What is the most foundational pursuit?

• To love, seek, and do what is true.
• John 3:16-21
• John 4:1

Culture of truth

• Context of truth is universal.
• Truth is loved, sought, held to
• Encourage honest discussions
• Questions answered with truth in a spirit of love
• Never settle
• All levels of seekers welcome
• Spread culture to all spheres of influence

Questions

• How do you teach someone the gospel if they don’t believe there is a God or the Bible is His word?
• What evidence convinces you the Bible is from God and that there is a God?
• What evidence is there that the texts are the words of God and have been copied accurately?

How were the Bible texts originally composed?

• Hebrews 1:1-2 – Transmission history of about 1000 years (1000 years for the Old Testament, 50 years for the New Testament).
• How?
  • God speaking to us through prophets, Jesus, and apostles.

Composition of the Old Testament

• Purpose of the New Testament
• Ten commandments – Deuteronomy 10
• Moses wrote the words of the law in a book.
• The “law of Moses” became a formal law.
• Torah (first 5 books)
• Historical books – 1, 2 Samuel, 1, 2 Kings, 1, 2 Chronicles
• The proverbs
• The psalms
• Writings of the prophets

Composition of the New Testament

• Christians did not have a compiled New Testament for about 400 years after Jesus’ time.
• At first, the gospel spread orally.
• Move from oral to written transmission follows the needs of the church
• Period of composition: 30s AD to just before the end of the first century
• Authors: primarily apostles
• Purpose of the writings

The “Original Bible”

• Production of the autographs was recorded in the Bible.

• The Old Testament and New Testament both state they were inspired by God

  • I Chronicles 28:19

  • Jeremiah 21:1; 36:1-2

  • II Timothy 3:16; II Peter 3:15-16

• Why don’t we have the originals?

  • Original materials wore out.

Witnesses to the Old Testament text

Greater weight:

Primary sources; Copies of ancient Hebrew manuscripts

Dead Sea Scrolls; Masoretic text

Secondary sources; Versions: ancient translations into other languages

Septuagint; Latin vulgate

Tertiary sources: Paraphrase of the Hebrew text

Lesser weight:

Quaternary sources: Quotations of the Hebrew text in Greek

Dead Sea Scrolls

• Probably produced in Hasmonean period (152-63 B.C.) and early Roman period (63 B.C. – 68 A.D.).

Witnesses to New Testament text

Greater weight

Manuscripts

Written in Greek

To date, 5745 known manuscripts.

New Testament versions

Translations into other languages

15,000-20,000 such documents, ranging in date from 3rd to 16th centuries AD

Lesser weight

Citations

Citations of the New Testament in sermons, commentaries, letters, etc.

Over 1 million known citations, ranging in date from 1st to 13th centuries AD

Textual criticism

• Process of diligent appraisal and comparison of texts.

Recovering the Old Testament text

• Two basic steps:

  • Look at Masoretic text

  • Compare Dead Sea Scrolls

Recovering the New Testament text

• Compare available manuscripts

Reference materials

• Randall Price, Searching for the Original Bible

Conclusion

• III John 1:1-4

What does entitlement mean?

• I deserve something. Society owes me.

Does our society struggle with the concept of entitlement?

• Yes!

Parenting – raising our kids and avoiding entitlement.

• Disciplining a child can help guide the child away from entitlement.
• Hebrews 12:3-11

Our society – dealing with entitlement in others!

• II Timothy 1:7
• Pursuing contentment rather than happiness?
• I Timothy 6:6-12
• Hebrews 13:5-6

Our spiritual family – keeping the entitlement culture out!

The church and its members

Biblical description of the church

• Universal

  • Hebrews 12:15-24 – Old Covenant vs New Covenant

  • Acts 9:31 – The size of the church (in the universal sense) multiplied.

• Local church

  • Galatians 1:21-24

  • I Corinthians 1:1-3

Universal church

• Jesus said He would build it – Matthew 16:18
• Bought it with His blood – Acts 20:28
• Loves it and gave Himself for it – Ephesians 5:25-29
• Wants it pure, blameless, holy – Ephesians 5:27
• Maintained in His word – John 17:17
• His body – Romans 12:4-5

Church – body of Christ

• We are not just individuals
• Members of each other
• One body – I Corinthians 10:16-24
• Seek our neighbors’ good
• Desire that all be pure – Colossians 1:21-23
• All the saved are added to it – Acts 2:41, 47

Local church

• Where all collective activities are undertaken – Acts 20:7

  • Saints have much or most Christian associations – Acts 2:44-47

  • Analogy of the body – I Corinthians 12:12-27

    • Baptized, obedient believer is member of the body

    • We all work together – Philippians 2:1-4

      • Single-minded purpose

      • Part of a whole, each member has a purpose, value – Ephesians 4:11-16

Introduction

• Colossians 2:21 – “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”
• Colossians 2:20-22 – Context.

Consider the original meaning …

… in that culture.

• Proverbs 31:31 – “let her works praise her in the gates”
  • “Gates” was a common cultural idiom.
• Matthew 5:20 – “scribes and Pharisees”
  • Matthew 23:1-3; Mark 7:3 – More information about scribes and Pharisees and why Jesus rebuked them.
• Matthew 18:17 – “as a Gentile and a tax collector”
  • In that culture, Gentiles and tax collectors were hated and the Jews would not associate with them.

… to those people.

• Jeremiah 29:11 – “… plans for welfare”
  • The context is the exile in Babylon.
• John 16:13 – “the Spirit … will guide you into all truth”
• I Corinthians 7:27 – “Do not seek a wife.”

… using those words.

• “Samaritan”

  • This word has a good connotation today, but it didn’t then!

  • John 4:9

  • John 8:48 – They used it as a bad name to call someone!

• “church”

  • Acts 8:3 – The word church means “people.”

• “fellowship”

• “baptism”

Even if specifics have changed, find what is relevant to us.

• Jeremiah 29:11

• I Corinthians 14

  • I Corinthians 14:5 – Our concern should be edification.

  • I Corinthians 14:40 – Worship should be orderly.

• II Timothy 3:15 – Young people can study scripture. The Old Testament is valuable to study.

• None of the Bible was written to us, but it was written for us!

Beware of wild interpretations that stray from the original meaning.

• Example: “Puff the Magic Dragon”
• Example: Jehovah’s Witnesses and Daniel 4:23-25

Bringing it all together

• Test case: Matthew 24

  • Matthew 24:1-2 – The destruction of the temple was the context.

  • Matthew 24:34 – The events would happen within the lifetime of those present. The temple was destroyed in 70 A.D., which fits the prophecy by Jesus.

• Ecclesiastes 10:3-12:14
• Ecclesiastes 10:5-7 – One’s wisdom does not always benefit him.
• Ecclesiastes 10:8-11 – One does not always see the benefit of his hard work.
• Ecclesiastes 10:12-14 – Having a lot to say does not mean one is wise.
• Ecclesiastes 10:15 – A fool has trouble doing simple things and what he does accomplish is much more difficult.
• Ecclesiastes 10:16-20 – The importance of kings and the influence of their leadership: a king should be a good steward and not lazy. Be careful what you say, even in private. Words have a way of getting out.
• Ecclesiastes 11:1-2 – Work and maybe you will see a return.
• Ecclesiastes 11:3-4 – There is always an excuse not to work. If you focus too much on the risks, you will never do anything. See Proverbs 22:13.
• Ecclesiastes 11:5-6 – Work because you don’t know what will prosper.
• Ecclesiastes 11:7-10 – Enjoy the days of your youth!
• Ecclesiastes 12:1 – Compare Genesis 8:1; Exodus 20:8; Jeremiah 15:15; 31:34. “Remember” is not just about mental recall. It’s about picking a direction of action.
• Ecclesiastes 12:2-5 – Solomon may be figuratively talking about the ailments of old age.
• Ecclesiastes 12:8 – Solomon ends where he began – vanity (Ecclesiastes 1:2).
• Ecclesiastes 12:9-10 – Solomon left behind a tremendous body of work.
• Ecclesiastes 12:11-12 – Books are wearying!
• Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 – Solomon’s conclusion – fear God and keep His commandments. This applies to all of us.