Understanding Christianity often involves re-evaluating commonly held beliefs about the Bible, considering that the New Testament originally referred to the Old Testament as scripture, and the now-canonical Gospels and letters were written decades after Jesus’ ascension. The Bible's formation involved gradual acceptance over centuries, with disputes about its content persisting into the 1500s, reminding us of its historical role in believers' lives and challenging the current notion of an inerrant text, as even accepted versions today contain variances in content across different Christian traditions.
The inerrancy of the Bible is questionable since we lack original manuscripts and variations exist among various translations and languages, which complicates the reliability of conveying precise doctrines. Historically, for the first 1500 years after Christ, most believers had limited access to biblical texts due to geographical limitations, scarcity of copies, and low literacy, suggesting a shift in how the Bible’s role and purpose have been regarded over time.
The Protestant Reformation was initiated by Martin Luther's protest against the Roman Catholic Church, leading to the establishment of the five Solas, which aimed to differentiate Protestant beliefs from Catholic doctrines. The Solas, particularly Sola scriptura, emphasized the Bible as the sole source of authority, rejecting the authority of the Pope and Catholic traditions, and spurred the translation and teaching of the Bible in vernacular languages.
Understanding the Bible
1-3 Minute Spots
CHRISTIANARCHYTODAY
Show 3 – November 14th, 2017
“If you think you understand Christianity you are probably wrong.”
BOARD OF INSTRUCTION
Introduction
So we’ve talked about Christian culture (or the myth of Christian culture) and we have talked about Christian politics (or the myth of Christian politics). Perhaps we ought to start talking about something more substantive – somethings that you think you understand, but are probably wrong about in the faith.
And tonight we are going to talk briefly about… the Bible! A fascinating topic – especially among believers – because there is so much misinformation about it that it never really gets to be seen for what it is, its history, its importance, its purpose then and its purposes today. Some people almost worship the book – placing it on the level of a god. Conversely, others consider it a book of myths, or a book with contents that have little to no relevancy to us anymore.
Facts About the Bible
What’s the story? Why don’t we start with some facts:
Fact number 1: When the New Testament writers referred to “the Word of God” and/ or to scripture, they were speaking of the Old Testament – what we would say is Genesis through Malachi. This was scripture and/or the Word of God to believers during New Testament times. There is some thought that the apostles believed their writings were also scripture – and that may be true. But to the individuals that was far from the reality then.
Fact number 2: The Gospel accounts in the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) were all written at least several decades after Jesus ascended in a cloud, and the epistles and Acts and Revelation were penned much later too. It is believed that the writers were inspired to write what they wrote and therefore perfect recall was not necessary in the face of so many years passing from Christ’s actual life. While these writings may or may not have been considered scripture by all followers of Christ at the time, they were all ultimately believed by many to have been inspired by God and therefore trustworthy. Why? Because they all presumably had the stamp or authority of Jesus' actual apostles (OR someone writing on behalf of an actual apostle) who approved of what was written.
Historical Development
The letters and Gospels and histories were copied and shared, but it would be hundreds of years after Christ before there was a general agreement on what was considered inspired and what was not. Even all the way out to Martin Luther’s day (the 1500’s) there were disputes about which books should be included in the New Testament and which should be excluded. This tells us something important – the Bible was not certain for quite some time, it wasn’t ubiquitously copied and available to the masses for 1500 years, and therefore we must understand that in the lives of believers it could not have played the role we give it today.
Did God love those believers less than He loved us? Were they less faithful? No and no. From the earliest apostolic church the Spirit reigned as the primary source of leadership, with the fullness of the Bible slowly coming in over each generation and having a place. This cannot be forgotten when we assess the purpose of the Bible in our lives today and going back to the printing press.
Getting back to content, even today there are accepted Bible versions that contain books that were excluded in other versions, and vice versa. For instance, the Catholics have a number of books that they include in their Bibles that are not found in Protestant Bibles and there are books found in the Protestant Reformers versions of the Bible that have been removed from Protestant Bibles today. This fact helps us back down from positions that tend to make our present-day Bibles perfect – though many people want to see them in this light.
Fact number four: When scholars say that the Bible is the inerrant word of God, what they actually mean is the original manuscripts that were written (for instance, by Isaiah – from God’s mouth to his pen, so to speak) are inerrant – and NOT the copied manuscripts that came thereafter. There is a group of insane people out there called King James Onliests who assign infallibility to the KJV of the Bible – meaning the versions we hold in our hands today they claim is without imperfections. This is not
Understanding Biblical Inerrancy
True and can be readily proved. Additionally, to say that the KJV is inerrant is to assign infallibility to the translators and compilers of the King James – that is far from the scholarly definition of perfection.
Fact number five: There are no original manuscripts on earth today of any book of the Bible. Why scholars and Christians insist on using the phrase that “the Bible is inerrant” is a mystery to me since we have no original mss left. How off are the manuscripts that we have? Based on evidence, not very. We are NOT talking about major problems, or theme shifts, or bastardized doctrines – but there are a couple of examples that must be taken into consideration. Additionally, the translation versions present a whole other level of debate on inerrancy.
Variations in Translations
Let me put it to you this way: Suppose we high school gymnasium filled with different English speaking people and all of them were given an English translation of the Bible – the KJ, the NKJ, the MKJ, the ESV, the American Standard, and on and on and on. Those modern versions themselves, in the hands of people all speaking the same language, have differences.
Now, let’s go out to a huge football stadium – like the one at Michigan, where my daughter goes to school. Hold over 107,000 seats. And in each section stand one English speaking person from the high school auditorium with their unique English translation. And then in the seats of their section sit people from all over the world and they all speak different languages or dialects of languages. And each of them have a Bible in their hands that has been translated into their unique language.
The translational differences would be ENORMOUS as each seat, in each section, bears the potential to differ with the next. And they do! So HOW effective, in terms of actual words, is the Bible in conveying exacting doctrines and teachings and practices. Now admittedly, even in each of these situations the difference would be in all probability negligible. But the point is, there would be differences.
And this makes us have to see the purpose and place of the Bible in our lives today – which we will get to in a moment.
Historical Context of the New Testament
Fact number six: The New Testament was written to (and in all but four places) addressed to people living at the time the letters were composed. In only four places in the New Testament does a biblical writer suggest that the content of the content of their writing was for people outside the area of where the writing was pointed. In other words, the contents of Colossians was directed to the church at Colosse – and no others.
Fact number seven: For the first 250 years AD the contents of the New Testament original manuscripts were scattered throughout Asia Minor, Rome, Judea, and Alexandria – with only some copies of some books getting into the hands of eager believers elsewhere. Very very few people on earth – if any – had in their possession a collection of all the gospels and letters we have in the New Testament today until two hundred and fifty years AFTER Christ!
What did the believers do then?
Access to the Scriptures
Fact number eight: There were also an abundance of false writings (pseudopigraphal books) in existence during this time, which made the authentic books sometimes as suspect as inauthentic books. What this means is that for several hundred years believers were reading and studying false writings, perhaps at times under the impression that the writings were true!
Fact number nine: Due to the high price of copying materials, and the labor required, in then in addition to low literacy rates, very, very few laypeople could either afford copies of the Bible or read them for the first 1500 years after Christ. It wasn’t until the advent of the printing press that Bibles became more available and readable.
So in the face of all of this, we can see that for the first 1500 years believers and followers of Jesus did NOT have the same relationship with the Bible that many believers have today. Why would God wait so long after the advent of His Son for the nations and people of the world to have actual access to His word – especially if it is SO vital to being a Christian? Perhaps we have been viewing the purpose and place of the Bible wrongly since we have had the ability to mass produce its contents?
The Protestant Reformation
In the historical event known as the Protestant Reformation, the people became disillusioned with the Roman Catholic Church due to its views, practices, and demands. A figurehead named Martin Luther emerged, sparking a revolution against the institution—protesting against it—hence, the Protestant Reformation. Many advances in faith occurred under this protest, but unfortunately, some egregious errors in judgment were made along the way. One such error was the attempt to systematize the faith through a series of Solas, which is the Latin word for "only" (something that always amused me because how can you have more than one only? The fact that there are many onlies is a contradiction of terms. Anyway…).
The protesting leaders created five Solas—Latin phrases popularized during the Protestant Reformation to emphasize the distinctions between the early Reformers and the Roman Catholic Church. These solas are apparently aimed at summarizing Bible tenets that Protestants are to live their faith by and include:
- Sola scriptura: “Scripture alone”
- Sola fide: “faith alone”
- Sola gratia: “grace alone”
- Solo Christo: “Christ alone”
- Soli Deo gloria: “to the glory of God alone”
Emphasis on Sola Scriptura
It is believed that the emphasis on five “onlies” would help correct the Roman Catholic excesses present at the start of the Reformation. Now listen carefully: Sola scriptura emphasizes the idea that the Bible alone is the source of authority for Christians. In stating this, the Reformers rejected both the authority of the Roman Catholic Pope and any confidences in their sacred traditions. Only the Bible was “inspired by God” (2 Peter 1:20-21) and “God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16-17), and anything taught by the Pope or in tradition that contradicted the Bible was to be rejected.
Sola scriptura also fueled the translation of the Bible into German, French, English, and other languages, and prompted Bible teaching in the common languages of the day, rather than in Latin.
An Introduction to the Five Solas
I won't speak to the remaining four Solas, but they are Sola fide, Sola gratia, Solo Christo, and Soli Deo gloria (the goal is to glorify the Lord over religious leaders). Next week we will continue our discussion of the idea of sola scriptura—its benefits, and its failures, in the faith. OUT
