Shalom Aleichem...
Reflections is a weekly Christian Teaching Ministry. Each week we will talk about the Bible and lessons we can put to use in our daily life. We will try to, on a weekly basis, provide to you stories, thoughts, and just easy ways to live your life on a straight path.
THIS WEEK'S TEACHING....February 18, 2019
The Authority of the Bible
If the Bible is God’s word then the implication is that as God has authority over his creation, then his Word would also have authority over us. The term Sola Scriptura comes from the Latin which means, “by Scripture alone.” This was one of the major themes of the Protestant Reformation. Simply it means that the Scripture alone is our supreme authority to all other authorities in matters of faith and practice. The author of Hebrews writes, “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart” (Heb 4:12). As Martin Luther said, “The true rule is this: God’s Word shall establish articles of faith, and no one else, not even an angel can do so.” How did Jesus view the Bible?
Jesus appealed to the authority of the Bible when he was tempted in the wilderness and in his arguments in citing the Old Testament stated “it is written” (Matt 4:1-11). Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter will pass from the law until everything takes place (Matt 5:18).” And “If those people to whom the word of God (= Old Testament Psalm) came were called `gods’ (and the scripture cannot be broken)”(John 10:35). These verses suggest that Jesus believed even the smallest portion of Scripture down to the letter or even the part of a letter would come to pass; none of it can be broken or nullified. The Scripture is what is authoritative in regard to truth and how that truth relates to us.
The Canon of the Bible
The term canon is from the Greek word kanon meaning reed or straight rod thus a “standard.” By the 4th century A.D. for the New Testament, it is what was applied to a list or a collection of books that met a prescribed standard recognized by the church. Now in a theological sense, the canon refers to the closed collection of Jewish and early Christian writings that are divinely inspired and authoritative Scripture for the beliefs and practices of the church.
PRINCIPLES OF THE CANONICITY OF THE BIBLE
The basic guideline for whether a book was included in the Old Testament canon was if it had a prophetic origin (Deut 18). The Old Testament canon is divided between the Law (or Torah), Prophets (or Neviim) and Writings (or Kethuvim). This is referred to as the Tanakh. For the New Testament the basic guideline was and is apostolic origin or association. For the Gospels, Matthew and John were apostles while Mark was an associate with Peter and Luke was an associate with Paul (cf. also Acts). For the Epistles Paul, Peter, Jude, James, John, the author of Hebrews and Revelation (John) were either apostles or associates of them. Other factors for New Testament canonicity included universality that is that the writings applied to the whole church (geographical and time); orthodoxy: that the writing in agreement and not conflict with the teaching of Jesus, the apostles and with the rest of the canon; and traditional usage: whether the book was used in the early first century church.
One historical factor that led to a formal list of the canon was heretical writings and groups who were making competing claims for authority. An example is the abridged canon of the heretic Marcion (A.D. 140) who left Jewish elements of the Bible out. He abandoned the Old Testament and only accepted Paul’s writings (except the pastorals letters of 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus) and Luke. There was also the expanded Canon of Montanus, who wanted his prophecies to be included and be elevated to canonical status. It is best to understand that the church recognized what the canon was as opposed to determining it. In some cases, it took some time for the entire church to recognize the entire collection of books.
THE APOCRYPHA
What about books written between the Old Testament and New Testament (mostly 250 BC-AD 100) that are referred to as the Apocrypha? There are 15 books in this category: 1 & 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, Additions to Esther, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus (Ben Sirach), Baruch, Letter of Jeremiah, Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Young Men, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, Prayer of Manasseh and 1&2 Maccabees. The church father Jerome included them in the Latin Vulgate but separated them from the canon describing them as “Deuterocanonical.” In response to the strong position against these books by the reformers in 1546 the Catholic Church at the Council of Trent declared them all canonical (except the Prayer of Manasseh and 1&2 Esdras).
The Apocryphal books should not be part of the canon because: 1) they are not accepted in the New Testament as authoritative as seen by the fact there are no direct quotations from them; 2) they never make the claim to be inspired or say, “Thus says the Lord” like the Old Testament does; 3) they are not part of the Hebrew Bible and the Jews never viewed the books as authoritative or canonical and they wrote them; and 4) the Council of Trent in 1546 was the first official proclamation on the matter for their canonicity and this was 1500 years after the books were written.
WHY THE CANON IS CLOSED
Perhaps the strongest argument for the canon’s close is that there is no longer the apostolic office to originate or validate the writings (cf. 1 Cor 9:1–2; 2 Cor 12:11; Eph 2:20). An important criteria to be an apostle is that one had to have seen the resurrected Jesus and been appointed by him. Paul states that these men as well as the prophets formed the foundation for the church, which has already been laid.
How We Received the BibleMost of the Old Testament is written in Hebrew. It was written over a period of over 1400 years from Moses (and probably before) to the last book of the Old Testament Malachi. The text was transmitted by Jewish scribes, experts in the Old Testament. The Masoretic Text refers to the Hebrew Old Testament text that Jewish scribes in the Middle Ages received with consonants only and they added vowels to it. These vowels aided in the pronunciation and interpretation of the text. The Dead Sea Scrolls contained Old Testament biblical manuscripts some of which were 1000 years earlier than other manuscripts that we previously had. Some sections of the Old Testament were originally written in Aramaic (Gen 31:47; Jer 10:11; Ezra 4:8-6:18; 7:12-26); Dan 2:4b-7:28). The entire New Testament is written in Koine Greek which was a period of Greek language that last from about the time of Alexander the Great (300 BC) to Constantine (300 A.D.). The New Testament text was transmitted by Christian scribes and there are over 5600 Greek manuscripts (2nd to 15th A.D).
EARLY BIBLE TRANSLATIONS
The purpose of Bible translation is to get the Bible into a native language that people can understand. There were many early Bible translations that preceded any effort to get one into English. For the Old Testament some of these early translations were the Koine Greek Septuagint (LXX) which was started in the 3rd Century B.C., the Syriac Peshitta, the Aramaic Jewish Targums and the Latin Vulgate done by Jerome 400 A.D. Early translations of the New Testament were also done starting in the second century A.D. in Coptic (Egyptian), Latin, and Syriac.
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE
John Wycliffe (1330-1384) is credited as being the first person inspiring the effort toward a complete English translation though his followers did the actual work. It was translated from the Latin Vulgate. Here is a verse from the Wycliffe translation. Matt 22:37-40: Thou schalt love thi Lord God of al thin herte, and of al thi soule and of al thi mynde, and thi neighebore as thi self, for in these twey comaundements hangith al the lawe and prophetis. The Wycliffe translation was copied by hand as it preceded the development of the printing press. In 1415, Wycliffe was condemned by the church, his followers were jailed and Wycliffe’s bones were dug up, burned and ashes scattered in a river.
William Tyndale (1492-1536) was the first to use Greek and Hebrew manuscripts for an English translation. He explained that the reason he did it was for the common man: “I will cause a boy that drives a plow to know more of the Scripture than a learned scholar.” Many modern renderings of English Bible phrases can be traced back to Tyndale. John 14:6: “Iesus sayd vnto him: I am the waye verite and lyfe. Noman cometh vnto the father but by me.” He was the first to complete a printed edition of English Bible and six thousand printed copies of the English Bible were smuggled into England. Tyndale was hounded and eventually burned at the stake for the translation and prayed as he was being burned, “Lord open the King’s eyes.”
God answered Tyndale’s prayer and later the English King began to allow the English Bible into the church. Following Tyndale’s translation there was: The Coverdale Bible (1535); Matthew’s Bible (1537); The Tavner Bible (1539); The Great Bible (1539); The Geneva Bible (1560; Bible used by the Pilgrims); The Bishops Bible (1568); The Douai-Rheims Bible (1609-10). These were largely revisions of each other. In 1603 King James I took the throne of England. He was unhappy with the Calvinist notes in Geneva Bible and the anti-protestant notes in the Douay-Rheims Bible. The King wanted to have one standard Bible for the English church. So he supported 50 scholar/translators to complete the King James Bible, which they did in 1611. The King also controlled the English presses which helped to ensure the translation’s widespread use.
The King James Version underwent revisions in 1629, 1638, 1762, 1769 (Current KJV), and 1982 (New King James Version (NKJV)). Starting with the English Revised Version in 1885, many other English translation followed: 1901 American Standard Version; 1952 Revised Standard Version (RV) (1971; Protestant); 1989 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) (Protestant); 1958 The Phillips Bible (Evangelical.); 1960/95 The New American Standard Bible (NASB) (Evangelical.); 1966 Jerusalem Bible (JB); 1985 New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) (Catholic); 1971 The Living Bible (LB) and 1996 New Living Translation (NLT)(Evangelical); 1979 New International Version (NIV) (1984; 2005 TNIV; 2011 (Evangelical); 1993 The Message (Evangelical); 1995 Contemporary English Version (CEV)(Evangelical); 2004 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) (Evangelical); 2005 The NET Bible 2001; and The Evangelical Standard Version (2007, 2011; Evangelical).
TYPES OF BIBLE TRANSLATIONS
Many people who read different Bible translations wonder why there are differences in Bible translations. One of the main reasons for these differences is differing translation philosophies. The three major translation philosophies are termed Dynamic Equivalence, Word Equivalence, and Paraphrase. Dynamic Equivalence translations seek to express the meaning of the text in a way that is idiomatic in English. It is more concerned about good stylistic English and willing to forgo some literalness to accomplish this objective. It usually results in translations that are easier to read and understand. These types of translations are also more interpretive to what the translators think the text means. Examples of Dynamic Equivalent translations are: NIV, NLT, CEV, (NET and HCSB in part).
Word Equivalence translations are more literal to the language structure of the original text. The translations seek to produce the semantic equivalence of each word and represent it in the translation. This type of translation is usually harder to read. Also, sometimes these may confuse what the author means with an unfamiliar idiom. They are generally less interpretive in translation and allow for more interpretive options translating what text says not what it means necessarily. Examples of Word Equivalent translations are: NASB, NKJV, RSV (NET and HCSB in part). Paraphrases are not translations from the original language, but someone putting something in their own words as to how they would say it. Examples of Paraphrases are the Living Bible and The Message. Below is a comparison of how different types of translations render Psalm 1:1.
The Bible has an amazing history of how it came to be and how it came to us. It is the inspired and inerrant Word of God. People, some of them to the point of death, have dedicated themselves to get the Bible into our hands. John Wycliffe states the importance of God’s word: “God’s words will give men new life more than other words that are for pleasure. O marvelous power of the Divine Seed which overpowers strong men in arms, softens hard hearts, and renews and changes into godly men, those men who had been brutalized by sins and departed infinitely far from God.”
DID YOU EVER WONDER???
These are the top ten Lessons for Success from Tiger Woods....
1. Expect to win.
Know in your heart that you are a winner.
2. Let your expectations show.
Express no doubts, let your competitors and your friends know that you have none.
3. Work, practice, work, and practice some more.
At the top of his field, he can still be seen hitting buckets of balls until dark - even if he's just won.
4. Dress and act like a winner.
This is a part of keeping yourself in a winning frame of mind.
5. Have a sense of drama - don't create it but know it when you see it.
You don't have to seek out publicity, but know how to accept and use it when it comes to you.
6. Know that there is always room to grow.
Being the best does not mean you can't be even better.
7. Hang with the winners.
They understand the pressures and situations in which you will find yourself.
8. Put yourself in situations where you are not known as a success.
May be difficult, but this helps you to stay real.
9. Value and protect your free time and do what you enjoy.
The discipline of being a winner needs a safety valve from time to time.
10. Remember those who need help.
Somewhere, someone helped you - be willing to give back.
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE...A TEACHING
This week we cover the Book of Micah...
Who wrote the book?
The prophet Micah identified himself by his hometown, called Moresheth Gath, which sat near the border of Philistia and Judah about twenty-five miles southwest of Jerusalem. Dwelling in a largely agricultural part of the country, Micah lived outside the governmental centers of power in his nation, leading to his strong concern for the lowly and less fortunate of society—the lame, the outcasts, and the afflicted (Micah 4:6). Therefore, Micah directed much of his prophecy toward the powerful leaders of Samaria and Jerusalem, the capital cities of Israel and Judah, respectively (1:1).
Where are we?
As a contemporary of Isaiah and Hosea, Micah prophesied during the momentous years surrounding the tragic fall of Israel to the Assyrian Empire (722 BC), an event he also predicted (Micah 1:6). Micah stated in his introduction to the book that he prophesied during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah in Judah, failing to mention the simultaneous string of dishonorable kings that closed out the northern kingdom of Israel.
During this period, while Israel was imploding from the effects of evil and unfaithful leadership, Judah seemed on a roller-coaster ride—ascending to the heights of its destiny in one generation, only to fall into the doldrums in another. In Judah at this time, good kings and evil kings alternated with each other, a pattern seen in the reigns of Jotham (good, 2 Kings 15:32–34); Ahaz (evil, 2 Kings 16:1–4); and Hezekiah (good, 2 Kings 18:1–7).
Why is Micah so important?
The book of Micah provides one of the most significant prophecies of Jesus Christ’s birth in all the Old Testament, pointing some seven hundred years before Christ’s birth to His birthplace of Bethlehem and to His eternal nature (Micah 5:2).
Surrounding Micah’s prophecy of Jesus’s birth is one of the most lucid pictures of the world’s future under the reign of the Prince of Peace (5:5). This future kingdom, which scholars call the millennial kingdom, will be characterized by the presence of many nations living with one another in peace and security (4:3–4) and coming to Jerusalem to worship the reigning king, that is, Jesus Himself (4:2). Because these events have not yet occurred, we look forward to the millennial kingdom at some undetermined time in the future.
What's the big idea?
Much of Micah’s book revolves around two significant predictions: one of judgment on Israel and Judah (Micah 1:1–3:12), the other of the restoration of God’s people in the millennial kingdom (4:1–5:15). Judgment and restoration inspire fear and hope, two ideas wrapped up in the final sequence of Micah’s prophecy, a courtroom scene in which God’s people stand trial before their Creator for turning away from Him and from others (6:1–7:20). In this sequence, God reminds the people of His good works on their behalf, how He cared for them while they cared only for themselves. But rather than leave God’s people with the fear and sting of judgment, the book of Micah concludes with the prophet’s call on the Lord as his only source of salvation and mercy (7:7), pointing the people toward an everlasting hope in their everlasting God.
How do I apply this?
Much of Micah’s indictment against Israel and Judah involves these nations’ injustice toward the lowly—unjust business dealings, robbery, mistreatment of women and children, and a government that lived in luxury off the hard work of its nation’s people.
Where does the injustice dwell in your own life? Who are the lowly in your life? Do you need a call toward repentance, like the people of Israel and Judah did?
Micah’s impassioned plea for God’s chosen people to repent will cut many of us to the quick. Most of us don’t decide daily to cut people down or find ways to carry out injustice. Instead, we do it out of habit. Let’s allow the words of Micah to break us out of our apathy about extending justice and kindness to others and press on toward a world that better resembles the harmonious millennial kingdom to come. Let’s determine to live as God desires—“to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God” (Micah 6:8).
HAVE A SAFE AND BLESSED WEEK:)
Ho'omaikaʻi ka Pua iā kākou