Life at PazNaz

Keeping History

- The telling of history is always a complicated process of keeping various types of stories, documents, and literature alive in the consciousness of a people in order to define and protect the boundaries and values of that particular people.

- There are several methods of historical memory keeping: historical documents, biographies, news accounts, regional narratives, oral stories, tragic events, voices from the margins, songs, and poetry.

The OT Canon

- The Old Testament developed over time as the people of Israel wrestled with the boundaries of their life and the need to keep their identity alive.

- The OT is made up of 39 separate books, each a different kind of literature written in different contexts often with varied messages.

- Much like the development of a map of a territory over time, the books of the OT took shape over a vast period of time. Oral cultures did not share the same ideas of “authorship” that modern print cultures have. Most, if not all of the books in the OT, were communal property edited and added to over generations.

- The OT is usually divided into three sections: The Law (Torah), the Prophets, and the Writings.

- Torah: The first five books of the OT were probably completed in their present form about the time of King David (ca 1000 BC). The rediscovery of the books of the law in the 18th year of King Josiah’s reign (621 BC) was a landmark in the development of the OT canon. In contrast to the kings of Egypt and Assyria who tended to equate their will with law, Josiah surrendered to the Torah’s authority, acknowledging the written law of God as an inescapable mandate.

- Prophets: The prophets are usually divided between the former [Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings] and the latter [Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and “the Twelve”]. The final editing of the former prophets could not have been completed until after the Babylonian exile. The length of time after the writing of Malachi (450 BC) the latter prophets were gathered together is not certain.

- Writings: The writings are a diverse set of books used for worship and wisdom. Psalms, Proverbs, and Job are books of poetry and devotion. Five books were set apart to be read at particular annual feasts [Song of Solomon at Passover, Ruth at Pentecost, Lamentations on the anniversary of Jerusalem’s destruction, Ecclesiastes at the Feast of Tabernacles, and Esther at the Purim Feast]. Daniel is the lone prophet contained in the Writings. In the Hebrew canon the Writings conclude with the historical narratives of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles.

- The first evidence we have for an OT Canon – or list of authoritative books – is around 132 BC. Jewish speculation regarding the books of the OT continued after the time of Christ, but the nature of that speculation is limited to questions of excluding books already in the canon rather than the inclusion of new books. Around AD 90 Jewish leaders in Jamnia came to a consensus concerning the 39 books that make up the 3 sections of the OT.

The Septuagint

- The Septuagint (LXX) is a Greek translation of the OT written between 300 and 100 BC. Some of the books included in this Greek translation were not considered part of the original Hebrew canon. Roman Catholics and Anglican traditions call the books found in the Hebrew Bible “proto-canonical” and the additional books and portions of books “deuteron-canonical” or apocryphal.

The NT Canon

- The NT canon was established by consensus around 397 AD. The current order of the books is not chronological but ideological or theological (Gospels – Acts – Epistles – Revelation).

- Gospels: The early church proclaimed these four witnesses to the life and meaning of Jesus to be the authoritative and inspired    gospels.

- Acts: Luke’s second volume tells the story of the development of the Christian church as it transcended various cultural boundaries.

- Epistles: Letters from first generation Christian leaders to various churches and individuals dealing with the specific communal    issues of following Jesus.

- Revelation: the apocalyptic encouragement of the early believers setting the trajectory for the future in the hope of the resurrection of Christ.

The Authority of the Bible

Nazarene Article of Faith IV – The Holy Scriptures
We believe in the plenary inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, by which we understand the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, given by divine inspiration, inerrantly revealing the will of God concerning us in all things necessary to our salvation, so that whatever is not contained therein is not to be enjoined as an article of faith.

- The Bible is the primary source of authority in the life of believers because it is the primary witness to the primary revelation of God – Jesus Christ.

- Christians generally agree that no matter how complicated the story of God may get, we have a common starting point in the scriptures.

- The entire Bible is a story, with a beginning (creation), a crucial turn in the plot (human sin), and an anxiously anticipated end (redemption). It is theological narrative, with countless little stories within a great narrative, countless characters, infinite twists and turns, but one basic plot: that the God who revealed himself and Israel and in Christ will finally reach and redeem all of creation. To be a Christian means to believe that the biblical interpretations of history are inspired, that the human writers of the Bible were given unique direction and insight by God in order to interpret correctly God’s presence and activity in historical events.

- Inspiration does not at all necessitate the idea of a word-for-word dictation from God to the biblical writers, but it refers to the living presence of God’s Spirit offering divine insight to the writer to interpret God’s activity without negating or undoing the writer’s real humanity.

- “The Spirit of God not only once inspired those who wrote the Bible, but continually inspires, supernaturally assists those that read it with earnest prayer.” – John Wesley

Recommended Reading:

Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All its Worth (Zondervan, 2003).

Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible Book by Book: A Guided Tour (Zondervan, 2002).