How Did We Get the Bible and Why Can We Trust it?

How Did We Get the Bible and Why Can We Trust it?

“How Did We Get the Bible and Why Can We Trust it?”

(2 Peter 1:16-21)

Series: Answers (3 of 5)

Team Preaching with Revs. Todd A. Linn and Rich Stratton

(3-15-09) (AM)

Words in Black: Todd Linn

Words in Red: Rich Stratton

 

  • Take God’s Word and open to 2 Peter, chapter 1.

 

We’re continuing our sermon series called, “Answers,” and Rich and I are continuing to do some “Team Preaching” this month of March.  Remember that we’re answering 5 questions during the month, popular questions about Christianity and religion in general.  We’re studying these questions in both Sunday school and worship.  In case you missed a Sunday remember that you can get both the audio and written sermon for free by visiting our website at fbchenderson.org.  By the way, next week is an especially good time to hand out those black, Answer invitation cards.  Next Sunday we’ll be answering the question, “Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?”

 

We want to remind you of some books available in our church library and books available for sale through our church office: First, Josh McDowell, Evidence that Demands a Verdict.  Also helpful is, Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ.  And remember, available for just $7 is Josh McDowell and Don Stewart, Answer to Tough Questions Skeptics Ask about the Christian Faith.  This little book contains short, succinct answers to questions like, “Hasn’t the New Testament been changed since it has been copied and recopied throughout history?”  Or, “How can anyone believe in the New Testament account of the life of Jesus, seeing it was written long after His death?”  Or, “What are the Dead Sea Scrolls?” Or, “What is the Apocrypha?  Why aren’t these books found in Protestant Bibles?”

 

Today’s question about the Bible will be addressed primarily from this passage in 2 Peter, chapter 1.  We’re going to read just a few verses from chapter one and then, after we pray, we’ll ground those verses in their proper context so we can rightly understand their meaning.

 

  • Stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.

 

19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;

20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,

21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

 

  • Pray.

 

Introduction:

 

Today’s question is, “How did we get the Bible and why can we trust it?”  And it’s an important question because everything we believe as Christians is based upon the Bible.  Everything we believe about Jesus, everything we believe about forgiveness, and everything we believe about heaven and hell is from the Bible.  So how did we get the Bible and why can we trust it?

 

We’re going to talk about that this morning, but what do you do if a friend with whom you’re trying to share the gospel says, “Look, I just don’t believe the Bible” and you don’t have time to share with them all the reasons why the Bible can be trusted, what do you do?  This came up in a FAITH visit Wednesday.  How do respond to that statement, “Well, I just don’t believe the Bible.”  I like to ask that person, “Is it possible that the Bible contains at least some truth?”  Now an honest skeptic will answer, “Yes.”  Then say, “Well, since you believe the Bible contains some truth, can I share with you what the Bible has to say?”  And again, an honest person will allow you to share.

 

Now there’s far more material available to answer this question than we’re able to provide in the roughly 45 minutes we have together this morning, so we’re going to give you an overview of things to consider about the Bible that surface from this passage of Scripture.

 

Peter is the writer of this little letter we are studying this morning and he writes this letter largely to refute false teaching going around the churches.  The false teaching concerns the matter of the Lord’s second coming.  A number of people were teaching falsely that Jesus Christ was not literally going to return a second time.  Now we don’t have time to speculate as to why they felt that way, but that is the falsehood that Peter addresses here at the end of chapter one.

 

And what Peter does in our text this morning is he gives a couple of reasons why Christians can rest assured that Jesus Christ is coming again.  One of the reasons has to do with Peter’s personal experience of seeing Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration and the other reason has to do with the Old Testament prophecies.

 

It’s from Peter’s defense here about the Lord’s second coming that we receive principles tremendously helpful to us in answering the question of how we got the Bible and why we can trust it.  So if you’ll give us permission for the next few minutes, we’d like to share with you a few things to consider about the Bible; about the Scriptures.  First:

 

I.  Consider the Sureness of Scripture (16-19)

 

The sureness of Scripture refers to the Bible’s certainty, its reliability, truthfulness, and trustworthiness.  Peter cites the sureness of Scripture as reason for believing that the Lord will come again.  Watch him make this point beginning in verse 16:

 

16 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.

 

Peter is defending our Lord’s literal return, His second coming, against the charge that the second coming is nothing more than “cunningly devised fables” or, “cleverly invented stories” as another translation has it.  The false teachers were accusing Peter and others of fabricating or “making up” the story about the Lord’s second coming.  Peter says, “No!  We did not follow some “made up” stories when we taught you about His second coming.”  In fact, Peter says, “We were eyewitnesses of His majesty”, and what Peter means by that is that he and others had literally seen Christ kingly majesty during His first is coming.  Specifically, Peter and others had witnessed Christ’s majesty on the Mount of Transfiguration.  Look at verse 17:

 

17 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.

 

Do you remember the transfiguration of Jesus?  It’s mentioned in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  The Bible says Peter, James, and John are with Jesus at the top of a mountain and Jesus is transfigured before them.  Literally, the kingly splendor and glory of God—the intrinsic, divine nature of God—shines forth from Christ.  This is not like when Moses reflected the glory of God.  This is Jesus’ revealing the glory of God.  It was evidence that Jesus was divine.  It was also evidence that Jesus, whose kingly glory was largely veiled during His first coming, would return in unveiled glory as conquering King in full splendor and majesty.  So the transfiguration during the Lord’s first coming was like a preview of the Lord’s second coming.  Peter says, “We were there on the mountain.  We know what we saw and we know what we heard.  We were not only eyewitnesses of His majesty; we were ear witnesses of His majesty!”  He says, “We heard God’s voice when He said, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’”

 

So Peter shares his personal testimony of what he saw on the Mount of Transfiguration.  He refers to the transfiguration because the transfiguration reveals Christ to be more than a man.  It reveals Jesus Christ as a divine, glorious king who will return one day to set up His glorious kingdom and judge all the earth.  And Peter says that the transfiguration event makes him even more certain, “more sure” of the reliability of the Scriptures because they speak about the Lord’s coming.  The Old Testament prophets speak of our Lord’s coming to rule, reign, and judge the earth.  That’s what Peter means in verse 19:

 

19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, (or, “made more sure”).

 

Peter is saying, “I already had faith in the reliability of the Old Testament prophecies, but when I personally witnessed the transfiguration of Christ, I had even greater faith in the reliability of the Scriptures!”  He’s talking about the certainty of Scripture; the sureness of Scripture.  He has in mind specifically the reliability of the Old Testament prophecies which reliability would extend to the entirety of the Old Testament.  Watch what else he says about the Scriptures in verse 19:

 

19… which you do well to heed (that is, “Pay attention to the Scripture!”) as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;

 

So Peter is saying that we can trust the Old Testament prophecies.  Heed it.  Pay attention to it “as a light that shines in a dark place.”  This is what Serena sang about earlier in the song based upon Psalm 119:105, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”  The Scripture is a light that shines in the darkness.  It guides us.  Follow the light.

 

Peter says we should heed the light of the Scriptures “until the day dawns,” that is the day of Christ’s second coming, His literal return to earth when “the morning star rises in your hearts.”  The “morning star” is probably a reference to Christ Himself who returns to so fill our hearts that any lingering doubts or anxiety about His return are completely removed.

 

So when Peter mentions the transfiguration of Jesus he says that the reality of this event “makes more certain” or “more sure” or “confirms” the reliability of Scripture.  Now we don’t have time to walk through all of the Old Testament prophecies that foretell the first and second comings of our Lord Jesus Christ, but Peter reminds us here in this passage that we may rest in the certainty of every single one of them because all Scripture is trustworthy.

 

Now in a moment we’ll take a look at the divine origin of Scripture and consider its implications for the doctrines of inspiration and inerrancy.  That is, because a perfect God who is without error ultimately authors the Bible, then it follows that this same God guides the writers so that the Bible itself is completely without error.

 

In Sunday school today, Rich has made available a great handout, very easy to read and follow, called, “Why Trust the Bible?”  It goes into detail about how we can know that the Bible has been copied accurately over the years and it gives numbers of manuscripts (that is, handwritten copies) of the Bible that archaeologists have discovered over the years and how old they are and so forth.  It is a tremendously helpful handout.

 

Let me share with you a quick video clip of Lee Strobel.  Strobel is known for writing several books on the topic of apologetics, defending the faith.  He was once a skeptic and then became overwhelmed by the historical trustworthiness of the Bible.  His first book is entitled, The Case for Christ.  Take a look at this video:

 

[VIDEO CLIP: 2:20]

 

Strobel said that we Christians have an unfair advantage in that truth is on our side!  And it is.  There are far more existing manuscripts of the New Testament today than there are for any other ancient literary work.  And really, when you think about it, that’s more significant than the number of manuscripts of the Old Testament because it’s in the New Testament that we learn our Lord Jesus’ view of the Old Testament.

 

I mean, if a person professes to be a follower of Jesus Christ, then he would want to hold the same view of Scripture his Lord holds, right?  Jesus affirms the Old Testament.  Jesus affirms the stories of Adam and Eve as literal persons.  He affirms the historical accuracy of Cain and Abel, of Noah and the flood, of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah—including Lot’s wife being turned into a pillar of salt—and the story of Jonah’s being swallowed by a big fish.  In referring to these stories, Jesus never once questions their authenticity.  If Jesus believed in the historical accuracy and truthfulness of the Old Testament then so should every follower of Jesus.

 

We’ve considered the sureness of Scripture.  Secondly:

 

II.  Consider the Source of Scripture (20-21)

 

What is the origin of Scripture?  From where or from whom does it originate?  Verse 20 and following:

 

20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,

21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

 

Peter says in verse 20 that “no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation” and the meaning here is that “no prophecy of Scripture originates from man.”  The context verifies this as verse 21 says “for prophecy never came by the will of man.”  So the idea is that Scripture does not originate in man.  Man is not the ultimate source of Scripture.  That is, Moses didn’t just get up one day and say, “I’m going to write a book.”  Rather, the ultimate source or origin of Scripture is God.  Verse 21 again:

 

21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

 

The writers of Scripture were guided by God.  They spoke “as they were moved (or carried along) by the Holy Spirit.”  God superintended their writings.  So God used various writers of Scripture, using their varied backgrounds and personalities and experiences and superintended the process so that, while those writers chose their own words and expressed themselves freely, God saw that what He wanted said was said through them.

 

Now again, Peter has in mind specifically Old Testament prophecy, but what is true of Old Testament prophecy is true of the entire Old Testament.  Verse 20 has the phrase “prophecy of Scripture.”  Note that: “of Scripture.”  It’s not just the prophetic parts of Scripture that are of divine origin but rather, prophecy is divine and trustworthy because it is prophecy of Scripture.

 

And what is true of the Old Testament Scripture is true of the New Testament Scripture.  God superintended the writing of the New Testament as well.  This is why Jesus could say in John 16:13, “When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.”

 

So in a very real sense, the Bible is the confluence of two natures: God and man.  Man writes down the Scriptures, but God oversees the writing, ensuring that only what He desires is written down, and thus, preserved from error in its original form.

 

It is this inextricable uniting together of two natures that makes the Bible so unlike any other book.  Just as the Son of God is one person with two natures; divine and human, so the Bible is one book with two natures; divine and human. Just as Jesus Christ is without sin, so the Bible is without error.  There are some who speak of “contradictions” in the Bible.  But there really are none.  There may be “apparent” contradictions, such as when one Gospel writer gives information from his perspective and another writer reports from his perspective, but there are no contradictions.  Most minor difficulties are easily explained by further study.

 

But how did all of these Scriptures, all of these books of the Bible, end up in one book, the book we now hold in our hands?  Who determined which books would be part of the Bible?  Well, let’s talk for a moment about the canon of Scripture.

 

The word “canon” is a Greek word that means “rule” or “standard” for measure.  Applied theologically, the canon refers to the standard or normative books of the Bible.  That is, the canon refers to only those books that should be included in the Bible.

 

At the time of Christ, the Old Testament canon included only the 39 books of the Bible that we have today in our Protestant Bible.  So both Jesus and the Jewish community regarded the 39 books of the Old Testament as the only inspired books of the Bible.  It was not until the year 1546 at the Council of Trent that the Catholic Church decreed that the 14 books of the apocrypha should be included in the canon.  The word “apocrypha” means “hidden” or “secret” and it refers to the 14 books accepted as divine Scripture by the Catholic Church.

 

There are some very good reasons for rejecting the books of the apocrypha.  First, Judaism has never accepted the apocryphal books as divinely inspired.  Great Jewish leaders of old such as Philo and Josephus rejected the apocrypha.  Secondly, and more importantly, Jesus and the apostles did not accept the apocrypha.  While Jesus quotes from many Old Testament books, you will never find Jesus quoting from the apocrypha.  Furthermore, most of the early church fathers rejected the apocrypha.  Again, it wasn’t until 1546 that the Catholic Church added the books of the apocrypha to their Bible, in part to defend what are unbiblical teachings such as praying for the dead or the doctrine of purgatory.

 

So at the time of Christ there were the 39 books of the Old Testament.  Now as the church grew in the first couple of centuries, the New Testament Scriptures were being copied and carried about from one church to another and, on occasion, other writings would find their way into the churches.  But by AD 397, the Church Council of Carthage recognized only the 27 books of our New Testament as authoritative books.  Hear that again: The church leaders recognized which books were canon using very specific criteria.  The Council did not ascribe authority to the 27 books.  Rather, they recognized the authoritative nature of those books.  And these 27 books were recognized as the only authoritative books of the New Testament.

 

And that’s all there are—27.  Occasionally someone asks, “Well, what if someone finds another old book dating to the New Testament times?  What if an archaeologist digs up another book?  Would we add it to the Bible?”  But, you see, there are no more biblical books.  Everyone alive during the first few centuries knew and had access to the full number of biblical books.  And they recognized those books that were authoritative, those that had been written by an apostle or a close associate of an apostle.  So the 27 books are it.  They are the only ones that bear the mark of divine inspiration.

 

You know, the Bible is a book unlike any other.  It contains a sum total of 66 books from Genesis to Revelation.  It is composed by more than 40 different authors writing over a period of some 1,500 years, across 3 different continents and in 3 different languages, from vastly different settings and locations. And while the Bible covers a wide array of topics and themes, one major theme, one scarlet thread runs consistently throughout the pages of the Bible: “Jesus is coming.  Jesus is here.  Jesus is coming again!”

 

We have considered the Sureness of Scripture and the Source of Scripture.  Finally:

 

III.  Consider the Significance of Scripture…

 

What are we to make of the Bible?  What are we to do with the Bible in light of the fact that it has its origin in God Himself and that God supernaturally guided men to write down what God desired us to read?  We must do three things:

 

  • Learn it!

 

Read it.  No other book has the power to change your life like the Bible.  No other book can lead you to God like the Bible.  No other book can bring about the forgiveness of your sins, or heal your brokenness, or restore your marriage, or give you peace like the Bible.  Learn it.  Then:

 

  • Love it!

 

Love it!  It is written by God.  No other book in the bookstore is written by God.  The Bible is not addressed, “To whom it may concern.”  It’s written to you.  and the Bible is the only book whose author is present every time you read it.  The Bible is written to you.  Learn it!  Love it.

 

  • Live it!

 

Make sure that the Bible is the very foundation of your life—and live it.

 

I heard Dave Stone, pastor of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, tell about a guy who watched a building go up near his house.  He would watch every day or so as they built that building.  He said at first they put down a large cement pad.  And some days later they brought in a huge silver box and they put it on that pad.  And the guy watching thought, “Well, that must be where they keep their tools or something.”  But he noticed that over the next few weeks they started to frame all around that silver box.  And then they added drywall.  And the guy thought, “That seems strange” and so he was curious and he went over there and asked them, “Hey, what are you guys building?”  They said, “We’re building a bank.”  And the big, silver box that the guy saw was the vault.  It was the most important part of the building.  Because of its size, weight, and importance they had to build everything around it because later it wouldn’t have fit through the door.

 

So Dave said, “When you build a bank you first build that which houses the thing that is most important to a bank, the valuables.  Then you build everything around it.  What the vault is to a bank, the Bible is to our lives.  It is to be the foundation of our lives, the foundation of our friendships, our workplace, our home, our marriage, and our church.  The Bible is the vault that is filled with unsearchable riches.  It contains valuable treasures that open the door to forgiveness of sin and abundant life.”

 

  • Stand for prayer.

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