Josh Mcdowell

3:17; Isaiah 42:1). Consequently, we see in Matthew’s depiction of Jesus a fundamental tenet of Israel’s theological history personified.

Unlike Mythology, narratives of the Bible are actual events that took place dating back to the beginning of time. The conception of The Holy Bible’s compilation started thousands of years ago in the land of Egypt. Initially, the Old Testament Scriptures were written in the Hebrew language, however, they were later translated to the Greek. At the onset of the New Testament writings, they were originally recorded in the Greek language. Forty men transcribed the voice of God, which resulted in sixty-six books of the Holy Bible. The Holy Scriptures explained the creations, formation of the world, God, God’s chosen people, sin, and the plan of salvation as well.

Jewish tradition passed down the oral and written story of Messianic prophecies for generations. To provide the correlation between the anticipated Messiah and the fulfillment through Jesus, Matthew affirmed prophecies throughout the birth story with two significant fulfillments—Abraham’s promised seed [offspring] and the virgin birth.

When studying the Bible, it is important to understand its origins; for me, I I have become enlightened, but troubled after learning about the subject. I found the unit, as a whole, very important and a positive experience for me. But, with this comes much apprehension and confusion as to the strength of the Bible.

As we move further into the research of this paper, defining some terms under the viewpoints of the selected authors is necessary. Millard Erickson defines inspiration as “that supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit upon the Scripture writers which rendered their writings an accurate record of the revelation or which resulted in what they wrote actually being the Word of God.” While inspiration primarily concerns the quality of the finished product rather than the process of that period of time in which the entirety of the Scriptures came into being, the divine-human authorship raises the tension as to how those Scriptures came into being. The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy states: “We affirm that inspiration, strictly speaking applies only to the autographic text of Scripture.” The leads to the question “What constitutes an autograph or the autographs?” In general, scholars use the term autographs to refer to the first or original copies of the biblical documents which is the material the author actually wrote himself. One customary definition of the term “autographa” in a theological discussion refers to the unchanging form of text whereby the original document is identical to the final canonical form of a given OT biblical book. Since canon involves the list of all books that belong in a bible or those reckoned as Holy Scriptures which

The revelation of the Dead Sea confirmed that the Jewish and Christian researchers who for hundreds of years duplicated, transcribed and passed along the documents that we call the Bible did so devotedly with care and intention. It remains true that we almost definitely do not have any documents or fragments of a manuscript that is the original writing of the document in question. However, it is equally true that

As a person throughly studies the Words of God found in the Bible, one would find that there are many topics and doctrines contained within. One of the major doctrines or teachings found in Scripture is prophecy. Around 28 percent of the Bible is classified as prophecy. The men who wrote these prophecies did not write based off what they thought would happen. Neither did they write them after the events that were predicted took place as some critics of the Bible would claim. These men were inspired by an omnipotent, omniscient God Who knew the events that would take place in the world. After all, “Prophecy is written foreknowledge of the omniscience of our omnipotent God”

Jesus: Both my people and the judaism believe in me, the messiah, but in our faith I have already come to die on a cross for the sins of the world! We also read different books, we read the Bible, The other two read the Torah and the Qur’an.

Wright’s section on typology fleshes this out.10 Typology helps readers look for Christ in the OT “by way of analogy or correspondence.”11 One reviewer comments that employing typology “encourages us to look for patterns or models of how God works in history, and then to see how those patterns are fulfilled by Jesus in the New Testament. No hocus-pocus, just close attention paid to God's pattern of working in history.”12 Typology is one way to explain the pictures and patterns of the OT, but not the only way.13 Wright talks about ongoing levels of fulfillment and differentiates between prediction and promise.14 This second interpretive method of Wright is termed “promise-fulfillment.” Jesus is the “final destination of an already well recognized pattern of promise-fulfillment” that was laid out in the OT.15 A “promise” implies that not all fulfillments will be literal. Wright uses the analogy of father promising a son a horse when he turns 21. By the time the son turns 21, automobiles have been invented, so the son receives a car instead of a horse. The promise was fulfilled (transportation), but it was “fulfilled in the light of new historical events.”16 Such is the case

God’s word is true and wrapped with history, science, covenants, promises, prophecy, and redemption, all bound with love and mercy.

Courtney Knowles Relg 202-1: Vandergriff January 13, 2015 Tuesday/Thursday 2:00 pm--3:20 Is the Bible True? By William C. Placher Placher starts of his article with stating different claims that come with the Bible. The claims that we have heard our whole lives: what the Bible states is completely true – so we automatically believe it. It also states another claim is that everything stated in the Bible is true so we should be able to trust it. From my personal view I was brought up to believe these same things.

I strongly believe that the Bible is God’s living Word, and the truth of His ways not being the same as mine (Isaiah 55:8-9) and how I am finite while He is infinite, I know only in part, and He is all knowing, nevertheless, I trust His Word even with my limited understanding while depending on Him completely and I am only fully persuaded that the entire creation account took place, but cannot determine if it was literal. (Word Count 214)

If I say my understanding of the scriptures is unique, you would be correct in assuming it does not follow those doctrines that have become the cultural norm of modern Christianity. But my understanding of the scriptures possesses the witness of the Creation itself, as seeds and crops became the metaphorical aids in Biblical analogies, so I look to those universal realities that likewise express God through His Creation.

"The New Testament gospels are a twisted tale of political intrigue and religious power plays with stakes destined to shape the future of the world’s largest religion." (p.81) our New Testament gospels contain historical material, the theological editing is a factor that the discerning reader must constantly keep in mind." (pg.139). The gospel of Matthew implies that Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled with the amazing virgin birth of Jesus but the original text carries no meaning because it really had no meaning of importance in the text

This paper will analyze the "Divine Purpose" as it appears in the various "highways of prophecy" in the New Testament, and show how those "highways" may be followed to a deeper and fuller appreciation of God's message.