Bibliology Session 17-Preservation

Biblical Preservation Elements of Bibliology 1.Revelation: From the mind of God to the Mind of the Human Author. 2.Inspiration: From the Mind of the Human Author to the Document. 3.Canonicity: Which Documents are, or are not from God? Is the Bible Complete? 4.Preservation: From the original Documents down through the centuries to the present. 5.Translation: From the languages of the original Documents to the language of the reader. 6.Interpretation & Illumination: From the Document to the mind of the reader. 7.Application / Animation: From the mind of the reader to the life of the reader. Goals Tonight I. Look at the Issues Facing the Doctrine of Preservation II. Defend the Doctrine of Preservation The Issues Facing Us I. God inspired every word of the original autographs (Greek word meaning “self-written” referring to the original documents) A. These autographs were written on papyrus, which is made out of the papyrus reed that grows on the river Nile. The pages were glued together and laid out in long scrolls. The Issues Facing Us B. Papyrus is susceptible to rotting when exposed to moisture, which necessitated copies to be made. C. Parchment (made of animal skins) did not become the wide spread writing material until the 4th century A.D. II. The Issues Facing Us All of these original autographs have disappeared. A. Though many copies were made, they were all handcopied. B. Therefore ALL copies contain scribal errors. C. No two existing manuscripts agree in every detail, and all contain some scribal error. The Issues Facing Us III. Additionally, your Bible is a translation from these manuscripts. The manuscripts were all copied in Greek & Hebrew (the original languages). Your Bible is a translation of a copy of a copy of a copy… Arguments Against Preservation I. The Bible CANNOT be II. No two manuscripts trusted! It is too old! agree, so we have no idea what they originally said! III. No translation is perfect, and because they do not completely agree why try? Defending Preservation 1. Preservation was Promised By God 2. Preservation is Supported by History Preservation was Promised by God Psalm 12:6-7 “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them form this generation forever.” Isaiah 40:8 “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God shall stand forever.” Preservation was Promised by God Matthew 24:35 “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” 1 Peter 1:25 “But the word of the Lord endures forever, and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.” Preservation is Supported by History I. Defense of O.T. Preservation II. Defense of N.T. Preservation Issue of O.T. Preservation I. Age of the Masoretic Text: A. The Hebrew Masoretic text is the most widely used text for the O.T. B. Yet the oldest manuscript of this text we possess dates to circa 930 A.D., which is nearly 1300 years later than the originals. C. So manuscript evidence for the O.T. was hailed as too young to be reliable. Issue of O.T. Preservation II. Disagreement with External Sources A. Not only is the Masoretic text considered “young,” it also conflicts with other known sources. B. The Samaritan Pentateuch (circa 4-5th centuries B.C.), and the Greek Septuagint (circa 250 B.C.) have enough conflicts with the Masoretic that critics say none of them can be trusted. Confidence in O.T. Preservation I. The Approval of Jesus A. Christ seems to have quoted from both Masoretic Text & Septuagint, calling them both Scripture. B. This indicates not only that they can both be trusted, but that the differences between them are not significant enough to merit concern. Confidence in O.T. Preservation II. Method of the Scribes A. Jewish Tradition regarded Ezra and the school of scribes he started (a.k.a. the “Sopherim” later known as “Masorites”) as the guardians of the text of Scripture B. This school of Scribes developed an elaborate system of tests to ensure the accuracy of their copying. 1. Noting in the margin words that only occur once. 2. Kept track of the numbers of individual letters and words in each book. Confidence in O.T. Preservation 3. They would record the middle word and letter of each book, and even how many times each letter occurred within the book. 4. If a copy did not pass these tests, and they could not find the mistake to correct it, they would destroy the copy and start over! Confidence in O.T. Preservation III. Evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls A. In Nov.-Dec. 1946 the discovery was made. Three Bedouin shepherds exploring caves discovered several large earthen jars, one of which contained three leather scrolls. One was the Isaiah Scroll, which dated back to 100 B.C. B. Later, these were sold and discovered for their worth. Since then tens of thousands of fragments from hundreds of manuscripts have been discovered in various caves around the Dead Sea. Confidence in O.T. Preservation C. Part or all of every book of the O.T. except Esther has been found. D. The greatest thing is that these texts are almost identical to the traditional text we have, agreeing 95%. The other 5% is misspellings, and have no bearing on the meaning. E. Now we have physical proof demonstrating that the Hebrew text used in Jesus’ day, which He authenticated, agrees with the text we use today! Defense of N.T. Preservation 1. Sources of Manuscripts 2. Number of Manuscripts 3. Date of Manuscripts 4. Criticism against Manuscripts 5. Agreement of Manuscripts Sources for N.T. Manuscripts I. After the originals were written, many copies II. When persecution rose & these copies were were made and spread around. threatened, believers heroically preserved them until after the “Edict of Toleration” when persecution subsided. III. Europeans later rediscovered Greek manuscripts after the fall of Constantinople, eventually resulting in both the Renaissance & the Reformation in Europe. IV. The study of these many manuscripts led to the emergence of three major manuscript “families.” Sources for N.T. Manuscripts I. The Byzantine family of Texts were produced in the old Byzantine empire, which still used Greek while the western part of the empire had switched to Latin. These texts eventually concentrated in Constantinople. • Characteristics: This family makes up the majority of manuscripts, high level of agreement between them, but not as old as the Alexandrian. Sources for N.T. Manuscripts II. The Western family of texts originated in Italy, Gaul, and North Africa. • These manuscripts are “full of expansions, deletions, harmonizations, and even theological alterations” that appear to be the result of hurried evangelistic zeal rather than sloppy scribal practice. Translated into Latin early in the transmission process, the Western text was very influential in Latin-speaking Europe and the Roman church. Sources for N.T. Manuscripts III. The Alexandrian family of Texts originated in Alexandria, Egypt. • Characteristics: Fewer in number, less agreement between themselves, yet are older than the Byzantine texts. Number of N.T. Manuscripts The Number of manuscripts for the Greek N.T., though a source of attack by Bible critics, is actually a great help for Christians. Theologian Henry Thiessen points out, “When we recall that only a very small percentage of books survive more than a quarter of a century; that a much smaller percentage lasts for a century; and that only a very small number live a thousand years; we at once realize that the Bible is a unique book.” Number of N.T. Manuscripts - 5 copies currently exist of Aristotle’s writings & 9 of Plato, yet they were born 1,000 years after Moses, whose writings exist in great numbers. - 8 copies of the Histories of Herodotus. - 10 copies currently exist of Julius Caesar’s “Gaulic Wars,” yet the copies we possess were written 1,000 years after the originals. - 647 copies currently exist of Homer’s works yet they were made 1,300 years after the originals. - 20 Copies of the History of Rome by Tacitus, or 19 copies of Livy’s History of Rome. Number of N.T. Manuscripts - The New Testament alone has nearly 6,000 Greek manuscripts in existence, some of which date to within 35 years of the originals. - Plus 10,000 manuscripts of the Latin Vulgate. - 9,300 manuscripts of other early versions whether Ethiopian, Slavic, Armenian, Arabic, etc. - Total manuscript evidence is somewhere around 25,000, not including quotations from early church fathers, which would grant many more. Speaking of the quotations from the early church fathers, Harold Greenlee says, “These quotations are so extensive that the New Testament could virtually be reconstructed from them without the use of the New Testament Manuscripts.” Date of N.T. Manuscripts I. Though late date was one of the primary charges against the Masoretic text until the DSS were found, the N.T. manuscripts we posses are much closer to the date of the original writings. II. The oldest known manuscript, containing a small portion of John 18, was copied perhaps as soon as 25 years after John’s death, while older manuscripts may yet be discovered. Criticisms against Preservation I. Because all copies were hand made, the N.T. manuscripts we posses contain 400,000 variants (i.e. scribal errors). II. Yet the N.T. itself has only about 138,000 words. III. Therefore nearly 3 variants exists for every one word of the original text. IV. Therefore the N.T. CANNOT be Trusted! I. What they Don’t Tell You 99% of all variants have no impact on the meaning of the text because they consist of either… A. Word Order B. The Presence or Absence of an Article C. Misspellings that do not change the word What they Don’t Tell You II. Only 4,000 meaningful variants remain. A. Of these 4,000, half of them are corrected by looking at the majority of manuscripts, leaving only 2,000 variants, approximately one variant every 3 pages. B. In fact the Greek N.T. is approximately 250 pages, and all of these 2,000 variants could fit on 1/2 of 1 page. What they Don’t Tell You III. None of these existing variants impact any major area of Theology. A. Though 1/2 a page of variants do exist, the Bible diffuses its teaching equally throughout its pages. B. Therefore ultimately no area of Theology is disturbed. So have confidence in your Bible! I. Perspective on Variants The presence of variants in the N.T. manuscripts actually helps us argue for accuracy. II. The presence of these variants argues against allegations of purposeful corruption of the texts by a central authority. Perspective on Variants III. Contrast the Koran, which about 20 years after the death of Mohammed was centralized under the 3rd Calif and revised. After this revision, all former manuscripts were burned. Perspective on Variants IV. So while Muslims must put all their confidence of manuscript transmission in one man, Christians have thousands of sources from dozens of geographical locations upon which to draw. Therefore Christians can have the greater confidence in our Scriptures.