Chapter 4

THE SCRIPTURES

Psalm 119:105-112

Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path. I have sworn and I will confirm it, That I will keep Your righteous ordinances. I am exceedingly afflicted; Revive me, O LORD, according to Your word. O accept the freewill offerings of my mouth, O LORD, And teach me Your ordinances. My life is continually in my hand, Yet I do not forget Your law. The wicked have laid a snare for me, Yet I have not gone astray from Your precepts. I have inherited Your testimonies forever, For they are the joy of my heart. I have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes Forever, even to the end.

1 Timothy 4:10-16

For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers. Prescribe and teach these things. Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe. Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.

The number one best seller of all times is the Holy Bible, most commonly the 66 book compilation that is divided into both the Old and New Testaments. Just because it is the all time most printed and published book, does not mean it stand without critique or skepticism. This Book is not merely a book. It is a library[1]. Libraries are compiled over vast periods of time and they utilize numerous authors and researchers to complete. The books of the Bible were given to us by 40 different men over a period of about 1600 years[2].

The Bible has been interpreted, reinterpreted and doctrinally maligned countless times since the Nicene era’s earliest statements of canonical completion in the mid fourth century. The Bible distinguishes two great eras of God’s dealings with mankind; the first of which was preparatory to the second, and the second of which is the completion of the first[3]. Thus, the Old and the New Testaments compile a narrative that focuses around the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.            

There are two primary ways that non-Christians and even Christians alike desecrate and/or diminish the value of the Holy Bible. The first way is to refute the accuracy of the textual transmission down through the last two thousand years. The popular illustration that is often perpetuated is that of the childhood game “Telephone”. This is where someone whispers sentence in to the ear of the person next to them. That person tells the person next to them. By the time it passes through the mind of a dozen people and gets back to the original person who started the chain, it sounds very little like what was originally said.

People who have little or no use for Scriptures use this comparison in the continual copying of Scriptural manuscripts down through the last two thousand years. In reality this comparison is simply an ignorant communication of historicity regarding the transmission of our Biblical text. 

The earliest extant Scriptural manuscripts we have date to the early second century. It is called the John Ryland Papyrus (P52). It is about the size of a human hand and contains writing on both sides. The text contains passages from the Gospel according to John, the 18^th chapter – specifically when Pontius Pilate asks Jesus “What is truth?”  

If someone is willing to go to the various locations throughout Europe and the Mediterranean region where these manuscripts are still located, you can literally see that that the generational copies of our Scriptural text have been copied with a 95% accuracy rate. The parts of the scriptural texts that vary are almost all punctuation, spelling or missing words that have absolutely no influence or effect on the theological message of the collective entire Bible.

There is one story in the Gospels that has been moved around three different times in two different Gospels. This is the Gospel incident found in John 8:1-11 that is commonly known as the story of the adulterous woman. However, this process has had no bearing on the message or theological truth of the story or its position in the particular text it has shown up in.

Today we have well over 5000 manuscripts available[4]. These manuscripts of the New Testament Scripture have been transmitted between the early second century and the mid 1600s at the time of the invention of the movable type printing press. Skeptics claim that there are thousands of errors in these manuscripts. They are correct.

However, this is better understood when the calculations are applied and explained in a realistic and practical way.  If there are 5000 manuscript copies and there are a minimum 100 errors in punctuation spelling and missing words in each manuscript, then there should be at least 500,000 errors in the text. Regardless of the number of the errors, the message and theology of the New Testament text remains intact and remains integral to accepted orthodox Christian teachings and beliefs. 

Professor D.A. Carson of the Trinity Evangelical Divinity School made this well researched remark regarding the quality of the New Testament text as we have it today. “Almost all text critics will acknowledge that 96 – even 97 percent of the text of the Greek New Testament is morally certain; it’s just not in dispute.” [5]

The second way people denigrate Scriptures is to say that certain selected passages of the Bible (Old and/or New Testaments) are either no longer valid or do not apply to the current Church and/or culture and society in which it exists today. These selected passages are almost always connected to our current cultural or sociological issues that ultimately determine our moral obligations.

The easy reply to those who indulge in this exercise of Scriptural breakdown is “Who has the authority to make those determinations and where does their authority begin and/ or end?” The classic answer that is given to that question is “the individual reader” does.  Then we must ask who grants the individual reader that authority to make such determinations?

If the individual reader has obtained that authority, it would be an easy presumption to believe that the individual reader then has more authority to understand or realign the meanings and interpretations than God who inspired the Bible and ultimately authored it through the hearts and hands of men.

If someone were to take an already published book, change the text to suit their needs or their personal interpretation, and then re-publish it again under the same author’s name, there would be a big legal problem to be resolved between original author and the person reinterpreting and editing the book. The original author wrote the text of the book to say what he or she intended it to say, not what some interpreter wants it to say. That is just common sense.  

But in many cases, that is exactly what is happening to the Scriptures. Many people make attempts at either re-writing part of the Biblical text, or eliminating parts of it to suit their needs, ideals, preferences or personal lifestyle. People who take this position regarding the Bible have only to answer to God. He intended the Scriptures to say what they say, not what anyone else wants them to say or not say.       

So, why is the Bible so important to the life of the professing Christian? The Bible reveals God to us and His exclusive plan for mankind’s redemption from sin. It is also very historically accurate as it tells us what God has done. The Scriptures also tells us how we can know God is present and working in our personal lives. Not only that, but it makes no reservations about telling us what we can expect of God in the future.

The Bible also clearly states how God has intended for us to live. We see this most evident in the transforming love of the Gospel message of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. The life of Jesus Christ in the New Testament teaches us a Biblical pattern for morality and charity. The Scriptures also guide us in our personal relationships, showing us the importance of practicing grace, mercy and forgiveness in dealing with each other on an everyday basis.

The Bible isn’t just the “Good Book” as many well intended people call it. It is the “Book of Books”, because in accepted Christian theology we believe that it is actually authored by God Himself, a term we refer to in various ways as inspiration. We believe the Bible was inspired by God in the hearts of those who actually wrote it down originally. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:17).

We also believe in the inerrancy of Scripture (its state of perfection without error) beyond human comprehension. If God is indeed the author of the Scriptures, than they must be perfect in all ways. The reason we may not understand it or be able to comprehend this quality of Scripture is because we are not “God” – but simply His creation. From a totally logical philosophical standpoint we can know that the “creation” is never equal to the “Creator”. We also believe that the Scriptures are complete as we have them in the 66 book canon of both the Old and New Testaments. The Bible contains everything we need to have a personal relationship with God through belief in His only Son, Jesus Christ.    

If we truly want to have a vibrant and healthy relationship with God through Jesus Christ, we need to spend time reading God’s Word, the Holy Bible. God wants His Word to be “imbedded” in our lifestyle which is indicated by our personal worldview and our personal morality.  

The Bible should be “vitally” important to us. “Vitally” means it should be as important as life itself. It is within the pages of the Bible that we learn of our salvation in God’s only Son Jesus Christ, and how we can live forever in heaven with God when we leave this mortal realm. That is ultimately the most important choice we can ever make!   

We must continually remember the Bible is God’s Word “to” us and “for” us. God cares for us and loves us so much that He was willing to communicate His love and His plans for us in a very easy format for us to discern. The Bible is God’s instruction book for successful mortal and moral living. We really don’t need to try and second guess everything in the Scriptures. We just need to read it to see what God is saying.

We should always strive to make progress in understanding and applying the Scriptures to their personal lives. It is always a great blessing to see God working in our hearts as we study His Word.

Whenever a group of Christians separate from another congregation or whenever a denomination splits and divides for one reason or another, it generally always boils down to one thing. There may be a discussion about agendas, governmental structures, finances or attitudinal differences. But in reality those things are only just symptomatic of the real causative agent. The causative agent is always what is considered to be valuable and important in the Bible and how it applies to the lives of both parties. The Bible is always the causative agent in these issues and matters.

If you just treat the symptoms when you’re sick, the illness will return worse than it was originally. However, if you recognize the causative agent and deal with that you will get healthy and stay healthy from a spiritual position.

When we are willing to read and listen intently to what God is saying through His Word – the Bible, we will then be able to fully recognize and/or apply a precise theological perspective to the ministry God intends us to have in our individual communities and around the world. It is then that we will be enabled to procure the vision that God has for us to accomplish in His Kingdom. We must keep our hearts open to God’s Word and be willing to listen and apply it to our lives it in its entirety and not just discuss the symptomatic issues.