We desire that Bible doctrines will develop our devotion to God and form us spiritually as followers of Jesus Christ.
Scripture is “the authority of God exercised through Scripture.“—N.T. Wright.
The Bible is a collection of 66 books over 1500 years with 40 different authors.
Canon: “rule of faith”; “straight rod”, or “list.”
The Old Testament canon came down from a series of years and is generally divided into Law, Prophets, and Writings.
3 Criteria for New Testament Canon
Apostolic authority
Orthodoxy
Catholicity
Facts about Manuscripts
5756 of NT manuscripts. The NT manuscripts are significantly earlier than other ancient literature, within 35 years in at least one case and all of the NT within 200 years of the events.
A safe estimate—99% of original words in NT and 95% of original words in OT are recoverable.
3 Takeaways
If we can trust the Bible (canon, manuscripts, inspiration), then the Bible is our authority for life and practice.
We can be confident that what we have as the Bible is what was originally understood to be the Scriptures.
We don’t get to adjust the Bible; we must adjust to the Bible. (Deut. 4:2; Rev. 22:18)
Reach out to us via email at: info@wilkesborobaptist.org
