Origin of the Bible

On Sunday Nov 1, 2009 I taught a new Sunday School topic. I've been doing the Case for Christ for so long that I thought I would never get finished with it on my blog. My new topic is a little bit of a follow up to the Case for Christ. One of my favorite parts of the book was talking about the Biblical manuscript evidence. I thought I would do a lesson on the Origin of the Bible to show how we got from the manuscripts that were penned by men such as Moses, Isaiah and Paul to the one volume leather bound book you buy at the bookstore today. There will be a second part to this lesson in a few weeks. I am now on a teaching rotation.




Picture 1: Cave paintings discovered in France.


What do you think is the first thing man wrote on? Most Western Civilization text books will start with cave paintings. We also see ancient inscriptions on canyon walls and on the walls of buildings such as those in Egypt. One of the first breakthroughs in writing technology was the invention of the clay tablet. Clay tablets were portable and better for conveying information. Small clay tablets about the size of the palm of your hand would be molded and then a wedge shaped stick was used to press in symbols and then the tablet was baked to make it permanent. We have discovered tens of thousands of tablets in Mesopotamia and Egypt. This form of writing is called "cuneiform" from the wedge shaped stick used. Sumerian and Akkadian are two famous cuneiform languages. They are not alphabetic though and you have to memorize thousands of symbols to translate the language.




Picture 2: Inscriptions on canyon walls.


















Picture 3: Egyptian hieroglyphics inscribed on buildings.























Picture 4: Cuneiform tablet.


















Picture 5: Papyrus scroll of the book of Isaiah discovered at Qumran on the coast of the Dead Sea.


An aquatic plant called "papyrus" grew in Egypt. They discovered that the reeds of this plant could be pressed into a paper that could then be rolled into a scroll. Papyrus became the dominant medium for writing for about 3000 years up to the second century AD. Most of the Old Testament and the oldest New Testament manuscripts were written on papyrus scrolls. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew and some Aramaic. The Aramaic is because the Jews were held in captivity by the Assyrians, Babylonians and Persians. Approximately 250 BC the Old Testament was translated into Greek because of the dominant influence of the Greek language after Alexander the Great conquerred most of the known world. This Greek translation is called the "Septuagint". The New Testament was also written in Greek. About the second century AD people started using animal skins (parchment) to write on. Also, they started making the pages into leaves that were bound on one side forming a primitive book called a codex. Three of the most famous Biblical manuscripts are parchment codices called the Codex Siniaticus, Codex Alexandrinus and Codex Vaticanus. They are named after where they were found, Mt. Sinai, Alexandria, Egypt and the Vatican respectively. All of these contain the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) version of the Bible. These manuscripts are considered work horses of Biblical translation because they are complete copies and have been around for a long time. Older manuscripts consisting of papyrus scrolls were discovered in the late 1800s and early 1900s. These are known as the Chester Beaty, John Rylands and Dead Sea Scrolls. The Dead Sea Scrolls gave us a copy of Isaiah 1000 years older than what we previously had and the oldest New Testament manuscript called p52 or the John Rylands papyrus is dated at 117-125 AD and contains a portion of the Gospel of John.


Picture 6: Codex Siniaticus. An example of a parchment codex. Also, the text itself is the Septuagint version of the Old Testament.


In the fourth century the Roman Catholic church was rising to dominance and Latin was the language of the west. The Pope commissioned Jerome to translate the Bible into what is called the Latin Vulgate. This became the dominant version for over 1000 years up through the middle ages. During the protestant reformation the reformers began translating the Bible into the common languages of the people. Martin Luther produced a German translation and John Wycliffe produced the first English translation. The invention of the printing press approximately 1450 AD allowed us to begin producing the Bible in more modern book form. The Gutenberg Bible was the first entire book published on a printing press.

Picture 7: Gutenberg Bible.


Next time I want to discuss the various versions or translations you see today. Do you recognized these acronyms? KJV, NKJV, NIV, NASB, ESV, LB, NLT and the Message

Chapter 14 Discussion

1. What is circumstantial evidence? Circumstantial evidence is material that does not prove your case by itself but does not make much sense if the other material is not accurate.

2. Would you be willing to die for something that you knew was a lie or a hoax? Most people would say no to this question. Even skeptics admit that the fact that 10 out of 12 apostles died martyr's deaths means that they truly believed the resurrection was real.

3. Can you name anyone who you never expected to see become a Christian? Did it change their lifestyle and if so in what way? I think Saul of Tarsus is the classic example here. Saul was an upcoming Pharisee. He would have been very wealthy, popular and powerful. We see he turned from persecutor of Christians to become their foremost missionary voice, this drastically changed world history and he sacrificed everything.

4. Are there any behaviors from the Apostles and disciples of Christ that do not make sense if the resurrection is all based on a lie? Jews are big on the Law of Moses, obeying the Sabbath and monotheism. The first 3000 Christian were Jews and they immediately started teaching salvation by grace, switched their worship to Sunday, accepted the Triune God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and gave up animal sacrifice believing that Jesus' sacrifice was once and for all.

5. Many people believe Jesus is the greatest moral teacher of all time or a prophet but reject his claim of being God or the Son of God. Is this a logical conclusion after seeing the evidence presented in this book? I believe that there is plenty of evidence to show that Jesus and his immediate followers (Apostles) taught that he was God the Son. There is no indication that Jesus behaved in any unusual way to suspect he was mentally unstable. I think there are only two choices: either He was who He claimed to be or a lying impostor. If he lied to make himself look like the Messiah then he cannot be a great moral teacher. The idea He was just a man and great teacher is not a logical conclusion. If I were not a Christian I would have to reject Him completely and want nothing to do with Him or the Bible. People who call themselves Christians but reject the divinity of Christ are just living in an artificial bubble they create to placate their lives and it is unrealistic.

I hope to post my responses tomorrow. Be looking for my next lesson in the near future. God Bless.

Chapter 14 Discussion Questions

Well, this is the last chapter. As much as I love this book I am ready to move on to the next topic. Here are some discussion questions to think about.


1. What is circumstantial evidence?


2. Would you be willing to die for something that you knew was a lie or a hoax?


3. Can you name anyone who you never expected to see become a Christian? Did it change their lifestyle and if so in what way?


4. Are there any behaviors from the Apostles and disciples of Christ that do not make sense if the resurrection is all based on a lie?


5. Many people believe Jesus is the greatest moral teacher of all time or a prophet but reject his claim of being God or the Son of God. Is this a logical conclusion after seeing the evidence presented in this book?


I hope to post my responses tomorrow. Be looking for my next lesson in the near future. God Bless.

Chapter 13 Discussion

Well, I finished the Case for Christ in my Sunday School connect group yesterday. I am trying to finish out on the blog this week. Below are some responses to the questions I posted from chapter 13. Next Sunday Nov 1st I will be teaching in another connect group. I am on a rotation in that class. I will teach a lesson on where the Bible came from starting with a discussion on the history of writing and writing materials. I will post that lesson next week.


1. Are there any eyewitnesses who saw Christ after the crucifixion and if so who are some of the famous ones? The four Gospel accounts all report witnesses who saw Christ raised from the dead. The Apostle Paul reports that over 500 witnesses saw Christ and Paul challenged skeptics to go ask them for themselves. The most famous eyewitnesses where Mary Magdalene, Peter, John, all the remaining apostles and James the half brother of Jesus.


2. Is the most likely scenario not that the resurrection is a legend that was created centuries or at least many decades after the crucifixion? Doesn't the list grow over time showing that it is a legend gradually blown out of proportion? This idea comes from listing the accounts in a proposed chronological order of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John. Doing this makes the list look like it gets larger over time making it suspicious. However, Paul's writings are older than the Gospels and he reports the largest number so this hypothesis gets turned upside down.


3. Some people believe Jesus' resurrection was only spiritual and not literal, physical. What are some implications of that? My first reaction is shock that these people who are so skeptical are inventing an explanation that proves the existence of a spirit world and life after death. Secondly, it ignores the evidence of Jesus inviting people to touch his wounds and he even said he was not a phantom.


4. Could people have hallucinated the resurrection? This comes from people who reject the resurrection because it seems so impossible. The trouble is that hallucinations are unique to each individual. Masses of 500 people don't experience the same hallucination.


Chapter 14 is the last chapter and I will try to have that completed this week. Take care.

Chapter 13 Discussion Questions

Chapter 12 demonstrated that Jesus' tomb was in fact empty. The next question is what happened to the body? Is there any real solid evidence of Jesus' resurrection? Here are some questions to think about and I will respond to them within a few days.


1. Are there any eyewitnesses who saw Christ after the crucifixion and if so who are some of the famous ones?


2. Is the most likely scenario not that the resurrection is a legend that was created centuries or at least many decades after the crucifixion? Doesn't the list grow over time showing that it is a legend gradually blown out of proportion?


3. Some people believe Jesus' resurrection was only spiritual and not literal, physical. What are some implications of that?


4. Could people have hallucinated the resurrection?


This Sunday October 25, 2009 will be my last lesson on the book in my Sunday School connect group. We will be covering chapters 11-14. I will then again produce some CDs if you would like a copy. Be looking for my next study and devotions I will be posting in the near future.

Chapter 12 Discussion

Here are some responses to my chapter 12 discussion questions. If you haven't looked at them yet scroll down to the previous post and think about them before you read my responses.

1. The details of the empty tomb in the four Gospel accounts vary somewhat. They vary in sequence of events, how many angels were present, what women were present, etc. Does this mean the story should be suspect? Actually, lawyers will tell you that if different accounts agree too much even in the minor details that they are suspect because they feel the people have collaborated with each other. The basic facts are the same in all accounts of the women going to the tomb to anoint Jesus' body, they find it empty and report back to the Apostles.

2. Jesus being buried by a religious leader like Joseph of Arimathea seems highly unlikely, should I believe this part of the story? Since Jesus confronted the leaders, this does seem surprising but we do see that Nicodemus became a follower of Christ so it should not be ruled out. Actually, since all four Gospel accounts state this that gives it incredible clout.

3. Many crucified victims were left to be preyed upon by scavengers such as vultures and wild dogs or they were buried in mass graves. Is this a possible explanation why Jesus' grave cannot be found? There is too much evidence from authentic manuscripts to believe he was just abandoned on the cross. Besides, the Shroud of Turin - even if it is not Jesus' burial cloth - at the very least shows an example of one crucified victim that was buried.

4. What does the fact that the Gospels record that the first witnesses to an empty tomb were women such as Mary Magdalene tell us about the story? Women in the first century were not considered to be credible witnesses by Jewish men. If the Gospel accounts were fabricated you would expect them to ignore the women and have Peter, James and John be the first witnesses to the empty tomb.

5. What do the Jewish rebuttals to the resurrection tell us about the tomb? The Jewish story to refute the resurrection claimed that the body of Christ was stolen by the Apostles. This actually confirms that the tomb was in fact empty.

The next chapter looks at evidence for the resurrection itself.

Chapter 12 Discussion Questions

Chapter 12 is about the empty tomb and Chapter 13 is on the Resurrection. This may seem a little redundant but actually you can't talk about the resurrection until you can demonstrate that the tomb was in fact empty. Here are some questions to ponder.


1. The details of the empty tomb in the four Gospel accounts vary somewhat. They vary in sequence of events, how many angels were present, what women were present, etc. Does this mean the story should be suspect?


2. Jesus being buried by a religious leader like Joseph of Arimathea seems highly unlikely, should I believe this part of the story?


3. Many crucified victims were left to be preyed upon by scavengers such as vultures and wild dogs or they were buried in mass graves. Is this a possible explanation why Jesus' grave cannot be found?


4. What does the fact that the Gospels record that the first witnesses to an empty tomb were women such as Mary Magdalene tell us about the story?


5. What do the Jewish rebuttals to the resurrection tell us about the tomb?