Reliability, authority, innerancy of the bible

H o p eForThe
Hurting
A Study in 1 Peter
www.confidentchristians.org
Authority and
Inerrancy of
Scripture
A Robust Defense of the
New Testament

Apologetic Essentials – Reliability, Authority, and Inerrancy of the bibleBy: Tyler Geffeney
IntroductionWhat the world says about the Bible?

“If you believe that the Bible is real because of faith, we can't touch you … they [Christians] pride
themselves on believing things that are hard to believe in. They think God will bless them for
that. But if you want history or fact in your Bible, you are so screwed”
– Penn Jillette

“Atheists are free to admit the limits of human
understanding in a way that religious
people are not. It is obvious that we do not
fully understand the universe; but it is even
more obvious that neither the Bible nor the
Koran reflects our best understanding of
it.”
– Sam Harris

How do we know that the bible isn‟t just an ancient book of mythology inspired by the
lore of nearby cultures who religions share similar plot lines replete with narratives of
dyeing and rising Gods and accounts of supernatural explanations for the way the
world is?
Why should we believe the bible?”

Why should we believe the bible?”
What distinguishes the bible from other sacred texts (i.e. The book of Mormon, the
Hindu Vedas, the Buddhist Tripitaka (Pali Canon), the Qu‟ran, Dianetics by L. Ron
Hubbard)

1. Pre-suppositional:
2. Evidential (proof based)
The 2 Methodologies for establishing biblical authority

Pre-
suppositional:
The bible is self-
authenticating
As the Word of
God, it determines
how we regard the
Word of God.
Presuppositional - Defined

Why I don‟t prefer Presuppositional approach
1. It commits a tautology (circular reasoning)
2. Same basis for belief in all the other scriptures of the World
Religions.
3. Jesus was an Evidentialist
4. Faulty understanding of categories regarding the bible as
subjected to authority of historical sciences.

Presuppositional
“I am interested in not only defending what
Scripture says about Scripture, but
defending it by means of the Bible‟s own
worldview, it‟s own epistemology, and its
own values.
John M. Frame
“That there is a circularity here I do not doubt.
I am defending the Bible by the Bible.”
Frame, Doctrine of the Word of God, Volume 4: pg. 7

Evidentialism
Christ appealed to the use of reason and
evidence to authenticate his identity:
“If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe
me; but if I do them, …believe the works so that you
may know and understand that the Father is in
Me, and I in the Father.”
(John 10: 38)

Evidentialist – My approach. 4 steps
1. Establish the
Historical Reliability
of Scripture

Evidentialist – 4 steps
2. Demonstrate Jesus‟ divine messianic
identity establishing his categorical
Authority.

3. Establish divine authorship and
Authority of the OT based on
testimony of Jesus.

4. Demonstrate Jesus‟ promised New
Testament

1. Establish the
Historical Reliability
of Scripture
Manuscript
Archeology
Prophecy
Scientific Validation

Historical Reliability of the NT Manuscripts
1. Bibliographic test
2. Internal Evidence
3. External Evidence (Validation)
Approaching the bible using the
standard methodologies for
historical inquiry.

1. Bibliographical Test – how reliable are the
manuscripts and how early is the dating?
2. Internal Evidence Test – are there multiple
attestations, is the document free of
contradictions, and do the accounts match?
3. External Evidence Test – is there external
evidence that corroborates the document‟s
testimony?
How to Judge a Text‟s Historical Reliability

Bibliographic test
1. How early are the texts written
2. # of manuscripts do we have
3. Time gap between authorship
and earliest extant copies

Bibliographic test
1. How early are the texts written
• Matthew: Written to Jewish believers; dated A.D 42
• Luke: Written to Gentiles; dated A.D. 58-60
• Mark: Written to Roman/Gentile believers; dated A.D. 66-67
(probably earlier)
• John: Written to Christian believers; dated before A.D. 90*
- Dr. David Alan Black, New Testament Scholar, Why Four Gospels?

Bibliographic test
John A.T. Robinson argues that the entire New
Testament was written before A.D. 70.
- Dr. John A.T. Robinson, Liberal Scholar, Redating the New Testament?

The Bibliographical Test – Why Care About Early Dating?
• Means the accounts were written close to the
actual events.
• Eyewitnesses can refute written error.
• Too soon for legend to creep in?
• Dr. A. N. Sherwin Write, professor of ancient
history, has shown (via the writings of
Herodotus) that it takes it takes more than
two generations to pass before legend can
corrupt a historical account.

1. Citations from Early Church Fathers Help Prove Early Dating
• Matthew
• Mark
• Luke
• Romans
• 1 Corinthians
• Ephesians
• 1 Timothy
• Titus
• Hebrews
• James
• 1 Peter
Clement
(c. A.D. 95)
•All 4 Gospels
• Acts
• Romans
• 1 & 2 Corinthians
• Galatians
• Ephesians
• Philippians
• Colossians
• 1 Thessalonians
• 1 & 2 Timothy
• Titus
• Philemon
• Hebrews
• James
• 1 & 2 Peter
• 1 & 3 John
• Revelation
Ignatius
(c. A.D. 107)
Polycarp
(c. A.D. 110)
•All 4 Gospels
• Acts
• Romans
• 1 & 2 Corinthians
• Galatians
• Ephesians
• Philippians
• Colossians
• 2 Thessalonians
• 1 & 2 Timothy
• 1 Peter & 1 John
Evidence for Early Dating of the New Testament

2. The Scriptures are silent regarding the destruction of the temple
in A.D. 70
•Mark 13:1-2Then as He [Jesus] went out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Teacher, see what
manner of stones and what buildings are here!” 2 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Do you see these great
buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” NKJV
•Jesus prophesied here and in other places in the New Testament that the temple, as well as the
city of Jerusalem, would be destroyed [Matt.23:35-36, 38; 24:1-2; Luke 21:5-6, and v.20-24].
•In Matthew 23:36, and v. 38 Jesus said that that judgment would even come upon the generation that was alive at
that time.
•And it is a well-established historical fact that these things did happen in A.D. 70. (Flavius Josephus, The Wars of
the Jews.)

2. The Scriptures are silent regarding the destruction of the temple
in A.D. 70 (Cont…)
The Book of Hebrews, as well as 2 Thessalonians [2:4], speak of the Jewish temple and the activities associated
with it as though it were still standing. [See: Heb. 5:1-3; 7:23,27; 8:3-5; 9:25; 10:1,3-4, 11; 13:10-11; 2 Thess. 2:4;
Rev. 11:1-2]
As you may remember, the book of Hebrews is an exhortation to discouraged Hebrews, Jews, who had received
Christ but were tempted to go back to…
--Judaism
--it‟s sacrificial system
--and worship in the temple.
That clearly implies that the temple was still standing, for you can‟t go back to the sacrificial system and worship in the
temple if there is no temple.
So, this silence regarding the destruction of the temple, as well as the references that imply that the temple was still
standing, are best explained by the fact that the New Testament was largely finished by A.D.70.

3. The Scriptures are silent regarding the great persecution of
A.D. 64
•.

4. Luke is silent about the martyrdom of Paul in 64 A.D.
• Acts (in second half) was dedicated to the ministry and life of paul. Even built up to his anticipated martyrdom in
Rome.
•It defies credulity that Luke would leave out this detail if written after.
• Gospel of Luke was written prior to Acts.
•The Gospel of Matthew was written prior to Luke.

5. Paul quotes Luke‟s Gospel and refers to it as Scripture in 1
Timothy 5:18.
5:18 For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it
treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer is worthy of his wages.”
NKJV
When Paul quotes the scripture that says, “The laborer is worthy
of his wages” we know Paul was quoting the gospel of Luke.
Why?
Because this passage is something that only Luke (10:7) records
for us. This statement is found nowhere else in the Bible, Old
Testament or New.

6. Book of John refers to the pool of Bethesda still being in
existence.
John 5:1-3 “After this there was [ past tense] a feast of the
Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is [switch to
the present tense, saying in effect “Right now, there is, at the time
I, John, write this”] in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is
called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. ”
The Pool of Bethesda that John refers to here (see photo) was present at the time that he was writing this gospel.
But this pool, the pool of Bethesda, was destroyed in A.D. 70 with the destruction of the temple and was completely
buried, which helps again establish that the gospel of John was probably written before A.D. 70

More Evidence for Early Dating of the New Testament
7. Philologists Abbé Carmignac. (French biblical scholar expert in
Qumran Hebrew) and Claude Tresmontant determined that the
Synoptics were written in Hebrew (or Aramaic) and not Greek as is
commonly supposed.
. Abbé JeanCarmignac
EXAMPLE: In Luke 9:51, the Greek text reads: "He fixed his face to go
to Jerusalem," which makes no sense in Greek or in English but proves to be
a Hebrew expression frequently used in the Old Testament meaning "He
firmly decided."
Hebrew though was no longer used after the scattering of Jews after the
destruction of Jerusalem in AD. 70
. Claude Tresmontant
NOTE: The historian Papias mentions that the gospel of Matthew
was originally in Aramaic or Hebrew and attributes the gospel to
Matthew the apostle.

More Evidence for Early Dating of the New Testament
7. Philologists Abbé Carmignac. (French biblical scholar expert in
Qumran Hebrew) and Claude Tresmontant determined that the
Synoptics were written in Hebrew (or Aramaic) and not Greek as is
commonly supposed.
EXAMPLE: In Luke 9:51, the Greek text reads: "He fixed his face to go
to Jerusalem," which makes no sense in Greek or in English but proves to be
a Hebrew expression frequently used in the Old Testament meaning "He
firmly decided."
Hebrew though was no longer used after the scattering of Jews after the
destruction of Jerusalem in AD. 70
NOTE: The historian Papias mentions that the gospel of Matthew
was originally in Aramaic or Hebrew and attributes the gospel to
Matthew the apostle.
. Abbé JeanCarmignac
. Claude Tresmontant

Bibliographic test
2. # of manuscripts copies
When more than one ancient manuscript is considered excellent, and when 6 or more is
deemed an embarrassment of riches, what shall we say when the New Testament has
24,970+

Bibliographic test
2. # of manuscripts copies
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
# of Manuscript Copies

Bibliographic test
1. Time gap between authorship and earliest extant copies
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
Time Span (years)

“The interval, then, between the dates of original
composition and the earliest extant evidence
becomes so small as to be in fact negligible, and
the last foundation for any doubt that the
Scriptures have come down to us substantially
as they were written has now been removed.
Both the authenticity and the general integrity of
the books of the New Testament may be
regarded as finally established.”
– Frederic G. Kenyon
Former director/principal librarian of the British Museum

Internal Evidence

The Key Factor Needed For Historical “Believability”
Eyewitness accounts that were accurately and faithfully recorded by those
who can be trusted.

Internal Test
The Bible contains unflattering statements about the followers of Christ which appear
to be at odds with the general purpose of the book, indicating the writers were
reporting historical truth.
These counterproductive features include:
• Testimony of women in an era when it is not valued
• The apparent triumph of the enemies of Christ
• The weakened and helpless appearance of the
Messiah at crucifixion
• The portrayal of the disciples as fearful of their
enemies
• The characterization of failure and denial (Peter)
• The constant admission of the disciples‟ slow
understanding

Internal Test
• The Bible lacks the mythological tone usually
associated with other Mesopotamian or gnostic
literature (2 Peter 1:16)
“Rum thing,” he went on “All that stuff of Frazer‟s about
the Dying God. Rum thing. It almost looks as if it has really
happened once.” To understand the shattering impact of
it, you would need to know the man (who has certainly never
since shown any interest in Christianity). If he, the cynic of
cynics, the toughest of the toughs, were not – as I would
still have put it -”safe,” where could I turn?
(Lewis, C.S., Surprised by Joy)

David Hume‟s Test of Witnesses
• Are the witnesses many in number?
• More than any other from antiquity.
• Are the witnesses truthful?
• The authors died rather than recant
• Include embarrassing details about themselves and Jesus.
• Do the witnesses contradict?
• No. The accounts all agree on the core facts surround Jesus
and events.
• Are the witnesses non-prejudicial?
• Some apostles actually disbelieved at first
(Thomas, James, Paul)

David Hume‟s Test of Witnesses
The writers died for their testimony – no one dies for what they know is
false.
•Peter recorded by Clement of Rome 5:5-7
•Paul also recorded by Clement of Rome 5:5-7
•James‟ the brother of Jesus death is referred to by Hegesippus (in
Eusebius) and Josephus
•James the son of Zebedee in Acts 12:2

External Evidence
1.Extra Biblical
Christian Writers
2.Extra biblical Non
Christian Writers

Citations from Early Apologists Church fathers
1. Extra Biblical Christians Writers

1. Extra Biblical Non Christians Writers

The External Evidence Test – Josephus
• Born A.D. 37; Jewish historian
• Wrote History of the Jewish War and Antiquities of the Jewish
People.
• Events mentioned by Josephus: include famine in the days of
Claudius (Acts 11:28).
• People mentioned by Josephus: The Herods, Pilate, John the
Baptist, Felix, Festus, Annas, Capiaphas, Ananias, James “the
brother of the so-called Christ” and Jesus:
• ―Festus was now dead, and Albius was but upon the raid; so he
assembled the Sanhedrin of the judges, and brought before them
the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was
James, and some others, and when he had formed an accusation
against them as breakers of the law, he delivered him to be
stoned‖ – Antiquities 20.9.1

• Josephus mentions the death of John the Baptist:
• ―Now, some of the Jews thought that the destruction of
Herod’s army came from God, and very justly, as a
punishment of what he did against John, who was
called the Baptist; for Herod slew him‖ – Antiquities
18.5.2

• A disputed passage in Josephus‟ work mentions Jesus.
• Most scholars do believe that a Christian sympathizer tampered
with the text, but they also believe Josephus did write about Jesus
• The accepted rendering is:
―At this time there was a wise man who was called Jesus. And his
conduct was good and was known to be virtuous. Many people
among the Jews and other nations became his disciples. Pilate
condemned him to be crucified and to die. And those who had
become his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They
reported that he had appeared to them three days after his
crucifixion and that he was alive; accordingly, he was perhaps the
messiah concerning whom the prophets have recounted
wonders.‖ – Antiquities 18.3.3

The External Evidence Test – Tacitus
• Born A.D. 56.
• Senator and Roman historian.
• Records account of Christians and validates gospel
history:
• ―Nero substituted as culprits and punished with the utmost
refinements of cruelty, a class of men loathed for their
vices whom the crowd styled Christians. Christus, from
whom they got their name, had been executed by
sentence of the procurator Pontius Pilate when Tiberius
was emperor.‖ – Annals, Book 15.

The External Evidence Test – Pliny the Younger
• Born A.D. 61.
• Governor of Bithynia in Asia Minor.
• Records account of Christians and validates belief of
Christ‟s deity was long before council of Nicaea:
• ―They were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed
day before it was light, when they sang an anthem to
Christ as God, and bound themselves by a solemn
oath not to commit any wicked deed…‖ –
Letters, Series 10.

The External Evidence Test – Lucian
• Born A.D. 125.
• Greek writer and critic of Christianity.
• Records account of Christians, Christ‟s crucifixion
and worship:
• ―The Christians, you know, worship a man to this day
– the distinguished personage who introduced their
novel rites and was crucified on that account… these
misguided creatures … deny the gods of Greece and
worship the crucified sage and live after his laws‖ –
The Works of Lucian of Samosata.

The External Evidence Test – Celsus
• Second century Greek writer.
• Critic of Christianity.
• Records account of Christians and worship of Jesus:
• ―Now if the Christians worshipped only one God they might have
reason on their side … But as a matter of fact they worship a man
who appeared only recently. And their worship of this Jesus is the
more outrageous because they refuse to listen to any talk about
God, the father of all, unless it includes some reference to Jesus…
.And when they call him Son of God, they are not really paying
homage to God, rather, they are attempting to exalt Jesus to the
heights.‖ – Contra Celsum.

The External Evidence Test – The Talmud
• The Jewish Talmud is the primary text of Rabbinic
Judaism.
• Records death of Jesus: ―On the eve of Passover Yeshua
was hanged … since nothing was brought forward in his
favour he was hanged on the eve of the Passover!‖ –
Sanhedrin 43a.

The External Evidence Test – Others
SUETONIUS 120 AD; Christ was the reason for the
Jews being expelled from Rome.
PHILEGON, 1st CENTURY HISTORIAN
"during the time of Tiberius Caesar an eclipse of the sun
occurred during the full moon.”
MARA BAR-SERAPION (73 A.D.): Calamities
brought by deaths of Socrates, Pythagorus and un just
killing of Jesus by the Jews.

Bibliographic Test – In Conclusion
“To be skeptical of the resultant test of the New Testament
books is to allow all of classical antiquity to slip into
obscurity, for no documents of the ancient period are as
well attested bibliographically as the New Testament” –
John Warwick Montgomery.
Distinguished Research Professor of Philosophy and
Christian Thought" at Patrick Henry College.

1. Bibliographical Test – The New Testament documents have
no rival in the ancient world in terms of number of
manuscripts and early dating of those manuscripts.
2. Internal Evidence Test – The New Testament is free of
contradictions and tells the same story regarding Jesus
Christ.
3. External Evidence Test – Extra-biblical testimony and
archaeology confirm the New Testament writer‟s facts.
What Grade Does the New Testament Get?

Joseph P. Free
Archaeology and Bible History, 1
“In addition to illuminating the
Bible, archaeology has confirmed
countless pages which have been rejected
by critics as unhistorical or contradictory
to known facts.”

Archeology

William F. Albright
The Archaeology of
Palestine, 127,128
“The excessive skepticism shown toward the Bible by
important historical schools of the eighteenth- and
nineteenth centuries, certain phases of which still
appear periodically, has been progressively discredited.
Discovery after discovery has established the accuracy
of innumerable details and has brought increased
recognition to the value of the Bible as a source of
history.”

Pontius Pilate Inscription
Found by Antonio Frova at
Caesarea Martima, this 1st
century AD slab inscription gives
the name and title of the biblical
figure Pontius Pilate who
condemned Jesus to the cross
(Matthew 27:2; Luke 3:1)
It reads:
…]sTiberievm
…pon]tivsPilatvs
…praef]ectvsIvda[ea]e
“Tiberium Pontius Pilate
Prefect of Judea”

Tomb of Lazarus
On the east side of the Mt. of Olives. It appears that by the 2nd century AD the location had been identified as
such. The church historian, Eusibius (4th century), says that the city was renamed the “Place of Lazarus.”
• He became bishop at the church of Larnaca.
• Archaeologists uncovered his sarcophagus in the 900‟s and found this inscription: “Lazarus. Four Days
Dead. Friend of Christ.”

Caiaphas Ossuary
This ornate 1st century AD limestone ossuary was discovered among 12 ossuaries
in Caiaphas‟ family tomb in the early 1990 south of Jerusalem.
• Aramaic Inscription
on the side panel
reads: “Caiaphas”
which most likely
is the High Priest
mentioned in the
Gospels (Mt 26:57;
Jn 18:13f)

Yehohanan Crucifixion
In 1968, excavators found an
inscribed 1st century AD
limestone bone box (ossuary)
in Jerusalem containing the
bones of a male crucifixion
victim named “Yehohanan ben
Hagkol.”
• The wrist and right heel bone still had the Roman
seven inch crucifixion spikes nails in tact
• Confirms the Romans practiced
crucifixion in the 1st century AD
in Jerusalem and legitimizes
the manner of Christ‟s death as
described in the Bible (Psalm 22
Mt 27; Mk15; Lk 23; Jn 19)

Politarch Inscription
Some thought Luke was mistaken when he called the “rulers of the city” at Thessalonica “politarchs” (Acts
17:6). This criticism was due to the absence of any extra biblical Greek literature using the term.
Recently, several politarch inscriptions were found in Thessalonica, Greece.
• 19 of the 32 “politarch” inscriptions come from Thessalonica,
with 3 of these dating to the 1st century AD
• Elsewhere in Acts, Luke correctly names officials as Praetors at
Philippi (Acts 16:20)

Luke‟s Precise Use of
Vocabulary in the Book of Acts
• Correct language spoken at Lystra as
Lycaonian (14:11)
• Proper form of the name Troas (16:8)
• Uses “politarchs” as proper designation
of magistrates in Thessalonica (17:6)
• Correct Athenian slang word for Paul
as spermologos (17:18)
• Uses areopagites as the proper title for
a member of the Athenian court (17:34)
• Proper title of grammateus for the chief executive magistrate
(“clerk”) in Ephesus (19:35)
• Uses correct Roman authorized title of honor neokoros (19:35)
• Uses the plural anthupatoi which could be referring to two men
functioning as proconsuls at this time (19:38)
• Uses precise term bolisantes for taking soundings and records
the correct depth of the water near Malta (27:28)
• Applies correct title “first man of the Island” (protos tes nesou)
to Malta‟s leader (28:7)
Grammateus at Ephesus
CC-Art.com

According to Sir William Ramsay, Luke records without error:
• 32 Countries
• 54 Cities
• 9 Islands
• 12 Confirmed Ruling Figures (Luke 1-3)
Luke the Historian
Coin of King Aretas IV
2 Corinthians 11:32

Sir William Ramsay
The Bearing of Recent Discovery on the
Trustworthiness of the New Testament, 222
“Luke is a historian
of the first rank; not
merely are his
statements of fact
trustworthy . . .
This author should be placed along
with the very greatest of historians.”
Tyrannus Inscription at Ephesus:
shows that the name mentioned
in Acts 19:9,“Tyrannus,” was used
in Ephesus during 1st century AD
CC-Art.com

Prophecy
Fulfilled prophecy is something that utterly sets the Bible apart
from every other religious book.
There are 26 other religious books that people of faith believe are
divinely inspired (the Hindu Vedas, the Quran, the Book of
Mormon, etc.). Of these twenty-six books, NONE of them
contain any specific, fulfilled prophecies. Not one.
NOTE: Claims that the Book of Mormon and The Qu‟ran have
these are incredulous. They are not only vague in the extreme, they
were not even written in such a way as to be taken as prophetic.

Prophecies about Jesus
DESCRITPION O.T. REFERENCE N.T. FULFILLMENT
1. Born of a Virgin Isaiah 7:14 Matthew 1:18, 24,25
2. Son of God Psalm 2:7 Matthew 3:17
3. Lineage of King David Jeremiah 23:5 Luke:23, 31
4. Born in Bethlehem Micah 5:2 Matthew 2:1
5. Ministry begins in Galilee Isaiah 9:1 Matthew 4:12
6. He would be a miracle worker Isaiah 35:5,6 (32:3,4) Matthew Ch 8 & 9
7. Timing during 2nd temple Malachi 3:1 Matthew 21:12
8. He would be resurrected Psalm 16:10 Acts 2:31
9. Sold for 30 pieces of silver Zechariah 11:12 Matt 26:15
10. Betrayal money goes to potter Zechariah 11:13 Matt 27:5
11. Suffer wounds for our Isaiah 53:5 Matt 27:26
transgressions
12.Hands and feet pierced Psalm 22:16(Zech 12:10) Luke 23:33
13.Garments divided by lot Psalm 22:18 John 19:23-24
14.He would be pierced Zechariah 12:10 John 19:34
15.Bones not broken Psalm 34:20 John 19:33
16.Darkness over the land Amos 8:9 Matt 27:45
17.Buried in a rich man‟s tomb Isaiah 53:9 Matt 27: 57-60

Scientific Validation
•The Bible was completed long before the
invention of
microscopes, telescopes, satellites, and all the
other technological innovations that have
allowed us to investigate certain phenomenon
of the world and the universe.
•That the Bible not only does not contain any scientific errors, but anticipates later discoveries, in expressions
contrary to the opinions of their day.
• denotes a divine authorship and is powerful support for innerancy.
•Compare.: Without exception, every ancient religious writing has certain unscientific views of
astronomy, medicine, hygiene, and more.

Compare - Vedas
For example, the Hindu Vedas
teach that
1. the Earth is flat and triangular.
2. earthquakes are the result of
elephants shaking their bodies
underneath the ground.
3. They also claim that civilizations
live on the back side of the moon
4. that there are cities on the Sun.

Compare –Qu‟ran
The Qur‟an says that the Sun
sets in a muddy spring.
, "when he reached the setting-
place of the Sun, he found it
setting in a muddy spring.”
(Surah 18:86)

Astounding Scientific
Foresight in the Bible
DESCRITPION REFERENCE
1. The Sun on a circuit through space. Psalm 19:6
2. The Earth is Spherical Job 26:10
3. Earth suspended on nothing Job 26:7
4. The stars are beyond ability to count * Jeremiah 33:32
5. The universe had a beginning in space and time Genesis 1:1
6. The universe is sustained with immutable laws Jeremiah 33:25
7. Universe subjected to law of decay Romans 8: 18-21
(2nd law of thermodynamics)
* The Greek astronomer and mathematician Hipparchus (190-120 B.C.) said there were exactly 1,026 stars, Ptolemy (c. 85-
A.D. 165) said there were 1,056 stars, Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) counted 1,006. When Galileo pointed his telescope to
the heavens in 1608, he discovered that these previous counts were way off and that the Bible was actually right.

Authority of Jesus
Building the Bibles authority foundationally on Jesus

Jesus authority is categorically verified by:
A. Fulfilled prophecy
B. The workings of miracles
C. Raising himself from the dead.
D. The most influential man who ever lived.
2. Demonstrate Jesus‟ divine messianic
identity establishing his categorical
Authority.

Jesus Ratifies the Old Testament by
authenticating it by his teaching as:
A. Historically:
B. As the Words of God
C. As an unassailable authority
3. Establish divine authorship and
Authority of the OT based on
testimony of Jesus.

Historically.
Jesus consistently treats Old Testament Historical
Narratives as straightforward records of fact
(including the most controversial narratives)
- Matt 12:41 “The men of Nineveh will stand
- Luke 11:50 -51 “From the blood of Abel to the
blood of Zechariah…
The essential thrust of these passages are lost if the
events to which they refer were not actually historic.
The Lukian passage also has Jesus ratifying the entirety
of the OT Greek Septuagint.

Jesus refers to the OT Scripture as the
very words of God.
Romans 9:17 “The scripture says to
Pharaoh”
Matthew 19:4-5 “The Creator said, „for this
reason…..”
B. As the Words of God

Jesus uses OT scripture as the absolute and final court
of appeals in all matters of controversy.
Matt 23:23 - “neglected weightier provisns
Matt 5:17-20 - “Jot nor title”
Matt 22:29 - Dispute with Sadducees turned on verb
tense
Matt 4: - Satan refuted with God‟s Word without
retort
As an unassailable authority

4. Demonstrate Jesus‟ promised New
Testament
John 14:26
"But
the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the
Father will send in My name, He
will teach you all things, and bring to
your remembrance all that I said to you.

Top Objections to the Bible
What are some of the most common objections to the New Testament?

Objection #1
• Why were they converted? What would cause devout Jews to abandon their beliefs and write what
they did?
• They had no motive to lie? What they received was mistreatment, social ostracizing and even
death.
• Using such line of argumentation would rule out the writings of a holocaust victim who chronicled
their experience in the death camps.
“The New Testament writers were biased. You can‟t
trust writings by those who were converted.”

Objection #2
• True, we have something better – thousands of early manuscripts that all agree on the events in
question.
• Keep in mind that a single source could be polluted or corrupted whereas multiple copies that all
tell the same story are a clearer witness to the actual events.
• Hundreds of years of rigorous textual criticism with 5,300+ Greek manuscripts allow for utter
assurance we have what was originally written.
“We don‟t have the original texts /
autographs of the New Testament. All we
have are copies.”

Objection #3
“There are contradictions and / or
differences in the manuscript copies.”
What good is it to say that the autographs (i.e., the originals) were inspired? We don‟t
have the originals! We have only error-ridden copies, and the vast majority of these are
centuries removed from the originals and different from them, evidently, in thousands of
ways….There are more variations among our manuscripts than there are words in the
New Testament. [emphasis in the original]
(Bart Ehrman, Misquoting Jesus—The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why, first paperback edition (San Francisco:
HarperSanFrancisco, 2007), 7, 90.

Objection #3
differences in the manuscript copies.”
New Testament specialist Daniel Wallace notes that although there are about 300,000 individual variations of the
text of the New Testament, this number is very misleading. Most of the differences are completely
inconsequential--spelling errors, inverted phrases and the like. A side by side comparison between the two main
text families (the Majority Text and the modern critical text) shows agreement a full 98% of the time. Wallace, Daniel, "The
Majority Text and the Original Text: Are They Identical?," Bibliotheca Sacra, April-June, 1991, 157-8.
Of the remaining differences, virtually all yield to vigorous textual criticism. This means that our New Testament is
99.5% textually pure. In the entire text of 20,000 lines, only 40 lines are in doubt (about 400 words), and none
affects any significant doctrine. Geisler and Nix, 475.
Greek scholar D.A. Carson sums up this way: "The purity of text is of such a substantial nature that nothing we
believe to be true, and nothing we are commanded to do, is in any way jeopardized by the variants.” Carson, D.A., The
King James Version Debate (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1979), 56.

Objection #3
differences in the manuscript
copies.”
One New Testament Scholar says:
“In spite of these remarkable [textual] differences, scholars are
convinced that we can reconstruct the original words of the New
Testament with reasonable (though probably not 100 percent)
accuracy.
(The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings, published by Oxford University Press in 2003, pg. 481)

Examples of “Meaningful” Variants?
• An example of „meaningful variant‟ is found in 1
Thessalonians 2:7.
• Paul either describes himself as „gentle‟ or as „little children‟ –
one letter difference: epioi vs. nepioi.
• Does this call into question anything about the New
Testament or about Paul that is „meaningful‟ where the
Christian faith is concerned?

What is a “Meaningful” Variant?
• „meaningful variant‟ is found in Mark 1:41.
Was Jesus
• “ Moved with compassion”
• “Angry”
• Does this call into question anything about
the New Testament or about Paul that is
„meaningful‟ where the Christian faith is
concerned?

Objection #4
• Such an objection is typically caused by an anti-supernatural worldview that rules out miracles in
an a priori manner.
• Other historians reference miracles also. Josephus cites Jesus as doing extraordinary feats (in his
historically accepted version of Jesus in Antiquities); the Talmud refers to Jesus and His miracles
as originating from sorcery, as does work from Celsus, the ancient critic of Christianity in the
second century.
“The New Testament contains stories of
miracles and we know that miracles just
don‟t happen.”

“For many readers it is precisely these miracle-stories
which are the chief difficulty in the way of accepting
the New Testament documents as reliable. To some
extent it is true to say that the credibility of these
stories is a matter of historical evidence. If they are
related by authors who can be shown on other
grounds to be trustworthy, then they are worthy of at
least serious attention by the historian. . . . No
doubt, the historian will be more exacting in his
examination of the evidence where miracles are in
question. But if the evidence is really good, he will not
refuse it on a priori grounds.”
– F. F. Bruce

ConclusionsFinal Thoughts

H o p eForThe
Hurting
A Study in 1 Peter
www.confidentchristians.org
Why Scripture…?
A Defense of the
New Testament

Reliability, authority, innerancy of the bible

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