Journey Through the Minor Prophets, Part 3نموونە

Intro

Nicole introduces this lesson which will help us understand better how the Old Testament took shape in the days of scrolls, and how much authority this part of the Bible had for Jews and early Christians.

Old Testament Wrap Up: In the Text

When we consider the uniqueness of the Bible, it’s best to start with what it says of itself. Notice that along with a sense of authority, there is something else.

The Idea of Sacred Literature Emerges from the Text

Read the passages below.

• Genesis 1:3
• Leviticus 21:1
• Numbers 12:4

Note common features that suggest their elevated authority.

All of the texts you read claim to convey divine revelation. They give us the very words God spoke to his people in the ancient world. (Notice that the humans who speak for God include both men and women.)

Each of these passages comes from the Torah, which is full of divine speech and commands. As we know, these first five books are not only the beginning but also the core of the Hebrew Bible, which the Prophets and Writings reference and share as their foundation.

The Authority of the Torah in the Writings & Prophets

The Prophets and Writings are effusive in their praise of the Torah and insist on its authority. Read Psalm 119.

Offer a few terms or phrases to describe the psalmist’s view of the Torah similar to some we’ve already suggested, like “sacred” and “inspired."

The Torah is “thoroughly tested,” “eternal” and “firm in the heavens.” It is “precious,” “sweeter than honey,” “truth” and “righteousness.” These types of claims, which we find throughout the Old Testament, confirm the central place of the Torah in Jewish tradition and express its status as sacred Scripture. The relationship of the Prophets and Writings to Torah, their consistency with it and similar claims of inspiration, secure their place alongside it in the Hebrew canon.

This status of canonicity, and the formal list of canonical books, was not determined all at once by a formal decision or a study of literary characteristics. The canon represents a shared recognition that the Bible is inspired and preserved by God himself. In the modern world, we prefer scientific and technical assessments and distinctions. It would be misleading to suggest that such approaches played a central role in the compilation of ancient Jewish or Christian texts.

The thread that binds the canonical books is not only consistency and inspiration, but also a common source in the Holy Spirit. Their coherence is ultimately recognized by the faithful, although their interconnectedness is easily seen. A strong recognition among the Hebrew people is that this was inspired revelation. As one scholar has said of the New Testament, the implicit authority of the Old Testament books “was sensed before a theory of their authority had been developed—in fact, before there was even a consciousness of their authority.”

Councils later in history, in both Jewish and Christian tradition, affirmed this status, but they didn’t pioneer it. To borrow from another New Testament scholar, “What these councils did was not to impose something new upon (religious) communities but to codify what was already the general practice of these communities.”

Sources: Bruce Manning Metzger, The Canon of the New Testament: Its Origin, Development and Significance, 1992, p. 73; F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?, 1960, p. 27.