Witherington III, Ben. “The Character and Authority of Scripture.” Keynote presentation at the Wesley Ministry Conference and Symposium, Tyndale University College & Seminary, Toronto, Ontario, April 24, 2017. Session 1 (MPEG-3, 40:57 min.) 1 00:00:01.280 --> 00:00:06.490 Hearing Lloyd's comments on the GTA this morning. 2 00:00:06.520 --> 00:00:12.340 As a Western Canadian, I can understand your feelings about Toronto, and so I do 3 00:00:12.370 --> 00:00:17.060 understand you have some concerns about the GTA. 4 00:00:17.080 --> 00:00:19.700 But some of us live in the city 5 00:00:19.720 --> 00:00:23.440 because we don't get caught in the traffic, because we're in the middle of 6 00:00:23.470 --> 00:00:28.060 the city and we came up I got here in 15 minutes, and I live downtown. 7 00:00:28.080 --> 00:00:33.560 So you might want to consider moving back with us. 8 00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:39.520 Yeah, that's not working, eh? 9 00:00:40.280 --> 00:00:42.260 I think of this every time. 10 00:00:42.290 --> 00:00:44.060 It happens every year. 11 00:00:44.090 --> 00:00:54.020 As a kind of revolutionary note in this decade in which the tendencies are 12 00:00:54.050 --> 00:01:02.780 to want to move to the edges and to define ourselves more narrowly 13 00:01:02.810 --> 00:01:09.820 as a transdenominational seminary like Tyndale, who in 1894 came together because 14 00:01:09.850 --> 00:01:14.930 of an Anglican, a Baptist, a Methodist, and a Presbyterian 15 00:01:14.960 --> 00:01:20.280 under a banner that said neither Fundamentalist nor Modernist. 16 00:01:20.320 --> 00:01:23.700 This idea, this experiment called Tyndale, 17 00:01:23.730 --> 00:01:28.980 which had a number of names over the years, has become something to me. 18 00:01:29.010 --> 00:01:33.540 That is something that we need to protect and to guard. 19 00:01:33.570 --> 00:01:35.820 We're living in a time in which the edges 20 00:01:35.850 --> 00:01:40.900 are easier to grab hold of, and a transdenominational seminary that comes 21 00:01:40.930 --> 00:01:47.780 together as a big tent evangelical place in which the center pole is Christ. 22 00:01:47.810 --> 00:01:49.780 And the rest of it is about our 23 00:01:49.810 --> 00:01:53.820 conversation and our living together and our learning to live together. 24 00:01:53.850 --> 00:01:58.290 I've begun to take that more and more as a sacred trust. 25 00:01:58.320 --> 00:02:01.620 And your partnership with Tindale in 26 00:02:01.650 --> 00:02:05.420 making that sacred trust possible is critical. 27 00:02:05.450 --> 00:02:06.850 Just think of this. 28 00:02:06.880 --> 00:02:12.120 In two weeks, I'll be signing an agreement with the Mennonite Brethren to begin the 29 00:02:12.150 --> 00:02:18.780 site for graduate studies for Mennonite Brethren here in Ontario and to develop a 30 00:02:18.810 --> 00:02:23.450 degree program called Anabaptist Evangelical Studies. 31 00:02:23.480 --> 00:02:28.980 At the same time, they're looking at the model that you created in the Wesleyan 32 00:02:29.010 --> 00:02:33.450 tradition as the model for what they're wanting to create. 33 00:02:33.480 --> 00:02:37.020 Booth University College and ourselves now 34 00:02:37.050 --> 00:02:40.260 have a partnership together in Salvation Army studies. 35 00:02:40.290 --> 00:02:43.640 The Pentecostals Assemblies 36 00:02:43.840 --> 00:02:51.260 of Canada have master's seminary, which is really Tyndale with a master's label, 37 00:02:51.290 --> 00:02:55.100 the Newfoundland Pentecostals, which is a whole nother group. 38 00:02:55.120 --> 00:02:56.580 If you're from Newfoundland, you'd 39 00:02:56.610 --> 00:03:03.980 understand that the Newfoundland group of Pentecostals 40 00:03:04.010 --> 00:03:09.340 have a partnership within the university which enables them to train entry level 41 00:03:09.370 --> 00:03:14.860 pastors, and that encourages them in their theological studies. 42 00:03:14.890 --> 00:03:21.220 This is a sacred trust, and I want to thank you, as the president of Tyndale for 43 00:03:21.250 --> 00:03:25.020 what you have brought in, modeling some of that. 44 00:03:25.050 --> 00:03:27.300 At the same time, I want to say that 45 00:03:27.330 --> 00:03:32.540 we're, in a time in which this partnership is even more critical, 46 00:03:32.570 --> 00:03:37.180 as we as evangelicals, in the midst of a disorienting kind of 47 00:03:37.210 --> 00:03:41.820 time, don't always want to talk to us, each other. 48 00:03:41.850 --> 00:03:48.220 This place called Tyndale becomes a place where that conversation can take place. 49 00:03:48.250 --> 00:03:53.020 So please understand that we do not take this lightly, this partnership. 50 00:03:53.050 --> 00:03:59.140 We understand it as something that God has breathed us together. 51 00:03:59.170 --> 00:04:00.180 And so thank you. 52 00:04:00.210 --> 00:04:01.260 Welcome to tyndale. 53 00:04:01.290 --> 00:04:05.780 I'm sorry, again, we're still working on renovations. 54 00:04:05.810 --> 00:04:08.500 We've been here two years. I think. 55 00:04:08.530 --> 00:04:13.220 Last time we met, I had just discovered that the gas line. 56 00:04:13.250 --> 00:04:14.860 Is that correct? Yeah. 57 00:04:14.890 --> 00:04:21.540 I had this kind of momentary nightmare last night of remembering the gas line 58 00:04:21.570 --> 00:04:27.840 prevented us from finishing the front work and today enbridge who we are. 59 00:04:27.860 --> 00:04:30.860 The gas line people are coming and beginning work. 60 00:04:30.890 --> 00:04:33.820 So the next few days, there'll be a bit of an upheaval. 61 00:04:33.840 --> 00:04:37.180 But I'm almost 62 00:04:37.210 --> 00:04:42.060 willing to assure you that next year there will be grass out 63 00:04:42.090 --> 00:04:45.740 there and a parking lot and a traffic light. 64 00:04:45.770 --> 00:04:48.140 That will not mean that when you turn 65 00:04:48.160 --> 00:04:52.580 left, lloyd always turn right if you want to get out of the city. 66 00:04:52.600 --> 00:04:55.860 If you turn left, you would be taking your life into your hand. 67 00:04:55.890 --> 00:04:59.940 But with a new traffic light, you'll be safer. 68 00:04:59.970 --> 00:05:02.740 So thank you for being here, and 69 00:05:02.770 --> 00:05:09.840 thank you for James, who is a gift to the faculty here at Tyndale. 70 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:21.740 Is our great privilege and honor to have Dr. 71 00:05:21.770 --> 00:05:26.780 Ben Witherington here with us today and tomorrow. 72 00:05:26.800 --> 00:05:30.580 He is the Amos Professor of New Testament 73 00:05:30.600 --> 00:05:35.340 for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Seminary, also on the doctoral faculty at St. 74 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:37.980 Andrews University in Scotland. 75 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:39.780 He studied at the University of North 76 00:05:39.800 --> 00:05:45.260 Carolina, Gordon Conwell, and did his PhD at Durham in England. 77 00:05:45.290 --> 00:05:48.680 He is a leading New Testament scholar, one 78 00:05:48.710 --> 00:05:52.180 of the top New Testament scholars in the world. 79 00:05:52.210 --> 00:05:54.020 He is in very high demand. 80 00:05:54.040 --> 00:05:59.180 He mentioned this morning he takes about 50 flights a year, so that gives you a 81 00:05:59.210 --> 00:06:03.340 sense of how busy he is and how in demand he is. 82 00:06:03.360 --> 00:06:09.020 He's taught around the world at numerous institutions as well ashland Theological 83 00:06:09.040 --> 00:06:13.260 Seminary, vanderbilt University, duke Divinity School, gordon Commonwealth. 84 00:06:13.290 --> 00:06:17.420 And now you can add Tyndale to your list. 85 00:06:17.450 --> 00:06:22.900 This is the part where the scholars sanctification is tested. 86 00:06:22.920 --> 00:06:25.020 When I say that he's written over 40 87 00:06:25.040 --> 00:06:28.580 books, I don't know, what if you have a more updated number than that? 88 00:06:28.600 --> 00:06:33.140 Most of us who are scholars just ask, how is that even possible? 89 00:06:33.170 --> 00:06:36.580 There must be three of him. 90 00:06:36.600 --> 00:06:39.140 Well, you do have Ben withering the third, 91 00:06:39.170 --> 00:06:42.980 so there must be a number two and number one somewhere. 92 00:06:43.010 --> 00:06:46.980 Somewhere hidden away working. 93 00:06:47.010 --> 00:06:51.300 He also appears often on television and 94 00:06:51.330 --> 00:06:55.460 documentaries and specials on New Testament issues. 95 00:06:55.480 --> 00:06:57.580 So it's our great pleasure, I want to ask 96 00:06:57.600 --> 00:07:02.960 you, to welcome him now as he comes to give his first talk. 97 00:07:11.440 --> 00:07:16.300 So what's a New Testament scholar doing at a Wesley conference? 98 00:07:16.330 --> 00:07:24.120 Well, I'm here to assure you that my very first master's level job was teaching at 99 00:07:24.150 --> 00:07:27.940 Duke Divinity School, and what I taught was Wesley Studies. 100 00:07:27.970 --> 00:07:33.700 I taught Wesley's history, doctrine, and polity. 101 00:07:33.730 --> 00:07:40.740 John Wesley said, I am a homounous libre. 102 00:07:40.770 --> 00:07:43.860 I'm a man of exactly one book. 103 00:07:43.890 --> 00:07:48.460 Of course, he was a man of many books. 104 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:54.660 He even did a Reader's Digest edited version of a Christian library 105 00:07:54.690 --> 00:08:03.260 where he recommended excerpts from about 430 Christian classics to his burgeoning 106 00:08:03.290 --> 00:08:09.900 legions of preachers and exhorters of various kinds. 107 00:08:09.920 --> 00:08:12.780 But for Wesley, there was nothing that had 108 00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:22.580 more authority, power or unction to function than the word of God. 109 00:08:22.600 --> 00:08:26.580 And it wasn't one authority amongst many. 110 00:08:26.600 --> 00:08:32.100 Sometimes you will hear Methodists talk about the quadrilateral, the authority of 111 00:08:32.130 --> 00:08:35.700 Scripture, reason, tradition and experience. 112 00:08:35.730 --> 00:08:39.420 For John Wesley, whatever tradition, 113 00:08:39.440 --> 00:08:44.460 reason or experience was, it never trumped Scripture. 114 00:08:44.490 --> 00:08:48.700 I use the word trumped lightly. 115 00:08:48.730 --> 00:08:51.540 In fact, I was at a lecture not long ago 116 00:08:51.560 --> 00:08:59.460 on Christianity in Malta, and I discovered that the means by which the Maltese folk 117 00:08:59.490 --> 00:09:06.540 repelled the Ottoman invasion was with a trump, which is a flame, ancient 118 00:09:06.560 --> 00:09:10.660 flamethrower that had a bellows attached to the back. 119 00:09:10.690 --> 00:09:12.220 It was called a trump. 120 00:09:12.250 --> 00:09:16.740 It was full of hot air and shot flames out in all directions. 121 00:09:16.770 --> 00:09:23.520 And I thought, well, our president is aptly named. 122 00:09:23.720 --> 00:09:28.300 John Wesley was convicted, like most 123 00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:36.860 Protestants raised by Susannah and his father, to treat the Scriptures as the 124 00:09:36.890 --> 00:09:47.100 final authority on three major subjects history, theology and ethics. 125 00:09:47.130 --> 00:09:49.820 History, theology and ethics. 126 00:09:49.850 --> 00:09:53.620 He did not believe it taught cosmology, he 127 00:09:53.650 --> 00:10:00.340 did not believe it taught anthropology, but he was utterly convicted that it 128 00:10:00.370 --> 00:10:07.460 taught history, theology and ethics, and it had the final say on those subjects. 129 00:10:07.490 --> 00:10:09.300 What we're going to do in our first 130 00:10:09.320 --> 00:10:13.700 session is I'm going to talk to you about the nature of the Scriptures. 131 00:10:13.730 --> 00:10:17.140 I like to say a text without a context is 132 00:10:17.170 --> 00:10:20.260 just a pretext for whatever you want it to mean. 133 00:10:20.290 --> 00:10:24.400 And the real problem for preachers is they're constantly sound biting the 134 00:10:24.430 --> 00:10:29.340 Scriptures and in danger of taking it out of context. 135 00:10:29.370 --> 00:10:33.820 John Wesley taught the Greek New Testament at Oxford. 136 00:10:33.850 --> 00:10:37.900 He wanted all of us to study this in its original context. 137 00:10:37.930 --> 00:10:44.500 But we are so far removed now from the original context of the Bible that we've 138 00:10:44.530 --> 00:10:48.660 actually largely forgotten what kind of document it is. 139 00:10:48.690 --> 00:10:53.940 So I'm going to give you a sort of review in our first session about what we're 140 00:10:53.960 --> 00:10:56.460 actually dealing with when we're dealing with the Bible. 141 00:10:56.490 --> 00:10:59.420 We're going to talk about the oral nature 142 00:10:59.450 --> 00:11:04.660 of the biblical text and their rhetorical context, and then we're going to move on 143 00:11:04.690 --> 00:11:14.140 in our further sessions and talk about that messy issue of Biblical Ethics next. 144 00:11:14.170 --> 00:11:16.180 Okay, this has got to work. 145 00:11:16.210 --> 00:11:17.380 Here we go. 146 00:11:17.410 --> 00:11:25.660 So the first thing I want to say to you is this is an ancient text. 147 00:11:25.690 --> 00:11:29.300 Now, what you should notice about this 148 00:11:29.330 --> 00:11:34.380 ancient text is it is written in scriptum continuum. 149 00:11:34.410 --> 00:11:36.300 This is, in fact a biblical text. 150 00:11:36.330 --> 00:11:39.640 It is one piece of papyrus that's part of 151 00:11:39.670 --> 00:11:44.940 a manuscript of the original text of the Greek New Testament. 152 00:11:44.970 --> 00:11:51.540 It is written in a continuous flow of letters. 153 00:11:51.570 --> 00:11:54.820 There is no separation of words. 154 00:11:54.850 --> 00:11:58.300 There is no separation of sentences. 155 00:11:58.330 --> 00:12:00.780 There is no separation of paragraphs. 156 00:12:00.810 --> 00:12:06.980 There are no headings, there are no punctuations and yea verily. 157 00:12:07.010 --> 00:12:09.980 There are no chapters and verses that was 158 00:12:10.010 --> 00:12:15.420 inserted into the text by Archbishop Steven Langton and we'll come to him. 159 00:12:15.450 --> 00:12:20.300 But he was clearly an archbishop who had far too much time on his hands. 160 00:12:20.330 --> 00:12:23.020 He did all the chapters and verses, 161 00:12:23.050 --> 00:12:27.620 sometimes well, sometimes poorly, in the early Middle Ages. 162 00:12:27.650 --> 00:12:30.500 Now, when you look at this text, it should 163 00:12:30.530 --> 00:12:35.780 be immediately apparent that not everybody can read this. 164 00:12:35.810 --> 00:12:40.100 In fact, the literacy rate in the biblical 165 00:12:40.130 --> 00:12:45.540 era, the New Testament era, was somewhere between ten and 20%. 166 00:12:45.570 --> 00:12:48.740 Okay, ten and 20%. 167 00:12:48.770 --> 00:12:51.580 Let's take the next slide. 168 00:12:51.610 --> 00:12:56.220 Okay, it ten to 20%. 169 00:12:56.250 --> 00:13:01.380 The majority of people could not read and 170 00:13:01.410 --> 00:13:06.780 write in the world of Jesus and Paul and James and Peter. 171 00:13:06.810 --> 00:13:14.020 They didn't have little Gideon Bibles on their nightstand, and they could not read. 172 00:13:14.050 --> 00:13:17.780 Now, reading was a more widespread skill than writing. 173 00:13:17.810 --> 00:13:24.900 Writing, in fact, was the most unusual skill in that world. 174 00:13:24.930 --> 00:13:30.740 Maybe five to 8% of all ancients in the world of Jesus could read or write. 175 00:13:30.770 --> 00:13:36.660 Jesus did not say, let those with two good eyes read. 176 00:13:36.690 --> 00:13:38.100 He said what? 177 00:13:38.130 --> 00:13:42.800 Let those with ears hear. 178 00:13:42.880 --> 00:13:50.820 So the level of functional literacy in the world of Jesus and Paul was extremely low. 179 00:13:50.850 --> 00:13:52.900 And the people who were literate, as you 180 00:13:52.930 --> 00:13:55.900 might expect, were the people who were educated. 181 00:13:55.930 --> 00:13:58.540 And the people who were educated were 182 00:13:58.570 --> 00:14:03.620 mostly the social elites of the Greco Roman world. 183 00:14:03.650 --> 00:14:10.740 And unfortunately, ladies, that means 90% were men, 184 00:14:10.770 --> 00:14:17.060 and only 2% of women were really literate in that world. 185 00:14:17.080 --> 00:14:22.260 When I say literacy, then, I'm mainly talking about the ability to read, because 186 00:14:22.290 --> 00:14:25.300 the ability to write was a specialty skill. 187 00:14:25.330 --> 00:14:27.740 It involved scribes. 188 00:14:27.770 --> 00:14:31.060 Almost all ancient documents were written 189 00:14:31.080 --> 00:14:37.980 by professional scribes, including most of the New Testament documents. 190 00:14:38.010 --> 00:14:41.860 For example, in Romans 16, you may have 191 00:14:41.890 --> 00:14:45.700 noticed that odd greeting towards the very end of the book. 192 00:14:45.730 --> 00:14:51.220 In that long greeting card of Romans 16, I Tertias greet you in the Lord. 193 00:14:51.250 --> 00:14:53.260 Well, bless his heart. 194 00:14:53.290 --> 00:14:58.740 He had written 16 chapters of Paul's long oral discourse. 195 00:14:58.770 --> 00:15:01.660 His hand was falling off, and he figured 196 00:15:01.690 --> 00:15:04.460 he had a right to be in holy Scripture, too. 197 00:15:04.490 --> 00:15:06.700 And he put in this greeting. 198 00:15:06.730 --> 00:15:10.500 He was the manuensis or scribe. 199 00:15:10.530 --> 00:15:13.380 He's the one who wrote down that 200 00:15:13.410 --> 00:15:17.380 particular wonderful letter we call Romans. 201 00:15:17.410 --> 00:15:20.920 Now, next slide. 202 00:15:21.520 --> 00:15:26.460 Okay, let's take a little test. 203 00:15:26.490 --> 00:15:29.760 Let's take a little test. 204 00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:34.900 Look under that very bottom line there. 205 00:15:34.930 --> 00:15:42.000 What does that at the very end of the bottom there say? 206 00:15:44.360 --> 00:15:47.620 Somebody just said, Jesus is now here. 207 00:15:47.650 --> 00:15:49.780 That's a good orthodox statement. 208 00:15:49.810 --> 00:15:52.580 What else could it say? 209 00:15:52.610 --> 00:15:54.060 Jesus is nowhere. 210 00:15:54.080 --> 00:16:00.320 Or if, like me, you're from eastern North Carolina, it could be Jeez us is nowhere. 211 00:16:02.280 --> 00:16:05.060 Now, here's my point. 212 00:16:05.080 --> 00:16:12.860 In an ancient biblical text with a continuous flow of letters, even how you 213 00:16:12.890 --> 00:16:17.740 divide up the letters affects the meaning of the text. 214 00:16:17.770 --> 00:16:23.900 It took a professional reader to do that. 215 00:16:23.930 --> 00:16:27.020 There were professional writers of texts, 216 00:16:27.050 --> 00:16:30.220 and there were professional readers of text. 217 00:16:30.250 --> 00:16:32.480 Next slide. 218 00:16:33.720 --> 00:16:38.020 This is closer to the Middle Ages, but 219 00:16:38.050 --> 00:16:42.100 what you should notice is we're still doing what? 220 00:16:42.130 --> 00:16:44.740 Continuous flow of letters. Right? 221 00:16:44.770 --> 00:16:51.860 Now, you may notice that one new invention is a line over some of the Greek letters. 222 00:16:51.890 --> 00:16:55.100 For example, in the third line down at the 223 00:16:55.130 --> 00:16:59.820 end of the line, there's a theta and anew with a line over it. 224 00:16:59.850 --> 00:17:03.980 That's because Christian scribes got smart. 225 00:17:04.010 --> 00:17:08.140 They abbreviated the name of God, the nomad of Sakura. 226 00:17:08.170 --> 00:17:11.740 The sacred names started to be abbreviated. 227 00:17:11.770 --> 00:17:15.740 Theta new is, of course, God, right? 228 00:17:15.770 --> 00:17:23.620 Or you might have the chi knew, which would be Christon. 229 00:17:23.650 --> 00:17:29.460 So what they did to leave room and have enough space, because document writing was 230 00:17:29.490 --> 00:17:34.940 very expensive in antiquity, is they would abbreviate only the sacred names. 231 00:17:34.970 --> 00:17:38.330 Only the sacred names were abbreviated. 232 00:17:38.360 --> 00:17:40.570 Next slide. 233 00:17:40.600 --> 00:17:47.700 Now, I could go through a Zillion documents and prove to you that these were 234 00:17:47.730 --> 00:17:51.900 documents for professional reading written by professional scribes. 235 00:17:51.930 --> 00:17:55.530 But I'm hoping you'll just simply take my word for it. 236 00:17:55.560 --> 00:18:00.620 But even when you had public inscriptions next slide. 237 00:18:00.650 --> 00:18:02.250 Like this one. 238 00:18:02.280 --> 00:18:04.940 This is a very famous inscription that 239 00:18:04.970 --> 00:18:11.660 existed on the entranceway into the holy area in the temple in Jerusalem. 240 00:18:11.690 --> 00:18:14.660 And what it said was, if you are a Gentile 241 00:18:14.690 --> 00:18:21.680 and you go past this door, we have a right to stone you on the spot. 242 00:18:21.800 --> 00:18:25.240 Now, you'd have to be able to read 243 00:18:25.320 --> 00:18:31.810 to know that you could be oblivious, to say the least. 244 00:18:31.840 --> 00:18:34.810 This is actually in the Istanbul Museum. 245 00:18:34.840 --> 00:18:39.520 The Ottomans took it, along with a lot of other things, including the inscription in 246 00:18:39.550 --> 00:18:44.570 the Hezekiah Tunnel back to Istanbul when they left Jerusalem. 247 00:18:44.600 --> 00:18:53.420 And this is so still today in the Istanbul Museum, even public inscriptions would be 248 00:18:53.450 --> 00:18:58.530 impenetrable to people that were not truly literate. 249 00:18:58.560 --> 00:19:00.380 This is my point. 250 00:19:00.410 --> 00:19:03.530 Even public inscriptions would be 251 00:19:03.560 --> 00:19:10.900 impenetrable to people who were not more than functionally literate. 252 00:19:10.930 --> 00:19:13.050 Okay, next slide. 253 00:19:13.080 --> 00:19:15.010 Now, this is an important invention. 254 00:19:15.040 --> 00:19:17.220 It's called pages. 255 00:19:17.250 --> 00:19:23.220 Before this point in time, which began towards the late first century Ad, all 256 00:19:23.250 --> 00:19:27.660 documents were written on papyrus rolls and rolled up. 257 00:19:27.690 --> 00:19:32.050 For example, the Gospel of Luke would be a 258 00:19:32.080 --> 00:19:37.810 roll that would roll all the way down this aisle to the door. 259 00:19:37.840 --> 00:19:41.940 It's the longest by word count of all the four gospels. 260 00:19:41.970 --> 00:19:48.290 It would be more than 30ft long, from Luke eleven to the end of Luke 24. 261 00:19:48.320 --> 00:19:49.620 And yay verily. 262 00:19:49.650 --> 00:19:51.660 That's hard to carry around. 263 00:19:51.690 --> 00:19:58.090 I mean, can you imagine carrying around 66 books like that at once? 264 00:19:58.120 --> 00:20:04.460 Well, this invention, which is called the codex, really changed 265 00:20:04.490 --> 00:20:08.860 the way the Bible was handled and read and put together. 266 00:20:08.890 --> 00:20:12.420 What it looks like, of course, is pages to us. 267 00:20:12.450 --> 00:20:16.250 And this was actually the beginning of the modern book. 268 00:20:16.280 --> 00:20:22.330 But remember, all of these documents are handwritten. 269 00:20:22.360 --> 00:20:24.290 Until when? 270 00:20:24.320 --> 00:20:26.530 Remember Gutenberg? 271 00:20:26.560 --> 00:20:28.090 Remember the printing press? 272 00:20:28.120 --> 00:20:32.660 What was the first book off his printing press in the 15th century? 273 00:20:32.690 --> 00:20:36.290 That would be Martin Luther's bible. 274 00:20:36.320 --> 00:20:39.620 Protestants were the ones who got into printing. 275 00:20:39.650 --> 00:20:41.980 This is why pastors still have so many 276 00:20:42.010 --> 00:20:45.940 books in their library who are protestants. 277 00:20:45.970 --> 00:20:50.500 This is the beginning of a different way of dealing with this. 278 00:20:50.530 --> 00:20:52.010 Next slide. 279 00:20:52.040 --> 00:20:55.250 Now, I want you to look really closely, 280 00:20:55.280 --> 00:21:00.660 because this is the oldest New Testament document we have. 281 00:21:00.690 --> 00:21:03.500 The oldest piece of papyri we have is a 282 00:21:03.530 --> 00:21:12.050 little excerpt from the Gospel of John, and it is just a tiny fragment of John 283 00:21:12.080 --> 00:21:15.570 Eight, and it goes back to the second century Ad. 284 00:21:15.600 --> 00:21:22.770 What is happening is that as time has gone on, of course, what New Testament scholars 285 00:21:22.800 --> 00:21:27.570 have been about is exactly what John Wesley was hoping they would be about, 286 00:21:27.600 --> 00:21:33.140 finding earlier and better manuscripts of the Greek New Testament 287 00:21:33.170 --> 00:21:39.570 and coming closer and closer to the original text of the Greek New Testament. 288 00:21:39.600 --> 00:21:41.140 Very important. 289 00:21:41.170 --> 00:21:43.290 Next slide. 290 00:21:43.320 --> 00:21:45.290 Now we're really getting somewhere. 291 00:21:45.320 --> 00:21:48.810 Now we have columns, but even in the early 292 00:21:48.840 --> 00:21:52.500 Middle Ages, which is what this is, or next slide. 293 00:21:52.530 --> 00:21:57.740 Even in the later Middle Ages or even next slide. 294 00:21:57.770 --> 00:22:03.020 What we have is Scriptum Continuum. 295 00:22:03.050 --> 00:22:09.860 Again, even into the modern era of the church, the Bible was a pulpit Bible. 296 00:22:09.890 --> 00:22:13.810 It was not a personal Bible, and it was not for general reading. 297 00:22:13.840 --> 00:22:16.180 It was for professional reading from the 298 00:22:16.210 --> 00:22:21.050 lectern by somebody who could actually read scriptum Continuum. 299 00:22:21.080 --> 00:22:24.260 Now, I show you this slide, because 300 00:22:24.290 --> 00:22:29.290 this is another important invention along the way to getting your Martin Bible. 301 00:22:29.320 --> 00:22:31.140 Sewing. 302 00:22:31.170 --> 00:22:34.900 But you can't sew papyrus. 303 00:22:34.930 --> 00:22:38.500 So we changed the material. 304 00:22:38.530 --> 00:22:41.180 We started writing on animal skin. 305 00:22:41.210 --> 00:22:46.260 It's called parchment, an English word that comes from the name 306 00:22:46.290 --> 00:22:51.570 of the Greek city, Pergamum, because the first place they scraped off animal skin 307 00:22:51.600 --> 00:22:56.140 and wrote on it was in Pergamum in modern Turkey. 308 00:22:56.170 --> 00:23:00.140 This is parchment sewn together in the middle. 309 00:23:00.170 --> 00:23:03.540 This is actually a Syriac copy of the Gospel of Mark. 310 00:23:03.570 --> 00:23:05.560 Next slide. 311 00:23:06.080 --> 00:23:10.460 Okay, how did it begin in the biblical era? 312 00:23:10.490 --> 00:23:13.290 Now, here is something that you may not know. 313 00:23:13.320 --> 00:23:19.640 The only religion in antiquity that involved the people of the book that had a 314 00:23:19.670 --> 00:23:23.700 sacred text was the Judeochristian tradition. 315 00:23:23.730 --> 00:23:27.700 No Greek or Roman religions had a sacred book. 316 00:23:27.730 --> 00:23:30.740 No ancient Near Eastern religions had a sacred book. 317 00:23:30.760 --> 00:23:32.570 Even the Egyptians, who were the most 318 00:23:32.600 --> 00:23:37.740 literate culture, they had the Book of the Dead, but it was not like a Bible at all. 319 00:23:37.770 --> 00:23:47.740 So no religions before Judaism and then Christianity were people of a sacred book. 320 00:23:47.770 --> 00:23:51.810 We are people of a sacred book. 321 00:23:51.840 --> 00:23:58.540 So important was this to us that whole monasteries would spend all of their 322 00:23:58.570 --> 00:24:06.500 resources copying again and again with great laboriousness, these documents down. 323 00:24:06.530 --> 00:24:11.290 But it began in the River Nile with papyrus. 324 00:24:11.320 --> 00:24:12.810 Next slide. 325 00:24:12.840 --> 00:24:14.180 That's the plant. 326 00:24:14.210 --> 00:24:17.220 The only thing that's used was the stalk. 327 00:24:17.250 --> 00:24:18.810 Next slide. 328 00:24:18.840 --> 00:24:20.260 So what did you do? 329 00:24:20.290 --> 00:24:24.180 Well, the stalk, interestingly enough, was in this shape. 330 00:24:24.210 --> 00:24:28.160 What else in Egypt is in this shape? 331 00:24:28.400 --> 00:24:29.980 Pyramids. 332 00:24:30.010 --> 00:24:32.540 It's in triangular shape. 333 00:24:32.570 --> 00:24:41.200 They believed, get this, that the triangle was the shape of God. 334 00:24:41.520 --> 00:24:46.050 Maybe that may ring some bells with you. 335 00:24:46.080 --> 00:24:49.860 So they started peeling off that green outer skin. 336 00:24:49.890 --> 00:24:57.570 And they would, with a very sharp paring knife, put down layer upon layer of things 337 00:24:57.600 --> 00:25:01.330 to make what we would call paper, what they called papyrus. 338 00:25:01.360 --> 00:25:02.740 Next slide. 339 00:25:02.770 --> 00:25:03.860 So here they are. 340 00:25:03.890 --> 00:25:05.980 Layering it horizontally. 341 00:25:06.010 --> 00:25:08.050 Layering it vertically. 342 00:25:08.080 --> 00:25:09.540 Next slide. 343 00:25:09.570 --> 00:25:12.220 And here's the interesting thing. 344 00:25:12.250 --> 00:25:17.780 There was enough SAP in the stem that if you made the papyrus quickly, all you had 345 00:25:17.810 --> 00:25:23.090 to do in the hot, arid climate of Egypt is hang it out with a clothes bin to dry. 346 00:25:23.120 --> 00:25:25.980 And the inherent SAP in the document would 347 00:25:26.010 --> 00:25:30.380 keep the pieces glued together and it would simply dry. 348 00:25:30.410 --> 00:25:33.810 No glue, no gorilla glue required. 349 00:25:33.840 --> 00:25:37.940 This is how they made the documents on which we had our scriptures written. 350 00:25:37.970 --> 00:25:39.660 Next slide. 351 00:25:39.690 --> 00:25:44.840 Now, this is the ancient version of a laptop. 352 00:25:45.080 --> 00:25:48.330 This is a pygmy who worked for a pharaoh. 353 00:25:48.360 --> 00:25:52.090 And quite literally, he's a scribe, 354 00:25:52.120 --> 00:25:55.380 very literate, and sat on the lap of the pharaoh. 355 00:25:55.410 --> 00:25:58.900 And the pharaoh would whisper his words, 356 00:25:58.930 --> 00:26:03.660 and the Pygmy would write down the words on a scribe scroll. 357 00:26:03.690 --> 00:26:04.620 He's a scribe. 358 00:26:04.650 --> 00:26:09.980 This is a statue in the Museum of Egyptology in Cairo. 359 00:26:10.010 --> 00:26:13.140 This is as close to an ancient laptop as you got. 360 00:26:13.170 --> 00:26:20.540 Even the pharaoh was not good enough to write down documents he needed to scribe, 361 00:26:20.570 --> 00:26:23.140 even though the pharaoh himself was literate. 362 00:26:23.170 --> 00:26:25.570 Next slide. All right. 363 00:26:25.600 --> 00:26:28.660 Now this is interesting, very interesting. 364 00:26:28.680 --> 00:26:30.980 This is from a tomb in the Valley of the Kings. 365 00:26:31.010 --> 00:26:34.360 Look at the bottom left of this slide. 366 00:26:34.440 --> 00:26:37.460 Women scribes. 367 00:26:37.490 --> 00:26:43.720 We now have visual evidence that though the scribe profession, all the way back to 368 00:26:43.750 --> 00:26:50.420 the time of Moses was overwhelmingly a male profession, that there began to be 369 00:26:50.450 --> 00:26:56.260 female scribes writing down sacred or important documents in Egypt. 370 00:26:56.290 --> 00:27:00.860 And there is the picture of them working away in the bottom left hand corner. 371 00:27:00.890 --> 00:27:06.640 And we know from a side comment by a bishop in modern day Turkey that there 372 00:27:06.670 --> 00:27:10.810 were female Christian scribes copying documents as well. 373 00:27:10.840 --> 00:27:14.330 They were exceptions to the rule, but they existed. 374 00:27:14.360 --> 00:27:16.290 And there's this comment from the bishop. 375 00:27:16.320 --> 00:27:20.860 He said, we use a female scribe to copy the Gospel of St. 376 00:27:20.890 --> 00:27:25.620 John because they have a fairer hand. 377 00:27:25.650 --> 00:27:27.700 Guys, are you listening? 378 00:27:27.730 --> 00:27:29.940 How's your handwriting? 379 00:27:29.970 --> 00:27:31.020 You know what? 380 00:27:31.050 --> 00:27:33.940 These ancient documents were hand copied. 381 00:27:33.970 --> 00:27:36.860 And even then there were some women's 382 00:27:36.890 --> 00:27:42.860 scribes who produced what is called a fair hand copy of an original document. 383 00:27:42.890 --> 00:27:45.040 Next slide. 384 00:27:45.240 --> 00:27:49.360 This is the ancient STILO, or stylus, by 385 00:27:49.390 --> 00:27:52.980 which they wrote, it was made out of bronze that had a tip. 386 00:27:53.010 --> 00:27:55.080 Next slide. 387 00:27:55.280 --> 00:27:58.050 This is a wax tablet. 388 00:27:58.080 --> 00:28:04.700 What would often happen when a scribe was taking dictation is that he would take 389 00:28:04.730 --> 00:28:12.220 down the message of the letter or the document in wax on his wax tablet first. 390 00:28:12.250 --> 00:28:14.500 Then he would produce a fair hand copy. 391 00:28:14.530 --> 00:28:20.200 So this is the copying document, but then it would be written, because when you 392 00:28:20.230 --> 00:28:23.050 write it in ink on papyrus, it's permanent. 393 00:28:23.080 --> 00:28:25.220 You don't get do overs. 394 00:28:25.250 --> 00:28:29.700 And so they would often do this first use a wax tablet. 395 00:28:29.730 --> 00:28:32.460 This is a to blendum a learning tablet. 396 00:28:32.490 --> 00:28:35.380 Next slide again. 397 00:28:35.410 --> 00:28:38.050 Next slide. That's the ink. 398 00:28:38.080 --> 00:28:43.740 Well, the ink was simply soot from a fire in water. 399 00:28:43.770 --> 00:28:50.050 Black soot and water made the ink that produced the documents of the Bible. 400 00:28:50.080 --> 00:28:51.420 Next slide. 401 00:28:51.450 --> 00:28:52.810 Another inkwell. 402 00:28:52.840 --> 00:28:53.940 And again. 403 00:28:53.970 --> 00:28:57.260 Now, this is one of my favorite slides of all. 404 00:28:57.290 --> 00:29:01.220 This is little publius at his lessons. 405 00:29:01.250 --> 00:29:04.220 This is a Roman learning scene. 406 00:29:04.250 --> 00:29:07.140 The man in the center is a Greek teacher. 407 00:29:07.170 --> 00:29:11.050 Almost all of the great teachers in antiquity were Greeks. 408 00:29:11.080 --> 00:29:14.940 This is one of the reasons Romans conquered the world so they could conquer 409 00:29:14.970 --> 00:29:18.620 people who were smarter than they and then put them to work. 410 00:29:18.650 --> 00:29:23.620 And the Greeks were used for education all over the Roman Empire. 411 00:29:23.650 --> 00:29:29.220 So you have a Greek teacher in the center, and his assistant is on the left. 412 00:29:29.250 --> 00:29:32.050 And then there is a guy behind Little Publius. 413 00:29:32.080 --> 00:29:37.420 You may notice that Little Publius is not real happy about learning, okay? 414 00:29:37.450 --> 00:29:41.900 The man behind him is not holding the lunchbox. 415 00:29:41.930 --> 00:29:46.780 That is the Pythagogos, not the teacher. 416 00:29:46.810 --> 00:29:51.740 A Pythagoras is a slave that walks Little Publius to school. 417 00:29:51.770 --> 00:29:58.260 In fact, carrying his inkwell, his stylus, his papyrus. 418 00:29:58.290 --> 00:30:01.700 That's what was in that little lunchbox, okay? 419 00:30:01.730 --> 00:30:06.500 And when he got home, the Pythagos would do what? 420 00:30:06.530 --> 00:30:11.780 He would rehearse the alphabetas with Little Publius for his next lesson. 421 00:30:11.810 --> 00:30:13.570 So he was semi literate. 422 00:30:13.600 --> 00:30:16.140 He could help him with the alphabet and whatnot. 423 00:30:16.170 --> 00:30:23.700 When Paul says that the Mosaic Law is like a Pythagogos until the time had fully come 424 00:30:23.730 --> 00:30:31.660 and Christ came, he is not saying that the Mosaic Law was a teacher for God's people. 425 00:30:31.690 --> 00:30:37.260 No, he's saying that the Mosaic Law was a childminder, a nanny. 426 00:30:37.290 --> 00:30:43.860 He had kept God's people in line until the time had fully come and Christ came forth 427 00:30:43.890 --> 00:30:49.090 to liberate those under the law out from under the law. 428 00:30:49.120 --> 00:30:51.220 That's the Pythagos. 429 00:30:51.250 --> 00:30:55.780 He is a domestic slave who helps with education. 430 00:30:55.810 --> 00:30:58.090 Next slide. 431 00:30:58.120 --> 00:31:00.330 Now, this is what ancient libraries looked 432 00:31:00.360 --> 00:31:05.090 like which required professional librarians. 433 00:31:05.120 --> 00:31:07.940 And by the way, there were no lending libraries. 434 00:31:07.960 --> 00:31:10.220 There were rich people that had their own libraries. 435 00:31:10.250 --> 00:31:16.420 And there were major public libraries in Alexandria, in Pergamum, in Rome. 436 00:31:16.450 --> 00:31:19.090 And the only people that handled these 437 00:31:19.120 --> 00:31:23.810 documents on the shelf would, in fact be librarians. 438 00:31:23.840 --> 00:31:26.700 And how could they tell one scroll from another? 439 00:31:26.730 --> 00:31:32.220 Well, at the end of the scroll, there would be what is called a syllabus, from 440 00:31:32.250 --> 00:31:36.640 which we get the word wait for it syllabus. 441 00:31:36.920 --> 00:31:42.740 A syllabus is a toe tag that identifies what's in the document. 442 00:31:42.770 --> 00:31:49.090 It would say things like katalukon, according to Luke and as it used to be 443 00:31:49.120 --> 00:31:56.810 true with us and Vh tapes, we wouldn't rewind them when we returned the movie. 444 00:31:56.840 --> 00:31:59.540 Well, they didn't rewind the documents either. 445 00:31:59.570 --> 00:32:05.380 So the tag was at the end of the document to tell you what was in the document. 446 00:32:05.410 --> 00:32:08.290 Because when you got the document and you 447 00:32:08.320 --> 00:32:10.900 read it in the library, couldn't check it out. 448 00:32:10.930 --> 00:32:14.860 You had to do this for 30ft to get to the 449 00:32:14.890 --> 00:32:18.090 beginning of the document and then read it. 450 00:32:18.120 --> 00:32:21.740 This is the original kind of thing that 451 00:32:21.770 --> 00:32:25.740 the Word of God went through to get communicated to us. 452 00:32:25.770 --> 00:32:27.220 Next slide. 453 00:32:27.250 --> 00:32:29.980 So this is a drawing of what the library 454 00:32:30.010 --> 00:32:34.940 in Alexandria, the most famous library in antiquity, would have looked like. 455 00:32:34.970 --> 00:32:37.620 And it would indeed have looked like this. 456 00:32:37.650 --> 00:32:42.980 You would have unrolled a scroll on a table and read it right where it was 457 00:32:43.010 --> 00:32:46.220 because you were so not taking that out of the library. 458 00:32:46.250 --> 00:32:48.380 Next slide. 459 00:32:48.410 --> 00:32:49.900 Look at this. 460 00:32:49.930 --> 00:32:52.540 You notice how papyrus is see through? 461 00:32:52.570 --> 00:32:56.400 Could you write on both sides of the document? 462 00:32:56.720 --> 00:33:01.810 No, because the dark black ink would bleed through. 463 00:33:01.840 --> 00:33:05.330 So documents that even when we went to 464 00:33:05.360 --> 00:33:10.380 codex form and pages couldn't be written on both sides. 465 00:33:10.410 --> 00:33:12.800 Next slide. 466 00:33:13.240 --> 00:33:14.420 More papyrus. 467 00:33:14.450 --> 00:33:16.260 Next slide. 468 00:33:16.290 --> 00:33:18.020 And again. 469 00:33:18.050 --> 00:33:20.920 All right, now, here's where the rubber 470 00:33:20.950 --> 00:33:25.460 meets the road, because I want you to understand the impact of all of this. 471 00:33:25.490 --> 00:33:30.020 These are oral texts. 472 00:33:30.050 --> 00:33:33.700 They were never meant to be read silently. 473 00:33:33.730 --> 00:33:37.810 They were always meant to be read out loud. 474 00:33:37.840 --> 00:33:39.920 And in the earliest phases of 475 00:33:39.950 --> 00:33:44.260 Christianity, they were read out loud by professional readers. 476 00:33:44.290 --> 00:33:47.180 Look at what Revelation one three says. 477 00:33:47.210 --> 00:33:51.500 It says, Blessed is the one who reads 478 00:33:51.530 --> 00:33:58.460 these words out loud, and blessed are those who hear it. 479 00:33:58.490 --> 00:34:00.860 You see the distinction? 480 00:34:00.890 --> 00:34:06.330 There is one person who is the reader which is not you. 481 00:34:06.360 --> 00:34:09.060 This is the professional lecturer. 482 00:34:09.090 --> 00:34:11.460 Blessed is the one who reads this 483 00:34:11.490 --> 00:34:14.740 document, the Book of Revelation, out loud. 484 00:34:14.770 --> 00:34:19.460 And blessed are those who hear it and obey it. 485 00:34:19.490 --> 00:34:24.650 The Bible is an oral text. 486 00:34:24.680 --> 00:34:31.580 It was meant to be heard in its original languages and in the original languages, 487 00:34:31.610 --> 00:34:40.170 it had alliteration affonates, rhythm, rhyme, anamatapia. 488 00:34:40.200 --> 00:34:46.940 A third of its rhetorical force is lost in translation. 489 00:34:46.970 --> 00:34:48.900 Let me say that again. 490 00:34:48.930 --> 00:34:51.460 A third of the rhetorical force of the 491 00:34:51.490 --> 00:34:57.780 Word of God, as we call it, was lost in translation. 492 00:34:57.810 --> 00:35:02.340 Originally, the Document of Revelation would be taken through these seven 493 00:35:02.370 --> 00:35:07.170 churches by somebody who could read it professionally and separate the words, the 494 00:35:07.200 --> 00:35:11.690 sentences, the paragraphs with dramatic pauses at the right place because he 495 00:35:11.720 --> 00:35:16.420 already knew what was in the document and read it out loud. 496 00:35:16.450 --> 00:35:23.500 The Bible was meant to be heard and received. 497 00:35:23.530 --> 00:35:25.420 And here's another revelation. 498 00:35:25.450 --> 00:35:27.440 Next slide. 499 00:35:28.240 --> 00:35:33.820 Here's our guy who separated things into chapters and verses. 500 00:35:33.850 --> 00:35:38.940 You may blame him for the chapter and verse divisions which are not inspired by 501 00:35:38.970 --> 00:35:45.000 the way they had no part of these documents before the Middle Ages. 502 00:35:46.360 --> 00:35:49.620 Here's the other part of this that you need to understand. 503 00:35:49.640 --> 00:35:51.560 In the New Testament, when you hear the 504 00:35:51.590 --> 00:35:56.340 phrase Word of God logos to the, it 505 00:35:56.370 --> 00:36:03.780 never, ever refers to a book, not once. 506 00:36:03.810 --> 00:36:09.820 It refers to the oral preaching of the inspired text. 507 00:36:09.850 --> 00:36:14.800 So, for example, the Word of God is powerful, sharper than 508 00:36:14.830 --> 00:36:18.580 a two edged sword that pierces between bone and marrow. 509 00:36:18.610 --> 00:36:20.860 He's not talking about a written text, 510 00:36:20.890 --> 00:36:28.340 he's talking about the oral preaching and the effect it has on people or in Paul. 511 00:36:28.370 --> 00:36:33.130 In One, thessalonians 213, he said, 512 00:36:33.160 --> 00:36:40.580 you received the word of God when you heard it from me, as it actually is the 513 00:36:40.610 --> 00:36:44.260 Word of God and not merely the words of human beings. 514 00:36:44.290 --> 00:36:45.100 Everywhere. 515 00:36:45.130 --> 00:36:48.620 The phrase word of God occurs in the New Testament. 516 00:36:48.650 --> 00:36:52.980 It refers to the oral proclamation of the truth. 517 00:36:53.010 --> 00:36:55.170 Not once does it refer to a text. 518 00:36:55.200 --> 00:36:58.100 Twice it refers to Jesus himself. 519 00:36:58.130 --> 00:37:02.880 He is the Word of God in John One, he's also the Word of God in another place, in 520 00:37:02.910 --> 00:37:08.640 the Book of Revelation, but everywhere else, in Acts, in Paul, in Hebrews, when 521 00:37:08.670 --> 00:37:13.500 we have the phrase Word of God, it refers to an oral proclamation of a truth. 522 00:37:13.530 --> 00:37:18.340 Orality was primary, texts were secondary. 523 00:37:18.370 --> 00:37:22.980 And this is one of the things that made the earliest Christians such a peculiar 524 00:37:23.010 --> 00:37:30.520 people, because they actually believed that texts could have a final authority. 525 00:37:31.160 --> 00:37:33.000 Whenever they wanted to talk about a 526 00:37:33.030 --> 00:37:37.580 sacred text, they didn't use the phrase Word of God, they used the phrase hey. 527 00:37:37.610 --> 00:37:43.780 Graphe the Scriptures, the writings is what it literally means. 528 00:37:43.810 --> 00:37:47.650 So, for example, Two Timothy 316, 529 00:37:47.680 --> 00:37:54.380 all writings, Scripture, are what God breathed. 530 00:37:54.410 --> 00:37:58.460 They're God breathed and profitable for 531 00:37:58.490 --> 00:38:01.820 teaching, suitable for training in righteousness. 532 00:38:01.850 --> 00:38:03.980 Mainly what is mentioned there in Two 533 00:38:04.010 --> 00:38:09.980 Timothy 316 is the ethical thrust of the text. 534 00:38:10.010 --> 00:38:14.900 It's training in righteousness that the author is most concerned about. 535 00:38:14.930 --> 00:38:17.780 And what he is prepared to say is that God 536 00:38:17.810 --> 00:38:21.500 has breathed his very life into these writings. 537 00:38:21.530 --> 00:38:23.780 Now, ancient peoples had to be convinced 538 00:38:23.810 --> 00:38:27.540 about that because they believed that prophecy was an oral thing. 539 00:38:27.570 --> 00:38:30.580 You went to the oracle at Delphi in Greece 540 00:38:30.610 --> 00:38:37.650 and it needed to be heard, it needed to be audible to make sense and to inspire you. 541 00:38:37.680 --> 00:38:46.620 It's a new thing to have a people of a sacred book in a strongly oral culture. 542 00:38:46.650 --> 00:38:50.380 We think texts are the final authority. 543 00:38:50.410 --> 00:38:52.940 They thought the living voice is the final 544 00:38:52.970 --> 00:38:58.980 authority in the world in which Paul proclaimed the good news of Jesus Christ, 545 00:38:59.010 --> 00:39:05.210 the Greco Roman world believed, I need to hear it before I believe it. 546 00:39:05.240 --> 00:39:10.500 We say, I need to see it before I believe it. 547 00:39:10.530 --> 00:39:12.210 That's a very different culture. 548 00:39:12.240 --> 00:39:14.380 So our culture is very different. 549 00:39:14.410 --> 00:39:18.740 We give primacy to written texts as final authorities. 550 00:39:18.770 --> 00:39:21.820 They gave primacy to the living voice as 551 00:39:21.850 --> 00:39:26.300 the final authority, and texts would be secondary authorities. 552 00:39:26.330 --> 00:39:27.820 A very different thing. 553 00:39:27.850 --> 00:39:30.940 So what's happening in the Bible is that 554 00:39:30.970 --> 00:39:37.900 we are beginning to have a culture of texts, of sacred texts, of authoritative 555 00:39:37.930 --> 00:39:45.260 texts, and it was Jews and Christians that first set that whole thing in motion. 556 00:39:45.290 --> 00:39:48.780 Very important for us to understand this. 557 00:39:48.810 --> 00:39:53.940 Even when you get to the second century and you have a church father like Papius, 558 00:39:53.970 --> 00:40:00.650 he says this I was not so persuaded by the things I have read, but. 559 00:40:00.680 --> 00:40:03.780 I longed to hear the living voice of John 560 00:40:03.810 --> 00:40:09.300 the Elder or Aristian or some of the original eyewitnesses. 561 00:40:09.330 --> 00:40:14.500 For after all, it is the living witness that is the final authority. 562 00:40:14.530 --> 00:40:18.260 Texts are secondary. 563 00:40:18.290 --> 00:40:25.740 How do we in the 21st century who are text driven textbound people, 564 00:40:25.770 --> 00:40:32.690 come to grips with the fact that texts were seen in antiquity as secondary 565 00:40:32.720 --> 00:40:37.020 authorities to the living preaching of the word? 566 00:40:37.050 --> 00:40:42.740 We need to think about these things, especially when it comes to ethics, and 567 00:40:42.770 --> 00:40:46.860 that's what we're going to do in our subsequent sessions. 568 00:40:46.880 --> 00:40:47.800 Thank you very much.