(This series was copied from the website of Hebron Gospel Hall. If you would like to see the post on their site, click Hebron Gospel Hall)
HOW WE GOT OUR BIBLES
01-Attestation-What is the Bible-Mervyn Hall
PART 1 – Mervyn Hall introduces this series of messages by asking three questions: What is the Bible? (Definition); Why do we have a Bible? (Design); and How did we get our Bible? (Delivery). He outlines the 4 types of revelation through which God speaks to humanity (Creation, conscience, Christ and the Canon) and lists numerous reasons why God gave us the Word of God (Readings: Psa 19:1-7, 2 Tim 2:14-16, Heb 4:12, 2 Pet 1:2-21, Luke 24:25-27) (Message preached 7th Jan 2018)
02-Inspiration & Inscripturation-Peter Scarsbrook
PART 2 – Peter Scarsbrook expounds the truth of the “inspiration of Scripture”, basing his remarks on the two relevant and crucial New Testament passages – 2 Tim 3:15-17 and 2 Pet 1:19-21. What is “inspiration”? Are the actual words inspired, or just the thoughts and ideas they embody? These and other questions are examined as Peter defends with verbal, plenary inspiration of the Bible (Message preached 21st Jan 2018)
03-Preservation & Tranmission-Josh Jacob
PART 3 – Josh Jacob traces the chain of movement from God to man – revelation, inspiration, inscripturation, preservation, transmission, canonisation and translation. Then he homes in on how the originals have been preserved. He compares the number, accuracy and dates of hand-written Greek and Hebrew Bible manuscripts with what is available for other ancient works of literature, and finds the Bible to be the best attested ancient book in the history of mankind (Message preached 28th Jan 2018)
PART 4 – Dan Rudge explains why there are 66 books in the Bible, and only 66. How did these books qualify for entry into the “canon of Scriture”? What principles determined their selection? Are we sure we have the correct number and assortment of Bible books? What about the apocrypha and other “gospels” that are not in the Bible? These are other questions are answered in this helpful message (Message preached 4th Feb 2018)
05-Translating the Bible-Michael Penfold
PART 5 – Michael Penfold gives an introductory history of how the Bible has been translated into various languages, including English, before highlighting 4 main issues to be considered in the task of Bible translating – motives, men, manuscripts and method. Based on the fact of the plenary verbal inspiration of Scripture, he emphasises that the Bible should be translated according to principles of formal, not dynamic, equivalence (Message preached 18th Feb 2018)
06-Evaluating a Translation-Jonathan Black
PART 6 – Jonathan Black speaks on the topic of English Bible translations and how to use and evaluate them with wisdom and care. He discusses numerous issues including faithfulness to the Greek and Hebrew scriptures, the use of italics, doctrinal soundness and accuracy of translation. He gives a number of examples of variation in translation – some good and some bad – and makes a number of suggestions to guide believers in this important area (Message preached 25th Feb 2018)
07-Investigating the Bible Pt1-Josh Jacob
PART 7 – Josh Jacob preaches on “investigating the Bible” under three headings – 1. Why come to the Bible? 2. Welcoming the Bible, and 3. Working through the Bible. He gives helpful general hints about basic considerations in Bible study including the student’s attitude, diligence, attention to detail and prayerful response. In Bible study – look for God, learn about Christ, listen to the Spirit and “live it out” (Message preached 11th Mar 2018)
08-Investigating the Bible Pt2-Mervyn Hall
PART 8 – Mervyn Hall gives a useful hand-on demonstration – using 2 Tim 2:15-16 – of how to study the Bible. 1st: Divide the text (punctuation, conjunctions, verbs, participles, prepositions etc.). 2nd: Organise the text (map out the grammatical flow and determine the main point). 3rd: Probe the text (note the context, culture, history, and examine tenses, voices, cases, moods, numbers and genders). 4th: Synthesise the text (pull together and check for consistency and faithfulness to the rest of Scripture) (Message preached 18th Mar 2018)