This week we are in part two of our apologetics’ evidence for the Bible, focusing on the transmission over time. Since we are making a case for the New Testament we will look more closely at those books, but it is impossible to separate out the Old Testament, so we will include some of the basic transmission information for those books as well. It is important, as a Christian, to remember that the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed; and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed!

Overview Notes from the Presentation

HOW WAS THE BIBLE TRANSMITTED OVER TIME?

Transmission of the Bible:

The Christian Bible consists of an Old Testament (39 books) and a New Testament (27 books).
The Old Testament covers the period of time from creation to about four hundred years before the birth of Jesus.
The New Testament covers a very short period of time that begins with the birth of Jesus through the beginning of the Church, all during the first century AD/CE

Note: CE for “Common Era” and BCE for “Before Common Era” have now replaced AD and BC in academic literature

Old Testament Transmission:

The Tanakh:

The Jewish Bible (Tanakh) contains all of the same books that we have in the Old Testament (39), just in a different grouping and order
These books have long been accepted as God’s Word by Jewish Scribes and historians, and are categorized as the Torah, the writings, and the prophets
In our Christian Bible we categorized them as the books of Moses, history books, books of wisdom and poetry, and the books of the prophets

The Septuagint:

This is the Greek translation and name for the Old Testament
The Septuagintwas the first translation of the Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament into Greek ( 300-200 BC/BCE), and this would have been the Scriptures Jesus read from in the first century AD/CE
It is the translation used by the early Jews and Christian through the second century AD/CE

Massoretic text:

The Masoretes were Jewishscribe-scholars between the 6th and 10th centuries AD/CE, based primarily in present-day Israel in the cities of Tiberias and Jerusalem, as well as in Iraq (Babylonia)
The Old Testament we have today has been translated mainly from this text family
It differs from the Septuagint mainly in grammar, spelling, and in some places word order

Dead Sea Scrolls:

These scrolls were discovered in 1947 in the Qumran Caves of the West Bank, about a mile north of the Dead Sea
The DSS contain all of the Old Testament books (with the exception of Esther), and close the one-thousand-year gap, quieting the skeptics
This discovery also helped confirm the prophecies in the Old Testament, fulfilled by Jesus, were not added or altered after the time of Christ but in fact was there centuries before his birth

Watch Josh McDowell’s short presentation on the Dead Sea Scrolls:

Scribal Copying Rules
A Few examples

Each scroll must contain a specific number of columns, all equal throughout the entire book
Each column’s length must not be less than 48 lines or more than 60
Each column’s breadth must be exactly 30 letters
The copyist must use a specially prepared black ink
The space between every consonant must be the size of a thread
The copyist must sit in full Jewish dress
The copyist must use a fresh quill to pen the sacred name of God
The copyist could copy only letter by letter not word by word
The copyist counted the number of times each letter of the alphabet occurred in each book
The copyist knew the middle letter of the Pentateuch and of the entire Old Testament
After copying the copyist counted forward and backward from the middle letter
The copyist must count all letters and spaces
The copyist must not be interrupted, even if the King walked in, they could not stop
Each manuscript would be compared and read out-loud before the people
Any mistake in any area would require the copyist to burn the copy, or tear it up, and start over

New Testament Transmission:

Let’s start with evidence that most scholars agree on:

New Testament documents are considered primary eyewitness accounts, not secondary, because they were written in the first century during the time people involved were alive to confirm or dispute the events

The writings of the New Testament were immediately copied and widely dispersed throughout the Roman Empire and beyond (see the book of Acts) thus eliminating time for changes, forgeries, or embellishments

We have over 25,000 early New Testament manuscripts and fragments in five different document families from ancient Christian communities, dating as early as the second century, and most of these documents can be viewed in various libraries, museums, and churches around the world

Scholars find a 5% agreement between these early manuscripts with variations stemming mainly from differences in spelling, grammar, word order, and minor deletions or additions (noted in modern Bible footnotes)—none of which effects any doctrine of the Christian faith

Watch J. Warner Wallace on the importance of the New Testament Chain of Custody:

How we got the New Testament documents from the Apostles to Canonization:

The Chain of Custody

Mark/Apostle Peter AD 50	Apostle Paul AD 50-60	Apostle John AD 70-90
Anianum AD 75	Linus AD 70	Ignatious AD 110 (7-16 books) Polycarp AD 110 (14-16 books)
Avilius AD 95	Clement of Rome AD 95 (7 books)	Irenaeus AD 185 (24 books)
Kedron AD 100 Primus AD 115	Evaristus AD 100 Alexander AD 110	Hippolytus AD 220 (24 books)
Justus AD 130	Sixtus AD 120 Telesphorus AD 130 Hyginus AD 135
Pantaenus AD 195	Pius 1 AD 150 Justin Martyr AD 160 (5 books) Tatian AD 175 (20 books)
Clement of Alexandria AD 210 (22 books)
Origin AD 250 (27 books)
Pamphilus AD 300 Eusebius AD 335 (27 books)

Note: Next we will look at the canonization process in part three of our apologetics’ presentation…

Reflection: Memorization Practice

To practice your memorization skills, and to improve your Biblical knowledge, practice memorizing the following things…

Review the Ministry Statement’s four focus points for your Christian Walk (from the “Class Introduction” post). Reflect on how you think you are doing in each area, or how you might make improvements.
Recite, and practice memorizing in order to tell the story, the 15 points for the Bible’s Big Picture from our previous post.
Recite, and practice memorizing the 27 books of the New Testament, in order by their categories.

Bible Study

(Review answers will be posted during the week so you can have a “leader’s guide” for your own studies)

Always remember to pray before you study and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you and lead you into the truth found in God’s Word – pray for protection from the evil one who will try to discourage, distract and deceive us when we commit to growing closer to the LORD.

NOTE: Questions are taken directly from the chapters, and answers should be found and cited from the Scripture text in order to be Biblically accurate (unless asked to summarize in your own words). Study Bibles, commentaries and your own thoughts can be used for “Discussion” or “Going Deeper” questions.

Read Acts chapter 10 then, to the best of your ability, answer the following questions:

Peter and Cornelius, the first Gentile convert

1. Read Chapter 10:1-23 with your table group

In the first part of this chapter both Cornelius and Peter have visions:

a. Who was Cornelius and what can we know about him and his job?

b. Describe what happened in Cornelius’ vision.

c. What happened in Peter’s vision? Discuss: How do we know these visions were from God?

d. Going Deeper: Why did Peter consider the food presented in his vision as unholy or unclean? Site Old Testament Scripture that the Jews would have referred to.

2. Read Chapter 10:24-48 with your table group

In this part of the chapter Peter goes to Caesarea (a Gentile area):

a. What happened when Peter met Cornelius; how did Peter respond and why (24-33)?

b. How many times in Peter’s speech to the Gentiles (34-48), is the word “witness” or some form or action of that word, used and how? What was the result of Peter’s speech (47-48)?

c. Discuss: Why do you think the word “witness or eyewitness” is an important apologetic to share with skeptics, or those who question the reliability of the Bible, in our culture today?

d. Discuss: Write down and share two or three things that you think are important to remember about chapter ten.

Join us next week as we continue our “Case for the New Testament” and a study in Acts!

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You will not find this material in the public school curriculum even though it is based on solid evidence and grounded in research. It is ironic that following the evidence to where it leads stops at the door of our public schools as they will not let a “Divine footprint” in! Join us as we examine evidence for Christianity and learn how to become a thoughtful defender and ambassador of your faith.

Click into the resource page of this website to view many of the top Christian thinkers and apologists along with some of their work; connecting to these types of resources is essential in your Christian growth.

Please let me know what you think: Give feedback, ask questions or send concerns in the comment section of the blog.

Teri Dugan

TeriDugan@truthfaithandreason.com

1 Peter 3:15