Approach is everything? If a jumbo jet makes a wrong approach while landing, it could end up at the end of the runway in a ball of flames. It is no different when it comes to studying the bible. The approach you take is vital otherwise "crash and burn".
In making a proper approach we must ask some questions behind the question "how do you study the bible?" You have to first ask, "what is the bible? " and "what is the bible about?" this post answers those primary questions in a way that i hope will give you a solid frame to approach the bible.
THE BOOK
What if an old friends asked you to lunch. After coffee and small talk, your friend leaned in and with a skeptical tone asked. “Why do you bother reading the bible? Isn’t it out of date?” what would be the way you How would you respond?
What would you say?
Some possible answers:
- It’s just what you do to be a good person.
- I don’t know – I just read it and it helps me sometimes!
- I don’t know. Can we talk about something else!
- The bible is a special book!
History teaches us that Christians have always thought the bible was special. In the year A.D. 303, the Roman Emperor Diocletian issued a decree which he hoped would extinguish the spreading flames of Christianity. One of his primary objectives was the seizure and destruction of the Christian Scriptures. Later that year, officials enforced the decree in North Africa. One of the targets was Felix, Bishop of Tibjuca, a village near Carthage. The mayor of the town ordered Felix to hand over his Scriptures. Though some judges were willing to accept scraps of parchment, Felix refused to surrender the Word of God at the insistence of mere men. Resolutely, he resisted compromise. Roman authorities finally shipped Felix to Italy where he paid for his stubbornness with his life. On August 30, as the record puts it, "with pious obstinacy," he laid down his life rather than surrender his Gospels. [1]
I. Why is the Bible a special book?
It is unlike any other book for it is both a Divine and human book. 1. The Bible is a divine book. God is the direct and ultimate author of Scripture.
a) Matt. 19.4-5 – Jesus’ appealed to the Scripture as authoritative and from God.
b) 2 Tim. 3.16 – We see that scripture is inspirited. The book is inspired. Scripture is described as “Breathed out by God” or “God-breathed”- The Bible is the result of the Breath of God. The Bible originated as the action of God who breathed it out. God is the ultimate cause, and the scriptures are the authoritative result. When it comes to inspiration of Scripture we see in the verse that ultimately people are not inspired the text is inspired.
2. Four implications of divine inspiration
a) The Bible is alive (Heb. 4.12)
b) The Bible is true and without error (Ps 12.6, Ps. 119.160) - Inspiration is the guarantee that revelation is without error and thus reliable and trustworthy
c) The Holy Spirit is essential for meaningfully seeing Scripture as truth (I Cor. 2.14) - His ministry of illumination brings us to value bibles truths so we see the glory of the truth. He helps us to simply see gospel truth as true truth. It is an affective illumination.
d) The Bible is authoritative (John 10.27) - we can’t treat its doctrines as optional and commands as suggestions.
II. A human book:
The Bible is a human book. The Bible was written by particular people, at a particular time, in a particular place, for a particular reason.
o I, Daniel, was exhausted and lay ill for several days ... (Dan. 8.27)
o The words of the Teacher, son of David, king of Jerusalem ... (Ecc. 1.1)
o When you come, bring the cloak ... (2 Tim. 4.13)
The doctrine of Scripture clams God inspired scripture but used human means,
Inspiration is...God’s superintendence of the human authors so that, using their own individual personalities, they composed and recorded without error His revelation to man in the words of the original autographs.” -Charles C. Ryrie
So God moved the authors of Scripture in such a way that the resulting product was the Word of God written, totally without error in the autographs. Three key texts:
a) Jer. 1.9, Act. 4.25 – God used People to write Scripture.
b) 2 Pet 1:19-20 - Key verse 21, “moved by the Holy Spirit.”
“This verse tells us as much as any single verse how God used the human writers to produce the Bible. The Holy Spirit moved or bore them along. The use of the same verb in Acts 27:15 illuminates our understanding of what is meant by “bearing” or “moving” the human writers. Just before the ship was taking Paul to Rome was wrecked on the Island of Malta, it ran into fierce storm. Though experienced men, the sailors could not guide it, so they finally had to let the wind take the ship wherever it blew. In the same manner as the ship was driven, directed, or carried about by the wind, God directed and moved the human writers He used to produce the books of the Bible. Though the wind was the strong force that moved the ship along, the sailors were not asleep and inactive. Similarly, the Holy Spirit was the guiding force that directed the writers who, nevertheless, played their own active roles in writing the Scriptures.” -Charles Ryrie
c) Scripture become Scripture by way of the Author. So we must ask what the author’s intent is. What did he mean to write? Author is the means of Revelation. Revelation is the information given by God, Inspiration is the guarantee that revelation is without error and thus reliable and trustworthy.
Conclution:
Inspiration recognizes and asserts both the human and divine element within Scripture. This understanding has sometimes been compared and contrasted to the understanding of the two natures of Jesus. The bible is All human, All God, all we need for faith and practices. The bible is special like Jesus is special. a) Two wise nuggets from A. W. Tozer
• The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts.-- A. W. Tozer
• The Word of God well understood and religiously obeyed is the shortest route to spiritual perfection. And we must not select a few favorite passages to the exclusion of others. Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian. --AW. Tozer
No comments:
Post a Comment