Five To Focus 18. Sixty-Six Books Tell One Story

In recent episodes, I have been talking about the confidence a Christian has from the inspired Word of God. God has breathed out the words of the 66 books of the Bible to human authors—knowing that He spoke should give us great confidence! Last episode, I talked about one of the common objections to divine inspiration—that the Bible is a book of fables. Go back and listen to that episode if you missed it.

Today, I want to address another common argument: The Bible is a collection of unrelated books.  From the outside, it is kind of strange how Christians talk about the Bible. Is A book, or is it 66 books? In reality, it is 66 books that form 1 complete story. It is in 2 testaments (old & new). The old has 39 books and the new has 27 books.

Some argue that these books are just randomly placed together with no uniformity. But if you actually read the whole Bible, you’ll easily see that this one major story of God’s great plan of redemption. In Christian books and Bible studies, we’ve seen an emphasis in recent years on the Bible being one grand story.

In , Peter clarifies that there is a clear and continuous message in the Scriptures.  Keep in mind that at the time of Jesus and the apostles, they had the full Old Testament. Jesus even read from it in the synagogue and much of the OT is quoted from in NT writings. Jesus summarized all of the law and prophets in the Great Commandment ().

In v.19, Peter clarifies the clear and continuous message from the prophets and Christ.  Keep in mind that at the time of Jesus and the apostles that they had the full Old Testament. Jesus even read from it in the synagogue and much of the OT is quoted from in NT writings.  

The Bible is a collection of unrelated books.  In v.19, Peter clarifies the clear and continuous message from the prophets and Christ.  Keep in mind that at the time of Jesus and the apostles that they had the full Old Testament. Jesus even read from it in the synagogue and much of the OT is quoted from in NT writings.  

In v.19, Peter clarifies the clear and continuous message from the prophets and Christ.  Keep in mind that at the time of Jesus and the apostles that they had the full Old Testament. Jesus even read from it in the synagogue and much of the OT is quoted from in NT writings.  

Peter makes a great connection between OT prophecy and Jesus that should have impacted any Jewish audience who might read his letter. I like the wordings of the NLT and HCSB of this verse to make it clear to us:

“Because of that experience, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place—until the Day dawns, and Christ the Morning Star shines in your hearts.” (, NLT)

“We also have the prophetic word strongly confirmed, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” (, CSB)

The prophetic word was the Scripture (v.20), which would include all of the OT and the already accepted NT works that would have been circulating.  Another verse on the inspiration of Scripture is : “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness…"

That confirmation shows that God was carrying out one big plan of redemption, which is one big story that is found in the 66 books of the Bible.

: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness…"

Breathed-out is another way of saying inspired. God breathed—you can’t speak without breath coming out—so it is His Word.  All Scripture is God-breathed. It is one grand narrative.

Now, how should that affect the way you read the Bible? Let me give a couple suggestions:

Read with the grand narrative in mind. Just like when you watch a Star Wars movie—you’re keeping the whole context of the movie series in mind as you watch the latest episode. Do that with the Bible. Where does it fit into the full story? Keep it in that context to gain greater understanding. Otherwise, you might think it means something more than what it was intended to mean.

It’s 1 book made up of 66 other books and it can change you! Next episode, we’ll look at the specific ways in which Scripture transforms us. I’ll talk with you then!

Scripture is inspired by God. Peter says in v.20 that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation because it was not produced by the will of man. No! It was the will of God and men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

This is what B. B. Warfield called concursus. Concursus means that both God and people contributed to the prophetic word. Both were fully involved in the process of inspiration.

The personality and gifts of the human authors were not squelched or suppressed. We can detect their different literary styles even today. But the fact that people wrote down the words does not negate the fact that they are God’s words.

The verb used for carried along by the Holy Spirit has the sense of moving along while being sustained, supported, propelled, and driven. The word certainly conveys the idea that the prophets were inspired by the Holy Spirit.