Mentoring Men for the Master

WHAT IS THE BIBLE?

 

  1. The City Fathers are thinking of firing the present weather bureau?  Wonder why?
  2. Who are the only persons who profit from divorce?
  3. Have you heard of the good word about the recession?
  4. One resident of Wilmington made this remark this week:  I am going to cut Genesis 9:15 out of the Bible.  Why?

We begin every class in MMM with our “Pledge to the Bible.”  Why?  Because we believe the Bible is the most important book in the history of human kind.  It is the Christian’s most valuable earthly possession.  In fact the way we treat our Bibles is the way we treat God.  Yet the Bible is the most misunderstood, most abused and misused book on the earth today.  Multitudes who believe it, read it, and obey it have no idea of the miracle by which the Bible came into existence and how it has come down to us today.  If you doubt this, listen to the two following examples:

  • A faithful member of our church who believed the Bible from “cover to cover” and loved, so he said, to hear me preach it said to me, “Brother Pastor, I don’t understand why you preachers fuss so much over translations of the Bible.  If the King James version was good enough for the Apostle Paul, it is good enough for me.”  This brother honestly thought there was only one Bible, the King James version, which God had written in heaven and tossed down to mankind.
  • Another faithful member of our church, a successful financier, a millionaire who heard me preach every Sunday morning and would say, “God said it, I believe it, and that settles it,” made this remark as he departed from hearing me preach, “Pastor, I love to hear you preach, except when you bring in Hebrew and Greek words,” which I did only when my text could only be understood by knowing what the language in which the Bible was written really meant.  Of course this brother thought the Bible was the KJV in English.

While these two brothers raised honest questions about the Bible, they were avid hearers of my preaching because I preached in those days only from the KJV.  Suppose I had used any other translation:  they would probably  have pronounced me as preaching false doctrine and may have led a movement to get me fired.  The latter has happened to quite a few pastors.  Example:  Several years ago I preached in “The Fundamentalist Baptist Church” outside of Pittsburg, Pa., which was disturbed that I would dare use the NKJ.  Needless to say I have never received an invitation for a return visit.

In view of the above facts, I feel led by the Holy Spirit to divert from the “10 I’s” to do a mini-series on the question:  “WHAT IS THE BIBLE?”

  1. The Bible is one unified book which sets forth the very Word and will of God for mankind. As 2 Timothy 3:16 asserts “ALL SCRIPTURE is God-breathed.”
  2. But the Bible while one unified book is a compilation of 66 books – the word Bible comes from the word Biblia, meaning many little books.
  3. The Bible was written by men of various backgrounds, personalities, cultures, and historical time periods.
  4. The Bible was written over a period of one thousand, five hundred years – almost 7 times longer than our nation has been in existence.
  5. The Bible is divided into two large sections – The Old Testament and the New Testament. The word “testament” comes from the Latin testamentum, meaning covenant or agreement.
  6. Thus the Bible records two Covenantal Relationships between God and humanity: the first or old Covenant is a covenant between God and the Jewish nation Israel and was ratified at Sinai (Exodus 19-31).  The old Covenant pointed to the new covenant, promised in Jeremiah 31:31, when God would save both Jews and Gentiles and write His words on their hearts (Isaiah 49:6).
  7. In reality the New Covenant was the fulfillment of the first gospel, Genesis 3:15, that Satan would be crushed by a human (woman) descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15) and that through Abraham all the nations of the world would be blessed (Genesis 22:18).
  8. Not only is the Bible divided into two large sections, but also 66 books:
    1. 39 of these books are found in the Old Testament – books of various genres – historical narratives, proverbs, psalms, poetry, prophecies.
    2. 27 of these books are found in the New Testament and is made up of history, letters, prophecy.
  9. Not only is the Bible divided into books but there are chapter divisions. The original writers did not make these divisions:
    1. The chapter divisions of both the Old and New Testament were made by Stephen Langston, Archbishop of Canterbury (1150-1228).
  10. Moreover, the Bible is also divided into verse divisions:
    1. The Old Testament was versified AD 900 by the Ben Asher family (Jewish Scribes).
    2. Verse divisions of the New Testament were made in 1551 by Robert “Stephannus” Etienne. Note:  prior to the chapter and verse divisions, biblical scholars were forced to refer to texts with phrases like “half way through chapter 4 in Galatians.”  Jesus referred to Moses’ encounter with God with the phrase “the bush.”
  11. The generic purpose of the Bible is to reveal Himself to wayward humans.
    1. This is in stark contrast with all other religions in the world. They are seeking to reach up and discover God themselves, whereas Christianity is God reaching down to reveal Himself to man in human flesh.  World religions, such as Islam, says “Do.”  Christianity says “Done.”  The result:  No religion assures man of salvation, except Christianity.  Ex:  Islam requires 5 times of prayer daily, fasting, Ramadan, but never assures one of salvation, except in one case:  If one engages in Jihad – the murder of infidels.
    2. The specific purpose of the Bible is plain and simple: “To make one wise for salvation” (2 Timothy 3:15), that is, to bring its readers to receive the forgiveness of God in Jesus Christ and thus to possession of eternal life in relationship with the triune God (John 17:3).
  12. The Ultimate and Final Revelation of the entire Bible is His revelation in His “Only Begotten Son.” “No man has seen God, but the “Only Begotten God” who is in the bosom of the Father explained Him.” (John 1:18, NASB).  The word translated “explained” is EXAGESATO – exegeted Him.  Exegesis means to bring out and make clear the meaning of something.  Thus Jesus said, “He who has seen me has seen the Father also” (John 14:9).  We read in Hebrews 1:1-2, “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days (days since the resurrection to the 2nd Coming) He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things and through whom He made the universe.”

These verses in Hebrews point to the absolute culmination and last revelation of God to human kind in His Eternal Son.  This Son, though God from all eternity, (John 1) became incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth, forever uniting God and man in one person – 100% God and 100% man.  All the prophecies, promises, longings and aspirations under the Old Covenant find their fulfillment, meaning, and culmination in the life, death, resurrection, the sending of the Holy Spirit by Jesus Christ.  As the Apostle Paul asserts in 2 Cor. 1:20, “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are all “Yes” in Christ.

  1. Chronology of the Bible – The Old Testament:
    1. The oldest book of the Bible, Job, was written about 1700 BC.
    2. The first 5 books of the Old Testament, the Torah, was written by Moses, around 1400 BC
    3. These books describe events thousands of years prior to 1400, which reveals the great miracle of divine inspiration.
    4. The Psalms were written about 1000 BC – Proverbs about 900 BC
    5. The Major Prophets were written about 750 to 600 BC.
    6. The Minor Prophets were written 800- 700 BC.
    7. The last book of the Old Testament, Malachi, was written about 430 BC.
    8. Jeremiah and Lamentations were written by Jeremiah.
    9. Other books, such as 1st and 2nd Kings do not explicitly assign an author.
    10. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew with a few small portions in Aramaic (Ezra 4, 6, 7, Dan. 2-8, Jeremiah 10:11).
  1. Chronology of the Bible – The New Testament:
    1. The first books of the New Testament were James and Galatians, written in the mid AD 40’s.
    2. Most of the other books were written in the AD 50’s and 60’s.
    3. The last book of the New Testament, the book of Revelation, the Apocalypse, was written around AD 95.
    4. The New Testament was written in Greek, the lingua franca of its day, though it contains a few Aramaic and Latin words.
    5. The New Testament is TNT. Note:  A seminary class mate packed a New Testament in his bag.  When asked what was in his bag, he replied, “TNT,” and he was almost thrown in jail until Brother Ernie Yingling, from Baltimore, , explained, “These are the  letters for The New Testament – TNT.
  1. Time of 17 Successive Biblical Events Will Be Shared Later:

From Adam and Eve, to Noah, to the Flood, to the calling of Abraham, to the Exodus, to the Monarchy, to King David, to King Solomon, to the Divided Kingdom, to the Assyrian Exile, to the Babylonian Exile, to the Persian Period, to the Second Temple, to Nehemiah – Ezra, to Malachi, to Intertestamental  period,  to Jesus’ birth, to Jesus’ ministry, to His crucifixion, to His resurrection, to the first book of the New Testament, to the last book of the Bible.

 

  • My mind was triggered by the Holy Spirit to bring this series after examining a very valuable book titled 40 Questions About Interpreting the Bible, by Robert Plummer, which I highly recommend to anyone who desires to know the origin, transmission, and nature of the Holy Scripture.