Gospel News — May-Aug 2013

22

God, the Author of the Bible

Bro Herbert Tigerebasi (Lusaka, Zambia)

Whether one gazes into the expanse of the heavens or the world of microscopic life, the profound order, design and interdependence of creation is remarkable. On every side, the created world bears silent testimony to the existence of its Creator, yet apart from the Bible, man would forever remain ignorant of earth's origin and destiny.

The Bible is the revelation of God to man. It clearly sets forth the truth concerning God and man; it reveals the divine purpose in creation, the origin of sin and death, the destiny of the nations and the coming kingdom of God. But the Bible also has personal value. It provides young and old with hope. It unfolds the real reason for living and it exposes the foolishness of following a world which has divorced God from His creation. In brief, it can change our lives.

The aim of this article is to show that there is but one supreme Creator who has inspired the scriptures which reveal His character and purpose. ."You, however, continue in the things you have learned and of which you have become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 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 Tim 3:14-17). "So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the holy spirit spoke from God (2Peter 1:19-21).

The Bible: God's revelation to man

Though divided into sixty-six different sections, the Bible is one book, setting forth one consistent message. It claims to be the word of God; no less than 500 times in the first five books it asserts "The Lord said" or "The Lord spake". Again, some 300 times it repeats these phrases from Joshua to The Song of Solomon. The books of the prophets repeat the claim another 1,200 times.

The writers of the Bible were really fulfilling the role of scribes for God; He was the real author. He expressed His teachings through mortal men. They wrote by His inspiration (Heb 1:1-2; Neh 9:20). God guided them in what they should say, although the language they used was their own; for this purpose God selected men from every class of society: kings, statesmen, priests, scholars, shepherds and fishermen were among those He chose. They were divided from each other by social status, time and place. One wrote in Syria, another in Arabia, a third in Italy, a fourth in Greece, a fifth in Babylon, a sixth in Palestine, so they had little personal contact with each other.

Moses, the earliest writer, wrote the first five books of the Bible some 1,500 years before John recorded the last book, Revelation. Yet, despite these great differences, there is a wonderful and complete harmony in all that was written which unites the 66 books into one message, and makes the Bible unique in the literary world. God has placed this book in the hands of men to provide them with hope (Rom 15:4). It alone can reveal the way to salvation (2Tim 3:16); to refuse its message means death (Deut 30:17-20; Prov 14:12).

The Bible is commonly divided into two sections styled the Old Testament, 39 books, and the New Testament, 27 books. But the division is man- made, and the whole Bible should be treated as the one consistent revelation of God to each one of us. The OT was originally written in Hebrew and the NT in Greek. The King James Version of the Bible was first published in 1611, King James 1st of England initiated the translation. Since then many other translations have appeared, some helpful, some less so.