WHAT IS THE BIBLE?
What is the 1
What is the Bible?
This paper will define the Bible and examine it’s origin, inerrancy, purpose, and
power. The reasons for studying the Bible will also be discussed along with scriptures and
historical data. The fact that the Bible has stood the test of time and has not been
destroyed, even though there have been several attempts made over the years, is a
testament of the enduring power of God’s Holy Word. Many men have lost their lives
while producing and preserving this collection of books. This further proves that the
Bible is the most important and influential book of all times.
God wrote the Bible. Who can give a better explanation of who God is than God
Himself? Although God did not put pen to paper to produce the first hard copy, the Bible
was “inspired” by God over a period of 1500 years using 40 different men. The Words of
the Bible were “God - breathed” making each a Word from God and not the words of the
men who were writing them. This process is known as plenary verbal inspiration. Plenary
means full and verbal means word for word therefore every Word in the Bible comes
directly from God. 2 Timothy 3:16 reads “All scripture is given by inspiration of God,
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness:”. This scripture provides proof that the Bible is written by God.
The Bible is an inerrant collection of books. Because God is perfect, His words
are perfect. The historical, scientific and moral aspects of th...
... middle of paper ...
...cripture and historical accounts. The power to transform lives and ultimately persuade
men to turn from their wicked ways is just one example of the awesome authority found
within it’s pages. The Bible is the most unique and inspirational book ever written
possessing the ability to influence believers as well and non-believers.
What is the 4
References
Bere, M., (2008). Bible Doctrines for Today (third edition). Retrieved February 13,
2010
Bickel, Bruce
Jantz, Stan, (1998). Knowing the Bible 101. Retrieved February 14, 2010
Believer's Church (n.d.). The Bible is the Word of God. Retrieved February 14, 2010
from http://www.believers.org/believe/bel191.htm
Hindson, E. E., & Yates, G. E. (2012). The Essence of the Old Testament: A survey. Nashville, Tenn: B & H Academic.
Scripture,” the idea that the Bible is God’s perfect word, the clearest expression of God’s plan
This quote by Gene Nowlin in his book The Paraphrased Perversion of the Bible summarizes the composition of the Bible. Throughout life, Christians grasp tightly to these words of God in hopes to inherit the Kingdom of God one day. In order to do this, they must study the Bible closely and apply it to their lives daily. Without the proper Bible, this may become a difficult task to accomplish. Although the various translations of the Christian Bible are exceptionally similar in their message, some have quite a few differences and perversions that set them apart from one another. Many of them even leave out several potentially important verses in their revision. These variations contribute to the justification of one translation being more reliable and accurate than the other versions.
The Hebrew Bible, better known as the Old Testament, is a collection of tomes that form part of the Biblical canon. Many scholars around the world do not think that a single author wrote the books contained in the Hebrew Bible, but rather that it represents centuries of stories frequently compiled after the events they describe . The stories were created with visions for the future, in order to allow audiences insight into communities and beliefs that were common thought during their era. The stories responded to the issues and problems of their time, but also addressed contemporary climates. While the stories themselves may not be true, they convey truth without needing literal readings. For example, the creation stories in Genesis, portray God as creating the universe, and while this is considered as not ‘literally true’; the stories communicate theological truths about mankind’s relationship with God through the eyes of Hebrew writers .
The Old Testament and the Bible itself has been studied extensively for centuries. Archeologists and Scholars have labored and pondered over texts trying to decipher its clues. It does not matter how many times the Old Testament has been studied there will always be something new to learn about it or the history surrounding it. In the book Reading the Old Testament: an Introduction, the author Lawrence Boadt presents us with a few different authors of the Old Testament that used different names for God and had a unique insight into the texts. These four sources are titled P for priests, E for Elohim, J for Jehovah, and Y for Yahweh (95). These four unique sources help us realize that there is more than one author of the Pentateuch. These authors took the text and adapted for their culture. This independent source is used by scholars to help gain insight into what was behind the texts of the bible so we are not left with an incomplete picture of what went into the creation of the bible. Julius Wellhausen used these four sources to publish a book to able us to better understand the sources and to give it credibility with the Protestant scholars at the time (Boadt 94). These sources that is independent of the bible as in the DVD Who Wrote the Bible? and the Nova website aide in shedding light on the history that surrounded the writers who wrote the text and what inspired them to write it in the first place. The DVD shows the discovery of The Dead Sea Scrolls and the extensive history of the texts and all its sources in an effort to try to find exactly who wrote the bible (Who Wrote). These scrolls have aided scholars immensely by giving us some of the oldest known manuscripts of the bible in the world today. It shows that the bible w...
The Bible is read and interpreted by many people all over the world. Regardless, no one knows the absolute truth behind scripture. Walter Brueggemann, professor of Old Testament, wrote “Biblical Authority” to help people understand what he describes as six different parts that make up the foundation to ones understanding of scripture. He defines these six features as being: inherency, interpretation, imagination, ideology, inspiration, and importance. As Brueggemann explains each individual part, it is easy to see that they are all interconnected because no one can practice one facet without involuntarily practicing at least one other part.
Scholars have shifted from the notion that the Bible differs from other ancient Near Eastern literature, cultures, and religions. If this were so, the Bible would be considered a myth. In this chapter Oswalt gives descriptions to what a myth is and gives insight into whether it is acceptable to label the Bible as a myth. Since the 1960s, scholars have been stating that the attributes of the Bible and its contemporary belief system have more in common to a myth even though the data used to make these claims have remained the same.
For centuries now Christians have claimed to possess the special revelation of an omnipotent, loving Deity who is sovereign over all of His creation. This special revelation is in written form and is what has come to be known as The Bible which consists of two books. The first book is the Hebrew Scriptures, written by prophets in a time that was before Christ, and the second book is the New Testament, which was written by Apostles and disciples of the risen Lord after His ascension. It is well documented that Christians in the context of the early first century were used to viewing a set of writings as being not only authoritative, but divinely inspired. The fact that there were certain books out in the public that were written by followers of Jesus and recognized as being just as authoritative as the Hebrew Scriptures was never under debate. The disagreement between some groups of Christians and Gnostics centered on which exact group of books were divinely inspired and which were not. The debate also took place over the way we can know for sure what God would have us include in a book of divinely inspired writings. This ultimately led to the formation of the Biblical canon in the next centuries. Some may ask, “Isn’t Jesus really the only thing that we can and should call God’s Word?” and “Isn’t the Bible just a man made collection of writings all centered on the same thing, Jesus Christ?” This paper summarizes some of the evidences for the Old and New Testament canon’s accuracy in choosing God breathed, authoritative writings and then reflects on the wide ranging
Inspiration Theory Contained within the Bible is a consortium of books that are as various as they are numerous. Their genres range anywhere from histories, to letters, to narratives, to poems, and even beyond that. Something that binds all of these books together, however, is the means by which they were inspired. The muse that breathed these books into life is consistent from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21; that muse is the Holy Spirit. Many authors penned books that have been believed by many to belong in the Bible, but what separates those Apocryphal documents from the pure, holy scriptures of the Bible is the Holy Spirit; the one that inspired them.
(Bere 12). Some doubt that the Bible is God’s literal word, but the authors sometimes wrote about things they did not understand with incredible accuracy, such as the medical information found in the Mosaic Law and the many prophecies that have already been
The bible has two different forms of communicating it’s message to the world. One form being oral communication this is when a person depends mostly on verbal, audio, and some type of visual means of communication. “Verbal communication is the very first form of communication that we read about in the Bible ” (Brown, 2012). When using a form of oral communication such as an audiotape people can replay the sections over and over again. This allows them time to think about what they are hearing and relate this is their own life experiences. Oral communication allows the speaker to not only get their point across, but to provide a story with expressions and body language that can bring what they are saying to life. An example of this scripture
Every copy of the original manuscripts is tainted by man’s mistakes and error. This is the inevitable result of the depravity of man. But despite that, God’s Word is still trustworthy. It may have the mistakes of man, but as man continues to copy God’s Word, he can fix those man-made errors in the copies.
The Bible is the infallible, inspired, inerrant Word of the living God. I grew up hearing this from pastors, teachers and evangelists. I have come to believe that the Bible is indeed the inspired Word of God because the Bible itself claims it, Jesus and the early church fathers believed it, and textual unity supports it. First, the Bible claims, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives” (2 Timothy 3:16, NLT).
The Bible has many uses and it is often discussed what is in the Bible. Four scholarly writers, Barth, Brueggeman, Mertan, and Achtemeier, Green, and Thompson, write about what is in the Bible and how people use it. After reading into papers written by these authors, I have made an argument, as well, about what is in the Bible. Based off of these authors, I have come to a conclusion that the bible is a series of ideologies that is set in the storytelling process, an ever changing interpretation of stories, and is a lot deeper in meaning than one person can find out and thus should always be read with caution and deeper thoughts in mind.
It was written and edited by a variety of human authors over hundreds of years. God may very well have inspired theses texts (in any number of ways), but he certainly didn’t sit down and take pen to paper in order to write you a letter. The Bible isn’t a letter.