Servants Prep CourseClass #3

The Validity and Divine Inspiration of the Bible

The most unique book in the world!

Bible claims to be the inspired word of God.

How can we prove this?

Internal Evidence and External Evidence

Internal = from the bible itselfExternal = outside the bible

Internal Evidence

Bible claims to be the inspired word of God:

Read 2 Timothy 3:16

Read 2 Peter 1:21)

Internal EvidenceUnique in its Continuity: One theme/unity – NO contradictions.

Theme: Redemption or Salvation of Mankind; main character is our Lord Jesus Christ

Internal Evidence• Took 1,600 years to write (Moses, ~1500BC -

John the Beloved, ~95 AD)

• Written on 3 continents (Africa, Asia and Europe)

• Written in 3 languages (Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek)

• 66 books (73), by 40+ writers of all different walks of life (some even uneducated)

Internal Evidence

All inspired by ONE author – the Holy Spirit– Moses (trained in wisdom of Egyptians)– Joshua (military general)– David (shepherd and king) – Peter (fisherman) see Acts 4:13– Matthew (tax collector)– Luke (physician) – Paul (tent maker and Pharisee)

Internal Evidence• Different moods and places by authors

– (Jeremiah – Sad, Psalms – Joyous, etc) – Moses in the wilderness– David on the run or in the palace or during war– Jeremiah in a dungeon– Paul in prison– Luke while traveling– John in exile

• Written in times of war, times of peace, etc. • You can see the personality and styles (poetry, history, law,

letters, prophecies, parables) of different authors in their writings but still maintains continuity

Internal Evidence

• 2,930 Characters• 1,189 chapters within the entire Bible• 1,551 sites around the world• Addresses hundreds of different issues (origin

of man and nature, history, science, marriage, parenting, guidance and wisdom, rules for life)

• Still valid in today’s world • Can be read over and over and still fresh

Internal EvidenceEyewitness Accounts:

• Read 1 Corinthians 15:6

• “Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.” (Luke 1:1-4)

• “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.” (2 Peter 1:16)

Internal EvidenceProphecies:

• Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)

• But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.” (Micah 5:2)

Internal Evidence

• What book has authors that write more about their sins than their righteousness?

• Quality of the writers (led by the Holy Spirit)– Virtue: Lived Saintly Lives, Performed Miracles, Suffered

Persecution

External Evidence

Unique in its Translation and Circulation – one of first books to be printed by Guttenberg’s

printing machine– Most books, even the most popular, are counted

by millions, the bible records BILLIONS of copies.– Translations – 2,200 languages/dialects

(Shakespeare’s works are only translated into 40 languages)

External Evidence

Unique in its Survival 1. Through Time:2. Through severe Persecution:3. Through Criticism:

“No other book has been so chopped, knifed, sifted, scrutinized, and vilified. What book on philosophy or religion or psychology...has been subject to such a mass attack as the Bible? With such venom and skepticism? With such thoroughness and erudition? Upon every chapter, line and tenet? And yet, the Bible is still loved by millions, read by millions, and studied by millions.” – Bernard Ramm

External Evidence

Unique in its influence on literature• If we lost the bible, we could recollect by

putting together quotations from other books and writers

• Shakespeare included 60 quotes from the Bible

• Artists of the Renaissance were inspired by Bible

External Evidence

Unique in its influence on society and culture• Who taught the world about freedom and how to live

morally?

• President George Washington: “It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.”

• President Abraham Lincoln: “I am busily engaged in the study of the Bible. I believe it is God’s word because it finds me where I am.”

External Evidence

Bible Not Only Validated by Science, but Preceded Science

• Isaiah 40:22 proves the world is round (750 BC) “It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,”

• Job 26:7 talks about gravity before Newton discovered it “He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing.”

External EvidenceBible Not Only Validated by Science, but Preceded Science

• Sir Isaac Newton: “We account the scriptures of God to be the most sublime philosophy. I find more sure marks of authenticity in the Bible than in any profane history whatsoever.”

• Albert Einstein: As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene [Jesus]... No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life.

External Evidence

How was the bible written?

• Manuscripts: Any hand-written document

• Written on papyrus (papyrus plant) and parchments (animal skins)

“Bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas when you come—and the books, especially the parchments.” (2 Timothy 4:13)

External Evidence

Manuscripts:

• Plato’s writings are dated about 400 years before Christ (only about 8 copies of manuscripts)

• Earliest manuscript dated at 900AD• Span of 1,300 years!

External EvidenceManuscripts:

• The ‘Iliad’ by Homer is second with only 643 manuscripts that still survive

• The bible has over 24,000 manuscripts!• Time span is 100-125 years for most of the New

Testament• Compared with spans of 1000-1600 years for the

classical works of Plato, Aristotle, Tacitus, Aristophanes, Euripides, Herodotus, and many more

External Evidence

Eyewitness Testimonies:

• First gospel written about 60AD (St. Mark)

• If the gospel writers had written something false, then the eyewitnesses would have refuted it!

External Evidence

Old Testament Manuscripts:

• Until recently (with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls), the oldest complete Old Testament manuscript was dated about 900 AD

• This made a time gap of 1,300 years between when the Old Testament was completed (around 400 BC) and the earliest manuscript (around 900 AD)

• Dead sea scrolls date back from 250 BC to 65 AD

External EvidenceOld Testament Manuscripts:

• Scrolls have revealed that a community of monastic farmers lived in the valley from about 150 BC to 70 AD.

• One of the complete books found in Qumran cave 1 were two copies of Isaiah

• Older than the oldest dated manuscripts previously known• Proved to be word for word identical to the standard Hebrew

Bible in more than 95% of the text • 5% variation consisted chiefly of obvious slips of pen and

variations in spelling. Do not affect the message of revelation in the slightest

External Evidence

Old Testament Manuscripts:

• Concerned about lack of very old copies of the Old Testament text?

• Consider the nature of the copying technique that was used by the Hebrew scribes:

External Evidence1. A synagogue roll must be written on the skins of clean animals prepared by a Jew.2. These must be fastened together with strings taken from clean animals.3. Every skin (page) must contain a certain number of columns, equal throughout the

entire codex.4. The length of each column must not extend less than 48 or more than 60 lines;

and the breadth must consist of thirty letters.5. The whole copy must be first lined; and if three words were written without a line, it

is worthless.6. The ink should be black and prepared according to a definite recipe.7. An authentic copy must be the exemplar, from which the transcriber ought not in

the least deviate.8. No word or letter, not even a yod, must be written from memory, the scribe not

having looked at the codex before him.9. The copyist must wash his whole body and sit in full Jewish dress.10. He must not begin to write the name of God (YHWH) with a pen newly dipped in

ink and should a king address him while writing that name he must take no notice of him.

External Evidence

Archeological evidence• Ebla tablets discovered in the 1970’s (described places named

in the bible; dated back to 2300 BC)• 1930’s: Walls of Jericho discovered

The Greatest Testimony of the Old Testament:

• Testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ!• Other New Testament writers to the Old Testament

The Types of Christ in the OT

• The events recorded in the Old Testament were actual occurrences, yet they were also typical prefigurations– Isaac– Joseph– Moses– David

Evidence that demands a verdict!

• The holy bible is not just human words but it is the inspired word of God!

• Read John 1:14

Evidence that demands a verdict!

“You Christians look after a document [Bible] containing enough dynamite to blow all civilization to pieces, turn the world upside down and bring peace to a battle-torn planet. But you treat it as though it is nothing more than a piece of literature.”

-Mahatma Gandhi