Five Things Every Christian Should be Doing with God’s Word
Psalm 119 is an amazing Psalm. Not only is it the longest Psalm (176 verses!), but it is also the Psalm that deals the most directly with the topic of Scripture. Virtually every verse, in one way or another, refers to God’s Word.
David (who is most likely the author) uses a variety of terminology to describe God’s Word: commandments, law, statutes, precepts, ordinances, rules, words, testimonies, etc. These all refer to the Scriptures as they existed in David’s day (essentially the Pentateuch).
Thus, Psalm 119 is one of the best examples of Scripture speaking about Scripture. It is the Word about the Word.
And in it, we find David … Continue reading...
Is the Original Text of the New Testament Lost? Rethinking Our Access to the Autographs
One of the standard challenges for New Testament textual criticism is whether we can work our way back to the original text. Some scholars are notoriously skeptical in this regard. Since we only have later copies, it is argued, we cannot be sure that the text was not substantially changed in the time period that pre-dates those copies.
Helmut Koester and Bart Ehrman are examples of this skeptical approach. Koester has argued that the text of the New Testament in the earliest stages was notoriously unstable. Most major changes, he argues, would have taken place in the first couple centuries.
Ehrman makes a similar case. Since we don’t have the … Continue reading...
Recovering the Doctrine of a Self-Authenticating Scripture
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How Is the Authority of the New Testament Being Attacked Today (and What Can We Do About It)?
I recently spent some time in Chattanooga speaking to various groups about the authority of Scripture. I spoke to college students from RUF at the University of Tennessee (Chattanooga) and Covenant College about “Five Misconceptions about the Origins of the New Testament.”
Then I spoke to Alternate Seminary on “How Do We Know the Bible is God’s Word?” Alternate Seminary is doing some great work training African American pastors and leaders. Here is a twitter post from my visit there:
Pleased to speak on biblical authority 4 Alt.Sem. in Chatt, TN. Great work for African American pastors pic.twitter.com/cpfX9jTcaH
— Mike Kruger (@michaeljkruger) March 5, 2015
Then I gave two lectures … Continue reading...
Is the God of the Old Testament a Moral Monster? An Interview with Dick Belcher
One of the most common objections to biblical authority is that the God of the Bible is guilty of committing immoral acts. God appears to advocate, endorse, and even commit acts that are normally seen as morally questionable. The classic example is the command to the Israelites to wipe out the Canaanites as they enter into the promised land.
In fact, it is the question of whether God endorses genocide that features heavily in the objections of atheist Richard Dawkins in his book The God Delusion (Mariner Books, 2008). It is also a prominent theme in Peter Enns’ book, The Bible Tells Me So (HarperOne, 2014). See my review of … Continue reading...