Can We Count on the Bible? (2)

1
Can We Count on the Bible? (2)

• The Canon of the Old Testament

2
The Uniqueness of the Bible

• Unique in Unity
• Written over 1600 years
• By 40 authors including political leaders,
  fishermen, kings, shepherds, prisoners, etc.
• Written in palaces, wilderness, a dungeon,
  prison, traveling, etc.

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The Uniqueness of the Bible

• Unique in Unity
• Written during peace time and war
• Written on 3 continents Europe, Asia Africa
• Written in 3 languages Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek

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The Uniqueness of the Bible

• Unique in Unity
• YET, its message one of complete unity from one
  end to the other
• Genesis 3 records Paradise lost while Revelation
  21-22 records Paradise regained.

5
The Uniqueness of the Bible

• Unique in Circulation
• In 2002 (UBS statistics), complete Bible in 392
  languages, with portions in 2287 languages and
  dialects
• 1 Best seller of all times and at any time
• Between 1816 and 1992, more than 6 BILLION
  copies sold!

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The Uniqueness of the Bible

• Unique in its survival
• Its preservation treated with great care
• It has withstood persecutions and attempts to
  destroy it
• It has survived intense criticisms and assaults

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The Uniqueness of the Bible

• Unique in its influence
• NO book in all of history has had the influence
  of the Bible
• It influenced our founding documents and those of
  many nations.
• Jesus, the central figure of history AND the
  Bible
• 1 Pet. 123-25

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The Canon

• From Greek word, Kanon, which meant a reed. It
  came to mean a measuring rod and later described
  a standard.
• Canon The 66 books which comprise our Old and
  New Testaments

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The Old Testament Canon

• Old Testament is the forerunner and foundation of
  the N.T.
• We are no longer under Old Law Col. 214, Heb.
  87-13,
• Yet it is beneficial Rom. 154, 1 Cor. 1011, 2
  Pet. 119-21
• It is STILL the Word of God!

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The Old Testament Canon

• By 300 BC, all the OT books (we have) had been
  written, collected, revered, and recognized as
  official, canonical books. (Wilmington Bible
  Handbook)
• The apocryphal books were written after these
  and rejected about 100 AD by Jewish community

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The Old Testament Canon

• Deut. 3124-26, The Law placed beside the Ark of
  the Covenant. Remained there until captivity.
• Possibly carried into captivity (cf. Dan. 92)
• Returned after captivity (presence evident,
  including Ezra)

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The Old Testament Canon

• How Jews determined Canon
• The books accepted by the Jewish community
  originated over a period of approximately one
  thousand years. The first question regarding a
  writings acceptance was whether the book was
  written by a prophet of God. Generally the book
  would have statements such as, thus says the
  Lord, or the word of the Lord came.

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The Old Testament Canon

• How Jews determined Canon
• Second, miraculous signs or accuracy of
  fulfillment served as confirmation of a prophets
  message. Third, the book had to be internally
  consistent with the revelation of God found in
  the teachings of other canonical books,
  especially what God gave through Moses.
  Nelsons Illustrated Bible Commentary

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The Old Testament Canon

• The New Testament validates the Old Testament
• Scripture Matt. 2142, Lk. 421, Jn. 742,
  Jas. 223, etc.
• the Law 1 Cor. 1421 (cf. Isa. 2811-12).
  NOTE Law referred to portions other than
  Pentateuch.

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The Old Testament Canon

• New Testament validates the Old Testament
• Jewish leaders never questioned what Jesus quoted
  as Law (including the prophets psalms)

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The Old Testament Canon

• New Testament validates the Old Testament
• O.T. quoted in N.T.
• 343 direct quotes, 2,309 allusions verbal
  parallels. (USB Greek NT, 4TH edition)
• 24 of 27 NT books have OT quotes (except
  Philemon, 2 3 John)
• 24 of 39 OT books directly quoted in N.T.
• 34 of 39 quoted or alluded to (www.bible.ca)

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The Old Testament Canon

• Luke 2444, Law of Moses and the Prophets and
  the Psalms concerning Me.
• Jewish Canon consisted of 3 parts, totaling 24
  books.

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The Old Testament Canon
Jesus mentioned the 3 divisions of the Old
Testament, thus verifying it

• Luke 2444, Jewish O.T. consists of 3 parts
• Torah 5 books (Gen. Deut)
• Nevim 8 books (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings,
  Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel the Twelve)
• Kethuvim 11 books (Psalms, Job, Proverbs,
  Ruth, Song, Eccl., Lam., Esther, Daniel,
  Ezra-Neh., Chornicles)
• The 24 books correspond to our 39.

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The Old Testament Canon

• Matt. 2335 From the blood of righteous Abel to
  the blood of Zechariah.
• Does not mean the prophets form A-Z, either in
  English or Hebrew
• Also, chronologically, Zechariah not the last
  martyred prophet (see Jer. 2620-23 Urijah, 200
  years later)

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The Old Testament Canon

• Matt. 2335, Abel to Zechariah.
• Zechariahs death recorded in 2 Chron. 2420-22
• Chronicles is the LAST book of the Hebrew Canon.

Jesus verified the Hebrew Bible as the Word of God
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Truly what we have IS the word of God!

• Will you accept what it says?