Participants:
Series Code: AU
Program Code: AU000096S
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00:01 - When it comes to the early church in the New Testament,
00:02 who exactly got to decide which books would become part 00:05 of the Bible and which ones were gonna be left out? 00:08 Was it a church council that decided, 00:10 the way some people say? 00:12 Or was it created some other way? 00:14 That's today on "Authentic." 00:17 [gentle guitar music] 00:29 [gentle guitar music continues] 00:38 When the Christian church first got started, 00:40 they already had a Bible, 00:42 actually, the first 39 books 00:44 that we now call the Old Testament. 00:48 By the 1st century AD, the inspiration 00:50 and authority of those books was beyond question, 00:53 but, of course, the church also assembled another 27 books 00:57 that came to be known as the New Testament. 00:59 And that's really what we're gonna look at today. 01:02 And I've gotta warn you, 01:03 this is such a big story that I don't believe 01:05 for a moment we're gonna cover this in just half an hour. 01:09 As we've already discussed on another program, 01:12 the Bible didn't just fall from the sky completely written. 01:16 Instead, the community of faith started to notice 01:19 that certain writings had God's fingerprints on them, 01:22 and they had lasting value for all generations. 01:26 Sometime after the Babylonian exile, 01:28 the Jewish canon was completed, 01:31 and then after the death and resurrection of Christ, 01:33 the Christian community started to recognize some 01:35 of those same inspired features 01:38 in some of the works being written 01:40 by members of the early church. 01:43 Now if you listen to more skeptical academics, 01:46 some of them are gonna tell you that the canon 01:49 of scripture was something invented later, 01:51 something that was imposed on the church 01:54 hundreds of years after the fact. 01:56 In fact, some modern scholars will tell you 01:59 there's a sharp distinction between books of scripture 02:03 and the notion of a biblical canon. 02:05 They say that scriptural writings 02:07 were recognized very, very early on, 02:10 but a definitive list of inspired books wasn't created 02:13 for almost another 300 years. 02:16 The key idea behind that theory suggests 02:19 that the canon was actually invented by the church 02:22 and then imposed on books whose authors, they say, 02:25 had no idea they were writing scripture. 02:28 By contrast, the more traditional view 02:31 and my view, to be honest, 02:33 is that the church very quickly recognized 02:36 that some of the things being written 02:37 had the imprint of God. 02:39 And the fact that we developed a canonical list 02:42 in later years doesn't mean the scriptural status 02:46 was something new. 02:47 It was simply an organized recognition 02:50 that the apostles had indeed been writing by inspiration. 02:55 If you really think about it, 02:56 the early church was really rooted 02:58 in a person instead of a book 03:01 because many of the believers 03:02 in the 1st century had actually met Jesus 03:05 or heard Him speak. 03:06 At least that would've been the case 03:08 in the city of Jerusalem. 03:10 If they didn't get the chance to actually meet Jesus, 03:13 a lot of them would've met one of the apostles, 03:16 who made it their business to spread the story 03:18 of Christ across the Roman Empire. 03:21 But of course, as time moved on, 03:23 and one generation died and another took its place, 03:25 it became more and more important 03:27 to have a written record of why the church was born. 03:31 So in about the 40s AD, 03:34 we get some of the very first books of the New Testament, 03:37 and by the close of the 1st century, 03:39 the church was in possession of all 27 of the works 03:42 that you now find in the New Testament. 03:45 And in spite of the insistence by some people 03:48 that the church essentially invented the New Testament 03:51 in the 4th century, 300 years after Christ, 03:55 the truth is that 1st and 2nd-century Christians 03:59 actually started teaching from those same inspired writings. 04:03 Back in the late 19th and early 20th century, 04:06 the German theologian Theodor Zahn decided to sit down 04:09 and count up all the quotations 04:11 from the New Testament you find 04:12 in the writings of the early church fathers, 04:15 and he found so many that he came to the conclusion 04:19 that the early church already had a New Testament canon 04:23 by the end of the 1st century. 04:26 The recognition of which books were inspired 04:29 and which ones weren't kind of happened by broad consensus, 04:33 and it really wasn't the decision 04:35 of a handful of powerful individuals. 04:38 Back in 1987, the famous scholar Bruce Metzger said, 04:41 "The formation of the canon 04:43 was among the first instinctive acts 04:45 of the Christian society, 04:47 resting upon the general confession of the Churches 04:50 and not upon independent opinions of its members. 04:53 The canon was not the result of a series of contests. 04:57 Rather, canonical books were separated from others 05:00 by the intuitive insight of the Church." 05:03 Now, very early on, there were some interesting developments 05:07 that probably motivated the church 05:09 to publish a definitive list of inspired books, 05:13 not because they were trying 05:14 to figure out which books were inspired, 05:16 but because they were trying to counter the rise 05:19 of false teachers in unbiblical heresy. 05:22 A scholar by the name of Adolf von Harnack believed 05:25 that it was an early heretic by the name of Marcion, 05:28 who in the middle of the 2nd century forced the church 05:32 to explicitly define which writing 05:34 should be considered authoritative. 05:37 The reason he said that is because the Marcionites, 05:40 as they were called, had developed their own list 05:43 of canonical New Testament books, and it only had 11 books. 05:48 They had a shortened version of the Gospel of Luke, 05:50 10 of Paul's letters, and that's it. 05:54 Marcion even rejected the entire Old Testament, 05:57 which is something the apostles clearly never did. 06:00 I mean, just look at all the Old Testament references 06:02 you find in the writings of the apostles. 06:05 And by using just a few selected writings, 06:08 Marcion the heretic 06:10 was teaching what we now call gnosticism. 06:12 He believed, like other gnostics, 06:15 that the original creator botched the creation 06:18 and that Jesus had come to redeem that mistake. 06:21 Marcion actually pitted the teachings of Christ 06:24 against the teachings of the Old Testament, 06:26 which is something the apostles never, ever did. 06:30 Instead, you'll notice that John explicitly says 06:32 that Christ is the creator. 06:35 And Paul tells us that Jesus 06:36 is the one who led the Israelites 06:39 through the wilderness during the Exodus. 06:41 And Jesus Himself said this: 06:44 "Do not think that I have come 06:46 to abolish the Law or the Prophets. 06:48 I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 06:52 For truly, I say to you, 06:53 until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, 06:56 will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 07:00 Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least 07:03 of these commandments and teaches others 07:05 to do the same will be called least 07:07 in the kingdom of heaven, 07:09 but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great 07:12 in the kingdom of heaven." 07:14 Now, additionally, Marcion the gnostic taught 07:17 that Jesus was not actually God in human flesh. 07:19 In fact, he said He wasn't human at all, 07:21 a teaching that is now called docetism. 07:24 Now, Marcion was actually different 07:26 from the other gnostics in one really important way. 07:29 While the gnostics stressed having a special, elite body 07:33 of knowledge that was revealed just to them, 07:36 Marcion at least attempted to build his teachings 07:38 on the writings of some of the New Testament. 07:42 But of course, to make his ideas fit, 07:44 he had to pick and choose what he wanted to accept. 07:48 Now, there was another 2nd-century heresy 07:50 known as Montanism, 07:52 and the Montanists insisted that they were inspired 07:55 by God to reveal brand-new prophecies. 07:58 So in response, at least the theory says, 08:01 the church had to get serious 08:03 about publishing a real list of authoritative books, 08:06 one that exposed Marcion's truncated New Testament 08:10 and put a stop to this idea 08:12 that the Montanists were producing new scriptures. 08:15 And they say that's how we got our New Testament canon. 08:19 Now, personally, I'm kind of skeptical of the theory 08:22 because I'm with Mr. Metzger. 08:24 I think the body of the New Testament was obvious 08:27 before the likes of Marcion or the Montanists, 08:30 and we'll talk about that in just a minute, 08:32 but I'll give the theory a itty-bitty tiny bit of credit. 08:36 There is something about false teaching 08:38 that does help the church 08:39 become a whole lot more decided about the truth. 08:43 After all, facing opposition has a way 08:45 of requiring you to know for sure who you are 08:49 and what you believe. 08:52 We actually saw that happen 08:53 during the Protestant Reformation. 08:55 By facing the corruption of the mainstream church, 08:57 believers were forced to examine the scriptures 09:00 for themselves and know for sure what the Bible said 09:03 and what it didn't say. 09:05 And as a result, the teachings 09:06 of scripture became the focal point 09:09 for people like Tyndale, Luther, or Calvin. 09:12 And right now, my focal point is the clock 09:15 on the studio wall, which says it's time for a break, 09:18 so I'll be right back after this. 09:24 - [Announcer] Here at the Voice of Prophecy, 09:25 we're committed to creating top-quality programming 09:28 for the whole family, 09:29 like our audio adventure series "Discovery Mountain." 09:32 "Discovery Mountain" is a Bible-based program 09:35 for kids of all ages and backgrounds. 09:37 Your family will enjoy the faith-building stories 09:40 from this small mountain summer camp and town. 09:43 With 24 seasonal episodes every year 09:45 and fresh content every week, 09:48 there's always a new adventure just on the horizon. 09:54 - It all really boils down to one simple question. 09:57 Did the church create the Bible, 10:00 or did the Bible create the church? 10:02 The way that some people think about this, 10:04 it was a church council that approved a list 10:07 of canonical books long after they were written, 10:10 and the writers of those books, they say, 10:12 apparently had no idea 10:14 that they were actually writing scripture. 10:16 It's almost as if believers had no idea what was inspired 10:20 before a body of high-ranking luminaries made a decision 10:24 hundreds of years later. 10:26 In another episode, we look 10:27 at Dan Brown's ridiculous claims 10:30 that the Council of Nicaea created the New Testament canon 10:33 in the year 325 AD, and we demolished that idea. 10:37 We know for a fact that the church 10:39 had a canonical New Testament long before Nicaea, 10:43 as evidenced in the writings of various church fathers 10:46 and in one especially important document 10:48 called the Muratorian Fragment. 10:51 You might remember the Muratorian Fragment was a copy 10:54 of a 2nd-century document, 10:56 and it listed the books 10:57 of the New Testament almost 200 years 11:00 before the Council of Nicaea. 11:03 The biggest problem with giving credit 11:05 to a church council is the fact that a body 11:08 of human scholars would then have been sitting 11:10 in judgment over the Bible. 11:13 The scriptures cannot be the ultimate authority 11:16 in a Christian's life if they sat around 11:18 for 300 years lacking the endorsement of a church council 11:22 before they were considered authoritative. 11:25 And if that's what happened, 11:27 then the authority of a church council 11:29 would actually be superior 11:31 to the authority of the scriptures. 11:34 And this of course is the position that a number 11:36 of Christian communities have actually adopted, 11:39 and it actually forms the key distinction 11:42 between the Protestant 11:43 and the Catholic position on scripture. 11:46 Now, the other view, 11:48 and the one that makes the most sense, in my humble opinion, 11:50 is that the inspired writers actually knew 11:53 they were writing scripture, 11:55 and the original church knew it too. 11:57 This is fairly easy to demonstrate 11:59 from the words of the apostles themselves, 12:01 and I'm gonna do that in just a minute. 12:03 But before I do, let me address a key objection 12:07 that some people have to the idea 12:08 that the New Testament actually authenticates itself. 12:12 They'll say, "Oh, that's circular reasoning." 12:14 How do you know the books 12:16 of the New Testament are the Word of God? 12:17 Well, the books of the New Testament say they are. 12:21 It sounds like circular reasoning, 12:22 but if God is really the author of this book, 12:26 to what other authority could He possibly appeal? 12:29 Does God actually answer to church councils? 12:32 Does He need an outside source to validate what He says? 12:36 That doesn't make sense. 12:40 Here, let me show you a really interesting passage 12:42 in the Book of Hebrews, 12:43 where the author is explaining God's promise to Abraham, 12:47 and pay attention to what it actually says. 12:49 Really pay attention. 12:52 "For when God made a promise to Abraham, 12:54 since He had no one greater by whom to swear, 12:57 He swore by Himself, saying, 12:59 'Surely I will bless you and multiply you.'" 13:03 You see, when you and I go to court, 13:05 we often place our hands on a Bible 13:06 and swear by something greater than us 13:08 that we're gonna tell the truth. 13:11 What we're really doing is appealing 13:12 to an outside authority, 13:14 and it makes perfect sense in a world full 13:16 of broken, fallible human beings. 13:19 But when it comes to God, where exactly is He supposed 13:22 to find outside validation? 13:24 It doesn't exist 13:25 because He's at the very pinnacle of all existence. 13:28 In fact, He defines the very nature of existence 13:32 because according to the scripture, He's the source of that. 13:36 So would it be circular reasoning to say that the books 13:39 of the New Testament validate themselves? 13:42 Well, I can see how people might think that, 13:44 but it's perfectly valid because the books were inspired 13:48 by the highest authority there is. 13:51 And if God says they're scripture, 13:53 there's nowhere else you can go for validation. 13:57 This was one of the biggest talking points 13:59 of the Reformation. 14:00 People were arguing for a return 14:02 to something they called sola scriptura, 14:05 the Bible, and the Bible alone, as the rule of faith. 14:09 And I say it was a return to that principle 14:11 because if you go back 14:13 and read the writings of the earliest church, 14:14 you'll see they also held that position. 14:18 It was only as we pass through the marriage 14:20 of church and state and then the abysmal medieval period 14:24 that we started to adopt other kinds of thinking. 14:27 The official church responded 14:28 to the reformers by doubling down on the idea 14:31 that church councils are the ultimate authority. 14:34 At the Council of Trent in the middle of the 16th century, 14:37 we suddenly canonized a number of books 14:39 that historically speaking had never been 14:42 in the Bible before, 14:44 and those were the books called the Apocrypha. 14:48 Prior to the Council of Trent, 14:50 Jerome included those apocryphal books 14:52 in his Latin Vulgate translation, 14:55 but he included a careful note to let the reader know 14:57 that these were not considered scripture. 14:59 Instead, they were just useful background material 15:02 that helps us understand things like culture or context. 15:06 And Jerome was right. 15:07 They are helpful reading. 15:09 Then in AD 600, Pope Gregory the Great explicitly stated 15:13 as he was commenting on the books of the Maccabees 15:16 that they were not scripture. 15:18 Here's what he said: 15:19 "We shall not act rationally if we accept a testimony 15:22 of books which, although not canonical, 15:25 have been published for the edification of the Church." 15:28 So if the canon of scripture was really the product 15:31 of a decision made by a church council, 15:33 that creates a bit of a problem. 15:36 In the year 600, we have the Bishop of Rome saying 15:39 that 1 and 2 Maccabees aren't scripture, 15:42 but then in 1546, the Council of Trent reverses that. 15:47 So how do we understand that? 15:49 Were the books canonical all along, 15:51 but the church was mistaken in the beginning? 15:53 Or did the books suddenly become inspired in 1546, 15:57 almost 2,000 years after they were written? 16:00 You see the problem here, 16:02 and that might be the reason it was a minority vote 16:05 at the Council of Trent that actually decided 16:07 to include the Apocrypha. 16:09 The people who gathered there 16:11 knew those books had never been scripture 16:14 over the last 1,500 years. 16:15 In fact, as late as 1498, 16:18 the marginal notes in Jerome's Latin Vulgate 16:20 still said those books were not scripture. 16:24 Even the notorious Thomas Cajetan, 16:26 one of the key opponents of Martin Luther, wrote this. 16:29 He said, "Here we close our commentaries 16:32 on the historical books of the Old Testament. 16:35 For the rest, that is, Judith, Tobit, 16:37 and the books of the Maccabees, 16:39 are counted by St. Jerome out of the canonical books 16:42 and are placed amongst the Apocrypha, 16:44 along with Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus." 16:48 In other words, back in those days, 16:50 everybody knew those apocryphal books were not inspired. 16:56 A few years later, a minority vote 16:58 in a church council supposedly changes that. 17:01 So how can we trust the idea 17:03 that a self-appointed church council is the final authority? 17:07 The entire idea is very problematic 17:10 because it puts the Bible under our authority, 17:13 and it wasn't actually the way the church thought 17:15 about the Bible for the first 1,200 years. 17:18 What we really need to do 17:19 is examine the documents themselves 17:21 to see if there's evidence 17:23 that the earliest church believed the books were inspired, 17:26 and that's what we're gonna do 17:28 as soon as I come back from this break. 17:34 - [Announcer] Dragons, beasts, cryptic statues, 17:38 Bible prophecy can be incredibly vivid and confusing. 17:43 If you've ever read Daniel or Revelation 17:45 and come away scratching your head, you're not alone. 17:48 Our free Focus on Prophecy guides are designed 17:51 to help you unlock the mysteries of the Bible 17:53 and deepen your understanding of God's plan 17:56 for you and our world. 17:57 Study online or request them by mail 18:00 and start bringing prophecy into focus today. 18:03 - When you take a look at Peter's second letter, 18:06 you find an indication that he believed the process 18:08 of writing inspired scripture was already going on 18:11 in his day back in the 1st century. 18:15 The Old Testament canon 18:16 was finished roughly 400 years before Christ, 18:19 but now that Jesus had come, 18:21 the Spirit of God was once again illuminating the minds 18:24 of Christian prophets 18:26 and inspiring them to write the counsels 18:28 of God for the church. 18:29 So here's what it says beginning in 2 Peter 1:9: 18:33 "And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, 18:36 to which you will do well to pay attention 18:38 as to a lamp shining in a dark place, 18:41 until the day dawns and the morning star rises 18:44 in your hearts, knowing this first of all, 18:46 that no prophecy of Scripture comes 18:48 from someone's own interpretation. 18:51 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, 18:54 but men spoke from God as they were carried along 18:57 by the Holy Spirit." 18:59 Now, naturally, Peter's referring 19:01 to the belief that Jesus is the fulfillment 19:04 of Old Testament messianic prophecies, 19:06 and he's underlining the fact 19:08 that the scriptures are reliable. 19:10 But he makes this statement after talking 19:13 about his own experience on the mount, 19:15 where he saw Jesus transfigured in all His glory. 19:18 He's clearly talking about present revelation, 19:22 1st-century revelation, 19:24 and the fact that the Spirit of God was still at work. 19:27 So yeah, he's talking about the Old Testament, 19:30 but he's also talking about the continuation 19:32 of that work with the apostles. 19:36 The prophetic gift was present 19:37 in the earliest New Testament church, 19:39 the same way it had been there for Israel 19:41 during the Old Testament. 19:43 And in those very first years 19:45 after Christ returned to heaven, 19:47 the church understood 19:48 that they were rounding out the process 19:50 of producing the canon of scripture. 19:52 And sure enough, as you look through the pages 19:55 of the New Testament, 19:56 you find this belief being expressed more than once, 19:59 and it's stated very clearly 20:01 in the opening words of the Book of Revelation. 20:03 I mean, listen to this, 20:05 and remember he's talking about 20:07 what he's writing at this very moment. 20:10 He calls it, "The revelation of Jesus Christ, 20:13 which God gave Him to show His servants the things 20:16 that must soon take place. 20:18 He made it known by sending His angel to His servant John, 20:21 who bore witness to the Word of God 20:23 and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, 20:25 even to all that he saw." 20:28 So ask yourself, did a church council decide 20:31 that Revelation was inspired 250 years later? 20:34 Or did the Apostle John believe that God had inspired him 20:38 to write this book for the churches? 20:42 Now, I want you to notice what comes next in verse three. 20:43 Listen: "Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words 20:47 of this prophecy, 20:49 and blessed are those who hear 20:51 and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near." 20:54 So in other words, John was telling us 20:56 that this is an inspired book that carried God's authority 20:59 as he was writing it, 21:01 and it was meant to guide the churches. 21:03 And just in case there was any doubt, 21:05 he closes the book with these words found in chapter 22: 21:09 "And He said to me, 21:10 'Do not seal up the words of the prophecy 21:12 of this book, for the time is near.'" 21:16 It would seem that the real test 21:18 for whether or not a book should be in the New Testament 21:20 or the Old Testament, for that matter, 21:22 rests on whether or not it was prophetic. 21:25 Was the spirit of God inspiring a prophet 21:28 or apostle to write it? 21:30 Notice what Paul says about his own work 21:32 in 1 Corinthians 14, where he writes, 21:35 "If anyone thinks that he is a prophet or spiritual, 21:38 he should acknowledge that the things I am writing 21:41 to you are a command of the Lord. 21:43 If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized." 21:48 Now, I don't want you to miss what he said 21:50 because this is really, really important. 21:52 Paul said that what he was writing 21:53 to the church in Corinth was a command of the Lord, 21:57 which means that God inspired him to write it, 22:00 and it was clearly considered to be authoritative. 22:03 Moreover, he points out that if anybody 22:05 in that church happened to have the real prophetic gift, 22:08 they would recognize Paul's authority immediately. 22:12 If they didn't recognize it, you could be certain 22:14 that this individual was not a genuine prophet, 22:17 and you were safe to ignore him. 22:20 Then later, Paul actually quotes 22:22 from other New Testament works 22:24 and explicitly calls them scripture, 22:26 like this passage from 1 Timothy 5, 22:29 where he says, "For the scripture says, 22:32 'You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,' 22:35 and, 'The laborer deserves his wages.'" 22:38 Now, if you've got a red letter edition of the Bible, 22:40 you'll notice that that last quotation, 22:42 "The laborer deserves his wages," they're in red. 22:46 That's because Paul is quoting from Luke 10, 22:49 where Jesus spoke those words, 22:51 and Paul calls them scripture. 22:54 I'll be right back after this. 23:00 - [Announcer] Life can throw a lot at us. 23:02 Sometimes we don't have all the answers, 23:05 but that's where the Bible comes in. 23:08 It's our guide to a more fulfilling life. 23:11 Here at the Voice of Prophecy, 23:12 we've created the Discover Bible guides 23:15 to be your guide to the Bible. 23:16 They're designed to be simple, easy to use, 23:19 and provide answers to many of life's toughest questions, 23:22 and they're absolutely free. 23:24 So jump online now or give us a call 23:26 and start your journey of discovery. 23:29 - Okay, we're almost out of time, 23:31 and I should probably mention 23:32 that I'm particularly indebted to Phillip Kayser 23:35 for some of the historical material we've been looking at 23:37 as well as some of the internal evidence 23:40 from the New Testament that we just examined. 23:42 What this really amounts to again is the fact 23:45 that the books of the New Testament are self-authenticating. 23:49 They don't need the approval of committees 23:50 or councils to validate their authority. 23:53 They were considered authoritative 23:56 the moment they were written. 23:58 In other words, the church did not give birth 24:01 to the New Testament. 24:02 The Holy Spirit gave birth to the church 24:05 through the New Testament. 24:08 You know, historically speaking, we have plenty of evidence 24:11 to prove that the canon 24:12 of the New Testament was very much in place 24:15 before the end of the 1st century. 24:17 God wasn't waiting for us to make up our minds 24:20 about which of the New Testament books 24:21 we were ready to accept. 24:23 I mean, try to imagine what that would look like. 24:26 It'd be like letting a toddler set his own bedtime. 24:29 The Bible was God's decision, not ours. 24:33 And yes, if you read the history books carefully, 24:35 you'll notice that once in a while some people struggled 24:38 with the fact that certain books were included 24:41 in the scriptures, people like Martin Luther, 24:43 who questioned the Book of Esther 24:45 and didn't really care for the Book of James. 24:48 But that's the opinion of one man, 24:50 and you'll notice it didn't prevail. 24:52 Luther might not have liked those books. 24:54 He might have had questions about what was in them, 24:58 but ultimately he submitted 24:59 to what the church had known from the very, very beginning. 25:02 He understood full well that we are not the final word, 25:06 and he had to submit to the authority of scripture. 25:10 And that's really what's at the core 25:11 of the issue surrounding the origin of the Bible. 25:14 If you and I are going to sit in judgment 25:16 over what we think should be God's Word, 25:20 would it really be God's Word then? 25:22 Or would we be telling God what He's allowed to say? 25:26 And that's one of the key problems we have 25:27 when we simply try to prove which 25:29 of the New Testament books belong there 25:32 by just resorting to historical evidence. 25:35 We're putting people in charge 25:37 of what's supposed to be the Word of God. 25:40 Now, you might not personally believe 25:42 in the inspiration of the Bible, 25:44 and that's a completely separate issue, 25:47 but if God is real and He really does speak to us, 25:52 then we should expect to find evidence 25:54 in the biblical writings. 25:57 So is that circular reasoning? 25:59 I mean, sure it is, 26:00 but if God is real, that's exactly what you should expect. 26:03 As Peter put it, "No prophecy of scripture comes 26:06 from someone's own interpretation. 26:08 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of men, 26:13 but men spoke from God 26:14 as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." 26:18 That would be the full extent 26:19 of our involvement in the process, 26:21 apart from preserving the scriptures 26:24 and handing them on to the next generation. 26:27 The human contribution to this book 26:29 was made by the prophets, not really by us, 26:32 and the early church knew exactly which books 26:35 should be included before the last of the apostles died. 26:40 You know, on a personal note, 26:42 I'd say that if you have any doubts, 26:45 get a copy of the Bible. 26:47 Read it. 26:49 You're gonna notice it doesn't read like pagan mythology, 26:52 and it does not read like secular history. 26:55 This book purports to be the voice of God 26:58 to this world, to the human race. 27:00 And if it is, you'd be missing out 27:03 on an awful lot if you didn't take the time to read it. 27:06 And I know it can be tough slugging sometimes, 27:08 but that's exactly where we can help you. 27:11 Head on over to biblestudies.com 27:13 and look at that incredible mountain 27:16 of free resources we have to help you really start 27:18 to understand the Bible for yourself. 27:22 And I promise these free studies 27:24 will have you understanding more about the Bible 27:26 in a few short weeks than many people have the chance 27:29 to learn in an entire lifetime. 27:32 And admit it, you can't beat the price. 27:35 I'm offering it absolutely free. 27:37 Now, of course, if you want to help us keep it going, 27:40 we won't say no to a financial contribution, 27:43 and you could do that at voiceofprophecy.com. 27:46 The next time we meet, I'm gonna begin looking 27:48 at just a few notable moments in the history of the Bible, 27:51 moments when the impact of this incredible book 27:53 was a complete game-changer. 27:55 Thanks for joining me. 27:57 This has been "Authentic." 27:59 [gentle guitar music] 28:11 [gentle guitar music continues] 28:23 [gentle guitar music continues] |
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