How We Got The Bible Series

How We Got The Bible…

#Canonization

Okay Maple Grove, welcome to week three in our series understanding the Bible. And man, it is been a fun ride so far.

NOW – in week one of this series, we talked about…

HOW – if a non-contingent, uncaused by anything else, self-sufficient, self-reliant, all-powerful, intelligent, always existing, unique, good & moral God who loves us were to write a book – that it would be the most amazing book ever written…

IN OTHER WORDS – if God spoke we would have no doubt that those words were from Him!

AND B/S – I stand before you today and without any doubt whatsoever in my mind declare to that the bible is that book, that the Bible is from God…

AND THEREFORE - you can trust what it says…

UNDERSTAND – the bible is…

• Unique… in circulation, composition, translation, influence, survival, continuing universal appeal (in a class of it’s own),

• Accurate… historically, in it’s text

• Supernatural (it knows some stuff that only God could know… like future events and pre-scientific knowledge)

• Transforming (it radically changes the lives of people).

And last week we talked about how the Bible has one overriding theme purpose and storyline… ‘the coming of Christ.’

I mean, from Genesis to Revelation that is with the Bible is about.

• The message of the O.T. (all of the books, of law – history, prophecy and poetry) – is that Jesus is coming.

• The message of the Gospels – Jesus is here.

• The message of the N.T. – Jesus is coming again.

NOW – if we really think about it… This dominate storyline of the Word of God should not surprise us, after all John says in the opening of his gospel “In the beginning was the word the word was with God and the Word was God.”

NOW – this morning we’re going to begin

A two-week conversation about how we got the Bible.

AND - this week we will talk about the process of canonization. AND - hopefully (no matter what you know or don’t know about that topic) it will mean more to you when we’re done today.

NEXT WEEK… we will jump out of this series for Father’s Day as we have a conversation about dad’s I am calling… “I Am Who You Say I Am.”

AND – on June 24th as we continue the conversation about how we got the Bible, we are going to talk about the transmission of the text.

AND - in that conversation I will attempt to answer the question of what went on, what things happen…. between the time that God breathed and Paul and Peter and Luke and Matthew etc., put their pen to paper… to where we are today 2000 years later holding a Bible in our hands.

Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, 21 or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God. – 1 Peter 1:20,21

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. – 2 Timothy 3:16,17

God breathed - theopneustos

Now before we jump into our conversation about canonization, I think it’s important for me to remind you of what my two primary goals are for the series.

And I will start with goal #2…

Goal #2 – Motivate, encourage, challenge and inspire people to read the Bible like never before… because it really is from God and because in this series they will be given tools to equip them to understand and apply the Bible better.

Goal #1 – To take a look at the overwhelming evidence that demonstrates (contrary to the onslaughts of modern culture) that The Bible is not just another book or mere ink on paper, but that it really is from God, the Maker of heaven and earth.

AGAIN – today’s conversation is about canonization…

It’s about how we got our bible.

NOW - when I open up my Bible, I find that it contains 66 books.

39 books in the Old Testament and

27 books in the New Testament…

QUESTION – how do we know if the books in there are the correct ones?

I MEAN…

ARE - there some books in there that should not be?

AND - have some books been left out that should be in there?

LIKE – are there some books that for nefarious (not good, and with evil intent) been ‘lost’ ‘forgotten’ or ‘banned’ from the Bible.

NOW – here is how I want to attack this conversation about canonization…

BY – unpacking several statements…