The Importance of the Bible

‘The Da Vinci Code’, the best selling novel by Dan Brown claimed to contain certain facts that demolish Christianity. It claimed that the four gospels were fraudulent records introduced in the 4th century to replace older documents that were all destroyed. It said that Jesus never claimed to be God, but was just a man who married Mary Magdalene. He claimed that after Jesus’ execution she fled to France and there she lived with her son and her bloodline exists there to this day. These ‘truths’ were apparently kept by a secret society that included Leonardo Da Vinci. Leonardo had hidden this story in coded messages in his works of art.

Many of Dan Brown’s so-called facts are wrong. He claimed that the Dead Sea Scrolls contained new material about Jesus. In fact these scrolls are largely Old Testament manuscripts and there is no mention of Jesus in any of them. He claimed that the vote at the Council of Nicea in 325AD about the divinity of Jesus was ‘relatively close.’ In fact it was 298 to 2 in favour of his being the God who both created us and entered this world to save us. Surprisingly the unbelievable storyline behind ‘The Da Vinci Code’ has been accepted by many, in spite of all the evidence against it.

In contrast, the early churches were very careful to ensure that the documents they accepted to guide them were the reliable Word of God given by Jesus to his apostles. This process happened well before Church Councils ratified valid books. The question of authority was one that the Council of Nicea (325AD) had to decide upon and they concluded that real authority did not lie with them but with the apostles and the books they gave us.

The Canon of Scripture

The Canon of Scripture is the list of those books included in the Bible because they have been recognised as having an inherent authority. This authority can either be because they have been given this authority by an external recognised council or because they have an inherent authority. The problem with the first view, one held by the Roman Catholic church, is that a subsequent authority can change what is authoritative or can trump what the Bible teaches with their traditions. If the writings have an inherent authority because they were ‘God breathed’ then that authority stands independently of church councils. The choice is that either the authority comes from the church or that these writings had an inherent authority which the church subsequently acknowledged.

One question sometimes asked is, ‘When was the New Testament Canon completed?’ The best answer is when the last book of the New Testament was written. This was around 90AD. There was then a process through which these writings were universally accepted by the early churches.

The Old Testament Canon was completed in 430BC when the last book, Malachi, was written. They also had a process through which the early Jews accepted the authority of Malachi and the other books. This was always on the basis of the evidence that it was originally inspired by God.

Old Testament Books

The books of the Old Testament were written between 1400BC and 430BC. It is recognised that some writings and prophecies did not originate from God, were spurious and therefore were to be publicly rejected. However to reject true Scripture, what God had actually said was culpable. God said to Moses, who had led the Exodus of the Children of Israel out of Egyptian slavery around 1400BC,

“I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I have commanded him. If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account.” Deuteronomy 18:18-19

One test to be applied was to ask if any prophecy about the future actually turned out to be true.

“If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message that the LORD has not spoken.” Deuteronomy 18:22

Clearly the ultimate authority was in what God had said through the prophet, but it was proper that any claims should be tested to ensure that only the true word from God was accepted. Repeated phrases used by the prophets throughout the Old Testament are,

“The Word of the LORD came to me . . . ”

“This is what the LORD says . . .”

There was a progressive recognition that certain prophets had truly spoken God’s message to the people and these writings were then accepted as God’s inspired Scriptures.

The Lord Jesus clearly recognised the completed authority of the books of the Old Testament. When referring to the Jewish Scriptures he describes them as

“. . . the Word of God . . .” John 10:35

Jesus continued,

“ . . . and the Scripture cannot be broken.” John 10:35

The apostles of Jesus similarly had no doubt about the completed canon and authority of Old Testament Scripture. When Paul was discussing whether there was any advantage in being Jewish, his reply is very significant,

“What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.” Romans 3:1-2

Josephus, a Jewish historian in the first century AD said,

“The Jewish Scriptures had been completed and closed since the time of the Persian king Artaxerxes .”

Artaxerxes lived in the fifth century before Christ (465-424BC).

The thirty nine books that we have in our Old Testament are exactly the same as the Jewish Scriptures, although they are in a different order. The content is the same.

There is now abundant evidence that there have been no significant changes in the meaning of Scripture since well before Jesus came. The Septuagint was a translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek that was made by 70 (or 72) Hebrew scholars (hence the name Septuagint) around 200BC. Early copies confirm that the meaning of the texts has remained unchanged.

New Testament Books

The books included in the New Testament were written over a period of about 50 years, from the late 40’s AD to possibly the 90’s AD, although some scholars think it was all written before the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD. Within these writings their inherent authority as God’s Word is emphasised. Thus:

“For this is what we we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.” 1 Corinthians 2:13

“For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12

Jesus told his disciples,

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses . . .” Acts 1:8-9

The most potent way his disciples have been witnesses to Jesus has been through their writings. Jesus also said to his disciples, who were later to become his apostles,

“But when he, the Spirit of Truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.” John 16:13-14

The New Testament quotes copiously from the Old Testament and claims to be its fulfilment. It claims to be God’s final and definitive word explaining how Jesus Christ is the Messiah that the Jewish Scriptures look forward to and they claim to share the same authority as ‘The Word of God’. Peter refers to Paul’s writings as having the authority of God.

“ . . . just as our dear brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do other Scriptures, to their own destruction.” 2 Peter 3:15-16

Paul insists that his letters have God’s authority and asks churches to forward his letters to other churches. He writes,

“After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read to the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea.” Colossians 4:16

This ‘letter from Laodicea’ could have been Paul’s letter to all the Ephesian churches. Clearly these writings had a universal authority.

The Early Church Fathers

At this time many Christians were facing persecution. They were separated by long distances and the only means of communication was by letter or by personal travel. These small churches would share whatever apostolic documents they had, and they would copy them. This is why there are so many early records of these writings. Early on there was an implicit recognition of the authority of the twenty seven books of the New Testament. Justin Martyr, writing between 145AD and 163AD, mentions that ‘memoirs of the apostles’ were read to gatherings of Christians on ‘the day that is called the Sun’ (Sunday).

It is widely thought that Origen, in the early 3rd century, also recognised the same 27 books as we have today. Church Fathers such as Ignatius (35AD - 107AD), Irenaeus and Clement quote from the books of the New Testament and recognise their apostolic authority.

There were other books, mainly written in the second century that were also circulating at the time but these did not make it into the New Testament Canon. One church may have received one of these so called ‘apocryphal writings’, such as the ‘Gospel of Peter’ or the ‘Gospel of Barnabas’, and these would also have been shared along with the true apostolic writings. However, as these were read, questions were raised. If letters were not known to have existed early on then doubts arose as to who actually wrote them. Their content was then scrutinised and any new doctrines, not taught by the apostles, were identified. Such pseudo-apostolic writings were then rejected.

The Muratorian fragment is a fascinating 7th century manuscript. This fragment is a translation of an early document that was probably written in Rome about 170AD as it refers to a recent bishop of Rome, Pius 1, who was in post between 140AD to 155AD. It includes the following,

“But Hermas wrote ‘The Shepherd’ most recently in our time, in the city of Rome, while Bishop Pius, his brother, was occupying the chair of the church in the city of Rome. And therefore it ought indeed to be read; but it cannot be read publicly to the people in church either among the Prophets, whose number is complete, or among the Apostles, for it is after their time.”

This document mentions most of the books in our New Testament. It also demonstrates the early church practice of reading both the Old and New Testament Scriptures in their meetings and shows how fastidious early churches were in defining what their authoritative writings were.

Eusebius (c 250AD – 339AD), the early church historian, tells us that in his time there were some books that were widely recognised as having come from the apostles, some that were debated and some that were rejected as spurious. Clearly there was an honest, forthright debate. They really wanted to know, “Did this writing originate with an apostle?”

In 313AD, Constantine issued the Edict of Milan decriminalizing Christian worship. The Christian Church became publicly recognised and both international and national Church Councils were permitted to meet officially. Quickly the Canon of the New Testament with its twenty seven books was formally recognised. The first list to definitively name all the books of the New Testament was in 367AD when Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, included such a list in an annual Easter letter. Although the church could only formally recognise these books once they could make public statements, these twenty seven books had been recognised to have divine authority from the earliest times because they originated from the apostles of Jesus Christ. Other more questionable books were still around but widespread doubts existed about their authority. Soon after Athanasius, the Councils of Hippo Regius in North Africa (393AD), Carthage (397AD) and Rome (382AD) formally recognised the New Testament Canon as we know it today. Pope Damascus commissioned the Latin ‘Vulgate’ translation of the Bible in 383AD which further helped to fix the Canon for western churches.

The early Christian communities were very careful to ensure that they only revered books that were inspired by Christ’s apostles. This is why, in the Nicene Creed, completed at the first Council of Constantinople in 381AD, the church is described as the ‘one, holy, catholic, apostolic church’. It was catholic because it was universal and it was apostolic because its authority came from the writings of Christ’s chosen apostles. Those discussing these matters were very concerned that there was no corruption of the church’s authoritative writings and that authors without apostolic support could not share the apostle’s authority, which itself came from the Lord Jesus.

It has been pointed out that even if we lost all of the New Testament manuscripts, almost the entire Greek New Testament could be reconstructed from the quotations in the Early Church Fathers because it was so extensively quoted and given the same authority as the Old Testament Scriptures.

God is a loving heavenly Father and he has chosen to reveal to us his authoritative word by this sorting process in the early years of the church. This process weeded out the false writings.

Medieval churches

The Roman Catholic church felt threatened by some who derived their doctrines from the Bible alone and their response was to limit its use. They wanted to restrict its publication to that of the Latin Vulgate translation. This meant that only the priests and educated people could have access to the Bible. The Council of Toulouse in 1229AD declared,

“Canon 14. We prohibit also that the laity should be permitted to have the books of the Old or New Testament; . . . we most strictly forbid their having any translation 
of these books.”

The Council of Tarragona of 1234, ruled that:

“Canon 2. No one may possess the books of the Old and New Testaments, and if anyone possesses them he must turn them over to the local bishop within eight days, so that they may be burned . . .”

The Inquisition was established by Pope Gregory IX in 1233 and authorised the infamous Index of Forbidden Books. Christians were forbidden to read or possess on pain of excommunication prohibited books. Even the Bible was once on the blacklist and translations into the common language of the people ended up on bonfires for books and people.

Pope Pius IV had a list of the forbidden books compiled and this officially prohibited their use or possession. The Index of Trent of 1559 said,

“Whoever reads or has such a translation in his possession . . . cannot be absolved from his sins until he has turned in these Bibles . . . Books in the vernacular dealing with the controversies between Catholics and the heretics of our time are not to be generally permitted, but are to be handled in the same way as Bible translations…”

The Index of Forbidden Books and all excommunications relating to it were only officially abolished in 1966.

John Wyclif (1320s – 1384) was a senior scholar and theologian in Oxford University who became concerned with the way the church had drifted away from teaching Bible truths. He translated the Latin Vulgate into English because he passionately believed that people must be able to read the Scriptures for themselves. Based on his study of the Scripture, John Wyclif wrote and preached against the church’s teachings on purgatory, the sale of indulgences, and the doctrine of transubstantiation. He trained up a band of young men, subsequently called Lollards, who travelled throughout England and even went into Europe, teaching the Bible’s message. Wyclif and his writings were formally condemned after his death, so that any holding his views were effectively excommunicated. Wyclif’s works were burned and his body was symbolically exhumed and burned. His ashes were thrown into the local river so that his remains could not be venerated. Thomas Fuller, a subsequent church historian made the following telling comment,

“The little river conveyed Wyclif's remains into the Avon, the Avon into the Severn, the Severn into the narrow seas, and they into the main ocean. And thus the ashes of Wyclif are the emblem of his doctrine, which now is dispensed all the world over.”

In the two decades after Wycliffe’s death, many Lollards were burned at the stake, some even had their Bibles hanging from their necks, so that they could be burned together.

Jan Hus (1365 – 1415) was a Catholic Priest in Prague who became influenced by the Bible through the teaching of Wyclif. He became a renowned preacher in Bohemia who strongly advocated that church doctrines must be based on Scripture and spoke powerfully against such practices as the sale of indulgences. In spite of being given a ‘safe conduct’ to attend the Council of Constance, he was arrested there, tried and burned at the stake.

William Tyndale (1494 – 1536) was burned at the stake for translating the Bible into English. He questioned why the church authorities banned such translations, however accurate, when the effect of suppression was,

“to keep the world still in darkness, to the intent they might sit through vain superstition and false doctrine, to satisfy their filthy lusts, their proud ambition, and insatiable covetousness, and to exalt their own honour… above God himself.”

Martin Luther was a monk who became a teacher in the University of Wittenberg in Germany. This post made it necessary for him to study the Bible. So that he could teach it. When he compared what he read and taught in Scripture with current church practices he became appalled. He started to rail against the doctrine and practices of the medieval Roman church in Europe. The hammer that he used to attack wrongful church practices was always Scripture.

“‘Is not my word like a fire?’ declares the Lord, ‘and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?’” Jeremiah 23:29

Martin Luther’s robust stand again brought the apostolic truths of the Bible back to the Christian world. He held thatScripture is profitable because it is “God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16) and therefore possessed the authority of God Himself. He taught that Scripture had an absolute authority over the beliefs and behaviour of all Christians for all time.

In 1521 Luther was arraigned before the ecclesiastical and civil powers at the Diet of Worms on charges of heresy. Luther knew his life was in jeopardy. He was told renounce his beliefs and writings but, standing before the emperor himself, Luther made this far-reaching statement,

“Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason—I do not accept the authority of people and councils for they have contradicted each other—my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen.”

The commitment of all these church leaders to make Bible teaching their priority is in accord with the final injunction of Paul to Timothy, written shortly before Paul was beheaded for teaching people the Word of God.

“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge:

‘Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct; rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction.’

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” 2 Timothy 4:1-5

What is our priority and the priority of our churches today?

BVP