New Testament
Can We Trust the Text?
05/09/21 Filed in: Authority
Can We Trust the Text? In this lesson we explore how we can have confidence in the text of the Bible. How do we know the text we possess accurately represents what was originally written? What major discovery lended strong support to our confidence in the text of the Old Testament? How did the Temple Library contribute to the preservation of the Old Testament text? What do we know about the oral and textual aspects of the early church? How do oral communities preserve their important information, such as their histories? What are some important things about the early church’s scribal structure that indicate a strong preservation of the text of the New Testament? Why was it virtually impossible for someone to intentionally corrupt the New Testament text? How many ancient manuscripts of the Old and New Testaments exist today? What is meant by the phrase “the tenacity of the text?” Why do the variations between our many manuscripts not prevent us from discovering what the original writings said? (64 min)Lesson 32: Review Questions
Lesson 32: Lesson Notes
Handout: Lesson Charts
Those Other Books
05/02/21 Filed in: Authority
Those Other Religious Texts In our last lesson we considered the concept of the biblical canon. But there are other books that some claim are authoritative religious texts, and some that ought to be in our Bible. What are we to think about all those other books? How can we know that the Bible we hold in our hands contains the right books? What are the three tests for reliability of any ancient text? Why do Protestant Christians not consider the Old Testament apocryphal books to be part of the canon? What are the two categories of New Testament apocryphal literature? What are the three “Cs” for determining the apostolic origin of a text? What are the Nag Hammadi texts, and why were they not included in the New Testament canon?Lesson 31: Review Questions
Lesson 31: Lesson Notes
Handout: The Old Testament Apocrypha