The Bible Nerd

It is 1947, World War II has just ended and Israel has not yet become a modern nation.  A couple of Bedouin boys are watching over their flock near the Dead Sea.  One little animal wanders off, and one of the Bedouins ventures into the hills to look for it.  Instead of finding the animal, he finds a cave.  There are no Ipods, handheld gaming devices, or other ways to amuse yourself out in the wilderness.  So, he does what any normal boy would do; he picks up a rock and throws it into the cave.  I am not sure why boys love throwing rocks, but with three sons, I have learned to accept it as a force of nature.  As the rock sails into the cave, he hears the sound of a pot smashing.

Curious now, the boy climbs into the cave to investigate, and finds he has smashed an old pot that has parchment inside.  Every Bedouin knows that if you find something that looks old in the wilderness of Israel, that someone will give you some cash for it in Jerusalem.  Bummed that his treasure is only paper, he still takes some and shows his family.  Eventually the parchment makes its way into Jerusalem and to someone who can identify what they are.  Many Bedouins would later claim to have made the find, and the story varies on how they were discovered.  One thing is for certain, they were identified as ancient copies of the Hebrew Old Testament.  Once they figured out how old they were, the race was on to find more.  Eventually, multiple caves were found with hundreds of parchments.  Every Old Testament book was found except for Esther (and some argue about Nehemiah).  In addition, there were scrolls found with commentary and community writings from whoever made these copies.

Although most copies didn’t survive whole, this was a major find for Biblical studies.  The oldest Hebrew copies of the Old Testament before this dated around 900 A.D.  We know these as the Masoretic text, and it is the foundational copy used for our Old Testament today.  That is at least 1,300 years after the last book of the Bible claims to be written, and over 2,000 years from the events of the Exodus (don’t even get me started on the date of the Exodus).  Most liberal scholars and doubters had used this time span to say that the Bible (Old Testament here) was completely unreliable.  Imagine how many changes have happened as it was copied over thousands of years.  You simply can’t trust that it has stayed the same.

The oldest of the Dead Sea Scrolls dated to around 250 BC, while most were from 150 BC to 70 AD.  This means that they were over 1,000 years older than any Old Testament copy that we currently had!  It was time to see how much the Bible had changed over the years.  Many of the Dead Sea Scroll copies of Bible books were nearly identical to the Masoretic copies!  Over 1,000 years and no significant changes!  Of course, some of the copies had some differences such as missing verses, but there were no theological contradictions to the content of the Masoretic text (not including the extra Biblical texts).  It is not uncommon to find variant readings considering the sheer number of copies found.  Only later would the Masoretes institute rigorous procedures to insure no changes were made when copying.

The fact that so many were found nearly identical tells us that we can trust the transmission of the Bible over thousands of years to us.  Instead of the Bible getting less accurate over time, it is getting more evidence that confirms its integrity while helping translators get each passage correct.  The story of the find only serves to show God’s sovereign hand over the process, as we realize that those scrolls had been there undiscovered for about 1,800 years!  A bedouin kid just happens to throw a rock into the exact cave at just the right angle, speed, and velocity to break the pot?  I believe God wanted them found to bless the church and bolster our faith.

I had a chance to see the great Isaiah scroll when I was in Israel.  In the darkened environment of the museum there in Jerusalem, you almost feel like you should hold your breath while looking at it.  Knowing it was written in 150 BC, surviving for 2,000 years in some cave near the Dead Sea, I could feel my faith growing as I walked along the display case.  God is way cool.

It always comes up eventually when you are talking about the Bible with someone doesn’t believe in its inspiration.  Don’t you know that there are contradictions in the Bible?  (as in, are you that big of a moron to not know that the book you base your life on has contradictions???)  If they have really looked into this, or if they know a few just to annoy people, they will pull out several passages that they think show the contradictions.  This is different from the disputed passages that we talked about in Mark or manuscript disagreement.  This is when people say that they Bible has two Scriptures that flat out contradict each other.  One of the biggest targets in this tends to be the Gospels.

I will grant that Gospel harmonization can be as fun as an ingrown toenail, as each author may have some or little concern for chronology.  With four different authors having four different audiences with different needs, you end up with each Gospel having unique passages, features, and structure.  Since they all cover Jesus life and ministry, of course there are overlaps when the authors tell the same stories or teachings.  I won’t even start with all the fun of which Gospel came first and who copied from who.  The Gospel tradition and synoptic question has been saturated with literary criticism to the point that reason and historical considerations are largely ignored.

Let me give you an example of one of these “contradictions”.  In Mark 5:1-20, Mark includes the story of Jesus casting the demons known as Legion out of the madman and into the pigs.  In his telling, there is only one man, and afterward, he asks to come with Jesus.  In Matthew’s version of the story however, Matthew 8:28-34 records that there are two demoniacs, not one.  This seems to be a trend with Matthew, as we compare the story of the blind man healed (Matt. 20:29-34).  In Mark 10:46-52 , there is again only one blind man who calls out to Jesus to heal him and his name is given as Bartimaeus.  In Matthew, there are two blind men who call out to Jesus.  What are we to make of the fact that Matthew seems to double the people in each story?

The doubters will point to this and call it a contradiction.  It is clearly the same story they say, but one of them must have the wrong number, especially as Luke 18:35-43 agrees with Mark as well.  A second possibility is that we are dealing with scribal error here.  As we discussed, we don’t have the autograph of Matthew, so perhaps an early scribe made a mistake in both places on the number.

However, there is nothing here that logically necessitates a contradiction.  The following are plausible and possible explanations: 1) we are dealing with two different stories.  Jesus healed many blind men, and one event could have occurred leaving Jericho, while the other occurred entering; 2) it is the same event but two Gospel writers only record one of the blind men, while Matthew notes that there were two (only one gives his name for example).

The bottom line is that the Gospel writers do choose to include different stories, teachings, and even details within shared stories.  While on appearance, these can seem like contradictions, when you apply logic, you can see that it is possible to harmonize the stories.  Teachers always use the illustration of witnesses at a trial, who all see the same event, but each remember different details (have to be careful with this comparison, as people often remember incorrectly, whereas Scripture is inspired and therefore different).

Another example is how the details of what happens after Jesus’ resurrection differ within the Gospels (Matt. 28 , Mk. 16, Luke 24).  Matthew records that the angel is sitting on the rock outside the tomb and never mentions that the women enter.  Mark says that after they entered, the women see one angel inside the tomb.  Luke takes Matthew’s place by doubling the angels to two of them (inside the tomb that is).  What the angels say in all three of these accounts is fairly similar.

Again, we could point to these as contradictions, believing only one to be right.  Yet, pesky logic comes at us again and these can be harmonized.  Matthew says the angel is sitting on the rock, but doesn’t say that is where he spoke to the women.  The angel could have moved or there could be an additional angel outside the tomb that Mark and Luke don’t mention.  Mark doesn’t mention that there are two angels inside the tomb, but there could have been and he choose to only mention the one who spoke.  Do you see where we are going here???

The bottom line is what angle are you coming at Scripture?  If you want to find contradictions, and don’t believe it is inspired, you find troubling passages.  If you believe in the inspiration of Scripture, you assume that there is no contradiction, and it must be our understanding or interpretation that is incorrect.  Logic should trump both of these.  If there is a possible solution, however unlikely it may seem, you have to leave that option open without sufficient evidence to overturn the witnesses.  Is it better to assume that God got the details wrong or that we aren’t smart enough to always figure it out?

Finally, we get to some Bible verses that actually will help answer the question about whether we can trust the Bible or not!  Some will immediately point out the lack of logic in that last statement.  Of course, the Bible is going to claim to be true, but that is like going into court with only yourself as a witness.  If you don’t believe the Bible is true, then these verses have no impact whatsoever.  Kind of a slippery slope here.  And yes, I know that most of us have heard the first verse a thousand times, but that is because the 2 Timothy passage is absolutely foundational.  Just because we need additional witness (see the first post on this question), and we have heard it before, we still need to start here.

Let’s get right to it.  Paul is writing what he thinks might be his last letter to Timothy, facing imminent execution in Rome.  He is passing on his ministry to Timothy, and is reaffirming key teaching he has given to him.  In 3:16, he says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”  First, we must establish here that “Scripture” to Paul is what we know today as the Old Testament.  When we talk about the canon later, it will be clear that by Paul’s day, the Hebrew canon was well established.  The Greek word translated as “breathe” here is translated as “inspired” in other translations.  The connection is to Genesis 2:7 when God created man and “breathed” life into him.  Just as God created life in man, so He has created Scripture to communicate with mankind.

The next step comes in 2 Peter 3:15-16, as Peter is addressing how false teachers are twisting both the Old Testament (Scriptures) and the letters of Paul.  Here is how explains it, “just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.”  Even Peter, the rock of the church, admits that there are hard things to understand in Paul’s letters!  That makes me feel better about Romans 9 – 11.  What I want to point out is that I see Peter equating Scripture with Paul’s writing (in bold). Peter is writing this around 64 AD, and as a leader of the church, he is clearly communicating that Paul’s writings are already considered as “Scripture”.

The Old Testament is pretty clear about how serious the Hebrews took calling something the Word of God.  Deuteronomy 18:20 states, “But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.”  That seems like they are taking this seriously.  I know this is about prophets, but you need to understand that Moses the prophet wrote the Pentateuch, Joshua through Kings is called the former prophets, and Isaiah to Malachi is called the latter prophets (Daniel is actually placed among the Writings).  So, Jews considered the writers of the Old Testament as prophets as they were communicating the message and words of God (their definition was obviously more broad than ours today).  By the way, I am not advocating stoning anyone to death if they don’t believe in the Bible. Not cool.

Revelation 22:18-19 says, “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.”  Just like the Old Testament, the New Testament books also show us how God sees these books and letters.  They were given a status above and beyond any other writings of Israel or the church.  They were considered trustworthy, authoritative, and sacred.  God Himself spoke them through the authors so that man might know who God is, and what His redemptive plan set out to accomplish in Christ.

Now it is time for a personal, Bible nerd tick.  I can’t write in Bibles without feeling wrong, guilty, or outright sacrilegious.  I don’t stand on Bibles or feel right if they are on the floor.  I can’t stand seeing a page of the Bible get folded or crumpled.  I know, I know, I have Bible OCD.  To me though, the Bible is a special, priceless object containing the very words of God.  I don’t give a rip whether it has a calf skin cover (cows can thank me later), gold leaf letters, or the words of Jesus in red, but holding something in my hands that is God breathed just gets to me.  How about you?

As a teacher, sometimes you have to start by showing people things that they might not want to see, and could end up making them feel very uncomfortable.  No, I am not talking about old pictures of me when I had a perm like Kirk Cameron.  I am speaking of things in the Bible that we would rather not see and just pretend that they are not there.  Before discussing Biblical inerrancy, there are two passages of Scripture that I have to show you.  You can thank me later.

Mark 16 starts off with a bang, as the women go to the tomb after Jesus’ crucifixion only to discover that Jesus isn’t there! He has risen!  Verse 8 leaves us on the edge of our seat, waiting to see what happens next, “And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”  Unfortunately, what follows after that is rather odd.  Most modern translations have the following messages either above the text or in the footnotes below:

Some of the earliest manuscripts do not include 16:9–20.  Some manuscripts end the book with 16:8; others include verses 9–20 immediately after verse 8. At least one manuscript inserts additional material after verse 14; some manuscripts include after verse 8 the following: But they reported briefly to Peter and those with him all that they had been told. And after this, Jesus himself sent out by means of them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation. These manuscripts then continue with verses 9–20.

I used to love a series of books when I was a kid called Choose Your Own Adventure, where you could make choices while reading the book that changed the ending of the story.  I am not sure how comfortable I am with the end of a Gospel being turned into a Choose Your Ending to the Life of Jesus.  Wait, it gets better.  In Samuel 13:1, it seems like the author wants to tell us how old Saul was when he began his kingship and how long he reigned.  Here is how it reads in one translation, “Saul was ___ years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel _____ two years.”  Yes folks, some people’s Bibles actually come with fill in the blanks, literally.  Here is what your footnote says about this verse:

As in a few Greek manuscripts; the number is missing in the Hebrew.  Hebrew reigned . . . and two; the number is incomplete in the Hebrew.

So, the translators are basically telling you that the Hebrew manuscript is missing the numbers that would be needed to understand this sentence, so they have filled it in based on other Scriptures or a few Greek manuscripts.  That makes me feel better. Why do I start out with these two passages?  Any discussion on Biblical inerrancy must begin with an admission that we must separate inerrancy of the autographs from the transmission through manuscripts.  Say what, Bible nerd?  Autograph is a fancy way of saying the original letter or scroll that the actual author wrote; for example the original copy of the letter that Paul sent to the church of Galatia.  Transmission through manuscripts is how it has been copied through the years and passed on to us today.

If we hold to the first tenant of Biblical inerrancy, then we believe that the autographs were without any errors or mistakes.  Unfortunately, as of today, we have exactly ZERO autographs.  Some of the New Testament copies are very close to the original time of writing, but are still copies of copies at best.  The other fact that we have to acknowledge is that Bible translators make decisions that affect the meaning of Scripture.  For example, Isaiah 7:14 reads in the ESV, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” However, if you look up this same verse in a NRSV Bible, it says, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.”

Hmm…. This is a pretty important verse in the Bible since it is a prediction of the virgin birth of Jesus which is quoted in the New Testament.  So, should it be “virgin” or “young woman/maiden”?  Even the NASB puts “or maiden” in the footnote, even though it chooses “virgin” for the actual verse.  Of course, hordes of Protestants ditched the NRSV for decisions like this, but it shows you that we are not talking about inerrancy of a TRANSLATION at this point either (more fun on that later).  As dear as that old King James Bible might be to many, there were even more manuscript questions back then as fewer ancient manuscripts had been unearthed.

Just cut to the chase already and tell us if the Bible has mistakes or not already!  All we can conclude from this post is that we have to begin with deciding if the autographs were without error or not.  As a preview, I will say that I believe that the autographs were without error based on two Scriptures we will discuss more in the next post, 2 Timothy 3:16 and 2 Peter 3:15-16.  Until then…

I guess it makes sense the main question that I get asked as a Bible teacher is, “Can you really trust the Bible?  Is it really all true?”  If you can’t make this decision, all of the posts I have written up until now are pretty much useless.  Seriously.  Of course, we can take the approach of many post moderns and New Age’ers today, and say that it doesn’t matter if it is true or not.  As long as it helps you in your own spiritual journey, that is all that is important.  However, if you are trying to decide what to do with your life, or which lifestyle is best, that may not cut it for you.

It used to be in the old days (aka the 70’s and 80’s), that there was only one approach to this question.  You either believed in the whole Bible or you didn’t believe in it at all.  The classic Creation versus evolution debate was the quintessential example of this black and white way of looking at things.  All the hard core Evangelical fundamentalists (like Falwell) and equally hard core atheists (Hitchens) were born out of this era of the debate.  There was a feeling that science and religion were ultimately not compatible.  You have to give it to post moderns though (especially those in the Emergent Church movement) in that they want to provide a space for everyone and their own personal views.  It is cool now to believe in PARTS of the Bible, while rejecting others.  This buffet approach to the Bible has drawn in some, while for others it has only pushed them farther to defining a conservative view of Biblical inerrancy.

I am not sure which view is more dangerous:  the one where people instantly assume that the Bible isn’t true and is just a story book of legends and myths with no historical value, or the one where people see the Bible on equal ground with the Koran and writings of Eastern religion holding guidance without dogma.  For the next few weeks, we are going to be discussing this question of whether we can trust the Bible or not, but we must begin with the more foundational question of CAN we prove that the Bible is true.  My answer may shock you, but intellectually and only relying on human wisdom, we CAN’T prove that the Bible is true.  I am not saying that all of Josh McDowell’s work and that of other great apologetics masters is a waste of time, but no matter how many volumes they write, it isn’t sufficient to prove that the Bible is true.

Paul, who was a brilliant in his apologetics, never shied away from this truth.  To the wisdom loving Greeks of Corinth he wrote, “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling,and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”  (1 Cor. 2:2-5) Paul believed that the truth of the Gospel (therefore Scripture itself) rested not on the wisdom alone, but also upon the power of God.  This power was manifested through the miracles of the Holy Spirit, like healing and prophecies. He resisted being drawn into the Greeks thirst for argument, debate, and rhetoric, even in light of being compared to the eloquence of Apollos.

To the Galatians, Paul writes, “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:1-3)  Paul goes on to talk about the miracles that the Galatians witnessed, and though this is speaking about the dangers of legalism, it also fits into my point about the truth of God being confirmed by the power of the Holy Spirit.

In other words, we need to STOP trying to prove that the Bible is true through history, archaeology, reason, apologetics, and logic alone.  These things have value and we will discuss them in the next posts, but they are not sufficient.  As Paul tells two churches, it is the power of God as manifested through the Spirit that was meant to bring people to belief in the Gospel, and therefore the Bible which professes it.  No, don’t think that I am getting Mormon on you, “Just take the book, and the “light” will show you that the words are true.”  I still remember that line from a Mormon who kept insisting that if I just took the book, God would reward me with enlightenment to it’s authority.

I am simply saying that it is a combination of both truth and Spirit that bring confirmation of the Bible, which is ultimately then an act of faith.  Acts of the Spirit can be interpreted as random acts or ones with a natural explanation.  It takes faith to believe that the God of the Gospel story is the One behind the miracle.  So before we dive into the details of topics like Biblical inerrancy, transmission of manuscripts, supposed contradictions of the Bible, and other such issues, we must remember that it is the power of the Spirit working in people’s lives that ultimately confirms the truth of the Bible and who God is.  Thank God for this, because it if is just up to us, we tend to muck things up pretty quickly.  In our next post, we will talk about what Biblical inerrancy means, especially when it comes to fun passages like 1 Samuel 13:1.