Can we trust the Bible? Rev. Brad Rogers Historical Critical Method - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Can we trust the Bible?

• Rev. Brad Rogers

Historical Critical Method

• 1. Author?
• 2. Date?
• 3. Original Form? (Corruption?)
• 4. External Sources?

Textual Criticism of the Bible

• 1. Author

The authors of the NT had contact with eyewitnesses.

• Acts and Galatians 1:18-20
• Mark 15:21
• 1 Corinthians 15:1-6

Textual Criticism of the Bible

• 1. Author
• 2. Date
• Paul’s Letters - 15-25 years after Jesus
• Gospels - 40-60 years after Jesus
• Codex Sinaticus - 4th Century
• Earliest Manuscript P52 - 2nd Century

Textual Criticism of the Bible

• 1. Author
• 2. Date
• 3. Original Form (Corruption?)

Textual Variants from Ancient Manuscripts

• 75% are spelling errors
• 15% are variations in Greek synonyms or

transpositions

• >9% are late changes
• <1% do affect the meaning of the texts and

are from early manuscripts

Textual Criticism of the Bible

• 1. Author
• 2. Date
• 3. Original Form (Corruption?)
• 99.5% agreement (40 lines unresolved by

textual criticism)

Textual Criticism of the Bible

• 1. Author
• 2. Date
• 3. Original Form (Corruption?)
• 4. External Sources

External Historical References to Jesus

• 1. Josephus (cf. Antiquities of the Jews)

“Now, there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works—a teacher of such men as receive the truth with

• pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and

many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day…”

External Historical References to Jesus

• 1. Josephus (1st Century Jewish Historian)
• 2. Tacitus (1st Century Roman Historian)
• 3. Pliny (1st Century Roman Historian)
• 4. Tallus
• 5. Lucian
• 6. Suetonius
• 7. AND MORE!!!