William Tyndale was born 100 years after John Wycliffe’s death and had the advantage of the most important invention since the wheel, the invention of the printing press. Tyndale was both a scholar and reformer. Tyndale once remarked to a critic, “If God spares my life, ere many years, I will cause the boy that [...]
Archive for the ‘Bible’ Category
Back to the Basics Series: How We Got Our Bible, Part 2
Posted: November 19, 2010 in Bible, SermonsTags: John Wycliffe, Perspicuity or Clarity of Scripture, William Tyndale
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Back to the Basics Series: How We Got Our English Bible, Part 1
Posted: November 9, 2010 in Bible, SermonsTags: Apocrypha, Canonicity, Council of Trent, Desiderius Erasmus, General and Special Revelation, Inspiration, John Wycliffe, Textual Criticism, Thomas Watson
To grow as a Christian the Word of God must be paramount in our lives. How can we be certain that this book we call the Bible is the Word of God? How did God get His Word from His mind onto the pages of the Bible we hold in our lap? James B. Williams [...]
How did the Old Testament canon develop? If a church council did not determine which books belong in the Bible, what did? The providence of God determined the O.T. canon not any church council. The canon gradually grew as succeeding prophets recognized the former books as the Word of God. The books of Moses. The [...]
Why are there only 66 Books in the Bible? Part 1
Posted: October 1, 2010 in BibleTags: Johann Eck, The canon of Scripture, Vatican II, Wayne Grudem
You might be surprised that part of the debate over the canon of Scripture has to do with the Roman Catholic view of the canon and that some Protestants have joined the Roman Catholic Church over this canon of Scripture issue. But let’s start with a definition before we get into the debate. Here is [...]
Textual critics help us determine the wording of the NT. Jerome was an early textual critic who produced the Latin Vulgate in the 380s. Desiderius Erasmus is the most celebrated textual critic who was a Dutch Roman Catholic scholar. Erasmus produced the first published Gk NT in 1516. Erasmus’ fourth edition became the basis for [...]
Do Scribal Errors Destroy Inerrancy? Part 1
Posted: September 22, 2010 in BibleTags: A General Introduction to the Bible, Brooke Foss Westcott, From God to Us, Inerrancy, John Anthony Hort, Norman L. Geisler and William E. Nix, Peter Ruckman, Whuy I Believe the King James Bible
Inerrancy, like inspiration, applies to the original manuscripts. Has God preserved His Word? YES! But not in one translation. God has preserved His Word in the totality of all the manuscripts and there are over 5000 existing manuscripts in part or in whole. No two manuscripts are exacting the same. God has not preserved His [...]
None of the Apocrypha passes the test of canonicity which include the following as stated by Geisler and Nix (p. 175). 1. Inspired Books of the Bible Must be written by a prophet. 2. Inspired Books of the Bible Must be spiritually qualified. The Apocrypha is not transforming and does not have the authority of God. 3. [...]
The Apocrypha, Part 1
Posted: October 5, 2009 in BibleTags: A General Introduction to the Bible, Apocrapha, Council of Trent, Crossing the Tiber, Norman Geisler, Stephen and Janet Ray, William E. Nix
Stephen and Janet Ray converted from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism over the canonization of the Apocrypha: “Protestants are dependent on the tradition of the Catholic Church for the current New Testament” (Crossing the Tiber p. 54). A church council in A.D. 397 recognized the books of the Bible as canonical. “There is no list of [...]
Alleged Contradictions in God’s Word, Part 2
Posted: September 28, 2009 in BibleTags: Alleged contradictions in the Bible, Charles Ryrie, John Calvin, Ronald Youngblood
Bible scholar Ronald Youngblood tells of a personal struggle in ministry with alleged contradictions in the Bible. Several years ago when I was an interim pastor, a member of my congregation came to my office greatly agitated. He’d learned that a seminary instructor had said some numbers in the Old Testament are simply estimates, and he [...]
Alleged Contradictions in God’s Word, Part 1
Posted: September 28, 2009 in BibleTags: B. B. Warfield, Charles Ryrie, E. J. Young, Edward Carnell, Louis Gaussen, Steward Custer
1st Peter 3:15 commands us to “be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” The word “answer” is “apologiav” in the Greek and means “defense or a thoughtful defense of the faith.” One of the areas we [...]
