Why Study Bible Doctrines?

To discern God’s truth

• Chronological

• Expositional

• Systematic Theology= our attempt to organize God’s revelation into component parts.

God:

• Revealed Himself - Bibliology

• Exists - Theology proper

• Sacrificed Himself - Christology

• Draws men to Himself - Pneumatology

• Employs ministering spirits - Angelology

To mature spiritually

• Ephesians 4:11-16

• 1 Timothy 4:15

• 2 Peter 1:4-8

To share our faith

• Most of us know WHAT we believe

• 1 Peter 3:15

Bibliology- The Doctrine of the Bible

1. Inspriation

1. False views of inspiration

1. Natural inspiration - there was no supernatural element involved in the writing of Scripture, they only had heightened creativity.

2. Partial inspiration - some of the Bible is inspired and some is not. “The Bible contains the Word of God”

3. Conceptual inspiration - God inspired the thought and ideas and men wrote it down in their own words.

• Leads to “dynamic equivalency” translations

• Dynamic equivalency = a thought-for-thought translation (emphasizes man’s understanding

4. Experiential inspiration -  The Bible becomes the Word of God when it’s meaningful to you. 

5. Superintendence -  God merely supervised the writes of the Bible, allowing them to write down what they experienced what they thought, and what they did, as long no error or mistakes crept in. 

 B. The Bible’s perspective on Inspiration

1. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

• “All” = each, every, all the whole

• Plenary inspiration - all the words were breathed out by God; refuses PARTIAL inspiration

• “Scripture” - graphe, the writings; refutes CONCEPTUAL and NATURAL inspiration

• “Given by inspiration of God” - theopneustos, God-breathed

• Verbal inspiration - all the words were breathed out by God; refutes SUPERINTENDENCE

• Dictation - God gave the words that the writers wrote down

• Mechanical Dictation - a straw man argument (false argument) that the writers became robots or zombie-like, their consciousness being suspended, while writing Scripture

• Inspiration assumes inerrancy and infallibility 

• Autograph - the original document of a given book (we don’t have the original document or autographs they wrote on)

• Apograph - copy of an original  document

Inspiration assumes inerrancy and infallibility.

• Inerrancy = without error (God gave the words of Scripture without error in the original autographs)

• Infallibility = incorruptibility of the Word of God in its transmission through the generations (refutes PARTIAL and NATURAL inspiration)

• “And is profitable” (sufficiency) refutes EXPERIENTIAL inspiration

It doesn’t need my experience to become profitable, it IS profitable.

2. 2 Peter 1:20-21 

• “Private interpretation” = Scripture did not originate with the human author

• “Holy men” = God chose authors to write exactly what He wanted written, and how He wanted them written

• “Moved by the Holy Ghost” = carried along

C. Summary and Clarifications

1. God is ultimately responsible for the words recorded in the Scriptures

2. The writers wrote what God dictated to them 

II. Canonicity

1. Two critical assumptions

1. God determined which books would be included

2. Man recognized which books would be included

    B. The recognition of the canon

1. Terminology

• Canon = rule or standard

Scared writings accepted by the church as the authoritative rule of faith and practice (66 books of the Bible)

• “Canonicity” = the study of which books are included in the Scriptures (they “measure up” to being God’s inspired Word)

2. The Biblical record and evidence of recognition

• Canonization = the process of recognition of canonical books

• The Bible acknowledges books as canonical

C. Historical Recognition

1. God’s perspective-eternally formed

•  The Bible is self-authenticating

2. Man’s  perspective-historically recognized

• Men had to consider which books should be recognized as part fo the canon(the Bible)

3. The Old Testament canon(not much debate because of Jewish heritage)

• God set the standard. Moes’ writing “measured up” to it, and later prophets “measured up” to Moses

• God’s people recognized the authority of God’s Word

4. The New Testament canon

• The early church accepted the O.T.’s authority because Christ and the apostles did

• The N.T. canon was complete when John wrote “things to come” in Revelation

Reasons the church needed to discuss canonicity:

1. The N.T. church was dispersed

2. Other letters claimed authority

3. Other letters were heretical 

4. Christians were being persecuted

• AD 64 - Peter recognizes Paul’s writings as “Scripture”

• AD 90 - Book of Revelation completes N.T. canon

• Muratorian Fragment - (AD170)- earliest listing of N.T. books

• AD 175 - Irenaus’ list of “undisputed books” includes 80% of the N.T.

• AD 220 - Origen adds Hebrews and Jude to Irenaus’ list

• AD 340 - Athanasius lists only our present 27 N.T. books as “canonical”

• AD 397 - Council of Carthage; all 27 N.T. books were recognized

            Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, AD 325- the guy writing in the 300s (ancient fathers) said that men before them writing about what was canon were themselves, ancient fathers

• Gregory of Nazianzus (AD 380)  he wrote a book - “concerning the genuine books of divinely inspired Scripture” he omits Revelation

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September 11

Five Questions to Help Recognize Canonicity

1. Is it authoritative? (claims to speak for God)

2. Is it prophetic? (has an apostolic connection)

3. Is it authentic (does it agree with other Scripture)

4. Is it dynamic? (possess the power of God to change lives)

5. Is it accepted? (received, used, and preserved by God’s people)

III. Preservation and Translation

• Preservation matters

• Inspiration without preservation is useless

• Historically the church has believed in the preservation of Scripture

1. The Promise of Preservation

1. God’s Word is pure; He will preserve it

2. God’s Word is eternal

3. God’s Word is preserved accurately and completely

4. God’s Word is permanent

Conclusion: The Bible promises preservation

The Bible has been “by His singular care and providence kept pure in all ages.”

   B.  The Manner of Preservation

1. Old Testament

• Moses and Joshua

• Kings

• Scribes

• Masoretes- a Jewish sect credited with copying the O.T. text (AD 600-950)

Preservation : Scribal Rules

• The parchment must be made from the skins of clean animals.

• Each column must have no less than 48, and no more than 60 lines.

• The ink must be black and from a special recipe

• No word or letter could be written from memory; the scribe must read aloud and pronounce each word from an authentic copy before writing it.

• He must reverently wipe his pen before writing the word Elohim, and must change clothes and bathe before writing Jehovah.

• Every word and every letter was counted. If off just one letter, the entire page was destroyed.

• There is very little question or debate over the accuracy of transmission and preservation of the O.T. text.

• Masoretic text = the O.T. Hebrew text meticulously copied and preserved by Jewish scribes called Masoretes.

2. New Testament

• Manuscript = a complete, handwritten copy of a work, such as a book or selection.

• Fragment = a small scrap containing a few verses.

• Codex = a collection of manuscripts into a large volume.

• Lectionary = a printed worship manual that contained and quoted huge amounts of Scripture.

1. Early on, copies of the N.T. books were in circulation. Those that weren’t shouldn’t count as God’s Word. He wouldn’t hide it from us for so many years

2. Quotations from lectionaries and church fathers included copies of the Scriptures.

3. The number of copies multiplied after persecution of the church ceased. Today we have about 5800 N.T. manuscripts and 2000 lectionaries.

4. The N.T. is the best attested document of all ancient writings.

• Received Text = N.T. Greek text received by God’s people together with the Masoretic Text which forms the basis of the KJV

• Textus Receptus = named in 1633 by the Elzevir brothers, the Greek N.T. received by God’s people.

5. Challenges to the Received Text

• Sinaticus - a discarded codex found in a wastepaper bin in a monastery

• Vaticanus - a codex of questionable origin “discovered” by the Roman Church when their beliefs were challenged

• Sinaiticus and Vaticanus contain significant omissions and errors. (They disagree with each other 3,000 times in Gospels alone)

• Critical Text - collation of primarily two Greek manuscripts called Sinaiticus and Vaticanus in 1881 by B.F. Wescott and A.J. Hort

C. Translation - Two Key Factors

1. Which text?

2. Which translation philosophy?

• Translate = to lift or carry across 

• formal/verbal equivalence = the words from the Greek and Hebrew are rendered as closely as possible into the English. Emphasizes accuracy of translation; why verbs and other words are placed in odd places

• Illumination = the indwelling of the Holy Spirit giving the ability to understand Scripture

• Dynamic equivalency = thought-for-thought translation emphasizes understanding and readability- most consistent and conceptual inspiration ()

3. God’s Word is absolutely authoritative

Theology Proper – The Doctrine of God

1. Introduction

1. What is theology?

1. Theos - God

2. Logos - word about or study of

B. Three important questions

1. How do I know that God exists?

2. Has He communicated with us?

3. What has He revealed about Himself?

II. Does God exist
A. the official answer:  “no comment”

• God doesn't argue for His own existence

B. How do we know God exists

1. Intuition 

2. Reason hebrews 3:4

3. Tradition 

III. Has He communicated with us?

1. General revelation- reveals Himself in history, nature, and conscience

2. Special revelation- reveals Himself to specific people at specific times and places

1. Special revelation is not learned on one’s own 1 Cor 2:14

2. Special revelation is accepted by faith Heb. 11:6

3. General revelation is sufficient to condemn mankind, Rom, 1:20 ; Special revelation is required for salvation