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The Bible
Structure, Content and Interpretation

Stan Schmidt

Not One Holy Book among Many

My goal is to write a long thesis on the Word of God. I honestly do not know where it will take me, but I long to explore it as much as I am able. I have written briefly before on this subject, but never as thoroughly as I will presently do. My reason for writing is that I love the Word and live my life under its authority. Even more, I want others to love the Word and live under its authority.

To begin with, I believe the 66 books contained in our Bible are the Word of God. I will expound more on this later, but I trust the providence of God in preserving the Canon as it stands. With that, the Word is inspired and living (Hebrews 4:12). As we read the Bible, with the Spirit's guidance, we come to know the very essence of life itself. It is not one holy book among many; it is the one God-breathed document on the planet. It is God's one love letter to humanity.

The Canon for the Old Testament

The Canon for the Old Testament was formed and accepted by the time of Christ. It was probably finished and accepted by the time of Ezra in the fifth century B. C. The New Testament, the way it is today, had its form by 325 A. D. but was formally stated in 350-367 A. D. That does not mean the 27 books of the New Testament were not Scripture before that, but only that a formalized declaration was made.

Heretical Canons

There were rival and heretical canons, along with apocryphal gospels being promoted, so there needed to be an authorized standard for the Church. Canon is a Greek word meaning, "a measuring rod," or "a ruler." Meztger adds another reason for the Canon, "when Christians were persecuted for their faith it became a matter of utmost importance to know which books could and which could not be handed over to the imperial police without incurring the guilt of sacrilege" (p. 276). It also gave the early Church a criteria of which books could be read at worship services as the Word of God. Geisler and Nix say, "the first hundred years of the existence of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament reveal that virtually every one of them was quoted as authoritative and recognized as canonical by men who were themselves the younger contemporaries of the Apostolic Age" (p. 291). Before the end of the first century, all 27 books were written, copied, and disseminated among the Churches (Colossians 4:16, 1 Thessalonians 2:13, 5:27, 1 Timothy 5:8, 2 Peter 3:15-16).

Took Time to Set the Canon: Also Attempts to Destroy Scriptures

Other reasons why it took awhile to state a specific canon were that communication and transportation were slow in those days. Again, persecution did not allow the freedom and resources to finalize the divine canon. It did not take long once the persecution ended to state the 27 books as authoritative.

As a side note: Diocletian in the early 4th century tried to wipe out Christianity. Part of that process was to destroy all copies of the Scriptures. Of course he did not complete that job, but he did manage to destroy many.

Human Aspects to the Bible

Certainly there is a human aspect to the Bible-God works through humans. That is one of the glories of our God-carrying out His purpose even with fallen humanity. With that, man did not dictate the Canon, they discovered it. They did not manufacture it, they marveled at it. Man does not give the Bible its authority-God does. All the books in the New Testament were already recognized as God's Word (Colossians 4:16); they just had not put them all together in one package. The 27 books were self-authenticating. In other words, man did not impose his ideas onto the books, but rather the inspired documents imposed themselves onto the Church. So, the final Canon was simply man putting into one book what they knew God had already inspired.

Does the Bible claim to be the Word of God?

Does the Bible claim to be the Word of God? Of course it does (Exodus 24:4, Psalms 119:89, Matthew 15:6, John 17:17, Romans 3:2, Revelation 22:18)! Paul said that all Scripture was inspired (God-breathed) by God (2 Timothy 3:16, 1 Corinthians 2:13, 1 Thessalonians 5:27). Actually the term God-breathed (theopneustos) was coined by Paul. Peter said that men spoke for God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21, 3:16, 1 Peter 1:12, John 14:26, 16:13). Biblical writers gave validation to other Biblical writers (Psalms 105-106, Daniel 9:2, Ezekiel 14:14, Acts 7, Romans 4:3, 5:14, 15:4, 2 Corinthians 11:3, Hebrews 7:1-3, 10:28, 11:33, James 5:11, 17).

Paul knew that what he was saying was the very Word of God (Romans 1:2, Galatians 1:11-12, 1 Corinthians 2:10-13, 1 Thessalonians 2:13).

The disciples quoted the Old Testament as if it was the Word of God. Jesus gave validity to the entire Old Testament (Matthew 5:17, 11:23, 22:29, 23:35, 26:54, Mark 14:49, Luke 11:51). Interestingly, that does not include the Apocrypha.

Jesus gave credence to Adam (Matthew 5:4-5), Noah (Matthew 24:37), Daniel (Matthew 24:15), and Jonah (Matthew 12:40). That would mean Jesus acknowledged the truth of the Garden, the Flood, and the whale. Besides, time and again in the Bible we have various forms of "thus says the Lord" (Exodus 20:1, Jeremiah 1:4, 17:5, 36:6, 48:40, Ezekiel 3:27, Revelation 1:8).

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.


Stan Schmidt
stannumber20@aol.com

Hearing the Master's Voice: A Book on Celebrating the Lord in All Nations | The Moral Vision - A Misnomer in Today's World? John Updike and His Stories | The Nature of Fruit as the Product of Abiding in Christ in John 15:1-17 | Principles and Concepts for International Teaching Ministry | Waiting for God - Three Poems | Zac Poonen - A Leading Evangelist from India | Religious Freedom in Two Most Populous Nations of the World China and India | The Greatest Evangelist of India - Brother D.G.S. Dhinakaran | On Christian Literature | HOME PAGE of November 2009 Issue | HOME PAGE | CONTACT EDITOR


ISSN
1548-7164


Vol. 5 : 8
November 2009

Board of Editors

Dr. Tan Kok Beng

Olive Rajesh, Ph.D.

Stan Schmidt

Steven Wakeman

Sudhir Isaiah, Ph.D.

Sundar Singh, Ph.D.

Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

Vasanthi Isaiah, M.A., B.Ed.

M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D., Managing Editor


© Copyright 2008 M.S.Thirumalai. All rights reserved.