(043) The Bible II: Can We Trust It?
The Bible: Can We Trust It?
August 31, 2008
Prep:
· Piper Message (in leftovers)& Grudem
· Hard Sayings: Archeology and Prophecy
· Bruce’s message
· Bible: Daniel 7 & 8, Ps 22, John 20:1-8
· Case for Christ: Josephus, Jesus Seminar’s assumption
Intro
Continuing our series on the Bible:
1. Of Canon & Copies: Does our modern Bible have the right books and the original words?
2. Can We Trust the Bible? Why should believe that the Bible is God’s revelation?
3. God Speaks, We Listen and Learn: This is not strictly on topic, but irresponsible not to include.
The goal of this series is twofold:
1. Demonstrate the trustworthiness of the Bible as God’s revelation, both to strength our faith in it and equip us to defend it.
2. Train us to “correctly handle the word of truth,” neither blinded by arrogance or ignorance as I said before.
Q & A: Text questions to 360-421-5530.Answered at end of sermon.
Prayer
While there is good reason, it is ultimately of faith, as everything is. Help us encounter you in your Word.
The audacious claim
The basic question is “Can we trust the Bible.” But that begs the question, “Trust it for what?”
· Can we trust the Bible to be inspired of God, the word of God spoken through the ancient authors?
· Can we believe that it infallibly records the life, words, death, and meaning of Jesus?
· Can we trust that:
2 Timothy 3:16-17 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
This passage is not effective for convincing the unconvinced, but to those who believe the Bible to be trustworthy, it accurately conveys what the Bible says of itself and what we believe about it.
· It contains the very words of life and is the only reliable measure of all truth.
This doesn’t mean that there is no truth outside of the Bible, but that, as God’s revelation, all truth is measured against it.
Ä This is our audacious claim: That God has spoken and we have those words.
Either we are arrogant, ignorant, self-deluded, exclusivistic, ego-centric, imperialistic, unscientific morons, or we are right. We had better be pretty sure.
My route: Finding Jesus
I want to share with you why I believe the Bible, even when the doubts come, and they do, sometimes pretty strong. It is a mix of reason and experience, of mind and heart.
· Not all of this may fit you, but I trust it will be helpful.
A couple of weeks ago, I sat next to a guy at the Co-op...I explained how I handled the doubts:
1. I am forced to believe that God is there, that this is not all by chance and that someone listens when I pray.
2. I am in awe of Jesus, moved by him. Whatever difficulties I have (with pain, etc.) are eclipsed by the fact that God became one of us and suffered alongside us.
I am drawn to him and cannot turn away. I trust him, he alone is worthy of my whole heart and entire allegiance. I echo Paul:
NIV 2 Corinthians 4:3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
In the face of Jesus I see the image and glory and love and compassion of the God that my reason prevents me from denying.
Yeah, but...
Ä At this point my reason breaks in and says, “Yeah, but how can you place so much faith in this Jesus? Where’s the proof?”
Just because the Bible is authentic (as I showed last week) does not mean it is accurate.
Q Why should we believe that the Bible accurately records the life, words, death, and meaning of Jesus?
Just as lawyer examine and cross-examine witness to determine accuracy and honesty, we can examine the Biblical witness of the Gospels to see if they stand up to scrutiny.
· As I did last, week, I will address some common objections to the accuracy of the Gospels.
· This material is largely from “The Case for Christ.”
Q Aren’t the Gospels riddled with inaccuracy?
Q Weren’t the Gospels written far too late to be trustworthy?
Q Don’t they reflect the of the early church more of Jesus?
This is a claim of “The Jesus Seminar.” They say that all the miracles and claims were added later and that over time Jesus went from a peasant carpenter to a Messiah.
1. There was not enough time to add mythical elements.
Consider: There was a 400 year gap between Alexander the Great and his earliest biographers, yet they are considered accurate (myths only crept in later).
Gospels: Less than 40 years. Paul’s testimony (20 years earlier) was based on things he heard as soon as two years after.
2. The writers claim to have firsthand accounts.
NIV Luke 1:1-4 Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
We have no good reason to doubt their honesty. These writings were accepted by other eyewitnesses and by the all of the successive generations.
3. The authors had little reason to fabricate their story.
Ten of the eleven apostles died as martyrs – something you don’t do for a known lie.
4. The four Gospels are self-consistent.
5. The four Gospels are not identical.
6. The Gospels contain self-damaging material.
· Disciples were too stupid to get it (but went on to lead the church).
· Women (who were not allowed to testify in court) being the first to find the empty tomb.
· Confusing statements about Jesus: Not enough faith, a healing that took two tries, God forsaking him.
\ If the Gospels had been made up to any extent, they would have edited out these difficulties. The only reason for including these things is that they actually happened.
7. The Gospels contain irrelevant material.
· E.g. Jn 20. Why all the details? Because it’s what happened.
8. Jesus’ contemporaries could have exposed a lie.
If the Gospels were a lie, there would have been multiple opportunities for it to be refuted.
· In fact, early Jewish writings describe him as a healer and miracle-worker, but a deceiver.
Ä Here are only eight evidences – “Case for Christ” has more.
The real issue
When everything is factored in, I believe the Gospels stand up quite well to scrutiny “beyond a reasonable doubt.” Not all doubts, but reasonable ones.
· If treated with the same standard as other ancient documents, it holds up exceedingly well.
The biggest objection to the Gospels is an objection to miracles. If it is supernatural, it cannot be true.
· This is called an a priori position, that is, a presupposition that that is just the way things are.
And this is what is meant when Paul said “The Gospel is veiled to the perishing.”
\ So as I examine why I trust the Bible, I see Jesus, accurately portrayed, and I trust in him. And because I trust him, and he trusts the OT, I trust it.
Likewise, I trust those who knew him best to accurately convey and protect Jesus teachings and meanings, and moreover, I trust God to preserve his word.
· Accordingly, I trust the entire Scripture.
Ä What’s more, there is significant external confirmation of the accuracy of the Bible.
Archeology
There is only time to briefly look at two, more on the website. But archeology frequently causes scholars to eat their words.
1. “House of David” inscription.
2. Pool of Bethesda.
Granted, there have been challenges and force us to revaluate our interpretations, but archeology has done far more to confirm. And every reason to believe will improve.
· Less than 1% of available material has been excavated.
History
As our understanding of history improves (frequently through archeology) we see better and better how accurate the Bible is.
One important historical confirmation is found in non-Biblical reference to Jesus. There are only two very early references. That may not seem like much, but knowing how backwater and insignificant Palestine was, it’s actually pretty good.
1. Josephus at the end of the 1st century (60 years later).
2. Tacitus at the beginning of 2nd century.
Together these sources record the basic facts about Jesus.
Fulfilled prophecy
Just a few fulfilled prophecies (more on the website):
1. Daniel’s prophecies (Daniel 8)
2. Jesus crucifixion (Psalms 22)
3. The state of Israel
Answer questions!
Ä Though it is good to know that the Bible is accurate and to see all the prophecies is cool, I have found that that the longer I am a Christian, the less these matter to me.
The power of the Word
I find the self-evident power to mean more. By that I mean that as I read the Bible, the Holy Spirit demonstrates to me that it is true and life-changing.
· The Westminster Confession gives many evidences, but says that the foundation is the witness of the Holy Spirit.
WCF 1:5 WCF 1.5 We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the Church to an high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scripture, and the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole, (which is to give all glory to God) , the full discovery it makes of the only way of man’s salvation, the many other incomparable excellencies, and the entire perfection thereof, are arguments whereby it doth abundantly evidence itself to be the Word of God; yet, notwithstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth, and divine authority thereof, is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit, bearing witness by and with the word in our hearts.
· At some point we must go from being the Bible’s judge to being its student.
NIV John 7:17 If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.