Hermeneutics
This was a very challenging class. This class taught me just how much I have always taken for granted the Bible which we now possess. Our Bible was written in Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic. It was then translated into English for us today. In addition, there are multiple things to consider when translating the Bible such as; the Historical Grammatical context, allegories, parables, and so on. In short, there is a lot of stuff that goes into the translation of the Bible.
These are the instructions to the following assignment:
Do we have an inerrant Bible now? If not, do we have a Bible that is reliable? How should our value of inerrancy be affected (if at all) by the fact that we no longer have the inerrant first editions? Make sure the length of the paper is not less than a page or more than two. Other than length, the quality of the reflection and focus on the questions above will be the basis of the grade.
These are the instructions to the following assignment:
Do we have an inerrant Bible now? If not, do we have a Bible that is reliable? How should our value of inerrancy be affected (if at all) by the fact that we no longer have the inerrant first editions? Make sure the length of the paper is not less than a page or more than two. Other than length, the quality of the reflection and focus on the questions above will be the basis of the grade.
Do we have an inerrant Bible now?
Chuck Chapman
Gods Bible School and College
W2 Application Paper
We have learned this week that “Inerrancy is maintained for the autographs, but cannot be extended to the extant copies. Some would consider the doctrine of inerrancy valueless since we no longer have inerrant copies. However, inerrancy of the originals combined with the fact that we possess a multitude of copies for comparison limits the possibility of error to a few inconsequential details. We know that we have a Bible that is very close to the original. There are no significant mistakes” (Unknown, 2012).
Chuck Chapman
Gods Bible School and College
W2 Application Paper
We have learned this week that “Inerrancy is maintained for the autographs, but cannot be extended to the extant copies. Some would consider the doctrine of inerrancy valueless since we no longer have inerrant copies. However, inerrancy of the originals combined with the fact that we possess a multitude of copies for comparison limits the possibility of error to a few inconsequential details. We know that we have a Bible that is very close to the original. There are no significant mistakes” (Unknown, 2012).
A book was released some time back by a man named Bart Ehrman entitled Misquoting Jesus and the release of this book shook the belief of many faithful Christians. In his book Ehrman attacked the fact that we no longer have the original copies of the New Testament and he claimed that there are “between 200,000 perhaps 400,000 –more variants among than there are words in the New Testament” (Ehrman). Although, these number seems to be to enormous to tackle they disappear rather quickly when confronted. In Lee Strobel’s book The Case for the Real Jesus these variants that Ehrman claims are shot down and dismissed.
Lee Strobel in an interview with Daniel B. Wallace, PH.D, concludes that of these variants that “somewhere between 70 to 80 percent of all textual variants are spelling differences that can’t even be translated into English” (Strobel, 2007). Wallace goes onto share that some are nonsense errors; when a scribe was not paying attention. In addition, some are variants involving synonyms. Mr. Wallace concluded that “only about one percent of the variants are both meaningful which means they affect the meaning of the text to some degree.” Later in the chapter Strobel and Wallace conclude that of these minimum amounts of variants; none interfere with any major doctrine of Scripture.
Lee Strobel in an interview with Daniel B. Wallace, PH.D, concludes that of these variants that “somewhere between 70 to 80 percent of all textual variants are spelling differences that can’t even be translated into English” (Strobel, 2007). Wallace goes onto share that some are nonsense errors; when a scribe was not paying attention. In addition, some are variants involving synonyms. Mr. Wallace concluded that “only about one percent of the variants are both meaningful which means they affect the meaning of the text to some degree.” Later in the chapter Strobel and Wallace conclude that of these minimum amounts of variants; none interfere with any major doctrine of Scripture.
In addition to having no significant errors in the bible that affect the text, we also have more copies of the bible than any other historical document in existence. In Norman L. Geisler’s book I don’t have enough Faith to be an Atheist he provides an accurate count on the number of manuscripts we have in possession as compared to the other historical documents in existence (Geisler, 2004). Geisler records that we have over 5,700 copies of the New Testament; the only other ancient document that even comes close to that amount of quantity is Homer’s Iliad with 643 manuscripts. The majority of the other ancient manuscripts in existence have fewer than a dozen copies. It is reasonable to conclude then, that with the abundance of copies of the New Testament in our possession that it is fairly easy to track down the original wording of the original manuscripts, by the process of elimination and comparison. I also find it interesting that no one ever seems to raise the question of inerrancy in regards to Homer’s Iliad.
So do we have an inerrant bible now? No, however it is reliable. It is important to remember when the unsaved hear that the “bible has contradictions in it” that they are likely not to take much stock in the bible. Therefore we must not side step the issue and be ready to explain and show them the truth.
References
Works Cited Ehrman, B. (n.d.). Misquoting Jesus.
Geisler, N. L. (2004). I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist. Crossway.
Strobel, L. (2007). The Case for the Real Jesus. Zondervan.
Unknown. (2012). gbs.brainhoneyclassroom. Retrieved 2012, from gbs.brainhoney.com.
References
Works Cited Ehrman, B. (n.d.). Misquoting Jesus.
Geisler, N. L. (2004). I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist. Crossway.
Strobel, L. (2007). The Case for the Real Jesus. Zondervan.
Unknown. (2012). gbs.brainhoneyclassroom. Retrieved 2012, from gbs.brainhoney.com.