Kinds of Writing Materials in the Ancient World:

1. Waxed Tablets – (Luke 1:63) “erasable” tablets of wax written on with stylus
2. Papyrus – weaved together from fine strings of plants (used until 200’s AD)
3. Parchment – animal skins, tanned leather (used by 4^th century AD)
4. Paper – invented by Chinese but not in the West till 11th century AD

Kinds of Book Forms:

1. Scroll – spindled roll from 20 glued or sewn sheets of papyrus
2. Codex – 3-4 sheets folded with ends glued or sewn together

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Here are the notes:

The documents of the Old Testament were originally written in Hebrew and Aramaic (Ezra 4:7–6:18; 7:12–26; Jer. 10:11; Dan. 2:4–7:28) and the documents of the New Testament were originally written in Greek. These were not “inspired” or “holy” languages as some have thought, but were simply the languages of the people God revealed himself to.

I. The Hebrew of the Old Testament

The form of Hebrew found in the Bible was probably spoken from as early as 1500 BC to some time after 400 BC. The Hebrew of the OT is what is referred to today as “Classical” Hebrew to be distinguished from “Modern” Hebrew. Technically, the Hebrew we find in the OT is a dead language and is not spoken or understood in the way Modern Hebrew is spoken or understood. Linguists today are unsure of how it was pronounced when it was spoken. Ultimately, the OT documents are the only documents we know of that contain this Classical Hebrew. The Dead Sea Scrolls (cir. 2nd century BC) are the closest other documents with Classical Hebrew, but they were written centuries after of the final parts of the OT were written. Hebrew is a Semitic language, quite similar to Aramaic, and is read from right to left.

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Here are the notes:

Further comments on the Old Testament:

What we know as the Old Testament was recognized as the authoritative Scriptures as early as the 5-4th century BC. The Septuagint (LXX) was a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures beginning around the 3rd century BC and contained our 39 books, and became the accessible edition of the Bible which later Greek speaking generations quoted from, including Jesus and the authors of the New Testament. The Dead Sea Scrolls (cir. 2-1st century BC) included copies or fragments from every book of the Old Testament except for Esther. Other outside evidence for our books of the OT:

2 Maccabees 2:13-14 (cir. 160 BC) The same things also were reported in the writings and commentaries of Nehemiah; and how he founding a library gathered together the acts of the kings, and the prophets, and of David, and the epistles of the kings concerning the holy gifts. 14 In like manner also Judas gathered together all those things that were lost by reason of the war we had, and they remain with us.

Josephus (cir. 90 AD), Against Apion 1:38-42 For we have not an innumerable multitude of books among us, disagreeing from, and contradicting one another, [as the Greeks have], but only twenty-two books, {g} which contain the records of all the past times; which are justly believed to be divine; 39 and of them five belong to Moses, which contain his laws and the traditions of the origin of mankind till his death. This interval of time was little short of three thousand years; 40 but as to the time from the death of Moses till the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, who reigned after Xerxes, the prophets, who were after Moses, wrote down what was done in their times in thirteen books. The remaining four books contain hymns to God, and precepts for the conduct of human life. 41 It is true, our history has been written since Artaxerxes very particularly, but has not been esteemed of the like authority with the former by our forefathers, because there has not been an exact succession of prophets since that time; 42 and how firmly we have given credit to these books of our own nation, is evident by what we do; for, during so many ages as have already passed, no one has been so bold as either to add anything to them, to take any thing from them, or to make any change in them; but it is becomes natural to all Jews, immediately and from their very birth, to esteem these books to contain divine doctrines, and to persist in them, and, if occasion be, willingly to die for them.

Jesus and the NT authors quote the words of the OT approximately 300 times (uncertainty about the exact number arises because of a few instances where it is not clear whether it is an OT quotation or only an echoing expression using similar words). They regularly quote it as having divine authority, with phrases such as “it is written,” “Scripture says,” and “God says,” but no other writings are quoted in this way. Occasionally the NT writers will quote some other authors, even pagan Greek authors, but they never quote these other sources as being the words of God (see Acts 17:28; Titus 1:12–13; Jude 8–10, 14–16), as they do the canonical OT books.

Luke 24:44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

2 Timothy 3:14-17 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

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Here are the notes:

I. The Canon of Scripture

“The word ‘canon’ (Greek for ‘a rule’) is applied to the Bible in two ways: first, in regard to the Bible as the church’s standard of faith and practice, and second, in regard to its contents as the correct collection and list of inspired books. The word was first applied to the identity of the biblical books in the latter part of the fourth century A.D., reflecting the fact that there had recently been a need to settle some Christians’ doubts on the matter. Before this, Christians had referred to the ‘Old Testament’ and ‘New Testament’ as the ‘Holy Scriptures’ and had assumed, rather than made explicit, that they were the correct collections and lists.” Thus, when we refer to “canonization” we mean the process of recognizing those written texts which are uniquely inspired by God or are the written revelation of God. It is important to note that there was a progressive recognition of books included in Holy Scripture by the first readers and hearers from the time of the original authorship. It was not the case that at one point it was decided by some random council in the 4th century that 66 books were Holy Scripture and previous to that no one ever recognized them. Rather, over a 1500 year period, as each book or portion of writing was written it was recognized by the earliest readers/hearers that it was inspired or divinely authorized. That does not mean that that “collection” was always bound together in one “book” that just got added to each time something new was written. The dynamics are more complex or complicated than that (we can explore this in detail as we have future classes on Old and New Testament surveys).

KEEP IN MIND: What was revealed by God to people in history was not always written down right away or written down at all. Remember John 21:24-25:

24 This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true. 25 Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

In many cases, God used the recall or memory of eyewitnesses, of written records, or oral history/tradition, and of the authors themselves. In some cases, God told the author what to write and it was written immediately, or what to say and it was written down later.

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Here are the notes as they pick up from last weeks notes:

A. Adam
God created Adam as the pinnacle of creation to resemble him more particularly than anything else as God made him in His image (Genesis 1:26-18). This answers the question whether this is the best that God could creation or could he have done better, because nothing in creation resemble or compares to him more than man.

1. Covenant
God tested this resemblance by conditionally covenanting with Adam such that Adam would be charged to do what God would do (discharged a divine duty) by judging the Serpent (Genesis 2:8-25). Now, this is not obvious because we are told that Adam should not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil (Genesis 2:17). However, because of the context of trees in the garden and the charge to keep and guard (Genesis 2:15) in the historical context lead me to believe that Adam should have judged the Serpent at the tree and banish or exile him from the garden.

2. Sin
As we all know, Genesis 3 recounts that Adam failed to discharge their duty, thus displaying that they are not God and cannot do his work (Genesis 3:6-7):

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

3. Exile
God banishes Adam (and Eve) from the Garden of Eden such that God guarded the way back to the Garden (Genesis 3:22-24):

Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever–” 23 therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

4. Restoration
God then steps in to judge the Serpent, as only He can do, and in so doing unconditionally covenants to restore Adam/Eve by coming in the flesh as their Offspring to crush the Serpent (Genesis 3:15):

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.

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Here is the manuscript:

This week, I wanted to linger a bit in the precious reality that Pastor Danny presented to us last week, which was for many, perhaps, the first time they might have heard that God is God-centered.

Another way to say that is that God ultimately does everything that he does for His own glory, His own fame, His own pleasure, His own delight.

Yet another way to say that is that God loves Himself more than He loves anyone or anything that exists, or is yet to exist, or is real or is not real.

And yet another way to say this is that God loves himself more than He loves us at Haverhill Community Church.

Danny took the time last week to observe God’s God-centeredness in 3 areas and texts:

• Creation from Genesis 1 and Isaiah 43:7,
• Exile from Genesis 3:23-24, and
• Redemption from Ephesians 5:25-32.

I wonder how each of you received that.

I personally think that this concept is the most beautifully illuminating and eye-opening truth that I have ever heard.

It has entirely changed my orientation in the way I understand life and the Bible.

And it is no small matter for us here at Haverhill Community Church.

As our shepherd Danny has been recasting our vision in this new season, this distinctive is forging our new direction.

We need to appreciate that most Christians in America today do not believe such a truth.

We also need to appreciate that most Christians and non-Christians in the Haverhill area do not believe such a truth.

Therefore, I do not want to take for granted the timing of this opportunity to teach you.

Instead, I would like to peer into a very important biblical text that undergirds and further supports Danny’s subject last week on the God-centeredness of God.

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