WEBVTT - Hour 1: The Inerrant and Authoritative Word of God 0:00:08.330 --> 0:00:10.969 Do you have questions about the authority of the Bible? 0:00:10.970 --> 0:00:13.520 Would you like to know about the inspiration of Scripture? 0:00:14.090 --> 0:00:17.180 Is there evidence supporting the idea that I can trust 0:00:17.180 --> 0:00:20.689 the Bible? Well, you have come to the right place 0:00:20.690 --> 0:00:23.630 because today is a very special edition of Open Line 0:00:23.630 --> 0:00:26.599 with Doctor Michael Radonich. This is Moody Radio's Bible study 0:00:26.600 --> 0:00:29.900 across America. I'm Michael Radonich, and I'm the professor of 0:00:29.900 --> 0:00:32.420 Jewish studies at Moody Bible Institute. And I'm coming to 0:00:32.450 --> 0:00:36.080 you from the studios at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. 0:00:36.110 --> 0:00:38.990 Thanks so much for joining me today on this special 0:00:38.990 --> 0:00:41.780 edition of Open Line. Well, what's so special about today? 0:00:41.930 --> 0:00:45.710 People often write to me and call and post on 0:00:45.710 --> 0:00:50.300 Facebook and send Twitter questions about the inspiration and authority 0:00:50.300 --> 0:00:52.370 of the scriptures. They want to know how we got 0:00:52.370 --> 0:00:55.100 the Bible. And so I thought I'd get two experts 0:00:55.100 --> 0:00:58.070 here to help me today. They're going to join me 0:00:58.070 --> 0:01:00.600 and you around the radio kitchen table, and we'll do 0:01:00.600 --> 0:01:04.530 our best to answer those questions today. Remember, don't call 0:01:04.530 --> 0:01:07.560 in today. This is a special pre-recorded edition of Open Line, 0:01:07.560 --> 0:01:10.830 but you can write by going to Open Line radio.org. 0:01:10.830 --> 0:01:14.610 That's our website open Line radio.org. You'll see as you 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:16.950 scroll down there's a link that says Ask Michael a 0:01:16.950 --> 0:01:19.650 question and you can fill out a question there. Or 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:22.350 there's also links to Facebook and email if that's how 0:01:22.350 --> 0:01:25.230 you want to communicate. Courtney Young is our engineer today. 0:01:25.230 --> 0:01:27.570 And joining us in the studio is producer of Open Line, 0:01:27.569 --> 0:01:30.510 Tricia McMillan. So go get your Bible and a cup 0:01:30.510 --> 0:01:33.990 of coffee and let's talk about the scriptures. As they say, 0:01:33.990 --> 0:01:36.630 you can't tell the players without a program. So let 0:01:36.630 --> 0:01:40.380 me give you the players today. Joining me today is 0:01:40.380 --> 0:01:43.380 Doctor Jim Coakley. Jim is professor of Bible at Moody 0:01:43.380 --> 0:01:46.830 Bible Institute, and he's a contributor to the Moody Bible Commentary. Welcome, Jim. 0:01:46.830 --> 0:01:47.970 Great to be with you, Michael. 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:49.890 Okay, now I'm going to try to I'm going to 0:01:49.890 --> 0:01:52.170 try if you don't identify yourself as we're talking, I'm 0:01:52.170 --> 0:01:54.120 going to identify you a little bit so people will 0:01:54.120 --> 0:01:56.610 know the difference. That'd be great. Especially when you say 0:01:56.610 --> 0:02:00.090 something wrong. I'm going to say, oh, that was Jim. No, no, 0:02:00.090 --> 0:02:02.790 I'm not going to do that. Uh, also joining me 0:02:02.790 --> 0:02:05.430 is Doctor Steve Sanchez. He's a contributor to the Moody 0:02:05.430 --> 0:02:08.340 Bible Commentary, and he is a fellow New Yorker and 0:02:08.340 --> 0:02:09.839 fan of the New York Yankees. 0:02:09.870 --> 0:02:11.010 That's right. Go, Yankees! Yeah. 0:02:11.010 --> 0:02:14.490 That's right. Being outnumbered here. This is Jim. I'm being outnumbered. 0:02:15.419 --> 0:02:19.260 Well, yeah. It was so nice. Uh, Steve is from Brooklyn. 0:02:19.290 --> 0:02:19.770 That's right. 0:02:19.770 --> 0:02:22.890 And people often ask me where I'm from. I say 0:02:22.889 --> 0:02:25.560 I'm from the Holy Land, Brooklyn, New York, and that's it. 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:28.410 So that's that's where I'm from. And it's so good 0:02:28.410 --> 0:02:31.590 to have, as we say in Yiddish, a landsman, a 0:02:31.590 --> 0:02:35.100 fellow countryman from Brooklyn, right here with me. So, anyway, 0:02:35.130 --> 0:02:37.919 I want to get right to it. Trish has done 0:02:37.919 --> 0:02:40.980 some help for us. She has compiled questions that our 0:02:40.980 --> 0:02:42.840 listeners have sent in, and that's great. She's going to 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:44.520 join in in a little bit. I didn't even say 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:48.900 hello to Trish. Welcome, Trish. Thank you. Yeah. Trish is here. Trish. 0:02:49.139 --> 0:02:51.780 She's a regular voice on Open Line. You know her? 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:54.810 She's pulled together the questions and but I want to 0:02:54.810 --> 0:02:57.610 just start with a little discussion and then Trish will 0:02:57.610 --> 0:03:00.130 jump in with some questions that people have sent in. 0:03:00.190 --> 0:03:02.830 When we talk about the Bible, we say it is 0:03:02.830 --> 0:03:06.459 God's inspired word. A lot of people say that Shakespeare 0:03:06.490 --> 0:03:09.550 is inspired. You know what? An inspired author. So what 0:03:09.550 --> 0:03:12.700 do we mean when we're talking about biblical inspiration? 0:03:12.940 --> 0:03:14.950 Well, I think the notion, I think many of us 0:03:14.950 --> 0:03:19.060 learned Doctor Charles Ryrie definition of inspiration. So that's a 0:03:19.060 --> 0:03:23.590 very common definition. It's God's superintendence of the human authors 0:03:23.590 --> 0:03:27.250 of Scripture, so that using their own individual personalities, they 0:03:27.250 --> 0:03:30.370 compose and recorded without air his revelation to man. In 0:03:30.370 --> 0:03:32.049 the words of the original autographs. 0:03:32.050 --> 0:03:34.960 That's great, that's great. I had to memorize that twice 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:35.470 in my life. 0:03:35.500 --> 0:03:37.750 I remember I had to relook at that now because 0:03:37.750 --> 0:03:40.540 I have to review that. But it's a great definition. 0:03:40.570 --> 0:03:43.990 Let's start with the idea that God superintended human authors 0:03:44.020 --> 0:03:49.210 and then so that they would produce without error, God's word. Right? 0:03:49.210 --> 0:03:52.090 That's it. But they did it in their own personalities, 0:03:52.090 --> 0:03:54.430 their own styles. That's what it's talking about. 0:03:54.460 --> 0:03:56.570 That's right. If people have in their mind a dictation 0:03:56.600 --> 0:03:59.330 theory that God is saying words and someone is there 0:03:59.360 --> 0:04:02.060 like a scribe writing them down as they come. That's 0:04:02.060 --> 0:04:05.210 not what we're talking about when we suggest super intention. 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:09.110 God's in control. They are his words, inasmuch as he's 0:04:09.110 --> 0:04:11.660 in control. But he's working through the people who are 0:04:11.660 --> 0:04:13.760 getting these words down onto papyrus. 0:04:14.090 --> 0:04:15.260 Or manuscripts. 0:04:15.290 --> 0:04:16.429 Or manuscripts or other kinds. 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:17.330 Or clay tablets. 0:04:17.360 --> 0:04:17.990 Or clay tablets. 0:04:17.990 --> 0:04:18.620 Stone tablets. 0:04:18.920 --> 0:04:20.839 So let's go to the two key passages, I think, 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:25.550 from the New Testament that deal with inspiration and superintendents. 0:04:25.580 --> 0:04:28.429 There's a good word for it. The first passage is 0:04:28.430 --> 0:04:32.060 second Timothy 316. And so you hear the pages turning. 0:04:32.060 --> 0:04:35.690 We're having our little Bible study here, and that's where 0:04:35.690 --> 0:04:41.600 it says that all Scripture is inspired. The word inspired 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:43.849 God breathed the stars. 0:04:43.910 --> 0:04:45.290 Remember learning that in Greek class? 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:48.950 Yeah. And I remember, uh, the most basic idea is 0:04:48.950 --> 0:04:52.369 that this Bible has been God breathed, the text of 0:04:52.370 --> 0:04:54.080 Scripture has been God breathed. And that's the thing I 0:04:54.120 --> 0:04:57.630 want to really distinguish. How is this different from, as 0:04:57.630 --> 0:04:58.920 I said before, Shakespeare? 0:04:58.950 --> 0:05:02.460 That's right. The issue is source. Yeah. The authority of 0:05:02.460 --> 0:05:05.310 the Word of God is bound up in the fact 0:05:05.310 --> 0:05:07.380 that he is the author of Scripture. When we look 0:05:07.410 --> 0:05:10.320 at Shakespeare, we read that and we say, oh, that's 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:12.510 so inspiring to me. I want to be different. This 0:05:12.510 --> 0:05:14.910 is a wonderful piece of literature. We might have that 0:05:14.910 --> 0:05:17.250 reaction when we read the Word of God, but that's 0:05:17.250 --> 0:05:20.070 not where its authority comes from. He is the author. 0:05:20.070 --> 0:05:23.250 It's out of his mouth. It's literally God breathed and 0:05:23.250 --> 0:05:24.630 therefore it has authority. 0:05:24.630 --> 0:05:27.600 So it's a divine human book. That's right. God is 0:05:27.600 --> 0:05:31.770 the divine author. That's right of Scripture. And now when 0:05:31.770 --> 0:05:35.400 we talk about inspiration, what is inspired? 0:05:35.610 --> 0:05:38.640 Well, we talk about inspiration. We're not talking about the 0:05:38.670 --> 0:05:42.420 we're talking about God's Word doing it. And it's not 0:05:42.420 --> 0:05:47.130 necessarily the people. It's now kind of the words that 0:05:47.130 --> 0:05:50.940 come out through God's breathing breath into the into the. 0:05:50.970 --> 0:05:52.260 It's the text of Scripture. 0:05:52.260 --> 0:05:53.010 The text of Scripture. 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:55.860 It's the Bible that's inspired. So often we think it's 0:05:55.860 --> 0:05:58.710 the writers that inspired, you know, the inspired author said, no, 0:05:58.710 --> 0:06:01.410 we have nothing in the Bible that says authors are inspired. 0:06:01.410 --> 0:06:04.650 We only say the inspired text of Scripture. So from 0:06:04.650 --> 0:06:07.350 Genesis to Revelation, what I think we have to be 0:06:07.350 --> 0:06:10.110 really clear about is that the text of Scripture is 0:06:10.110 --> 0:06:13.530 what is inspired. It is the very words of Scripture. 0:06:13.710 --> 0:06:18.420 It's what we call theologians have called verbal inspiration. It's 0:06:18.420 --> 0:06:20.460 inspiration down to the words Paul wrote. 0:06:20.490 --> 0:06:22.260 Other things that we don't have. 0:06:22.290 --> 0:06:23.820 If you find his grocery list, what are you gonna do? 0:06:23.820 --> 0:06:26.520 It's not inspired. Yeah. That's right. If it were, that 0:06:26.520 --> 0:06:29.610 would be suggesting that Paul has some authority on his own. Yeah, 0:06:29.640 --> 0:06:32.460 but he doesn't. Only the words of God through him 0:06:32.460 --> 0:06:33.300 onto this text. 0:06:33.330 --> 0:06:35.460 It is interesting that there are references to other writings 0:06:35.460 --> 0:06:39.810 that the apostles wrote, and yet we don't have their remaining. 0:06:39.810 --> 0:06:42.539 For there was another letter to the Corinthians. That's very clear. Right. 0:06:42.570 --> 0:06:45.240 But that was not accepted as the authoritative word of God, 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:47.400 and it was never included in Scripture. And if we 0:06:47.400 --> 0:06:49.560 found it today, it'd be a nice thing to find. 0:06:49.620 --> 0:06:50.790 It wouldn't be part of the Bible. 0:06:50.790 --> 0:06:52.570 It wouldn't be part of the Bible. Exactly. 0:06:52.779 --> 0:06:55.900 Okay, so that's the what of inspiration? It is the 0:06:55.900 --> 0:07:00.070 text of Scripture. The how of inspiration is in the 0:07:00.070 --> 0:07:02.620 other key passage that we want to talk about. And 0:07:02.620 --> 0:07:08.589 that's second Peter 121 where it says, uh, that men 0:07:08.620 --> 0:07:12.820 were moved. I'm going to read this whole little section here, 0:07:13.090 --> 0:07:16.420 beginning with verse 20, and I'm going to ask you 0:07:16.450 --> 0:07:19.450 guys to kind of chime in here on what this means. 0:07:19.450 --> 0:07:23.560 First of all, you should know this. No prophecy of 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:28.030 Scripture comes from one's own interpretation, because no prophecy ever 0:07:28.030 --> 0:07:31.929 came by the will of man. Instead, moved by the 0:07:31.930 --> 0:07:36.670 Holy Spirit, men spoke from God. So I just want 0:07:36.700 --> 0:07:39.820 to start with the phrase there that no one, no 0:07:39.820 --> 0:07:42.280 prophecy comes from one's own interpretation. What does he mean 0:07:42.280 --> 0:07:42.970 by that? 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:46.870 That it's not coming from their own vocabulary, their own experiences. 0:07:46.870 --> 0:07:49.420 It's coming directly from God. So even though there the 0:07:49.420 --> 0:07:53.770 human agent that God uses to give us His word. 0:07:53.920 --> 0:07:56.530 We're still hearing it directly from God Himself through the 0:07:56.530 --> 0:07:57.520 Spirit of God. Well, he. 0:07:57.520 --> 0:08:00.070 Did use his own style, though, right? His own words. 0:08:00.070 --> 0:08:00.520 Right? 0:08:00.550 --> 0:08:03.520 So, and we see that as we read the text there. 0:08:03.670 --> 0:08:06.160 You can tell the difference. So when it says that 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:09.340 no prophecy comes from one's own interpretation, it means that 0:08:09.340 --> 0:08:13.600 I can't say that I think it means I don't 0:08:13.600 --> 0:08:15.550 care what what the author meant. 0:08:15.580 --> 0:08:18.580 It's an authority question. Again, the issue is who's the 0:08:18.580 --> 0:08:21.790 source of this? And the source is the Holy Spirit. 0:08:21.790 --> 0:08:25.150 They're being carried along by God. The authority comes from them. 0:08:25.150 --> 0:08:27.670 It doesn't matter how important you are or how studied 0:08:27.700 --> 0:08:31.300 you are. The authority lies in the scriptures themselves because 0:08:31.300 --> 0:08:31.990 they're from God. 0:08:32.020 --> 0:08:33.820 And they didn't say, okay, I'm going to write the 0:08:33.820 --> 0:08:34.570 Bible now. 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:36.459 I will decide to do that now. Yeah. 0:08:36.880 --> 0:08:39.459 When they wrote, it wasn't. Their will is what it 0:08:39.460 --> 0:08:41.530 goes on to say. Never came by the will of man. 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:43.179 Isaiah didn't say, you know what, I'm just going to 0:08:43.179 --> 0:08:45.160 write a book of the Bible right now. He didn't 0:08:45.160 --> 0:08:48.280 do that. But when he wrote his book, that's what 0:08:48.309 --> 0:08:51.380 God made him do. Now he used his own words, right? 0:08:51.410 --> 0:08:53.960 He used his own style. And he even understood, I think, 0:08:53.960 --> 0:08:56.270 what he was writing. Don't you think. 0:08:56.300 --> 0:08:59.270 The notion of a good analogy is like the wind 0:08:59.270 --> 0:09:01.730 in the sails of a ship? Exactly. And so that's 0:09:01.730 --> 0:09:04.340 the way it's carried along. It's moving along. It's not 0:09:04.340 --> 0:09:07.429 the energized by the individual himself. The Spirit of God 0:09:07.429 --> 0:09:08.929 is providing that energy and that. 0:09:08.929 --> 0:09:10.819 That word moved by the Holy Spirit. The word moved 0:09:10.820 --> 0:09:12.620 is the word that was used of of the wind 0:09:12.620 --> 0:09:15.410 moving a sail. It always makes me think of the 0:09:15.410 --> 0:09:19.910 Princess Bride, you know, because in The Princess Bride, Inigo 0:09:19.940 --> 0:09:23.300 Montoya looks and he sees that ship catching up on them. 0:09:23.300 --> 0:09:25.910 And he says, is he using the same wind we're using? 0:09:26.150 --> 0:09:30.020 And it's the sails are different, but the wind is 0:09:30.020 --> 0:09:32.570 the same. And in the same way, the Holy Spirit 0:09:32.570 --> 0:09:34.760 moves men. But the the men are different. And so 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:36.350 they use their own words. They use their own style. 0:09:36.380 --> 0:09:40.069 But it's the Holy Spirit inspiration or of the text 0:09:40.100 --> 0:09:43.310 of Scripture. What what this superintending does, and then the 0:09:43.309 --> 0:09:47.690 inspired text. It guarantees that what those authors wrote was true. 0:09:47.690 --> 0:09:50.690 And that's so important without that guarantee. This is a 0:09:50.690 --> 0:09:52.910 mixed bag. Yeah. How do we know? And what we'll 0:09:52.910 --> 0:09:54.890 tend to do in our sinful state is pick the 0:09:54.890 --> 0:09:58.640 parts we like and treat those authoritatively and the ones 0:09:58.640 --> 0:10:01.970 we don't like. Well, those belong to Jim. Those apply 0:10:01.970 --> 0:10:02.990 to him. Not to me. 0:10:03.020 --> 0:10:03.890 Yeah. Yeah. 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:06.469 Well that's right. Like going back to second Timothy 316, 0:10:06.470 --> 0:10:09.830 because it says that he that the Bible is profitable, 0:10:09.830 --> 0:10:12.920 but it's also purposeful. It's intended to do things. And 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:15.770 so it's not it's intended to perform something in us, 0:10:15.770 --> 0:10:17.809 to cause us to become more like his son, to. 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:20.900 Transform us, to be men and women of God who 0:10:20.900 --> 0:10:23.990 are equipped to do his work. That's what it is. Uh, 0:10:23.990 --> 0:10:27.109 that is a great place for us to take a 0:10:27.110 --> 0:10:29.780 little break. Here. We come back. Trisha's got some questions 0:10:29.780 --> 0:10:32.870 that you have sent in, and we're going to take 0:10:32.870 --> 0:10:36.620 those as well. You're listening to Open Line with Michael 0:10:36.620 --> 0:10:39.469 Ray Dolnick and joining me today, Jim Coakley, Steve Sanchez 0:10:39.500 --> 0:10:42.680 of both of Moody Bible Institute, they are experts in 0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:46.650 what we're talking about inspiration, authority, Canonization, all the important 0:10:46.650 --> 0:10:49.050 things of how we got our Bible. And so we're 0:10:49.050 --> 0:10:51.479 going to get back to your questions, to them in 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:53.070 just a moment. Stay with us. 0:10:53.370 --> 0:10:54.449 We'll be right back. 0:10:57.690 --> 0:11:01.290 Are you looking to deepen your grasp of Paul's powerful epistles, 0:11:01.290 --> 0:11:05.550 the Moody Bible commentary on Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians 0:11:05.580 --> 0:11:09.180 is your key to unlocking these treasured books with clear 0:11:09.179 --> 0:11:15.179 explanations and practical insights. This resource illuminates Paul's teachings on grace, unity, joy, 0:11:15.179 --> 0:11:18.599 and the supremacy of the Lord Jesus. Request your copy 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:21.060 of this Moody Bible Commentary excerpt. When you give to 0:11:21.090 --> 0:11:35.550 open line, call (888) 644-7122 or visit Open Line radio.org. Welcome 0:11:35.550 --> 0:11:38.189 back to Open Line with me. Doctor Michael Ray Dolnick. 0:11:38.220 --> 0:11:42.810 My guest today are doctors Jim Coakley and Steve Sanchez, 0:11:42.809 --> 0:11:46.930 both Bible professors at Moody Bible Institute. We're talking about 0:11:46.929 --> 0:11:50.500 the scriptures, how we got the Bible, the authority of 0:11:50.500 --> 0:11:53.650 the Bible, the inspiration of the Bible. We're talking about 0:11:53.650 --> 0:11:57.070 all these important things. And we're going back to the 0:11:57.070 --> 0:12:00.459 questions that have been raised about inspiration. And and, Tricia, 0:12:00.460 --> 0:12:03.280 I'm going to turn this over to you because you've 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:06.100 done a good job pulling this all together for us. 0:12:06.460 --> 0:12:09.130 Well, I just compiled what everyone sent. So this is 0:12:09.130 --> 0:12:11.500 great that we have a chance. We gave people the 0:12:11.500 --> 0:12:14.439 opportunity to send in specific questions on these topics, so 0:12:14.470 --> 0:12:18.160 they responded greatly. Um, the first question is, what evidence 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:20.410 is there that the Bible is inspired? 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:22.630 You know, that's I often get well, how do you 0:12:22.840 --> 0:12:28.210 you're holding this book that's old and it's you know why? 0:12:28.210 --> 0:12:32.380 Why this not the Quran, why this? And not some 0:12:32.380 --> 0:12:35.260 other sacred writing? What do you say? 0:12:35.290 --> 0:12:38.950 You know, for me, the power of fulfilled prophecy is 0:12:38.950 --> 0:12:42.280 an amazing sign that the words of this book don't 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:45.559 find their source in man, but in God himself. I'm 0:12:45.559 --> 0:12:48.080 looking at one right now in Isaiah chapter 45. The 0:12:48.080 --> 0:12:52.460 fact that God mentions a man named Cyrus long before 0:12:52.460 --> 0:12:54.920 he shows up on the scene, and you have to 0:12:54.950 --> 0:12:57.170 ask yourself, who would know that? How would they know 0:12:57.170 --> 0:13:00.530 that someone can't prognosticate a couple hundred years the name 0:13:00.530 --> 0:13:03.830 of a person and his role in delivering God's people 0:13:03.830 --> 0:13:06.470 from exile? And so I look at fulfilled prophecy as 0:13:06.470 --> 0:13:09.770 a significant, significant pointer to the inspiration of Scripture. 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:11.990 I think we also have to look at the subjective. 0:13:11.990 --> 0:13:14.000 I think we see lots of change lives as a 0:13:14.000 --> 0:13:16.520 result of what this word has done. And so I 0:13:16.520 --> 0:13:19.820 think even though that's that's again, kind of anecdotal, but 0:13:19.820 --> 0:13:24.320 still the numbers, the transformed millions that have changed lives 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:25.730 as a result of this word, I think is a 0:13:25.730 --> 0:13:28.130 powerful testimony to the power of God's Word. 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:32.420 What convinced me I always had this. I always accepted 0:13:32.660 --> 0:13:36.140 that the Bible was from God. Growing up, I just 0:13:36.170 --> 0:13:40.069 assumed it. Uh, not the New Testament, but my growing up. 0:13:40.070 --> 0:13:43.219 I believe the Hebrew Bible was given from God, but 0:13:43.220 --> 0:13:44.990 I really hadn't thought about it much. It wasn't. It 0:13:44.990 --> 0:13:48.170 was just assumed when I finally became a believer in Jesus. 0:13:48.200 --> 0:13:51.170 It was the predictions of the Messiah in the Hebrew 0:13:51.170 --> 0:13:54.110 Bible that convinced me. And it was just amazing to 0:13:54.110 --> 0:13:58.670 see that Micah 700 years beforehand in Micah five two 0:13:58.700 --> 0:14:03.170 says that that Jesus, the Messiah, would be born in Bethlehem. 0:14:03.410 --> 0:14:05.179 It's clear when you read the Bible, he's going to 0:14:05.210 --> 0:14:07.880 come from the line of David. It's clear when you 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:11.270 look at these different prophecies about the Messiah that he 0:14:11.270 --> 0:14:15.470 would be rejected by his own people. Isaiah 53. So 0:14:15.470 --> 0:14:19.760 as I started studying these passages, it convinced me that 0:14:19.760 --> 0:14:23.000 Jesus is the Messiah. But now when I've heard people 0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:29.450 attack the true inspiration of the Bible, those same passages say, well, 0:14:29.450 --> 0:14:32.210 how could this be? This is a supernatural book. Yeah, 0:14:32.330 --> 0:14:35.810 those very same prophecies which convinced me to believe that 0:14:35.810 --> 0:14:39.140 Jesus is the Messiah, also confirmed to me that this 0:14:39.140 --> 0:14:42.690 is a supernatural book. And but there are things that 0:14:42.690 --> 0:14:45.479 the Bible talks about. You know, I often talk about accuracy, 0:14:45.780 --> 0:14:47.790 you know, and there are things that the Bible says 0:14:47.790 --> 0:14:51.420 besides prophecy, just historically accurate. You know, they didn't people 0:14:51.420 --> 0:14:54.330 didn't believe there was such a person as Sargon, right? Right. 0:14:54.390 --> 0:14:57.600 The Hittites, the Hittites. I spend my summers doing archeology. 0:14:57.630 --> 0:15:00.390 We find things and archaeologists down through the ages have 0:15:00.390 --> 0:15:03.420 found things that suggest the Bible is incredibly accurate. And 0:15:03.420 --> 0:15:05.670 we would expect that if God is its source. 0:15:05.700 --> 0:15:08.250 Yeah, that's so important that we we get that. So 0:15:08.250 --> 0:15:11.160 I think historical accuracy is one of the great things 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:12.510 about the Bible. There are some things that have not 0:15:12.510 --> 0:15:14.130 yet been confirmed by archaeology. 0:15:14.130 --> 0:15:16.200 That's true. We're waiting for the Archaeologist's spade and for 0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:17.130 Steve to dig it up. 0:15:17.190 --> 0:15:18.600 He's going to dig it up. Exactly. You know. 0:15:18.630 --> 0:15:22.080 People are surprised. It wasn't until 1993 that we actually 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:25.260 found textual evidence outside of the Bible for David. Yeah. 0:15:25.290 --> 0:15:28.950 And the Tel Dan inscription found in 1993, 1994. There's 0:15:28.950 --> 0:15:32.130 David's name right in the middle. That was pretty late. Yeah. 0:15:32.160 --> 0:15:34.200 Until then, we had the Bible. Yeah. 0:15:34.230 --> 0:15:37.230 And it was. And there's a lot of critics that say, oh, 0:15:37.260 --> 0:15:39.330 there never was a David. He was like King Arthur. 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:39.900 That's right. 0:15:39.930 --> 0:15:42.150 Figment of Israel's historical imagination. 0:15:42.180 --> 0:15:42.810 Yeah. And then. 0:15:42.810 --> 0:15:43.440 We find this. 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:46.500 Stone. Yeah. And it's found. I love going there. I'd 0:15:46.500 --> 0:15:48.150 say this is where it was found. And you can. 0:15:48.150 --> 0:15:49.470 You can see the Israel Museum. 0:15:49.500 --> 0:15:50.910 Yeah, there it is. There it is right there. 0:15:50.940 --> 0:15:53.010 I was just in the Oriental Institute in Chicago, and 0:15:53.010 --> 0:15:55.980 they have the Sennacherib prism, and it mentions Hezekiah by name. 0:15:56.010 --> 0:15:58.110 And I tell the students, I said, you know, from 0:15:58.110 --> 0:16:01.230 that point on, everyone agrees that Israel existed because Sennacherib 0:16:01.230 --> 0:16:04.410 gives attestation to Hezekiah. But why not go back further 0:16:04.410 --> 0:16:06.660 if it can be trusted at this point, where is 0:16:06.660 --> 0:16:08.580 it that you draw a line and say, we can't 0:16:08.610 --> 0:16:10.410 trust the Bible's historicity anymore? Yeah. 0:16:10.410 --> 0:16:16.260 So I think that between historical accuracy, biblical prophecy, and 0:16:16.260 --> 0:16:18.870 then also transformed lives, I think we can say, yes, 0:16:18.870 --> 0:16:22.590 this is a book that is unique, different and truly inspired. 0:16:22.590 --> 0:16:25.080 But people do have other questions. Yes. 0:16:25.230 --> 0:16:28.830 Fabiana and Beth's questions are very similar. They both wrote 0:16:28.860 --> 0:16:32.820 us on Facebook. Fabiana says, I learned that the scriptures alone, 0:16:32.820 --> 0:16:35.190 the breathed word of God, is the one that has 0:16:35.190 --> 0:16:39.340 the power and not exactly the explanations of his words. 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:42.340 And then Beth says she was actually in a conversation 0:16:42.340 --> 0:16:45.790 with someone about second Timothy three verses 14 through 17, 0:16:45.790 --> 0:16:48.670 which we talked about just a little bit ago. We 0:16:48.670 --> 0:16:51.580 were talking about the absolute authority of the Bible versus 0:16:51.580 --> 0:16:55.330 the absolute authority of the Bible, plus the teachings that 0:16:55.330 --> 0:16:57.970 have been handed down by apostles or their disciples through 0:16:57.970 --> 0:17:00.310 word of mouth or written down by the church. Can 0:17:00.310 --> 0:17:01.510 you talk about these? 0:17:01.630 --> 0:17:04.119 Well, they are they're kind of distinctive questions along the 0:17:04.150 --> 0:17:07.570 same line. The first one is it's the Word of 0:17:07.570 --> 0:17:11.740 God that is powerful and not men's interpretations. It's so 0:17:11.740 --> 0:17:16.090 popular today to have study Bibles. I've contributed to a 0:17:16.090 --> 0:17:20.080 couple of study Bibles. Uh, we have the Moody Bible Commentary, 0:17:20.080 --> 0:17:22.870 which though it cites Scripture, it's not a study Bible, 0:17:22.900 --> 0:17:26.680 but and and I always tell people, get a Bible 0:17:26.710 --> 0:17:31.570 and I hold up my Bible. That is just a Bible. 0:17:31.600 --> 0:17:35.050 I use a study Bible as a resource when I'm 0:17:35.050 --> 0:17:39.920 in my study. But. And if I were traveling, for example, 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:43.969 I might need, excuse me, a study Bible. You know, 0:17:44.000 --> 0:17:45.770 just if I wanted something to help me out, I 0:17:45.770 --> 0:17:48.050 was only going to have one book with me. That 0:17:48.050 --> 0:17:53.000 would be a good thing. But. But nevertheless, what is 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:56.540 the the the word of God? Not the study notes, 0:17:56.570 --> 0:18:00.140 not the annotations. So wouldn't you agree that people should 0:18:00.140 --> 0:18:01.100 read the Bible? 0:18:01.100 --> 0:18:04.369 That's right. You read the text of Scripture and everything else. 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:08.600 Are the commentary, the additions that helps that learned people 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:11.449 have decided to include to help you understand what's in 0:18:11.450 --> 0:18:15.050 those pages. But if you compare one study Bible to another, 0:18:15.050 --> 0:18:17.150 they don't all agree. They don't agree in the notes, 0:18:17.150 --> 0:18:19.460 even though they might be using the exact same translation. 0:18:19.910 --> 0:18:21.379 And I would say to that, I think I want 0:18:21.380 --> 0:18:23.570 to push back a little bit, because even in the scriptures, 0:18:23.570 --> 0:18:25.850 people have to explain what the Word of God means. 0:18:26.030 --> 0:18:28.820 Philip had to explain to the Ethiopian eunuch what he 0:18:28.820 --> 0:18:31.939 was reading out of Isaiah 53. Nehemiah, when he's speaking 0:18:31.970 --> 0:18:34.190 to the exiles, has to give the sense of what 0:18:34.190 --> 0:18:36.650 he's reading from the Word of God. So we do 0:18:36.650 --> 0:18:39.199 need people to help us guide what the Word of 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:40.730 God is saying. So we still need teachers. 0:18:40.760 --> 0:18:42.950 Oh, there's no question. But of course, I think that 0:18:42.950 --> 0:18:45.230 that what we're saying about a study Bible. And this 0:18:45.230 --> 0:18:47.030 is why I encourage people, because I think the study 0:18:47.030 --> 0:18:48.919 Bible people spend all their time in the notes, the 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:52.580 notes instead of in the text, read the text in 0:18:52.580 --> 0:18:54.260 first John, it says that we have an anointing that 0:18:54.260 --> 0:18:55.880 we don't need anyone to teach us. Now, that doesn't 0:18:55.880 --> 0:18:58.670 mean that their God hasn't ordained teachers into the body 0:18:58.670 --> 0:19:01.340 of Christ that that will teach us, but it does 0:19:01.340 --> 0:19:05.090 mean that we should have the Holy Spirit sufficient so 0:19:05.090 --> 0:19:06.410 that when we look at a text, we're not going 0:19:06.410 --> 0:19:10.100 to be going off into zany land, into a strange 0:19:10.100 --> 0:19:12.709 world where where we can make it say anything we 0:19:12.710 --> 0:19:13.459 want it to say. 0:19:13.490 --> 0:19:16.010 Interpreting the Bible is difficult. Yeah. I mean, there are 0:19:16.040 --> 0:19:18.919 easy passages that anyone can understand and you get them 0:19:18.920 --> 0:19:22.520 pretty quickly. There are others that even scholars sit there 0:19:22.520 --> 0:19:24.650 and say, okay, there are three views here, and we're 0:19:24.650 --> 0:19:26.570 not actually sure which is the right view. 0:19:26.600 --> 0:19:29.000 I'm about 49% sure of this one. 0:19:29.030 --> 0:19:29.510 That's right. 0:19:29.540 --> 0:19:31.189 Yeah, 51% sure of. 0:19:31.190 --> 0:19:32.060 The other one. You know, I. 0:19:32.060 --> 0:19:33.840 Would like to say sometime when you get your study Bible, 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:36.510 just get out a marker on the page and and 0:19:36.510 --> 0:19:39.720 mark the text area and say absolutely true there. And 0:19:39.720 --> 0:19:41.670 then on the on the annotations at the bottom say 0:19:41.700 --> 0:19:44.700 could be wrong, you know, but but probably right, but 0:19:44.700 --> 0:19:47.100 could be wrong. And that's what we want to emphasize, 0:19:47.100 --> 0:19:49.320 that it's the text of Scripture, not people's opinions that 0:19:49.320 --> 0:19:49.650 are right. 0:19:49.680 --> 0:19:51.480 We do want to emphasize that, but we also want 0:19:51.510 --> 0:19:53.850 to have value to the ones that God has used 0:19:53.850 --> 0:19:56.909 over the centuries to help us with background issues. Steve 0:19:56.910 --> 0:19:59.040 and I both teach life and Bible times. There's no 0:19:59.040 --> 0:20:01.139 way that you're going to get that information about a 0:20:01.140 --> 0:20:04.470 geography of a site, or the history of a person, 0:20:04.500 --> 0:20:07.410 unless you have that background information. So we do need 0:20:07.410 --> 0:20:09.540 that stuff. So it's not like just me and the 0:20:09.540 --> 0:20:12.270 Holy Spirit. And that's all I need to understand the scriptures. 0:20:12.300 --> 0:20:12.570 In fact. 0:20:12.570 --> 0:20:13.350 That's dangerous. 0:20:13.350 --> 0:20:14.129 That is rather dangerous. 0:20:14.130 --> 0:20:17.280 As we interpret outside of our theological context. Without that 0:20:17.280 --> 0:20:19.350 extra the bumpers on the side. 0:20:19.350 --> 0:20:20.010 If you will. Correct. 0:20:20.040 --> 0:20:21.780 It's a great time for you to mention this. We 0:20:21.810 --> 0:20:25.140 so agree that it's helpful to have explanations that all 0:20:25.140 --> 0:20:27.899 three of us participated in the Moody Bible Commentary. Amen, 0:20:27.930 --> 0:20:30.780 which I want to encourage people. You can go to 0:20:30.810 --> 0:20:33.700 our website, openline line radio.org, and you can scroll down 0:20:33.700 --> 0:20:36.730 and you will see a link to the Moody Bible Commentary. 0:20:36.730 --> 0:20:38.530 And you click on that and it gives you an 0:20:38.530 --> 0:20:41.860 opportunity to download two sample books. You can download Daniel 0:20:41.859 --> 0:20:44.230 and Romans and you can see what we're talking about, 0:20:44.230 --> 0:20:47.080 that it's very helpful to have a commentary to help 0:20:47.080 --> 0:20:50.109 guide you. But again, this is not the inspired, Moody 0:20:50.109 --> 0:20:53.290 Bible Commentary, it's the Moody Bible Commentary. It's pretty close. 0:20:53.290 --> 0:20:53.770 Though, don't you think? 0:20:53.800 --> 0:20:55.840 Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah, especially the ones I wrote. 0:20:55.869 --> 0:20:57.760 Yeah, I participated. 0:20:57.760 --> 0:21:00.910 In a Bible translation project and one of the translators 0:21:00.910 --> 0:21:03.430 told a funny story. He was teaching on this book 0:21:03.460 --> 0:21:06.189 in a Sunday school, and he gave his opinion, and 0:21:06.190 --> 0:21:07.989 someone in the class said, well, that's not what it 0:21:07.990 --> 0:21:10.600 says here in these notes. He said, well, I wrote 0:21:10.600 --> 0:21:11.740 those notes and I changed my. 0:21:11.740 --> 0:21:13.750 Mind and it was done. 0:21:14.020 --> 0:21:16.180 I like it when sometimes people call me and they say, 0:21:16.180 --> 0:21:18.639 what is such and such verse mean in Daniel? I said, well, 0:21:18.640 --> 0:21:19.989 let me look at the commentary and I'll tell you 0:21:19.990 --> 0:21:22.300 what I think it means, because I don't always remember 0:21:22.300 --> 0:21:23.139 what I think it means. 0:21:23.140 --> 0:21:26.740 So now you said the study notes may not. They 0:21:26.740 --> 0:21:29.680 don't hold as much authority. How about the cross-references? Where 0:21:29.680 --> 0:21:32.770 do those come from that are in my Bible that 0:21:32.770 --> 0:21:34.480 does not have the study notes. 0:21:34.510 --> 0:21:38.020 I'm always a little leery of cross-references, unless I know 0:21:38.020 --> 0:21:40.090 what the philosophy is of the person who's putting them there, 0:21:40.090 --> 0:21:42.909 because why are they putting those references there? Are they 0:21:42.910 --> 0:21:46.570 just doing a topical leapfrog from verse to verse to verse, 0:21:46.570 --> 0:21:50.500 that really have no connecting connective tissue between those verses, 0:21:50.500 --> 0:21:53.080 or are they really done a good study to show 0:21:53.080 --> 0:21:55.810 that this text is informing this other one? 0:21:55.840 --> 0:21:59.530 Yeah, I have found this. I found that there are many. 0:21:59.890 --> 0:22:03.910 I'm really big in what is called inner biblical interpretation, 0:22:03.910 --> 0:22:07.510 how the Bible reads itself. I think that what they 0:22:07.510 --> 0:22:11.530 used to call scripture interpreting Scripture and, and there are 0:22:11.530 --> 0:22:14.710 certain phrases and ideas that are frequently linked, and a 0:22:14.740 --> 0:22:17.230 lot of, of the cross-references do that. There are other 0:22:17.230 --> 0:22:19.810 times where they don't see what I see, and I'm 0:22:20.109 --> 0:22:21.970 that's why I'm writing them in the margins of my Bible, 0:22:22.000 --> 0:22:25.540 because that's a really important cross-reference. And other times I 0:22:25.540 --> 0:22:27.670 look at the cross-reference and I say those really shouldn't 0:22:27.670 --> 0:22:28.359 be connected. 0:22:28.359 --> 0:22:31.520 So again, it's the work of people trying to help 0:22:31.520 --> 0:22:33.650 one another interpret the Word of God. And they don't 0:22:33.650 --> 0:22:34.399 always get it right. 0:22:34.520 --> 0:22:35.390 Sometimes it's really helpful. 0:22:35.390 --> 0:22:37.669 Sometimes it's very helpful. So that's. 0:22:37.670 --> 0:22:39.439 Really good. Those are okay to use. Oh sure. If 0:22:39.440 --> 0:22:40.879 you're doing your study. Yeah, absolutely. 0:22:40.910 --> 0:22:41.480 But the key is to. 0:22:41.510 --> 0:22:43.670 Not use them slavishly. I mean, you have to use 0:22:43.670 --> 0:22:45.800 them with critical thinking and say, look, this one doesn't 0:22:45.800 --> 0:22:48.590 really fit. It must have fit to someone at one time, 0:22:48.590 --> 0:22:50.300 but I'm not seeing it. I'm not going to use 0:22:50.300 --> 0:22:50.780 that one. 0:22:50.810 --> 0:22:54.139 But they're really helpful, you know. Okay. I'm amazed, too, 0:22:54.170 --> 0:22:56.030 that people do that because it shows that they have 0:22:56.030 --> 0:22:59.810 a pretty holistic knowledge of the Bible. You know, there 0:22:59.810 --> 0:23:03.830 were there were actual cross reference Bibles before there were computers. So. 0:23:03.859 --> 0:23:04.189 Right. 0:23:04.220 --> 0:23:05.660 So that's pretty. 0:23:05.690 --> 0:23:08.300 Well the Masoretes, as you know, were doing some amazing 0:23:08.300 --> 0:23:09.830 stuff with. 0:23:09.920 --> 0:23:12.770 Those are the Jewish scribes of the Middle Ages. 0:23:12.800 --> 0:23:14.750 Yes. And how they were able to say, okay, this 0:23:14.750 --> 0:23:17.270 is the fifth time that this exact phrase was used 0:23:17.300 --> 0:23:18.200 in this Bible. 0:23:18.230 --> 0:23:18.859 And so we owe. 0:23:18.890 --> 0:23:19.729 Them a debt. We owe. 0:23:19.730 --> 0:23:19.910 Them. 0:23:20.000 --> 0:23:22.280 It's for them that we have good copies of the 0:23:22.280 --> 0:23:22.880 Old Testament. 0:23:22.910 --> 0:23:23.570 Yeah. The Hebrew. 0:23:23.570 --> 0:23:26.630 Bible. Exactly. I want to go to the second question. 0:23:27.480 --> 0:23:31.860 There is this idea that it's the church that is 0:23:31.859 --> 0:23:35.820 the authority that we have and not the Bible. So 0:23:36.030 --> 0:23:40.350 the church or the tradition can tell us what the 0:23:40.350 --> 0:23:43.740 authority with authority, what the Bible means, what how do 0:23:43.740 --> 0:23:44.669 we deal with that? 0:23:45.060 --> 0:23:47.879 I think the issue there is our church wants to 0:23:47.880 --> 0:23:50.070 help its people understand the Word of God. That's the 0:23:50.070 --> 0:23:52.350 bottom line. And when we look at the Word of God, 0:23:52.350 --> 0:23:57.150 people have different interpretations and that can be confusing. It's helpful. 0:23:57.150 --> 0:23:59.429 Sometimes people like to think an authority will tell me 0:23:59.430 --> 0:24:01.770 what to believe, and they rely on that. I'm not 0:24:01.770 --> 0:24:03.600 so sure that that's always helpful. 0:24:03.600 --> 0:24:06.600 No, it's that's why there was a reformation. That's right. 0:24:06.780 --> 0:24:10.260 Sola scriptura. It is not. The Bible is the authority 0:24:10.290 --> 0:24:12.690 we have. The Word of God is what is our 0:24:12.690 --> 0:24:15.840 authority instead? You know, as we said, teachers are great, 0:24:16.050 --> 0:24:18.810 but it's the word of God that's the authority. It's 0:24:18.810 --> 0:24:22.889 only Scripture, that's our authority. And though I appreciate very 0:24:22.890 --> 0:24:26.820 much what what churches have taught and doctrinal statements and 0:24:26.820 --> 0:24:29.369 churches and things like that. Ultimately, what we have to 0:24:29.369 --> 0:24:31.500 do is say it is the Bible. That's our authority. 0:24:31.500 --> 0:24:33.479 There was someone that was kind of telling me that 0:24:33.480 --> 0:24:37.350 I have to do something, according to tradition recently. And 0:24:37.350 --> 0:24:39.359 I said to my friend, I said, hey, have you 0:24:39.359 --> 0:24:40.950 heard of the Reformation? You know. 0:24:40.980 --> 0:24:42.180 It's where does authority. 0:24:42.180 --> 0:24:42.690 Lie? Yeah. 0:24:42.720 --> 0:24:43.109 That's right. 0:24:43.140 --> 0:24:45.690 It lies in the Word of God. And that's that's 0:24:45.690 --> 0:24:49.350 so crucial for us to remember. Well, this is very intriguing. 0:24:49.350 --> 0:24:52.560 We have lots more questions about the authority of Scripture 0:24:53.010 --> 0:24:55.500 and more questions about how we got the Bible. And 0:24:55.500 --> 0:24:58.950 so keep listening. My guest today, Jim Coakley. Steve Sanchez, 0:24:58.980 --> 0:25:01.530 this is a special edition. Trisha and I are here 0:25:01.530 --> 0:25:05.730 talking about your questions about the Bible, uh, particularly about 0:25:05.730 --> 0:25:07.680 the Bible and how God gave us his word. So 0:25:07.680 --> 0:25:10.350 stay with me. This is, uh, macadelic. And we'll be 0:25:10.350 --> 0:25:15.810 right back with more of our discussion. People frequently think 0:25:15.810 --> 0:25:18.750 of Christmas as a Christian holiday and Hanukkah as a 0:25:18.750 --> 0:25:22.380 Jewish celebration. But if we really understood Christmas, we see 0:25:22.380 --> 0:25:25.359 that it's deeply connected to the Jewish people. I mean, 0:25:25.359 --> 0:25:28.780 we even sing born as the King of Israel, now 0:25:28.780 --> 0:25:31.449 Chosen People Ministries, one of open lines underwriters and a 0:25:31.450 --> 0:25:34.300 ministry that brings the good news to Jewish people around 0:25:34.300 --> 0:25:37.750 the world, is offering Christmas through Jewish eyes. This free 0:25:37.750 --> 0:25:41.649 booklet will show just how Jewish Christmas really is. For 0:25:41.650 --> 0:25:44.200 your free copy of Christmas Through Jewish Eyes, just go 0:25:44.200 --> 0:25:48.250 to the Open Line website. Open Line radio.org. Scroll down. 0:25:48.250 --> 0:25:50.530 You'll see a link that says A free gift from 0:25:50.530 --> 0:25:53.350 Chosen People Ministries. Click on that. You'll be taken to 0:25:53.380 --> 0:25:54.970 a page where you can sign up for your own 0:25:54.970 --> 0:25:59.650 copy of Christmas Through Jewish Eyes. We're so glad that 0:25:59.710 --> 0:26:03.070 Febc partners with Open Line with Doctor Michael Ray Dolnick, 0:26:03.070 --> 0:26:07.330 bringing the Febc mailbag every week. Learn how Far East 0:26:07.330 --> 0:26:11.109 Broadcasting Company is taking Christ to the world at febc. 0:26:11.320 --> 0:26:14.620 Org on their weekly podcast. Until all have heard with 0:26:14.619 --> 0:26:18.100 Ed Cannon, you'll hear stories of lives changed by Messiah 0:26:18.130 --> 0:26:21.550 all across the globe. Again. You can hear the podcast 0:26:21.550 --> 0:26:37.090 when you visit febc. Dawg. That's Phoebe Dawg. Welcome back 0:26:37.090 --> 0:26:40.149 to Open Line with Doctor Michael Radonich. I'm the very 0:26:40.150 --> 0:26:44.770 same Michael Redlich. And this is a special pre-recorded edition 0:26:44.770 --> 0:26:47.830 of Open Line. So don't call in today. But you 0:26:47.830 --> 0:26:51.189 did send in questions. And I'm really grateful because so 0:26:51.190 --> 0:26:54.040 many people have questions about how we got the Bible, 0:26:54.070 --> 0:26:57.399 how to view the Bible, why we can trust the scriptures, 0:26:57.400 --> 0:27:02.230 how authoritative the scriptures are. So the Bible is our 0:27:02.230 --> 0:27:05.830 special topic on Open Line today dealing with all those issues. 0:27:05.830 --> 0:27:10.030 My guests are Doctor Steve Sanchez, professor of Bible at 0:27:10.030 --> 0:27:14.109 Moody Bible Institute, and Doctor Jim Coakley, a professor of 0:27:14.109 --> 0:27:17.410 Bible at Moody Bible Institute. He's also the author of 0:27:17.410 --> 0:27:20.590 14 Fresh Ways to Enjoy the Bible, and both of 0:27:20.590 --> 0:27:24.740 them are contributors to the Moody Bible Commentary. Okay, Tricia, 0:27:24.740 --> 0:27:27.050 what's what's next on our agenda? 0:27:27.080 --> 0:27:30.619 Okay, let's move into an RNC, if we could. What 0:27:30.619 --> 0:27:34.820 do we mean when we talk about the Bible being inerrant? 0:27:34.850 --> 0:27:37.610 I want to jump in here sometimes people said that 0:27:37.609 --> 0:27:41.270 the Bible was authoritative, right? And then after a while, 0:27:41.270 --> 0:27:44.210 people said, yeah, it's authoritative, but it's not true. And 0:27:44.210 --> 0:27:47.900 so then in history, theologians came up with the term 0:27:47.900 --> 0:27:51.590 that the Bible is God's infallible word. And they said, yes, 0:27:51.590 --> 0:27:55.669 it's infallible about life and spiritual things. 0:27:56.720 --> 0:27:59.450 But not in history or in science or in other things. 0:27:59.480 --> 0:28:03.230 Yeah. And so then we came up with the word inerrancy, 0:28:03.710 --> 0:28:05.780 meaning the Bible is without error. But what are we 0:28:05.780 --> 0:28:08.600 talking about when we're talking about inerrancy? 0:28:08.630 --> 0:28:10.550 You just said without air, the idea that this is 0:28:10.550 --> 0:28:13.280 God's Word, and we can trust it for what it's 0:28:13.280 --> 0:28:15.949 trying to accomplish and say about whatever subject matter it 0:28:15.950 --> 0:28:16.520 talks about. 0:28:16.520 --> 0:28:19.640 I think that's important. If God is the source of Scripture, 0:28:19.640 --> 0:28:24.130 if the words are literally God breathed, then his characteristics 0:28:24.130 --> 0:28:26.830 are going to cover that word as well. God does 0:28:26.830 --> 0:28:29.530 not speak error. Therefore his word is not going to 0:28:29.530 --> 0:28:32.350 have any error regardless of what it speaks on, because 0:28:32.350 --> 0:28:35.440 he's its source. The doctrine is rooted in the source 0:28:35.440 --> 0:28:36.580 of the Word of God. 0:28:36.700 --> 0:28:40.630 So I know, like the Moody Bible Institute doctrinal statement 0:28:40.630 --> 0:28:43.810 essentially says, If I'm going from memory here, it says 0:28:43.810 --> 0:28:48.610 that the Bible is without error in everything that it 0:28:48.610 --> 0:28:50.860 affirms or teaches is. 0:28:51.190 --> 0:28:52.690 That's right. Whatever it touches. 0:28:52.810 --> 0:28:53.500 Whatever it touches. 0:28:53.530 --> 0:28:55.780 Okay. So there are. So we had people call here 0:28:55.780 --> 0:28:58.360 and there, they're flat earthers because there's four corners of 0:28:58.360 --> 0:28:59.470 the earth. What do you say? 0:28:59.500 --> 0:29:03.910 Listen, we understand that text must be interpreted. If I 0:29:03.910 --> 0:29:05.709 say a million people came to my house last night 0:29:05.710 --> 0:29:08.440 because I threw a dinner party. Nobody charges me with lying. 0:29:08.620 --> 0:29:12.490 They understand that I'm using a specific kind of illustration. 0:29:12.490 --> 0:29:15.280 It's a genre, if you will. And we must afford 0:29:15.280 --> 0:29:17.470 the Bible the same way. It doesn't intend to be 0:29:17.470 --> 0:29:19.750 taken literally at that point, and so we ought not 0:29:19.770 --> 0:29:21.900 interpret it literally when it doesn't intend that. 0:29:21.900 --> 0:29:22.170 So when. 0:29:22.170 --> 0:29:23.730 It says the sun came up, it's not saying. 0:29:23.730 --> 0:29:24.000 It's. 0:29:24.000 --> 0:29:26.670 Phenomenological language. We understand that. 0:29:26.700 --> 0:29:29.910 You know, every meteorologist will tell us what time, you know, 0:29:30.090 --> 0:29:33.420 we see the meteorological reports. They'll say something like, sun 0:29:33.450 --> 0:29:36.240 up at 615 in the morning. No one thinks he 0:29:36.240 --> 0:29:37.110 thinks it's a flat earth. 0:29:37.110 --> 0:29:37.620 That's right. 0:29:37.830 --> 0:29:40.920 That's the way people talk. It's called figures of speech, right? 0:29:40.980 --> 0:29:43.050 If I tell you it's raining cats and dogs, you 0:29:43.050 --> 0:29:45.120 know you're not going to go get a pet out there. It's. 0:29:45.150 --> 0:29:46.260 You're just going to stay inside. 0:29:46.260 --> 0:29:47.850 But there is a challenge. How do we know when 0:29:47.850 --> 0:29:50.130 there is a figure of speech as compared to something 0:29:50.130 --> 0:29:52.110 very literal? If I say, hey, Michael, I'll be back 0:29:52.110 --> 0:29:55.260 in a minute. Now, that sounds very specific because there's 0:29:55.260 --> 0:29:57.990 a unit of time, but, you know, it's a short while. 0:29:58.230 --> 0:30:01.380 So we have these questions, okay, three days and three nights, 0:30:01.470 --> 0:30:03.960 you know, these kind of passages in the Bible, is 0:30:03.960 --> 0:30:06.780 it kind of figurative or is it actual literal. And 0:30:06.780 --> 0:30:09.030 these are challenging things for us to deal with when 0:30:09.030 --> 0:30:10.290 we come to Bible interpretation. 0:30:10.320 --> 0:30:13.410 They're interpretive issues. They're interpretive issues, but they're not saying 0:30:13.410 --> 0:30:15.750 that there's errors in the Bible. That's correct. And it's 0:30:15.750 --> 0:30:18.500 that hyper literal approach that makes people think that there 0:30:18.500 --> 0:30:22.040 are errors. And of course, there are other issues that 0:30:22.070 --> 0:30:25.280 we'll talk about as well. But there are people who say, well, 0:30:25.310 --> 0:30:28.640 what passages should we interpret that way? Of course, with 0:30:28.640 --> 0:30:31.940 the creation narrative and and things like that. And so 0:30:31.940 --> 0:30:35.930 but the point that we're making is that everything that 0:30:35.930 --> 0:30:38.930 the Bible affirms and teaches, we say is true. And 0:30:38.930 --> 0:30:41.570 there may be people, for example, about the creation narrative 0:30:41.600 --> 0:30:44.660 who say something different than I believe. And I'm not 0:30:44.660 --> 0:30:46.190 even going to say right now, but I'm going to 0:30:46.190 --> 0:30:48.320 say as long as they believe that that narrative teaches 0:30:48.320 --> 0:30:51.380 that God created the world, they may interpret it differently. 0:30:51.380 --> 0:30:56.120 But nevertheless, God is the creator. He made man, humanity, 0:30:56.120 --> 0:30:56.720 and so forth. 0:30:56.720 --> 0:30:58.940 It's a matter of interpretation in some cases. 0:30:58.970 --> 0:31:01.520 Yeah, yeah. So are you saying that the Bible I'm 0:31:01.520 --> 0:31:07.220 holding in my hand is inerrant, or is there are 0:31:07.220 --> 0:31:12.650 the words in my actual English Bible in Aaron? That's a. 0:31:12.650 --> 0:31:16.040 Fantastic question. And both the Moody Bible Institute's doctrinal statement, 0:31:16.040 --> 0:31:20.570 which the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy agrees with roots, inspiration, 0:31:20.570 --> 0:31:24.200 and inerrancy in the original manuscript. The original autographs we 0:31:24.200 --> 0:31:27.170 call them, which are not in our possession. Which raises 0:31:27.170 --> 0:31:30.530 another great question how can we trust our translations? And 0:31:30.530 --> 0:31:34.340 through the science of text criticism, deep study, we understand 0:31:34.340 --> 0:31:38.780 that the copies we have today are accurate reproductions of 0:31:38.780 --> 0:31:41.420 those originals, and that's very important. 0:31:41.450 --> 0:31:45.080 Yeah, it's when we're talking about the Bible being inerrant, 0:31:45.080 --> 0:31:51.800 it's inherent in the original autographs. And to be precise, 0:31:51.800 --> 0:31:57.050 when Isaiah wrote Isaiah that that was the that one copy, 0:31:57.080 --> 0:31:59.030 he said, well, I don't have that, Steve. What am 0:31:59.030 --> 0:32:01.790 I going to do? Well, here's the thing. I used 0:32:01.790 --> 0:32:04.310 this just the other day. Someone was asking me about 0:32:04.310 --> 0:32:06.710 this at a at a meeting I was at, and 0:32:06.710 --> 0:32:11.840 I said, if I got 20 birthday cards and they 0:32:11.840 --> 0:32:17.600 each said happy birthday, but in 20 of the 20 cards, 0:32:17.600 --> 0:32:19.670 15 of them spelled birthday wrong. 0:32:20.060 --> 0:32:21.440 We still know what it said. 0:32:21.470 --> 0:32:23.330 It's still because I have all these. I know what 0:32:23.330 --> 0:32:24.800 this is. I know what kind of card it is. 0:32:24.830 --> 0:32:27.590 And even though I can tell a misspelling, I know 0:32:27.590 --> 0:32:32.690 that by doing textual criticism, I know what was intended. 0:32:32.720 --> 0:32:36.080 Maybe a better example would even be photocopies, where it 0:32:36.080 --> 0:32:38.990 keeps smearing right? And age as it ages, and it 0:32:38.990 --> 0:32:40.910 gets a little bit more unclear, but you have enough 0:32:40.910 --> 0:32:42.770 of them that you can say, ah, I know what 0:32:42.770 --> 0:32:43.130 the original. 0:32:43.160 --> 0:32:46.370 Occasionally people will use the illustration of the telephone game 0:32:46.370 --> 0:32:49.010 as a way to criticize the process by which we 0:32:49.010 --> 0:32:52.459 have the text. That's can be nothing further than the 0:32:52.460 --> 0:32:55.670 truth there. The telephone game is not accurate. When students 0:32:55.670 --> 0:32:59.000 young people play that game, their intention is to deceive 0:32:59.000 --> 0:33:02.000 one another. We're talking about people who cared about the 0:33:02.000 --> 0:33:05.030 Word of God, who wanted to preserve it for later generations, 0:33:05.030 --> 0:33:08.030 and they were careful. Did they get it perfectly right? 0:33:08.060 --> 0:33:10.790 Not every time. We can often tell where they didn't 0:33:10.790 --> 0:33:14.180 get it quite right, but they cared to preserve the 0:33:14.190 --> 0:33:17.100 Word of God for the future. That's important. That means 0:33:17.100 --> 0:33:18.930 they were not trying to deceive us. Good. 0:33:18.960 --> 0:33:22.470 Could you define textual criticism? You. You have used this 0:33:22.470 --> 0:33:23.670 term a couple of times. 0:33:23.700 --> 0:33:27.960 Textual criticism is the study of the ancient biblical text. 0:33:27.990 --> 0:33:29.520 It could be the study of any text. That's right. 0:33:29.550 --> 0:33:32.370 You can do textual criticism of Shakespeare or. 0:33:32.400 --> 0:33:33.930 Other Quran or Quran or. 0:33:33.930 --> 0:33:37.500 The Septuagint, which is a translation of the Bible. Uh, 0:33:38.100 --> 0:33:41.670 but you can what you're doing is you're studying all 0:33:41.670 --> 0:33:46.200 the available evidence to determine what the original text actually said. 0:33:46.200 --> 0:33:51.000 And textual criticism, I would say we're about 99% sure 0:33:51.030 --> 0:33:55.440 99 and 4,400% sure of what the original text of 0:33:55.440 --> 0:33:57.630 the Bible said. There may be some things where we say, 0:33:57.660 --> 0:34:00.630 maybe it could be this reading or that reading, but 0:34:00.660 --> 0:34:03.450 we're pretty sure it's one of those readings. So we 0:34:03.450 --> 0:34:06.780 do have a clear understanding of what the original text is. 0:34:06.780 --> 0:34:10.470 And so that's why I think people who say the 0:34:10.469 --> 0:34:14.650 fact that they, they can find Transmission or text critical errors. 0:34:14.920 --> 0:34:17.140 And that's why they don't believe in an agency. They're 0:34:17.140 --> 0:34:20.440 actually not looking at the evidence as it ought to be. 0:34:20.469 --> 0:34:22.990 And in fact, no major doctrine of the Christian faith 0:34:22.989 --> 0:34:25.840 is altered or changed at all by the end of the. 0:34:25.870 --> 0:34:26.799 By a variant reading. 0:34:26.830 --> 0:34:27.819 Supposed variants. 0:34:27.850 --> 0:34:28.839 That's right. That's it. 0:34:28.870 --> 0:34:32.109 You know, someone actually wrote a question about text criticism. 0:34:32.440 --> 0:34:35.320 I noticed it. It's question 11 here. 0:34:35.770 --> 0:34:39.969 Okay. Ernie wrote us in Washington, uh, listens to us 0:34:40.000 --> 0:34:42.640 on the website, and he wants to know about the 0:34:42.640 --> 0:34:50.230 interpretation of the terms in Matthew 1924. Camilla or Camilla's. Um, 0:34:50.230 --> 0:34:52.330 in light of some who claim that one term was 0:34:52.330 --> 0:34:54.580 changed to soften the rigor of the statement. What is 0:34:54.580 --> 0:34:57.580 your perspective specifically? Was there a change in the term 0:34:57.580 --> 0:35:00.250 linguistically to make a specific point for those who may 0:35:00.250 --> 0:35:02.200 have spoken Greek or Aramaic? Okay, so. 0:35:02.200 --> 0:35:07.690 Camilla's I mean, Camilla means camel and it was the 0:35:07.690 --> 0:35:13.360 largest animal in the world of, of Israel in the 0:35:13.360 --> 0:35:17.890 first century. Uh, and and so what it what the 0:35:17.890 --> 0:35:20.620 verse says is the Lord Jesus says it's harder for 0:35:20.620 --> 0:35:23.110 a rich man to enter the kingdom of God than 0:35:23.110 --> 0:35:26.320 it is for a camel to enter through the eye 0:35:26.350 --> 0:35:28.900 of a needle. Some people have gone into all sorts 0:35:28.900 --> 0:35:33.250 of weird ideas about that, about there being a small gate. Right? Uh, 0:35:33.250 --> 0:35:36.670 called the eye of the needle. No, I think Jesus 0:35:36.670 --> 0:35:38.020 was being kind of funny. 0:35:38.050 --> 0:35:38.470 Yeah. 0:35:38.560 --> 0:35:45.220 Uh, big animal, very small. Uh, entry opening and. 0:35:45.340 --> 0:35:46.359 Not going to happen. Yeah. 0:35:46.750 --> 0:35:49.960 And it's hard. It was. It's very tough. Money can 0:35:50.200 --> 0:35:52.450 often grab our hearts and keep us from God. And 0:35:52.450 --> 0:35:57.880 that's his point now, later on, later manuscripts, some, just 0:35:57.880 --> 0:36:04.480 a few. They changed the word to Camelon, which actually 0:36:04.480 --> 0:36:07.029 is a large rope, right. 0:36:07.060 --> 0:36:09.460 Like a fishing line of some of some heft. 0:36:09.489 --> 0:36:13.310 Yeah, some heft. Exactly. Uh, and it's because they were 0:36:13.310 --> 0:36:16.850 trying to these these copyists were trying to fix what 0:36:16.880 --> 0:36:19.460 Jesus had to say because they said, oh, Jesus wouldn't 0:36:19.460 --> 0:36:21.440 make a joke. You know, he. 0:36:21.469 --> 0:36:23.780 Hung out with fishermen, so he would have used that domain. 0:36:23.810 --> 0:36:23.989 Yeah. 0:36:24.020 --> 0:36:26.480 Rather than needles and thread. This is a big one. 0:36:26.510 --> 0:36:29.300 And so they change a couple of letters, but it's 0:36:29.300 --> 0:36:33.380 so clear that that's the change that textual criticism says. 0:36:33.739 --> 0:36:34.790 Now we know. 0:36:34.820 --> 0:36:37.430 We know that it was a camel entering the eye 0:36:37.430 --> 0:36:40.129 of a needle. And and by the way, someone asked 0:36:40.130 --> 0:36:42.770 me just a few weeks ago about did Jesus have 0:36:42.770 --> 0:36:46.430 a sense of humor? And I mentioned Elton Trueblood's book 0:36:46.430 --> 0:36:48.560 The Humor of Christ. But I also mentioned this passage. 0:36:48.590 --> 0:36:48.920 Yeah. 0:36:48.950 --> 0:36:51.710 Uh, in Matthew 19, because that was a funny thing 0:36:51.739 --> 0:36:52.310 to say. 0:36:52.340 --> 0:36:55.070 Biblical authors are very good. Even Jesus, with punning and 0:36:55.070 --> 0:36:58.219 playing off of words and word plays. And that's biblical humor. 0:36:58.250 --> 0:37:01.910 Yeah. And so, uh, so no, I don't think that 0:37:01.910 --> 0:37:04.819 this is a problem verse. It is just it is 0:37:04.850 --> 0:37:08.390 a perfect example of how textual criticism is a very 0:37:08.390 --> 0:37:11.130 helpful thing we know, and how clearly we know what 0:37:11.130 --> 0:37:15.390 the original words were, rather than a saying that something 0:37:15.390 --> 0:37:19.920 got lost in translation or transmission or anything like that. So, uh, 0:37:19.920 --> 0:37:24.120 there's another question here about inerrancy, Trish, don't you think. 0:37:24.150 --> 0:37:26.250 There are lots of questions? Um. 0:37:26.670 --> 0:37:28.830 You know what? Let's get to those questions when we 0:37:28.860 --> 0:37:31.950 come back. Uh, because we want to get a whole 0:37:31.950 --> 0:37:35.160 bunch of them together. You're listening to a very special 0:37:35.160 --> 0:37:39.029 edition of Open Line. It's all about how we can 0:37:39.030 --> 0:37:41.669 trust the Bible. And I am having a great time 0:37:41.670 --> 0:37:44.160 with Steve Sanchez and Jim Coakley and Trish McMillan. We're 0:37:44.160 --> 0:37:46.320 going to be right back with more of the questions 0:37:46.320 --> 0:37:48.660 you sent in right here. This is Michael Ray Dolnick 0:37:48.660 --> 0:38:00.030 on Open Line. Stay with us. Ministry isn't a solo effort. 0:38:00.060 --> 0:38:02.460 You know my voice. But if you could see inside 0:38:02.460 --> 0:38:05.489 our studio, you'd see a team behind the scenes putting 0:38:05.489 --> 0:38:08.520 open line on the air. Look a little further, and 0:38:08.520 --> 0:38:11.069 you'd see into the homes of listeners like you who 0:38:11.070 --> 0:38:14.190 give monthly to make this ministry possible. And when you 0:38:14.190 --> 0:38:16.950 join our team of Kitchen Table Partners, I'll send you 0:38:16.950 --> 0:38:19.800 a Bible study moment email every other week with tips 0:38:19.800 --> 0:38:23.279 and encouragement. Become a kitchen table partner today by calling 0:38:23.310 --> 0:38:36.150 (888) 644-7122 or go to Open Line radio.org. Welcome back to 0:38:36.180 --> 0:38:39.120 Open Line I'm Michael Radonich. Trish McMillan is here. She's 0:38:39.120 --> 0:38:42.210 a producer of Open Line. And our guest today is 0:38:42.210 --> 0:38:45.210 Jim Coakley. He is professor of Bible at Moody Bible 0:38:45.210 --> 0:38:48.360 Institute Steve Sanchez who is professor of Bible, also the 0:38:48.360 --> 0:38:51.870 chairman of biblical theological studies at Moody Bible Institute. And 0:38:51.870 --> 0:38:54.750 we're discussing the authority of Scripture and why we can 0:38:54.750 --> 0:38:58.590 trust the Bible. And we were just talking about inerrancy, 0:38:58.590 --> 0:39:01.049 saying that the Bible is true in all that it affirms. 0:39:01.050 --> 0:39:03.690 We didn't give a verse that supports that. And I 0:39:03.690 --> 0:39:08.350 want to say John 1717, the Lord Jesus says in 0:39:08.350 --> 0:39:11.379 his prayer for his disciples, he asked his father to 0:39:11.410 --> 0:39:14.560 sanctify them in the truth. And then he says, Your 0:39:14.560 --> 0:39:15.370 word is truth. 0:39:15.400 --> 0:39:17.380 Yeah, I can still go back to the King James Version. 0:39:17.410 --> 0:39:19.420 Thy word is truth. That's the way I memorized it first. 0:39:19.450 --> 0:39:21.760 And so that's that. That's a very important verse. 0:39:21.790 --> 0:39:23.469 And so what we have to say is what you're 0:39:23.469 --> 0:39:27.130 saying is that in the original autographs of Scripture, this 0:39:27.130 --> 0:39:29.770 was true. It's without error in everything that it affirms. 0:39:29.800 --> 0:39:32.440 It's not saying that there are no figures of speech 0:39:32.440 --> 0:39:36.400 or summaries or things like that which are precision. 0:39:36.430 --> 0:39:36.910 Yeah. 0:39:36.940 --> 0:39:40.450 But rather it is just saying it is true. And 0:39:40.450 --> 0:39:43.540 someone wrote in with a question Trish mentioned. Go ahead. Yes. 0:39:43.540 --> 0:39:45.850 John wrote us on Facebook and said if you believe 0:39:45.850 --> 0:39:49.360 the verbal inspiration of the scriptures, how do you resolve 0:39:49.360 --> 0:39:52.480 the differences? And he gives a specific example of what 0:39:52.510 --> 0:39:57.549 God said at Jesus baptism. Um, the Matthew 317 says, 0:39:57.550 --> 0:39:59.980 this is my son. This is my beloved son. In 0:39:59.980 --> 0:40:03.040 Mark and Luke both say, you are my beloved son. 0:40:03.070 --> 0:40:05.350 Why did the spirit inspire inspired the writers to use 0:40:05.350 --> 0:40:08.890 different words and not write what was actually said. Granted, 0:40:08.890 --> 0:40:11.530 it doesn't change the meaning, but then it would be 0:40:11.530 --> 0:40:14.170 meaning the meaning that is inspired and not the words. 0:40:14.200 --> 0:40:15.790 Could this be a copyist error? 0:40:15.820 --> 0:40:20.049 I love it. Well, it could be a copyist error. 0:40:20.080 --> 0:40:23.650 Could very well be. I love it that he says 0:40:23.650 --> 0:40:26.890 it does not change the meaning. I think that that 0:40:26.890 --> 0:40:29.830 is such a crucial point that he makes. And. And 0:40:29.830 --> 0:40:32.350 so the thing I want to say about we have 0:40:32.350 --> 0:40:35.049 the synoptic Gospels, the Matthew, Mark and Luke, who are 0:40:35.050 --> 0:40:37.719 very similar. And then there are places where John does 0:40:37.719 --> 0:40:40.810 overlap a little bit with those three, but those three 0:40:40.810 --> 0:40:43.959 and there are issues with first, second Samuel, first second 0:40:43.960 --> 0:40:47.140 Kings and first second Chronicles which cover the same material. 0:40:47.800 --> 0:40:52.540 We do not have a stenographer at the baptism of 0:40:52.540 --> 0:40:56.500 Jesus sitting there. And the gospel writers were not stenographers. 0:40:56.500 --> 0:40:59.290 They're not sitting there taking dictation like you do in 0:40:59.290 --> 0:41:00.070 a court. 0:41:00.100 --> 0:41:02.800 Or recording it on their phone. Yeah, we could do now. 0:41:02.980 --> 0:41:03.280 They're not. 0:41:03.320 --> 0:41:05.629 Doing that. But what they're doing is they are trying 0:41:05.630 --> 0:41:09.140 to communicate the truth of God and they are inspired. 0:41:09.140 --> 0:41:11.660 So I think it's wrong to try and force a 0:41:11.660 --> 0:41:17.420 word for word comparison. One professor I had would say, 0:41:17.450 --> 0:41:20.480 maybe God said both could be. 0:41:20.480 --> 0:41:22.460 But I think we also have to realize that these 0:41:22.460 --> 0:41:25.430 are books. So the biblical author has an agenda or 0:41:25.460 --> 0:41:28.040 a theme or a concept that they're trying to promote. 0:41:28.040 --> 0:41:30.590 So when I see a change like this, I always 0:41:30.590 --> 0:41:33.140 rally around it because it helps me to look at, okay, 0:41:33.170 --> 0:41:36.109 what may be perspective does Matthew have that maybe is 0:41:36.110 --> 0:41:39.350 a little different than Luke? And again, not competitive but 0:41:39.350 --> 0:41:43.160 complementary to what they're trying to say. In this case. 0:41:43.160 --> 0:41:47.569 Matthew is quoting from Hosea chapter 11 earlier in chapter two. 0:41:47.600 --> 0:41:51.140 So this is my son. And so there might be, 0:41:51.170 --> 0:41:53.840 you know, some echoes of that, that still rattling around. 0:41:53.840 --> 0:41:56.299 So when he uses then goes to the baptismal scene, 0:41:56.420 --> 0:41:59.060 that's why that's there, these things happen. And one of 0:41:59.060 --> 0:42:01.550 the big ones that a lot of people struggle with 0:42:01.580 --> 0:42:04.750 is the order of the temptations, where you have Jesus 0:42:04.750 --> 0:42:08.049 after he goes through this baptismal scene, is in the wilderness, 0:42:08.050 --> 0:42:10.839 and he's tempted three times by the devil, and the 0:42:10.840 --> 0:42:14.200 order between Matthew and Luke is different. It starts out 0:42:14.230 --> 0:42:17.590 turning stones to bread, and then it goes to whether 0:42:17.590 --> 0:42:19.870 it's jump from the pinnacle of the Temple in Jerusalem 0:42:19.870 --> 0:42:21.850 or bow down, and I'll give you all the kingdoms 0:42:21.850 --> 0:42:25.330 of the earth. Why, look at that. Luke ends with 0:42:25.330 --> 0:42:28.570 jump off the pinnacle of the Temple in Jerusalem. Why 0:42:28.570 --> 0:42:31.330 does he end there? Well, he has a geographical kind 0:42:31.330 --> 0:42:34.270 of axis that he works for with his gospel. He 0:42:34.270 --> 0:42:37.029 gets Jesus to Jerusalem and then even Luke. Then the 0:42:37.030 --> 0:42:39.310 next book that he writes, acts, starts in Jerusalem and 0:42:39.310 --> 0:42:41.469 goes to the uttermost parts of the world. So there's 0:42:41.469 --> 0:42:45.040 something about geography that helps orient. Luke's telling of the 0:42:45.040 --> 0:42:48.219 story of Jesus. Why does Matthew end with Bowden? I'll 0:42:48.219 --> 0:42:51.009 give you all the kingdoms of the earth is because 0:42:51.040 --> 0:42:53.859 Matthew is trying to portray Jesus as king, and so 0:42:53.860 --> 0:42:56.319 he's going to emphasize that theme. So we're not trying 0:42:56.320 --> 0:42:59.830 to compete. Now, I hate the question. Well, who's right? 0:42:59.860 --> 0:43:03.040 Who's wrong? Yeah, no, that's a wrong question. It's like, okay, 0:43:03.070 --> 0:43:04.779 what are they trying to do? Because they're each trying 0:43:04.780 --> 0:43:06.340 to give a portrait of Jesus. 0:43:06.430 --> 0:43:10.630 I absolutely agree that this issue may reflect different purposes 0:43:10.630 --> 0:43:13.899 in the Gospels. In fact, it seems to me that 0:43:13.900 --> 0:43:17.560 Mark and Luke are recording what was spoken directly to Jesus. 0:43:17.560 --> 0:43:20.109 They they have a direct quote from Psalm two seven. 0:43:20.110 --> 0:43:24.370 You are my son. So in those two gospels, the 0:43:24.370 --> 0:43:28.300 message is, this is what was spoken directly to the 0:43:28.300 --> 0:43:31.029 Lord Jesus. On the other hand, Matthew seems to be 0:43:31.030 --> 0:43:34.930 reflecting the perspective of John the Baptist and the crowd. 0:43:34.930 --> 0:43:38.860 It was God's message to them saying, this is the 0:43:38.860 --> 0:43:41.560 Son of God that was promised in Psalm two seven. 0:43:41.590 --> 0:43:45.310 You need to recognize him. It's as if Matthew is 0:43:45.310 --> 0:43:47.950 saying to his Jewish readers, you need to identify that 0:43:47.950 --> 0:43:50.950 this is the one who was promised. So Matthew included 0:43:50.950 --> 0:43:53.439 what John the Baptist heard. The other two gospels gave 0:43:53.440 --> 0:43:56.410 what was spoken directly to Jesus. The slight difference just 0:43:56.410 --> 0:43:59.020 had to do with the message they wanted to communicate. 0:43:59.050 --> 0:44:00.430 You know, one of the things you guys are drawing 0:44:00.430 --> 0:44:03.310 out is that this doctrine is more complicated than most 0:44:03.310 --> 0:44:05.950 people realize. Yeah. If you have in your mind that 0:44:05.950 --> 0:44:10.420 secretary taking dictation. Yeah. It's more sophisticated than that. It's 0:44:10.420 --> 0:44:12.580 not out of reach, I think, for people to understand, 0:44:12.580 --> 0:44:14.530 but it's going to take a little more work than 0:44:14.560 --> 0:44:16.690 an overly simplistic understanding. 0:44:16.690 --> 0:44:19.120 But I actually think it actually helps us in Bible study, 0:44:19.120 --> 0:44:21.520 because then we get to see what the biblical author 0:44:21.520 --> 0:44:23.860 is trying to make a point about. 0:44:23.890 --> 0:44:24.550 What's he emphasizing? 0:44:24.580 --> 0:44:26.680 What's he emphasizing? And so this really helps us I 0:44:26.680 --> 0:44:27.730 love these kind of things because. 0:44:27.730 --> 0:44:28.630 Every book is different. 0:44:28.660 --> 0:44:29.170 Every book is. 0:44:29.170 --> 0:44:31.270 Different. Every author has a different purpose as they tell 0:44:31.270 --> 0:44:31.750 the story. 0:44:31.780 --> 0:44:32.350 It's one of the reasons. 0:44:32.350 --> 0:44:34.180 Why I always say that we need to interpret the 0:44:34.180 --> 0:44:37.810 text of the Bible, not the events behind it. What 0:44:37.810 --> 0:44:39.730 people are asking when they want to say what was said, 0:44:39.730 --> 0:44:42.069 you're my son or this is my son. They're trying 0:44:42.070 --> 0:44:44.590 to get back to the event. But what we're trying 0:44:44.590 --> 0:44:47.260 to say is, what does this text mean? Right. And 0:44:47.260 --> 0:44:48.730 that's why I want to read what Matthew says. I 0:44:48.730 --> 0:44:50.770 want to read what Mark says. What Mark. Luke says 0:44:50.920 --> 0:44:55.660 that the real emphasis here is a divinely inspired interpretation 0:44:55.660 --> 0:44:57.930 of the event. And that's what Matthew gives us, and 0:44:57.930 --> 0:44:59.219 that's what Mark gives. 0:44:59.250 --> 0:45:01.259 That applies to every book of the Bible that you study, 0:45:01.469 --> 0:45:04.590 to be fair. You're going to read Romans, study Romans. 0:45:04.770 --> 0:45:07.319 Don't bring all the theology from every book. And necessarily 0:45:07.320 --> 0:45:09.690 every time you have a question, focus on the argument 0:45:09.690 --> 0:45:11.130 of the author in that book. 0:45:11.370 --> 0:45:13.710 I think it also is your presuppositions about the text. 0:45:13.710 --> 0:45:16.080 If you kind of come predisposed that the Bible is 0:45:16.080 --> 0:45:18.300 authoritative in God's Word, you're going to give it the 0:45:18.300 --> 0:45:20.100 benefit of the doubt when it comes to these kind 0:45:20.130 --> 0:45:23.040 of issues. But if you're looking for loopholes, you're looking 0:45:23.040 --> 0:45:25.710 for things to kind of say, well, I'm not going 0:45:25.739 --> 0:45:27.600 to have to follow this word because of these little 0:45:27.600 --> 0:45:30.120 minor issues. That's a whole different perspective. 0:45:30.150 --> 0:45:33.000 Too often we're looking for excuses not to believe them, 0:45:33.390 --> 0:45:36.060 because if we can just throw the book out, then 0:45:36.060 --> 0:45:38.910 we can do what we want. And who wants to 0:45:38.910 --> 0:45:40.980 do that? It will. It will ruin our lives. But 0:45:40.980 --> 0:45:43.110 yet that's what people are looking for. I think you're right. 0:45:43.140 --> 0:45:46.230 Our presupposition has to be that this is God's authoritative word. 0:45:46.230 --> 0:45:50.250 It's his inspired word. It's his word without error. And 0:45:50.280 --> 0:45:52.469 I just love it that the writer who sent that 0:45:52.469 --> 0:45:54.480 in and says, well, the meaning doesn't change. 0:45:54.719 --> 0:45:55.379 He knew already. 0:45:55.410 --> 0:45:58.100 Okay, then you got your answer right there. But it's 0:45:58.370 --> 0:46:02.300 the emphasis that we're looking at. Well, this has gone 0:46:02.330 --> 0:46:05.720 by so quick. I'm so glad we have another hour 0:46:05.719 --> 0:46:09.110 because there's so many more questions we need to talk about. 0:46:09.140 --> 0:46:12.770 Questions about how we got the Bible and why we 0:46:12.800 --> 0:46:16.580 can trust the text. And what about translations and all 0:46:16.580 --> 0:46:20.000 those things we're still going to talk about. So don't 0:46:20.000 --> 0:46:22.250 go away. Stick around for the second hour of Open 0:46:22.250 --> 0:46:25.790 Line on most of these stations if you'd like. Check 0:46:25.790 --> 0:46:28.969 out our web page during the break. Open Line radio.org. 0:46:28.969 --> 0:46:32.660 You'll find our links to past programs there. Facebook, whatever 0:46:32.660 --> 0:46:35.660 you're looking for. You can also find our current resource 0:46:35.690 --> 0:46:38.510 on how to become a kitchen table partner. Thanks to 0:46:38.540 --> 0:46:42.290 Steve Sanchez, Jim Coakley, Trish McMillan, they'll all be back 0:46:42.290 --> 0:46:45.650 with me next hour. Open line with Doctor Michael Radonich 0:46:45.650 --> 0:46:49.520 is a production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody 0:46:49.520 --> 0:46:50.750 Bible Institute.