bible study

The Codex Sinaiticus Project is an international collaboration to reunite the entire manuscript in digital form and make it accessible to a global audience for the first time. Drawing on the expertise of leading scholars, conservators and curators, the Project gives everyone the opportunity to connect directly with this famous manuscript. [Find out more about the Codex Sinaiticus Project.]

The world’s oldest known Christian Bible goes online Monday — but the 1,600-year-old text doesn’t match the one you’ll find in churches today.

Discovered in a monastery in the Sinai desert in Egypt more than 160 years ago, the handwritten Codex Sinaiticus includes two books that are not part of the official New Testament and at least seven books that are not in the Old Testament.

The New Testament books are in a different order, and include numerous handwritten corrections — some made as much as 800 years after the texts were written, according to scholars who worked on the project of putting the Bible online. The changes range from the alteration of a single letter to the insertion of whole sentences.

And some familiar — very important — passages are missing, including verses dealing with the resurrection of Jesus, they said.

Juan Garces, the British Library project curator, said it should be no surprise that the ancient text is not quite the same as the modern one, since the Bible has developed and changed over the years.

"The Bible as an inspirational text has a history," he told CNN.

"There are certainly theological questions linked to this," he said. "Everybody should be encouraged to investigate for themselves."

That is part of the reason for putting the Bible online, said Garces, who is both a Biblical scholar and a computer scientist.

"Scholars will want to look very closely at it, and some of the Web site functionality is specifically for them — the ability to search the text, the ability to highlight a word, the degree of detail is particularly interesting for scholars interested in the text," he said.

Source/Full Story: CNN.com

by R.J. Rushdoony

“If God be God, then His every word is of necessity law, because His every word is the authoritative and ultimate word.  There is no word, law, power or standard beyond by means of which God and His word can be judged.

(Dr. Cornelius) Van Til makes this clear in the course of his discussion of the righteousness of God:

“With the righteousness of God we signify the self-consistency of the divine Being. God is a law unto himself.  He is the absolute self-existent personality and therefore, at the same time, absolute law.  God does not have a law, but is law.  His self-conscious activity regards with absolute complacency the eternal rightness of relationship between the various aspects of multiplicity that are found with the divine Being.  He cannot and does not tolerate any subordination of any one aspect of His Being to any other aspect of His Being.  The attributes and the persons of God are all on a par.” (Cornelius Van Til: “An Introduction to Theology”, II, Philadelphia, PA 1947, p. 214)

It is therefore destructive of the Biblical doctrine of God to oppose or exalt one aspect of God over or against another.  We cannot oppose grace and law; men may do so, but in God’s being they are in unity and not in subordination to one another.  Similarly, in God’s being love and justice are not contraries but equal aspects of Hid being and are an essential unity.  To say “God is love” (1Joh 4:8) is scriptural, but it denies Scripture if we mean therefore that in God love is more basic than law, justice, jealousy, wrath, grace, or any other attribute of God’s being.  Thus, when Scripture contrasts any of these terms, it either has reference to man’s use of them or to man’s relationship to them under God’s economy.

Van Til illustrates this by reference to 2 Corinthians 3:6:

“who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”  The contrast here is not between grace and law, nor a materialistic dispensation versus a spiritual one.  “The ‘letter’ as spoken of by Paul, refers not to Scripture as a whole, but refers to the ‘ministration of condemnation’”, that is, to the Pharisaic externalism.  Thus, “the contention… that the Bible was never meant to be taken as a book that should be interpreted literally” is invalid (Ibid., p. 136)

The misuse of Scripture condemned by Paul was not a faithful obedience to the literal meaning of Scripture but a reinterpretation of that meaning in terms of man’s word, will and thought.  We must, on the contrary,

“make Scripture the standard of our thinking and not our thinking the standard of Scripture” (Ibid., p.210).

It is to the advantage of apostate man to deny or wrongly divide the word of God.  If the Bible is reduced to a non-literal meaning and made anything other than the very word of God, the result is a very different kind of God.  God then has no sure and certain word because God Himself is an uncertain and unrealized being.  Those who pretend to exalt God by declaring Him to be unknowable and hence unnamable are thereby undermining the deity of God.  Greek philosophy, for example, assumed the utter unknowablilty of God. As Van Til observes,

“An apostate man has every reason to teach the unnamability of God.  If God is unnamable then he cannot name anything in the world.  Only if God is unknowable can man think of his own knowledge as autonomous” (Cornelius Van Til: “Christ and the Jews”, Nutely, NY 1968, p. 8).

God can be named, but not by man.  For man to name God means that man’s autonomous mind establishes the categories of definition.  The definitive and ultimate word is then the word of man.  For man to define God would mean that man could then classify God in relationship to himself, and would understand and judge God, as well as to name Him, in terms of man’s infallible word.  This is at the heart of the evil of idolatry.  Some forms of idolatry seem, superficially examined, to be very noble; some, in fact, show the influence of Biblical thought.  At heart, however, idolatry defines God, whether by word, graven image, picture, or philosophical thought, in terms of man’s autonomous mind and man’s defining and creative word.

The people of Israel wanted, in the person of Moses, a definition of God.  What was His name ?  By this they meant a definition of God in terms of man’s requirements and being.  God refused to so name Himself.  In terms of man, He is beyond definition, because He is not to be defined by anything external to Himself as a criterion over Himself, but in terms of His own Being.  Scripture defines man in terms of the image of God; hence apostate man is fallen man:  he has fallen from God’s norm.  Of a contemptible sinner, we say “He’s not much of a man”, because man is not defined by his own existence. We cannot name, define or know God in terms of anything external to Himself, and hence we cannot judge God, because God and His word are the criterion of all judgment.  We can truly say of a man “He’s not much of a man”, but we can never so speak of God, that He is not much of a God.

As a result, God answered Moses, not as Israel would have wished, but by declaring Himself to be God:  that was His name, He Who Is, the self-existent one.

“God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”  God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.” (Exo 3:14-15)

This means, FIRST, than man cannot name or define God:  God names Himself, I AM WHO I AM.  Where man does any naming, as Adam was required to do in Eden (Gen 2:19-20), it is either as a covenant-keeper, working to understand the world under God and in terms of God’s purpose as a creator, or as a covenant-breaker, seeking to establish the meaning of creation in terms of man’s autonomous and ultimate word (Gen 3:5:  “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”).

SECOND, God defines Himself by His self-revelation.  The naming, defining, knowing word is thus the word of God.  Man’s word, when autonomous in intent, is unable to create reality or impose its own determinative meaning on reality.  All things having been made by God, serve and obey His word and purpose.

THIRD, this means that Scripture is the necessary word.  God makes Himself knowable by means of His sovereign and infallible word.  God’s word is the word of salvation, but it is also the word of knowledge, basic to epistemology [the science that studies the possibility, origin, nature and extent of human knowledge].  It is the word of law, love, wrath, grace, justice, judgment, and more.  It is the word which establishes the meaning of life, time, and history.

FORTH, God’s word is the unchanging word.  He is “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb 13:8).  He declares “For I the LORD do not change” (Mal 3:8).  He is “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”.  As He was then, He is now and forever.  “This is my name forever”.  His word is thus the infallible word, because He is the absolute and omnipotent God, whose every word is truth.

FIFTH, God then made clear to Moses that He did not answer to Moses or to Israel:  they answered to Him.  Hence, Moses had to “go” at God’s command, and Israel had to stand up to Pharaoh in terms of God’s requirement that Israel must serve God, not Pharaoh (Exo 3:16-20).  Israel could serve neither Pharaoh nor itself: it must serve the Lord, and if Pharaoh (or Israel) stood in God’s way, He would stretch out His hand and smite him.  This is no less true today.  The Scripture is not a problem to be resolved by man, nor a mere subject for research and speculation.  It is God’s infallible command word: we either obey it or are condemned by it.”

From: Rousas John Rushdoony: “Systematic Theology” Volume I.  Vallecito, CA 1994, p. 49-52
Bible quotes, unlike in the original, from the ESV (not the KJV)

A leading scientist has warned a new species of “humanzee,” created from breeding apes with humans, could become a reality unless the government acts to stop scientists experimenting.
“The Human Fertilisation and Embryo Bill prohibits the placement of animal sperm into a woman The reverse is not prohibited. It’s not even mentioned. This should not be the case.”

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Well, the bible is clear about these things – no mixing ! If you really want to argue that bestiality is not mentioned in the bible, you can see the consequences of such an attitude in the above.

“And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is perversion.” (Lev 18:23)

If God’s love is unconditional, and therefore our love for one another should be unconditional, then being tolerant, that is, completely non-judgmental, is a fundamental Christian value. Judging someone, then, shows a lack of Christian love. But the New Testament presents its reader with seemingly contradictory statements on judgment, so we need to take a closer look:

“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;”,

Jesus says (Luk 6:37, see also Mat 7:1), but at the same time you find him being rather judgmental himself, calling people dogs and pigs (Mat 7:6; 15:26, Mar 7:27-28), or brute of vipers (Mat 12:34; 23:33).

Paul urges his readers to shun fornicators, idolaters etc. (1 Co 5:11), and to deny false teachers entrance into their house (2 Joh 1:10), and also warns that who shows the fruits of the flesh will not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal 5:19-21).

God doesn’t contradict Himself, however, He is not the author of confusion (1 Co 14:33) and does not change (Mal 3:6, Heb 13:8).
How then does all this make sense ?

The passages mentioned only appear to be contradictory if “judge not” is read to mean that any type of judgment is unchristian. But if that’s the case, no teacher can be identified as a false teacher, no person can be classified as a pig or a dog unworthy godly gifts or brotherly love, in short, no behavior can be called wrong and everything has to be tolerated. The bible does not call us to do that, on the contrary. It calls us to stay away from ungodly people, and by their fruits we shall know them (Mat 7:16-20), so we have to judge. The question is: By what standard ?

Jesus teaches by example that we should follow God’s assessment in every way, and not lean unto our own understanding when it comes to judgment (or any other moral and ethical, social and personal issue, for that matter, Pro 3:5-8).

“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.” (Joh 5:30)

For example, we can follow God in saying that homosexuality is an abomination (Lev 18:22, Rom 1:26-27), without being judgmental on our own accord. We can say that liars and cowards are going to burn in the lake of sulfur (Rev 21:8), and we can avoid the company of people who don’t accept God’s Law (2 Ti 3:2-5), without being judgmental: In all this, we are obedient to His word.

The call not to judge anyone ever and to associate with everyone equally, brethren and non brethren alike, violates God’s commandment of separation, of holiness (Lev 20:26) and ignores God’s own judgments. It means to be like a god ourselves, as in ignoring God’s assessments we determine for ourselves what is good or evil, right or wrong – we create our own standard, which is exactly what the nachash tempted Eve with. But instead of repeating Eve’s sin happily and blindly, we are called to follow God in His judgment, to go by His standard alone in everything, just like Jesus did, and not to fall prey to the schemes of the devil (Eph 6:11).

Let us draw your attention to the following verses from John’s first letter:

“And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, ” (1 John 2:3-4)

“and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.” (1 John 3:22)

“Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us. ” (1 John 3:24)

“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.” (1 John 5:2)

“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.” (1 John 5:3)

If you have been convinced so far that the Old Testament was not really worth considering as the commandments it presents and refers to are done away with, think again. An antinomianistic approach cannot be maintained in the light of the quoted verses, let alone in the light of Jesus’ teaching as presented in Matthew’s account of the sermon on the mount:

“For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” (Mat 5:1)

Have heaven and earth passed away yet ? No, they haven’t. And so the Law is still valid and binding, just like John tells us, too.