L1.1: Scripture
Worldview:
All people have a worldview whether they comprehend it fully or not. A worldview at its
most basic level sets out to understand and provide answer to four classic questions:
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Who am I?
Where am I?
What’s wrong?
What’s the remedy?
Red APPLE Illustration –Love Red, Hate Red, Indifferent About Red.
One of the most defining things about us is our worldview. Where do people develop
their worldview? Sadly, most people have casually and haphazardly thrown together their
worldview leading to a view of the world that is more formed by us than by God.
Philippians 1:9-11
Charles Colson:
“The term worldview may sound abstract or philosophical, a topic discussed by pipesmoking, tweed-jacketed professors in academic settings. But actually a person’s
worldview is intensely practical. It is simply the sum total of our beliefs about the world,
the “big picture” that directs our daily decisions and actions.”
Christian Doctrine is an ORGANIZED SUMMARY of what the BIBLE TEACHES about the
most important issues of life, and is therefore is a statement of worldview to a degree.
What roots are to a Tree, Doctrines are to the Christian.
Scripture:
Revelation – God has chosen to reveal his nature and will to us through the Bible
Inspiration – The process through which God gave us the Bible. God worked through people to
deliver His word: perfect, infallible, and trustworthy.
Illumination – The Holy Spirit’s work of bringing light to the words of the Bible as seek to
understand them. Illumination is the means by which we understand the Bible.
Revelation: How do we know the Bible came from God?
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External Evidence
o We have over 5,000 manuscripts of the New Testament, many of which were
within 70 years after the writing of the original documents. Only 643 copies of
Homer’s Iliad exist and only 10 copies of Caesar’s Gallic Wars and there is no
doubt that these are historical documents.
o The extreme care with which Scriptures were copied
 The earliest Jewish scribes followed a strict code to insure accuracy in
their copies. These are just some of their rules:
 Each scroll must contain a specified number of columns, all equal
throughout the book
 The length of each column must not be less that forty-eight lines
or more than sixty lines
 Each column’s breadth must be exactly 30 letters.
 The copyist may not copy from memory
 The space between every consonant must be the size of a thread
 The copyist must sin in full Jewish dress
 The copyist must use a fresh quill to pen the sacred name of God.
 As time went on the following requirements were added
 Text must be copied letter by letter, not word by word
 They counted the number of times each letter of the alphabet
occurred in each book, and if it came out wrong, the entire scroll
was destroyed.
 They middle letter of the Pentateuch (first five books of the OT)
was memorized, as well as the middle letter of the entire OT.
After completing a copy, they counted forward and back from the
middle letter. If the letters did not match what they knew to be
correct, the scroll was destroyed and begun again.
o Confirmation of places and dates by archaeology
 Included in the Dead Sea Scrolls were every OT book. Before their
discovery the earliest manuscripts we had of some OT texts were from
900AD – almost 1,000 years later than when the scrolls were made.
When the much older Dead Sea scrolls were compared to the newer
copies there was only a 5% difference in the text, most of which came
from changes in word spellings.
 Archeology has confirmed the existence of Soloman’s reign and his
thousands of horses which were once contested.
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Internal Evidence
o Most biblical writings are from eyewitness accounts
o There is amazing agreement and consistency throughout the Bible though it was
written over a period of 1500 years.
o JESUS said the Bible came from God
 He recognized the Spirit as the author -- Matthew 22:43
 He quoted the Bible as authoritative -- Matthew 22:29, Luke 11:28
 Jesus believed that people and places in the bible were real.
 Noah – Luke 17:26
 Adam and Eve – Matthew 19:4
 Sodom and Gomorrah – Matthew 10:15
 Jonah – Matthew 12:40
Inspiration?
Inspiration means that the Holy Spirit, as author, wrote the Bible through people.
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2 Peter 1:21, Acts 1:16, Acts 28:25, Ezekiel 11:5, Psalm 18:30
“If you believe what you like in the Gospel, and reject what you don’t like, it is not
the gospel you believe, but yourself” – Augustine
While Revelation and Inspiration are now complete, the Holy Spirit is continually illuminating Scripture
for our sanctification.
Illumination?
Through revelation and inspiration, God sent the light of his Word into our world.
Through illumination, the blinders are taken off our eyes so we can see the light that is
before us.
God has given Christians His Spirit who leads us to love, understand, and apply God’s
Word.
1 Corinthians 2:12-15 & John 16:13