“The Light in the Dark: How God Preserved His Word through the Ages” is an apologetics-minded bible class on how God promised to preserve his Gospel, and how he has preserved it for us today. This study not only teaches doctrine concerning God’s Word, but also covers the history of how the Old Testament and New Testament has come to us through surviving manuscripts. Topics include:

• What does the Bible claim about itself?
• Where did the Old Testament come from? (OT canon formation)
• Was the Old Testament preserved through the ages?
• Where did the New Testament come from? (NT canon formation)?
• Was the New Testament preserved through the ages? (textual criticism)
• What about the books in between the OT and NT? (the Apocrypha)
• What about so-called Lost Books of the Bible? (pseudepigrapha)

To see this bible study being taught, visit The Light in the Dark on YouTube.

Download “The Light in the Dark” Packet

The Full Packet contains:

• 27 pg. workbook (PDF)
• cover image (JPG)
• 1920×1080 title slides
• Original Diagrams and charts (JPG and PNG)

Works Cited and Further Resources

• Textual Criticism of the Old Testament, John F. Brug. Brug is Professor Emeritus of Old Testament at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. This is his textbook on the textual criticism of the Old Testament. A must-have for any Confessional Lutheran pastor, and an excellent introduction to the preservation of the OT.
• Can We Trust the Gospels? Peter J. Williams (Crossway). Williams is the principal of Tyndale House at Cambridge, one of the world’s most important research institute for biblical studies. This thin and very readable volume is a fantastic quick introduction to topics in historical apologetics, focusing on whether or not we can treat the gospels as historically reliable.
• Can We Still Believe the Bible? Craig L. Blomberg (Brazos Press). Blomberg is a highly regarded scholar and editor of the NIV, and this book is considered a solid introduction to apologetics regarding the reliability of the Bible, especially the New Testament. An easy read.
• Canon Revisited: Establishing the Origins and Authority of the New Testament Books, Michael J. Kruger (Crossway). Kruger’s works on the formation of the New Testament canon are considered excellent introductions and summaries of where the New Testament scholarly community now stands on the historical formation of the canon.
• Myths and Mistakes in New Testament Textual Criticism, edited by Elijah Hixson and Peter J. Gurry (IVP Academic). A recent collection of essays on textual criticism, this work is a wonderful one-stop source for correcting mistakes apologists have historically made in their defence of the accuracy of the NT texts. Of special interest for this study are chapters 3 and 4: “Math Myths: How Many Manuscripts We Have and Why More Isn’t always Better,” and “Myths about Classical Literature: Responsibly Comparing the New Testament to Ancient Works.”
• Revisiting the Corruption of the New Testament, Daniel B. Wallace (Kregel Academic). Daniel Wallace (author of Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics) is one of the major educators in North America on textual criticism and the manuscripts of the New Testament. This work presents his position on contemporary textual criticism and provides an excellent introduction to the field.