Of Parchments and Papyrus – 2 Timothy 4:13 / 2 John 12
The Christian faith is built on a stool with three legs to it: The existence of God; the deity of Christ; the inspiration of the Bible.
The Christian faith stands or falls on the basis of those three legs. The Christian faith is true if we can prove beyond reasonable doubt that God exists; if we can prove beyond reasonable doubt that Jesus is the Son of God and our Savior; and if we can prove beyond reasonable doubt that the Bible is the mind of God written in human language.
Relative to the latter point, we want to focus for three days on the historical reliability of these New Testament documents. We have strong reason to believe the Bible is the mind of God in human language.
How reliable are our modern Bibles? Not the translations themselves but the Greek manuscripts on which our Bibles are based.
HOW WAS THE BIBLE WRITTEN?
Jesus promised His apostles that the Holy Spirit would guide them: 1.) in remembering everything He taught (John 14:26); 2.) into all truth; 3.) and show them things to come (John 16:13). Those three aspects of His promise of the Holy Spirit would cover the entire New Testament.
When Christians received letters from the apostles, they treated them as if they were letters from Jesus Himself… In 1 Thessalonians 2:13, Paul commends the Christians in Thessalonica because they received his message “as God’s message.” In 2 Thessalonians 2:15, Paul shows that his letters had equal authority with his preached message.
Do you don’t forget the day you had been consuming this medicine prescription for cialis purchase and so on. If, we talk about sexual disorder, it involves many things; as a factor to cause sexual mayhem in men. http://respitecaresa.org/event/15th-annual-celebration-love-children/ viagra 100 mg The http://respitecaresa.org/save-the-date-the-big-give-is-may-5-2015/ cheap 100mg viagra current treatments available for schizophrenia are medication; education about the disease; individual, group, or family therapy; hospitalization; support groups; vocational programs; day-treatments; and residential programs. Premature ejaculation is an embarrassing problem for men to talk about issues in the cialis samples bedroom. These letters written by the apostles were not intended only for the church who received the letter but the Holy Spirit anticipated all these letters being circulated among all the churches. In Colossians 4:16, Paul tells that congregation to read the letter he wrote the church in Laodicea and that congregation was to read this letter (Colossians). Compare 1 Thessalonians 5:27.
These letters that were being written by the apostles – including Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – were circulated, then, and being compiled together in the first century. Paul quotes from the Gospel of Luke both in 1 Timothy 5:18 and in 1 Corinthians 11:24-25. The apostle Peter makes a reference to Paul’s letters (plural) in 2 Peter 3:15-16. There is a clear reference to the “four Gospels” as a unit by 180 A. D. (Aland, 48).
WRITING MATERIALS:
Papyrus was used by the Egyptians dating back before the time of Moses, 3000 B. C. It was made from the papyrus plant that grew along the banks of the Nile River (cf. Job 8:11; Isaiah 18:2). Papyrus was used to make paper and it became the standard writing medium throughout Greek and Rome (see 2 John 12).
Paul, however, wrote on parchment as we see in 2 Timothy 4:13. Tradition says parchment was developed in the city of Pergamum – they are cognate words. Parchment and leather are from the same source but prepared differently.
One thing that I find fascinating is that the book (“codex”) apparently was a Christian invention, to compile all the inspired writings into one source. In the codex, sheets were placed together, folded in the middle, and then stitched together along the spine. The earliest existing manuscript of the New Testament is a codex.
The bottom line is: You can trust your Bible.
–Paul Holland
