Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20041024.htm

ANSWERING OTHERS WITH REASONS FOR OUR FAITH
Part III: Defending The Bible's Divine Inspiration And Authority
A. Defending God's Inspiration And Transmission Of The Bible's Text
1. Answering The Literary-Analytical, Documentary Hypothesis
(Genesis 3:1 with 2:16-17)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

For generations, belief has circulated that the first five books of the Old Testament, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, were not written by Moses, but by several authors. This belief originated with the "Documentary Hypothesis" and it holds these five books, the Pentateuch, were written by several authors after Judah went into its Babylon Captivity. One author was alleged to be the Jahwist (J) writer who used only the name "Jahweh" for God where another, the Elohist (E) author presumably used only the name, "Elohim" for God. Then a third author, "P" is suggested to have added the priestly code and a fourth, "D" most of what we now know as Deuteronomy (Umberto Cassuto, The Documentary Hypothesis, p. 6f).

So dominant was this theory in the beginning of the 20th century that, by 1924, a writer in the scholarly periodical, Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenshaft, indicated no scholarly Biblical institution would deny its validity! (Ibid., p. 7)

However, if this theory is right, our whole Christian faith falls:

(1) In Matthew 19:4-8, Jesus attributed the authorship of Genesis and Deuteronomy to Moses, and John 7:19 shows Jesus claimed the author of the Law (in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) was Moses as well!

(2) Thus, if one accepts the Documentary Hypothesis, he must admit either that Jesus is in error on His view that Moses authored the Pentateuch or the New Testament misrepresents Jesus' words. Then, if either Jesus or the New Testament err, our salvation is a false hope and we have no assurance of eternal life in any real way!

(3) The stakes of the matter take on tremendous proportions for my own immediate family right now! If Jesus and the New Testament are unreliable due to accepting the Documentary Hypothesis, my father who passed away last Thursday would not necessarily be in heaven right now, and that would be a brutal idea for us to have to handle!



Well, WHICH authority is CORRECT -- the widely accepted Documentary Hypothesis OR Jesus and the New Testament? How do we KNOW, and how do we heed 1 Peter 3:15 to ANSWER someone who asks us about this matter?



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "I've heard that some scholars feel the Pentateuch was written by SEVERAL men in CONTRAST to JESUS' claim that Moses wrote them! Well, as Jesus must tell the truth to be God and our Savior, how do I RESPOND to this Documentary Hypothesis?!"
  1. The stand against Moses' authorship of the Pentateuch came with the Five Pillars of the Documentary Hypothesis as follows [Umb. Cassuto, The Doc. Hyp. (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1941 [trans. by Israel Abrahams & repr. 1972 at Central Press, Jerusalem]), p. 14:
    1. Pillar One - The names Elohim and Jahweh used of God in the text were thought to have come from 2 authors, Ibid., Cassuto, p. 14-15.
    2. Pillar Two - Variations in language/style like "100 and 20" versus "20 and 100" for "120" were thought to show 2 authors, Ibid., p. 14, 52.
    3. Pillar Three - Alleged contradictions of viewpoint in the text were thought expose multiple authors: verses using Elohim were thought to describe a more distant God where those with Jahweh allegedly revealed a personable God by a different author, Ibid., p. 14, 55-56.
    4. Pillar Four - Alleged duplications in the narratives were thought to indicate an errant repetition of one event by a second author. For example, the Gen. 1 account is followed by God's resting from creation in Gen. 2:1-3 that is in turn followed by God's creating in Gen. 2:4-25, allegedly implying two authors, Ibid., p. 14, 69-70.
    5. Pillar Five - Alleged composite details of one section in another were thought to reveal errant duplications by two authors. Thus, Jacob's pose as Esau via clothes and ALSO via hairy skins allegedly shows two authors with varying views of one event! (Ibid., p. 14, 86ff)
  2. However, EACH of these PILLARS FAILS under examination:
    1. Re: the first pillar, the 12/78 issue of National Geographic, p. 737-738 shows ancient Semitic peoples used several names for one deity; thus, Moses would easily have used BOTH "Elohim" AND "Jahweh"!
    2. Re: the second pillar, Cassuto corrects literary errors as follows:
      1. Scholars have found that Hebrew writers used a descending order (100+20) when a number existed alone and the ascending order (20+100) if it existed in a list of other numbered items, Ibid., p. 52.
      2. Cassuto corrects other similar errors in his work, Ibid., p. 42-54!
    3. Re: the third pillar, the differing divine names portray differing roles of the same God, not differing authors: "Elohim" pictures God as Creator and "Jahweh" as He is in relation to Israel, Ibid., p. 56-68.
    4. Re: the fourth pillar, Moses in Gen. 2 intentionally omits large parts of the creation (like the heavens) to address the moral issues of Gen. 1 in a way typical of other Ancient Near Eastern works, Ibid., p. 69ff.
    5. Re: the fifth pillar, besides exposing the errant treatment of other passages by promoters of the Documentary Hypothesis, Cassuto shows that their dividing the event where Jacob tricked Isaac to think he was Esau into 2 accounts to support belief in 2 authors of the text, and that based on what Jacob wore is invalid: Jacob had to cover himself with skins to persuade his blind father that even if his voice belonged to Jacob, he felt like the hairy Esau, for blind Isaac would feel him to verify the man was Esau when he heard Jacob speak! All the components of the passage are necessary for Jacob's ruse to work -- they can not arise from conflicting authors! (Ibid., p. 84-105)
    6. In summary, Umberto Cassuto, Late Professor of Bible at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem wrote: "Since . . . the whole structure of the documentary hypothesis rests on the five pillars enumerated . . . and subsequently we found that all these pillars were without substance, it follows that this . . . edifice . . . is founded on air." (Ibid., p. 100)
  3. Besides, Scripture claims ALL the Bible is divinely inspired down to the PRESENT time, cf. 2 Timothy 3:15-4:2; Matthew 5:18!
  4. To EXPLAIN the promotion of the Documentary Hypothesis, we discern that it arises from Satanic influence that has long sought to question the credibility of the TRANSMISSION of God's Word from its original human witnesses down to us, Gen esis 3:1; 2:16-17:
    1. In Genesis 3:1, Satan sought to question the certainty that Eve could have in Adam's witness to her about God's warning that had been given to Adam in Genesis 2:16-17 re: not partaking of the wrong tree.
    2. Thus, from the spiritual dimension, questions as to the credibility of the transmission of God's Word to us either arise from or are fueled by Satan in an effort to undermine our faith in that transmitted Word!
Lesson Application: (1) The Documentary Hypothesis that counters belief that Moses wrote the Pentateuch (Genesis - Deuteronomy) is FALSE: Moses WROTE it just as Jesus said in accord with evidence from archaeology and Scripture. (2) Thus, let us TRUST in Christ's WORD and PERSON for (a) salvation from sin (John 3:16) and, (b) in accord with 1 Peter 3:15, answer all who ask us about our stand on the Documentary Hypothesis.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 The Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch was verified through an event that occurred 35 years ago involving my late Dad and me!

It was a late October evening in 1969, and I'd dropped out of Bible School to my Dad's dismay. He felt I was out of God's will to do that, so he was praying in his bedroom next to my room that I would return to school. I couldn't sleep as the words of 1 Samuel 15:22 were starting to pound again and again in my head, repeatedly saying: " . . . to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams . . ."

Finally, I knocked on his bedroom door and opened it to ask, "Dad, where's the verse on ' . . . to obey is better than sacrifice . . . '?"

I did not know it until he testified years later that that very verse had been part of Dad's devotional reading earlier that night, so he knew God was at work in me! He accordingly replied, "I'll be right out!" When he later opened his Bible to the verse, the words almost seemed to be alive and jumping off the page at me when I read them!

I returned to school, and God then led me into the pastorate.

I use this illustration just days after Dad's passing, for that 1 Samuel 15:22 passage as used in the lives of my Dad and me that night 35 years ago COUNTERS the Documentary Hypothesis! First, (1) the Law's sacrificial system HAD to exist in Samuel's day for that verse to make SENSE, for the verse MESSAGE DEPENDS ON Samuel's reference to Israel's SACRIFICIAL SYSTEM; (2) also, that verse HAS to be TRUE to explain the POWER its MESSAGE HAD in DRAMATICALLY causing me to REPENT and return to school out of the fear of the Lord; (3) third, 1 Samuel 15:22 HAS to be divinely inspired to explain Dad's witness years LATER that he KNEW God was USING IT to WORK on me when I had asked him the question on it, for he had JUST been READING that very verse in his devotions before going to BED!

I must THEREUPON thus conclude that Jesus' claim that Moses wrote the books of the Law is true, that the New Testament that records Jesus' claim on the issue is also just as true and, thus based on the New Testament's TRUE teaching on salvation, Dad went to heaven last Thursday because he trusted in Christ as His Savior 67 years ago!

May we thus find assurance in relying on the divine inspiration of ALL of God's Word -- INCLUDING the Pentateuch!