Validity of the Bible: Responses (Originally posted June 2007)

I have decided to begin with the discussion concerning the inspiration and canonization of the Scriptures. I cannot think of a discussion of greater importance than this. Everything that we believe, even stake our lives on, rides on the validity of the Scriptures. Yet, the sad truth of the matter is that far too many Bible believing Christians have very little knowledge regarding this matter, or concern for it. However, that does not mean that there not answers out there. The topic of canonicity is a huge one. We can only hope to scratch the surface in this discussion by talking about specific points of interest. With this being said, I want to recommend some books that can give a more comprehensive knowledge of this (I can lend these out if you anyone's interested). I will only deal with OT canon in this discussion.

General Introduction to the Bible, David D. Wegner- ISBN 0310453712

From God To Us: How We Got Our Bible, Geisler and Nix- ISBN 0802428789

The Journey from Texts to Translations: The Origin and Development of the Bible, Paul D, Wegner- ISBN 0801027993

The Process
First of all, there is little known information as to how the process of the OT canon came to be in terms of specific times and locations. That is to say we have no hard facts concerning any councils that took place among Masoretes, Rabbis, or Scribes. However, that does not mean that there was not a process by which it came to be. Our best look at the actual criteria by which it came to be comes from Josephus (37AD-around 100AD.) in his work Contra Apion. The main goal of this work was to show the great antiquity of the Jewish people, as opposed to the Greeks, who had customs of very recent origin. In this work he gives 3 main criteria:

1) It does not contain contradictions
2) It was written by a prophet or someone recognized as having divine authority
3) It was accepted by the Jews as authoritative

Concerning 2.
In my opinion, this the most tangible of the 3 criteria listed, especially when it comes to the Prophets. Why would a writing from a prophet be considered reliable, or divinely authoritative, if he had not proven himself to be reliable among Israel? For instance, the prophets that warned against the coming Assyrian and Babylonian invasions would not be considered very good prophets if those invasions never occurred. In fact, under the Law, they would be killed (Duet. 18.20). However, this point is not limited to the prophets alone. All genres of literature in the OT can be prophetic. Even narratives such as in the book of Genesis can have poetic discourses that speak of the future (Gen 49). I can only think of 3 OT books off the top of my head that don't seem to be blatantly prophetic at first glance.

Dating of Texts
The issue of prophecy directly relates to the dating of texts. Generally speaking, the presupposition from liberal scholarship is that prophecy does not happen. Many times, this is the overriding factor and sol rational for attributing a latter date to some texts. Or at the very least, they assert that there was an original text but the prophetic parts were added to it after the event prophesied took place. This is why most liberal scholarship, concerning the Servant Songs in Isaiah, leading up to 1947, suggested that they were added in from post AD sources as an apologetic for Christianity. As Patrick mentioned, this assertion was proven wrong by the finding of the Isaiah scroll (in the Dead Sea Scrolls) which was completely in tact and contained all of the Servant Songs. Moreover there is even proof of a messianic interpretation of these texts prior to the coming of Christ due to one of the DSS writers who believed that he was the Messiah because he suffered as the Servant did in Isaiah. Or take for instance the idea that Gen 49 is post monarchial (after David) because of its blatant prediction of a coming ruler from the tribe of Judah. I don't presume to assert that the presupposition that prophecy does not exist is the only factor that liberal scholarship takes into account when dating texts, but many times, it seems to be the overriding one.

Source Criticism
The nature of scholarship is that it builds off scholarship. For instance, the dating of texts, as discussed above has much to do with Source Criticism. When scholarship places a date on a given text, that date limits the amount of sources that could have been possibly used in the formation of that text, according to the date that it is given. In other words, 1 Samuel could not have used the gospel of John as a source because the gospel of John did not exist at the time of the writing of 1 Samuel. But suppose that we found out that the 1 Samuel was written by a by a Jew living in the 2nd century AD. It would at least be possible for the writer of 1 Samuel to have used the Gospel of John as a source. This example may seem a bit ridiculous but things like this happen. Example: One of the common beliefs among liberal scholars is that the Genesis account of creation is based on an “earlier” writing known as the Enuma Elish (Akkadian creation narrative). I personally remember seeing this very thing in my world history book my junior year of high school. However the earliest discovered copy of the Enuma Elish is from around 750 BC The actual autograph is thought to be from around 1700 BC This date has also been challenged by many. Some have dated the original autograph around 1500 BC or even 1400 BC The problem here is that the modern view of the original autograph(s) of the Pentateuch does not even put the Pentateuch on the same playing field with any of these texts. The idea that Enuma Elish could have borrowed from the Pentateuch does not even show up on the radar of liberal scholarship because it has wholeheartedly built its view of the date of the Pentateuch on the scholarship of Julius Wellhausen and his Documentary Hypothesis (J-850 BC, E- 750 BC, D 621 BC, P- 450 BC) as opposed to a Mosaic Authorship of the Pentateuch (around 1400 BC).

Time of Canonization
As mentioned above, we have no records of any councils that took place among Masoretes, Rabbis, or Scribes. However, we do have a general idea of the latest date that the OT could have been canonized. This is due to the name of the OT canon that begins to show up in writings in the 2nd century BC. This name serves as a three-fold division of OT canon, The Law, The Prophets, and The Writings. (We get the name "TaNaCH" from the transliteration of the first character of these three words in Hebrew.) The earliest that we see the name, in a literary work, is in a work called the Prologue to Sirach/Ecclesiasticus (132 BC), only the writer speaks of “the Law, the Prophets and the others that follow them.” The idea here is that from the 132 BC on, the OT seems be have a name by which it is called. A formal name begs the idea there be a formal reorganization of this three-fold division of the OT.

This is complicated, and too much to tackle here. What I have mentioned above is one of the main points of interest. I would refer to the reference works above to get a better idea of all the available texts that clue us into the timing of the OT canon.

Circular Reasoning
I wholeheartedly agree that most of the time, the canon is talked about in a manner that uses circular reasoning (the Bible is the word of God because the Bible says it is). I want to propose 2 ways in which scripture can be used in support of the canon without being considered circular reasoning.

1) Scriptures that claim that scripture is inspired (2 Tim 3:16) may be used to show that inspiration is not something that people have assigned to it. Rather, scripture claims inspiration for itself.

2) Scriptures that allude to other scriptures may be used to determine the timing by which criteria 3 (Josephus) came to be. For instance, Joshua 1:8 says, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” This shows the author of the book of Joshua’s perspective of the “Book of the Law.” Whether the book of Joshua is inspired by God or not, we have here a documented pre-exilic book that contains an opinion of the “Book of the Law”. (This final point is a product of textual criticism, which gleans facts apart from the consideration of inspiration. It is the approach most often employed by liberal theologians in their hermeneutical practice. - MR)

The Validity of the Bible: Part 1 (Originally posted June 2007)

This issue seems, from every angle, to be one of unique ambiguity. For the purposes of this forum, I will focus my questions to the following issues regarding the validity of the Bible: One, the origins of the canon; two, the methods of dating biblical texts by both conservative and liberal theologians; and three, the specific relevancies of the argument (as it effects the authority, reliability, and application of the text for the Christian; and how the perspective of the secularist might be undermined if their assumptions were properly challenged). This is a question which I’m sure others will be better suited to answer, but I’ll do my best to introduce the topic.

As for the origins of the canon (those books included in our modern Bibles and considered to be “inspired” by God), it seems an issue up for debate. It is clear that, even from several thousand year B.C., Jewish believers operated by observance of particular texts considered to be inspired by God. For instance, Daniel 9:2 reads: “…in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.” Also, it is known that certain biblical texts were commonly read aloud at the feasts of Israel. These include Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther. If I remember my conversation with you correctly, the entire Old Testament was compiled and canonized - although perhaps not formally - by approximately 300 B.C. The New Testament books were canonized at a later date, the time and circumstances of which I can’t seem to nail down (granted, I’ve only asked around rather than researched the issue personally). If someone could supplement this issue, I would appreciate it.

So, where did the concept of canonization come from? I’m only guessing, but I suppose that part of the explanation involves our innate expectation that God would reveal Himself in a written account, as He has historically and as inferred through the person of Jesus Christ (as supported by the theology of His disciples - see, for example, John 1:1-18). The logic goes something like this:

1. God’s original revelation of Himself came via the Law, originally divinely transcribed on stone tablets and later expanded into written law.
2. God spoke through the prophets, who left written accounts of their prophecies.
3. The Messiah was both foretold in scripture and later validated by it (Luke 24:27, John 13:18, John 19:28, etc.)
4. God described Himself through these prior methods in terms of “word made flesh” (Ps. 119, etc.); this concept was also incorporated into New Testament theology (Heb. 1:1-3, Heb. 4:12, John 1:1-18; Col. 3:16; 2 Tim. 3:16, Rom. 9:17, Gal. 3:8, 2 Peter 1:20)
5. The retrospective evidence of having the word of God prove true in the lives of believers (Rom. 12:2-3, Rom. 2:15, 2 Cor. 3:18, James 1:22-25).

This last point is an example of how the Bible could be considered self-authoritative. If anyone would like to expound on this concept - specifically, how the Bible itself can be a legitimate testimony of its own validity - I would appreciate it. Points 1-4 are hardly worth considering if the Bible’s self-authoritative claims cannot be reasonably validated.

Anyway, it seems that Christians are very comfortable with the interpretation, application, and the concept of scriptural authority (particularly in regards to directing their lives and providing promises of eternal security), but seem alarmingly less clear on how the Bible came to be and from where its authority is drawn. Like my previous points have suggested, the strongest argument I’ve found so far as to the Bible’s validity is one which could very easily be considered a circular argument. As damning as the terminology sounds, I think there’s room to bolster that argument (that the Bible is self-authoritative) with clear logic and sound reason. Indeed, science espouses its fair share of self-authoritative theories as well. Quantum mechanics, for example, relies on a sort of retrospective proof which science seems to regard as quite convincing. As Dawkins writes, “Quantum mechanics, that rarefied pinnacle of twentieth-century scientific achievement, makes brilliantly successful predictions about the real world. Richard Feynman compared its precision to predicting the distance as great as the width of North American to an accuracy on one human hair’s breadth. This predictive success seems to mean that quantum theory has got to be true in some sense…yet the assumptions that quantum theory needs to make, in order to deliver those predictions, are so mysterious that even the great Feynman himself was moved to remark…: ‘If you think you understand quantum theory…you don’t understand quantum theory.’” (The God Delusion, pg. 364-365) Having said that, could the Bible’s authority be of a similar kind as that of quantum mechanics, gaining credence from the fruit it produces rather than upon the claims/assumptions it makes? What are your thoughts on this, since you introduced me to the term “self-authoritative” in the first place?