1 Corinthians 2:14
The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Why does a non-Christian deny that what the Bible says is what God says and therefore the truth?
A non-Christian does not have the Holy Spirit and therefore cannot understand or believe the Bible, which is God’s Word.
1 Corinthians 12:3
Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
How is someone able to confess that Jesus is the Lord?
The Holy Spirit must work faith in a person to make them a Christian. Only then can a person confess their faith.
2 Peter 1:20-21
Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Why does a Christian believe that the Bible is God’s Word and is therefore without error or contradiction?
Through faith a Christian believes what God says. God is not a man that he should lie and therefore we believe that the Bible is God’s Word written by men, the very words God wanted us to have.
Why would someone be concerned about finding contradictions in the Bible?
1. Unbelievers want others to see the Bible as foolishness just as they do.
2. Believers may find something that seems to be a contradiction and become worried that the Bible is not completely true.
There are different reasons why some passages seem to contain errors or be contradictory. Three are listed below.
1. People do not have enough information to prove or disprove
2. People misunderstand the point of the two seemingly contradictory passages
3. People do not understand the difference between a difference and a contradiction
Let’s look at several passages that have been used by skeptics to show the errors and contradictions in Scripture.
Sight to the Blind
First we look at Jesus giving sight to the blind near Jericho. Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem and would ride into the city on Palm Sunday.
Matthew 20:29-34
As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. 30 Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” 31 The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” 32 Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. 33 “Lord,” they answered, “we want our sight.” 34 Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.
Mark
10:46-52
Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (that is, the Son of Timaeus), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. 51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” 52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.
Luke 18:35-43
As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. 36 When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. 37 They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” 38 He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 39 Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 40 Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord, I want to see,” he replied. 42 Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” 43 Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.
What are the differences you see in the three accounts above?
Was Jesus entering or leaving Jerusalem?
How many blind men were there, one or two?
What should a Christian’s response be when he or she discovers differences in the parallel accounts of the same event?
Determine if it was the same event. Each of the four gospels has an account of Jesus cleansing the temple. Three agree but John’s is different because it is a different event. Jesus cleansed the temple at the beginning of his ministry and at the end.
A Christian will assume that the difference is not a contradiction so will look for other explanations.
Was Jesus entering or leaving Jericho when he healed the blind men? He was doing both. There was an old Jericho and a new Jericho (kind of like old Henderson and new Henderson). Jesus was going between the two so either description is correct.
How is the number of men that Jesus gave sight to not a contradiction?
The Gospel writers did not write comprehensive histories. No one can include every detail. The authors included what was important for them and their audience. Just because Mark and Luke focus on one individual healed does not mean that Matthew is wrong in saying that two blind men were given sight. These accounts complement each other instead of contradict each other.
The Sign Above Jesus’ Cross
Matthew 27:37—THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
Mark 15:26—THE KING OF THE JEWS.
Luke 23:38—THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
John 19:19—JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
What is one possible reason for the differences according to John 19:20 (below)?
The sign was written in three different languages. That would account for some of the variety.
John 19:20
Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek.
If you treated all four versions of what was on the sign as complementing each other, what would the full sign have said?
“This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews”
The authors probably summarized the message of the sign. Giving us a photocopy of the sign was not their intention. The message gets across in every account.
Paul and James
Romans 11:6
And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
Ephesians 2:8-9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
According to Paul, how is a person saved?
We are saved by God’s grace through faith. God in his grace, his undeserved mercy, sent Jesus to pay for all my sins and then gave me the faith to trust in him for that forgiveness.
James 2:14-26 (selected verses)
What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?... faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
.... 24 You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
...26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
Verse 24 of James seems to contradict Paul’s message of being saved (justified) by grace alone through faith. But these are not contradictory statements. Think of them this way. If someone is driving along a narrow road with a 500 foot drop off on the left and the same on the right, it is best to stay in the middle. Stay away from the left and the right side of the road. What danger is Paul warning people against falling into?
He is warning those who think that their works save them that trusting in self is self righteousness and will not save. Jesus alone saves, without our works contributing in any way.
What danger is James warning the people about falling into?
James is talking to those who are using faith as a reason to sin. They thought that as long as they said they had faith, they did not need to do what God said. But James points out plainly that those who believe God and are forgiven will want to do what God says. Faith will show itself in works.
Textual Variants
If each of you made a handwritten copy of the book of Matthew and then had 10 people make a handwritten copy of your copy and each of them had 10 people make a handwritten copy of their copy, what kind of differences would there be between the copies?
Words spelled wrong
Synonyms
Words dropped out or added in
Lines dropped
Illegible words
“Fixing” the grammar of the original
If the original copy was lost, how could you reconstruct the original?
Compare the copies. The same error is unlikely to be in every copy. If there is a difference, go with the variant that has the most copies in agreement. If the variant has equal support, look at how an error could have been made. Even without the original it is possible to know the words of the original.
We will focus our attention on the New Testament because it makes the claims that unbelievers most want to challenge—Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died and rose to take away sins.
There are over 5,000 Greek manuscripts (copies) of various parts of the New Testament. Some of these contain the whole New Testament while others may contain a book, a chapter or just a short passage. These manuscripts date from the second century through the fifteenth century. Many manuscripts come in the 300-500’s because Christianity was an accepted religion then and Islamic conquests had not yet begun. After Islamic armies took over much of Africa and the Middle East, the Greek manuscripts were only produced in Byzantium (Constantinople).
With over 5,000 manuscripts, there are of course many differences (variants). What percentage of these variants do you think cause any problem in determining the original reading?
A. More than 25%
B. About 10%
C. About 5%
D. Less than 1%
Less than 1% of the variants cause any problem when trying to determine the original. The other 99%+ are easy to determine based on the overwhelming evidence for one variant over another.
How many of these problem variants will cause a change in doctrine if one variant is chosen over the other?
A. 50%
B. 25%
C. 10%
D. 0%
Zero! No matter which variant is chosen, the message, the teaching (doctrine) of the New Testament remains the same.
One example.
Read Mark 1:1 in the NIV. What does the footnote say about “the Son of God”?
It says “some manuscripts do not have the Son of God.”
The overwhelming manuscript support is for including “the Son of God.” Even though that is almost positively the original reading, would leaving out that phrase mean take anything away from the divinity of Christ?
No. There are many other times that Mark tells us that Jesus is God’s Son and Mark shows us through Jesus’ miracles. The whole New Testament testifies that Jesus is God’s Son. Not one doctrine of Scripture is threatened by going with a variant reading because Scripture is overwhelmingly clear on what God wants us to know.