Class 2 from this series was used in GCT Episode 272.<\/p>\n
2
\n00:00:05,480 –> 00:00:08,119
\nword of God, and we say that
\nquite often. <\/p>\n
3
\n00:00:08,200 –> 00:00:11,960
\nAnd we quote Second Timothy 3
\nverse 16. <\/p>\n
4
\n00:00:11,960 –> 00:00:15,880
\nAll scripture is given by
\ninspiration of God, but have you<\/p>\n
5
\n00:00:15,880 –> 00:00:20,280
\never asked yourself the question
\nwhen you read Second Timothy 3, <\/p>\n
6
\n00:00:20,280 –> 00:00:22,840
\nverse 16?
\nWhat is all scripture? <\/p>\n
7
\n00:00:22,840 –> 00:00:25,720
\nAnd what did Paul mean when he
\nsaid that? <\/p>\n
8
\n00:00:26,080 –> 00:00:28,320
\nWas you referring to the Bible
\nthat we have in front of us <\/p>\n
9
\n00:00:28,320 –> 00:00:31,760
\nright now, or or something else,
\nor some other version of it? <\/p>\n
10
\n00:00:31,760 –> 00:00:35,840
\nAnd how do we know?
\nAnd if the Bible that we have in<\/p>\n
11
\n00:00:35,840 –> 00:00:39,640
\nfront of us really is fully
\ninspired by God, every single <\/p>\n
12
\n00:00:39,640 –> 00:00:43,480
\npart of it, then wouldn’t we
\nexpect that it should in some <\/p>\n
13
\n00:00:43,480 –> 00:00:46,160
\nway stand apart?
\nThat it should be unique and <\/p>\n
14
\n00:00:46,160 –> 00:00:49,680
\nspecial among all of the other
\nliterature in the world. <\/p>\n
15
\n00:00:49,680 –> 00:00:54,040
\nThat it should prove to us in
\nsome way that it truly is <\/p>\n
16
\n00:00:54,120 –> 00:00:57,520
\ninspired by God.
\nThat’s the purpose of this last <\/p>\n
17
\n00:00:57,520 –> 00:01:01,560
\nclass for today.
\nAnd the truth is that the Bible <\/p>\n
18
\n00:01:01,560 –> 00:01:03,800
\nis unique for a number of
\nreasons. <\/p>\n
19
\n00:01:03,800 –> 00:01:06,480
\nIt’s it’s unique because of its
\ncontinuity. <\/p>\n
20
\n00:01:07,760 –> 00:01:10,440
\nAs you may know, various books
\nin the Bible were written, <\/p>\n
21
\n00:01:10,440 –> 00:01:13,600
\nsometimes over 1000 years apart,
\nby very different authors and <\/p>\n
22
\n00:01:13,600 –> 00:01:16,840
\ndifferent cultures and societies
\nand different geographic parts <\/p>\n
23
\n00:01:16,840 –> 00:01:19,960
\nof the world.
\nAnd yet there’s this remarkable <\/p>\n
24
\n00:01:19,960 –> 00:01:22,440
\nconsistency throughout the whole
\nthing. <\/p>\n
25
\n00:01:23,200 –> 00:01:25,720
\nThe Bible is unique in its
\ncirculation. <\/p>\n
26
\n00:01:28,280 –> 00:01:32,160
\nBillions of copies have been
\nsold and circulated throughout <\/p>\n
27
\n00:01:32,160 –> 00:01:36,240
\nthe course of of human history.
\nAnd sometimes it might be said, <\/p>\n
28
\n00:01:36,240 –> 00:01:39,600
\nif a book is #1 on the
\nbestseller list, that that book <\/p>\n
29
\n00:01:39,600 –> 00:01:44,120
\noutsold the Bible.
\nAnd what’s it means if somebody <\/p>\n
30
\n00:01:44,120 –> 00:01:47,360
\nsays that is that it outsold the
\nBible that particular month. <\/p>\n
31
\n00:01:48,160 –> 00:01:50,760
\nBecause what notebook has ever
\ndone is touch the overall record<\/p>\n
32
\n00:01:50,760 –> 00:01:53,200
\nof sales and distribution for
\nthe Bible. <\/p>\n
33
\n00:01:53,840 –> 00:01:56,560
\nThe Bible is unique in its
\nnumber of translations, over <\/p>\n
34
\n00:01:56,560 –> 00:02:00,160
\n2200 translations into different
\nlanguages. <\/p>\n
35
\n00:02:00,760 –> 00:02:03,440
\nIt’s unique because of its
\nsurvival. <\/p>\n
36
\n00:02:04,520 –> 00:02:06,720
\nSome of the books we have,
\nespecially in the Old Testament,<\/p>\n
37
\n00:02:06,720 –> 00:02:10,199
\nhave survived for thousands of
\nyears and we have, as we’re <\/p>\n
38
\n00:02:10,199 –> 00:02:12,760
\ngoing to see at the end of this
\nclass, thousands of pieces of <\/p>\n
39
\n00:02:12,760 –> 00:02:18,000
\nmanuscript evidence.
\nAnd the similarity between all <\/p>\n
40
\n00:02:18,000 –> 00:02:21,560
\nof those thousands of of
\nmanuscripts is is remarkable, <\/p>\n
41
\n00:02:21,560 –> 00:02:24,560
\nespecially when you compare it
\nto all other ancient literature <\/p>\n
42
\n00:02:24,560 –> 00:02:28,600
\nthat we have out there.
\nBible’s unique and the influence<\/p>\n
43
\n00:02:28,600 –> 00:02:30,760
\nthat it’s had on on human
\nliterature. <\/p>\n
44
\n00:02:30,760 –> 00:02:34,240
\nSomebody once said that if you
\nwent to any major city in the <\/p>\n
45
\n00:02:34,240 –> 00:02:38,200
\nworld and you were to to destroy
\nall copies of the Bible, that <\/p>\n
46
\n00:02:38,200 –> 00:02:41,960
\nyou could then go to the the
\ncity library and recreate the <\/p>\n
47
\n00:02:41,960 –> 00:02:44,960
\nentire Bible just from quotes
\nfrom other pieces of literature <\/p>\n
48
\n00:02:44,960 –> 00:02:47,480
\nthat have quoted the Bible.
\nI don’t know if that’s true or <\/p>\n
49
\n00:02:47,480 –> 00:02:49,800
\nnot.
\nI suggest it’s probably largely <\/p>\n
50
\n00:02:49,800 –> 00:02:52,680
\ntrue.
\nAnd over and above that, the <\/p>\n
51
\n00:02:52,680 –> 00:02:57,040
\nBible is unique because of the
\ninfluence that it has had on <\/p>\n
52
\n00:02:57,040 –> 00:03:01,280
\ncivilization.
\nIt has very much guided the <\/p>\n
53
\n00:03:01,280 –> 00:03:06,040
\ncourse of human history.
\nWars have been fought. <\/p>\n
54
\n00:03:06,680 –> 00:03:09,000
\nMillions of lives have been
\nlost. <\/p>\n
55
\n00:03:09,840 –> 00:03:13,720
\nPeople have made decisions,
\nincredible decisions, terrible <\/p>\n
56
\n00:03:13,720 –> 00:03:17,640
\ndecisions based upon what is
\nwritten in these pages. <\/p>\n
57
\n00:03:19,280 –> 00:03:22,560
\nAnd so the subject for this last
\nclass is the development of the <\/p>\n
58
\n00:03:22,560 –> 00:03:27,320
\nBible Canon.
\nAnd that word, Canon, is one we <\/p>\n
59
\n00:03:27,320 –> 00:03:31,400
\ndon’t use too often today.
\nIt’s spelled Canon. <\/p>\n
60
\n00:03:31,400 –> 00:03:34,280
\nSo it’s not the same as, you
\nknow, the Canon that used to be <\/p>\n
61
\n00:03:34,280 –> 00:03:38,080
\nused in warfare and in the
\nEnglish, this word Canon, it <\/p>\n
62
\n00:03:38,080 –> 00:03:42,320
\ndidn’t come into use until at
\nleast a few 100 years after the <\/p>\n
63
\n00:03:42,320 –> 00:03:45,880
\nend of the last of the New
\nTestament books were written. <\/p>\n
64
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\nAnd when it did finally come
\ninto the English language, it <\/p>\n
65
\n00:03:49,880 –> 00:03:52,280
\ncame into the English language
\nactually specifically to <\/p>\n
66
\n00:03:52,280 –> 00:03:55,840
\ndescribe the Bible itself and
\nwhat belongs within the Bible, <\/p>\n
67
\n00:03:55,840 –> 00:03:59,360
\nwhich books belong within what
\nwe call the Bible Canon. <\/p>\n
68
\n00:04:01,360 –> 00:04:04,080
\nAnd in the English, the word
\nCanon. <\/p>\n
69
\n00:04:04,080 –> 00:04:07,400
\nIt comes from the word Cain.
\nDon’t think of a cane that you <\/p>\n
70
\n00:04:07,400 –> 00:04:11,400
\nmight walk around with.
\nThink of like a sugar cane or a <\/p>\n
71
\n00:04:11,400 –> 00:04:15,000
\nReed, because in ancient times a
\nReed was actually used as an <\/p>\n
72
\n00:04:15,000 –> 00:04:19,720
\ninstrument of measurement.
\nBut it’s found the root word is <\/p>\n
73
\n00:04:19,720 –> 00:04:21,040
\nfound before it was ever in
\nEnglish. <\/p>\n
74
\n00:04:21,040 –> 00:04:22,960
\nIt was found in several ancient
\nlanguages. <\/p>\n
75
\n00:04:22,960 –> 00:04:24,960
\nAlso, it’s found in the ancient
\nHebrew. <\/p>\n
76
\n00:04:24,960 –> 00:04:27,400
\nWe see it in the Old Testament.
\nIt’s the word Kane. <\/p>\n
77
\n00:04:27,720 –> 00:04:31,080
\nIt means a Reed, and it’s in the
\nNew Testament. <\/p>\n
78
\n00:04:31,080 –> 00:04:34,480
\nIn the Greek, it’s the word
\nCanon, and when it’s used in the<\/p>\n
79
\n00:04:34,480 –> 00:04:37,120
\nBible, it doesn’t mean the same
\nthing that it means now in the <\/p>\n
80
\n00:04:37,120 –> 00:04:39,000
\nEnglish when we talk about the
\nBible Canon. <\/p>\n
81
\n00:04:39,000 –> 00:04:41,840
\nBut the origins of that meaning
\nare still there, so we won’t <\/p>\n
82
\n00:04:41,840 –> 00:04:43,960
\nturn these passages up for the
\nsake of time. <\/p>\n
83
\n00:04:43,960 –> 00:04:45,880
\nBut there’s three different
\nplaces you’d find this word <\/p>\n
84
\n00:04:45,880 –> 00:04:49,080
\nCanon in the New Testament, and
\none of them is in Second <\/p>\n
85
\n00:04:49,080 –> 00:04:51,920
\nCorinthians chapter 10, verses
\n13 to 16. <\/p>\n
86
\n00:04:52,320 –> 00:04:57,400
\nAnd the Apostle Paul writes
\nabout the area of his preaching.<\/p>\n
87
\n00:04:57,400 –> 00:05:01,320
\nHe says we’ve not gone beyond
\nthe boundaries that God has set <\/p>\n
88
\n00:05:01,320 –> 00:05:04,320
\nfor us.
\nThe word in the ESV that phrases<\/p>\n
89
\n00:05:04,320 –> 00:05:07,960
\nthe area of influence that God
\nhas given us, So, So God gave <\/p>\n
90
\n00:05:08,080 –> 00:05:10,720
\ninstructions to Paul and he
\nsaid, this is where I want you <\/p>\n
91
\n00:05:10,720 –> 00:05:12,640
\nto preach and I don’t want you
\nto go outside of these <\/p>\n
92
\n00:05:12,640 –> 00:05:14,680
\nboundaries.
\nAnd the word that he uses to <\/p>\n
93
\n00:05:14,680 –> 00:05:16,840
\ndescribe those boundaries is the
\nword Canon. <\/p>\n
94
\n00:05:16,840 –> 00:05:20,760
\nIt was like a line or a boundary
\ngeographically that had been <\/p>\n
95
\n00:05:20,760 –> 00:05:22,960
\nset.
\nAnd the other two places in the <\/p>\n
96
\n00:05:22,960 –> 00:05:26,160
\nNew Testament, if you’re writing
\nthis down, are Galatians 6, <\/p>\n
97
\n00:05:26,160 –> 00:05:29,840
\nverse 16, and Philippians
\nchapter 3 and verse 16. <\/p>\n
98
\n00:05:30,000 –> 00:05:33,440
\nAnd both of those books use this
\nword to describe the rules by <\/p>\n
99
\n00:05:33,440 –> 00:05:37,480
\nwhich we live our lives.
\nSo the boundaries which God has <\/p>\n
100
\n00:05:37,480 –> 00:05:40,600
\nset for us in our lives, we’re
\nwe’re not supposed to do certain<\/p>\n
101
\n00:05:40,600 –> 00:05:42,320
\nthings and we’re supposed to do
\nother things. <\/p>\n
102
\n00:05:42,320 –> 00:05:43,880
\nSo.
\nSo there’s a framework, A <\/p>\n
103
\n00:05:43,880 –> 00:05:46,040
\nboundary within which we’re
\nsupposed to live. <\/p>\n
104
\n00:05:46,040 –> 00:05:49,400
\nAnd the word can own is used to
\ndescribe these things. <\/p>\n
105
\n00:05:50,360 –> 00:05:54,040
\nSo when this word would
\neventually become used to <\/p>\n
106
\n00:05:54,040 –> 00:05:57,720
\ndescribe what belonged in the
\nBible, these were its origins. <\/p>\n
107
\n00:05:58,200 –> 00:06:00,640
\nThe word Canon, when we talk
\nabout the Bible Canon is <\/p>\n
108
\n00:06:00,640 –> 00:06:04,800
\ndescribing the boundaries within
\nwhich we find the inspired word <\/p>\n
109
\n00:06:04,800 –> 00:06:06,680
\nof God.
\nSo nothing outside of that <\/p>\n
110
\n00:06:06,680 –> 00:06:09,280
\nboundary, but we want to know
\nwhat belongs inside of that <\/p>\n
111
\n00:06:09,280 –> 00:06:12,360
\nboundary.
\nAnd you may know that there are <\/p>\n
112
\n00:06:12,360 –> 00:06:16,440
\nsome books that are not in our
\nBible but that throughout <\/p>\n
113
\n00:06:16,440 –> 00:06:20,400
\nhistory, for various reasons,
\ncertain points in history, <\/p>\n
114
\n00:06:21,080 –> 00:06:23,880
\nsomebody thought they belonged
\nin there but they didn’t make it<\/p>\n
115
\n00:06:23,880 –> 00:06:26,600
\nin they didn’t make the cut.
\nAnd we call those books the <\/p>\n
116
\n00:06:26,600 –> 00:06:28,960
\nApocrypha or any one of those
\nbooks. <\/p>\n
117
\n00:06:28,960 –> 00:06:32,360
\nWe’ll call it an apocryphal work
\nand the and the word apocryphal <\/p>\n
118
\n00:06:32,360 –> 00:06:40,080
\nmeans of doubtful authenticity.
\nNow the question is why didn’t <\/p>\n
119
\n00:06:40,080 –> 00:06:43,360
\nthey make the cut and and the
\nbooks that we have in our Bible,<\/p>\n
120
\n00:06:43,360 –> 00:06:47,080
\nwhy are they there?
\nAnd I had a friend in high <\/p>\n
121
\n00:06:47,080 –> 00:06:50,680
\nschool.
\nHis name was John, and he went <\/p>\n
122
\n00:06:50,680 –> 00:06:53,520
\nto a Baptist Church.
\nAnd we used to talk about things<\/p>\n
123
\n00:06:53,520 –> 00:06:56,200
\nthat we believed and the things
\nthat we didn’t believe. <\/p>\n
124
\n00:06:56,760 –> 00:06:59,200
\nAnd when high school was over,
\nwe went our separate ways. <\/p>\n
125
\n00:06:59,640 –> 00:07:02,000
\nAnd a few years later, I was
\nwalking down the halls of my <\/p>\n
126
\n00:07:02,000 –> 00:07:05,400
\ncollege and I ran into John.
\nI had no idea he went to that <\/p>\n
127
\n00:07:05,400 –> 00:07:06,920
\ncollege.
\nIn fact, maybe he didn’t because<\/p>\n
128
\n00:07:06,920 –> 00:07:10,800
\nI never saw him there again.
\nBut when I saw him, he said, do <\/p>\n
129
\n00:07:10,800 –> 00:07:13,320
\nyou still go to that church that
\nyou used to go to? <\/p>\n
130
\n00:07:13,320 –> 00:07:16,600
\nAnd I said, yes, I do.
\nAnd I said, do you still go to <\/p>\n
131
\n00:07:16,600 –> 00:07:18,960
\nthe church that that you used to
\ngo to? <\/p>\n
132
\n00:07:18,960 –> 00:07:22,120
\nAnd he said, no, I don’t.
\nAnd I said, oh, how come? <\/p>\n
133
\n00:07:23,000 –> 00:07:25,360
\nAnd he said, well, did you know
\nthat that there are all these <\/p>\n
134
\n00:07:25,360 –> 00:07:28,800
\napocryphal books that that
\ndidn’t make it into the Bible? <\/p>\n
135
\n00:07:28,800 –> 00:07:32,920
\nAnd and then it turns out that
\nit was just, you know, groups of<\/p>\n
136
\n00:07:32,920 –> 00:07:36,240
\nhumans who decided what books
\nbelong in the Bible and what <\/p>\n
137
\n00:07:36,240 –> 00:07:39,240
\nbooks don’t.
\nThen how can we trust that that <\/p>\n
138
\n00:07:39,400 –> 00:07:42,000
\nthat this is something special
\nand it was just people who put <\/p>\n
139
\n00:07:42,000 –> 00:07:45,880
\nit together?
\nAnd you know, at the time I I <\/p>\n
140
\n00:07:45,880 –> 00:07:50,520
\nhad, I knew that there were
\napocryphal works that that <\/p>\n
141
\n00:07:50,520 –> 00:07:52,080
\nweren’t in the Bible.
\nYou know, a lot of them are in <\/p>\n
142
\n00:07:52,080 –> 00:07:54,600
\nthe Catholic Bible, for example,
\nbut they’re not in the Bible <\/p>\n
143
\n00:07:54,600 –> 00:07:57,480
\nthat we use.
\nBut I had no idea why, why they <\/p>\n
144
\n00:07:57,480 –> 00:08:02,320
\nwere or weren’t in our Bible.
\nSo I didn’t have an answer for <\/p>\n
145
\n00:08:02,320 –> 00:08:04,360
\nJohn.
\nIt’s one of my regrets. <\/p>\n
146
\n00:08:04,640 –> 00:08:08,960
\nI’ve never seen him again, and I
\nwasn’t able to explain to him <\/p>\n
147
\n00:08:09,200 –> 00:08:13,440
\nhow we got the Bible that we
\nhave today in our labs this <\/p>\n
148
\n00:08:13,440 –> 00:08:16,160
\nafternoon.
\nBut I hope to be able to explain<\/p>\n
149
\n00:08:16,160 –> 00:08:18,840
\nit to you.
\nAnd as we do that, I hope that <\/p>\n
150
\n00:08:18,840 –> 00:08:21,280
\nyou’ll see that it’s a pretty
\nremarkable story. <\/p>\n
151
\n00:08:22,720 –> 00:08:25,520
\nAnd for the rest of this class,
\nwe’re going to split our <\/p>\n
152
\n00:08:25,520 –> 00:08:27,120
\nthoughts into two different
\nparts. <\/p>\n
153
\n00:08:27,120 –> 00:08:28,840
\nAnd it’s very simple.
\nFirst, we’re going to talk about<\/p>\n
154
\n00:08:28,840 –> 00:08:30,520
\nthe Old Testament, and then
\nwe’re going to talk about the <\/p>\n
155
\n00:08:30,520 –> 00:08:33,159
\nNew Testament because the story
\nof how we got these two <\/p>\n
156
\n00:08:33,159 –> 00:08:35,400
\ntestaments, those stories are
\nvery different from each other. <\/p>\n
157
\n00:08:35,400 –> 00:08:38,760
\nSo we’re going to start by
\ntalking about the Old Testament <\/p>\n
158
\n00:08:38,760 –> 00:08:40,559
\nof our Bible.
\nWe sometimes refer to it as the <\/p>\n
159
\n00:08:40,559 –> 00:08:43,679
\nHebrew Scriptures, and it’s the
\nvery same Bible that those of <\/p>\n
160
\n00:08:43,679 –> 00:08:45,480
\nthe Jewish faith would use
\ntoday. <\/p>\n
161
\n00:08:45,840 –> 00:08:48,880
\nSo the entire Jewish Bible, of
\ncourse, comprises what we would <\/p>\n
162
\n00:08:48,880 –> 00:08:53,200
\ncall the Old Testament.
\nAnd in a little bit we’ll talk <\/p>\n
163
\n00:08:53,200 –> 00:08:56,400
\nabout when we think it was
\ndecided what should go into the <\/p>\n
164
\n00:08:56,400 –> 00:08:58,480
\nOld Testament.
\nBut to start with, I’m just <\/p>\n
165
\n00:08:58,480 –> 00:09:00,800
\ngoing to talk to you a little
\nbit about some of the criteria <\/p>\n
166
\n00:09:00,800 –> 00:09:04,080
\nthat were used.
\nSo it was an ancient group of <\/p>\n
167
\n00:09:04,080 –> 00:09:08,160
\nrabbis, we believe, that
\nprobably decided which books <\/p>\n
168
\n00:09:08,160 –> 00:09:10,880
\nbelonged in the Old Testament of
\nthe Bible. <\/p>\n
169
\n00:09:11,560 –> 00:09:16,760
\nIt was a Jewish people and they
\nhad very specific, rigorous <\/p>\n
170
\n00:09:16,760 –> 00:09:22,400
\ncriteria by which they would vet
\nevery single holy book, or not a<\/p>\n
171
\n00:09:22,400 –> 00:09:26,600
\nholy book as the case may be.
\nThey asked a number of questions<\/p>\n
172
\n00:09:26,600 –> 00:09:29,840
\nabout every single book that
\nthey had to consider, and the <\/p>\n
173
\n00:09:29,840 –> 00:09:35,240
\nfirst one was this was the book
\nwritten by a prophet of God. <\/p>\n
174
\n00:09:36,560 –> 00:09:39,000
\nNow now when we use the word
\nprophet, we often think about <\/p>\n
175
\n00:09:39,000 –> 00:09:42,520
\nsomebody who is telling the
\nfuture, and certainly that can <\/p>\n
176
\n00:09:42,520 –> 00:09:44,040
\nbe something that a prophet
\ndoes. <\/p>\n
177
\n00:09:44,040 –> 00:09:46,760
\nBut when the Bible talks about a
\nprophet, it means more than <\/p>\n
178
\n00:09:46,760 –> 00:09:49,000
\nthat.
\nA prophet is somebody who 4th <\/p>\n
179
\n00:09:49,000 –> 00:09:51,800
\ntells the word of God, somebody
\nwho God speaks through. <\/p>\n
180
\n00:09:52,320 –> 00:09:55,160
\nSo they could be making
\nprophecies about what’s going to<\/p>\n
181
\n00:09:55,160 –> 00:09:56,960
\nhappen in the future, but not
\nnecessarily. <\/p>\n
182
\n00:09:56,960 –> 00:10:01,160
\nThey’re simply a teacher of God.
\nWas the book written by a true <\/p>\n
183
\n00:10:01,160 –> 00:10:05,160
\nprophet of God?
\nAnd over and above that, the <\/p>\n
184
\n00:10:05,160 –> 00:10:10,000
\nwriter had to be confirmed by
\nspecial acts of God like <\/p>\n
185
\n00:10:10,000 –> 00:10:14,440
\nmiracles, undeniable proof that
\nGod was working through this <\/p>\n
186
\n00:10:14,440 –> 00:10:18,720
\nperson or perhaps like telling
\nthe future the kind of prophecy <\/p>\n
187
\n00:10:18,720 –> 00:10:21,040
\nthat we’re familiar with when we
\nuse the word prophecy. <\/p>\n
188
\n00:10:21,760 –> 00:10:25,080
\nAnd you you may remember one of
\nthe one of the tests for an Old <\/p>\n
189
\n00:10:25,080 –> 00:10:28,440
\nTestament prophet was that they
\nwere supposed to give a prophecy<\/p>\n
190
\n00:10:28,680 –> 00:10:31,520
\nin the short term that came to
\npass that would have been <\/p>\n
191
\n00:10:31,520 –> 00:10:35,280
\nunlikely to come to pass so that
\npeople could see that it did <\/p>\n
192
\n00:10:35,280 –> 00:10:36,960
\ncome to pass and that would be
\nthe proof. <\/p>\n
193
\n00:10:37,160 –> 00:10:40,800
\nIf they gave a short term
\nprophecy and it happened, then <\/p>\n
194
\n00:10:40,800 –> 00:10:43,080
\npeople could believe the other
\nthings they said as well and <\/p>\n
195
\n00:10:43,080 –> 00:10:45,520
\nmaybe other prophecies about
\nwhat was going to happen a long <\/p>\n
196
\n00:10:45,520 –> 00:10:48,880
\ntime in the future.
\nAnd maybe both of these things <\/p>\n
197
\n00:10:48,880 –> 00:10:50,840
\nwere true.
\nThey both performed miracles and<\/p>\n
198
\n00:10:50,840 –> 00:10:53,480
\nthey gave accurate prophecies
\nthat people saw it come true. <\/p>\n
199
\n00:10:54,440 –> 00:10:56,200
\nSo the writer had to be a
\nprophet of God that was <\/p>\n
200
\n00:10:56,200 –> 00:11:00,240
\nconfirmed by miracles and or
\nspecial acts of God. <\/p>\n
201
\n00:11:00,920 –> 00:11:03,320
\nBut over and above that, that
\nwasn’t enough, although that was<\/p>\n
202
\n00:11:03,320 –> 00:11:06,280
\nthe probably some of the most
\nimportant criteria. <\/p>\n
203
\n00:11:07,040 –> 00:11:09,520
\nThen the question would be
\nasked, does the message of the <\/p>\n
204
\n00:11:09,520 –> 00:11:15,440
\nbook tell the truth about God?
\nBecause the Jewish people, more <\/p>\n
205
\n00:11:15,440 –> 00:11:18,480
\nso than than any other ancient
\npeople in the Jewish religion, <\/p>\n
206
\n00:11:18,480 –> 00:11:22,440
\nmore so than any other ancient
\nreligion, had a very well <\/p>\n
207
\n00:11:22,440 –> 00:11:25,520
\ndefined sense of God.
\nThey knew who he was. <\/p>\n
208
\n00:11:25,720 –> 00:11:29,080
\nHe’d revealed himself to Moses
\nin the burning Bush, and on the <\/p>\n
209
\n00:11:29,080 –> 00:11:32,160
\nmountain he’d said, this is who
\nI am, This is what I stand for. <\/p>\n
210
\n00:11:32,320 –> 00:11:35,240
\nThese are my characteristics.
\nHere are the things I don’t <\/p>\n
211
\n00:11:35,240 –> 00:11:39,720
\ntolerate.
\nHere’s what I love and that <\/p>\n
212
\n00:11:39,720 –> 00:11:43,080
\nremain unchanged generation
\nafter generation. <\/p>\n
213
\n00:11:43,280 –> 00:11:46,160
\nAnd while other ancient
\nreligions would mold and adapt <\/p>\n
214
\n00:11:46,160 –> 00:11:49,360
\nto their circumstances, as
\nhistory went on, the Jewish God <\/p>\n
215
\n00:11:49,360 –> 00:11:54,840
\nwould remain unchanged.
\nThat was intentional, because <\/p>\n
216
\n00:11:54,840 –> 00:11:58,840
\nGod tells us he does not change.
\nAnd so the Jewish people knew <\/p>\n
217
\n00:11:58,840 –> 00:12:02,360
\nvery well who their God was and
\nwhat he looks like. <\/p>\n
218
\n00:12:03,320 –> 00:12:05,320
\nAnd so they had to ask the
\nquestion, does the message of <\/p>\n
219
\n00:12:05,320 –> 00:12:07,360
\nthe book tell the truth about
\nGod? <\/p>\n
220
\n00:12:09,840 –> 00:12:14,520
\nAnd besides that, does it come
\nwith the life transforming power<\/p>\n
221
\n00:12:14,520 –> 00:12:17,200
\nof God?
\nWe might use the word <\/p>\n
222
\n00:12:17,240 –> 00:12:20,840
\nexhortational.
\nIt couldn’t just be a historical<\/p>\n
223
\n00:12:20,840 –> 00:12:22,760
\naccount.
\nIt couldn’t just contain facts. <\/p>\n
224
\n00:12:22,760 –> 00:12:25,360
\nIt had to have the ability to
\nchange your life in some way. <\/p>\n
225
\n00:12:26,840 –> 00:12:30,360
\nDoes the book come with the life
\ntransforming power of God? <\/p>\n
226
\n00:12:30,360 –> 00:12:35,640
\nAnd finally, was the book
\naccepted by the people of God? <\/p>\n
227
\n00:12:36,480 –> 00:12:39,880
\nBecause the Jewish nation was so
\nold, it had been around for <\/p>\n
228
\n00:12:39,920 –> 00:12:43,560
\ncenturies and centuries by the
\ntime that the Old Testament was <\/p>\n
229
\n00:12:43,560 –> 00:12:46,520
\nwas put together and we we use
\nthe word ratified, which means <\/p>\n
230
\n00:12:46,520 –> 00:12:49,080
\nit was officially decided.
\nThis is the Old Testament. <\/p>\n
231
\n00:12:49,080 –> 00:12:50,480
\nThese are the books that belong
\nhere. <\/p>\n
232
\n00:12:50,840 –> 00:12:54,480
\nThe Jewish people had been
\naround so long at that time that<\/p>\n
233
\n00:12:54,480 –> 00:12:56,520
\nit would be common knowledge
\nwhether or not the people had <\/p>\n
234
\n00:12:56,520 –> 00:12:58,520
\nhistorically accepted this book
\nor not. <\/p>\n
235
\n00:12:59,080 –> 00:13:00,960
\nAnd that would be based on
\nwhether it was written by a true<\/p>\n
236
\n00:13:00,960 –> 00:13:04,040
\nprophet of God that had, in the
\ntime when he was alive, <\/p>\n
237
\n00:13:04,040 –> 00:13:06,080
\nperformed miracles and
\nprophecies. <\/p>\n
238
\n00:13:07,560 –> 00:13:09,640
\nBut you know, what’s really
\ninteresting is that there came a<\/p>\n
239
\n00:13:09,640 –> 00:13:14,680
\npoint in Jewish history where
\neverybody alive at the time and <\/p>\n
240
\n00:13:14,680 –> 00:13:17,760
\nthe Jewish nation seem to have
\nagreed that we have any record <\/p>\n
241
\n00:13:17,840 –> 00:13:20,600
\nof that God stopped talking to
\nthem. <\/p>\n
242
\n00:13:21,240 –> 00:13:24,840
\nHe just stopped.
\nI find that really interesting <\/p>\n
243
\n00:13:25,240 –> 00:13:29,880
\nbecause if, if this was all sort
\nof fictional, if it was made-up <\/p>\n
244
\n00:13:29,920 –> 00:13:32,440
\nsomehow by the Jewish people,
\ndon’t you think they’d want to <\/p>\n
245
\n00:13:32,440 –> 00:13:34,400
\nkeep telling the world that God
\nis speaking to them? <\/p>\n
246
\n00:13:35,200 –> 00:13:37,960
\nBut there came a point when
\neverybody said the prophets <\/p>\n
247
\n00:13:37,960 –> 00:13:41,280
\ndon’t speak to us anymore, God
\nhas left us. <\/p>\n
248
\n00:13:42,080 –> 00:13:44,200
\nAnd that really marks the end of
\nthe Old Testament. <\/p>\n
249
\n00:13:44,200 –> 00:13:47,640
\nAnd you may know that there’s a
\ngap of about 400 years between <\/p>\n
250
\n00:13:47,640 –> 00:13:50,600
\nthe end of the Old Testament and
\nthe beginning of the New <\/p>\n
251
\n00:13:50,600 –> 00:13:52,920
\nTestament.
\nAnd we get this sense in those <\/p>\n
252
\n00:13:52,920 –> 00:13:55,480
\nancient Jewish writings from
\nthat time that there was the <\/p>\n
253
\n00:13:55,480 –> 00:13:57,680
\nsense of despair in the nation
\nof Israel. <\/p>\n
254
\n00:13:58,320 –> 00:14:01,440
\nGod is is not with us anymore.
\nHis power has left us and he <\/p>\n
255
\n00:14:01,440 –> 00:14:09,480
\ndoesn’t speak with us.
\nAnd there are works that are <\/p>\n
256
\n00:14:09,480 –> 00:14:13,760
\napocryphal for the Old Testament
\nthat are basically history <\/p>\n
257
\n00:14:13,760 –> 00:14:17,000
\nbooks, and one of those is the
\nbook of the Maccabees. <\/p>\n
258
\n00:14:17,000 –> 00:14:18,960
\nThere’s actually two of them.
\nThere’s the 1st and 2nd <\/p>\n
259
\n00:14:19,000 –> 00:14:22,040
\nMaccabees.
\nAnd Maccabees is a useful book <\/p>\n
260
\n00:14:22,040 –> 00:14:24,800
\nbecause it tells the history of
\nthe Jewish nation in that time <\/p>\n
261
\n00:14:24,800 –> 00:14:27,800
\nperiod, that 400 years between
\nthe close of the Old Testament <\/p>\n
262
\n00:14:27,800 –> 00:14:29,120
\nand the beginning of the New
\nTestament. <\/p>\n
263
\n00:14:29,400 –> 00:14:31,600
\nIt’s useful as a historical
\nwork, even though it doesn’t <\/p>\n
264
\n00:14:31,800 –> 00:14:35,480
\nbelong in the inspired word of
\nGod, and it was kept out of that<\/p>\n
265
\n00:14:35,480 –> 00:14:40,880
\nfor a very specific reason.
\nNow in the in the Jewish Talmud,<\/p>\n
266
\n00:14:40,880 –> 00:14:43,520
\nwhich is a writing of the
\nancient oral traditions of the <\/p>\n
267
\n00:14:43,520 –> 00:14:47,520
\nJews, you’d find lots of
\narguments between famous ancient<\/p>\n
268
\n00:14:47,520 –> 00:14:50,560
\nrabbis and those are recorded
\nfor us in those oral traditions.<\/p>\n
269
\n00:14:50,560 –> 00:14:52,560
\nAnd we also find things like
\nthis. <\/p>\n
270
\n00:14:52,680 –> 00:14:55,240
\nThere’s two versions of the
\nTalmud, the Jerusalem Talmud and<\/p>\n
271
\n00:14:55,240 –> 00:15:00,720
\nthe Babylonian Talmud.
\nAnd in the Babylonian Talmud it <\/p>\n
272
\n00:15:00,720 –> 00:15:04,440
\nsays when the last of the
\nprophets died, Haggai, Zechariah<\/p>\n
273
\n00:15:04,440 –> 00:15:08,440
\nand Malachi, the Holy Spirit
\ntook leave of Israel. <\/p>\n
274
\n00:15:10,000 –> 00:15:14,320
\nThe people realized that’s it,
\nGod is not speaking to us <\/p>\n
275
\n00:15:14,320 –> 00:15:17,000
\nanymore.
\nAnd here’s a quote from the <\/p>\n
276
\n00:15:17,000 –> 00:15:20,600
\nfirst of Maccabees.
\nAnd it’s talking about the fact <\/p>\n
277
\n00:15:20,600 –> 00:15:23,320
\nthat they’re appointing a new
\nleader and they’re saying, well,<\/p>\n
278
\n00:15:23,320 –> 00:15:25,840
\nwe’re going to make this guy our
\nleader because we don’t have any<\/p>\n
279
\n00:15:25,840 –> 00:15:28,480
\npeople who God is speaking
\nthrough anymore. <\/p>\n
280
\n00:15:28,480 –> 00:15:31,120
\nSo he’s the best we have.
\nTherefore, the Jews and their <\/p>\n
281
\n00:15:31,120 –> 00:15:33,680
\npriests are happy to have Simon
\nand his descendants as their <\/p>\n
282
\n00:15:33,680 –> 00:15:37,840
\nleaders and high priests until a
\ntrue prophet appears. <\/p>\n
283
\n00:15:42,440 –> 00:15:44,920
\nAnd here’s the historian
\nJosephus who we’ve quoted <\/p>\n
284
\n00:15:44,920 –> 00:15:47,680
\nbefore.
\nAnd he starts by talking out in <\/p>\n
285
\n00:15:47,680 –> 00:15:52,360
\nthis, talking in this passage
\nabout the fact that there’s no <\/p>\n
286
\n00:15:52,360 –> 00:15:55,120
\nlonger any succession of the
\nline of prophets that has <\/p>\n
287
\n00:15:55,120 –> 00:15:57,520
\nstopped.
\nHe talked about how important <\/p>\n
288
\n00:15:57,520 –> 00:16:00,480
\nthe Jews now treat their sacred
\nwritings because God has stopped<\/p>\n
289
\n00:16:00,480 –> 00:16:03,320
\nspeaking to them.
\nHe says it is true our history <\/p>\n
290
\n00:16:03,320 –> 00:16:05,880
\nhas been written since
\nArtaxerxes very particularly, <\/p>\n
291
\n00:16:05,880 –> 00:16:09,080
\nbut has not been esteemed of the
\nlike authority with the former <\/p>\n
292
\n00:16:09,080 –> 00:16:12,040
\nby our forefathers, because
\nthere has not been an exact <\/p>\n
293
\n00:16:12,040 –> 00:16:14,080
\nsuccession of the prophets since
\nthat time. <\/p>\n
294
\n00:16:14,440 –> 00:16:17,320
\nSo he’s saying we have history
\nbooks of what happened after the<\/p>\n
295
\n00:16:17,320 –> 00:16:19,440
\nprophets ceased.
\nBut we don’t think those are <\/p>\n
296
\n00:16:19,440 –> 00:16:22,600
\nnearly as important as the whole
\nholy books that we have, that <\/p>\n
297
\n00:16:22,600 –> 00:16:27,400
\nwere written by those prophets.
\nAnd how firmly we have given <\/p>\n
298
\n00:16:27,400 –> 00:16:30,760
\ncredit to these books of our own
\nnation is evident by what we do.<\/p>\n
299
\n00:16:31,200 –> 00:16:34,720
\nFor during so many ages, as have
\nalready passed, no one has been <\/p>\n
300
\n00:16:34,720 –> 00:16:38,320
\nso bold as to either add
\nanything to them, to take <\/p>\n
301
\n00:16:38,320 –> 00:16:41,760
\nanything from them, or to make
\nany change in them. <\/p>\n
302
\n00:16:42,920 –> 00:16:46,520
\nBut it has become natural to all
\nJews, immediately and from their<\/p>\n
303
\n00:16:46,520 –> 00:16:49,280
\nvery birth, to esteem these
\nbooks, to contain divine <\/p>\n
304
\n00:16:49,280 –> 00:16:52,880
\ndoctrines and to persist in
\nthem, and if occasion be <\/p>\n
305
\n00:16:53,000 –> 00:16:57,000
\nwillingly to die for them.
\nThe word is no new thing for our<\/p>\n
306
\n00:16:57,000 –> 00:17:00,680
\ncaptives, many of them in number
\nand frequently in time to be <\/p>\n
307
\n00:17:00,680 –> 00:17:04,000
\nseen to endure rats and deaths
\nof all kinds upon the theaters, <\/p>\n
308
\n00:17:04,280 –> 00:17:07,760
\nthat they may not be obliged to
\nsay one word against our laws <\/p>\n
309
\n00:17:08,000 –> 00:17:10,200
\nand the records that contain
\nthem. <\/p>\n
310
\n00:17:11,400 –> 00:17:14,280
\nAnd Josephus simply records the
\nmindset of the Jewish people in <\/p>\n
311
\n00:17:14,280 –> 00:17:18,359
\ngeneral when he talks about how
\nmuch they valued those holy <\/p>\n
312
\n00:17:18,359 –> 00:17:22,560
\nsacred writings.
\nBecause God wasn’t speaking to <\/p>\n
313
\n00:17:22,560 –> 00:17:25,280
\nthem anymore.
\nAnd all they had were the words <\/p>\n
314
\n00:17:25,280 –> 00:17:28,119
\nof the prophets that had been
\nwritten in ancient Times Now. <\/p>\n
315
\n00:17:29,480 –> 00:17:32,520
\nAnd many Jews would die for
\nthose books, would endure <\/p>\n
316
\n00:17:32,520 –> 00:17:36,080
\ntorture because of them, so that
\nthey wouldn’t say one word <\/p>\n
317
\n00:17:36,080 –> 00:17:39,040
\nagainst them even if it meant
\ntheir lives. <\/p>\n
318
\n00:17:40,400 –> 00:17:43,560
\nAnd throughout the history,
\nafter the end of the Old <\/p>\n
319
\n00:17:43,560 –> 00:17:47,440
\nTestament, there would be 3
\nJewish groups that were charged <\/p>\n
320
\n00:17:47,800 –> 00:17:53,200
\nwith preserving and protecting
\nand copying forward those works,<\/p>\n
321
\n00:17:53,200 –> 00:17:55,440
\nthose sacred works of the Old
\nTestament. <\/p>\n
322
\n00:17:56,160 –> 00:17:58,760
\nThree groups, and they proceed
\nchronologically through time. <\/p>\n
323
\n00:17:58,760 –> 00:18:00,320
\nThe first were known as the
\nSulfurine. <\/p>\n
324
\n00:18:00,960 –> 00:18:05,600
\nThe word means scribes.
\nAnd the scribes preserved those <\/p>\n
325
\n00:18:05,640 –> 00:18:09,440
\nOld Testament writings from
\nabout the year 400 BC all the <\/p>\n
326
\n00:18:09,440 –> 00:18:11,320
\nway through to about the year
\n200 AD. <\/p>\n
327
\n00:18:11,920 –> 00:18:14,000
\nAfter the scribes came the
\nTalmudists. <\/p>\n
328
\n00:18:14,320 –> 00:18:17,640
\nAnd we’ve we’ve coded a number
\nof times from the Talmud, the <\/p>\n
329
\n00:18:17,640 –> 00:18:19,120
\nTalmudists.
\nThere’s a bit of an overlap <\/p>\n
330
\n00:18:19,120 –> 00:18:21,280
\nbetween the Scribes and the
\nTalmudists. <\/p>\n
331
\n00:18:21,760 –> 00:18:25,800
\nThe Talmudists were in existence
\nfrom about 100 AD to about 500 <\/p>\n
332
\n00:18:25,880 –> 00:18:28,640
\nAD, and after the Talmudists
\nwere the Masoretis. <\/p>\n
333
\n00:18:29,680 –> 00:18:32,640
\nYou may be this word may sound
\nfamiliar to you because you may <\/p>\n
334
\n00:18:32,640 –> 00:18:34,800
\nknow the King James Version of
\nthe Bible is based on the <\/p>\n
335
\n00:18:34,800 –> 00:18:39,720
\nMasoretic Text and the Masoretis
\nwere in existence from about 500<\/p>\n
336
\n00:18:39,800 –> 00:18:44,280
\nAD to about 950 AD.
\nAnd they came up with some ways <\/p>\n
337
\n00:18:44,280 –> 00:18:47,640
\nof interpreting scripture like
\nvowel pointing because you may <\/p>\n
338
\n00:18:47,640 –> 00:18:49,600
\nknow the ancient Hebrew language
\ndoesn’t have vowels in it. <\/p>\n
339
\n00:18:49,600 –> 00:18:53,520
\nThis is a way to sort of include
\nthose and they would come up <\/p>\n
340
\n00:18:53,520 –> 00:18:57,560
\nwith their own specific rigid
\nsystem for copying the text. <\/p>\n
341
\n00:18:58,480 –> 00:19:04,160
\nAnd one cop in common criticism
\nthat that is made about the Old <\/p>\n
342
\n00:19:04,160 –> 00:19:07,880
\nTestament is this.
\nThe question is asked, why don’t<\/p>\n
343
\n00:19:07,880 –> 00:19:10,920
\nwe have any manuscripts that are
\ndated anywhere close to when <\/p>\n
344
\n00:19:10,920 –> 00:19:12,720
\nsome of these books were
\noriginally written? <\/p>\n
345
\n00:19:12,720 –> 00:19:15,320
\nThe oldest Old Testament
\nmanuscripts that we have date <\/p>\n
346
\n00:19:15,320 –> 00:19:20,240
\nsometime between 250 and 300 BC,
\nbut the oldest books in the Old <\/p>\n
347
\n00:19:20,240 –> 00:19:22,560
\nTestament date hundreds of years
\nbefore that. <\/p>\n
348
\n00:19:23,920 –> 00:19:26,920
\nAnd so how can we rely on the
\nmanuscript copies that we have <\/p>\n
349
\n00:19:26,920 –> 00:19:29,680
\nwhen they were these the
\nversions we have written perhaps<\/p>\n
350
\n00:19:29,680 –> 00:19:34,920
\nhundreds of years after the
\noriginal author wrote on the <\/p>\n
351
\n00:19:34,920 –> 00:19:39,720
\nscroll?
\nAn answer is because in ancient <\/p>\n
352
\n00:19:39,720 –> 00:19:42,640
\ntimes, of course, they didn’t
\nhave the printing press, as you <\/p>\n
353
\n00:19:42,640 –> 00:19:46,800
\nknow, like we have or like has
\nchanged our world today. <\/p>\n
354
\n00:19:47,920 –> 00:19:50,880
\nAnd the writings that they had
\nwere written on what we were <\/p>\n
355
\n00:19:50,880 –> 00:19:54,200
\nknown as papyrus scrolls.
\nPapyrus is actually made of <\/p>\n
356
\n00:19:54,280 –> 00:19:57,080
\nreeds.
\nReeds were stripped down and put<\/p>\n
357
\n00:19:57,080 –> 00:19:59,360
\nit right angles to each other
\nand pressed to make a flat <\/p>\n
358
\n00:19:59,360 –> 00:20:00,800
\nsurface.
\nAnd that’s what they would write<\/p>\n
359
\n00:20:00,800 –> 00:20:05,120
\non in these ancient times.
\nThe problem with papyrus was <\/p>\n
360
\n00:20:05,120 –> 00:20:09,920
\nthat it only lasted for about 1
\nfull generation, maybe two at <\/p>\n
361
\n00:20:09,920 –> 00:20:12,520
\nthe most, before it
\ndisintegrated and couldn’t be <\/p>\n
362
\n00:20:12,520 –> 00:20:15,440
\nread anymore.
\nAnd so if you wanted to preserve<\/p>\n
363
\n00:20:15,440 –> 00:20:19,760
\nan ancient writing then you had
\nto make a copy of it at least <\/p>\n
364
\n00:20:19,760 –> 00:20:22,120
\nonce per generation to keep it
\ngoing. <\/p>\n
365
\n00:20:22,720 –> 00:20:26,240
\nSo those scrolls in the most
\nancient of times just didn’t <\/p>\n
366
\n00:20:26,240 –> 00:20:29,480
\nsurvive.
\nThey copied them forward, <\/p>\n
367
\n00:20:29,480 –> 00:20:32,240
\ngeneration after generation in
\nthose three groups I just <\/p>\n
368
\n00:20:32,240 –> 00:20:34,960
\nmentioned, the Sulfurine, the
\nTalmudists, and the Masorettes. <\/p>\n
369
\n00:20:35,280 –> 00:20:39,360
\nThose were the groups that were
\nresponsible for preserving and <\/p>\n
370
\n00:20:39,360 –> 00:20:44,880
\ncopying forward those books,
\nthose scrolls. <\/p>\n
371
\n00:20:45,080 –> 00:20:47,720
\nAnd this is true not just of the
\nBible, but if anything from that<\/p>\n
372
\n00:20:47,720 –> 00:20:50,200
\ntime period and further back,
\nancient writings that we have <\/p>\n
373
\n00:20:50,440 –> 00:20:53,680
\nwould have had the same process.
\nSo we have other ancient <\/p>\n
374
\n00:20:53,680 –> 00:20:57,600
\nwritings outside the Bible that
\nalso have that same issue, The <\/p>\n
375
\n00:20:57,600 –> 00:21:00,520
\ncopies that we have.
\nPerhaps we don’t have that many <\/p>\n
376
\n00:21:00,520 –> 00:21:03,360
\nof them and they don’t date that
\nfar back anywhere close to when <\/p>\n
377
\n00:21:03,360 –> 00:21:07,120
\nthey were originally written.
\nBut when it comes to how the <\/p>\n
378
\n00:21:07,120 –> 00:21:10,800
\nBible was preserved, this is
\nwhere it stands apart from any <\/p>\n
379
\n00:21:10,800 –> 00:21:14,840
\nother ancient writing.
\nWhat I’m going to show you here <\/p>\n
380
\n00:21:14,840 –> 00:21:16,840
\nis known as the rules of the
\nTalmudists. <\/p>\n
381
\n00:21:18,080 –> 00:21:21,640
\nThese are the rules by which the
\nTalmudists and the scribes <\/p>\n
382
\n00:21:21,640 –> 00:21:25,320
\nbefore them.
\nThis is these were the rules <\/p>\n
383
\n00:21:25,320 –> 00:21:29,400
\nthey adhered to when they were
\ncopying a scroll to preserve it <\/p>\n
384
\n00:21:29,480 –> 00:21:32,200
\nfor another generation.
\nThis is from the NASA hit <\/p>\n
385
\n00:21:32,200 –> 00:21:34,840
\nSulfurine, which means the
\ntractate of the scribes. <\/p>\n
386
\n00:21:35,800 –> 00:21:39,080
\nA synagogue scroll had to be
\nwritten on the skins of clean <\/p>\n
387
\n00:21:39,080 –> 00:21:44,640
\nanimals prepared by a Jew,
\nfastened together with strings <\/p>\n
388
\n00:21:44,640 –> 00:21:50,120
\ntaken from clean animals, lined
\nand spaced so that every skin <\/p>\n
389
\n00:21:50,120 –> 00:21:52,880
\ncontains a certain number of
\ncolumns equal throughout the <\/p>\n
390
\n00:21:52,880 –> 00:21:56,240
\nentire codex.
\nThe length of each column could <\/p>\n
391
\n00:21:56,240 –> 00:22:00,640
\nnot extend over less than 48 or
\nmore than 60 lines, and the <\/p>\n
392
\n00:22:00,640 –> 00:22:04,160
\nbreadth had to consist of
\nexactly 30 letters. <\/p>\n
393
\n00:22:05,360 –> 00:22:08,520
\nThe whole copy had to 1st be
\nlined of three Words were <\/p>\n
394
\n00:22:08,520 –> 00:22:10,200
\nwritten without a line.
\nIt’s worthless. <\/p>\n
395
\n00:22:10,200 –> 00:22:14,240
\nThey had to draw out a straight
\nline before they wrote that next<\/p>\n
396
\n00:22:14,240 –> 00:22:16,400
\nline.
\nIf they didn’t do that it to <\/p>\n
397
\n00:22:16,400 –> 00:22:18,760
\nthrow the whole thing out and
\nstart over. <\/p>\n
398
\n00:22:19,560 –> 00:22:23,360
\nThe ink should be black, neither
\nred, green, nor any other color,<\/p>\n
399
\n00:22:23,360 –> 00:22:26,160
\nand be prepared according to a
\ndefinite recipe. <\/p>\n
400
\n00:22:27,040 –> 00:22:29,760
\nAn authentic copy had to be the
\nexemplar from which the <\/p>\n
401
\n00:22:29,760 –> 00:22:33,120
\ntranscriber ought not in the
\nleast to deviate. <\/p>\n
402
\n00:22:33,400 –> 00:22:35,880
\nSo when they copied a scroll,
\nthey had to make sure that the <\/p>\n
403
\n00:22:35,880 –> 00:22:40,960
\nscroll they were copying from
\nwas certified copied by scribes <\/p>\n
404
\n00:22:40,960 –> 00:22:44,640
\nthat followed all of the same
\nrules that we’re reading and the<\/p>\n
405
\n00:22:44,640 –> 00:22:47,040
\nrules of which we’re only about
\nhalfway through right now, the <\/p>\n
406
\n00:22:47,040 –> 00:22:50,640
\nones we’re going to look at,
\nwe’re so rigorous that they were<\/p>\n
407
\n00:22:50,640 –> 00:22:54,280
\n100% confident that by the time
\nthe scribe was finished copying <\/p>\n
408
\n00:22:54,280 –> 00:22:58,160
\nthe new scroll, they considered
\nit to be exactly the same as the<\/p>\n
409
\n00:22:58,160 –> 00:23:02,640
\nold scroll, but more valuable
\nbecause this was a fresh copy, <\/p>\n
410
\n00:23:03,200 –> 00:23:05,560
\nwhich means it was going to last
\nfor another generation, and the <\/p>\n
411
\n00:23:05,560 –> 00:23:08,080
\nold scroll, now it’s shelf life,
\nwas going to be shorter. <\/p>\n
412
\n00:23:09,520 –> 00:23:12,840
\nThis is how confident they were
\nin their transcribing method. <\/p>\n
413
\n00:23:13,640 –> 00:23:16,680
\nNow this is a big one.
\nNo word or letter, not even a <\/p>\n
414
\n00:23:16,680 –> 00:23:20,080
\nyod, which is the smallest
\nHebrew symbol, must be written <\/p>\n
415
\n00:23:20,080 –> 00:23:22,760
\nfrom memory, the scribe not
\nhaving looked at the codex <\/p>\n
416
\n00:23:22,760 –> 00:23:25,560
\nbefore him.
\nWhich means that if you’ve ever <\/p>\n
417
\n00:23:25,800 –> 00:23:29,760
\ncopied anything out by hand,
\nthen probably what you would do <\/p>\n
418
\n00:23:29,760 –> 00:23:32,920
\nis you’d you’d look at the
\ndocument you were copying from, <\/p>\n
419
\n00:23:33,520 –> 00:23:36,720
\nand maybe you’d look at an
\nentire sentence and you say, OK,<\/p>\n
420
\n00:23:36,760 –> 00:23:38,680
\nthere’s the sentence, write down
\nthe sentence. <\/p>\n
421
\n00:23:40,360 –> 00:23:43,800
\nThe laws of the scribes were
\nthey couldn’t look at any more <\/p>\n
422
\n00:23:43,800 –> 00:23:47,520
\nthan a single symbol on the page
\nand write it by memory. <\/p>\n
423
\n00:23:47,920 –> 00:23:50,120
\nIt was not allowed, not even a
\nword. <\/p>\n
424
\n00:23:50,400 –> 00:23:53,000
\nYou couldn’t even look at a
\nwhole word and then write that <\/p>\n
425
\n00:23:53,000 –> 00:23:55,040
\nwhole word.
\nYou had to go letter by letter. <\/p>\n
426
\n00:23:55,040 –> 00:23:58,000
\nSo you’d write the letter, look
\nat the next letter, write that <\/p>\n
427
\n00:23:58,000 –> 00:24:01,440
\nletter, look at the next one.
\nIt wasn’t enough to go by memory<\/p>\n
428
\n00:24:01,440 –> 00:24:05,200
\neven for an entire word.
\nNow Can you imagine how long <\/p>\n
429
\n00:24:05,200 –> 00:24:08,240
\nthat would take?
\nAnd this was very much a full <\/p>\n
430
\n00:24:08,240 –> 00:24:10,320
\ntime job.
\nSomebody was ascribed. <\/p>\n
431
\n00:24:10,320 –> 00:24:14,320
\nThis is what they did full time.
\nIt would take a very, very long <\/p>\n
432
\n00:24:14,320 –> 00:24:19,000
\ntime just to copy out one scroll
\nbetween every continent. <\/p>\n
433
\n00:24:19,000 –> 00:24:22,280
\nThe space of a hair or thread
\nmust intervene between every new<\/p>\n
434
\n00:24:22,280 –> 00:24:24,760
\nparagraph or section.
\nThe breadth of nine continents <\/p>\n
435
\n00:24:24,760 –> 00:24:26,880
\nmust intervene between every
\nbook. <\/p>\n
436
\n00:24:26,880 –> 00:24:29,160
\nThe space of three lines must
\nintervene. <\/p>\n
437
\n00:24:29,680 –> 00:24:32,720
\nThe 5th book of Moses must
\nterminate exactly with the line,<\/p>\n
438
\n00:24:32,720 –> 00:24:36,360
\nbut the rest need not do so.
\nSo Can you imagine if you got to<\/p>\n
439
\n00:24:36,360 –> 00:24:40,520
\nthe end of Deuteronomy and I was
\njust a little short? <\/p>\n
440
\n00:24:41,280 –> 00:24:43,280
\nImagine the planning it would
\ntake to make sure the very last <\/p>\n
441
\n00:24:43,280 –> 00:24:45,920
\nline of Deuteronomy was one full
\ncomplete line. <\/p>\n
442
\n00:24:46,080 –> 00:24:49,920
\nAnd if you messed up, throw the
\nwhole thing out and start again.<\/p>\n
443
\n00:24:52,120 –> 00:24:56,960
\nBesides this, the copyist had to
\nsit in full Jewish dress, wash <\/p>\n
444
\n00:24:56,960 –> 00:25:00,720
\nhis whole body, and not even
\nbegin to write the name of God <\/p>\n
445
\n00:25:00,720 –> 00:25:04,160
\nwith a pen newly dipped in ink.
\nThe idea is a pen newly dipped <\/p>\n
446
\n00:25:04,160 –> 00:25:07,560
\nin ink will smudge very easily.
\nAnd you never wanted to smudge <\/p>\n
447
\n00:25:07,560 –> 00:25:10,200
\nthe name of God.
\nAnd should a king address him <\/p>\n
448
\n00:25:10,200 –> 00:25:14,080
\nwhile writing that name, he must
\ntake no notice of him. <\/p>\n
449
\n00:25:16,080 –> 00:25:19,080
\nThe roles in which these
\nregulations are not observed are<\/p>\n
450
\n00:25:19,080 –> 00:25:22,680
\ncondemned to be buried in the
\nground or burned. <\/p>\n
451
\n00:25:23,680 –> 00:25:27,640
\nIf they didn’t comply with all
\nof these rules for everything, <\/p>\n
452
\n00:25:27,640 –> 00:25:29,320
\nthey copied whatever they were
\nwriting. <\/p>\n
453
\n00:25:29,320 –> 00:25:32,760
\nIf they broke those rules or
\nthey messed up, throw it out, <\/p>\n
454
\n00:25:33,080 –> 00:25:36,400
\nburn it, destroy it.
\nWe do not want that copy to live<\/p>\n
455
\n00:25:36,400 –> 00:25:41,680
\non.
\nThis was how seriously they took<\/p>\n
456
\n00:25:42,000 –> 00:25:46,160
\nthe copying of their holy
\nwritings. <\/p>\n
457
\n00:25:47,760 –> 00:25:50,840
\nAnd the rigor with which the
\nJewish scribes copied out these <\/p>\n
458
\n00:25:50,840 –> 00:25:55,040
\nwritings is unparalleled in any
\nother ancient society. <\/p>\n
459
\n00:25:55,560 –> 00:25:58,240
\nNobody else, no other society
\nthat we have any record of, <\/p>\n
460
\n00:25:58,280 –> 00:26:02,840
\ncomes anywhere close to having
\nthis kind of exact, precise <\/p>\n
461
\n00:26:02,840 –> 00:26:07,880
\ndetail put in to the laws by
\nwhich they had to copy a scroll,<\/p>\n
462
\n00:26:09,120 –> 00:26:11,720
\nAnd I mentioned earlier, of the
\nOld Testament, we have thousands<\/p>\n
463
\n00:26:11,720 –> 00:26:14,400
\nof manuscript copies of the
\nvarious books, some of them <\/p>\n
464
\n00:26:14,400 –> 00:26:18,560
\nfragments, some of them entire
\nscrolls in the Old Testament. <\/p>\n
465
\n00:26:19,200 –> 00:26:22,600
\nAnd remarkably, when you compare
\nthem to each other, yes, there <\/p>\n
466
\n00:26:22,600 –> 00:26:26,640
\nare differences, but they’re so
\nslight for the most part that <\/p>\n
467
\n00:26:26,640 –> 00:26:29,280
\nthe message has been preserved,
\ndespite the fact that some of <\/p>\n
468
\n00:26:29,280 –> 00:26:32,800
\nthem are hundreds and even over
\n1000 years removed from the <\/p>\n
469
\n00:26:32,800 –> 00:26:35,640
\noriginal source.
\nIt’s what you might call <\/p>\n
470
\n00:26:35,840 –> 00:26:39,600
\nmiraculous, because no other
\nancient work can demonstrate <\/p>\n
471
\n00:26:39,600 –> 00:26:41,840
\nanything like that kind of
\naccuracy. <\/p>\n
472
\n00:26:42,160 –> 00:26:45,360
\nBecause the Jews believed this
\nwas a matter of life and death, <\/p>\n
473
\n00:26:46,080 –> 00:26:48,400
\nit was right in their law.
\nDeuteronomy chapter 4 and verse <\/p>\n
474
\n00:26:48,400 –> 00:26:51,160
\ntwo, you shall not add to the
\nword of God that I command you, <\/p>\n
475
\n00:26:51,360 –> 00:26:53,960
\nnor take from it that you may
\nkeep the commandments of the <\/p>\n
476
\n00:26:53,960 –> 00:26:56,920
\nLord your God that I command
\nyou. <\/p>\n
477
\n00:26:57,680 –> 00:27:01,760
\nImagine if we had to hand write
\ncopies of bestsellers today. <\/p>\n
478
\n00:27:02,480 –> 00:27:05,840
\nBest sellers today sometimes
\nsell in the millions of copies. <\/p>\n
479
\n00:27:05,840 –> 00:27:08,720
\nImagine if the printing press
\nwas never invented and we had to<\/p>\n
480
\n00:27:08,720 –> 00:27:11,680
\nhand rape over 1,000,000 copies
\nof a book. <\/p>\n
481
\n00:27:12,000 –> 00:27:14,680
\nImagine how different the
\nmillionth copy of that book <\/p>\n
482
\n00:27:14,680 –> 00:27:17,000
\nwould be from the original if we
\nhad to do that. <\/p>\n
483
\n00:27:19,360 –> 00:27:22,520
\nAnd you start to realize how
\nincredible it is that all of <\/p>\n
484
\n00:27:22,520 –> 00:27:25,280
\nthose thousands of manuscripts
\nwe have when we compare them to <\/p>\n
485
\n00:27:25,280 –> 00:27:28,080
\neach other, both of the Old
\nTestament and the new, how <\/p>\n
486
\n00:27:28,080 –> 00:27:34,200
\nsimilar they are to each other.
\nSo at a certain point, the Old <\/p>\n
487
\n00:27:34,200 –> 00:27:35,960
\nTestament Canon was officially
\ndecided. <\/p>\n
488
\n00:27:35,960 –> 00:27:38,920
\nIt was ratified.
\nThe Jewish leaders and rabbis <\/p>\n
489
\n00:27:38,920 –> 00:27:41,200
\nsaid, this is it.
\nThese are our holy books. <\/p>\n
490
\n00:27:41,200 –> 00:27:45,680
\nAnd the Jewish Bible was
\ncomprised of 24 books. <\/p>\n
491
\n00:27:46,280 –> 00:27:49,120
\nNow you might be thinking, oh,
\nthat’s strange because we have <\/p>\n
492
\n00:27:49,120 –> 00:27:52,760
\n39 books in our Old Testament.
\nWe’ll get there. <\/p>\n
493
\n00:27:54,200 –> 00:27:56,600
\nIt was comprised of four
\ndifferent, sorry, three <\/p>\n
494
\n00:27:56,600 –> 00:27:58,800
\ndifferent sections.
\nThe Hebrew Canon, the Hebrew <\/p>\n
495
\n00:27:58,800 –> 00:28:01,360
\nScriptures, the Torah, the Law
\nof Moses. <\/p>\n
496
\n00:28:01,360 –> 00:28:05,680
\nThose first five books, the
\nNabine, which were the prophets,<\/p>\n
497
\n00:28:06,200 –> 00:28:09,800
\nand the Quetzu beam, which means
\nthe writings. <\/p>\n
498
\n00:28:10,600 –> 00:28:14,000
\nAnd this is the Hebrew Bible is
\nthis is actually in this exact <\/p>\n
499
\n00:28:14,000 –> 00:28:16,120
\norder if you were to look at a
\nJewish Bible today. <\/p>\n
500
\n00:28:16,640 –> 00:28:19,240
\nAnd what you’ll notice is that
\nactually all of the content of <\/p>\n
501
\n00:28:19,240 –> 00:28:22,360
\nthe Hebrew Bible is the exact
\nsame as our Old Testament, but <\/p>\n
502
\n00:28:22,360 –> 00:28:25,760
\nit’s in a different order.
\nWe both start with Genesis, but <\/p>\n
503
\n00:28:25,760 –> 00:28:29,560
\nwhile our Bible ends with
\nMalachi, the Hebrew Bible ends <\/p>\n
504
\n00:28:29,560 –> 00:28:31,280
\nwith Chronicles.
\nMalachi’s in there. <\/p>\n
505
\n00:28:31,280 –> 00:28:34,200
\nIt’s just not at the end.
\nAnd the books are grouped <\/p>\n
506
\n00:28:34,200 –> 00:28:38,040
\ndifferently too.
\nSo you might know that we have <\/p>\n
507
\n00:28:38,280 –> 00:28:41,920
\ntwo books of Samuel and Kings
\nand Chronicles, but but the <\/p>\n
508
\n00:28:41,920 –> 00:28:44,360
\nJewish Bible, those are all
\ngrouped into one book and we <\/p>\n
509
\n00:28:44,360 –> 00:28:47,520
\nhave 12 minor prophets.
\nBut in the Jewish Bible, those <\/p>\n
510
\n00:28:47,520 –> 00:28:51,280
\n12 are all just grouped into one
\nbig book called the 12. <\/p>\n
511
\n00:28:52,120 –> 00:28:54,480
\nAnd that’s why they have 24
\nbooks and we have 39. <\/p>\n
512
\n00:28:54,480 –> 00:28:57,960
\nThe content is the same, but
\nthey’re organized in a different<\/p>\n
513
\n00:28:58,240 –> 00:29:03,520
\nway.
\nAnd there’s an old theory that <\/p>\n
514
\n00:29:03,520 –> 00:29:06,320
\nsays that this Canon of the Old
\nTestament was officially <\/p>\n
515
\n00:29:06,320 –> 00:29:10,880
\nratified sometime in the 1st
\ncentury at a a gathering called <\/p>\n
516
\n00:29:10,880 –> 00:29:14,880
\nthe Council of Jamnia.
\nAnd nobody really believes that <\/p>\n
517
\n00:29:14,880 –> 00:29:16,920
\ntoo much anymore.
\nAnd I don’t really either. <\/p>\n
518
\n00:29:16,920 –> 00:29:18,280
\nI’ve looked at the evidence for
\nit. <\/p>\n
519
\n00:29:19,280 –> 00:29:23,360
\nIt’s pretty weak.
\nIt would seem that the Old <\/p>\n
520
\n00:29:23,360 –> 00:29:27,040
\nTestament, the Canon of the Old
\nTestament was actually this put <\/p>\n
521
\n00:29:27,040 –> 00:29:31,160
\ntogether, finalized sometime
\nbefore Jesus. <\/p>\n
522
\n00:29:31,160 –> 00:29:34,400
\nI want you to turn with me to
\nLuke chapter 24. <\/p>\n
523
\n00:29:35,800 –> 00:29:41,200
\nAnd Jesus actually in a way
\nendorses the Old Testament <\/p>\n
524
\n00:29:41,200 –> 00:29:43,160
\nCanaan that must have already
\nbeen in existence. <\/p>\n
525
\n00:29:43,160 –> 00:29:45,840
\nI don’t know if you’ve ever
\nnoticed this, but have a look at<\/p>\n
526
\n00:29:45,840 –> 00:29:47,080
\nthis.
\nRight at the end of the Gospel <\/p>\n
527
\n00:29:47,080 –> 00:29:53,160
\nof Luke, Jesus is speaking to
\nhis disciples in verse 44 of <\/p>\n
528
\n00:29:53,160 –> 00:29:58,080
\nLuke chapter 24.
\nAnd Jesus said to them, these <\/p>\n
529
\n00:29:58,080 –> 00:30:01,240
\nare my words, that I spoke to
\nyou while I was still with you, <\/p>\n
530
\n00:30:01,240 –> 00:30:03,920
\nthat everything written about me
\nin the Law of Moses and the <\/p>\n
531
\n00:30:03,920 –> 00:30:06,680
\nProphets and the Psalms must be
\nfulfilled. <\/p>\n
532
\n00:30:06,880 –> 00:30:08,640
\nDid you notice the three
\ncategories? <\/p>\n
533
\n00:30:08,920 –> 00:30:14,280
\nEverything written about me in
\nthe Law of Moses, the Torah and <\/p>\n
534
\n00:30:14,280 –> 00:30:20,160
\nthe Prophets, the Nabim and the
\nPsalms, the Ketsu beam. <\/p>\n
535
\n00:30:20,480 –> 00:30:22,920
\nAnd he makes reference to the
\nthree categories in which the <\/p>\n
536
\n00:30:22,920 –> 00:30:25,000
\ndivision of the Old Testament
\nwas broken up. <\/p>\n
537
\n00:30:26,200 –> 00:30:29,080
\nAnd even more interesting, I
\nthink is just a few pages back. <\/p>\n
538
\n00:30:29,080 –> 00:30:34,040
\nCome with me to Luke, Chapter
\n11, and I I wonder if, like me, <\/p>\n
539
\n00:30:34,040 –> 00:30:35,880
\nyou’ve ever wondered about this
\nverse. <\/p>\n
540
\n00:30:35,880 –> 00:30:38,360
\nIt seems strange, something that
\nJesus says here. <\/p>\n
541
\n00:30:40,160 –> 00:30:43,800
\nI’m going to read verses 50 and
\n51 of Luke Chapter 11. <\/p>\n
542
\n00:30:44,240 –> 00:30:47,760
\nJesus is talking to the
\nPharisees of the time. <\/p>\n
543
\n00:30:48,160 –> 00:30:50,320
\nHe says the blood of all the
\nprophets shed from the <\/p>\n
544
\n00:30:50,320 –> 00:30:53,600
\nfoundation of the world will be
\ncharged against this generation,<\/p>\n
545
\n00:30:54,000 –> 00:30:58,720
\nfrom the blood of Abel to the
\nblood of Zechariah who perished <\/p>\n
546
\n00:30:58,720 –> 00:31:00,720
\nbetween the altar and the
\nsanctuary. <\/p>\n
547
\n00:31:00,920 –> 00:31:04,800
\nYes, I tell you, it will be
\nrequired of this generation. <\/p>\n
548
\n00:31:05,080 –> 00:31:08,040
\nSo he’s saying your generation
\nis so wicked that you’re <\/p>\n
549
\n00:31:08,040 –> 00:31:10,880
\nessentially guilty of all of the
\ninnocent blood of the prophets <\/p>\n
550
\n00:31:10,880 –> 00:31:14,520
\nthat have shed and all of the
\nHoly Scriptures, which would <\/p>\n
551
\n00:31:14,520 –> 00:31:17,800
\nhave been the Old Testament that
\nwe look at now that he was <\/p>\n
552
\n00:31:17,800 –> 00:31:23,120
\nreferring to in that time.
\nSo why would he mention <\/p>\n
553
\n00:31:23,960 –> 00:31:26,920
\nZechariah the prophet?
\nThe death of Zechariah the <\/p>\n
554
\n00:31:26,920 –> 00:31:28,440
\nprophet.
\nNow the first one makes sense. <\/p>\n
555
\n00:31:28,440 –> 00:31:32,400
\nHe says from the death of Abel.
\nFrom the blood of Abel. <\/p>\n
556
\n00:31:32,400 –> 00:31:35,560
\nThat makes sense.
\nAbel was the first righteous <\/p>\n
557
\n00:31:35,560 –> 00:31:38,320
\nprophet of God to be killed.
\nThat was the first murder. <\/p>\n
558
\n00:31:40,040 –> 00:31:43,560
\nBut why Zechariah?
\nIt’s a very obscure reference. <\/p>\n
559
\n00:31:44,040 –> 00:31:45,760
\nWe won’t turn there.
\nBut you find it in Second <\/p>\n
560
\n00:31:45,760 –> 00:31:47,960
\nChronicles chapter 24 and verse
\n21. <\/p>\n
561
\n00:31:48,280 –> 00:31:54,680
\nZechariah, the prophet killed in
\na holy place, and Jesus makes <\/p>\n
562
\n00:31:54,680 –> 00:31:57,920
\nreference to it here.
\nIt’s not one of the bigger <\/p>\n
563
\n00:31:57,920 –> 00:32:01,520
\nstories in the Old Testament,
\nbut if you were to look to look <\/p>\n
564
\n00:32:01,520 –> 00:32:05,760
\nat the first and second books of
\nChronicles, you’d find that in <\/p>\n
565
\n00:32:05,760 –> 00:32:09,240
\nthe book of Chronicles, this is
\nthe very last death of a <\/p>\n
566
\n00:32:09,240 –> 00:32:11,840
\nprophet.
\nAnd if you were there to then <\/p>\n
567
\n00:32:11,840 –> 00:32:15,000
\nlook at the order of the Hebrew
\nBible of the Old Testament <\/p>\n
568
\n00:32:15,000 –> 00:32:17,880
\nCanon, you’d see that the book
\nof Chronicles is the very last <\/p>\n
569
\n00:32:17,880 –> 00:32:20,840
\nbook of the Old Testament.
\nAnd what Jesus is essentially <\/p>\n
570
\n00:32:20,840 –> 00:32:23,720
\nsaying is from the beginning to
\nthe end of the Old Testament <\/p>\n
571
\n00:32:23,720 –> 00:32:26,720
\nbecause Zechariah is the last
\nrighteous prophet to be killed <\/p>\n
572
\n00:32:26,720 –> 00:32:30,200
\nat the end of the Hebrew Bible.
\nAnd by saying that, he’s once <\/p>\n
573
\n00:32:30,200 –> 00:32:34,120
\nagain, in a sense, endorsing the
\nfull scope of what had must have<\/p>\n
574
\n00:32:34,120 –> 00:32:38,160
\nbeen put together at this time,
\nthe Old Testament Canon of the <\/p>\n
575
\n00:32:38,160 –> 00:32:44,560
\nBible, now in Nehemiah chapters
\n8 and 9, Nehemiah will bring the<\/p>\n
576
\n00:32:44,560 –> 00:32:48,120
\nlaw, the Torah back to
\nJerusalem, and Ezra the Scribe <\/p>\n
577
\n00:32:48,120 –> 00:32:49,760
\nwill read it in front of the
\npeople. <\/p>\n
578
\n00:32:51,600 –> 00:32:54,000
\nAnd we’ll find from writings,
\nancient historical writings <\/p>\n
579
\n00:32:54,040 –> 00:32:58,880
\noutside of the Bible, that it
\nwasn’t just the Old Testament <\/p>\n
580
\n00:32:58,880 –> 00:33:01,680
\nthat Nehemiah gathered.
\nIn fact, he built a library. <\/p>\n
581
\n00:33:02,360 –> 00:33:05,160
\nHere’s the Maccabees.
\nOnce again it says these same <\/p>\n
582
\n00:33:05,160 –> 00:33:07,880
\nfacts are found in the royal
\nrecords and in the memoirs of <\/p>\n
583
\n00:33:07,880 –> 00:33:11,080
\nNehemiah, who established a
\nlibrary and collected the <\/p>\n
584
\n00:33:11,080 –> 00:33:14,120
\nwritings of David, letters of
\nkings concerning offerings and <\/p>\n
585
\n00:33:14,120 –> 00:33:16,040
\nbooks about the kings and
\nprophets. <\/p>\n
586
\n00:33:16,760 –> 00:33:19,400
\nJudas also collected the books
\nthat had been scattered because <\/p>\n
587
\n00:33:19,400 –> 00:33:21,040
\nof the war, and we still have
\nthem. <\/p>\n
588
\n00:33:21,360 –> 00:33:24,280
\nIf you ever have need of any of
\nthese books, let us know and we <\/p>\n
589
\n00:33:24,280 –> 00:33:28,440
\nwill send them in.
\nThe sense that we get is that at<\/p>\n
590
\n00:33:28,440 –> 00:33:32,160
\nthe very least Nehemiah’s time,
\nright after the exile, when he <\/p>\n
591
\n00:33:32,160 –> 00:33:34,720
\ngathered all these sacred
\nwritings in one place. <\/p>\n
592
\n00:33:34,720 –> 00:33:38,240
\nAgain, this was the beginning of
\nthe Old Testament being <\/p>\n
593
\n00:33:38,240 –> 00:33:41,520
\nofficially ratified.
\nAnd it’s some time, we believe <\/p>\n
594
\n00:33:41,800 –> 00:33:45,160
\nin those 400 years between the
\nOld Testament and the New that <\/p>\n
595
\n00:33:45,160 –> 00:33:48,760
\nthe Jewish people decided that
\nthese are our holy sacred <\/p>\n
596
\n00:33:49,000 –> 00:33:51,360
\nwritings.
\nBut I mentioned before that <\/p>\n
597
\n00:33:51,360 –> 00:33:53,960
\nthere are apocryphal works too.
\nThat didn’t make it in. <\/p>\n
598
\n00:33:54,200 –> 00:33:57,640
\nHere’s a list of most of the
\nmajor apocryphal books from the <\/p>\n
599
\n00:33:57,640 –> 00:33:59,480
\nOld Testament.
\nIt’s not exhaustive. <\/p>\n
600
\n00:33:59,480 –> 00:34:01,640
\nIt’s not all of them.
\nThis is most of the major ones. <\/p>\n
601
\n00:34:02,160 –> 00:34:06,240
\nSo you have First and 2nd
\nEsdriss, the book of Tobit, some<\/p>\n
602
\n00:34:06,240 –> 00:34:09,480
\nadditions to the book of Esther,
\nThe Wisdom of Solomon and <\/p>\n
603
\n00:34:09,480 –> 00:34:12,080
\nEcclesiasticus, which were
\nsupposedly both written by <\/p>\n
604
\n00:34:12,080 –> 00:34:15,480
\nSolomon Baruch, which was
\nsupposedly written by Baruch the<\/p>\n
605
\n00:34:15,480 –> 00:34:19,520
\nservant of Jeremiah Susanna,
\nwhich is supposed to be Daniel, <\/p>\n
606
\n00:34:19,520 –> 00:34:22,760
\nchapter 13 Bell and the Dragon,
\nwhich is supposed to be Daniel, <\/p>\n
607
\n00:34:22,760 –> 00:34:25,360
\nchapter 14.
\nThe Song of the three Hebrew <\/p>\n
608
\n00:34:25,360 –> 00:34:28,760
\nChildren, the prayer of
\nManasseh, and then First and 2nd<\/p>\n
609
\n00:34:28,760 –> 00:34:30,800
\nMaccabees, which we have
\nactually quoted from a couple of<\/p>\n
610
\n00:34:30,800 –> 00:34:33,360
\ntimes.
\nNow none of these made their way<\/p>\n
611
\n00:34:33,360 –> 00:34:36,800
\ninto the Old Testament, and most
\nof them for roughly the same <\/p>\n
612
\n00:34:36,800 –> 00:34:40,360
\nreasons most of these books
\nabound. <\/p>\n
613
\n00:34:40,360 –> 00:34:45,840
\nAnd historical and geographical
\ninaccuracies and anachronisms. <\/p>\n
614
\n00:34:46,520 –> 00:34:49,480
\nSo an anachronism is when
\nsomething is written about, but <\/p>\n
615
\n00:34:49,480 –> 00:34:53,760
\nit’s out of place.
\nSo if if the book was writing <\/p>\n
616
\n00:34:53,760 –> 00:34:56,760
\nabout a certain time period and
\nthey mentioned a people that <\/p>\n
617
\n00:34:56,760 –> 00:34:59,680
\ndidn’t actually exist until a
\nfew 100 years later, that would <\/p>\n
618
\n00:34:59,680 –> 00:35:02,960
\nbe an anachronism.
\nIt’s an error, usually a time <\/p>\n
619
\n00:35:02,960 –> 00:35:05,040
\nsensitive error that has been
\nmade. <\/p>\n
620
\n00:35:05,400 –> 00:35:09,680
\nSo most of these books abound.
\nAnd those types of errors, they <\/p>\n
621
\n00:35:09,680 –> 00:35:13,440
\nteach doctrines which are false
\nand foster practices that are at<\/p>\n
622
\n00:35:13,440 –> 00:35:15,640
\nodds with scripture.
\nRemember we talked about the <\/p>\n
623
\n00:35:15,640 –> 00:35:18,880
\ncriteria which would be put
\nagainst any book that was being <\/p>\n
624
\n00:35:18,880 –> 00:35:22,880
\nconsidered to be included in the
\nOld Testament sacred writings <\/p>\n
625
\n00:35:22,880 –> 00:35:26,800
\nand they’d ask the question, is
\nit consistent with what we know <\/p>\n
626
\n00:35:26,800 –> 00:35:30,200
\nabout God?
\nAnd if it wasn’t, they wouldn’t <\/p>\n
627
\n00:35:30,200 –> 00:35:32,840
\ninclude it.
\nThey resort to literary types <\/p>\n
628
\n00:35:32,840 –> 00:35:35,840
\nand display an artificiality of
\nsubject matter and styling out <\/p>\n
629
\n00:35:35,840 –> 00:35:37,640
\nof keeping with inspired
\nscripture. <\/p>\n
630
\n00:35:37,920 –> 00:35:40,400
\nI don’t know if you’ve ever
\nnoticed, but the Bible doesn’t <\/p>\n
631
\n00:35:40,400 –> 00:35:44,040
\nread like a work of fiction.
\nIt reads like a real historical <\/p>\n
632
\n00:35:44,040 –> 00:35:47,080
\naccount.
\nIn works of fiction, especially <\/p>\n
633
\n00:35:47,080 –> 00:35:51,240
\nfrom ancient times like this
\none, we read about idealized <\/p>\n
634
\n00:35:51,400 –> 00:35:54,080
\nheroes who are perfect in every
\nway. <\/p>\n
635
\n00:35:54,400 –> 00:35:57,360
\nWe have all kinds of dramatic
\ndetails that would never really <\/p>\n
636
\n00:35:57,360 –> 00:35:59,840
\nhappen in real life and in the
\nBible. <\/p>\n
637
\n00:35:59,840 –> 00:36:03,200
\nWe read about real people,
\npeople who were faithful but <\/p>\n
638
\n00:36:03,200 –> 00:36:09,320
\nsometimes committed terrible
\nsins, and we read about the true<\/p>\n
639
\n00:36:09,320 –> 00:36:11,840
\ncourse of events that we’re kind
\nof familiar with today. <\/p>\n
640
\n00:36:11,840 –> 00:36:16,280
\nWhen time and chance happeneth
\nto everyone, it reads like a <\/p>\n
641
\n00:36:16,280 –> 00:36:20,280
\ntrue factual account.
\nBut many of these books up here <\/p>\n
642
\n00:36:20,280 –> 00:36:21,960
\ndo not.
\nThey read like a work of <\/p>\n
643
\n00:36:21,960 –> 00:36:25,040
\nfiction, and so they were kept
\nout and they lack the <\/p>\n
644
\n00:36:25,040 –> 00:36:27,560
\ndistinctive elements that give
\ngenuine scripture. <\/p>\n
645
\n00:36:27,560 –> 00:36:31,120
\nIt’s divine character, like
\nprophetic power and poetic and <\/p>\n
646
\n00:36:31,120 –> 00:36:35,520
\nreligious feeling.
\nSo all of these books were put <\/p>\n
647
\n00:36:35,520 –> 00:36:37,760
\nthrough the very rigorous test
\nof anything that was being <\/p>\n
648
\n00:36:37,760 –> 00:36:40,280
\nconsidered by the Jewish rabbis
\nto be included in the Old <\/p>\n
649
\n00:36:40,280 –> 00:36:42,840
\nTestament.
\nAnd they didn’t make the cut. <\/p>\n
650
\n00:36:44,360 –> 00:36:47,200
\nThey did not make the Old
\nTestament of our Bibles. <\/p>\n
651
\n00:36:47,840 –> 00:36:51,840
\nAnd the process by which they
\ngot there was fanatical. <\/p>\n
652
\n00:36:52,360 –> 00:36:55,680
\nIt was rigorous.
\nNow we’re for the sake of time, <\/p>\n
653
\n00:36:55,680 –> 00:36:57,440
\nwe need to start talking about
\nthe New Testament. <\/p>\n
654
\n00:36:57,440 –> 00:36:59,400
\nNow, I told you we’re going to
\nbreak this into two parts. <\/p>\n
655
\n00:36:59,600 –> 00:37:00,840
\nWe’ve talked about the Old
\nTestament. <\/p>\n
656
\n00:37:00,840 –> 00:37:02,360
\nLet’s talk now about the New
\nTestament. <\/p>\n
657
\n00:37:02,360 –> 00:37:05,680
\nBecause the formation of the New
\nTestament Canon in the situation<\/p>\n
658
\n00:37:05,680 –> 00:37:08,520
\nin New Testament times was very
\ndifferent from the Old <\/p>\n
659
\n00:37:08,520 –> 00:37:11,680
\nTestament.
\nGod had before the time of <\/p>\n
660
\n00:37:11,760 –> 00:37:13,200
\nJesus.
\nHe had stopped speaking to the <\/p>\n
661
\n00:37:13,200 –> 00:37:14,560
\npeople of Israel, and they knew
\nit. <\/p>\n
662
\n00:37:15,240 –> 00:37:17,440
\nThere were no prophets anymore.
\nAll they had were their <\/p>\n
663
\n00:37:17,440 –> 00:37:19,040
\nscriptures, their sacred
\nwritings. <\/p>\n
664
\n00:37:19,040 –> 00:37:23,120
\nBut then Jesus came on the scene
\nand John the Baptist before him,<\/p>\n
665
\n00:37:23,120 –> 00:37:25,920
\nand once again God was speaking
\nto his people, even though many <\/p>\n
666
\n00:37:25,920 –> 00:37:30,280
\nof them wouldn’t acknowledge it.
\nAnd Jesus would send his <\/p>\n
667
\n00:37:30,280 –> 00:37:33,640
\napostles out into all the world
\nto preach the gospel message. <\/p>\n
668
\n00:37:34,880 –> 00:37:38,720
\nAnd those early ecclesias, they
\ndidn’t have the New Testament <\/p>\n
669
\n00:37:38,720 –> 00:37:41,680
\nthat we have today.
\nAs time went on, maybe some of <\/p>\n
670
\n00:37:41,680 –> 00:37:44,400
\nthem would might have one or two
\nof the gospel accounts. <\/p>\n
671
\n00:37:44,560 –> 00:37:46,760
\nMaybe they have one of the
\nletters of Paul or one of the <\/p>\n
672
\n00:37:46,760 –> 00:37:48,320
\nother apostles, but that would
\nbe it. <\/p>\n
673
\n00:37:49,400 –> 00:37:51,760
\nAnd what they had instead were
\nthe Holy Spirit gifts. <\/p>\n
674
\n00:37:53,920 –> 00:37:56,440
\nJust like in the Old Testament
\nwhen they had men of God <\/p>\n
675
\n00:37:56,440 –> 00:37:59,520
\nperforming works to verify that
\nthese truly were works of God, <\/p>\n
676
\n00:37:59,520 –> 00:38:03,960
\nin the New Testament people were
\ngiven the Holy Spirit gifts. <\/p>\n
677
\n00:38:04,360 –> 00:38:07,280
\nThey didn’t have our New
\nTestament of the Bible, but they<\/p>\n
678
\n00:38:07,280 –> 00:38:10,400
\nhad plenty of evidence in front
\nof their eyes constantly that <\/p>\n
679
\n00:38:10,400 –> 00:38:12,680
\nGod was working in and amongst
\nthem. <\/p>\n
680
\n00:38:14,440 –> 00:38:18,480
\nBut the apostles would die, and
\nwith the apostles would go the <\/p>\n
681
\n00:38:18,560 –> 00:38:21,120
\nthe ability to pass on those
\nHoly Spirit gifts. <\/p>\n
682
\n00:38:21,120 –> 00:38:24,040
\nAnd so when the apostles died,
\nthose Holy Spirit gifts would <\/p>\n
683
\n00:38:24,040 –> 00:38:27,040
\ndie out too.
\nThey’d fade after the deaths of <\/p>\n
684
\n00:38:27,040 –> 00:38:30,840
\nthe apostles, but the Christian
\ncommunity would continue to <\/p>\n
685
\n00:38:30,840 –> 00:38:34,840
\nspread by leaps and bounds.
\nThat’s going to be the subject <\/p>\n
686
\n00:38:34,840 –> 00:38:37,400
\nof our class tomorrow morning.
\nThe rapid spread of <\/p>\n
687
\n00:38:37,400 –> 00:38:42,280
\nChristianity, against all odds,
\nat a time when it should fail <\/p>\n
688
\n00:38:42,280 –> 00:38:43,840
\nshould have failed and it did
\nnot. <\/p>\n
689
\n00:38:45,400 –> 00:38:48,280
\nAnd there were a number of
\nfactors in those early, first, <\/p>\n
690
\n00:38:48,280 –> 00:38:52,320
\nfew, 100 years after Jesus that
\nwould pressure the early <\/p>\n
691
\n00:38:52,320 –> 00:38:55,600
\nChristian leaders to start to
\nclosely define which books <\/p>\n
692
\n00:38:55,600 –> 00:38:58,160
\nbelonged in the New Testament.
\nWhat does the New Testament <\/p>\n
693
\n00:38:58,160 –> 00:39:01,680
\nCanon look like?
\nOne of the earliest factors <\/p>\n
694
\n00:39:01,720 –> 00:39:06,120
\nhappened around the year 140 AD,
\nwhen a guy named Marcian who was<\/p>\n
695
\n00:39:06,120 –> 00:39:08,600
\na Christian but a very different
\nkind of Christian. <\/p>\n
696
\n00:39:08,600 –> 00:39:11,280
\nHe came up with his own theology
\nvery different from what other <\/p>\n
697
\n00:39:11,280 –> 00:39:15,160
\nChristians believed at the time,
\nPut together his own New <\/p>\n
698
\n00:39:15,160 –> 00:39:17,920
\nTestament, he put together his
\nown Canon, and it was only <\/p>\n
699
\n00:39:17,920 –> 00:39:20,040
\ncomprised of a shorter version
\nof the Gospel of Luke. <\/p>\n
700
\n00:39:20,040 –> 00:39:23,240
\nAnd 10 of the writings of the
\nApostle Paul and Marcian is <\/p>\n
701
\n00:39:23,240 –> 00:39:25,920
\ncalled Marcian the heretic
\nbecause nobody liked what he had<\/p>\n
702
\n00:39:25,920 –> 00:39:28,360
\nto say.
\nBut if Marcian the heretic was <\/p>\n
703
\n00:39:28,360 –> 00:39:31,320
\nout there putting out his
\nversion of the New Testament, <\/p>\n
704
\n00:39:31,720 –> 00:39:34,760
\nthen everybody else had felt the
\npressure to say, OK, well, if <\/p>\n
705
\n00:39:34,760 –> 00:39:37,480
\nhe’s wrong, then what should the
\nNew Testament actually look <\/p>\n
706
\n00:39:37,480 –> 00:39:39,840
\nlike?
\nSo they started to feel pressure<\/p>\n
707
\n00:39:39,840 –> 00:39:45,880
\nto ratify the New Testament
\nCanon, and throughout the 2nd <\/p>\n
708
\n00:39:45,920 –> 00:39:48,280
\ncentury there was the
\ndistribution of many. <\/p>\n
709
\n00:39:48,280 –> 00:39:51,640
\nWe call them spurious works,
\nobvious counterfeits of various <\/p>\n
710
\n00:39:51,640 –> 00:39:54,960
\ndifferent books clearly written
\nby impostors, especially in some<\/p>\n
711
\n00:39:54,960 –> 00:39:59,320
\nof the Eastern churches.
\nAnd now that these counterfeit <\/p>\n
712
\n00:39:59,320 –> 00:40:01,640
\nworks were popping up, it became
\neven more important to define <\/p>\n
713
\n00:40:01,640 –> 00:40:04,720
\nwhich ones were real, because
\nthey couldn’t even answer that <\/p>\n
714
\n00:40:04,720 –> 00:40:07,920
\nquestion sometimes.
\nAnd missionaries were being sent<\/p>\n
715
\n00:40:07,920 –> 00:40:11,320
\ninto foreign countries.
\nAnd the gospel messages in the <\/p>\n
716
\n00:40:11,320 –> 00:40:13,440
\nsacred works had to be
\ntranslated into foreign <\/p>\n
717
\n00:40:13,440 –> 00:40:15,920
\nlanguages.
\nSo the question is, which books <\/p>\n
718
\n00:40:15,920 –> 00:40:18,360
\nshould we bother putting effort
\ninto translating? <\/p>\n
719
\n00:40:18,360 –> 00:40:21,360
\nWe’ve got to define which books
\ntruly are holy, which ones are <\/p>\n
720
\n00:40:21,360 –> 00:40:23,960
\ninspired by God.
\nAnd finally, the nail in the <\/p>\n
721
\n00:40:23,960 –> 00:40:27,200
\ncoffin I think was in 303 AD
\nwhen the Roman Emperor <\/p>\n
722
\n00:40:27,200 –> 00:40:31,640
\nDiocletian made an edict that
\nall Christian sacred books must <\/p>\n
723
\n00:40:31,640 –> 00:40:37,120
\nbe burned and destroyed, and
\nmany Christians died protecting <\/p>\n
724
\n00:40:37,120 –> 00:40:39,720
\ntheir books.
\nBut the question became who <\/p>\n
725
\n00:40:39,720 –> 00:40:43,280
\nwants to die for a book that
\nmight be religious but maybe not<\/p>\n
726
\n00:40:43,280 –> 00:40:45,680
\nsacred?
\nYou’d really want to start to <\/p>\n
727
\n00:40:45,680 –> 00:40:48,680
\ndefine which books truly were
\ninspired by God, because you <\/p>\n
728
\n00:40:48,680 –> 00:40:53,080
\nmight have to die for that work.
\nAnd so as the first few <\/p>\n
729
\n00:40:53,080 –> 00:40:55,880
\ncenturies rolled over, there
\nbecame there was a lot of <\/p>\n
730
\n00:40:55,880 –> 00:40:59,720
\npressure put on the New
\nTestament leaders to define, or <\/p>\n
731
\n00:40:59,720 –> 00:41:02,720
\nthe Christian leaders of that
\ntime to define which books <\/p>\n
732
\n00:41:02,720 –> 00:41:07,760
\nbelonged in the New Testament.
\nAnd the test for canonicity in <\/p>\n
733
\n00:41:07,760 –> 00:41:09,400
\nthe New Testament is very
\nsimple. <\/p>\n
734
\n00:41:11,320 –> 00:41:15,480
\nThey simply ask the question,
\nwas the book either written by <\/p>\n
735
\n00:41:15,480 –> 00:41:19,440
\nan apostle or did it have direct
\nApostolic approval? <\/p>\n
736
\n00:41:20,480 –> 00:41:23,240
\nThat was it.
\nAnd it’s very similar to the Old<\/p>\n
737
\n00:41:23,240 –> 00:41:26,240
\nTestament criteria that the book
\nhad to be written by a confirmed<\/p>\n
738
\n00:41:26,240 –> 00:41:29,400
\nprophet of God.
\nYou see, God hadn’t spoken to <\/p>\n
739
\n00:41:29,400 –> 00:41:32,200
\nthem for 400 years.
\nAnd then came Jesus, who God <\/p>\n
740
\n00:41:32,200 –> 00:41:34,840
\nspoke through the only one
\nspeaking with the authority of <\/p>\n
741
\n00:41:34,840 –> 00:41:37,200
\nGod.
\nAnd now he was gone. <\/p>\n
742
\n00:41:37,200 –> 00:41:39,400
\nAnd his apostles went throughout
\nthe world, and they were <\/p>\n
743
\n00:41:39,400 –> 00:41:41,280
\nspeaking with the authority of
\nJesus. <\/p>\n
744
\n00:41:41,960 –> 00:41:45,160
\nSo they were the only people
\nthrough whom God was speaking, <\/p>\n
745
\n00:41:45,160 –> 00:41:47,360
\nbut they were performing
\nmiracles wherever they went, <\/p>\n
746
\n00:41:47,360 –> 00:41:49,160
\nconverting people all over the
\nworld. <\/p>\n
747
\n00:41:50,160 –> 00:41:52,920
\nIt’s the only way to explain how
\nChristianity succeeded in the <\/p>\n
748
\n00:41:52,920 –> 00:41:55,800
\nworld in which it succeeded,
\nwhich we’ll talk about tomorrow <\/p>\n
749
\n00:41:55,800 –> 00:42:01,560
\nmorning.
\nAnd so it was a simple question.<\/p>\n
750
\n00:42:02,360 –> 00:42:06,440
\nWas this book either written by
\nan apostle or directly and and <\/p>\n
751
\n00:42:07,640 –> 00:42:12,560
\nindisputably confirmed, endorsed
\nby an apostle? <\/p>\n
752
\n00:42:12,560 –> 00:42:19,520
\nAnd in 367 AD, the first list of
\nthe New Testament that looks <\/p>\n
753
\n00:42:19,520 –> 00:42:22,360
\nexactly like our New Testament
\ntoday, with the 27 books that we<\/p>\n
754
\n00:42:22,360 –> 00:42:25,560
\nhave, was published by a man
\nnamed Athanasius. <\/p>\n
755
\n00:42:26,800 –> 00:42:30,080
\nAnd shortly after that, two
\nother men, Jerome and Augustine,<\/p>\n
756
\n00:42:30,080 –> 00:42:32,680
\nwho are commonly referred to as
\nSaint Jerome and Saint Augustine<\/p>\n
757
\n00:42:32,680 –> 00:42:36,040
\npublished their lists which were
\nexactly the same as his list and<\/p>\n
758
\n00:42:36,040 –> 00:42:39,040
\nthey were just endorsing
\nAthanasius list. <\/p>\n
759
\n00:42:40,160 –> 00:42:44,000
\nAnd a couple of decades later,
\nin 393 AD, the New Testament <\/p>\n
760
\n00:42:44,000 –> 00:42:47,720
\nCanon was officially ratified.
\nIt was known as the Synod of <\/p>\n
761
\n00:42:47,720 –> 00:42:52,720
\nHippo.
\nNow, there are a lot of <\/p>\n
762
\n00:42:53,040 –> 00:42:55,360
\napocryphal works in the New
\nTestament as well. <\/p>\n
763
\n00:42:56,600 –> 00:42:59,160
\nAnd just to give you an idea of
\nwhat was happening in these <\/p>\n
764
\n00:42:59,160 –> 00:43:02,320
\nearly years of the Christian
\ncommunity, here’s a quote from <\/p>\n
765
\n00:43:02,320 –> 00:43:06,440
\nJustin Martyr sometime around
\n155 AD we quoted from him <\/p>\n
766
\n00:43:06,440 –> 00:43:07,520
\nbefore.
\nHe’s one of the earliest <\/p>\n
767
\n00:43:07,520 –> 00:43:10,240
\nChristian apologist.
\nHe’s describing what life was <\/p>\n
768
\n00:43:10,240 –> 00:43:12,080
\nlike in the Christian community
\nat that time. <\/p>\n
769
\n00:43:12,080 –> 00:43:15,200
\nHe said on the day called
\nSunday, all who live in cities <\/p>\n
770
\n00:43:15,200 –> 00:43:17,240
\nor in the country gathered
\ntogether to one place. <\/p>\n
771
\n00:43:17,440 –> 00:43:20,040
\nAnd the memoirs of the apostles,
\nor the writings of the prophets <\/p>\n
772
\n00:43:20,040 –> 00:43:22,680
\nare read as long as time
\npermits. <\/p>\n
773
\n00:43:23,040 –> 00:43:26,520
\nAnd then, when the reader has
\nceased, the president verbally <\/p>\n
774
\n00:43:26,520 –> 00:43:30,440
\ninstructs and exhorts to the
\nimitation of these good things. <\/p>\n
775
\n00:43:30,560 –> 00:43:32,040
\nWhich sounds pretty familiar,
\ndoesn’t it? <\/p>\n
776
\n00:43:32,040 –> 00:43:34,160
\nIt’s a lot like our Sunday
\nmornings here. <\/p>\n
777
\n00:43:34,480 –> 00:43:36,640
\nThey’d read from the word of
\nGod, and then they give an <\/p>\n
778
\n00:43:36,640 –> 00:43:40,200
\nexhortation about it.
\nAnd as early as 155 AD, they had<\/p>\n
779
\n00:43:40,200 –> 00:43:43,720
\na collection of holy writings
\nfrom both the prophets and the <\/p>\n
780
\n00:43:43,720 –> 00:43:45,600
\napostles.
\nYou’re familiar with those <\/p>\n
781
\n00:43:45,600 –> 00:43:48,120
\npassages of the New Testament
\nthat our faith is based on the <\/p>\n
782
\n00:43:48,120 –> 00:43:52,160
\nfoundation of the apostles and
\nthe prophets. <\/p>\n
783
\n00:43:52,440 –> 00:43:55,320
\nThat’s a significant fact.
\nThe book either had to be <\/p>\n
784
\n00:43:55,320 –> 00:43:58,200
\nwritten by a prophet or an
\napostle to be within the Canon <\/p>\n
785
\n00:43:58,200 –> 00:44:03,080
\nof the Bible.
\nSo here are here’s a list, again<\/p>\n
786
\n00:44:03,080 –> 00:44:06,200
\nnot exhaustive, but most of the
\nmajor apocryphal works of the <\/p>\n
787
\n00:44:06,200 –> 00:44:08,920
\nNew Testament.
\nWe have the Didaki, which means <\/p>\n
788
\n00:44:08,920 –> 00:44:13,200
\nthe teaching of the 12, the Acts
\nof Paul and Thekla, the Epistle <\/p>\n
789
\n00:44:13,200 –> 00:44:16,160
\nof Pseudo Barnabas, the Epistle
\nto the Corinthians, the 2nd <\/p>\n
790
\n00:44:16,160 –> 00:44:18,720
\nEpistle of Climate, the Shepherd
\nof Hermes, the Gospel According <\/p>\n
791
\n00:44:18,720 –> 00:44:21,400
\nto the Hebrews, the Seven
\nEpistles of Ignatius, the <\/p>\n
792
\n00:44:21,400 –> 00:44:24,560
\nEpistle of Polycorp to the
\nPhilippians, the Apocalypse of <\/p>\n
793
\n00:44:24,560 –> 00:44:27,400
\nPeter and the Epistle to the
\nLaodiceans. <\/p>\n
794
\n00:44:27,760 –> 00:44:30,320
\nAnd none of these works ever
\nenjoyed more than temporary <\/p>\n
795
\n00:44:30,320 –> 00:44:34,200
\nrecognition, maybe in one or two
\necclesias at a time. <\/p>\n
796
\n00:44:34,760 –> 00:44:37,560
\nThere was never a time when the
\nwhole Christian community said <\/p>\n
797
\n00:44:37,560 –> 00:44:39,440
\nyes.
\nWe believe this book belongs <\/p>\n
798
\n00:44:39,440 –> 00:44:42,920
\nhere.
\nThey all only enjoyed maybe at <\/p>\n
799
\n00:44:42,960 –> 00:44:46,520
\nat most we would call it semi
\ncanonical status. <\/p>\n
800
\n00:44:47,240 –> 00:44:50,760
\nBut the success that some of
\nthem did enjoy for a period of <\/p>\n
801
\n00:44:50,760 –> 00:44:53,000
\ntime was usually due to the fact
\nthat they would append <\/p>\n
802
\n00:44:53,000 –> 00:44:59,040
\nthemselves, attach themselves to
\nactual legitimate writings from <\/p>\n
803
\n00:44:59,040 –> 00:45:02,280
\nthe New Testament.
\nThey attach themselves to books <\/p>\n
804
\n00:45:02,280 –> 00:45:05,720
\nthat were inspired, that did
\nbelong in the New Testament. <\/p>\n
805
\n00:45:05,720 –> 00:45:09,520
\nBut the fact remains that no
\nmajor church, council or Canon <\/p>\n
806
\n00:45:09,520 –> 00:45:13,240
\never included any of these books
\nas inspired parts of the New <\/p>\n
807
\n00:45:13,240 –> 00:45:16,600
\nTestament.
\nSo some examples of that. <\/p>\n
808
\n00:45:16,720 –> 00:45:19,320
\nYou may notice that in
\nColossians chapter 4 and verse <\/p>\n
809
\n00:45:19,320 –> 00:45:23,680
\n16, Paul says that he’d written
\na letter to the Laodiceans. <\/p>\n
810
\n00:45:24,640 –> 00:45:26,520
\nWe don’t have that letter.
\nWe don’t have the letter to the <\/p>\n
811
\n00:45:26,520 –> 00:45:28,880
\nLaodiceans.
\nBut you see up here the Epistle <\/p>\n
812
\n00:45:28,880 –> 00:45:31,880
\nto the Laodiceans.
\nAt some point in time, somebody <\/p>\n
813
\n00:45:32,120 –> 00:45:34,560
\nthought, oh, here’s an
\nopportunity, we’re missing this <\/p>\n
814
\n00:45:34,560 –> 00:45:35,840
\nletter.
\nI’ll write it. <\/p>\n
815
\n00:45:36,240 –> 00:45:38,680
\nAnd they wrote the fictional
\nletter to the Laodiceans. <\/p>\n
816
\n00:45:39,080 –> 00:45:41,800
\nIt was very early on recognized
\nas a counterfeit. <\/p>\n
817
\n00:45:41,800 –> 00:45:44,480
\nNobody had ever seen it before.
\nAll the New Testament works had <\/p>\n
818
\n00:45:44,480 –> 00:45:47,000
\nall been written around the same
\ntime, back when the apostles <\/p>\n
819
\n00:45:47,000 –> 00:45:52,440
\nwere alive.
\nFirst Corinthians chapter 5 and <\/p>\n
820
\n00:45:52,440 –> 00:45:54,800
\nverse 9.
\nThe Apostle Paul says that he <\/p>\n
821
\n00:45:54,800 –> 00:45:57,040
\nhad written an earlier letter to
\nthe Corinthians, which would be <\/p>\n
822
\n00:45:57,040 –> 00:45:59,840
\n1\/3 letter to the Corinthians.
\nNow we only have two of the <\/p>\n
823
\n00:45:59,840 –> 00:46:02,680
\nletters to the Corinthians,
\nwhich means there was a third <\/p>\n
824
\n00:46:02,680 –> 00:46:05,920
\none that we don’t have today.
\nBut somebody took the <\/p>\n
825
\n00:46:05,960 –> 00:46:09,400
\nopportunity to later on write a
\nfake epistle to the Corinthians <\/p>\n
826
\n00:46:09,400 –> 00:46:11,840
\nto fill in that gap.
\nAnd you can see why some of <\/p>\n
827
\n00:46:11,840 –> 00:46:14,280
\nthese might have been accepted
\nby some people who are like, oh,<\/p>\n
828
\n00:46:14,280 –> 00:46:17,200
\nit’s been found.
\nWe found that third letter, and <\/p>\n
829
\n00:46:17,200 –> 00:46:19,880
\nit would have been accepted
\nmaybe by some people in some <\/p>\n
830
\n00:46:19,880 –> 00:46:21,760
\nplace until it was eventually
\ntossed out. <\/p>\n
831
\n00:46:23,360 –> 00:46:27,200
\nAnd in the Old Testament we find
\ntoo that that there are works <\/p>\n
832
\n00:46:27,200 –> 00:46:30,200
\nthat are mentioned that were
\nwritten often by faithful <\/p>\n
833
\n00:46:30,200 –> 00:46:32,560
\npeople.
\nNevertheless, they were not <\/p>\n
834
\n00:46:32,560 –> 00:46:34,760
\npreserved and they’re not in our
\nBible today, even though they <\/p>\n
835
\n00:46:34,760 –> 00:46:37,720
\nwere written by faithful people
\nbecause they’ve been lost to <\/p>\n
836
\n00:46:37,720 –> 00:46:39,720
\nhistory.
\nFirst Chronicles chapter 29 and <\/p>\n
837
\n00:46:39,720 –> 00:46:43,280
\n29 mentions the Chronicles of
\nNathan the prophet and Gad the <\/p>\n
838
\n00:46:43,280 –> 00:46:46,400
\nSeer, and we don’t have those we
\nknow about Nathan the prophet. <\/p>\n
839
\n00:46:46,400 –> 00:46:48,240
\nHe was a true faithful prophet
\nof God. <\/p>\n
840
\n00:46:48,240 –> 00:46:50,640
\nHe wrote a book and we don’t
\nhave it today. <\/p>\n
841
\n00:46:51,080 –> 00:46:55,680
\nGod didn’t decide to preserve it
\nso that we would have it in our <\/p>\n
842
\n00:46:55,680 –> 00:46:58,160
\nBible today, even though he was
\na faithful man of God. <\/p>\n
843
\n00:46:58,360 –> 00:47:02,520
\nFirst Kings chapter 4 and verse
\n32 says that Solomon wrote 3000 <\/p>\n
844
\n00:47:02,520 –> 00:47:08,040
\nProverbs and 1005 songs.
\nAnd how many songs of Solomon do<\/p>\n
845
\n00:47:08,040 –> 00:47:10,120
\nwe have today?
\nOnly one. <\/p>\n
846
\n00:47:10,560 –> 00:47:14,360
\nWhat happened to the other 1004?
\nI’d suggest we also don’t have <\/p>\n
847
\n00:47:14,360 –> 00:47:17,960
\nall of the 3000 Proverbs that
\nSolomon wrote either. <\/p>\n
848
\n00:47:18,440 –> 00:47:20,840
\nAnd you see, there have been a
\nlot of faithful people <\/p>\n
849
\n00:47:20,840 –> 00:47:22,880
\nthroughout that ancient history
\nof the Jews. <\/p>\n
850
\n00:47:23,120 –> 00:47:27,160
\nThey did right things and they
\nmay have been completely sound <\/p>\n
851
\n00:47:27,160 –> 00:47:30,080
\nand what they wrote and worth
\nreading, but they’ve been lost <\/p>\n
852
\n00:47:30,080 –> 00:47:35,200
\nto us because the Canon of
\nScripture was very precisely <\/p>\n
853
\n00:47:35,600 –> 00:47:39,680
\ncopied down to us through the
\ngenerations in a very specific <\/p>\n
854
\n00:47:39,680 –> 00:47:42,600
\nway.
\nNow we started out by saying <\/p>\n
855
\n00:47:42,600 –> 00:47:45,000
\nthat if we truly believe that
\nthe Bible is the inspired word <\/p>\n
856
\n00:47:45,000 –> 00:47:48,520
\nof God, then it should in some
\nway prove that to us. <\/p>\n
857
\n00:47:48,520 –> 00:47:52,280
\nIt should separate itself by its
\nvery characteristics from all <\/p>\n
858
\n00:47:52,280 –> 00:47:54,000
\nother writings that we have.
\nBecause we don’t believe that <\/p>\n
859
\n00:47:54,000 –> 00:47:56,760
\nanything else is the inspired
\nword of God except for the books<\/p>\n
860
\n00:47:56,760 –> 00:47:59,680
\nthat we find here.
\nAnd just come with me to Psalm <\/p>\n
861
\n00:47:59,680 –> 00:48:04,040
\nchapter 12.
\nI’m going to read verse six. <\/p>\n
862
\n00:48:04,040 –> 00:48:09,760
\nIn the first half of verse 7,
\nPsalm chapter 12, starting at <\/p>\n
863
\n00:48:09,760 –> 00:48:16,720
\nverse 6, the words of the Lord
\nare pure words, like silver, <\/p>\n
864
\n00:48:16,800 –> 00:48:20,840
\nrefined in a furnace, on the
\nground, purified 7 times. <\/p>\n
865
\n00:48:21,400 –> 00:48:26,760
\nYou, O Lord, will keep them.
\nNow, if we believe those words, <\/p>\n
866
\n00:48:26,760 –> 00:48:30,920
\nif we believe that God himself
\nhas preserved this message for <\/p>\n
867
\n00:48:30,920 –> 00:48:34,880
\nover the course of several
\nthousand years for us here so <\/p>\n
868
\n00:48:34,880 –> 00:48:38,800
\nthat he can speak to us today in
\nhis legitimate, genuine voice, <\/p>\n
869
\n00:48:41,280 –> 00:48:46,840
\nthen once again, don’t you think
\nthat these books, that this <\/p>\n
870
\n00:48:46,840 –> 00:48:50,200
\nBible should somehow, over and
\nabove all other works, prove <\/p>\n
871
\n00:48:50,400 –> 00:48:53,560
\nthat it’s special?
\nAnd we’ve talked about how the <\/p>\n
872
\n00:48:53,560 –> 00:48:55,440
\nOld Testament in the New
\nTestament was formed. <\/p>\n
873
\n00:48:55,440 –> 00:48:59,200
\nWe’ve talked about how
\nincredible it was, the the <\/p>\n
874
\n00:48:59,200 –> 00:49:02,320
\nrigorous procedures of the
\nscribes as they copied out the <\/p>\n
875
\n00:49:02,320 –> 00:49:04,840
\nOld Testament.
\nWe’ve talked about all the books<\/p>\n
876
\n00:49:04,840 –> 00:49:06,800
\nthat were kicked out of the
\nBible because they didn’t <\/p>\n
877
\n00:49:06,800 –> 00:49:09,880
\nbelong, because it was
\nconsidered to be a matter of <\/p>\n
878
\n00:49:09,880 –> 00:49:12,120
\nlife and death.
\nWhether or not a book truly was <\/p>\n
879
\n00:49:12,120 –> 00:49:14,400
\ntruly did belong within the
\nCanaan of the Bible. <\/p>\n
880
\n00:49:15,480 –> 00:49:19,360
\nAnd when historians are looking
\nat manuscript evidence for any <\/p>\n
881
\n00:49:19,360 –> 00:49:22,360
\nkind of ancient historical
\nwriting or event, there’s two <\/p>\n
882
\n00:49:22,360 –> 00:49:25,760
\nmain questions they ask.
\nAnd the first one is this. <\/p>\n
883
\n00:49:26,480 –> 00:49:30,200
\nWhat is the gap in time between
\nthe oldest manuscript that we <\/p>\n
884
\n00:49:30,200 –> 00:49:33,800
\nhave for this particular writing
\nand when it was originally <\/p>\n
885
\n00:49:33,800 –> 00:49:36,920
\nwritten, when that author
\noriginally lived? <\/p>\n
886
\n00:49:37,480 –> 00:49:39,680
\nAnd to give you an example of
\nwhat that might look like with <\/p>\n
887
\n00:49:39,680 –> 00:49:42,680
\nsome other historical works that
\nwe use for sources for our <\/p>\n
888
\n00:49:42,680 –> 00:49:45,320
\nancient history, here’s some
\nexamples. <\/p>\n
889
\n00:49:45,320 –> 00:49:48,080
\nI apologize for the font size.
\nIt’s smaller than I like to to <\/p>\n
890
\n00:49:48,080 –> 00:49:51,560
\nhave it normally, but I had to
\nfit these all on the screen. <\/p>\n
891
\n00:49:51,960 –> 00:49:55,880
\nPliny the Younger, the Roman
\ngovernor, who also wrote some <\/p>\n
892
\n00:49:55,880 –> 00:49:58,760
\nhistory that we used today.
\nSo we so we know what happened <\/p>\n
893
\n00:49:58,760 –> 00:50:01,240
\nin Asia around the time that he
\nlived. <\/p>\n
894
\n00:50:01,480 –> 00:50:07,200
\nPliny the Younger, about 750
\nyears from the oldest manuscript<\/p>\n
895
\n00:50:07,200 –> 00:50:10,160
\nwe have to when Pliny actually
\nlived. <\/p>\n
896
\n00:50:11,200 –> 00:50:14,680
\nCaesar, Julius Caesar and his
\nwork the Gallic Wars, about 1000<\/p>\n
897
\n00:50:14,680 –> 00:50:18,560
\nyears.
\nPlato about 1200 years. <\/p>\n
898
\n00:50:19,120 –> 00:50:25,040
\nAristotle about 1400 years,
\nSophocles about 1400 years, <\/p>\n
899
\n00:50:25,600 –> 00:50:30,880
\nEuripides about 1500 years.
\nThese are the average time gaps,<\/p>\n
900
\n00:50:30,880 –> 00:50:33,360
\nthe kind of thing we see when
\nwe’re looking at works that are <\/p>\n
901
\n00:50:33,360 –> 00:50:36,640
\nthis old.
\nAnd then we get to the Old and <\/p>\n
902
\n00:50:36,640 –> 00:50:43,640
\nthe New Testaments and the Old
\nTestament just about 150 years, <\/p>\n
903
\n00:50:45,040 –> 00:50:49,600
\nand the New Testament no more
\nthan 50 and perhaps less. <\/p>\n
904
\n00:50:51,200 –> 00:50:55,040
\nThe oldest manuscript copies we
\nhave from the New Testament were<\/p>\n
905
\n00:50:55,040 –> 00:50:58,160
\nperhaps written when some of the
\nlast of the apostles, maybe <\/p>\n
906
\n00:50:58,160 –> 00:51:02,400
\nJohn, was even still alive.
\nThere is no other ancient <\/p>\n
907
\n00:51:02,400 –> 00:51:05,520
\nhistorical work that even comes
\nclose when it comes to the time <\/p>\n
908
\n00:51:05,520 –> 00:51:08,080
\ngap between when it was
\noriginally written in the oldest<\/p>\n
909
\n00:51:08,080 –> 00:51:12,400
\nmanuscript copies that we have.
\nAnd the Bible, statistically, in<\/p>\n
910
\n00:51:12,400 –> 00:51:15,920
\nthis way sets sets itself apart
\nfrom any other ancient work. <\/p>\n
911
\n00:51:16,720 –> 00:51:19,880
\nNow, the other major question
\nthat historians will ask is how <\/p>\n
912
\n00:51:19,880 –> 00:51:24,440
\nmany manuscript copies do we
\nhave of this particular work? <\/p>\n
913
\n00:51:24,440 –> 00:51:26,480
\nBecause they like to be able to
\ntake those copies and put them <\/p>\n
914
\n00:51:26,480 –> 00:51:29,000
\nside by side and compare them to
\neach other because they’re often<\/p>\n
915
\n00:51:29,000 –> 00:51:34,360
\nquite different from each other.
\nSo this list is similar to the <\/p>\n
916
\n00:51:34,360 –> 00:51:36,560
\nlast one, but not all.
\nThe names aren’t exactly the <\/p>\n
917
\n00:51:36,560 –> 00:51:40,880
\nsame for Plato.
\nSeven. <\/p>\n
918
\n00:51:41,360 –> 00:51:44,640
\nNow these numbers include both
\nmanuscript fragments and <\/p>\n
919
\n00:51:44,640 –> 00:51:46,840
\nmanuscript copies of entire
\nscrolls. <\/p>\n
920
\n00:51:48,000 –> 00:51:50,680
\nThucydides is considered to be
\none of the most accurate ancient<\/p>\n
921
\n00:51:50,680 –> 00:51:55,120
\nhistorians. 7 Pliny the Younger,
\n7. <\/p>\n
922
\n00:51:55,600 –> 00:51:59,440
\nHerodotus, 8.
\nEuripides, 9. <\/p>\n
923
\n00:51:59,640 –> 00:52:03,480
\nCaesar with his Gallic Wars 10.
\nTacitus 20. <\/p>\n
924
\n00:52:03,760 –> 00:52:07,960
\nAristotle, 49.
\nJosephus, somewhere around 127, <\/p>\n
925
\n00:52:08,200 –> 00:52:13,160
\nSophocles 193.
\nAnd then we come to the Old <\/p>\n
926
\n00:52:13,160 –> 00:52:20,560
\nTestament somewhere around
\n10,010 thousand, and then we <\/p>\n
927
\n00:52:20,560 –> 00:52:23,280
\ncome to the New Testament and at
\nlast count when I checked, <\/p>\n
928
\n00:52:23,840 –> 00:52:28,760
\n24,970.
\nAnd to put this in even more <\/p>\n
929
\n00:52:28,760 –> 00:52:31,440
\nperspective, if you were to
\ncompare the Bible, let’s say the<\/p>\n
930
\n00:52:31,440 –> 00:52:34,560
\nNew Testament, to the writing
\nthat had the second most amount <\/p>\n
931
\n00:52:34,560 –> 00:52:37,320
\nof manuscript copies outside the
\nBible, it wouldn’t be a <\/p>\n
932
\n00:52:37,320 –> 00:52:39,800
\nhistorical work.
\nIt would actually be a fictional<\/p>\n
933
\n00:52:39,800 –> 00:52:45,560
\nwork.
\nHomer’s the Iliad at 643, in <\/p>\n
934
\n00:52:45,560 –> 00:52:47,840
\nsecond place, after the Old and
\nNew Testaments. <\/p>\n
935
\n00:52:50,040 –> 00:52:54,320
\nJust by the way, In case you’re
\ncurious, of those 24,970 just <\/p>\n
936
\n00:52:54,320 –> 00:52:57,920
\nunder 5700 are in the original
\nGreek, about 10,000 in Latin, <\/p>\n
937
\n00:52:58,120 –> 00:53:00,160
\nand the rest in various other
\nlanguages. <\/p>\n
938
\n00:53:03,000 –> 00:53:07,080
\nDid God preserve his words?
\nHas he shown that to us? <\/p>\n
939
\n00:53:07,480 –> 00:53:11,120
\nHas he set these words apart
\nfrom any other thing that we <\/p>\n
940
\n00:53:11,120 –> 00:53:13,480
\ncould read, that we could find,
\nthat we could get our hands on, <\/p>\n
941
\n00:53:13,480 –> 00:53:17,080
\nthat we could delve into?
\nAnd the answer is absolutely, He<\/p>\n
942
\n00:53:17,080 –> 00:53:20,840
\nhas, in just about every way
\nthat counts. <\/p>\n
943
\n00:53:21,880 –> 00:53:25,400
\nThe Bible that we have in front
\nof us has set itself apart from <\/p>\n
944
\n00:53:25,480 –> 00:53:28,480
\nany other human work that has
\never been written because we <\/p>\n
945
\n00:53:28,480 –> 00:53:32,000
\nbelieve that it was more than
\nthat, that it truly was inspired<\/p>\n
946
\n00:53:32,000 –> 00:53:34,720
\nby God.
\nAnd if it was inspired by God, <\/p>\n
947
\n00:53:34,720 –> 00:53:37,920
\nthat means that when you read
\nit, you’re having a conversation<\/p>\n
948
\n00:53:37,920 –> 00:53:40,680
\nwith God because he’s speaking
\nto you through his word, and <\/p>\n
949
\n00:53:40,680 –> 00:53:42,320
\nyou’re speaking to him when you
\npray. <\/p>\n
950
\n00:53:43,840 –> 00:53:50,160
\nAnd if God truly is speaking to
\nus through this word, well, then<\/p>\n
951
\n00:53:50,720 –> 00:53:52,360
\nI imagine we should listen,
\nshouldn’t we? <\/p>\n
952
\n00:53:53,360 –> 00:53:55,480
\nAnd that should be only the
\nfirst step, recognizing that <\/p>\n
953
\n00:53:55,480 –> 00:53:57,680
\nthis truly is the word of God.
\nIf we acknowledge that he <\/p>\n
954
\n00:53:57,680 –> 00:54:01,480
\nexists, that Jesus truly was the
\nSon of God, that he was raised <\/p>\n
955
\n00:54:01,480 –> 00:54:04,520
\nfrom the dead, then that means
\nthat God can and will raise us <\/p>\n
956
\n00:54:04,520 –> 00:54:07,160
\nfrom the dead.
\nAnd if this truly is God’s <\/p>\n
957
\n00:54:07,160 –> 00:54:14,480
\nmessage to us, well, then truly
\nthis book is more important than<\/p>\n
958
\n00:54:14,680 –> 00:54:16,960
\nanything else in this life.\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Class 2 from this series was used in GCT Episode 272. 1 00:00:00,040 –> 00:00:05,480 As…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":786,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"https:\/\/anchor.fm\/s\/8765608\/podcast\/play\/79137731\/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2023-10-26%2F22567bb0-e088-4037-16b0-c753fa094856.mp3","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"00:54:17","filesize":"31.06M","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":""},"tags":[26],"series":[18],"class_list":["post-1049","podcast","type-podcast","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-season-6","series-gct-ext"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t