The Extra-Canonical Books:
The Apocrypha
Lecture 8
An Overview and Summary

Bruce’s Problem Stated
•	He begins the chapter by giving a hypothetical scene of a person reading the Bible and then, wondering what is meant by the term, “testament”?
•	What does Bruce indicate that “testament” means in our culture and in our day?
•	What does he indicate is a better term?
•	Why would he select this term?

The Origin of the Word “Testament”
•	Our English word, “testament” is derived from the Latin word, ______________________
•	this has the sense of a last will and testament

The Standard Latin Version
•	is divided into two sections:
•	________________ Testamentum (Old Testament) and
•	________________ Testamentum (New Testament)
•	Testamentum was selected to translate the Greek word: diatheke

The Greek Versions 
•	are similarly divided with two sections called:
•	he ______________ diatheke  (Old Testament) and
•	he ______________ diatheke  (New Testament)

The Meaning of Diakathe
•	Diatheke can have more than one meaning
•	It can mean “testament” as in last will and testament or
•	It can mean “_____________________________” 
•	It is used regularly in the LXX and in the Greek NT to mean ___________________________

Syntheke is another Greek Word
•	for “covenant”, but was not used by the translators of the LXX
•	it suggests a covenant between ___________________
•	and this is impossible between God and men

Diakethe is better suited
•	for the use we find in the Old and New Testaments
•	this means “ a settlement which God ___________________ by His saving grace and is freely bestowed on His people.

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 The Problem of the AV and Diatheke
•	What is the major problem of this word in the AV?
•	It has been translated as “testament” in places like Hebrews 9:20
•	What is said there?
•	How does this compare with the passage that it quotes in Exodus 24:8.
•	The problem is not with the writer of Hebrews who uses diatheke, but with the translators of the AV and the following the Latin use of testamentum 

Another Latin Word
•	was used in place of testamentum in the translations:    
•	___________________________
•	How is this better according to Bruce?
•	It can be used in the sense of agreement, so that you have the idea
•	the Old Agreement and the New Agreement

Why then the term “Covenant”?
•	It is understood in English to have a precise meaning
•	It represents a binding and solemn form of agreement
•	The Biblical sense of covenant is more than mere agreement
•	It means “the idea of mutual _________________, of incorporation into the family, of a marriage bond, solemnly ratified by the shedding of blood (whence comes the Hebrew idea of “________________ a covenant”
The Advantage of Two Covenants
•	Understanding these two divisions aids in understanding what the Bible is all about
•	and what it contains
The Purpose of the New Covenant
•	the smaller of the two covenants
•	Bruce asks, “In what sense may we call the 27 books a “New Covenant”?
•	What is this “New Covenant”?
•	Mark 14: 24 offers insight into the answer of the question
•	Bruce suggests that there is a need to refer back to the _______________ event in the Old Covenant and
•	to see that Jesus was inaugurating a new covenant based on His blood

Why was a New Covenant Necessary?
•	Why didn’t the Mosaic Covenant stay in force?
•	Was the Mosaic Covenant defective?
•	The Mosaic Covenant was entered into by both God and Israel
•	To keep it valid, both sides has to honor the terms agreed upon
•	So, who violated and broke the covenant?
•	God?  Israel?
•	This first covenant was used by God to prepare for a second covenant

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What does Jeremiah 31: 31-34 indicate?
•	Jesus related that Jeremiah’s words came effective in His work
•	Hebrews _____ and ______ reveal the working out of such a new covenant
•	Romans 8:4 is Paul’s version of this same idea
•	The BASIC SUPERIORITY of the New Covenant over the OLD Covenant is that those who enter into it receive into their lives the life of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, a life which knows and desires the will of God and a power which is able to do it.

The Old Covenant Books
•	tell how God made the necessary preparations for sending His Son to begin this New Covenant
•	The books of the New Covenant relate how the Son established the New Covenant
•	Both Covenants speak of _____________________; 
•	Christ gives unity to both sections.
•	The former looks forward to His arrival and appearance, while
•	the later tells how that hope was fulfilled in Christ.

The Old Covenant’s Contents Summarized
•	Genesis - four events and four men
•	The _______________________
•	The ________________ of ________________ 
•	The ________________ of ________________, and 
•	The ________________ and __________________
•	___________________________
•	___________________________
•	___________________________ and
•	____________________________

Exodus
•	brings us to the real birth of the nation of Israel
•	God selects these people (not as a _____________________ of people) but
•	as a nation that He could reveal Himself in His mighty works and words
•	He would select spokesmen from their ranks
•	Hebrews 11:13 tells of some of these spokesmen while
•	Matthew 13:16-17 relates what Jesus said about this period

A Natural Question
•	“Since the New Covenant demonstrates that the Old Covenant failed and 
•	God has made a new covenant with men in Christ, 
•	Why trouble with the Old Covenant?
•	Why not focus on just the 27 books?
•	Why doesn’t the Christian church eject them from the Canon?

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Some Argue
•	that the New Covenant has superceded the Old Covenant and the books don’t belong in the Church’s canon
•	An early proponent was __________________ from the ______________ century AD
•	a native of Sinope in Asia Minor
•	came to Rome in AD 140 and
•	founded a sect that remained in Rome many years

Marcion’s Doctrines
•	his most distinctive doctrine was that the Old Testament was _______________ to the New Testament
•	and the Old Testament had been rendered ineffective by Christ
•	Marcion stressed the differences between the God of the OT and the God of the NT
•	He insisted they were different Gods
•	The OT God was inferior to the NT God which Jesus revealed as “Father”
•	He felt that it was the worshippers of the OT God that sent the God of the NT to death

Marcion’s Canon
•	He denied the _______________ any position at all
•	He insisted that the ______________ possessed only the following:
•	1. Paul’s ten epistles - 
•	He excluded the Pastorals
•	2. And One fragmented Gospel of Luke
•	For Marcion, ________________ was the only real apostle of Jesus Christ
•	He felt that the Church had followed the way of the Judaizers ans was thus deceived
•	His view may be read in his work, Antithesis

Marcion’s Error
•	is still encountered in places
•	Some regard the God of the OT as evil and inferior to the God of the NT
•	the Greek Judaists or ______________ in Alexandra supported a type of Marcionism
•	They followed Phil’s allegorical methods of interpreting the OT

Value 1: The Old Testament
•	was the book that Jesus used and 
•	the apostles used it
•	It was fully authoritative to them
•	is necessary to understand the New Testament and
•	the New Testament is complementary to the Old Testament
Professor A. M. Hunters’s Book
•	The Unity of the New Testament stated that the New Testament had three cords:
•	Strand One: the Bringer of Salvation
•	Strand Two: the Way of Salvation
•	Strand Three: the Saved People        
•	or it may be stated
•	Strand One: the Mediator of the Covenant

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•	Strand Two: the Basis of the Covenant
•	Strand Three: the People of the Covenant
•	The UNITY of the Bible is its story of God’s salvation -covenant mercy 

Stand One: The ______________________ of the Covenant
•	____________ is the Source of Salvation for His people
•	It is He who faithfully keeps covenant with His people
•	He points His people to a day when He will vindicate His character, establish His covenant, and set up His kingdom and bring His salvation to completion
•	The NT shows God doing just these things

Strand Two: The ________________ of the Covenant
•	_____________________ is the basis or the mediator or the way of salvation
•	He doesn’t appear all at once on the scene
•	He come from God, the Father
•	Marcion, cut out the _____________________ of Luke

Jesus Christ in the Gospels
•	In Matthew, Christ is introduced as the true____________ of _________________
•	and heir to the throne of ____________________ 
•	In Luke, Christ is the true ______________ of ______________,
•	the Savior of Mankind
•	Both these books link Christ with the OT or Old Covenant
•	We see Christ as bone of His people’s bone and flesh or their flesh

Strand Two: The Community of the Covenant
•	This is confounded because of an unfortunate use of English term “church”
•	The Greek word is “_________________” or the “________________________”
•	The LXX used this to refer to the Israelites or the community that belonged to God
•	Christ is the link between the communities of faith
•	between the Old Testament and the New Testament called out ones

Strand Three: The Way of Salvation
•	both testaments presents salvation from the same source
•	God’s exercise of ___________________ and __________________
•	The New Testament makes it abundantly clear that Christ was chosen before the foundations of the earth to be the Savior of men

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Value 2: The supreme ________________ Value of the OT
•	is the manner in which it presents God as the Living God
•	God is seen as one who is dynamically alive and active in self-revelation
•	He is not a mere cosmic deity and an absentee landlord
•	He is the God of creation, providence, and redemption
•	He is the mightly God who makes himself known by His breaking into the history of mankind
•	Is God different from __________________, the god of the _________________? How?

Value 3: The ____________________ Value of the OT
•	 The Old Testament quickly introduces what God expects from His people
•	The Law was a preparation for the coming of Christ (Gal 3:24)
•	The Law makes us aware of our sin and our need for forgiveness
•	Leviticus 19:2 states God’s expectation:
•	This prepares us for Christ’s statements in Matthew 5:48
•	How does this prepare us for Romans 8:3 and 4?

Value 4: The Presentation of the ________________ Process
•	the process is not an illustration
•	the process is not a ____________________ series
•	the process is a steady stream of God’s actions into human history
•	The OT writers had an appropriate view of history long before __________________, considered the father of modern history
•	they were more than mere __________________ -- they selected their material for a purpose
Bruce’s Conclusion:
•	because the OT writers did not understand all they were doing, they searched and inquired into their salvation as 1 Peter 1:10-11 tells us.
•	Augustins said that the New Testament lay hidden in the Old Testament and the Old Testament is revealed in the New Testament.