Capítulo 1. Importancia de la Palabra de Dios

Tabla de contenidos

Un libro que es único
Un libro que Dios sopló (inspiró)
Un libro que Obra
Un libro que libera
Un libro que guerrea
Exhortaciones
Apéndice: "Una vez para siempre"
Suplemento: Programas de Lectura de la Biblia

Understanding God's word is of great importance to all who call on God's name. Study of the Bible is one of the primary ways that we learn to communicate with God.

Un libro que es único

The Bible stands alone in many ways. It is unique in:

  • popularity. Bible sales in North America: more than $500 million per year. The Bible is both the all-time and year-to-year best seller!

  • authorship. It was written over a period of 1600 years by 40 different authors from different backgrounds, yet reads as if written by one.

  • preservation. F. F. Bruce in Are New Testament Documents Reliable? compares New Testament manuscripts with other ancient texts:

Tabla 1.1. Comparación de manuscritos del Nuevo Testamento con otros textos antiguos.

ObraCuando fue escritaCopia más antiguaTiempo transcurridoNúmero de Copias
Heródoto448-428 AC900 DC1300 años8
Tácito100 DC1100 DC1000 años20
Guerra de las Galias de César50-58 AC900 DC950 años10
Historia Romana de Livio59 AC - 17 DC900 DC900 años20
Nuevo Testamento40 DC - 100 DC130 DC manuscritos parciales, 350 DC manuscritos completos30 - 310 años5000 Griego y 10000 Latin

Ten copies of Caesar's Gallic War exist, the earliest of which was copied 900 years after Caesar wrote the original, etc. For the New Testament we have full manuscripts dating to 350 A. D., papyri containing most of the New Testament from the 200s, and a fragment of John's gospel from 130 A. D. How many manuscripts do we have to compare to each other? 5,000 in Greek and 10,000 in Latin!

 

"En la veracidad y la plenitud de las evidencias en que se apoya, el texto del Nuevo Testamento está absolutamente inalcanzable por otros antiguos escritos en prosa".

 
 --Textual critic F. J. A. Hort, "The New Testament in the Original Greek", vol. 1 p561, Macmillan Co., quoted in Questions of Lifep. 25-26