“A Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.” So said the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon, one of the greatest preachers in the history of the English-speaking world. To be sure, millions of people today would agree with Spurgeon’s assessment of the Bible, testifying to its positive impact on them personally.
Of course, the Bible doesn’t just have cheerleaders today. For every voice praising the Bible today, there’s another tearing it down.
Most people, however, are relatively indifferent to the Bible. They may have a favorable view of it. They may even occasionally go to church. But people in this group are generally ignorant of its contents — and show little inclination in changing that.
Still, no book has had the monumental impact on human history that the Bible has had. And it remains the all-time bestselling book in human history.
It’s therefore worth at least something for us to know a little about the Bible. This is especially the case for those of us who claim to believe in it!
In the next few articles, I wish to lay out the basic facts of the Bible. I’ll be answering what are arguably the most important questions about the Bible. Some of this may be elementary for a few of our readers, but it’s often helpful to review the basics.
Serious students of the Bible will understand that my answers barely scratch the surface. This is intended to be an introductory article — one that is especially helpful for newer Christians. Feel free to recommend additional resources in the comments.
Here we go…
What is the Bible?
In the middle of the sixth decade of the first century A.D., the apostle Paul wrote a letter to a young pastor named Timothy. This is the second surviving letter we have from Paul to Timothy and it appears in our New Testament as the book of II Timothy. A little over halfway into the letter, Paul writes:
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
II Timothy 3:16-17, KJV
The word “scripture” refers to those writings deemed sacred — words recorded by human authors based on “the inspiration of God.” According to Paul, every document that falls within the definition of “scripture” is to be regarded as “profitable” (or valuable or useful). Profitable for what? Paul says “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”
According to Paul, sacred writings (which are, again, divine inspiration put to writing) are to be used for “doctrine,” “reproof,” “correction,” and “instruction in righteousness” so that pastors, teachers, and followers of Christ, in general, can be “perfect” (or complete) and “thoroughly furnished” (or equipped) for good works — that is, work pleasing to God.
The Bible is a collection of such writings. The English word “Bible” comes from the Latin word Biblia which itself comes from the Greek word Byblos. And Byblos refers to papyrus—the ancient writing material made from reeds that grow along Egypt’s Nile River.
The Bible is therefore a collection of writings divinely inspired to be useful to those who wish to follow God. It’s the theme of the following quote from 20th-century evangelist D.L. Moody: “I never saw a useful Christian who was not a student of the Bible.”
Since the Bible is a collection of Scripture and since Scripture is (by nature) God-breathed, traditional Christian orthodoxy has maintained that the Bible is the written and preserved Word* of God. And most Christians generally agreed, until the advent of modernism and postmodernism, that the Bible should be treated with respect and deference.
(Note: Most Christians generally capitalize Word when referring to God’s Word or the Word of God, but Jesus is explicitly referred to as “the Word” in Scripture (see, for instance, the first chapter of the Gospel of John). Thus, some use “Word” in uppercase when referring to Jesus and “word” in lowercase when referring to the Bible. Pray about it. And make your decision accordingly.)
Bottom line: If God is real (and He is) and if God inspired the writing of Scripture (and He did), then that which God stands behind is truthful and reliable. Timothy Paul Jones, the author of How We Got the Bible, puts it this way: “Our trust in the truthfulness of Scripture is rooted in our belief in the trustworthy character of God.”
How was the Bible put together?
The Bible is a collection of Scripture, and that naturally raises the question of how many books — and which books — should be included in that collection. And who decides?
The Catholic Bible consists of seventy-three (73) books. The Protestant Bible (which is the more common and mainstream version of the Bible – at least in the United States) consists of sixty-six (66) books. These books were written by approximately forty (40) authors, in three different languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek), over a period of 1,500 or 1,600 years.
Everyone who associates in any way with Christianity — whether they be Catholic, Protestant, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, or something else entirely — agrees that the books of the Bible are divided into two distinct units: the Old Testament and the New Testament.
The disagreements begin after that.
And they come down to whether one takes a charitable or cynical view of Jewish history and Christian history and also whether one believes in supernatural guidance of the authorship and canonization processes that gave us our Bible.
Since I believe in an all-powerful, loving God who intervenes in the affairs of humanity and since I believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt (until clear evidence no longer permits me to do so), count me in the camp of those who view the Bible’s composition and canonization favorably.
And since we are created by a real God, we need His revelation. This makes the issue of the Bible of vital importance. In the words of Timothy Paul Jones: “We ache to hear God’s voice because our souls were shaped to respond to God’s voice.”
That’s great, you might be saying, but roll back the tape to that word canonization. What’s that?
Canonization is a fancy word derived from the word canon. And that word originally referred to a cane or measuring rod. It came to be known in Christian circles as the criteria or standard(s) by which various texts were deemed “Scripture” and thus suitable for inclusion in the Bible.
Of course, the whole canonization process opens up a slew of questions, so we’ll have more to say about canonization in our next article. We’ll look at how the canonization process unfolded and the criteria Jewish and early Christian leaders used to confirm the Old and New Testaments respectively.
Indeed, in our series, we’ll cover:
- How do we know the correct books are in the Bible?
- Do we know who wrote the books of the Bible?
- How has the Bible been translated?
- Do we have an accurate Bible today?
- If the Bible comes from God, why do Christians disagree so much?
- How should we read, study, and understand the Bible?
If you have any questions, wish to suggest any additional resources for other readers of this blog, or have a suggestion of a topic you’d like me to cover, let me know in the comments.
This was well written , intelligent, and easy to understand.