The Inspiration of the Bible

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The Inspiration of the Bible
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The meaning of inspiration

• God-breathed
• God wrote perfectly
• Every word from God
• Clear instruction to mankind
• Difficult to believe?
• A simple matter for the creator of the universe

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Two approaches

• The authority of Jesus
• Jesus affirms inspiration of the Old and New
  Testament
• The general qualities of the Bible

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General qualities

• Wisdom
• Revolutionary thought
• There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither
  slave nor free, there is neither male nor female
  for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians
  328 NKJV)
• Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also
  loved the church and gave Himself for her
  (Ephesians 525 NKJV)

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General qualities

• Wisdom
• Direction to a straight pathway (Gal. 519-23)
• Turns world upside down
• Poor are rich (Matt. 11,5)
• Heart matters more than the external (1 Sam.
  167 Matt. 2325)

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General qualities

• Wisdom
• Earth is round
• It is He who sits above the circle of the
  earth (Isaiah 4022 NKJV)
• Processes of rain
• For He draws up drops of water, Which distill as
  rain from the mist, Which the clouds drop down
  And pour abundantly on man. (Job 3627-28 NKJV)

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General qualities

• Agreement
• 40 men over 1,600 years
• Parallels between Old and New Covenants
• Prophecy
• Concerning Jesus
• Concerning other events

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Prophecies of Jesus

• Specific details
• Virgin birth
• God-with-us
• Bethlehem
• Everlasting ruler
• 30 pieces of silver
• Crucifixion
• Garments divided
• Sinless
• Dying for the sin of all

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Historical prophecies

• Describes the succession of kingdoms before
  Christ in Daniel 231-49
• Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, Gods eternal
  kingdom
• Describes Greece by name in Dan. 8
• And the male goat is the kingdom of Greece. The
  large horn that is between its eyes is the first
  king. (Daniel 821 NKJV)

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Historical prophecies
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2nd way authority of Jesus
JESUS
Apostles
Old Testament
New Testament
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Direct statements of OT insp.

• Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your
  law, 'I said, "You are gods"'? "If He called them
  gods, to whom the word of God came (and the
  Scripture cannot be broken), "do you say of Him
  whom the Father sanctified and sent into the
  world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I
  am the Son of God'? (John 1034-36 NKJV)

• Quote from Psalm 826
• Jesus speaks of OT as perfect to every word
• He uses the fact that the word gods is accurate
  to make His point
• We should have as much confidence in the
  scriptures as Jesus

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Direct statements of OT insp.

• Then He said to them, "These are the words which
  I spoke to you while I was still with you, that
  all things must be fulfilled which were written
  in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the
  Psalms concerning Me." (Luke 2444 NKJV)

• If all fulfilled, it must be completely accurate
  and inspired

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Law, prophets, and psalms
(Adam Clarkes Commentary)
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Law, prophets, and psalms
39 books of modern Protestant Old Testament
(Adam Clarkes Commentary)
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Implied OT inspiration

• Every time Jesus quotes, refers, and holds people
  to the standard of the scriptures
• Examples Matthew 2142, 2229, 2654-56 John
  539, 738, 742, 1936, and 209

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2nd way authority of Jesus
JESUS
Apostles
Old Testament
New Testament
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NT Authority to Apostles

• Implied by Jesus intent to send them out
• Great commission (Matt. 2818-20)
• Jesus knew whether they would be faithful to the
  truth when He sent them

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NT Authority to Apostles

• But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to
  you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who
  proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.
  And you also will bear witness, because you have
  been with Me from the beginning. (John 1526-27
  NKJV)

• Speaking to the 12 Apostles (Matt. 2620 Mark
  1417 Luke 2228-30)
• Apostles bear witness through the Holy Spirit
• Additional passages John 1426 1613

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NT Authority to Apostles

• John 17 prayer
• Spoken only about the 12 Apostles
• (v. 12) Would not be true that only one was lost
  if speaking of more than the 12 Apostles

• While I was with them in the world, I kept them
  in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept
  and none of them is lost except the son of
  perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
  (John 1712 NKJV)

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John 17

• V. 6 They have kept Gods word
• V. 8, 14 They have the truth from God
• V. 17 Jesus intended for them to be sanctified
  by the truth

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John 17

• I do not pray for these alone, but also for those
  who will believe in Me through their word (John
  1720 NKJV)

• Jesus intended for others to believe through the
  12 Apostles

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2nd way authority of Jesus
JESUS
Apostles
Old Testament
New Testament
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Apostles ? New Testament

• Books written by the 12 Apostles
• Book of John (if it was not John, it must have
  been one at the Passover meal (John 2120-24)
• Book of Revelation
• 1 2 Peter

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Apostles ? New Testament

• Pauls writings
• Peter confirms in 2 Peter 315-16
• Pauls writings
• scripture
• Distortion causes ones destruction

• as also our beloved brother Paul, according to
  the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as
  also in all his epistles, speaking in them of
  these things, in which are some things hard to
  understand, which untaught and unstable people
  twist to their own destruction, as they do also
  the rest of the Scriptures. (2 Peter 315-16 NKJV)

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Apostles ? New Testament

• Book of Luke
• Paul quotes Luke 107 as inspired in 1 Tim.
  517-18
• Considered at same level as Deuteronomy 254
• Book of Acts is almost certainly a continuation
  of Luke

• Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of
  double honor, especially those who labor in the
  word and doctrine. For the Scripture says, "You
  shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the
  grain," and, "The laborer is worthy of his
  wages." (1 Timothy 517-18 NKJV)

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Challenges Gospels and Epistles

• Second approach uses facts from the Gospels and
  Epistles before establishing inspiration
• Statements of Jesus
• Authorship of Epistles
• The key is to combine the first and second
  methods
• The general characteristics establish accuracy
• Based on main ideas

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Challenges same time

• New and Old Testaments written at same time
• Contradicts secular historical knowledge
  (Josephus, Dead Sea scrolls)
• How create such a masterful falsity?

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Challenges alteration

• Alteration of the Bible over time
• Old Testament
• Recorded very accurately and strictly. Few
  differences in O.T. accounts
• Dead Sea scrolls confirm

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Challenges alteration

• New Testament
• Earliest N.T. manuscripts date to 2nd century
• Various parts of the world that do not vary
  largely
• Doctrine safe, just spelling errors, syntax, etc.
  

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Challenges which books?

• Many non-canonical books exist (Apocrypha, etc.)
• 2nd method provides authority for specific books
• Those that agree
• Otherwise, if have qualities of inspiration

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Seek, and you will find (Mt. 77)

• This is just an appetizer
• To really see the power, you need to read itmore
  than that, live it