Examining The Claims, Part 1

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=50 BGCOLOR="#333366" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Examining The Claims, Part 1</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=165 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="132" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 35 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id287.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Is the Bible True?"><U><B><IMG SRC="007151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id289.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Examining The Claims, Part 2"><U><B><IMG SRC="008151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="20"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="35" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="20" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="13"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="27"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> Previous/Next Sermon</div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="www.stanbaker.org"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Biblical and Theological Studies"><U><B>Biblical and Theological Studies</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Church Ministry"><U><B>Church Ministry</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sermon Notes"><U>Sermon Notes</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id5.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Personal"><U><B>Personal</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> <div> <A HREF="mailto:stan@stanbaker.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:stan@stanbaker.org"><U>stan@stanbaker.org</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=430 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Examining the Claims, Part 1: Canonicity and Archaeology</B></div> <div> <B>Series: Why We Can Trust the Bible, Part 4</B></div> <div> <B>Berean Bible Church, November 4, 2001pm</B></div> <bR> <div>      Paul’s preeminent challenge to young Timothy was for him to guard what had been entrusted to him, the Truth, the word of God (1 Tim 4:6-16; 6:20-21).</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Canonicity</B></div> <div> The concept of canonicity has to do with how we know the 66 books all belong in the Bible (and no more or no less).</div> <bR> <div> <B>Definition of Canonicity</B></div> <div> A. Canon refers to a standard, a rule. The books <I>passed</I> a standard and<I> </I>the collection <I>became</I> the standard.</div> <div> B. Canonicity is the recognition of certain books as being revealed, inspired by God.</div> <div> C. Each of the 66 books in our Bible has been judged to be a part of the collection of inspired writings, revealed by God.</div> <bR> <div> <B>The Old Testament Canon</B></div> <div> A. The writings were progressively collected and kept with the Ark of the Covenant / Temple (2 Kings 22:8, Nehemiah 8:1). </div> <div> B. The Old Testament canon was in place by the second century B.C.</div> <div> C. Jesus and the Apostles recognized and approved the collected Hebrew Scriptures (Matthew 5:17-18, “The Law and the Prophets [the Hebrew Scriptures] will be fulfilled”).</div> <bR> <div> <B>The New Testament Canon</B></div> <div> A. The heretic Marcion (A.D. 140) challenged several otherwise accepted writings of the NT. He only accepted Luke's gospel and 10 of Paul's letters. He even rejected the OT.</div> <div> B. The Synods of Hippo (393) and Carthage (397) <I>recognized</I> the canonicity of the NT books.</div> <div> C. It was not until the 5th Century AD that the NT collection was universally recognized.</div> <div> D. The Roman Emperor Diocletian in 303 declared that the Scriptures must be destroyed. This is one factor that motivated the church to declare which of their collected writings were Scripture (books which they would be willing to die to preserve).</div> <bR> <div> <B>Tests of Canonicity</B></div> <div> A. Does it claim to be from God ultimately</div> <div> B. Was it written by a genuine, recognized spokesman for God (e.g., Prophet, Apostle, or close associate [Luke was regarded in close association with Paul, Mark with Peter])?</div> <div> C. Could it be genuinely traced back to the time it claims to have come from?</div> <div> D. Is it true, accurate in its teachings, according to what had already been accepted as truth?</div> <div> E. Does it agree with, is it consistent with the writings already in the recognized collection?</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Archaeology</B></div> <div> <B>The Role of Archaeology</B></div> <div> A. Helps us understand the contexts and cultural settings of the Bible.</div> <div> B. Offers confirming evidence for people and places in Bible times. Judicial evidence, courtroom proof; not merely scientific proof. We may accept claims as true, until proven false (like innocent until proven guilty).</div> <bR> <div> <B>Examples</B></div> <div> A. King Belshazzar in Daniel 5: Previously, records showed that Nabonidus was the king of Babylon at the time of its fall. But Daniel asserted that Belshazzar was reigning. Documents found recently showed that in his final days Nabonidus was residing in Arabia, leaving the rulership of Babylon to his oldest son, Belshazzar (Walter Kaiser, <I>The Old Testament Documents</I>, p. 99).</div> <div> B. Ophir in 1 Kings 9:28: In 1956, at the coastal site of Tell Qasile, a small ostracon was found with a shipment notice written on it, saying, 'gold of Ophir for Beth-Horon, thirty shekels.' Thus Ophir was real and was also a source of gold (Kaiser, p. 105).</div> <div> C. Hittite empire in Genesis 10:15: In 1906, Hugo Winckler began excavating a site known as ancient Hattusha, in what we call Turkey. His finding brought to light much evidence for the existence of  the people known as the Hittites (Kaiser, p. 102).</div> <div> D. The House of David: In 1993, an Israeli archaeologist discovered a fragment of a stone monument with inscriptions bearing the first known reference outside the Bible to King David and the ruling dynasty he founded, "the House of David."</div> <div> E. Tomb of Caiaphas: "Israeli archaeologists discovered the family tomb of Caiaphas, the Jewish High Priest who presided at the trial of Jesus and delivered Him to the Romans to be crucified." (NYT). Josephus, the first-century Jewish historian, had provided the only contemporary mention of Caiaphas outside the NT and Talmud.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> copyright, 2002, Stanley Baker</div> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> </td> </tr></table></body>