So, what is the ?
1. The Bible is a collection of 66 ancient
a. The issue of the .
= a general law, rule, principle, or criterion by which something is judged.
b. The test for .
i. Authorship
ii. Distribution
iii. Theology
2. The Bible was written by over different authors.
3. The Bible was written over a period of years.
4. The Bible is God’s letter to us so that we may Him.
John 20:30-31 (ESV) – Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.
Big Question: How can I be in my trust of the Bible as God’s Word?
1. I can trust the Bible because it is by God.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV) – 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 competent, equipped for every good work.
a. What is ?
2 Peter 1:20-21 (ESV) – Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from one’s own interpretation. 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.
“The inspiration of the Bible refers to the act of the Holy Spirit in which He the writers of Scripture so that, while writing according to their own styles and personalities, they produced God’s Word, written, authoritative, and free from error in the original writings.” (Paul Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology, pg 638)
b. Because the Bible is by God, it is also .
Joshua 1:8 (ESV) – This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
1 Thessalonians 2:13 (ESV) – And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received 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.
“The Bible being authoritative means that all the words in Scripture are God’s words in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God Himself.” – (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, pg. 73).
2. I can trust the Bible because supports its .
a. Evidence through .
i. Homer’s Odyssey – 3 copies, 2000 years after the original.
ii. Caesar’s Gallic Wars – 10 copies, 900 years after the original.
iii. Tacitus – 2 copies, 900 and 1100 years after the original
iv. The New Testament – 5500 copies, 100 years after the original.
v. The Dead Sea Scrolls –
b. Evidence through .
c. Evidence through fulfilled .
Micah 5:2 (ESV) – But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from old, from ancient days.
Isaiah 7:14 (ESV) – Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel.”
Hosea 11:1b (ESV) – … and out of Egypt I called My Son.
Zechariah 9:9 (ESV) – Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is He, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Zechariah 11:12-13 (ESV) – I told them, “If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.” So they paid me thirty pieces of silver. And the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter” – the handsome price at which they priced me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD to the potter.
Psalm 22:16 (ESV) – For dogs encompass Me; a company of evildoers encircles Me; they have pierced My hands and feet,
Psalms 78:2 (ESV) – I will open My mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old,
Psalms 146:7 (ESV) – … who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free;
3. I can trust the Bible because of personal and .
John 1:35-37, 40-42a (ESV) – The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus… One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus.