What about our copy of the Bible?
Introduction
Christianity is firmly based on the Bible. If we do not find truth in the Bible then we’re wasting our time with this church and we should find a great hobby for Sunday mornings. So if it is true, as Christians claim, how can we be sure? How did we get it? And what about the translations we use today?
Christianity is firmly based on the Bible. If we do not find truth in the Bible then we’re wasting our time with this church and we should find a great hobby for Sunday mornings. So if it is true, as Christians claim, how can we be sure? How did we get it? And what about the translations we use today?
What is revelation?
How do you know what it true? There are two ways to approach that question: (1) I (we) decide; (2) it is revealed to us from outside. The problem with the first options is that what right does one human being, or one group of humans have to impress on others their point of view? In other words, why should what one human thinks more true (or more important) than what another thinks? It is all actually then just speculation! The second option is that truth is injected into human reality by a greater creator-being. This being has the authority to communicate truth and determine value because it is the creator and humans are the creation. Christianity says that’s the way things are: God, the creator has revealed the truth which is authoritative for life and faith.
How do you know what it true? There are two ways to approach that question: (1) I (we) decide; (2) it is revealed to us from outside. The problem with the first options is that what right does one human being, or one group of humans have to impress on others their point of view? In other words, why should what one human thinks more true (or more important) than what another thinks? It is all actually then just speculation! The second option is that truth is injected into human reality by a greater creator-being. This being has the authority to communicate truth and determine value because it is the creator and humans are the creation. Christianity says that’s the way things are: God, the creator has revealed the truth which is authoritative for life and faith.
There are two types of revelation from God
I. General revelation
God reveals himself in a way that available to all people in all places at all times, in all cultures; but ti does not give us specific information about God. Examples of general revelation are:
a) Creation: you see the glory of the creator in the glory of the creation. The intelligent design argument goes: if the world is put together in an orderly and intelligent way it reveals something about the intelligence of the designer.
b) Providence: God didn’t just make the world and throw it out into space, sit back and fold his arms. He rules over the world. Seasons, rain, sunshine.
c) Conscience: all humans have this inbuilt sense of right and wrong, an inward conviction, feeling bad about bad stuff we do. All because we’re made in the image of God.
II. Special revelation
God reveals himself more specifically – clearer and to a smaller number of people. Examples of special revelation are:
God reveals himself more specifically – clearer and to a smaller number of people. Examples of special revelation are:
a) Jesus: God breaks into history himself – he becomes a human and reveals to us exactly what God is like.
Hebrews 1:1-3a In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.
Jesus spoke as God, lived as God, and died as God. If you want to know what God is like – look at Jesus.
b) The Bible: God has spoken through the words we have recorded in Scripture.
2Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
So God worked through human prophets and authors to speak to us. The Bible is a written record of how God addressed his people in specific situations and is given to us so we would know how to live toady. It clearly reveals to us who God is, who we are and how we should respond to his offer of Christ.
What are the scriptures?
The Scriptures contain 66 books – 39 in the OT and 27 in the NT. It is more like a library of books than one book – although it tells one story. The books were written by roughly 40 different authors over a period of about 1500 years. The Bible is not ordered chronologically but mostly according to genre – the law, prophetic writings, history, poetic and wisdom and psalms, the life of Jesus, the letter of the NT. It is written mainly in Hebrew and Greek and a bit of Aramaic on the continents of Africa (Moses and Jeremiah), Asia and Europe. The NT is the fulfilment of the OT and is quoted directly about 300 times and referred to indirectly about 4000 times in the NT.
The Scriptures contain 66 books – 39 in the OT and 27 in the NT. It is more like a library of books than one book – although it tells one story. The books were written by roughly 40 different authors over a period of about 1500 years. The Bible is not ordered chronologically but mostly according to genre – the law, prophetic writings, history, poetic and wisdom and psalms, the life of Jesus, the letter of the NT. It is written mainly in Hebrew and Greek and a bit of Aramaic on the continents of Africa (Moses and Jeremiah), Asia and Europe. The NT is the fulfilment of the OT and is quoted directly about 300 times and referred to indirectly about 4000 times in the NT.
How was the Bible written?
Special revelation happens when God and man get together: Jesus is the God-man; the Bible was humans writing under the inspiration of God. God used the knowledge, culture, understanding, ability and study of men to write the books. They were not really, really clever men; nor were the robots in a catatonic state (like Isaac in Heroes!).
Special revelation happens when God and man get together: Jesus is the God-man; the Bible was humans writing under the inspiration of God. God used the knowledge, culture, understanding, ability and study of men to write the books. They were not really, really clever men; nor were the robots in a catatonic state (like Isaac in Heroes!).
The contemporary use of ‘inspired’ means that someone was brilliant or extraordinarily good – like an ‘inspired performance’ in ballet, music, poetry, or sport. But we use it technically to mean that God is the author of every word in the Bible.
2Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
The words ‘God-breathed’ is a clear metaphor meaning that the Scriptures are God’s words. Since it is God-breathed, it is in keeping with his character: true, perfect, right, powerful and gracious.
The Scriptures also have a purpose: The Bible speaks to all of life – work, sexuality, worship, family, friendship, marriage, parenting, recreation. It speaks in principle to everyone, and it speaks in principle about everything. The Bible facilitates our relationship with God – He speaks to us through the Bible we speak to Him through prayer.
Is there truth apart from the Bible? Yes and no. Does the Bible tell you the right way to service a car? No. Is the service manual true – yes (we really hope so). But is there foundational truth that you need in this life that you must look for outside the Bible? No.
Here is another helpful verse:
2Peter 1:20-21 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
When Peter writes about the Bible he says the writers were ‘carried along by the HS’. This gives you a practical picture how inspiration worked.
Can we be sure we have a true copy today?
Obviously we don't have the original Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts that Isaiah or Paul wrote (technically are called autographs). But (1) Jesus worked from translations and copies. In Luke 4 Jesus reads from Isaiah in the Synagogues – that was not the original autograph that Isaiah wrote. So if Jesus trusted accurate copies and translation – we should be open to it too!
Obviously we don't have the original Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts that Isaiah or Paul wrote (technically are called autographs). But (1) Jesus worked from translations and copies. In Luke 4 Jesus reads from Isaiah in the Synagogues – that was not the original autograph that Isaiah wrote. So if Jesus trusted accurate copies and translation – we should be open to it too!
Here is a table that is helpful. It shows the dates of the writings of several prominent authors that wrote around the time parts of the Bible was written. The important thing is the time between the date of writing and the date of the earliest manuscript.
|
AUTHOR |
DATE WRITTEN |
EARLIEST COPY |
TIME SPAN |
NUMBER OF COPIES |
ACCURACY[1] |
|
Homer |
ca.850 BC |
|
|
643 |
95% |
|
Herodotus |
ca. 450 BC |
ca. AD 900 |
About 1,350 |
8* |
|
|
Euripides |
ca. 440 BC |
ca. AD 1100 |
About 1,500 years |
9* |
|
|
Thucydides |
ca. 420 BC |
ca. AD 900 |
About 1,300 years |
8* |
|
|
Plato |
ca. 380 BC |
ca. AD 900 |
About 1,300 years |
7* |
|
|
Aristotle |
ca. 350 BC |
ca. AD 1100 |
About 1,400 years |
5* |
|
|
Caesar |
ca. 60 BC |
ca. AD 900 |
About 950 years |
10* |
|
|
Catullus |
ca. 50 BC |
ca. AD 1500 |
About 1,600 years |
3* |
|
|
Livy |
ca. 10 BC |
——– |
——- |
20* |
|
|
Tacitus |
ca. AD 100 |
ca. AD 1100 |
About 1,000 years |
|
|
|
New Test. |
ca. AD 60 |
ca. AD 130 |
About 100 years |
About 14,000 |
99.5% |
* Not enough copies to reconstruct original.
So you can take the 14000 copies and by a process of reduction you can be 99.5% sure that we have accuracy. Of the 0.5% only 1% has anything to do with major doctrine. Most errors are spelling and word order issues. How’s this for interesting: the Scripture quoted in the works of the early Christian writers (mostly AD 95–150) are so extensive that virtually the entire New Testament can be reconstructed, except for eleven verses, mostly from 2 and 3 John.
What translations should I use?
There are three different kinds of translations:
There are three different kinds of translations:
I. Formal Equivalence or Word for word – “what it say”
Translates each word exactly and seeks to maintain the word order. This means that the English is sometimes very wooden and can sound unnatural. The goal is to be accurate and exact. The reader is responsible to interpret the meaning completely. Word for word are best for studying because of their accuracy, but they require the most work from the reader. Examples are KJV, NKJV, NASB, ESV, RSV, NRSV. If you wanted one of these – get the ESV
Translates each word exactly and seeks to maintain the word order. This means that the English is sometimes very wooden and can sound unnatural. The goal is to be accurate and exact. The reader is responsible to interpret the meaning completely. Word for word are best for studying because of their accuracy, but they require the most work from the reader. Examples are KJV, NKJV, NASB, ESV, RSV, NRSV. If you wanted one of these – get the ESV
II. Functional Equivalence or Thought for thought – “what it means”
This type of translations looks for the closest natural equivalent of the message expressed in the original language. The goal is to be reliable and readable. The translators have helped the reader partly to interpret the meaning. The thought for thought may include words that are not in the original in an effort to give the same meaning that the reader of the original languages would have had. Thought for thought are best for readabiltiy. Examples are NIV TNIV, NLT, CEV, GNB. However there are a range within in the thought for thought – like NIV is more accurate to the original text that say the GNB or CEV.
This type of translations looks for the closest natural equivalent of the message expressed in the original language. The goal is to be reliable and readable. The translators have helped the reader partly to interpret the meaning. The thought for thought may include words that are not in the original in an effort to give the same meaning that the reader of the original languages would have had. Thought for thought are best for readabiltiy. Examples are NIV TNIV, NLT, CEV, GNB. However there are a range within in the thought for thought – like NIV is more accurate to the original text that say the GNB or CEV.
III. Floppy Equivalence or Paraphrase
Paraphrase translations are more like commentaries on the verses they translate that a proper translation. They pay less attention to the specific meanings of words and attempt to capture the poetic and narrative essence. For this reason some of these translations don't have verse numbers inserted. Examples are: The Message, The Living Bible
Paraphrase translations are more like commentaries on the verses they translate that a proper translation. They pay less attention to the specific meanings of words and attempt to capture the poetic and narrative essence. For this reason some of these translations don't have verse numbers inserted. Examples are: The Message, The Living Bible
IV. A comparison of different Bible translations of Romans 3:24
|
ESV |
and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, |
|
NIV |
and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. |
|
NLT |
Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty of our sins. |
|
GNB |
But by the free gift of God's grace all are put right with him through Christ Jesus, who sets them free. |
|
CEV |
But God treats us much better than we deserve, and because of Christ Jesus, he freely accepts us and sets us free from our sins. |
|
Message |
God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we're in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ. |