Answers Bible Curriculum Second Edition, Unit 1 Lesson 7
This week in Sunday school, we’re investigating several questions related to the authenticity of the New Testament as Scripture. How do we know that the New Testament is really God’s Word? How do we know that the New Testament canon contains the correct books? And how do we know that the Bible is now complete?
Our main texts for this lesson are John 14:25-26 and Revelation 22:18-19.
Auto Transcript
Note: This rough transcript was automatically generated by YouTube’s AI algorithm. We provide it here for your convenience, but know it will surely contain errors as it has not been proofread or edited by a human.
well good morning let’s get started welcome to Sunday school welcome to our continuing series using the answers Baba Curriculum second edition today’s lesson really is the complement to what we talked about last week last week we talked about how God preserves his word and we also talked about the Old Testament how we know the Old Testament is God’s Word this week we’re talking more specifically about the Canon of Scripture as a whole and when I say Canon I’m talking about the definitive standard of faith that is seen in a certain set a divine collection of holy writings that we call God’s Word now we’re talking today about why the Canon is complete and why we believe the New Testament is also God’s Word not just the Old Testament not just the New Testament but both are God’s Word now someone may ask based off of last lesson if Scripture wasn’t done in Jesus’s time how do we know it’s done today or that some missing books didn’t make it into the Canon you sometimes hear people talk about Lost Gospels like the Gospel of Thomas or even the Gospel of Judas was there a conspiracy to keep certain books out of the Bible or if you know at church history you know that there are other valued Christian works that were circulated in the early church that were nonetheless not considered Scripture works like the Epistle of Barnabas or the Shepherd of hermas or first Clement if the early church thought these works were useful why aren’t they considered Scripture or even maybe there are some books that are in our Bibles that aren’t supposed to be there you might know that Martin Luther really struggled with the book of James II to him he said it was pure straw and contained very little useful gospel truth those who embrace liberalism and earnest theological liberalism and higher criticism they questioned much the reliability of the New Testament they try based on their own assumptions and standards of what is reasonable to I’d what Jesus and the Apostles really said and what was just added later by their followers so we have to ask can we trust the New Testament as the Word of God and can we trust that there’s nothing more to be added well once again let’s see what the Bible itself has to say here’s our lesson outline today’s class we’re going to see how the Apostles were uniquely chosen enabled to write the New Testament scripture we’ll also see how the Bible warns against those who are not chosen from adding to or changing God’s Word also see how the early church responded and recognized the New Testament as God’s Word and will consider some application questions for our lives today a lot to talk about a lot of great information so I’m looking forward to going through this with you let’s pray before we go on a great God we do thank you that you have given us your word that you didn’t you didn’t just speak to the disciples and then leave with no record of of what happened or what you taught and not even a impotent record but a full record a a perfect record thank you God because we would have been we would have been lost without without this revelation thank you Lord for the completion of this revelation thank you that we are fully equipped for this age what I pray that these shoes would be you’d help me be able to explain these truths well for well the people this morning and I pray that you would enable them to pay attention to take these truths in and to be encouraged by the way this in Jesus’s name Amen well the first passage I want to look at with you today is in the book of John so please open your Bibles to John 14 John 14 verses 25 to 26 just two verses here these verses are key for understanding why we accept the New Testament as God’s revelation so John 14 verses 25 to 26 follow along with me as I read Jesus speaking these things I have spoken to you while abiding with you that the helper the Holy Spirit whom the father will send in my name he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you and normally we go through passages a lot longer than that but that’s it that’s Kate we do some passages – we’ve read the text we want to follow our inductive Bible study method start with observations just simple observations of the details of the text and the context notice the context we’re in the Upper Room and the night before Jesus’s crucifixion Jesus is with his eleven disciples having just eaten the Passover meal inaugurated the Lord’s Supper his death is imminent Judas Iscariot has already left to betray Jesus Peter has already been warned if you’ll deny Jesus three times it’s not exactly the most encouraging time to be a disciple of Jesus but despite these depressing developments much of this chapter and what follows contains words from Jesus to his disciples of comfort instruction and encouragement in fact a little later a little later on we hear something similar to what is expressed in these two verses turn briefly over to John 16 John 16 verses 12 to 15 a little bit of an expansion of what Jesus says here still talking to his disciples look at what it says mmm John 16 verse 12 I have many more things to say to you but you cannot bear them now but when he the spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all the truth he will not speak on his own initiative but whatever he hears he will speak and he will disclose to you what is to come he will glorify me for you take of mine and will disclose it to you all things that the father has are mine therefore I said that he takes of mine and will disclose it to you so keep this extra passage in mind as we consider the words in John 14 let’s actually go back to John 14 now have a sense that context but notice a few things about these two specific verses notice first of all that the language of these verses is very straightforward see any figures of speech this is just direct instruction and notice what Jesus says about himself the father and the Holy Spirit Jesus promises that when he leaves the father will send the Holy Spirit in Jesus’s name what precisely is it that the Holy Spirit will do Jesus says the Spirit will teach the disciples and bring to their remembrance the words of Jesus how it made some observations here let’s move to our second step and talk about interpretation I forgot to put up those little details on the slide but sorry I had to move on to the next one interpretation some questions to ask Jesus is giving a promise to his disciples about the coming Holy Spirit why what is the purpose of Jesus telling them this what do you think like a Jesus have left out this instruction is it not important and if it is important why well consider the context again this is a time where Jesus is seeking to comfort his disciples they know that he’s about to depart for them that would be a very discouraging thing for multiple reasons now one of those reasons would be the teaching the words of Jesus they’re not gonna have anymore remember one of the things that Jesus or that Peter says to Jesus when Jesus says hey do you want to depart from me like all these other people who don’t like my teaching and Peter responds where else can we go you have the words of life now apart from many other reasons why they’d be sad to see Jesus depart one of those reasons would be we’re losing access to the one who has the words of life we’re losing access to his teaching who’s gonna teach us going forward who’s gonna help us understand the truth and she says comforts him by saying don’t worry when the father sends the Holy Spirit not only will he continue to teach you but he’ll bring back to your remembrance all the things that I’ve taught you so he’s comforting them by showing them they’re not gonna lose access to his words they’re even going to remember them and know them supernaturally and now let’s take this a step further why would the book’s writer the Apostle John is his gospel why would he include these words as he writes to his own audience well there’s a similar comfort for them this passage affirms for John’s listeners that they have not lost the words of Jesus that even though Jesus is no longer on the earth his trustworthy word remains because the Apostles John included were supernaturally empowered by the spirit to see remember and write Jesus’s revelation this would be a great comfort this would be a great a great confidence it really this ties in with some of the things we’ve seen in the previous lessons the Apostles words recorded in the various letters do not ultimately come from the Apostles but from where from God the Holy Spirit and you can even say from Christ it’s just like what we read in 2nd Peter 1:19 221 and second Timothy 3:16 217 there’s a supernatural nature to the instruction of the Apostles because it is enabled empowered by the Holy Spirit and authorized by Christ we could really summarize it in this way how did we get the New Testament the Holy Spirit brought to the Apostles perfect remembrance the experiences of the teachings of Jesus are the experiences with the teachings of Jesus and a spirit also taught the Apostles some new things that the Apostles did not know or experienced before fossils that wrote down what the Spirit taught them and caused them to remember under the perfect superintending of the Spirit these writings then or the original and perfect manuscripts of the New Testament so we can say the New Testament has both divine authorization and divine inspiration authorization due to Jesus’s promises here in John 14 and 16 but also inspiration is guaranteed as well the Apostolic writings art the god-breathed inerrant infallible and authoritative word and this is an important promise both for John’s original audience and for us because most the New Testament letters as far as we can tell were written about ten to thirty years after Jesus’s ascension now what would happen if your I tried to describe in detail events that happened ten to thirty years ago what happened probably would be the most accurate record be a lot of things that we forget that might even be important or I might miss remember things we think something happened it didn’t really happen there’d be some some pretty there would be some inaccuracies there I don’t know if you know the experience of with a family member or maybe your spouse you say oh you remember this thing and they say that’s not that’s not how it happens that’s not really what happened and the more time goes by the more you have the propensity to make mistakes but that’s not the case when it comes to the Apostolic writings because of what we have promised in John 14:16 God supernaturally empowered the Apostles through this Holy Spirit to record perfectly the revelation of Jesus even ten thirty fifty years later now there’s some debate about the exact dates of the writings of each New Testament book let me give you a rough timeline Christ sends around 80 thirty first book of the New Testament written probably was James or Galatians around 80 forty-five most the other New Testament books are written between 80 50 and 80 70 when the Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed so before that date last books in the New Testament come from the Apostle John and his works were likely written between 80 80 and 80 95 his last work the book of Revelation was the last book of the Bible probably completed around 80 95 so can we trust the accuracy and authority of all these works from the Apostles oh hopefully you see we can’t and the reason is because Jesus specifically authorized these works by his promise and because the Holy Spirit empowered the Apostles to know remember and write Jesus’s revelation now quick side question did Jesus promise about the Holy Spirit extend beyond the Apostles were they just the first recipients of the promise and maybe the spirit guides others to learn remember and declare his revelation accurately today is that is that the case well yes and no Christians today are not eyewitnesses of Jesus unlike the Apostles and we are also not authorized or empowered to speak and write new scripture like the Apostles work now it is true other scriptures show us that God has given all Christians an illumination and power through the Holy Spirit to understand the scriptures to obey them and to declare the scriptures to others so though we’re not quite the same as the Apostles the Spirit does affect us also empowers us also and this is why we are called many times the New Testament to walk by the spirit walk by the spirit by understanding and putting into practice what the Spirit actually says in the word anyways that’s the Apostles their unique character as eyewitnesses is key to their Commission and authority as biblical writers now consider how often in the New Testament their first-hand experience is noted I’ll just give you a sampling of some verses 2nd Peter 1:16 2:18 this is before the section we looked at recently 2nd Peter 1:16 18 says Peter riding through we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty for when he received honor and glory from God the Father and such an utterance as this was made to him by the majestic glory this is my beloved son with whom I am well-pleased and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven and we were with him on the holy mountain consider another statement from John in first John verses 1 1 2 3 first John 1 1 2 3 what was from the beginning but we have heard what we have seen with our eyes well we have looked at and touched with our hands concerning the word of life and the life was manifested and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the father and was manifested to us what we have seen in her we proclaimed to you also so that you too may have fellowship with us and indeed our Fellowship is with the father and with his son Jesus Christ I’ll give you another statement from John in his gospel John 21 verses 24 to 25 John says this John 21 verses 24 to 25 this is the disciple who is testifying to these things and wrote this things and we know that his testimony is true and there are also many other things which Jesus did which if they were written in detail I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written so from our examination so far we can see really three powerful reasons to trust the New Testament Scriptures as God’s Word first it was authorized by Christ himself second it was given by eyewitnesses of Christ and third it was super intended by the Holy Spirit they had a promise about it we have eyewitnesses those are the best kinds of witnesses and then we have the Holy Spirit superintending supernatural prompting moving protection production of the New Testament word this is all through the Apostles now you might say wait a second I know something about the New Testament authors were they all really apostles I mean Luke wasn’t an apostle was he what about Jude I don’t think he was an apostle was he how can their books be considered apostolic and benefits of these things we noted well the explanation is actually kind of simple in response to that question these other books like Jude or Luke or mark they were written by Associates of the Apostles under the oversight of the Apostles and so really there’s still APIs let me show you a chart detailing this idea I’ve listed for you the different books the New Testament and yeah the Apostle who’s associated with that book I’m gonna go through all of it with you but you can just glance through it you can see though that there is an apostle associated with every book either to writing it directly or overseeing its production therefore the facts regarding the Apostolic and eyewitness nature of the New Testament book still stands in fact firsthand experience with Jesus was apparently a requirement for being an awesome as seen in Acts chapter 1 when the Apostles are choosing a replacement for Judas Iscariot they looked for someone who had been with them and who was a true witness and testimony or testify of Jesus additionally the apostles validated their unique offices by obvious and miraculous signs obvious and verifiable miraculous signs the Apostles had the unique responsibility and empowerment as eyewitnesses to write Scripture and as I say we do not have that empowerment we don’t have that same environment therefore only the Apostles only the Apostles writings constitute the New Testament Scriptures and since all the Apostles eventually perished no new scripture can be added added today this is why we say the Scriptures are complete Jesus commissioned he gave promises to the apostles but not to those beyond them and the the Scriptures are complete now to further illustrate this further illustrate the completeness of the scriptures let’s examine a profound warning that appears in the last book of the Bible turn over to revelation 22 please revelation 22 and we’re looking at verses 18 to 19 just another two verses here last book of the New Testament revelation and last chapter revelation 22 here’s what John the Apostle writes I testified to everyone who hears the words the prophecy of this book if anyone adds to them God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city which are written in this book now again short passage but we can make some observations first note the context again our authors the Apostle John he’s writing to believers in the seven churches of Asia he’s writing in late 1st century AD 90 to 95 he’s been exiled on the island of Patmos and is suffering under apparently emperor Domitian persecution in chronology of the New Testament revelation then is the last book what is that the author has just described before our passage wealthy no revelation or a few clans back to chapters 22 22 you know that John describes the final judgment last judgment and the coming of new Jerusalem the new heavens and the new earth the end of history and after these verses we read comes the end of the book really and what we’re told to beckon and to look forward to Jesus’s coming let’s take a little bit closer look at these two verses notice that we have two warnings in this passage we’re told not to add two not to take away from the words of the prophecy and there are severe consequences for violating these warnings the plagues described in the book and if you know of the plagues of Revelation they are quite serious they’re very painful they are very horrific and destructive he says whew tamper with this prophecy the plagues described in this book will come upon you and if you tamper with this prophecy the person that person will be removed from the blessings of this book even access to the Tree of Life and to the holy city that comes at the end of history now what is this book or the book of the book of this prophecy that John refers to in verse 18 well according to context it must be the letter of Revelation itself this is a work of prophecy has much to say about prophecy he says this this word of prophecy this book you do not dare add to it or take away from me okay so we’ve made these basic observations but let’s again talk about interpretation why did John write these words well one intention is pretty straightforward from the Apostle John and through him the Lord Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit that is do not even think of altering the words of this particularly the consequences of doing so our diet that’s pretty straightforward reason for writing this but we often hear these verses used as a justification regarding the whole Scripture these words are interpreted to mean that the New Testament set of Scripture the New Testament Canon is being closed therefore do not add or take away from the words of the Bible is that a legitimate interpretation do these verses really mean one cannot claim any new revelation after after John wrote this book well revelation is the last book of the Bible from the last apostle talking about the last part of history so does make a certain amount of sense to give this closing warning I mean what more could be said and who would say it so there is something to that idea is these words applying to all the Bible but there’s something else worth noticing and that is this isn’t the only time the Bible has warned readers about adding to or taking away from Scripture consider the following verses and maybe you’ve read some of these before Deuteronomy 4:2 Deuteronomy 4:2 says Moses writing here you shall not add to the word which I’m commanding you nor take away from it that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your God which I command you further in Deuteronomy Deuteronomy 12:30 to whatever I command you you shall be careful to do you shall not add to or take away from it and proverbs book of proverbs chapter 30 verses 5 and 6 every word of God has tested he is a shield to those who take refuge in him do not add to his words or he will reprove you and you will be proved a liar these verses sound very similar in their warnings as to what we read in revelation 22 right don’t add to don’t take away from the words God has given you but you may notice there’s a potential problem these other statements come much earlier in the Bible after which there was much more Scripture added he says don’t add to these words but plenty of people did add to those words and God affirmed that those at his words as his own alright how do we reconcile this in the one hand we are warned not to add to God’s words and yet on the other hand prophets and apostles did just that how can this be well I think it all comes down to who is it that did add to the words of Scripture who added additional scripture the people we call apostles and prophets what is unique about them they were specifically chosen and commissioned by God to do so they added to God’s Word because God called them to add to his word God commissioned him God empowered them to add to his word and this is the key this is the key to understanding these statements throughout the Bible and here in revelation unless you are officially commissioned by God to give new revelation and you have all that goes with that the accompanying miraculous signs to validate your word and of course I’m not talking about the shady and controlled miraculous signs of so-called prophets and apostles at our day unless you are one of those officially commissioned and officially validated persons you have no rights that claim new word from the Lord this is the warning that John is giving in Revelation this hasn’t stopped I see your hand Roy I’ll come back to just a second this hasn’t stopped many people from doing so from attempting to add to God’s Word even though they don’t have authorization we see this even in the Bible for example God condemned the supposed word of the Lord from false prophets the Old Testament even in the Book of Jeremiah Jeremiah 23 verse 21 Jeremiah 23 21 God says I did not send these prophets but they ran I did not speak to them but they prophesied the false revelation was a problem in the Old Testament and it was a problem in the New Testament New Testament church we read this warning from Paul to Timothy in 2nd Timothy 2 verses 1618 2nd Timothy to 1618 but avoid worldly and empty chatter for it will lead to further ungodliness and their talk will spread like gangrene among them our hymenaeus and philetus men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place and they upset the faith of some these guys Jaime is philetus state they came up with her own revelation he said no resurrection already happened that wasn’t God’s message that was false it wasn’t just in the Bible spurious revelation has been a part of church history ever since man named Marcion around AD 150 he rejected all the New Testament writings except those of Paul and he reinterpreted the Old Testament to reveal to assert that there were actually two gods in the universe there was a good saving God in the New Testament and there was an evil creator cruel or evil cruel Creator God in the Old Testament and it’s the good God is trying to save us from that evil old testament god that was marcin’s revelation manis who’s his followers are known as the manna keys of the Manicheans in the 200s ad he created news scriptures that were a blend of Judaism Christianity Zoroastrianism and even Buddhism Muhammad he created new scriptures in the six hundreds which were a blend of Judaism Christianity and Arabian tribal religion in more recent times Joseph Smith he added scriptures he had new scriptures in the 1800s and he founded Mormonism all of these man have wants to claim a new kind of Apostleship or a new role as prophets of God but God did not send them their claims to speak for God came from her own imagination how they sought to use the Old Testament and the New Testament to support their new revelation they had to alter the Bible to do so directly violating command that we see in the Bible in Revelation and throughout the Scriptures convenient in each one of these prophets was the inability for anyone to verify their claims of being a prophet these prophets could not be suppose at prophets could not produce verifiable miraculous signs now when they contradict a scripture they claim the original scriptures were corrupted they and they alone had the true translations and interpretations there is no way to to put a check on that because it didn’t agree with already revealed revelation they didn’t have miraculous signs and I didn’t have others who were prophets with them they were all alone and they claimed new revelation reality is of course that these were not God’s prophets they were not declare as a God Scripture they were not officially commissioned from God and they have no authorization in the scriptures to do what they do Roy did you want to say something yeah that’s a great point really thanks very mention adjust restate what you said briefly even though we have these warnings in Scripture even the Old Testament not to add to God’s Word there is a at the same time clearly expectation and promise about additional revelation you mentioned those prophecies that having to do with the Messiah and the New Covenant there’s clearly gonna have to be new revelation as these things come to pass even more than that we can go to even the words of Moses where he says the Lord is gonna raise up a prophet like me from among you and you were to listen to that prophet and we see in the New Testament that ultimately is talking about Christ so there was the expectation that there would be more representatives of God and they would speak new revelation from God but you had these warnings at the same time and so that’s why I’m saying our understanding of these warnings and how they fit with these fit with the rest of Scripture and even the promises a new revelation is that it’s all about divine authorization are you a divinely authorized and commissioned revealer of god’s truth or are you just taking that taking that responsibility upon yourself now one thing and this I think is is worth pointing out and that is we should not forget that there there will be profits again I mean if we look at the book of Revelation we have those two prophets standing as witnesses and doing miraculous signs so it’s not as if prophecy has totally ceased it’s not as if there there will be no more revelation but for this age there will not be God has given everything that we need for this age and you memory even in Revelation where John talks about the what the seven thunders uttered but he wasn’t allowed to write it down that’s something that God is only going to reveal later there have been these there’s different ages where God said this is this is uh this is what I’m going to reveal for this age and that’s it this is all that my people need and for our age for the church age we have we have the complete revelation because this is all that God has authorized and he’s given his authorization he’s given proof of that even in the scriptures say a little bit more about that again why we believe the Canon is closed even though we read regarding what revelation says about prophets in even in the tribulation period and afterwards the Apostle saw themselves as foundation layers not as continuous sources of Revelation with an apostolic office to be passed down of course this is in direct contrast to the teaching of the Catholic Church they claim that Peters office as the chief apostle and leader of the church that has been inherited by various Pope’s to the present day but turn to ephesians for a second fusions chapter 2 Peters chapter 2 verses 19 to 20 Paul is speaking here to some newly converted Gentiles and he’s talking to them about how they have full salvation inheritance full salvation blessings along with the Jews but in Ephesians 2 19 to 20 he says something very poignant about the Apostolic office Ephesians 2:19 2:20 so then you are no longer strangers and aliens that is you Gentiles but you are fellow citizens with the Saints NRF God’s household having been built on the foundation of the and prophets Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone but this is very this should be very striking because the Paul says the Apostles appointed by Jesus himself they were responsible to lay the gospel foundation they declared they further explained the revelation of Jesus and having fulfilled their appointed task the Apostolic office was no longer needed and it disappeared once you lay the foundation there’s no need to lay another foundation or to keep laying a foundation in fact Paul says no we’re building on the foundation now that’s what you guys are you Gentile effusions you’re being built on the foundation that has been laid that is being laid by the apostles by the apostles and prophets indeed rather than instructing their followers to appoint new apostles or prophets to find out more revelation from God what is the instruction that we see in the New Testament from Peter and Paul and others regarding God’s revelation it isn’t to look for what’s new rather it’s to hold on to what was old again and again Paul Peter and others they say don’t forget what we told you hold fast to it cling to it contend for the faith as Jude says that was once for all delivered to the Saints the Apostles recognized the uniqueness of their own office they’re our own enroll as declare MERS and chroniclers of the revelation of Jesus and with their foundation laid the New Testament Scriptures were complete so coming back to our verses in Revelation though John writes this morning specifically about his prophecy the book of Revelation the concept of not adding – you are taking away from the revealed word as a whole holds because of the position of John’s book is the last book in the last topics but more than that because the Apostles unique role as the commissioned writers of the New Testament the revelation of Jesus the climactic revelation of of all of God’s revelation is complete there’s nothing more to be added you dare not add to it or take away from it because Crysis specifically authorized representatives have accomplished it they have given it so there’s no more that needs to be added now what about the early church did they understand this what did they think about the Apostles about the New Testament and about the Scriptures as a whole let’s transition now to talking about the early church it’s commonly claimed by skeptics that books of the New Testament were chosen many hundreds of years after the fact they allege because the ideas of particular books fit with the teaching of certain people in power at the time that many those books were accepted and many other books were rejected these rejected books conflicted they merely conflicted with the ideas of the powerful the influential or the elite well these accusations were totally unfounded the early church pastors and elders didn’t simply choose the books they wanted to be in to be Scripture rather they work to recognize the books that God had produced and chosen as Scripture and a primary factor and their decision-making was apostolic authorship primary factor in recognizing what is truly Scripture according to the early church was apostolic authorship understand that recognizing the Apostolic works was a process when every book of the New Testament was immediately universally recognized some books were accepted as Scripture for a while and then determined not to be apostolic and other works that church leaders weren’t quite sure about or later recognized to indeed be apostolic and canonical the authoritative Word of God these are the church Shepherds though were very committed to knowing and proclaiming what works were actually Scripture because they were charged as we are to hold on to the word of the Apostles if you’re gonna hold on to the word then you need to know what the word of the Apostles actually was so discerning up Apostolic works and preserving them was a main task of the persecuted Roman Church the early church but it’s not as if they were in the dark for hundreds of years as soon as the Apostles wrote the original letters of the New Testament those letters were preserved copied and circulated as scripture on the same levels the Old Testament but we’ll get into it now but there are several statements in the New Testament where the Apostles themselves recognize they’re writing Scripture or they recognize each other’s works as writing Scripture Paul even quotes Luke I think it’s following me it might be Peter he quotes Luke as Scripture so they they understood they were writing a scripture and it was on the same levels the Old Testament and you know the church understood that so there’s good reason for us to believe because they recognize this right away we’ve received scripture copy and preserve it pass it around it’s good reason to believe that most if not all the New Testament Scriptures we have today were recognized as Scripture by the second century church that is in the 100 AD they they understood as they encountered these different writings they say oh this is this is the Apostolic we’re at this description why don’t we say that even by the second century it was recognized well one reason is because of the Miura torreón fragment this is a partial text that we have received from about 170 ad and at list 20 of the 27 New Testament books as universally recognized among the Roman churches and mentions a few other books that were recognized by some but not quite universally accepted this shows us that the early church is aware of Scripture and they are coming there’s a large amount of agreement as to what constitutes Scripture the New Testament scripture immediately it’s true that lists of New Testament books are rare in the early church writings you don’t see that many lists but the lists begin to appear more and more in a reaction to heresies denying the works of certain apostles or trying to add to them people like Marcion or manis or even the montanus they as people began to mess with revelation what actually was God’s revelation it it caused the early church leaders to say we need to get straight what actually is the New Testament what actually is the apostolic word and this is really just like the teaching of the Trinity it wasn’t that that doctrine was developed or adopted at a particular council merely that it was articulated at a council in response to a growing heresy in the 300s it’s not that the council of nicaea created the doctrine of the Trinity it was always there but it was specifically articulated in a reaction to arianism it’s the same thing when it comes to the candidacy of the New Testament the reason that we see more and more lists and we see a greater effort to specifically articulate which workshops taluk it’s in response to false teaching and often this is how it works in church history doctrine is clarified doctrine is articulated in response to error it’s not that it’s created it’s always been there now the first complete list of the 27 books of the New Testament comes from a letter from Athanasian in 367 ad this is followed soon after by two church councils in Western Europe the Synod of Hippo and three ninety three and the council of Carthage Carthage in 397 they affirm the same list these 27 books the same 27 books we had today they say these are the universally these are the largely recognized Scripture and since that time there’s largely been no controversy this list has not been changed in the church ever since what’s the new testament it’s these 27 books what’s the Apostolic Word it’s these 27 books that controversy really ceases after the 4th century now what was the criteria that these early church fathers were using to assess their various works that they had received now the different pieces of criteria but I want to list some of the main ones for you the first two are the most important was the book if you’re going to figure out whether something is God’s breathed word you first ask was the Booker letter written by an apostle under the direction of apostle like I said they know that the Apostles charged them to hold on to their word so they want to know what this the Apostles word or not does it claim to be written by an apostle is it demonstrate that was written by an apostle the second one is also very important did the writings conform to what the church received from the Apostles and is always taught again this criterion is justified by Scripture you remember what Paul said in Galatians even if we or an angel from heaven comes to you with a gospel different than the gospel we originally preached you let that person be accursed that’s a person being half maleta be damned you hold to the gospel that saves you you holds the gospel that we originally gave to you so the early church took that seriously is this the gospel that we’ve always taught the one that we originally received do these writings conform to that do they affirm that do they teach that so these first two criteria were the most important does it confirm the Apostolic teaching we’ve received and does it demonstrate itself to be written by an apostle along with that we have these other criteria did the writing resound with the truth of God did it speak with a voice of authority as the Word of God and not really the words it meant obviously if a piece of writing is just derivative of other writing not really say anything new just quoting what was already said or if it’s only a platform for the ideas of men it cannot be scripture further were these writings used from the earliest of times this is according according to the adage if it’s new it’s not true and if it’s true it’s not new we’re looking for apostolic writings and those are ancient we’re not looking for new work so might it sound great but if it’s from the 200 ad it’s not Scripture and finally did most churches accept these writings as the New Testament canon again this is not a definitive criterion but if it is Scripture it should be able to be recognized by more than one source if you’re the only one saying this is Scripture that’s that’s probably a bad sign so this was not like like I’m trying to illustrate this is not a formal counselor process this is not like okay let’s guys let’s all get together and have a specific counsel and we’ll figure out what God’s where it is no this was a process this is somewhat informal just different church leaders different different Christians then in the early church just reading circulating talking about discussing analyzing all in an effort to recognize what is God’s Scripture what is the Apostolic word what is the New Testament they want to affirm that so they can hold on to what the Apostles charged them to hold on to you and really what what Christ has charged them to hold on to to some of all this historical information New Testament Scriptures were completed by the Apostles between 80 45 and 95 early church recognized and circulated in most of these works as Scripture by 80 150 to 175 and all controversy over scripture had ceased by about eighty four hundred we can come back now to our overarching theme we can trust that God’s Word is complete and that the New Testament is God’s Word because you see the different things that we’ve seen today the apostles were eyewitnesses and officially commissioned by Jesus and supernaturally enabled by the Holy Spirit to remember and teach the Word of God the Apostles themselves warn those who are not commissioned scripture Vitus against adding to or taking away from the scripture the apostles were responsible for laying a foundation of doctrine which the Apostles themselves affirmed they completed and the early church affirmed the apostolic Authority was determinative in their own process of discerning which writings were really God breathed now there’s much more we could say about the writing of the New Testament the Canon and why we why we believe what we do but this will have to suffice for today’s class if you’re interested you can find a lot more information about this topic on the Answers in Genesis website they’re also a number of good books that you can check out of course if you have a specific question you can always email me and my email address and I’ll do my best to answer it any comments and questions of what I’ve shared with you so far alright well let’s consider a few more application questions before we close as I say application is an important part of Bible study we don’t just observe and interpret but we also want to apply so this is part of our inductive Bible study method here’s our first application question that I would like you to consider there’s commonly claimed that the Bible is put together by the Council of Nicaea in AD 325 how would you respond to such a claim what would you say well there are two approaches there are two ways of answering this question really think they go together we know that this is a this is a myth it’s a commonly perpetuated myth but this is not true we know from the we know from the Bible itself that scripture was being recognized as Scripture long before 325 AD as I said the Apostles are affirming that themselves but again we can you can do in point to archaeological evidence and the texts that have been recovered from ancient times we had the Miura torreón fragment that’s showing that scripture was being recognized even by 170 ad no it was not determined by the Council of Nicaea in 325 and besides the Council of Nicaea is as far as we know had nothing to say about the Bible’s candidacy it was specifically convened to deal with the Arian controversy those who are denying Jesus as divinity it was not convened to determine what the Bible was or even to discuss what were the recognized scriptures that wasn’t the Council of Nicaea so multiple reasons why such an assertion is a complete yes but similarly is another question how do we respond to the claims that the New Testament was written many years after the lives of Jesus and the Apostles and therefore cannot be accurate now again hopefully you’ve seen from today’s class the answers to this question this again is a faulty clean because we have the guarantee in the Bible that even though the Apostles are living decades after the Ministry of Jesus and the teaching of Jesus they’ve been supernaturally empowered to remember and to learn new things by the Holy Spirit and perfectly and completely give Jesus’s revelation time going by doesn’t effect that for the Apostles and as to the contention that the books the Bible the books on your Testament written many years after the Apostles again we can just look at the historical record we have and see that that’s not true many many works outside the Bible are quoting the words of the Apostles even in the second century even in the early 2nd century which means they had to be written before that you can’t quote it if it hadn’t been written yet and even many liberal scholars those who don’t actually believe the Bible more and more they have to concede that yeah these New Testament New Testament works they were written in the first century which is what Christians have been saying all along so again this claim is yeah there’s nothing to it we have the promises in the scripture and we have the record of history to show that this is not true these this revelation of Jesus has been preserved and preserved accurately are not just preserved accurate but written accurately it’s another question was the Apocrypha those writings from the intertestamental period included in many Catholic Bibles how did those the how does the Apocrypha figure in this discussion of biblical canon isset II well it’s worth noting that in the early church these books if you’re not familiar with the books the Apocrypha it’s not super important to become familiar with it but they include things like the books of Maccabees look of Judah the book of Tobit sections of Daniel and sections of Esther that were added in the early church some of these works were considered helpful but they were not considered god-breathed Scripture it’s interesting that the earliest copies of the Septuagint we have Mary that’s the Greek translation the Old Testament they include the Apocrypha now the Septuagint was the early church’s Old Testament Bible I mean we have many Greek speakers in the Roman Empire so they’re using the Septuagint though they included the Apocrypha they also made clear that it is not divine Scripture Jerome is very a good example of this Jerome was early church father in the 300s he’s famous for his Latin translation of the Bible called the Vulgate and it’s actually the translation of the Bible that the Roman Catholic Church uses and affirms he included the Apocrypha in his translation in the Bible but he also specifically and very obviously stated that the Apocrypha is helpful but not scripture says do not consider even though I’m including this do not consider this on par with the rest of what I’ve translated the rest of what I’ve included this is helpful but it’s not Scripture this can be encouraging this can be inspiring this is an interesting historical record but it’s not the Divine Scripture now the Catholic Church itself did not consider the Apocrypha to be Scripture until the Catholic counter-reformation in the 1500s we had the Reformation lots of other problems for the Catholic Church and then the Counter Reformation they part of one of the things that they did was they affirm the Apocrypha as the Bible they said this is all though God this is also God breathed and why did they do that well the affirmation the Apocrypha came partly from the Pape C’s wish to affirm Jerome’s entire vulgate translation as inspired and perfect remember one of the things that the Reformers were pointing out and not just the reformers many many biblical scholars at that time we’re saying hey the Latin translation we have does not accurately translate certain words from the original Hebrew and Greek and the Catholic Church’s response rather than admit that was to say no the Vulgate is entirely inspired even the Apocrypha is inspired so that was one impetus but the second was the Catholic Church had become used to certain doctrines and certain practices that are not biblical but they do appear in the Apocrypha and so they saw that it would be useful to affirm the Apocrypha in order to validate those practices things like praying for the dead so we should not we have no reason to affirm the Apocrypha as Scripture even though the Catholic Church has done so since the 1500s all of this I’ve been giving you a lot of maybe more technical information but don’t miss the main point this is really the main question that we’ve been posing over the last couple of lessons having to do the Scriptures and it’s one that I want to bring you back to you considering all of this how do you treat God’s Word how do you treat the New Testament how do you treat the Old Testament God specifically commissioned his apostles and apostolic associates to give the church including you this life-giving and life word so how do you think God wants you to respond to how do you think God will react to you if you respond to his word wrongly or inappropriately as you go the rest of your time of worship today and I should go home and then afterwards please consider continue to consider this question how cute read God’s Word and how do you think God wants you to treat his word his word is a great gift consider what our lives would be like if we didn’t have the New Testament or if we didn’t have the Old Testament but so often we take that for granted not only that we have it in the original languages but we have it in good English translations how do you think God wants to respond wants you to respond to that situation so we’ve talked through why we can trust the books the Old Testament why we can trust the books of the New Testament as God’s Word now next week we’ll talk further about the modern claims of new revelation and prophecy this is kind of one of the one of the tensions right we see prophets in the New Testament we see prophets in the Old Testament and we even see in Revelation that there will be certain prophets again how do we know there are prophets today okay maybe they’re not writing new Scripture maybe that was that was the climactic revelation of Jesus the Apostles we’re still got prophets today maybe they do have something to say in terms of God’s revelation well we’re gonna talk about that next week well see how we have to test such claims of self-proclaimed prophets and how we ought to respond to those who follow and believe such prophets let’s close as we finished today our Lord God we thank you that you’ve given us your word Lord what a great comfort it must have been to the Apostles to hear that they’re not going to lose your word that more than that they would be able to understand it better they’d be able to remember it perfectly they’d be able to proclaim it and they would be continually taught all those things that you wanted to teach them but you couldn’t teach them your spirit taught them well thank you that you not only gave that to them but you’re giving it to us thank you God that your word does not pass away that you have not only promised of the word but to preserve it and even so gracious to allow us to have that preserved word god we know that would this great blessing comes to great responsibility this is the word that we must know this is the word that we must hear and steady this is the word we must put into practice not just because you deserve it as God but because that’s the way to blessing that’s the way of wisdom so god I pray that each listener would be appreciating that and they would love you for your word in Jesus name Amen all right all right thank you you’re welcome I’ll see you next week