Schlagwort: Bible

Von Christian

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In the first part of this series we have already become aware that there are some important and interesting questions about ‚the Bible‘. But before we look at historical facts or anything else, let’s first let the text of ‚the Bible‘ itself speak. What do we learn from the text itself about what constitutes the Bible, how it came to be, and what was to happen in the centuries following its creation? Let’s start with a reference in the second letter to the Thessalonians:

Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come.

2 Thessalonians 2:1,2 NIV

According to the traditional view, this letter was written by Paul around the year 50 AD. The phrase „nor by a letter allegedly by us“ raises a question: Couldn’t the believers in Thessalonica simply look in ‚their Bible‘ and check whether the text was included as a letter? Obviously, they couldn’t. What we now call the Bible was just beginning to be written two decades after Jesus‘ death. There was not yet a canon of Christian writings. So at that time, someone could come to the meeting with a letter and claim that it was from Paul, for example. Now, how could one verify whether that was supposed to be part of ‚the Bible‘ or not? This question did not arise at all. Well then, was the question whether it was ‚genuine‘? Not necessarily either. The crucial point was this:

The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us. Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, …

1 John 3:24 – 4:2 NIV

Fact is: There were already in the first century many orally transmitted reports, many letters and further texts, as already this verse shows. There was a need to check what was circulating. The crucial question was: Does this come from God? And that is the question that we must also ask ourselves today: Does what we read in ‚the Bible‘ today come from God? Because as we have already seen in the last episode, there are many steps between the origin of the text and what we can read in our language today.

But already this verse shows us that still at the end of the first century there could not have been a closed canon of the Christian scriptures, in the sense that exclusively these texts were accepted as coming from God. And everything else as texts of false teachers and ‚apostates‘ should be avoided. On the contrary. The texts were to be examined, which required reading or reading aloud and a comparison with the other scriptures. Even the Holy Spirit helped with this:

He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said.

1 Corinthians 12:10 NLT

Let’s compare this with the statement: God closely supervised the writing of the Bible and made sure that it has been preserved for us very precisely. What does this mean in concrete terms in the first century? Let’s put ourselves in the position of a believer, for example in Thessalonica, who is listening to a letter being read aloud in the church. As that believer, could you simply say to yourself, „This is God’s word, for he is closely monitoring the record of the Bible?“ No, otherwise there would have been no need for the call to examine. So if there is such a certainty at all, it would have to have come later. But how and by whom?

Is there any Bible text that supports the idea that God would supervise the recording of the Bible in such a way that we would no longer need to check? Perhaps this Bible text comes to your mind.

All Scripture is God-breathed [(gr. theopneustos)] and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:16,17 NIV

In accordance with the Greek text, the singular has been used here: All scripture is … This text might have come to your mind especially when you have read this – somewhat suggestive – translation:

All holy Scripture is inspired by God….

2 Timothy 3:16 New World Translation – German 2018

Won’t readers – in this case mostly Jehovah’s Witnesses – automatically think that ‚the Bible‘ is meant here? Interestingly, the title of the current German translation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, in which 2 Timothy 3:16 is translated like this: The Bible. New World Translation. However, the German editions before that had the title New World Translation of the Scriptures. However, 2 Timothy 3:16 was rendered in it as, „All Scripture is inspired by God ….“ So without the addition holy and in the singular. The title of the English edition is still New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (plural), rendering the text as in the King James Version: „All Scripture is inspired of God …“ While the title of the Bible contains the plural, the text contains the singular: All Scripture is inspired of God. Let someone else understand that …

But isn’t this already a good example that we don’t know exactly if what we read in ‚our Bible‘ „is from God“ (1 John 4:2)? If, after all, different translations reflect different thoughts here. So let’s check like the Christians in the first century.

First of all, we must ask what is meant here by ‚all Scripture is inspired by God‘ πᾶσα γραφὴ θεόπνευστος. Was the author of the Second Epistle to Timothy referring to the writings of the Jewish Bible, which had been completed centuries earlier? And what about the writings that were to come later, that is, that no one knew about yet? If so, this brings us to the question of the canon: what belongs as ‚inspired Scripture‘ in the canon of Christian writings and what does not? Who decided that? According to what criteria? Did God have a plan a long time ago, virtually the book list of the Bible that were yet to be written? So what is meant by ‚all Scriptures‘ or ‚all Scripture‘? Who determines what belongs to Everything? And how could we know that? These questions are precisely not answered by the canon, but are one of the reasons for the creation of the canon – which took decades to centuries and – you’ll be surprised – may not necessarily have been completed to this day.

What first-century authors meant by ’scriptures‘ becomes clear in texts like this:

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures …

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 NIV

When Paul speaks of having handed down something that he had also received, he hardly means by ’the Scriptures‘ his own or those of others in the New Testament – which at that time were often not even written. He argues that his message was already in the Old Testament.

Maybe you also thought of this text.

Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

2. Petrus 1:20,21 NIV

What is meant here by ‚the Scriptures‘ γραφῆς? And let us also not overlook the specific reference to ‚prophecy of …‘. If we assume that Peter wrote the second letter of Peter, we can let the latter explain it himself:

In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) and said, “Brothers and sisters, the Scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus.

Acts 1:15,16 NIV

This statement of Peter was also confirmed by Paul in his letter to the Romans:

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

Romans 15:4 NIV

So for Peter and Paul ‚the holy scriptures‘ were the text of the Jewish Bible. But didn’t even Jesus say that at least these would not pass away?

For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

Matthew 5:18 ESV

This text must also be read carefully. Neither is it about the whole Jewish Bible nor the text itself. It is about THE LAW (nomou νόμου) and not the scriptures, and about the fulfillment of what is said in it.

Incidentally, even 1 Peter 1:24, 25, where Peter quotes Isaiah 40:8, is not a promise that the text of the Bible will stand:

For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” 

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”

1 Peter 1:24, 25; Isaiah 40:8 NIV

So here Peter himself explains again what is meant. Even though this text is the only one quoted in the Watchtower (2017 September pp. 18-22) to prove that „he did he guarantee that it would survive,“ (paragraph 14) as it says at the end of the whole article without further justification. At least at the beginning, when 1 Peter 1:24, 25 is used, it is admitted: „That verse does not specifically refer to the Bible as we know it; yet, the inspired words apply by extension to the Bible’s message.“ Nevertheless, this verse is the only one repeatedly quoted in the Watchtower organization’s literature on this subject. In the same way as usual: Taken out of context and linked to the book of the Bible in the quotation.

The text in 2 Peter 1:21, which we have already considered, goes even further, by the way. The chapter ends here – but the chapter division came more than a thousand years later. We will have to talk about that in this series as well. So let’s just read on for now:

But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 

2 Peter 2:1 NIV

And these teachers also produced their writings. So this was the situation in which the text of ‚the Bible‘ came into being and had to be preserved. Was there a danger that texts were not only interpreted differently but also changed? Apparently so:

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

Revelation 22:18, 19 ESV

Some also call the Bible ‚the word of God‘ or ‚God’s word‘. Is it not at least said of it that it remains?

And we keep on thanking God, because, when you accepted the word of The God that you heard from us, you didn’t accept it as the word of men, but just as it truthfully is… The word of God – which is at work in you believers.

1 Thessalonians 2:13 2001 Translation

First of all, it is interesting that it is said that they heard the ‚Word of God‘ – not read it. And then accepted it. And then it worked in the believers. So in this text no book is meant either.

So is there any biblical text that supports the claim that God and Jesus directed the creation and transmission of ‚the Bible‘ so that it should be available to us accurately and unadulterated? Have you read anywhere in the Gospels that Jesus instructed his disciples to write down his words? But if there are no such texts, we should not claim this about the Bible or God or Jesus and oblige them to do so. Otherwise they might one day ask us: Why do you say such things? Why are you complaining that it wasn’t like that? Where did I ever promise you that?

In fact, one book of the New Testament says something along these lines: the Apocalypse according to John.

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

Revelation 21:5 NIV

Does that sound like the New Testament should be published in book form? We mustn’t forget that it was only written around the year 100 AD. Some of the other writings had already been around for many decades. There are similar formulations in the Old Testament.

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”

Exodus 34:27 NIV

“Woe to the obstinate children,” declares the LORD… Go now, write it on a tablet for them, inscribe it on a scroll, that for the days to come it may be an everlasting witness.

Isaiah 30:1,8 NIV

Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you.

Jeremiah 30:2 ESV

In the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was among the exiles by the River Kebar, the heavens opened and I saw visions of God. On the fifth day of the month—it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin— the word of the LORD came directly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeansb by the River Kebar. And there the LORD’s hand was upon him.

Hesekiel 1:1-3 BSB

But as for you, Daniel, keep these words secret and seal up the book until the end of time; many will roam about, and knowledge will increase

Daniel 12:4 NASB

So let us turn to Revelation. There we find the thought even several times:

On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”

Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.

To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: …

To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: …

To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: …

To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: …

To the angel of the church in Sardis write: …

To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: …

To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: …

hen I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”

Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

Revelation 1:10,11,19;2:1;2:8,12,18;3:1,7,14;14:13;19:9;21:5 NIV

But also the opposite:

And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down.”

Revelation 10:4 NIV

In conclusion, Revelation goes on to say:

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. 19And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.

Revelation 22:18, 19 NIV

So we have what appears to be a somewhat surprising set of facts:

• In the first 26 books of the New Testament canon, there are 0 times when we are asked to write something down.
  
• In the last book of the New Testament canon, there are 12 times to write down and 1 time not to.

However, this difference is actually quite natural.

The first 4 books of the New Testament are the Gospels. These do not speak of Jesus being commissioned to write them down. In Luke we find in the introduction the reason that this gospel was written:

Many have undertaken to compose an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by the initial eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught..

Luke 1:1-4 BSB

The decision came here therefore according to own statement not from God, but from the writer himself.

After that comes the book of Acts:

In my first book, O Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach, …

Acts 1:1 BSB

So the same is true for the Acts of the Apostles. Then come 21 letters – those to specific assemblies and general letters. It is in the nature of a letter that it is a written document. Voice mail did not exist at that time. However, none of the letters say that God commissioned it.

Finally comes the Apocalypse of John. The Greek word from which Apocalypse – and also Revelation – comes, literally means „to reveal, to uncover“. Here the writer emphasizes from the first verse that the content is not his:

The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Revelation 1:1,2 NIV

In fact, there are no direct quotations from the Old Testament in John’s Apocalypse. But it is extensively referred to, linguistically as well as in content. And not too scarce, as one can read in Michael S. Heiser’s 300 pages (John’s Use of the Old Testament in the Book of Revelation):

Revelation is thus the only part of the New Testament in which the commission was given to write down the text or vision and thus communicate it to others. This is completely in the tradition of the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel and typical for the apocalyptic text type, which is already found in Isaiah, Zechariah, Daniel. Already the introduction of the revelation with its time indication resembles passages in Ezekiel or Daniel.

In Revelation 1:11, John is even directly instructed to write down what he saw in a book and send it to the 7 churches. Did this mean the literal churches? The 7-fold request to write to the angel in … is odd there. How do you write a book to an angel? Or is it meant symbolically? We are already in the middle of the difficult exegesis of Revelation.

The real question in part 2 of this series on the canon of the New Testament was, however, whether it contains a statement that the New Testament would be transmitted safely and unaltered.

This is already refuted by Revelation 22:18, 19 itself:

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.

Revelation 22:18, 19 NIV

Why else would anyone have to be threatened with punishment who would leave out or add something? If an unadulterated tradition of God and Jesus had been guaranteed, this could not have happened at all! But since it could happen, then we should check whether it has happened. And if so, to what extent.

First century believers were repeatedly told to check everything to see if it was from God. They could not just pick up ‚their Bible‘ and have a perfect, reliable text that contained only exactly what God had written down for them.

On the other hand, we have seen that Peter and Paul understood by ’scriptures‘ the text of the Jewish Bible. And this text was still well enough handed down, so that from it was quoted to proclaim the gospel.

Let us return once again to the statement about the Bible that we talked about in the first part of this series. There we have to delete a first part of the sentence:

„The Bible is God’s Word, the Holy Scriptures, fully inspired by God and thus containing exactly what God intended. It has been preserved for us to this day exactly as the Bible itself says so, every book, paragraph, sentence, word, comma and period.“

Don’t panic about it now. We will look at other statements in the course of the series that only offer a deceptive hold. And replace these with solid statements. After all, the scriptures do contain some interesting statements about themselves, as we will see in the next part.

From Christian

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A child is watching you read and asks, „What are you reading?“ „The Bible“ „And what is the Bible?“ „Well this book here.“

Well, your copy is probably not as old as this one. What else might a child ask you?

• What does it say?
• Who wrote it?
• How old is it?

For the first question, we might answer with some child-friendly incidents or parables.

With the second question, we may already notice that it becomes more difficult than with other books where the author is written on the cover. If we say, „The Bible was written by God,“ the child – and I admit he’s a pretty bright kid – might ask, „Can God write on paper?“ „Yes, he sort of did at one time. But most of it was written by people.“ „I thought God wrote it.“ „Yes, but he had people write it down then.“ „And how does that work.“ Now it’s your turn to explain inspiration. „He put it into them.“ „How does that work?“ We realize that this is not as simple as we thought. „And did only one person write it? Or were there more?“ I guess there’s still a lot of explaining to do.

„And then has there been only one book? Is it this one?“ „Initially yes, no, it’s complicated. Actually, in the beginning there was no book at all. And strictly speaking, it’s not a book at all, it’s a collection of writings.“ „But you said it was a book.“ „Yes, that’s what we call it. But, after all, it took well over a thousand years to write.“ „So one started, and the others kept writing more pages?“ We could go on and on with this story. At some point, the topic of language and translations will come up. And then who compiled these things – and that brings us to the canon of the Christian scriptures.

And maybe we ask ourselves at some point how we know that the text we have in front of us is from God and that we have it exactly as He wants it. Nothing more, nothing less, right? At least that is what we should ask ourselves when we build our faith and our lives on this foundation.

I know that some people would like to stop now. It won’t be boring, I can promise you. But perhaps we feel an uneasiness, an underlying fear that a foundation of our faith is being shaken. And that can be frightening. And it may well be that some of the facts we are going to talk about are uncomfortable for you at first. I felt the same way. But it’s like when a dentist checks your tooth with something cold. Here is pain times something good: you know the nerve in the tooth is still alive. And if it hurts a little bit at first in the course of this series, it’s something like that: as far as your faith is concerned, there’s still life in it.

Why such a review of the foundation of our faith is so important becomes clear from a parable of Jesus:

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

(Matthew 7:24-27 NIV)

Jesus wanted to explain why it is necessary to act accordingly. But it also applies to the foundations of our faith: If the foundation is not solid, the whole faith building can collapse. And anyone who has experienced how their own faith building can collapse because much of it was made up of the teachings of men might even lose their faith altogether if the foundation is poor.

The Bible is the foundation of our faith, isn’t it? And what about the tradition through the centuries by the church? Already we have another interesting question. And just as one person would spontaneously reject this, another may take it for granted – and many have probably given it little thought. But all this is unconsciously our context with which we read the Bible. Let us summarize some of these – partly unconscious – convictions in one sentence:

„The Bible is God’s Word, the Holy Scriptures, fully inspired by God and thus containing exactly what God intended. It has been preserved for us to this day exactly as the Bible itself says so, every book, paragraph, sentence, word, comma and period.“

In this series, we want to examine these statements on the basis of the text of the Bible and historical facts. In doing so, we will not simply question things or sow doubts, but look for a stable, robust foundation based on facts. It will always be about concrete questions, which we will examine very concretely in order to find concrete answers, even if these are sometimes not as simple as we might prefer.

This is also important because some claims about the Bible and God do not stand up to the facts and this is then blamed on the Bible or God – even though the claim does not come from God and is not found in the Bible. This only brings the Bible or God unnecessarily into disrepute.

First, let’s start with a basic observation: When you read your Bible, are you reading exactly what God said or had written down? How many assumptions are already involved in this consideration? Are you aware of everything that stands between God and the text you are reading?

The diagram here is to illustrate all that lies between God’s thoughts or purposes and the text you read in your Bible:

• Partly oral tradition as in parts of the ‚old testament‘ or the gospels.
• The scribe, that is, a person who received or formed and wrote down words and sentences – the autographs.
• Those who copied the autographs and made copies of the copies.
• Those who, over many decades, established the canon of the Bible, that is, which writings are included in ‚the Bible‘.
• Different manuscripts that have differences.
• The texts were written in different cultures and languages that are thousands of years old.
• The texts from the various, different manuscripts were translated from another language and culture into your language. Different translations contain different wording.
• You have your own cultural background and understanding of the language in which you read the Bible.

All this and more must be taken into account and considered when we read the Bible in our language today.

„But surely God has directed this so that the Bible has been accurately handed down to us.“ Isn’t that part of the statement I presented earlier? But perhaps you have the fear that was expressed in a comment on my video The Last Generation. In the video I had said that the part in Matthew 24:3 which is not mentioned in Mark and Luke was probably not in the autograph for good reasons. A comment then was:

„To claim that this so-called addition, „…which is the sign of your coming and the end of the world time“, that this should not be genuine, is not only daring but also very dangerous. …

4. because this thought game, instills a spirit of uncertainty that threatens to destroy faith in the authenticity of the Holy Scriptures. What is there to doubt in the Bible, what is genuine, etc.?! If we are no longer sure that the Word of God has been faithfully handed down to us, then this is a very dangerous path we are taking. We then doubt the authenticity of the Word of God and also that God would not be able to preserve His written Word until today.“

Part of a commentary on the YouTube video The Last Generation

I fully understand this fear, because I had it too. And so have many others in the last centuries. That’s why we don’t want to do a ‚mind game that instills a spirit of uncertainty‘ now. But rather to examine the facts in order to find a secure foundation on stone. And that is exactly what we will find. It may be that this thought instills too much fear in you at the moment. But ignoring and denying won’t help. Maybe later you will find the stability to address this issue.

In the next part of the series, we will first let the text of the Bible itself speak.