Why do I seek God only in perilous times?

(Originally written June 29, 2012 on a scrap of paper now lost)

4 Days, no tobacco, no alcohol

Lord, Erin is about to talk to her parents. May your will be done, but Lord I don't want to deal the wedding. If it is possible please don't take Bill's blessing. What I need now is strength and encouragement. Teach me as I am in your word.

Isaiah 40

Lord I am like the grass. I will fall but your word will stand forever. Be mindful of how short my span is.

40:30-31 "Even youths grow tired and weary and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength".

Isaiah 41

41:10 "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand".

41:13 "For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right and hand and says to you, 'Do to fear; I will help you'"

I Chronicles 16

16:10 "Glory in his holy name, let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice"
- I am seeking the Lord, rejoice oh my heart and be not so crestfallen. Be not far from me God.

Lord, why do I seek you only in perilous times? Why don't I seek you always? I love you. I worship you. Make me faithful?

1 Corinthians 10

10:13 "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it"

Psalms 27

27:8 "My heart says of you, 'seek his face', Your face, Lord, I will seek"
-May this be my prayer.

27:14 "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord"

II Peter

Lord teach me as I read Second Peter. Grant me wisdom to apply in the future. Write the words on my heart that I may stand up to any temptation. Do not put on me more than I can bear or bear it for me because I am weak. Lord help me to increase my faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love so I will not be ineffective or unproductive. Teach me to live a holy and godly life. Help me to have the strength and effort to be spotless and blameless and at peace with you.

Thank you Lord for your comfort and peace. may I live today a holy and blameless day. Renew my mind.

Christian Assumptions

(Originally written February 15, 2007 in Book 14)

Christianity and Religious Pluralism

The key in religion is the question, "But is it true?"

I could accept Christianity as true if...
- God were to appear to me
- Christians weren't such hypocrites
- There wasn't so much evil in the world
- There was some way of my being able to figure out if Christianity as truer than all other religions

Christian Assumption

1) Authority of Scripture
- The meaning of inspiration
- 2 Timothy 3:15 "And that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Jesus Christ"
- 2 Peter 1:20-21 "He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God"
- The locus of inspiration
- not the reader
- to some extent the writers
- most importantly the text
- (plenary verbal)

2) Historicity of Christ
- Grounded in and tied to history
- 2 Peter 1:16-18, "For it is written: 'Be Holy, because I am holy'. Since you call on a Father who judges each person's work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors.
- Cannot separate Jesus Christ the person from the teachings of Christ.

3) Mediation by Christ
- The utter inability of human beings to restore themselves to a relationship with God
- Original sin, fallenness and total depravity
- I John 1:5, "This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all".
- The completed work of Christ
-Displaying the righteousness of God
-Atonement

4) Salvation

A) Salvation: the necessary condition
- intellectual faith (belief that)
- Trusting faith (belief in)
- Reliance on Christ alone

B) Salvation: the necessary consequence
- Good works are the necessary consequences of true faith

Righteousness of Christ Necessary condition (faith alone) -> Human Person -> Changed life (necessary consequence of faith)

Notes on the Formation, Interpretation and Composition of Scriptures

(Originally written February 3, 2006 in Book 23)

A Faith for all Season

Chapter 2 - The Need for Holy Scripture

Originally, God created a perfect world in this perfect world there was no distinction between special and general revelation. God's words and God's works (creation) were together. God's works (man) rebelled gains God's words. God could no longer be in the presence of His works because of their sinfulness and neither could God's word. Thus, each is still full of general revelation (God's works) but special revelation (His words) are nowhere to be found. Salvation can not be provided by general revelation, special revelation is needed. God provide that special revelation: the Scriptures and Jesus Christ.

Scripture as the Word of God

Theologians throughout history have affirmed what Jesus said: that scripture was and is the word of God (John 10:35)

The Church's belief of scripture as the word of God's is closely linked with the doctrine of divine inspiration of Scripture.

The doctrine of divine inspiration of Scripture comes from 2 Timothy 3:16-17. All Scripture is inspired by God. The NIV translates it as "God-breathed" The Greek in this passage uses the word "theopneustos" (literally God + Breath)

2 Peter 1:20-21 confirms that the authors were not simply inspired to write something; but the words themselves were inspired by God. No prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation for the prophecy never had its origin in the will of men, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Both Paul and Peter were referring to Scripture as the Old Testament, but applying to the New Testament is justified by 3 things:
1) Jesus saw his mission and message as in accordance with the Old Testament
2) Jesus made his apostles agents of divine revelation inspired by the Holy Spirit
3) Jesus stated that future believers would come to faith through the apostolic word

The Scripture is useful in two ways:
1) Doctrine
2) Practice

The Scripture can be used to accomplish 4 Things:
1) Teaching: the idea of proclaiming the truth
2) Rebuking: the idea of combating doctrinal error
3) Correction: the act of leading someone away from an ungodly lifestyle (this is about ethics, not doctrine)
4) Training in righteousness: helping people lead godly lives

The Scriptures make the man of God complete

Nobody profits from understanding the Scriptures if they do not accept and follow them.

Sometimes the words verbal and plenary are used to describe the traditional Christian doctrine of Biblical inspiration

Verbal, Plenary Inspiration

Plenary means full, therefore "plenary inspiration" is full inspiration

"Verbal inspiration" is the idea that the words of Scripture are the exact words God wanted written.

Most Christians do not believe that God dictated to the writers. He allowed them to keep their personalities and styles in their books. God dictating is what Islam believes is the origin of the Qu'ran.

Some Christians believe that God inspired feelings and ideas in the writers. This takes in account for the differing styles in the books. This view however states that the Bible is only quantitatively superior to other works.

The historic consensus of theology is qualitatively superior to other works.

Modern Protestants take the Scriptures as both the word of God and the words of men. This view is that God supervised the writing to get what he wanted said written, but allowed the human authors to keep their humanity and individuality in their work.

Modern Alternatives to Verbal, Plenary Inspiration

Karl Barth: a 20th century Swiss theologian

In his "Church Dogmatics", Barth acknowledges only Jesus Christ as special revelation.

According to Barth's view the Bible is not special revelation and there is no general revelation. The only way God reveals himself is through Jesus Christ.

Revelation only occurs through the risen Jesus Christ living inside of Christian.

Barth denies that the Bible is the "word of God". He states that the Bible can only become the word of God when Jesus Christ uses it to convict us.

Barth believed that knowledge of God was beyond any man's capabilities.

Barth's form of theology is Dialectical theology.

Dialectical theology is when God comes to us as the One who is beyond comprehension and he judges anyone who attempts to comprehend him.

However, Barth changed his views later in life. He states that God can actually be known, but not because man is capable of knowing him. Man can know God because God bridged the gap between humanity and God through Jesus Christ.

In Barth's view the Bible, while not revelation in and of itself, is a witness to revelation in the person of Jesus Christ.

Another school of modern theology bases their beliefs, not on the revelation being in Jesus Christ, but in the belief that the revelation of God comes from the historical events of God's redemption.

Scripture, in this view, is ancient writer's attempts of documenting God's saving acts and those acts' impacts on our lives.

As in the case with Barth's theology, revelation does not lie in the text of the Scripture, but in the "encountered results of what God did for them" (Dorman, 25).

This view holds that the Scriptures are the writers' interpretation of the significance of God's actions. In this view, we are not competed to believe what God did, only what his actions did to impact the writers.

Another modern theology is a partial-inspiration theory. There are various forms of this theory.

This view states that all Biblical statements that deal with spiritual matters are true and from God, but statements regarding historical matters are not necessarily accurate.

The partial inspiration theory does attempt to link the text of the Bible with special revelation.

This view states that the Bible can in fact be erroneous, but is still important on matters of faith.

The Historical events of the Bible are regarded as parables and allegories is the partial-inspiration theory.

The Interpretation of Scripture

Allegory - "the expression through symbolic figures and actions of truths or generalizations about human conduct or experience" (Dorman, 27)

The idea that readers of Scripture must reinterpret the events recorded in them as allegories is rooted in the Greek philosophy of dualism.

According to this dualistic theory, historical events and realities, including the language, are mere images or shadows of the divine realities.

Ancient Judaism and Christianity believed, contrastingly, that God had in fact spoken and acted at specific instances in history. Jesus Christ is the prime example of this.

It is because this belief that the early church generally avoided interpreting the Scriptures allegorically.

During the second century A.D. some of the Church had trouble seeing the connection between God in the Old Testament and Jesus Christ. Marcion is a prime example of this.

Marcion believed that the Bible showed two gods:
1) the Old Testament was a warlike, judgmental deity
2) The New Testament god was kind and loving.

Because of his view of two differently described, Marcion rejected the Old Testament as Scripture and purged the gospel of any Jewish tradition.

Origen considered some of the descriptions of God in the Old Testament as cruel and sub-Christian, but refused to reject the Old Testament like Marcion. He instead removed the offensive passages by interpreting them allegorically.

Origen held that not every Christian was capable of finding the spiritual or allegorical meaning of the text. He believed that this spiritual interpretation was given to the apostles who passed it on to the teachers of the Holy Church. This laid the way for the Catholic view that only its teaching office was able to interpret.

Origen's spiritual interpretation came from two sources:
1) The Holy Spirit was the author of Scripture
2) An influence of Dualism, passed on to him by Philo, who had allegorized the Old Testament in order to synthesize it with Greek philosophy.

Origen held that the literal meaning of the text was inferior to the spiritual meaning because the literal meaning came from the human writer and the spiritual came from the Holy Spirit.

The Antiochean school of theology was opposite to the theology of Origen. They held that the primary meaning of Scripture was its literal, historical sense.

The works of Lucian (of Antioch) set the tone for the Antiochean interpretation of Scripture. Lucian sought to interpret the Scriptures through its Semitic perspective rather than through a Greek philosophical one.

Theodore, a later Antiochean, saw that the literal approach unified a record of God's redemptive work in time, whereas the allegorical method saw it as a collection of timeless truths.

The Antiochean school did not have any lasting effects on theology because of two reasons:
1) Lucian, its founder was also seen as the founder of Arianism. Arianism was a heresy that denied the full divinity of Christ.
2) Nestorious was found to be a heretic. Nestorious was taught by Theodore and therefore Theodore and the entire Antiochean School was condemned as well.

Because of the condemnation of the Antiochean School, one form or another of allegorical interpretation was held by the Church for the next 1,000 years.

The end of allegorical total domination came with the Protestant Reformation.

Luther stated that unless the text is plainly demands us to interpret it allegorically, it is to be interpreted literally, otherwise Scripture is a worthless fable.

Luther's approach to a more literal based interpretation of Scripture was called the grammatical-historical exegesis (exegesis is a fancy word for interpretation).

Luther stressed the perspicuity of Scripture. This basically means that the Bible is clear enough for any reasonably informed person to understand it.

Luther's emphasis on the literal interpretation of the Scriptures opened the doors to new theological insight which were previously shut by the dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church. It also, unfortunately opened the doors to a terrible form of interpretation, the "historical-critical" method.

During the 18th century history was defined by the Rationalists (an Enlightenment Philosophical offshoot) as a closed continuum of cause and effect. Basically, it denied any possibility for miracles. The "historical-critical" method was born out of this view. It declared that the miracles in the Bible were actually myths of the Bible. This method turned Jesus into a human teacher of ethics and denied him of any supernatural being.

This view of Jesus came under attack by late 19th century theologians. These theologians were ironically trained in the "historical-critical" method. They stated that the Gospels were written in such a way that it was impossible to separate a non-miraculous Jesus from a supernatural Christ.

The "historical critical" method seeks to find the meaning of Christ behind the Biblical texts.

The allegorical approach used by Origen sought to find the meaning of Christ above the Biblical text.

The literal approach used by the Antiochean school and the Reformers sought to find the meaning of Christ with the Biblical text.

The historical-critical method denies that Scripture is the word of God.

The Authority of Scripture

Christians have sought to confirm the authority of Scriptures in four ways:

1) The presuppositional approach
-This states that we know the Bible is the word of God because it claims to be.
-God is the author
-This approach does not give any criteria that can distinguish its claims to being divine revelation from the claims of other texts being of divine revelation, like the Qu'ran
-Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so

2) The Ecclesiastical Approach
-Christians can know Scripture is the word of God because the Church says it is (this is the Roman Catholic approach)
-It is true that the New Testament grew out of the very life of the Church
-Jesus loves me this I know for the Church it tells me so

3) The Spiritual Approach
- This view holds that the ecclesiastical approach places the Church above the Bible
- The inner witness of the Holy Spirit affirms the authority of Scripture
- Absolute assurances of the authority of Scripture can only come from God
- Jesus loves me this I know for the Spirit tells me so

4) The Evidentialist Approach
-There are many convincing proofs that Jesus Christ rose from the dead
-belief in the Bible comes from faith in Christ
-This view holds that the Bible is a generally historically accurate document
-It holds that the evidences from the Bible when combined with reasonable argument establishes that Jesus Christ was crucified, died, buried and rose from the dead beyond a reasonable doubt
-It holds that Jesus' resurrection proves He is the son of God and as such he is trustworthy in all he says
-Jesus trusted the Scriptures we should to
-Because of this we are obliged to follow Jesus and put our whole trust in the Bible as the word of God

The four categories of the authority of Scripture can be placed in two:
1) Fideism
2) Evidentialism

Fideism is based on the term faith, when faith means belief not related to knowledge. The presuppositional, ecclesiastical and spiritual approaches are all fideism.

Evidentialism bases faith upon evidences available to all people. It takes the seriously the historical nature of divine revelation. It refuses to confine knowledge of God to a subjective experience.

All four approaches agree that Scripture is the Church's rule of faith and practice.

The Sufficiency of Scripture

Protestant Reformers believed that the Scripture was alone sufficient while the Roman Catholic Church stated extra-Biblical teachings could be incorporated into Christian dogma.

Roman Catholicism holds that the same spirit which inspired the Scripture still inspires the teaching office of the Church (who they believe is the only fit persons to interpret Scripture).

Their non-Biblical dogmas must meet "apostolic" criteria to be included. There are two criteria it can meet:
1) Any oral tradition whose origins can be traced back to the apostles qualifies
2) The authoritative pronouncements of the ecclesiastical teaching office, whose origin (according to Catholicism) goes back to the apostle Peter qualifies

Protestants believe that only Scripture is apostolic in nature.

The apostles were more than filled with the spirit, they were commissioned by Christ as agents of revelation.

The Protestant definition of "apostolic" is based on the apostle's unique eyewitness experience of Christ's life, death and resurrection gave them the sole authority to write authoritative works to be included in the Scriptures.

The Formation of the Canon

The early church considered the Hebrew Scriptures as the Canon. The need for Scripture that witnessed to Jesus Christ became an issue in the middle of the second century.

It had become more difficult to separate genuine historic oral tradition concerning Christ from the pure myths of Christ.

The need for a church sanctioned canon became more apparent after Marcion produced his canon of some of Paul's letters and the Gospels (purged of any Jewish influence)

The Muratorian Canon is the earliest known list of books which were considered Christian Scripture appeared around AD 200.

In the first half of the third century Origen traveled extensively and recorded which books were considered as Scripture by the various local churches.

He categorized these books three ways:
1) Undisputed
2) Disputed
3) False

The letters of Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were categorized as undisputed.
2 Peter, 2 & 3 John, Hebrews, James and Jude were categorized as disputed.
The false category included all of the heretical gospels.

Athanasius, the most influential theologian of his day, recorded all 27 books included in todays New Testament in a letter in 367 AD.

The Council of Carthage, in 407 AD affirmed todays canon.

The Reformation saw Luther exclude the Apocrypha from the Old Testament Canon. Thus, the Roman Catholic Bible has nine more books in it than the Protestant one. Luther excluded these because the Jewish Scriptures did and he believed that Jesus and his disciples held the Jewish Scriptures as authoritative.

Catholic Epistles, Pastoral Epistles, The Epistles of John

(Originally written January 24, 2006 in Book 20)

The first three Catholic Epistles:
1 Peter
2 Peter
Jude

1 Peter: Salvation & Suffering

What it means to live for God in a world without God.

"For Western Christians at the close of the 20th Century this brief tract written within a culture not yet Christian becomes a relevant textbook on Christian living in a culture no longer Christian".

1 Peter

I. Problem of Authorship
-What difference does it make whether the Apostle Peter wrote this letter or someone else wrote it and ascribed it to Peter?
-Peter is a highly esteemed apostle
-Peter was an eye witness
-Peter's words in 1 Peter & Acts

II. Who was I Peter written to?
-Gentiles

III. Setting of Peter's Readers
-ridicule for their beliefs
-honor and shame
-walking in Jesus' steps

2. II Peter

-Parallels Jude
-II Peter 1:20-21 Source of Scripture
- A response to rationalistic and hedonistic denials of God
-Paul's letter as Scripture

3. Jude: Danger! False Teachers!

-Parallels 2 Peter
-Jude was probably written after II Peter

Pastoral Epistles

Called Pastoral because they were written to young pastors

Contents: Introduction to Timothy and Titus about:
1) Errors of false teachers
2) Conduct and teaching as pastors/teachers
3) Church order and behavior in worship
4) Pastor's relationship to other groups in the Church
5) Qualifications for Church leaders

Authorship: critical scholarship considered non-Pauline
-a pseudonymous writer in the second century
-used Paul's authority
-to combat a rising Gnostic influence
-or could think of them as pious forgeries

Paul's authorship attacked on four grounds
1) Historical arguments
-don't fit into chronology in Acts (written after Paul was released in the end of Acts)
2) Stylistic arguments
-Author uses different style and words than Paul's (Paul was older, could have given secretaries more freedom)
3) Ecclesiastical arguments
-Church structure and church order is too developed for first century church (ignores fact that church in Acts is already highly developed)
4) Theological arguments:
-Heresy is a developed Gnosticism of the second century so it is therefore, post-Paul (Gnostic heresy existed very early on)

1st Timothy Highlights

1:18-20 Timothy's character and Paul's admonition

1 Corinthians 11:29-30
- New covenant stipulation
- Will Hymenaeus and Philters be in heaven?
2 Timothy is written 5 years after and it seems unlikely.

2:11-15
- Role of women in the church is one of the hottest topics in evangelicalism today

Authorship of Hebrews
-Philip?
-Apollos?
-Priscilla?
-Barnabas?

Hebrews was the oldest complete early Christian sermon that has been preserved.

Written to professing Jewish Christians in danger of apostasy (going back to Judaism)

The Epistles of John

Intro to I John

Test of fellowship
-Am I a carnal or a spirit directed believer?
-Assumes all John's readers are believers

Tests of Life View

-Am I spiritually alive or spiritually dead?
-Assumes some readers are not Christian

Highlights of Acts, James, Calvinism vs. Arminianism & Galatians

(Originally written on January 17, 2006 in Book 20)

Highlights in the Book of Acts

Acts 2 - Birth of the Church

Church = New Testament People of God
Israel = Old Testament People of God

Acts 6 - Prototypes of Deacons/Elders

The 12 - Prototypes of elders/bishops

Functions of the Elders/Bishops
1) Teaching the word
2) Prayer

The Seven = The prototypes of deacons/deaconesses

Acts 8 - Persecuted church scatters
Acts 9 - Paul's conversion
Acts 10 - Gospel to the Gentiles
Acts 12 - James is Martyred
Acts 14 - 1st Missionary Journey
Acts 15 - The Jerusalem Council
-Must Gentile Christians keep the Law in order to be saved as the Judaizers insist?
Acts 15:39-18:22 - 2nd Missionary Journey
Acts 18:23-21:27 - 3rd Missionary Journey
Acts 21:27-23:32 - Imprisoned in Jerusalem
Acts 23:33-26:32 - Imprisoned in Caesera
Acts 27-28 - Voyage to Rome
Acts 28:16-30 - Roman imprisonment

The Book of James:

Author: James, brother of Jesus (oldest)
- Did not believe in Jesus
- Jesus appeared to him post resurrection
- Very religious Jew
Galatians 2:12/Acts 21:17-26

Recipients:
-Jewish believers who scattered after Stephen's death
-Only epistle strictly written to a Jewish audience

Date:
- Earliest Christian document
- Josephus records James' martyrdom in AD 62
- Makes no reference to Judaizing controversy (AD 49)
- Approximately written AD 46-47

Focus of James: The practical outworking of Christianity in a righteous lifestyle

Emphases
1) Patience in the face of suffering
2) How the rich treat the poor
3) Judgment and judging

James & Paul on role of works in salvation:
- Both James & Paul affirm good deeds and are against bad deeds
- Both use the Greek word "erga" (works) but use it differently

James 2:14-26 has a particular kind of works in view
- Good deeds like acts of charity, generosity, impartiality, control of tongue, etc
- His opponents were claiming orthodoxy without action

Paul opposes "works" as in works of the Law
- Stops people from attempting to obtain salvation through the Law, which is impossible

Calvinism vs. Arminianism

Total Depravity vs. Free will/human ability
Unconditional Election vs. Conditional election
Limited Atonement vs. Unlimited Atonement
Irresistible Grace vs. Resistible grace
Perseverance of the Saints vs. Can fall from grace

Calvinism justifies Unconditional Depravity by Romans 3:10, Jeremiah 17:9, Ephesians 4:18 and Ecclesiastes 7:20. We are unable to save ourselves and will never choose Christ on our own.

Arminianism justifies free will/human ability by John 1:9 and Titus 2:11

Calvinism justifies unconditional election by Romans 8:29-30, Romans 9:11-18, Acts 13:48. Foreknew = Forechosen. God chooses man, man does not choose God.

Arminianism justifies conditional election via Romans 8:29. Foreknew = Foresaw. God foresaw who would choose Him.

Calvinism justifies limited atonement with John 10:10, John 10:15, John 17:2, John 17:6, John 17:9. Christ only died for the elect.

Arminianism justifies unlimited atonement with 1 John 2:2, 1 Timothy 4:10, 2 Peter 2:1 and 2 Corinthians 5:19. Christ died for all men.

Calvinism justifies irresistible grace with Romans 9:19-21. Nobody can resist God's will.

Arminianism justifies resistible grace with 1 John 2:2, 1 Timothy 4:10, 2 Peter 2:1, 2 Corinthians 5:19. God can be resisted.

Calvinism justifies Perseverance of the saints with Philippians 2:12-13, John 10:27-30, Romans 8:38-39. Salvation is secure.

Arminianism justifies can fall from grace with Hebrews 6:4-6, Hebrews 10:26-31, 1 Corinthians 9:27, Romans 8:38-39, Romans 11:22. Salvation can be lost.

Introduction to Galatians

Dualism: Body doesn't matter, do whatever. Soul is what counts.

Two Extremes of dualism:
Antinomianism - over indulgence
Asceticism - no pleasure at all, minimalism

If Paul was concerned about distortions of the gospel, we should too.

Problem behind letter to Galatians.

Jewish Christian teachers infiltrated the Galatian churches with a message that endangered the Gospel message. They were Judaizers.

Judaizers sought to complete Paul's gospel in two ways.
1) by requiring circumcision
2) by enforcing Jewish food laws

Quick notes on Sources for the Synoptic Gospels

(Originally written January 9, 2006 in Notebook 20)

Three Stages of Composition of Luke

1) Eyewitnesses who handed down the words of Jesus
2) The many who had already written accounts of Jesus and the early church
3) Luke himself, who carefully investigated and composed his own orderly account

Study Guide

Two Unique Births
- John the Baptist
- Jesus

Requirements of the Messiah
1) The Genealogical strand from the descendants of Abraham, tribe of Judah, line of David
2) The Prophetic strand: be born in Bethlehem, mother would be a virgin, and would flee to Egypt and be called back by God
3) Physical Evidence: he would have to perform certain acts

Primary Proof of Jesus as the Messiah
- The resurrection

The Synoptic Problem: Why are there so many similarities, yet differences in the three synoptic Gospels?

Marcan Priority: Matthew and Luke used Mark as a source
Matthean Priority: Mark and Luke used Matthew as a source
Q-Source: A Source that Matthew and Luke used alongside of Mark
- Problems with the Q-Source: It no longer exists and doesn't explain for when Matthew and Luke differ
Two-Source Theory: Matthew & Luke used Mark and the Q-Source to write their gospels
Four-Source Theory:
-Matthew and Luke used Mark and the Q-Source
-Matthew used an M-source as well
-Luke used an L-source as well

M-Source vs. L-Source
M-Source is material unique to Matthew
L-Source is material unique to Matthew

Importance of 2 Peter 3:15-16: Peter calls Paul's letters scripture in this passage

Notes on the Canon, Textual Criticism and Interpretation of the Bible

(Originally written January 5, 2006 in Notebook 20)

The Canon & Transmission of the New Testament text

Definition of Canon - originally meant measuring reed

Metaphorical meaning - standard

Applied to the New Testament - refers to those books accepted by the Church as the standard with governs our beliefs.

The Precanonical Period

- Oral tradition (25 years worth)
(The passion narrative was probably memorized)

- Early Christian Preaching:
1) No New Testament books at this time
2) Early Church had the Septuagint

- Logica = Sayings (A collection of Christ's sayings compiled by Matthew)
- Perhaps like the "Q" Source, namely the 250 or so verses common to Matt and Luke, not in others

- Testimonia = Collection of Old Testament Passages

- Agrapha
- Literally means "unwritten"
- they are the unwritten things that Jesus said
- unwritten means not in the Gospel
- An example of this is Acts 20:35

- Direct revelation from God through the prophets (Acts 11:27-28, Acts 13:1, I Corinthians 11:4-5, 1 Corinthians 12-14)

The collection of individual documents

- New Testament authors regarded their messages as authoritative (I Corinthians 7:40, I Corinthians 14:37, 2 Peter 3:1-2, Revelation 22:18-19)
- Internal testimony: the documents were to be read in the public gatherings of the churches (Revelation 1:3, Galatians 1:1-2, I Thessalonians 5:27, 2 Corinthians 1:1, Colossians 4:16)
- Internal testimony: at least two writers cite other New Testament works as "Scripture" (1 Timothy 5:18, 2 Peter 3:15-16)

The influence of that lead to their collection
- Apostles start to die
- A body of truth was needed for teaching new convents
- Influential heretics arise like Marcion of Sinope: Marcion limited the canon to Paul's letters and Luke's gospel. He was anti-semitic and disregarded other books as Old Testament and of the God of wrath.

Formation of the Canon

- The idea: God superintended the collection of the documents via through his spirit in the churches

Tests of canonicity:
1) Apostolic origin (of an apostle or associate)
2) Apostolic doctrine (first oral, then written)
3) Acceptance by the churches

- Canon confirmed the third council of Carthage

Conclusion
- The Holy Spirit superintended the writing, collection and recognition of the canon
- None of the books were accepted by the church because of ecclesiastical compulsion
- Canon wasn't determined by a council or by individuals' judgments. It was the Spirit guidance.
- Church did not determine the canon, it only recognized it

Textual criticism - the study of the copies of any written composition of which the original autograph is unknown

Foundations of Exposition

-Exposition
- Systematic Theology
- Biblical Theology
- Exegesis
- Hermeneutics

How the Bible came to Us

Thoughts in God's mind --> revelation --> Human author's minds --> Inspiration --> Original Manuscripts of the Bible (Collection of 66 Books) --> Textual Criticism --> Modern Greek and Hebrew Bibles -> Translation --> Modern English Versions --> Illumination and Interpretation --> Thoughts in our minds --> Application --> Change in our lives --> Communication --> to others

The Holy Spirit does not help you to interpret the Bible. It prompts you to act on the Biblical passages you read.

Revelation is the wisdom that cannot be known through human methods, it must be revealed by God

Hermeneutics is the science that teaches us the principles, laws and methods of interpretation.

Differing hermeneutical principles and procedures yield different results and is responsible for varying Christian doctrines.

Evangelicals use the grammatical-historical method of interpretation.

Grammatical - considers the meanings of the words in the text

Historical - considers the meaning of the text within historical contexts

Validation - validating your interpretation

Grammatical-historical method seeks to establish the meaning and the intention of the text as it would have been understood by the original readers.

Competent exegesis must be done in the original languages

Interpret literally

Literal - the natural or usual construction and implication of a writing or expression; following the ordinary and apparent sense of words, not allegorical or metaphorical

There are three elements to every word:
1) Symbol - the actual letters
2) Sense - the meaning attached to the symbol (mediator, intercessor, helper)
3) Referent: the actual thing being related to

Interpret the Bible Contextually

Interpret in accordance with the genre of literature

Understand there are figures of speech: metaphors, similes, overstatements, hyperbole, pun, paradox, irony, parables, fables, myths, riddles

Revelation is accommodated.
Revelation is progressive.