(remember, these are unedited/draft show notes, not a transcript — listening is always better…and if you listen AND follow along below, you’ll see how)
Focus Question:
Why are 'group letters' important to you?
Intro:
You are having a conversation with a friend, somehow end up on the topic of the Bible, and your friend says, “But all we have are copies of copies copies, AND there are a zillion errors in it.” What do you say?
Today we kick off the book of 1 Corinthians, and if we were to ask who Paul was writing to, the answer would be, “Duh!” BUT, right up front in the letter Paul says, “Hey, this isn’t just for you, it’s for a bunch of you.”
Some NT letters are more obvious about this, some less so, but it’s an important thing to consider. After all, there wasn’t exactly an internet or copy machine. And this, my friends, is really good news (not THE Good News, mind you). Why are “group letters” important to you?” So you can answer your friend about all the copies and mistakes. And we’ll tackle how to respond to your friend after or reading today.
New Testament segment:
Passage: 1 Corinthians 1
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 31
Words: ~657
Old Testament segment:
Passage: Isaiah 33-35
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 51
Words: ~1391
Wisdom segment:
Passage: Proverbs 14:4-6
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 3
Words: ~48
The bottom line:
Why are group letters a good thing? One risk when attempting to tackle a deep topic in short, repeatable soundbites is that you won’t do it justice, but here goes.
One, your friend who complains about copies of copies of copies probably makes an error in an assumption…that it is copy to copy to copy, like a written version of the telephone game (called Chinese whispers is some parts of the world). When we play that game, what starts out as “elephant” comes out at the end as “fancy pants” and we all have a laugh.
Not all, but many NT letters were written to groups of people, sometimes with the explicit instructions to share. So they did make copies, and yes, of course this means that mistakes were made.
Here’s the difference…and an illustration.
The difference between the telephone game and NT group letters is that the former is sequential, and latter is simultaneous.
Let me illustrate:
You write a handwritten letter to a family. You tell them to pass it along to all the other families in the neighborhood, so they set about to making handwritten copies to those other families. Then they do the same thing. Next thing you know, the four families you sent copies to do the same thing, and now there are a couple dozen copies in existence.
And then your husband spills his beer on the original and ruins it. It’s toast.
A long time later somebody wants to know exactly what the original said, so they gather up the copies they can get and start comparing them. Some have spelling mistakes. Five them say “you rock!,” but there’s one that says, “you all rock.” Some spell the word honor h-o-n-o-r, but others spell it 'h-o-n-o-u-r.”
Do you think, “Oh, look at this mess — there’s nothing I can trust here?”
No, on the contrary, by comparing a dozen or two of the copies, you can get reeeeeally close to the original. Do the spelling mistakes or variations of the word “honor” diminish your confidence? No. If most say “you rock!” but a couple add the word “you all rock,” what do you think? Probably the original said “you rock!”
To use the language of math, the power of group letters is that copying multiplied geometrically. Simultaneously, not sequentially. Further, having a lot of copies is to your benefit.
In terms of the history of non-biblical texts from the ancient near east, there are few historical for which we have more than 1000 manuscripts, more where we have hundreds, and most we have a few dozen. But when it comes to the New Testament, we have about 5900. By secular historical standards, we can trust the Bible more than just about anything else that we base history on.
Why? One reason is because, like 1 Corinthians, many were group letters and making copies to distribute was what they did culturally.
Love you!
Roger
ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.
Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.
Sources and resources:
(1) Leslie T. Hardin and Derek Brown, “Son of Man,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).
(2) Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2022.
(3) Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 1883.
(4) D. A. Carson, “The Gospels and Acts,” in NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, ed. D. A. Carson (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2018), 1757.