IDHEF Chapter 14 - What Did Jesus Teach About the Bible?
5. Look up the following verses and summarize what each says about the inspiration of the New Testament. 1 John 4:6 1 Corinthians 2:10, 13 Galatians 1:11-12 1 Thessalonians 2:13
1 John 4:6—Whoever knows God is able to discern between the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood. 1 Corinthians 2:10, 13—God revealed the truth to the writers of the New Testament by the Holy Spirit, giving them words not of human wisdom but words that express spiritual truths. Galatians 1:11-12—The gospel is not something invented by humans, but received by the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 2:13—The message of the New Testament is not the word of men, but the word of God, which has the power to work inside each believer.
9. Because Jesus said the apostles would be guided into "all truth," what two basic questions did the early Christians need to answer to determine which writings should be considered part of the New Testament canon? (See IDHEF, page 368.)
1. Who are the apostles? 2. What did they write?
Canon
A Latin word meaning "measuring rod" or "standard." In Christianity, it is the collection of inspired books, written and confirmed as authentic by the apostles, that make up the New Testament.
4. How would you answer someone who said, "Jesus was just a man, so He could have made mistakes"?
Although Jesus was acting within the limitations of His human nature while on Earth, He did not consider himself the standard of truth— everything He taught was from the Father. So to charge Jesus with being in error is to charge God the Father with also being in error.
A. How would you respond to a skeptical friend who said that the Christian doctrine of the inerrancy of the Bible isn't falsifiable? (See IDHEF, page 373.)
Although some people claim that Christians believe in the inerrancy of the Bible simply because we want it to be perfectly reliable, the fact is that even if the Bible were found to contain minor errors, the main tenets of Christianity would remain intact. More often, errors would be based on human fallibility rather than divine mistake.
12. In light of the evidence for God, Jesus, and the Bible, who has to have more faith—the Christian or the non-Christian? Why?
Based on the overwhelmingly strong historical evidence for the existence of God, the facts of Jesus' life, and the reliability of the Bible, we believe that it requires much more faith for the non-Christian to reject God, Jesus, and the Bible as authoritative.
1. Many people claim that their book(s) of religious teachings speaks the truth. How is knowing and believing Jesus taught that the Bible is the Word of God different from what other religions believe about their holy books?
Believing that the Bible is the Word of God is different from other religions because we have evidence that confirms that the New Testament is historically reliable and that Jesus is God. In fact, the Bible is the only book that is confirmed by God Himself as containing the truth. Other religions believe that their holy books are true without historical and logical proof.
C. From earlier chapters, you know that all nontheistic religions are false because they don't properly explain the universe we live in. Now explain how we can know which of the three theistic religions contains truth (see IDHEF, page 376).
Judaism—Since the revelation of Judaism is incomplete, lacking the New Testament, we can know that it doesn't contain truth. Islam—Since the fundamental teachings of Islam contain some truth but errs on fundamental teachings like the deity and resurrection of Jesus, we can know that it doesn't contain truth. Christianity—Since the revelation of Christianity is historically proven to be the complete, inerrant Word of God, we can know that it is the only religion that contains truth.
8. Explain the significance of Jesus' actions in Luke 4:14-21.
On the Sabbath, Jesus stood up and read from the Old Testament. Then, stopping in the middle of the verse, He made the claim that He had fulfilled the passage—which clearly spoke of the Messiah—in their hearing. The Jews all understood that He was in fact claiming to be the Messiah, and tried to kill Him for the sin of blasphemy.
10. Why did it take so long to officially settle the canon? (See IDHEF, page 370.)
One main factor that would have slowed the final determination of the official canon was that Christianity was illegal for the first three hundred years and the early church fathers were in danger or in hiding.
2. For each point above, supply a corroborating verse and explain how it supports the point (see IDHEF, pages 357-359).
Point 1: The Bible is divinely authoritative—Matthew 4:4, 7, 10—Jesus used quotes from the Old Testament as authoritative responses to falsehood. Point 2: The Bible is imperishable—Matthew 5:17—Jesus affirmed that not even the smallest mark of the text of the Bible will pass away or be lost. Point 3: The Bible is infallible—John 10:35; 17:17—Even when His life was on the line, Jesus referred to the Scriptures as an infallible authority that can never be broken. Point 4: The Bible is inerrant—Matthew 22:29—Jesus used the Scriptures to correct error, implying that the Scriptures themselves contain no error. Point 5: The Bible is historically reliable—Matthew 24:37-38; 12:40; 24:15—Jesus affirmed that even the miracle stories of the Old Testament are true, as well as confirming Old Testament details as historical. Point 6: The Bible is scientifically accurate—John 3:12—Jesus taught that the scientific facts the Bible relates are accurate; after all, if the Bible doesn't speak truthfully about the things we can see, how could we trust it about the things we cannot see? Point 7: The Bible has ultimate supremacy—Matthew 15:7-9—Jesus taught that anything that contradicted the Scriptures was wrong, not the other way around. He said that it was more important to live according to what the Scriptures said rather than follow man-made traditions.
11. If errors are ever found in the New Testament documents, will this necessarily disprove the Resurrection or Christianity? Why or why not?
Since the historical evidence supporting the main tenets of Christianity, especially the Resurrection, is very strong, even if the Scriptures are someday found to contain a false detail or two, the historical truth of Christianity will not be diminished.
6. How would you respond to a friend who said that by using miracles described in the Bible to verify the Bible's message, you're using circular reasoning?
Since we've established that we live in a theistic universe where miracles are possible, relying on miracles to confirm the true words of God is natural; after all, miracles were designed to be God's seal of approval on a messenger of God bringing a message of God.
3. How you would answer someone who said, "Jesus was all about love. He wasn't all that concerned about theology"?
The Bible shows again and again that Jesus was more concerned with teaching correct theology than in making people feel comfortable. He did not tolerate error, instead rebuking and correcting the faulty theology of the Jews on every occasion.
7. When did the apostles' ability to do miracles end? How is this evidence that the ability to work miracles belonged to God and not the apostles? (See IDHEF, page 366.)
The apostles' ability to do miracles seems to have ended sometime in the mid-60s A.D., proving that the miracles originated with God and were not based on the strength or talent of the apostles.
Infallible
The biblical principle that states the Bible's assertions are truthful and worthy of entire confidence (in contrast to fallible human words). Inerrant: The biblical principle that states the original manuscripts of the Bible are free of error.
B. What unique fact sets Christianity apart from any other religion? (See IDHEF, page 374.)
Unlike most other religions, Christianity is built on historical events and can therefore either be proven or disproven by historical events. If, after 2,000 years of looking, no one can find the remains of Jesus or real errors in the Bible, isn't it quite possible that neither exist?
