Beyond the Weekend

May 25 | Trusting the Text

May 25, 2022

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other scriptures, to their own destruction. 2 Peter 3:16

Read: 2 Peter 3:15-16
Listen:
2 Peter 3

TODAY’S MESSAGE

The letters in the New Testament were not originally combined into the Bible we have today. Because of this, some people question trusting the texts preserved in the Bible as the right ones. Guest Pastor John Dickson taught us the early Christians only recognized as Scripture the texts widely known to have been written by an Apostle or an appointee of an Apostle. As a historian himself, Pastor John said that they did a fantastic job at this. If historians today set out to determine which books were written by an Apostle or an appointee of an Apostle, they would decide on the same twenty-seven books of the New Testament.

This frequently leads to questioning if Bible texts have been altered or changed over time. John Dickson shared that the New Testament is the best-attested text of classical history. The number of complete copies, partial copies and fragments of the New Testament vastly outnumber the next best-attested resources. This is important because with so many copies—we can easily compare manuscripts and be sure our Bibles accurately contain what the authors originally wrote. In the end, we can say that we have the right texts and that they are accurately preserved. What we read in our Bibles is what was written by the original authors.

We have much evidence to be grateful for. Yet, it’s worth mentioning that our faith is not built on this evidence. Rather it is built on our God and his character. We can trust in our God who loves, sent his son to die for and is faithful to us. May we ever be grateful for the excellent evidence for our faith and even more thankful for our gracious God who gave this evidence to us.

IN YOUR CHAIR TIME TODAY

Listen to the Ada Bible Worship Team sing Promises. May the words remind you today that you can trust in our faithful God. That you can trust in the God whose faithfulness has been proved through history, through every rising morning and through each of our lives.


2022 BIBLE MEMORY PRACTICE

Develop spiritual roots and tap in the power of God’s word by memorizing monthly a Bible verse! View previous verses at beyondtheweekend.org/biblememorypractice.

MATTHEW 22:37-39
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’


Download a printable PDF of the BTW week here.

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