What is the Bible?
Notes
Transcript
From the very beginning, the Word of God has been under attack.
It is literally the oldest trick in the book!
“Did God really say??”
The devil deceived the woman by questioning the word of God and twisting the truth. And it has been the most common tactic of the enemy against God’s image bearers ever since.
He even tried this tactic against Jesus Christ, who is Himself God in human flesh! He twisted the Scriptures to tempt Christ, the divine author of the Scriptures!
This is a tactic that remains very effective even unto our present day. Those who are opposed to the One True and Living God will always start with corrupting, denying, or otherwise seeking to discredit the Word of God.
Cultist pervert the Word of God by making alterations and changes to fit their heretical theologies, like the Jehovah’s Witness, or add their own works and reinterpret what exists, like the LDS church or the church of Scientology, or the Roman Catholic Church.
Others will seek to discredit or disprove the Bible using artifacts or other document from history. Bart Ehrman is perhaps the most well known modern critic of the historicity and preservation of the Bible. He claims the Bible is full of contradictions, and questions whether Jesus actually said or did anything that has been persevered for us in the NT.
Others will do as Atheist Richard Dawkins who claims that the Bible is nothing more than ancient mythology and superstition.
Then there are the countless individuals who don’t discredit the Bible, they don’t change the content of the Bible, they do reinterpret it to mean whatever they want it to mean. They twist the Scriptures for their own purposes. They teach heresy, but because they can make it seem like their doctrines are supported by Scripture, they lead people astray using the very Word of God that has the answers to disprove whatever doctrines they are peddling. The Catholic Church, those part of the prosperity movement, the New Apostolic Reformation, and of course, countless cults all over the globe, including those like the Branhamites in our own town.
I haven’t even begun to discuss other world religious likes Islam, Hinduism, etc, as they have an entirely different set of religious and holy texts. Are those holy books the word of God? Are they just as true as the Bible is for us?
With all the noise out there, with all the claims about nature of the Bible, the history of the Bible, and claims about what God has really said, where does that leave us who just want to faithfully live as followers of Jesus Christ?
We just came out of a study on the Book of Mark. I taught that the longer ending of Mark is not part of Mark’s original Gospel and was a later addition. There were other portions of Mark where a verse appeared to be “missing” in our modern translations. The issues surrounding why these phenomenon exist have lead many to make shipwreck of their faith.
Some become scandalized over the questions of what is called “textual criticism” and it leads them, like Bart Ehrman, to conclude that the Bible as we know it today is an utterly untrustworthy document. Is that the proper conclusion?
But then the pendulum can swing the opposite direction. There are some people that are so embarrassed by the historical realities caught up in the preservation of the text that for them it is easier to put all their eggs in the basket of one translation and just say that it is God’s inspired and preserved word in the English language. As a result we end up with the often cult-like mentality of the King James Onlyists. Statements are made like “if it was good enough for Paul it’s good enough for me” or that we can correct the Greek manuscripts by translating backwards from the KJV.
Not all King James Only folks believe that, but many do. We’ll get into this later on, but for many it is easier to ignore historical realities and insist on the KJV than it is to deal with the hard questions of manuscripts, translations, preservation, and transmission.
Clearly we aren’t a church that goes THAT direction, but then what do you do with the questions of the nature, history, and preservation of the Bible? Has God preserved His word? Can we know with that with any level of certainty?
If so, which of the our modern English Translations best preserve and communicate the original intent as the Bible was first written?
Those are the questions that by God’s grace we will answer as we move into this mini series. In 1974 Norm Geisler and William Nix published a book titled “From God to Us”. I had the opportunity to read that in bible college years ago. There is an updated edition out now, published in 2012.
I’ve decided to borrow the title of that book for this mini series because that title really does get to the heart of what I want to examine over the next three week, beginning today.
Today, my main point this: God has spoken. We will be answering the question, What is the nature of Revelation?
Next week the main point is this: God has preserved. We will answer the question, How did God preserve His word over the centuries?
Finally, the third week the main point is that God has blessed us with many excellent translations and we will answer the question, How do we select a translation to use?
Hopefully by the end we will have a fresh and bolstered confidence in the word of God and will be equipped to respond to the various claims made by those who would distort or discredit God’s word.
We will really only be scratching the surface of these topics. entire books and seminary classes are taught on these issues and we are going to cover them in three 30-45 minutes lectures.
These will be more like lectures than sermons as well, although there are parts where I’ll probably get to preaching at least a little, especially today.
So without any further ado,
Please open your bibles to Hebrews 1.
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,
but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
The author of Hebrews goal is to demonstrate the superiority of Christ, His sacrifice, and the New Covenant, over and against the Old Covenant and the Law, and even Moses.
In the preface to that conversation he begins by acknowledging that God has spoken.
Let’s pause on that phrase. God has spoken.
This presupposes several things.
There is a God. Even notice that the Bible never makes a case for the existence of God? All the biblical authors write with the assumption that God exists. Rather than argue for the existence of God, the authors make note of several things.
Paul writes in Romans 1 that we all innately know that God exists. It’s just that obvious. We had to come from somewhere. Everything cannot come from nothing unless someone did something to bring it everything into existence. And what does the Bible say?
Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
God exists. But lots of religions believe there is a God, or many gods, or at least that there is a higher power of some kind out there. Our God stands unique from other gods in that our God speaks.
Thus, our God is a personal God.
There are many religions that teach that if their god exists he is so transcendent that he is unknowable. He cannot be accessed. He cannot be engaged in conversation. He does not have a vested interest in his creation. Their gods are either too weak or too disinterested or too malevolent to be involved in humanity.
The God of the bible speaks. He speaks. He uses communication that can be understood by his creation. God has not spoken in ways that we cannot understand what he is saying. God is the one who gave us the ability to communicate, and he does so with us in ways that we can understand.
How has God spoken?
The author of Hebrews first says “at many times and in many ways”
What do we glean from this?
God did not write the entire bible all at once and plop it down to humanity. Here’s the Bible. Knock yourself out. Good luck. Call me if you need anything. No! God spoke at various times. There were things God wanted to communicate at one point, and then as time progressed there was other information that God wanted us to know.
The is called “progressive revelation”. There is a progression to God’s speaking to humanity.
A significant portion of God’s progressive Revelation is in relation to Him saying to His people “This is something I’m going to do for you in the future” and then we have the record of God doing exactly as he promised.
There are other portions that teach His people how to live according to the covenant that he makes with them. Each covenant has terms. What are the terms? How do we live in light of those terms? God gives the instruction.
So. Many times.
What about this in many ways bit?
Has God used a variety of ways to communicate to humanity? Yes! He has!
When speaking of the Word of God, we immediately think of the Bible, and that’s accurate. However there are other ways that God has communicated that aren’t in just written format.
He has spoken directly with his creation. God spoke directly with many people like Adam, Noah, Abraham, Job, David, Elijah, Isaiah, and many others. Some times there seems to be a human form speaking with someone as in the case of Abraham.
Other times it seems to be a voice from heaven, like with Job, or Elijah, or with the voice of God like thunder to Moses or on the mount of transfiguration.
Some times there were dreams or visions, like with Jacob or even in dreams to pagan rulers like Pharoah and Nebuchadnezzar, or with Daniel’s visions of things yet to occur.
Some times God would communicate through events. The act of creation communicates something. God is telling a marvelous story through the events that have unfolded in history and in events that are yet to be. How often do we speak of learning something from God through some life experience we had? “I experienced this tragedy, but through it God taught me....” We don’t mean that God sat us down and gave us a lecture about what everything meant. We mean that God used that hardship to make us aware of truth in an experiential way, not just academic or intellectual.
The Bible also tells us that creation itself is part of God’s communication.
Psalm 19:1 “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” Just like we can look at a beautiful painting and be awed by the skill with brush, so we can look at the glories of God’s creation and see His glory.
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
2. Creation itself testifies to the nature and character of God. God communicates by means of His creation and has been since God said let there be light and there was light!
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
His invisible attributes have been clearly perceived! God has spoken through the things he has made.
Very often God uses a combination of all the above and then preserves it for us in the written Word.
And that is why back in Hebrews 1:1 it says this
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,
God spoke by the prophets. This is a way of communicating that I hadn’t listed yet. God spoke through the prophets. There were times that God used human mouthpieces to speak His words, such that when the prophet spoke, he spoke the very words of God.
This is why have the phrase all throughout the old testament “Thus says the Lord”
God communicated in some way to the prophet, and then communicated what God had said to the people.
And then often they wrote down what God wanted written down and the Written Word of God has been preserved for us.
I want to come back to the written word of God and spend a little more time on that, but first there is one more form of communication that has been given to use from Hebrews 1.
Look at verse 2.
but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
God has spoken to us by His Son. The Bible is the written word. Jesus Christ is the Living Word.
We don’t have time to go through all of this, but John calls Jesus the divine “Logos” the Word. Hence John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
That is an entire theological and philosophical discussion in this concept and we don’t have time to dive into it all. For now we can just say that Jesus was the ultimate communication from God to us. God in human flesh, living with His creation. The Word made flesh. Hebrews 1:2 communicates that it in Jesus Christ that we have fullness of Revelation. God spoke in various ways in times past. The ultimate speaking was by His Son.
But even that was 2000 years ago! How are we to know what was communicated??
And that is where the Bible comes into play.
Really the Bible comes into play with all aspects of God’s communication. God has spoken at various times in various ways, but the only reason we can even know that here and now is because God chose to preserve that communication in a very special collection of writings we now call the Bible.
What is the Bible? The word Bible literally just means book. That’s why we call it the Holy Bible, to distinguish it.
Another word to describe what we have here is the Scriptures. The word translated as Scripture literally means writings, but when it speaks about the writings from God it takes on a technical sense.
Flip over with me to 2 Tim 3. This is a well known text.
Let’s begin with vs 14.
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it
and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
Sacred writings. Scripture. This is the technical sense that we have come to understand the concept of the Scriptures. Sacred. Holy. What makes that sacred or holy?
Vs 16. The old KJV said all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. More recent translations like the ESV that I have here have provided a more literal rendering: it is breathed out by God.
The Scripture is the very word of God as though it came from his own lips!
But if it was spoken by God, how did it come to be written down?
To answer that I’m going to 2 Peter 1.
For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,”
we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.
And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts,
knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.
For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Peter starts by saying we aren’t following myths. Many accuse Christians of that. Peter addresses it straight out of the gate.
He appeals to eyewitness testimony. These are myths. You can ask people who were there.
But then he says we have something even more strongly confirmed that eyewitness testimony! We have the Scriptures!
How did they come about? It wasn’t through a private interpretation. It wasn’t even through the will of man.
Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
The image is of a ship at sea with wind blowing in the sails. Carried along by the wind. Similarly, the prophets wrote as the Holy Spirit carried them along.
The result is the pages of Scripture. This book. The very words of God.
So what is the Bible? The Scriptures. It is the sacred writings. The inspired Word of God.
There is so much more that could be said.
This has implications for inerrancy. Because it is God’s Word and God does not lie, there are not errors in the original writings.
This has implications for authority. Because it is the word of God, as Peter says you would do well to pay attention to it!
This has implications for Clarity. God has revealed himself in riddles. He used straightforward communication!
This has implications for how we read, interpret, and apply the Scriptures!
This has implications for how and what we teach as a church. One of our core values is Expository Bible Teaching. The reason why that’s a core value is because of what we believe about the nature of the Bible. It is the very word of God!
Brothers and Sisters, God has spoken! He has revealed himself, his will, and his plans. In this we rejoice!
Next week we will get into the preservation of the Scriptures. Assuming God did in fact speak, how do we know with confidence that what we have today is actually what was written back then? This is a crucial apologetic question that we will get into next week.
And this really is important because God is not a God who has communicated in riddles. Have any of you ever watched any portion of the British TV show, The Taskmaster? I’ve only seen extended clips myself, but the premise of the show is that contestants are given tasks to complete by the taskmaster and they have to figure out how to do it. When they need help they are often referred back to the instructions “everything you need to know is there” but often the clues contain riddles, uncommon meanings of certain words, or there are solutions that just aren’t obvious. 90% of the game is us taking entertainment in knowing more that the contestants and watching them try to figure it out.