Basic HTML Version
How The Blble
Was Preservad
The Bible
was
preserved by the
blood of courageous men through
the centuries. 11 was a slow, agoniz,
ing, painful task to put together, pre–
serve, and place in your hands the.
present prínted Engl ísh text of Old
and New Testaments we call "the
Bible."
The Old Testament ponion of
Scrípture is a record of the lives
<11
men and women of faith. Of Abel.
Enoch, No¡ih.
Ab~aham,
Sarah,
Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Ra–
hab, Gideon, Sarak, Oeborah, Sam–
son, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and
'many others. Without theír lives,
there would
be
no OId Testament -
there would
be
no scripture " written
for our learning·· (Rom.
1
5:4).
What son Óf lives did they live so
you could hold in y_our hands this
God-ínspired volume? Some of theQ1
suffered excruciating tortures; others
had to bear mockings, chainings,
scourgings. and imprisonment; still
others were stoned and even
S3wn
asunder. Read about them in He–
brews
11 .
....,.¡ewjsl> scribes.carefully and faith–
fully 'preservad every "jot and titile..
of the Hebrew record, as did Greek
scribes for the New Testament.
Nevar was the task easy.
Periodic Roman persacutions
against Christians were directed
against this Book. Oiocletian, in per–
haps the most severe attempt to de–
stroy Christianity, ordered the
burning of all· its sacred books in the
year303 -yettheScripturessunñved.
After Constantine, Imperial at–
tacks against the Bible cama to an
end, and Jerome's Vulgatl! trans–
lation into Latín at the end of the
tourth century became the accepted
standard of the Western world. But
the day of persecut ion was not over.
In the
1500's,
Tyndale was
torced to go to Germany to do his
translation
ot
the New Testament
from the original Greek. Church au–
thoritíes in Eng land had probíbited a
new English translation. In 1536 ,
only eleven years after he finished
the fírst printed English New Testa–
ment, Tyndale was strengled and
bumed at the stake for his effons.
Otl>ars also
tound~it
dangerous to
be too closely identífied wi th the
translatíon or citculation of the
Englísh Bible. Coverdalo narrowly
escapid with h is lile; Cranmer and
Rogers were brought to the stake;
many others sought safaty in flight.
Even man who bought or sold these
early Englísh Bibles were threat–
ened, sometimos tried tor heresy,
sometímes put to death.
WEEK ENt>ING JUNE 21,
191S
The
Theology
or
Canonlclty
Our Englísh word " canonicíty" is
an anglicized derivativa of the Greek
term Kanon. meaning a " rod" or
"ruler." Men and organlzations
ot
men could hardly have canonized
the bíblica! books without proper
rules or standards.
There are several possible stan–
dards, probably all used in determín–
íng final Old Testament canonicity.
Among these were inspira-tion, inter–
na! evídence (sorne books of the
Bible internally assert or ímply them–
selves or other canonícal books to be
of divine origin) , previous official
public action, and the recognitíon ot
previous canonizations (i.e.• Moses).
For us today, New Testament cor–
roboration ís an extremel y imponant
factor. This includes recognition of
- ~he
Old Testament writings by Jesus '
and the apostles. Jesus corroborated
the Genesis one earth -creatíon
(Mark 13:1
9),
the creation of Adam
and Eve (Matt. 19:3-4) . the hístori·
city
ot
Abel (Matt. 23: 35) , the Noa–
chian Oaluge (Luke
17:26·27).
etc.
In the New Testament apostolicity
is perhaps the·major.standard. Every '·
book in the New Testament was
written either by an apostle or by
someone who was closety as,soci·
ated with an apostle. " So we find
Mark. the companion and ínter–
preter of Peter. commíttíng to writ·
ing in Rome the Gospel as Peter
habi tually proclaímed i t . .. and
Luke, the companion of Paul, writes
in two books [Luke and Acts] for
Gentile readers a narrativa for the
beginnings of Christianity from the
binh of John the Baptist up to Paul's
two
years· residence in Rome .. :·
(Bruce,
The Books
~~nd
thtl Parch·
msnts, •p.
107).
Buylng
The
Rlght Blble
(For
You)
Recommended
Readlng
The Revised Standard Version:
Parhaps the best modern version
ot
the Bíble and maybe· even the best
of all translations overall. Under con·
. tinuing revision .
The Worldwide Church of God
publishes many informativa booklets
and anicles on a wide renga of bibli–
cal topics. Four are lísted below:
Tha King James Version:
An ex·
cellent historicaf Bibla. Because of
its outdated 1611 English. it should
be compared wíth a more modern
version if used as a study Bíble.
Tha Holy Scriptures (thll Jewish
translation of the 0/d Tsstament):
Much líke the KJV in tha Old Testa·
ment. An entíre modern version is
scheduled for completion in the
80's.
{The Pentateuch and the book
· of lsaiah are already available.)
The Living Bibfe:
The most popu–
lar
ot
the modern non-translations. A
tree-tlowíng paraphrase that's easy
to read. but should be víewed wi th
caution when studying biblical doc–
trines. Basically' the ideas
of
one
man.
The Ampfifiad Bibfe:
lt possesses
soma
ot
the features
ot
a para–
phrased version and sorne
ot
the tea–
.tures
.oJ .
a
comme.otarv.. ,l ts main _
purpose .is to
re.v~al 'ott>er
clarifyinQ
shades of meaning that may be con–
cealed by the traditional word-for–
word method of translation.
The New Engfish Bibfe:
A praise–
worthy, though free-rendering mod–
ern British version ,
Other good modern versions wíth
vai'ying strengths and weaknesses
are
The New American Standard
Bibfe
and
The NewAmeric11n Bibfe.
Many other versions are perhaps
of lass value because they either are
basically the work of one
~holar
or
specifically produced tora single de–
nomination.
(1)
Readthe Book
· ·
The Bible has a distlnct theme
running through it from Gen–
esís to Revelation. A
-good
way to begin your study is to
first get the overviaw by read–
ing through the whole Bíble
from start to finish.
(2) How
to Study the Bible
This booklet shows you sev·
eral ímponant kays to bíblica!
understandlng.
1t
explains the
background behind Bible ital·
ícs and the division into chap–
ters anc:l.:verses; also how to
use
a
concordance.
(3)
Do' We Have ·the Complete
Bibfe?
Sorne Bibles contain founeen
additional book.s called the
Apocryphá.
There are a num–
ber
ot
valid reasons why these
books were not included in
the official Old Testament ca·
nQn. . .
,..;.~
(4)
Which Translations Should
WaUse?
Many translations now
flood
the market. Which ones have
real merit; which are of less
value?
(5)
Significance of the Dead Sea
Scroffs
Sorne
have asserted
that the
ancient Oead
Sea
scrolls
sub–
stantially alter the traditional
text of the Old Testament.
This anide shows the impor·
tance ef. those scrolls and
what they really show about
the Old Testament text.
.Jesus-Prophecy and
Fulftl•11ent
THE PROPHECY PARAPHRASED
(1)
Jesus to be bom of a virgin
(2)
Jes!J$ to be born a Jew
(3)
Jasus to be
born
in Bethlehem
(4)
Jesus' triumphant entry into
Jerusalem
(5)
Je$US betrayad by a triend
tor 30 pieces
of
silvar
(6)
Jesus' suffering
8Q,d
death
(7)
Jesus· hands and feet píarced
(8)
Jesus·
bones
not to
be
broken
(9) Lots cast ter Jesus· vestura (robe)
(10) Embalming and entombment
OLO TI.STAMENT PftEDICnON
lsa. 7: 14
Gen. 49:9. 10;
1
Chron. 5:2;
Micah
5:2
Micah 5: 2
~h.
9:9
Psalm 41 :9; Zech. 11 :12-13
Psalm 22:1·21; lsa. 50:6; 53:1 -12;
Zach. 13: 7
Psalm 22: 16; lsa. 53:9
Numbers
9: 12; Psalm 34:20
Psalm 22:18
Psalm 16:9-10; lsa. 53:9
NEW TESTAMENT FUl.FIU.MENT
Man. 1:23; Luke 1:27, 31 , 34-35; 2:7
John 1:11 ; 4: 9; Heb. 7: 14
Matt. 2:1
Matt. 21 :1·11
Matt. 26: 14-15;
Mark 14:18, 43-44
Matt. 26:67; 27:26. 28, 35; -
Mark 15:19. 25, 37 ;
Luke 24:20; John 18: 22; 19: 1
John 20:25, 27
John 20:35
Matt. 27 :35
John 19:38-42