You’ve given your heart and life to Jesus. You’ve repented of your own ways and committed to following the God who loves you for the rest of your life.
Congratulations! The Christian life is one of mystery, adventure, hardship, and victory. You’ve entered an eternal, epic Redemptive Story that puts Star Wars and Lord of the Rings to shame.
On the journey for disciples of Christ, we must participate in a few important aspects to inspire and grow the gift of eternal life we’ve been given. We must gather with our spiritual family, other disciples of Christ, which we call church. We must pray. And we should read the Bible.
Reading and studying the Bible is one of the mainstays of the Christian life. The benefits are many. The status of the Bible has come under attack in the past few years. First, while our Western culture is more and more unchurched, there is a certain amount of ignorance regarding this ancient book.
People just haven’t read it, and even though the media uses, misuses, or dismisses the Bible, it’s often based on rumor and shallow ideas rather than anything real.
Second, our culture has become more secularized, and secularization has become something of its own religion. Therefore, the attitudes toward the Bible are mocking or hostile.
If you’re a new Christian, many of these mindsets might be part of your history. And even though you know you should read the Bible, and people in churches quote from it all the time, what is the Bible? What should you know about the Bible now that you’ve committed your life to the Father?
Basic Bible Facts
The Bible isn’t one book. It is a collection of books, like a library, all written by a people fully committed to following God to people who wish to fully follow God.
The Bible is 66 books, divided into two main sections, the Old and New Testament. The coming of Jesus as a human is the dividing line between the two Testaments.
The Bible was written by over 40 different authors across 1,500 years, from around 1,400 BC to the first century AD. The Bible was written in three languages.
The Old Testament was written primarily in Hebrew, while the New Testament (limited to the first century) was written in Aramaic and Greek.
The Old Testament contains 39 books and includes historical narratives, poetry, prophecy, and religious laws. It covers the history, culture, and religious beliefs of the ancient Israelites.
The New Testament contains 27 books and focuses on the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as well as the early Christian Church. It includes the gospels, Acts of the Apostles, Epistles (letters), and the Book of Revelation.
This library of books is from a diverse group of people across more than a thousand years and contains various genres of literature and expressions to transmit the message of God’s love and salvation.
The themes and character of God and his work in humanity are supernaturally consistent throughout.
How Did We Get the Bible?
Many people believe we got the current form of the Bible from Emperor Constantine when Rome began to adopt Christianity as the national religion in the fourth century AD.
The reality is different, however. Beginning with the Old Testament, those books were written from the time of Moses through Ezra and Nehemiah, and the Old Testament texts were compiled as one in the Septuagint during the early third century BC during the Greek Empire, before Rome.
The Septuagint was the Greek translation and compilation of the central Jewish books. The Septuagint was, therefore, read and used by many of the Jews under the Roman Empire since Greek was still the common language.
Jesus and the first disciples and early Christians would have been familiar with the Septuagint as the scriptures.
The early Christians were living in fulfillment of the Old Testament (Septuagint) prophesies, specifically about the Messiah and the New Covenant available to humanity through Christ, different and surpassing the Old Covenant.
Therefore, they began to write down new teachings and interpretations, explaining the New Covenant's promise through Christ. Jesus also told them to go into all the world and make disciples, teaching them to follow the commands the Son of God had given the first disciples.
So, they wrote down stories about Jesus and his teachings, especially his death and resurrection. Those books were called gospels.
Not all writings were the same, however. Over time, and with the example of the Septuagint as a collection of sorts, the Church began to distinguish what gospels and letters were universally accepted and viewed as inspired by the Holy Spirit.
They used three criteria: did the book adhere to apostolic teaching, did they know the author was an apostle or a partner with an apostle, and did the whole Church accept the work as inspired?
Central to this is the idea of apostolic doctrine. Since Jesus himself never wrote anything down, and he gave the responsibility of his direct teaching to those 11 or 12 apostles, it was important the original teaching was preserved.
Those books of what we call the New Testament were universally agreed upon (with a few challenges to James and Hebrews) by the time of Constantine. Constantine and the Christian bishops of the day only made it more official by the state.
The invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in the 15th century was a transformative moment in the history of the Bible. It made the Bible more accessible to a wider audience, paving the way for the Protestant Reformation and the proliferation of vernacular translations.
In the centuries that followed, numerous translations of the Bible into different languages emerged, each contributing to a deeper understanding of its meaning.
The Bible has influenced literature, art, music, and politics worldwide. It has been a source of inspiration, guidance, and moral reflection for countless individuals and societies.
The Bible continues to be a subject of debate and interpretation. Different denominations and religious traditions may have variations in their biblical canons, and scholars continue to explore the complexities of the texts.
Evidence for the Authority and Legitimacy of the Bible
The Bible is not just a collection of ancient texts; it is the Word of God, a moral and spiritual guide, and a source of divine authority.
In Christianity, the Bible is regarded as the authoritative source of Christian faith and practice. It contains the teachings of Jesus Christ and the early Christian church, making it the ultimate guide for Christian beliefs and morality.
Different Christian denominations may have variations in their canons, but they generally uphold the authority of the Bible. What are some reasons to trust the Bible?
First, the Bible has been the trusted and foundational text of Christians for almost two thousand years, giving the testimony of millions to the veracity and spiritual authority of the scripture.
Further, the Bible has supernaturally survived numerous attempts to destroy or remove it from history and the world altogether.
Second, the text of the Bible is one of the most reliably transmitted documents in the world, if not the most reliable. In other words, before the printing press, the Bible was copied by hand.
While there are minor changes, these can be expected and even support the fact of the original creation of the text.
None of those minor changes affect the message or facts of the Bible, and even with hundreds of translations, with an abundance of evidence of reliable transmission and translation, we know what Christians had 2,000 years ago is what we have today.
Third, modern studies such as archaeology and history support the historical narrative of the Bible. A few hundred years ago, the Bible was dismissed because they believed certain characters, such as King David or others, were fiction. However, as more discoveries are made with archaeology, the more the Bible is proven true.
Fourth, and finally, there is no motive on the behalf of the writers to create a fiction of Jesus’ death and resurrection. For the Jews of the Old Testament and the Christians of the New, holding onto the stories of these texts has mainly led to persecution and hate.
Also, the writers made themselves look like horrible people. Israel and Judah rarely do anything right and never listen to the prophets from God. The disciples, through the gospels, never understand parables and are consistently called out for their ignorance or selfishness by Jesus.
A fiction would make the writers look like the heroes instead of sinners and idiots. The whole Bible worships and exalts God and Jesus, not people.
The Bible Is a Tool to Lead us to Christ
Knowing the Bible is a profound and transformative journey, but it should not be seen as the ultimate end goal in itself. Instead, it is a powerful tool that can lead us to a deeper understanding of God, spirituality, and our own inner selves.
The danger with the Bible is that we use the text as an academic exercise and not a tool to deepen our relationship with Christ.
Jesus dealt with this explicitly in John 5:39-40 when he spoke to the religious Jews of his day. “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.”
Clearly, we can study the Bible and not know God. Knowing the Bible doesn’t automatically mean you know God. The Bible didn’t come first; God did. And relationship with God came first, whether Abraham or Moses or anyone else.
Then, when those relationships became transformative and revolutionary to the lives of people, they wrote those stories down by the leading of God so others could be encouraged to follow God.
Those writings were meant to point back to God and a reconciled relationship with God and one another. If we don’t read the Bible with this in mind, we can be led astray.
How to Read the Bible
So, how should we read the Bible? Here are five important tips.
1. Read listening to the Spirit. The Bible was written by people inspired by the Holy Spirit. Its intent was to be read by those who were led by the Spirit and committed to obeying God. We must read the Bible with God, in relationship with God.
The Bible is a revelation from another God in another world, heaven, and we can’t grasp the intent with our intellect and emotion alone. We need to read in relationship with God and listen to his voice.
2. Read the Bible chronologically. Since the Bible is a type of library, scholars organized the Bible by genre. One section is history, another poetry, and another prophecy. This can make it confusing to read straight through. Find a chronological reading plan or version, and it makes way more sense.
3. Read in big chunks. It can get dangerous to take a verse out of context, so read whole chapters or books at a time. A single verse can be inspiring, but there is a message and context around those verses that are vital to proper understanding and use.
4. Read the Bible in a community of faith. The Bible, with a few exceptions, was written to groups of people, not an individual. And for the Church to find it universally beneficial, a large group gave witness to its truth. Read in a family of faith, the church, or small groups.
5. Learn the historical context. To go deeper, learn the history and culture of the time. What would the hearers have understood from the phrases and words? Who was the original audience? How is this similar or different to us today? Keep these questions in mind and do further research.
The Bible is a blessing and a gift. Use it well, and you will continue to grow deeper in your walk with Christ.
For further reading:
Do We Know When the Bible Was Written?
Was the Bible Written by Men or God?
Why Is Reading the Bible in Context Important?
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