The Bible Story: Is the Old Testament Reliable? (Deuteronomy 6:1-2; 2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Series: The Bible Story

Sermon: Is the Old Testament Reliable?

Scripture: Deuteronomy 6:1-2 and 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Date: November 4, 2018

 

Now this is the commandment, and these are the statues and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, that you may fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statues and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.  (Deuteronomy 6:1-2)

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

"The Bible is a unique book.  It is one of the oldest books in the world, and yet it is still the world's bestseller.  Tyrants have burned the Bible, and believers revere it.  It is the most quoted, the most published, the most translated, and the most influential book in the history of humankind."  -Norman Geisler

Now this is the commandment, and these are the statues and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, that you may fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statues and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.  (Deuteronomy 6:1-2)

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

...and consider that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation - as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.  (2 Peter 3:15-16)

"The Bible is inspired in the sense that Spirit-moved men wrote God-breathed words that are divinely authoritative for Christian faith and practice."  -Norman Geisler

The Gentiles' interest in the Jewish scripture was not historical or to become a Jew.  It was Christological; their interest was in Jesus.

Ex: Th shrmp nd crwfsh wr dlcs.

Scholars had Hebrew fragments (or even large samples, and a complete copy of Isaiah) of books of the Old Testament that dated from 250-65 BC.

All the texts of our Old Testament were at Qumran (Dead Sea scrolls) except Esther.

"God inspired the books, the original people of God recognized and collected them, and later believers categorized the canonical (official) books according to the overall unity they perceived in them."  -Norman Geisler

1. Was it written by a prophet of God?  Was the author directly called by God?
2. Did the writer have credentials from God?
3. Did it tell the truth about God, man, etc.?
4. Did it possess the life-transforming power of God?
   • All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.  (2 Timothy 3:16)
5. Was it received or accepted by the people of God for whom it was originally written?

According to Judaism, the canon (books accepted as inspired) was completed by about 400 BC.

Jesus and the New Testament writers assume a fixed canon in "the law and the prophets" that was considered "all the Scriptures" (Luke 24:27)

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself...  (Luke 24:27)

These books are called the Apocrypha.  The Apocrypha is comprised of non-biblical books that were (are) accepted by some but rejected by others.  The word "Apocrypha" means hidden, or doubtful.

Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.  I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.  For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.  (Matthew 5:17-18)

For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.  The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.  (Matthew 12:40-41)

But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.  For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.  (Matthew 24:37-39)

And He answered and said to them, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'?  So then, they are no longer two but one flesh.  Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate."  (Matthew 19:4-5)

There are other creation stories; they are not similar to Genesis.

The Hebrew people did not worship creation; they believed God had created them as the pinnacle of creation.

The debate today is not whether the universe had a beginning but was it a personal, purposeful beginning or a cosmic accident.

The Sinai covenant treated women, children, and the unfortunate, better than any civilization of that day.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.  He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.  He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare His generation?  For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of My people He was stricken.  And they make His grave with the wicked - but with the rich as His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.  (Isaiah 53:6-9)