Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb19991024.htm

BASIC CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS: DEFENDING THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
Part II: Defending The Bible As God's Inspired Word
B. Defending The Bible's INTERNAL Credibility
(Matthew 5:18-19 et al.)
  1. Introduction
    1. After becoming convinced that the Bible is God's Word, one still needs to answer the questions as to what Bible is inspired, what books comprise the correct Bible, WHY, and how much of each book is inspired!
    2. We address the INTERNAL credibility of the Bible and answer these questions as follows:
  2. Defending The Bible's INTERNAL Credibility, Matthew 5:18-19 (among others):
    1. The Bible asserts itself to be fully divinely inspired of God as follows:
      1. It claims to be infallible, or to exist without intentional errors, 2 Tim. 3:16; Rom. 3:4; Mtt. 5:18-19.
      2. It claims to be inerrant, or to exist without unintentional errors, Ps. 12:6; John 10:34-35.
      3. It claims that every part alike (plenary) is inspired of God, 2 Timothy 3:16.
      4. It claims to be verbally inspired, or having all of the words, letters in those words and even parts of those letters defining linguistic meaning to be under God's superintending authorship, Mtt. 5:18-19.
    2. The Bible reveals what books should exist within it, or what its canonicity is as follows:
      1. In Luke 11:51, Jesus said God would avenge the deaths of the prophets from Abel (Genesis 4:8) to Zacharias (2 Chron. 24:20-22). Since the 39-book Old Testament considered canonical by the Jews in Jesus' day began with Genesis and ended with 2 Chronicles, and omitted the Hebrew Apocryphal books, Jesus implied only the thirty-nine books of our Protestant Old Testament are inspired. Were the Apocrypha inspired, Jesus would have named a Maccabbean in place of the earlier Zacharias!
      2. John 17:20 has Christ calling canonical the disciples' words (minus Judas, Jn. 6:70f). Books by these are Matthew, Mark, John, 1& 2 Peter, 1, 2 & 3 John, Jude (by Acts 1:14; Mtt. 13:55) & Revelation
      3. 2 Peter 3:15-16 shows Peter in turn calling Paul's writings as canonical as other Scriptures, meaning Paul's epistles of Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon should be canonical.
      4. 1 Timothy 5:18 (with Luke 10:7 and Deut. 25:4) uses Paul's words to quote Luke 10:7 along with Deut. 25:4 and call both of passages Scripture: thus, the Lukan Acts and Gospel are both canonical.
      5. This leaves James and Hebrews uncovered by direct link to Jesus' canonizing words. We do not know which "James" wrote James, and the author of Hebrews is not clarified. However, both works confess Christ's incarnation, making their authors believers (James 1:1; Heb. 1:1-14 with 1 John 4:1-4). Both present justification by faith as the means of salvation (James 1:18; Heb. 12:1-2), and both came to be accepted universally by "grassroots" Christians prior to any ecclesiastical councils recognizing them as belonging in the Scriptures, Rene Pache, The Inspiration and Authority of Scripture, ch. 15.
    3. History teaches us what books should be or not be in the Bible:
      1. By 101 A.D., or before any official council met on the matter, 7,029 of the 7,959 verses we now have in our Protestant N.T. were already universally accepted as canonical in Christian groups everywhere!
      2. The Early Church never said the Apocrypha was canonical. Jerome's Vulgate omitted it as late as the 5th century A.D., Ibid., Pache, p. 172. Yet the Council of Trent (1546) declared it canonical to support Catholicism's prayers for the dead, the mass, expiation of sins via alms, intercession for the saints, worship of angels, purgatory and the post-death redemption in reaction to the Protestant Reformation, Ibid., Pache, p. 173. 1 Maccabees 9:27 and 14:41 in the Apocrypha DENY itself as being canonical!
    4. What is inspired are not the translations in their various versions, but the autograph manuscripts, Mtt. 5:18-19. Thus all claims for a King James "only" inspiration, or for any other translation or version of a translation into anoth er language are errant and irrelevant. (See accompanying lesson on the King James!)
Lesson: (1) The Bible establishes its own divine inspiration credibility, claiming itself to be the plenary, infallible, inerrant, verbally inspired Word of God. (2) The Bible reveals from Christ's authority all of the 66-book Bible we have minus Hebrews and James is canonical. We accept Hebrew and James based on their internal testimony and early, universal grassroots acceptance by the Early Church. (3) The Bible's inspiration covers only the autograph manuscripts, not translations or versions !