1	How We Got Our Bible
2	The Bible as the word of God Faith Affirmations
3	Revelation General Revelation Special Revelation How the Bible Reveals Inscripturation
4	Production Theories of Inspiration Dictation Intuition, Illumination, Elevation Dynamic / Plenary Prophetic Model Concursive Action Psychological Emphasis Social Theories
5	Intuition, Illumination, Elevation The Bible as a whole was accomplished by an extraordinary stimulation and elevation of the powers of men who devoutly yielded themselves to God’s will, and sought, often with success unparalleled elsewhere, to convey truth useful to the salvation of men and of nations. - L. Harold DeWolf
6	Concursive Action On a human level we can describe . . . the various oral and literary processes . . . the use of written sources, the writing up and editing of such information, . . . the collecting of various documents together, and so on. At the same time, however, on the divine level we can assert that the Spirit, . . . was active in the whole process so that the Bible can be regarded as both the words of men and the Word of God. This activity of the Spirit can be described as ‘concursive’ with the human activities through which the Bible was written. - I. Howard Marshall
7	Result Theories of Inspiration Power of Language William Abraham’s Relational Inspiration 2 Timothy 3:16-17 - theopneustos
8	2 Timothy 3:16 - 17 All scripture is inspired by God (theopneustos) and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
9	Implications of Inspiration Interpretation Authority Community
10	The Meaning of Authority Authority is the ability to shape thought and behavior Authority is always communal and contextual Authority is always relational Genuine authority is tacit – it does not trumpet itself – it simply is
11	Means of Authority Coercive Authority – authority by power Compelling Authority – authority by expertise – eyewitness, expert, professional Persuasive Authority – authority by logic and rational argument Authentic Authority – authority that is inherent and self-authenticating
12	Scriptural Authority Experienced When the Bible produces a sense of identity and hope When the Bible produces a set of norms for belief and behavior When the Bible produces a way of knowing where you stand – that you belong in the community of faith When the Spirit bears witness with your spirit that the Scripture produces the above for you
13	Areas in which the Bible has functioned authoritatively In doctrine – Via the so-called quadrilateral In worship – Evangelicals tend to be weak In Christian Formation – the biblical story shaping identity and forming persons In Community Formation – the biblical story shaping identity and forming community In Ethics – personal, ecclesial, social
14	The Development of the Biblical Canon
15	General Observations Canon appears to have arisen in response to some need of the community. Canon was a community product reached by community processes. This necessitated slow development. The concept of canon was always clearer after each step than before and during its development.
16	Three Part Hebrew Canon Torah (often translated Law) Nebi’im (Prophets) Kethubim (Writings) The Hebrew Bible is now called TaNaK (or Tanaach) by Jews after the three consonants of the three parts.
17	Torah Consists of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy Traditional authorship by Moses, but evidence of later editing. Documentary hypotheses date the Torah to early post-exilic Perhaps achieved canonical status in post-exilic period (Ezra and Nehemiah)
18	Nebi’im (Prophets) Former Prophets Joshua Judges Samuel Kings Later Prophets Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel The Twelve (equals what are commonly called the Minor Prophets now)
19	Notes on the Nebi’im Notice the historical/prophetic interface. Samuel and Kings were apparently a single book in Hebrew. Notice that Daniel was not a part of the prophets in the Hebrew canon. We have little idea how the Nebi’im achieved canonical status, but it generally assumed to have happened by 200 B.C.
20	Kethubim (Writings) Now include: Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Lamentations, Daniel, Ruth, Esther, Ezra-Nehemiah, Chronicles Vague references to this 3rd division of the canon appear in Sirach, Luke 24:44, and Josephus Discussion of some of these books continued until Jamnia c. A.D. 90
21	Evidences of Disagreement about the Hebrew Canon The existence of the Septuagint with the apocryphal or deutero-canonical books. The existence of the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Sadducee’s acceptance of only the Torah The presence of Jubilees, 1 Enoch, etc. among the Dead Sea Scrolls Evidence of MT and LXX vorlages among the Dead Sea Scrolls
22	Apparent Stages of Development of the NT Canon 1. Collection of Pauline Epistles 2. Collection of the Four Gospels 3. Responding to the threat of Marcion 4. Period of agreement about 20-21 books and disagreement about 10 books 5. Appearance of canonical lists with the present 27 books 6. Residual resistance
23	Collection of the Pauline Letters No earlier than A.D. 80, possibly as late as A.D. 125. May not have included the pastoral epistles. John Knox proposed that Onesimus (of Philemon) became a bishop around A.D. 80, collected the Pauline letters, and composed Ephesians as an introduction to Pauline theology.
24	Collection of the Four Gospels Usually thought to have occurred around A.D. 125, though could have been as much as 50 years later Involved the separation of Acts from Luke The order varied - Matthew was always first, but sometimes Mark and John changed positions.
25	Response to the Threat of Marcion Approximately A.D. 145 Marcion began preaching in Rome and using a New Testament “canon” consisting of an edited form of Luke and 10 letters of Paul (no Pastoral epistles) It is frequently conjectured that Marcion’s canon motivated the orthodox church to respond with canonical development.
26	Post-Marcion Development If Marcion motivated the church to action the first step was to combine the gospels and the Pauline letter collection It is likely that the book of Acts was then placed between the Gospel and the epistles as a kind of hinge. One could conjecture this development by A.D. 165.
27	The Witness of Irenaeus Raised in Asia Minor, taught by Polycarp, disciple of John, made bishop of Lyons in Gaul in A.D. 180 Attests the four gospels, Acts, 12 Pauline epistles (no Philemon), 1 Peter, 1 John, and Revelation
28	The Muratorian Fragment C. A.D. 180 (or later) and fragmentary at the front. Mentions Luke as the 3rd gospel and then John implying Matthew and Mark Then Acts, 13 Pauline epistles, Jude, 1 and 2 John, the Apocalypse of John, and the Apocalypse of Peter Shepherd of Hermas worthy to be read but not apostolic
29	Evidence from Origen Alexandria - A.D. 220-230 Lists the four gospels, Acts, 13 epistles of Paul, 1 Peter, 1 John, and Revelation as accepted by all Christians Lists Hebrews, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, James, Jude, Epistle of Barnabas, The Shepherd of Hermas, the Didache, and the Gospel of the Hebrews as disputed by some Lists a large number rejected by all
30	The Final Form of the NT Canon First list with the exact 27 accepted today comes in A.D. 367 in Bishop Athanasius’ Easter letter to the churches of Alexandria. Church Council action followed in the Synod of Hippo in A.D. 393 which is the first “official” designation of the New Testament canon
31	The Transmission of the Text All of the Bible was written before the invention of printing – thus all parts of the Bible were transmitted for more than 1000 years by making hand copies. This resulted in copying errors. Many errors in the New Testament transmission. Textual Criticism is the field of study that tries to re-create the original text through careful comparisons of copies.
32	Materials Involved In Writing Parchment - treated animal skins Vellum - highest quality parchment Papyrus - reeds of the papyrus plant glued together to form primitive paper Pen - pointed reed (kalamos) Ink - The Greek word literally means “black” - made of charcoal, gum, and water
33	Important Terms in Textual Criticism Autograph - the original manuscript of a document Manuscript (MS) - hand written (the plural is abbreviated MSS) Scrolls - a leather roll formed by sewing together squares of parchment Codex - book form Variants - differences in readings in mss
34	Copy Procedures and Problems Visual Copying Errors of the Eye Aural Copying Errors of the Ear Either style of copying Mental Errors Purposeful Changes
35	Textual Criticism Textual Reconstruction Comparison of Manuscripts Creation of families and family trees of manuscripts Some of the Principles Old reading is most likely correct Reading from best manuscripts is likely correct Reading with widest geographical support is best
36	Resources for New Testament Textual Criticism About 5000 Greek manuscripts Papyri - almost 100 partial mss Uncials - almost 300 mss from A.D. 325-950 Miniscules - about 2000 from A.D. 900-1500 Lectionaries - about 2800 mss Ancient Versions Latin, Syriac, Coptic Quotations in the Patristic Fathers
37	Old Testament Textual Criticism Few Manuscripts in general Very few prior to A. D. 1000 Evidence of Jewish quality control in the copying process Problem areas in Old Testament Textual Criticism (See “Sacred Words. . .”) The contribution of the Dead Sea Scrolls
38	The “Miracles” of Textual Confidence Hand copying for up to 3000 years Thousands of variants The New Testament Textual Confidence is based on many manuscripts for comparison The Old Testament Text has few manuscripts for comparison but appears to have been preserved by careful copying
39	Major Unresolved Textual Problems The Ending of Mark The “Woman Taken in Adultery” Passage Individual words such as in Romans 5:1 - “we have” or “let us have” Content and order of Jeremiah Numerous words and phrases in the Old Testament Several places where the OT text is very rough, e.g., Samuel, Habakkuk 3, etc.
40	The Translation of the Bible Biblical Faith at its best has always desired to make God’s Word available to people in their native language and so parts of the Bible have been translated since 450 B.C. This, of necessity, involves some risk. Translation is always interpretation! No two languages have identical vocabularies or grammars.
41	Philosophies of Translation Literal – Attempts to translate word for word and grammatical structure for grammatical structure. Dynamic Equivalence – Attempts to translate idea for idea. Its distance from literal depends on the languages. Paraphrase – Attempts to translate impact for impact. Involves the highest degree of interpretation.
42	The Original Languages of the Bible Hebrew Aramaic Greek
43	Hebrew A Northwest Semitic language – along with Phoenician,Ugaritic, Aramaic, and Amorite. It was spoken and written primarily in Canaan. More than 99% of the Old Testament was first written in Hebrew. It was built primarily with three consonant roots with various vowels (not printed), prefixes, infixes, and suffixes.
44	Hebrew Ancient Hebrew was written in a script similar to Moabite and other Canaanite languages. Biblical Hebrew is actually written in the characters of Aramaic: Gen 1:1- ;jerf)fh tÛ")ºw {éyÙamf<ah tÛ") {yÕiholE) )ØfrfB tyÙi$)"r:B 1
45	Hebrew Its vocabulary is concentrated in nouns and verbs. Compared to Indo-European languages it lacks adjectives and adverbs. This means Hebrew is well suited for action based narratives and word picture poetry. (Sons of thunder) It works with abstract ideas and theological distinctions by means of word imagery and metaphors.
46	Aramaic A Northwest Semitic language. It is very similar to Hebrew and often scholars did not recognize its existence in the Bible. It was the lingua franca of Assyria, Babylon, and Persia in the first millennium B.C. (Previous centuries of scholars often called it Chaldee or Chaldean.)
47	Aramaic Two words in Genesis 31:47; 1 verse in Jeremiah 10:11; Ezra 4:8-6:18 and 7:12-26; and Daniel 2:4b-7:28 are in Aramaic. The rabbis noted that there was Aramaic in each of the three parts of the Hebrew canon. At least five Aramaic words appear in the New Testament: Cephas, Tabitha, Maranatha, ephphatha, and talitha cumi.
48	Aramaic The cry of Jesus from the cross is preserved in the Gospels in both Hebrew and Aramaic (transliterated into Greek): Hebrew - Matt 27:45: Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani? Aramaic - Mark 15:34 Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?
49	Greek Greek is an Indo-European language. The entire New Testament was written in “koine” Greek – the predominate dialect from about 300 B.C. to A.D. 300. Koine Greek was the result of Alexander the Great and his Hellenistic Empire It became the lingua franca from Mesopotamia to Spain for six hundreds after Alexander.
50	Greek Greek is highly “inflectional.” That is basic root words are modified by prefixes, infixes, and suffixes to create a wide variety of grammatical forms. It is rich in adjectives and adverbs and from the Greek philosophers developed for careful nuances of abstract concepts. Koine was not pure Greek but adapted words from many cultures.
51	The First Translating Nehemiah 8:8 describes the reading of the Torah in Hebrew and translating it orally into Aramaic. This became standard practice in the developing synagogues. This translation was called a targum. By the first century targums began to be written. Targums were more literal for the Torah and more paraphrase for the Writings.
52	The First Written Translation The Old Testament was translated into Koine Greek in the 3^rd century B.C. in Egypt. The process spanned most of the century and is called the Septuagint (LXX). Torah was most literally translated, Prophets less so, and the Writings were paraphrased. The Septuagint was the Bible most quoted in the New Testament.
53	The Septuagint LXX enabled the Old Testament to be read from Mesopotamia to Spain. LXX included the Apocrypha. Part of the separation of Judaism and Christianity included a distinction of canons. Christianity included the Apocrypha, Judaism did not. Christians have debated the use of the Apocrypha throughout our history.
54	Other Ancient Versions The Samaritan Pentateuch Rival Greek Versions to the LXX The Syriac Peshitta Early Latin,Coptic, Armenian, Gothic,and Ethiopic Versions The Latin Vulgate – c. A.D. 400 – became the standard Western Bible for 1000 years.
55	Early English Translations Caedmon, a 7^th century (A.D.) stable hand, rendered the stories of Genesis into ballad form in Old English. “The Venerable” Bede apparently made the first written English translation about A.D. 735. None of it remains today. King Alfred had Psalms translated in the 800s but none survive.
56	Early English Translations The Wessex Gospels from the 10^th century are the oldest surviving written pieces of an English Bible. The first whole Bible in English was done around 1382 under the influence of John Wycliffe. It was a translation of the Vulgate and was part of Wycliffe’s desire to reform the church in England.
57	First Printed English Versions 1526 – The New Testament translated by William Tyndale 1535 – The first whole Bible printed in English from William Coverdale 1537 – Matthew’s Bible edited by John Rogers was the first “authorized” English Bible 1539 – The Great Bible
58	Early Printed English Bibles 1560 – The Geneva Bible – produced by the Puritans – contained notes explaining its anti-royal translations 1568 – The Bishops Bible – produced as a royal alternative to the Geneva Bible – with notes explaining its anti-Puritan translations. 1609 – Rheims-Douai – First Catholic Bible in English, translated from Vulgate
59	The King James Bible First published in 1611 to provide an alternative to the Geneva/Bishops’ Bible controversies. Not popular initially and went through a number of revisions early on By the beginning of the 18^th century it had become the standard English version and maintained that role into the 20^th century
60	The Rise of Modern English Versions Changes in English language as part of the natural and accelerating evolution of the language. Discoveries of a number of older manuscripts in the 19^th century. The discovery of “Koine Greek” through papyrus finds in the late 19^th century.
61	Modern English Versions 1881/5 – The Revised Version 1901 – The American Standard Version – very literal 1902 – The Twentieth Century New Testament by Weymouth 1913/1924 – Moffat’s Bible 1935/1939 – Goodspeed’s Bible 1946/1952 - Revised Standard Version
62	Modern English Versions 1957/1972 – J.B. Phillips - paraphrase 1966 – The Jerusalem Bible – Catholic translation from the French Version - dynamic 1970 – The New English Bible - dynamic 1970 – The New American Bible – 1^st Catholic Bible from originals to English - dynamic
63	Modern English Versions 1971 – The New American Standard Bible – the most literal version currently available 1971 – The Living Bible - paraphrase 1976 – The Good News Bible - dynamic 1978 – The New International Version – dynamic 1982 – New Jewish Version – OT - dynamic
64	Versions and Revisions 1979/1982 – The New King James Bible – dynamic 1987 – The New Jerusalem Bible - dynamic 1988 – The Revised English Bible - dynamic 1989 – The New Revised Standard Version - literal 1991 – The New Century Version - dynamic 1995 – The New American Standard Bible update - literal
65	Versions and Revisions 1996 – The New Living Translation - dynamic 2001 – The English Standard Version - literal 1993/2002 – The Message - paraphrased
66	Uses of So Many Translations The differing translation philosophies serve differing purposes for the use of the Bible For doctrine, history, and study a literal translation is needed For public worship – a readable translation is needed For evangelism – a dynamic or paraphrased version is needed
67	Uses of So Many Translations For personal devotion and growth – a range of translation philosophies are needed Serious American Christians should have at least one Bible from each translation philosophy and should know the most appropriate places to use each
68	Other Languages Missionary need has been the primary motivation for translation of the Bible. This was the case in the early centuries of Christianity It continued in Eastern Christianity through the “Dark and Middle Ages” The Protestant Reformation brought translation to Western Christianity for theological reasons
69	Emergence of Translations 1519 - Erasmus retranslates a new Latin version. 1522 - Luther translates NT into German 1530 - Zurich Bible appears in German. 1535 - French Neuchatel Bible published 1526 - Tyndale translates English NT 1535 - Coverdale - whole English Bible
70	The Bible to the Ends of the Earth Once again missions is the primary motivation for translation Though the majority of people have the Bible in their language the majority of languages do not Wycliffe and other evangelical translation agencies are seeking 2,000 new translations in the next 25 years