “unqualified, absolute”) — see 2 Tim 3:16.  Also called the “dual authorship” theory or “verbal” theory.

The Doctrine of Inerrancy

“The inerrancy of Scripture means that Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary  to fact.” —

Wayne Grudem

Important definitions

• Inerrant - the bible is completely truthful in all things that the biblical authors assert—whether in geographic, chronological, or theological details.  God superintended the writing process such that every word written was according to His will.  The words were guarded from all error.

• Infallible - the bible is “incapable of error.”  Also refered to as limited inerrancy.  Infallibility means that the bible is error-free in matters of theology or faith, but that the bible may contain errors in matters  of science and history.  

• Inspired - God was behind the writing of Scripture.  (See views of inspiration above.)

Qualifications of inerrancy

• Inerrancy applies only to the original autographs.• Inerrancy respects the authorial intent of the passage

and the literary conventions under which the author wrote. Literal and figurative language should be understood accordingly.  • The gospel authors were not intending to give strict

chronological accounts of Jesus’ ministry.• Inerrancy allows for partial reporting, paraphrasing, and

summarizing.  (Important for harmonizing the synoptic gospels.)

Qualifications of inerrancy

• Inerrancy allows for phenomenological language.• Inerrancy allows the reporting of speech without the

endorsement of the truthfulness of that speech.• Inerrancy does not mean that the bible provides

definitive or exhaustive information on every topic.• Inerrancy is not invalidated by colloquial or nonstandard

grammar or spelling. The issue is the truthfulness of the speech (Grudem).

Variations on the Doctrine of Inerrancy

• Absolute Inerrancy• Affirms verbal-plenary inspiration while distancing itself from a

mechanical dictation view.  • Affirms the accuracy of the bible in all matters including

science and history “to a great degree of precision.”

• Critical (Natural) Inerrancy• Affirms the truth of everything in the bible to the degree of

precision intended by the author.• Usually regards biblical references to scientific as phenomenal.• Does not seek to harmonize every detail of Scripture because

it recognizes that the authors wrote for different purposes.

Variations on the Doctrine of Inerrancy

• Limited Inerrancy• Affirms that the bible is inerrant in all matters of faith and

practice, as well as matters that can be empirically verified.  • Inspiration does not grant modern understanding, hence the

bible may contain errors of science or history.

• Nuanced Inerrancy• Affirms that how one understands inerrancy depends on the

type of biblical literature under consideration.

Variations on the Doctrine of Inerrancy

• Functional Inerrancy• Affirms that the purpose of the bible is to bring people to

salvation and growth in grace.  The bible accomplishes its purpose without fail.

• Affirms that the bible is sufficiently accurate in factual matters to accomplish its purpose, but seeks to avoid describing the inerrancy of Scripture primarily in terms of facticity.  Instead, it speaks of the bible in terms of trustworthiness and faithfulness.”

• Spontaneous Inerrancy• An expression of simple trust and faith in the bible.• Often marked by little, if any, awareness of, or interest in

scholarly discussions of the doctrine of inerrancy.

Understanding errors in manuscripts

• The field of studying manuscripts and their transmission to ascertain the original text is called textual criticism.• There are more than 5,600 known Greek manuscripts of

the New Testament with more being discovered every day.• There are over 19,000 early manuscripts written in

Latin, Syriac, Coptic, and Aramaic. • The New Testament has been quoted more than one

million times by early Church fathers.

Understanding errors in manuscripts

• There are more than 400,000 variants in NT manuscripts.  Most of these variants are errors in spelling and punctuation.• The New Testament accuracy is 99.5% and as more manuscripts

are discovered, our understanding of the New Testament becomes more accurate.• Any passages in question are clearly marked in the footnotes of

modern translations (John 7:53-8:11, Mark 16:9-20).• No uncertain passages affect any foundational Christian

doctrine.• The majority of the New Testament was written before AD 70.

Understanding Bible Translations

Understanding Bible Translations

“Why do we have so many different versions of the bible? Which is the ‘right’ version?”

Approaches to biblical translation

There are two primary approaches to rendering the bible in modern English:• Translation - starts with the best available manuscripts

and translates the text into modern English.• Paraphrase - not concerned primarily with accurately

translating the text word-for-word; instead focuses on freely wording the meaning of the biblical text.

Approaches to biblical translation

Understanding the Biblical Canon

“Why did some books make it into the bible when others didn’t?Wasn’t there some sort of ‘conspiracy’ to keep ideas out of the

bible?”

The Canonicity of the Bible

“For Protestant Christians, the canon is not an authorized collection of writings (in that

the church conferred its authority or approval upon a list of books).  Rather, the canon is a collection of authoritative

writings.” — Plummer, 57

Old Testament Canon

• Some books of the Old Testament canon were recognized instantly on the basis of their self-authenticating nature or a prophetic word being fulfilled.• Other books may have taken some time to be edited or

fully recognized.• The New Testament affirms the canon of Old Testament

Scripture.• Jesus quoted from 24 Old Testament books.• The NT as a whole quotes from 34 OT books.• The only books that are not quoted in the NT are Ezra, Nehemiah,

Esther, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon.

New Testament Canon

The early church used the following three criteria for identifying the New Testament canon:• Apostolic - written by or tied closely to an apostle.• Catholic - widely, if not universally, recognized by the

churches.• Orthodox - not in contradiction to any recognized

apostolic book or doctrine.

New Testament Canon

T.C. Hammond, quoted in Plummer (61), provides a helpful summary of the recognition of the New Testament canon.• The New Testament books were written during the

period A.D. 45-100.• They were collected and read in the churches A.D. 100-

200.• They were carefully examined and compared with

spurious writings A.D. 200-300.• Complete agreement was obtained A.D. 300-400.

Discussion Questions

• What impact does the doctrine of inerrancy have on our interpretation of the bible?• What impact does the canonicity of Scripture have on

our interpretation of the bible?• How would you respond to a critic who suggested that

the modern bible cannot contain the original text because it is a “translation of translations?”