I moved on to the chapter, “Who Wrote the Bible?” That is a misnamed. He only deals with New Testament books. I thought that I might glean real meat here but I got to his conclusion and was very disappointed. He makes points about books not being written by the names ascribed to them and at the end answers his own dilemma.
Ehrman makes a big deal about the disciples being illiterate by quoting some statistics about literacy rates in Israel during this era. These men were from Galilee and were less apt to be trained or literate than if from other parts of Israel. After running down this trail, he poses what I am sure he considers to be a profound proposition that these men couldn’t write so why are so many of the books in the New Testament attributed to them. Well, actually there are not many books or letters attributed to the disciples of Jesus.
More importantly, however, is Dr. Ehrman’s own discovery and admission at the end of the chapter. On page 155, speaking of I Peter: “It is sometimes argued that Peter had someone else write the letter for him, for example, Silvanus, who is named in the letter (5:12). But the letter itself doesn’t say that. And if someone else wrote the letter, wouldn’t he, rather than Peter, be the real author?”
Do you get what Dr Ehrman is alluding to here? He has just called some of the New Testament books forgeries because someone dictated a letter and someone else wrote the letter on parchment—and, this is the presumption throughout the chapter on who “wrote” to books. I am astounded at his logic.
My wife is a secretary and she types dictation every day she works for her boss. Do you think she signs that dictation with her name. No, the boss signs the letters and then they are mailed or faxed.
So, Dr. Ehrman’s premise here explains his own dilemma about the disciples not being able to write Greek, if in fact they were not able to write Greek. They could have easily dictated the books or letters and had a learned person write it down. It is not a forgery to put the name of the person on the letter who dictated it.
We have an example of this scenario in Paul’s case. Galatians was almost certainly dictated to someone else except for chapter 6, verse 11 and maybe 12 where Paul indicates that he is now writing in “large letters”. So Paul authored Galatians though someone else may have written it down for him when perhaps his sight was failing.
Ehrman does not give one specific example of why the attributed authors did not write the books that are attributed to them. He only speaks in generalities about use of different words and styles of writing. Now I will concede to him Hebrews. I realize there is still debate in scholarly circles of whether the Apostle Paul wrote the book. But he never discusses the point that even if the author of a book is not known precisely, that there is merit to trusting it’s inclusion in the set of divinely inspired works. The early church fathers knew who the authors were and they made the choices within the Christian community who were reading and listening to the Gospels and letters. Also I believe they all were aided by God’s guidance.
This is not something that anyone today can go back and redo and make the included books a different set of letters and gospels. Many do not realize that specific principles guided the early church community in their understanding of which writings were inspired by God and which ones were not inspired.
These is a message in the Bible that speaks to the heart of a man or woman and meets intimate, personal needs of the person who is open to that message. I know no greater works on love or joy or peace or contentment. There is also a great felt need on the part of many people to be relieved of the oppression of sin in wickedness found in their hearts. Many people long to escape the oppression of sins of the heart and the sins from other’s hearts. The message and the language of the Bible work in these areas of need of the human heart. Jesus meets the deepest needs of the heart of love, acceptance and forgiveness among many others.
Henri J.M. Nouwen points out what HEART language is all about:
In our world of loneliness and despair, there is an enormous need for men an women who know the heart of God, a heart that forgives, that cares, that reaches out and want to heal. In that heart there is no suspicion, no vindictiveness, no resentment, and not a tinge of hatred. It is a heart that wants only to give love and receive love in response. It is a heart that suffers immensely because it sees the magnitude of human pain and the great resistance to trusting the heart of God who wants to offer consolation and hope.
Henri J. M. Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership (New York: Crossroads, 1989), 24.
Banish the thought that someone missed to message because they stumbled on the grammar or misspellings they find in the Greek manuscript copies. I hope the Dr. Ehrman can get past this in his personal life.
The French philosopher and infidel, Denis Diderot, said:
No better lessons can I teach my child than those of the bible.
May we all learn to teach our children well. Let us not forget these words of Mr. Diderot who knew the value of the impression of the teachings of the Bible upon a child’s heart.
The USA Today reporter/blogger, Tom Krattenmaker, has put out some points in his blog regarding how Bart Ehrman is giving us Christians questions to ponder. Ehrman is out with a new book, Jesus Interrupted. Though I have not read it, based on the reviews, this is more of the same from Ehrman. There is no additional insight here from Misquoting Jesus, his previous book. Ehrman thinks because there are apparent differences in the gospels, say Matthew, written to a Jewish audience, and John, written later and to a non-Jewish audience, that means there are discrepencies and thus errors. That is not the case at all. The Gospels were each written to a different audience and thus emphasize different points about the same events in Jesus’ life in some cases.
Krattenmaker indicates that within the New Testament we find “varying perspectives and changing interpretations. Yes we do find varying perspectives among the writers of the Gospels and over the years and even today there are changing interpretations of what is written in the New Testament.
The extreme that Krattenmaker goes to is that he assumes that the data coming from Bart Ehrman, Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan are authenticated and valid and they may not be.
These men intend on rewriting history and revising the Bible. The Bible is not simply a collection of writings of men, they are that, but more–they reveal God’s mind and show us what He wants us to understand about Himself and previous events in history.
The lens allowing us to see into the deep things of God is His Word. People ridicule the Word of God and they ridiculed the living Word of God while He was physically here on earth. We know Him through His Word and all of it is HIS WORD. Let’s honor Him as we honor His Word. May it produce fruit in your life as you feast upon Him through His Word.
As with any topic here we are open to your comments below. Comment away!!
Many people make resolution at the beginning and I don’t think that is a bad thing necessarily. In fact I am going to suggest that you make a resolution to read the Bible through in a year. You need a plan to survive and there are plenty of plans out there. There are also online Bible resources such as Bible Gateway (http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/readingplans/). Hey, that link takes you right to the reading plans there. Go to www.biblegateway.com for the Bible in many versions. Here is a good plan too: http://www.ewordtoday.com/year/. There are all kinds of options on this one.
Commit to it and enjoy the satisfaction of having a much more broader understanding of God’s Word and God’s Ways at the end of this year. I know you won’t regret it.
The French philosopher and infidel, Denis Diderot, said:
Stumble It!
