10 Truths about the Bible
COPYRIGHT ©2017 - James M. Frye
When I speak of “the Bible” in this
article, I am referring to the Authorized King James Bible. All scripture quotations are taken from it. Any deviations
are not intentional. All underlines, bold and words within brackets are the
author's.
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Introduction
The Bible is a
truly amazing book! One of the most interesting things about the Bible is that
it has much to say about itself. Scripture teaches us many things about: what
it is, how it came to be written, and how it is to be understood. The Bible
also teaches us that what we believe about it will determine the effect it will
have upon our lives (1 Thess. 2:13).
In this article,
we will be looking at 10 truths which the Bible teaches us regarding itself. These truths are essential to having a proper
understanding of the Bible. Coming to understand these things changed how I
relate to the Bible, and that, in turn, changed my life. It is my hope that God
will use this article to do the same for you.
#1 – The Truth of REVELATION
The Bible is a revelation from God.
Deuteronomy
29:29 The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we
may do all the words of this law.
There are two types of information: the things which have been revealed
by God and the things which have not. The things “which are revealed” refer to
those things which have been revealed to us in scripture (“the words of this
law”). The “secret things” refer to those things which God has kept secret and
not chosen to reveal to us in the Bible. Think about it. If it wasn’t for the
Bible we would know virtually nothing about God. Other than knowing that God
exists by seeing His creation (Rom. 1:19-20), and having some basic sense of
right and wrong (which God has written upon our hearts - Rom. 2:14-15), we
would know absolutely nothing about spiritual matters.
But God has chosen to reveal many things to us in the Bible so we might
know them, do them, and teach them unto our children. Is that the way you view
the Bible - as a book through which God has chosen to reveal the things He
wants you to know and teach to your children? If so, you will find yourself
having a desire to read the Bible and to discover all that it contains. As I
said in the introduction, coming to understand these truths will change how you
relate to the Bible, and that, in turn, will change your life.
Ephesians 3:3-5 How that by revelation he
made known unto me the mystery; (as I
wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my
knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Which
in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles
and prophets by the Spirit;
Notice how the
word "revelation" is used in the above passage. It refers to things
which had never been "revealed" before, but have "now" been
revealed by God and written in scripture (the words “as I wrote afore” refer to
the previous chapter). So God revealed these “new revelations” to his holy
apostles and prophets and they recorded them in scripture for us to read. Revelation
is new spiritual truth God is “revealing” for the first time.
The Bible is the only book whose
contents were given by revelation from the one true God. Therefore, it is the
ONLY source of spiritual truth in existence. How do we know this? God tells us
that the difference between Him and the false gods of the world’s religions is
that He alone can predict the future. He even puts forth a challenge in this
respect to the “would be” gods to try.
Isaiah 41:21-24
Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong
reasons, saith the King of Jacob. Let them bring them
forth, and shew us what shall happen:
let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and
know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come. Shew the things that are to come hereafter,
that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good,
or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together. Behold, ye are of
nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is
he that chooseth you.
God challenges the false gods of the
world's other religions to predict the future if they are in fact real. The
Bible is like no other book in the world in this respect. No other
"religious" book even attempts it. The Bible contains hundreds of
prophecies that were made hundreds or even thousands of years ahead of time
that have been fulfilled to the letter. I can show you 48 prophecies that were
given concerning Jesus Christ 400 to 2000 years before He was born which came
to pass in exact detail. A mathematician determined that the chance of such a
thing happening by mere chance is 1 out of 10 to the 157th power. That is 1
chance out of 10 with 157 zeros behind it.
There are not that many grains of
sand on all the beaches in the world. There are not that many drops of water in
all of the oceans, lakes & rivers on earth. As a matter of fact, there are
not that many electrons in the known universe. Now what is the mathematical
statistical probability of something like this happening by mere chance?
It would be less than the chance of guessing
when an alarm clock will go off sometime in the next 27 billion years, and
guessing it to the exact second. Or how about this, I could take one grain of
sand and mark it with an invisible dye. I could then hide it somewhere on one
of the beaches on earth. Now what are the chances of a person going out with a
pair of tweezers and not only picking the right beach, but also of picking the
right grain of sand with their first attempt? They would have a greater chance
of doing that than the chance of all these prophecies coming to pass by mere
chance. This proves, according to God Himself, that the Bible is the ONLY true
revelation from God. People are free to ignore the Bible if they choose, but I
wouldn't wager my soul against such odds.
#2 - The Truth of INSPIRATION
2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture
is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
The word "inspiration" here
means "breathing". All scripture is given by God breathing (the
breathing of God). What does that mean? If you put your hand closely in front
of your mouth and speak, you will feel your breath upon your hand. That is what
this verse is saying.
Psalms 33:6 By the word of
the LORD were the heavens made; and all the
host of them by the breath of his
mouth.
All scripture is given by God
breathing (or speaking). In other words, all scripture is the word of God and
not the word of men.
1 Thessalonians 2:13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because,
when ye received the word of God
which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God,
which effectually worketh also in you that believe.
God worked in such a way so that the
things recorded in scripture were exactly what He wanted to be written.
2 Peter 1:20-21 Knowing this first,
that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private
interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the
will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
God put His
words in the mouth of His prophets (Jer. 1:9) and they either wrote them down
themselves (Exod. 24:4) or dictated them to a scribe who wrote them down for
them (Jer. 36:4). But it was God who was moving and in control of the process
so that what was written was exactly what He wanted to be written. That is
inspiration. According to the Bible, the very
words of scripture were given by inspiration.
Jeremiah 30:2 Thus speaketh the LORD God of
Israel, saying, Write thee all the words
that I have spoken unto thee in a book.
Exodus 24:4 And Moses wrote all the words
of the LORD …
It is the words of scripture, not the thoughts or the ideas, which have been
inspired. God didn’t just give people ideas regarding what to write about and
have them put those ideas into their own words. And being the words of God, the
words of the Bible are alive (have spiritual life in them). The Bible is a
supernatural book.
John
6:63 ... the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
1 Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and
abideth for ever.
The words of the Bible are alive.
They are the words/breath of the living God. In creation, God breathed into
Adam giving him life (Genesis 2:7). The same is true of the word of God (the
Bible). God inspired the words of Scripture and those words have spiritual
life.
The first
verse we referenced in this section, 2 Timothy 3:16, also tells us how much of scripture is inspired. It says all.
Some people mistakenly believe that the words of Jesus (the red letters) have
more authority than other parts of the Bible (the epistles of Paul for example)
because these words were directly spoken by Jesus Himself. But notice what Paul
said via inspiration concerning the things which he wrote.
1 Cor. 14:37 If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual,
let him acknowledge that the things that
I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.
All of scripture is inspired and not
just the words spoken by God/Jesus. The entire Bible, from beginning to end, is
the word of God. Many people are confused by this and will ask how the words of
people other than Jesus or the apostles could be the words of God. If God is
not the one directly speaking, how can those words be God’s words? These words
are God’s words because it was God who controlled which words were written in
scripture in giving an account of each event via inspiration.
Let me give you an illustration. Suppose
that I go outside and listen to a discussion between two of my neighbors. When
I come back inside, my wife asks me what they were saying. I then tell her what
was said. Now, were the words I spoke to my wife my words? Yes, they were my
words even though I was restating what others had said.
This is pale comparison to how
scripture was written. Jesus told his apostles that the Holy Spirit would bring
to their remembrance the things He had said to them (John 14:26). So when John
sat down to write the gospel of John, the Holy Spirit brought to His
remembrance the exact words which Jesus had spoken and he wrote them down. Were
the words he wrote merely John’s words? No, they were the very words of God
because God communicated them to him by the Holy Spirit.
Also, the words of scripture are the
words of God because God will speak to us through those words. So when you read
the scriptures, you are reading the very words of God and not merely the words
of men.
#3 - The Truth of INERRANCY
Another thing which
the Bible tells us about itself is that it is true.
John 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Psalms 119:160 Thy word is true from the beginning: and every
one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.
2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto
God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth.
Since God’s word
is true, this means that the scriptures are “inerrant”. According to the Bible,
God cannot lie.
Titus 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before
the world began;
Hebrews 6:18 That by two immutable things, in
which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong
consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
Since God cannot
lie, and since God caused the very words of scripture to be written via
inspiration (so that the words of scripture are God’s words and not merely
man’s words), those words must in fact be true and without error. In other
words, the Biblical doctrine of inspiration leads to the doctrine of inerrancy.
Since the Bible
is the only book which was given by the inspiration of God, it is the only
source of absolute spiritual truth anywhere on earth. What men tell us is often
false, but what God tells us is always true. This truth is expressed in the
following scripture.
Romans 3:4 God forbid: yea,
let God be true, but every man a liar
…
Therefore, we
can compare what people tell us to what the Bible actually says to determine if
it is true or not.
Acts 17:11 These were more noble than those in
Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether
those things were so.
If what we are
being told is backed up by the Bible then we can know that those things are
indeed true. But if the Bible anywhere
contradicts what is being said, those things are not true and should be
rejected.
1 Thessalonians
5:21 Prove all
things; hold fast that which is good.
The truthfulness
of the Bible is another doctrine which people are often confused by. For
example, we see in scripture where men spoke lies and the Bible says that what
they said were lies. But, these words are recorded in scripture. Since God
cannot lie, how can those lying words be the words of God? In other words, how
can what the Bible says be true if lies are sometimes spoken in it?
As we saw
earlier, the words of scripture are the words of God because God caused the
writers of scripture to pen those exact words in giving an account of each
particular event. How are those words true, even when a lie is recorded in it?
They are true in recording the fact that what these people said was a lie. It
is true that those people lied. And the Bible truthfully records that what was
spoken was indeed a lie.
We must remember
that although all of scripture is true, not every scripture is necessarily a
statement of fact. For example, people in scripture said that: Jesus was
possessed by an evil spirit (John 7:20), that He cast out evil spirits by the
power of Satan (Matt. 12:24), and that He was not a true prophet because He was
from Galilee (John 7:52). None of these statements are a statement of fact, and
they are all refuted by scripture itself. But as part of God’s word, these
statements truly record what was said. All scripture is true but not every
scripture is necessarily a statement of fact. We must pay careful attention to
the context.
#4 - The Truth of AUTHORITY
There are three things which scripture teaches us regarding the authority
of the Bible. First, we need to understand that scripture has the same
authority as God Himself. Let me illustrate. Suppose that a king were to
make a proclamation and send it throughout his kingdom by messengers. Would the
citizens of that kingdom be obligated to obey the king’s proclamation even
though he had not spoken it to them in person? Yes, they would.
The word of God is like that proclamation. It is the word of the king!
When scripture is quoted, it has the same authority as if God parted the clouds
and thundered those very words from heaven Himself. We have no more right to
reject what the Bible says than we would have a right to answer back to God if
He spoke from heaven and tell him “No”. The Bible tells us that to disobey God’s
word is to disobey God (Exod. 5:1-2; 2 Kings 18:12; 1 Cor. 14:37), to
disbelieve God’s word is to disbelieve God (1 John 5:10; Deut. 9:23), and to
reject God’s word is to reject God Himself (John 12:48; Psa. 81:11; 2 Kings
21:22. All of these things could only be true if scripture has the same
authority as God Himself.
The second thing the Bible tells us about its authority is that scripture
has the same authority (the authority of God) and effectiveness
regardless of who gives it out.
John 15:20 Remember
the word that I said unto you, The servant is not
greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute
you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
Jesus said that people who would keep His sayings (His word), would keep
them regardless of whether He told them, or if His disciples (believers) told
them. In other words, the word of God has the same effectiveness regardless of
who gives it out. The Bible tells us that he who is of God will hear God’s
words (John 8:47). Jesus said that His sheep will hear His voice (John
10:27-28). And Scripture says that God’s words will not return unto Him void
(Isa. 55:10-11). These things are true regardless of who gives the word of God
out. This is why believers are told to carry forth the truth of God’s word into
the world as “ambassadors for Christ” (2 Cor. 5:20). Just like in our earlier
illustration, we are the messengers and God is the king. And people are
obligated to hear and believe the king’s word regardless of who gives it to
them.
The third thing scripture tells us about its authority is that the
Bible is the only spiritual authority on earth. Earlier, we saw how
the Bible is the only source of spiritual truth because it is the only book
which was given by revelation from God. This means that the Bible is the only
spiritual authority there is. During the reformation this truth was affirmed by
the words “sola scriptura” meaning
scripture alone. God says His word alone is of authority and we may not
add anything to it, nor take anything away from it.
Deuteronomy 4:2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither
shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments
of the LORD your God which I command you.
Deuteronomy
12:32 What thing soever
I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish
from it.
Scripture alone is given by inspiration of God.
2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture
is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
And scripture is the judge as to whether a person is teaching the truth
or not.
Isaiah 8:20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this
word, it is because there is no light in them.
Acts 17:11 … they received
the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily,
whether those things were so.
The Bible teaches us that the following things are of absolutely NO
spiritual authority.
And in case I missed anything, anything else! (Isa. 8:20).
#5 - The Truth of COMPLETENESS
Another truth which the Bible teaches us regarding itself is that the
Bible is complete. One of the words which scripture often uses to convey
the idea of completeness is the word “perfect”.
James 1:4 But let
patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and
entire, wanting nothing.
In the above verse, the word “perfect” means to be entire and
lacking/wanting nothing. In other words, it means to be “complete”. If I were
to draw a circle but leave a small gap at the top, would that be a perfect
circle? No. Why? It would not be a perfect circle because it was not complete.
That is how the Bible often uses the word perfect, to mean complete.
Scripture uses the word perfect in the same way (meaning complete) to
refer to the time when the Bible was to be completed/perfected.
1 Corinthians
13:9-10 For we know in part, and we
prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then
that which is in part shall be done away.
Each prophecy was only a partial revelation of God’s truth, but once
God's completed revelation of the New Testament (that which is perfect) was
come, prophecy would no longer be necessary and would be done away. For more on
this see my article, “Are there Prophets Today?”. God
has already included everything in the Bible which He wants to be in it and
nothing more is to be added. God even placed a warning at the end of the last
book of the Bible not to add to it.
Revelation 22:18
For I testify unto every man that heareth the
words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things,
God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
So the Bible is complete in both its canon and its contents. When we say
that it is complete in its canon, we are saying that is already contains every
book which God wants to be in it, and no more books are to be added. When we
say that it is complete in its contents, we are saying that each book is
complete and nothing is to be added to any of them. Since the Bible is complete
and nothing more is to be added to it, it is complete in both its canon and its
contents.
People often question whether or not revelation is still taking place
today. If we are talking about "new revelation" like we discussed in
point #1 of this article, the answer is “No”. Scripture teaches us that this type
of revelation ceased once the scriptures were completed. God has already told
us everything He wants us to know in the Bible. No additional revelation is
needed. And as we saw in our last point, the Bible is the sole (only) authority
for our faith. Along with the reformers, we proclaim “Sola scriptura”. We go by
the Bible and the Bible alone.
#6 - The Truth of SUFFICIENCY
The Bible
is not only complete in its canon and its contents, it
is also complete in another way.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 All scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness:
That the man of God may be perfect, throughly
furnished unto all good works.
In the
above passage, the word “perfect” is restated to mean “throughly
furnished”. In giving us the scriptures, God has thoroughly furnished us with
all we need in order to live the Christian life perfectly/completely. If
scripture provides us with everything we need in order to live the Christian
life perfectly, then it is not lacking anything. In other words, the
scriptures are sufficient. They tell us everything we need to know in order
to live the Christian life.
2 Peter 1:3 According as his divine power hath
given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness,
through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
God has
already given us “all things” which pertain unto (have to do with) living the
Christian life in all godliness. And those things were given to us “through the
knowledge of Him”. Where did God give us this knowledge of Him? In scripture of
course, and that is what the book goes on to speak about later in the chapter
(verse 19-21). If God has already given us all things which we need to live the
Christian life in scripture, then the Bible is not lacking anything. It is
sufficient. It contains all we need to know.
So when we
say that the scriptures are sufficient, we are saying that the Bible is not
lacking anything. It contains everything we need in order to live the Christian
life perfectly. The Bible has all of the answers to our problems and provides
guidance in every situation. This means we are to go to the Bible for answers
and guidance for everything in the Christian life.
Scripture
tells us how to handle difficulties, raise our children, deal with false
teachers, have a good marriage, use our money. etc. etc.. A person who understands and believes this will
live quite differently from the world around them. They will read through the
scriptures again and again applying what they read to their lives. They will
search the scriptures repeatedly to discover God’s guidance for every area of
their lives. And in doing so, they will be greatly blessed by God.
Psalms 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth
in the seat of the scornful.
Psalms 1:2 But his delight is in the
law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
Psalms 1:3 And he shall be like a tree planted
by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit
in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall
prosper.
Psalms 1:4 The ungodly are not so: but are
like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
Psalms 1:5 Therefore the ungodly shall not
stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation
of the righteous.
Psalms 1:6 For the LORD knoweth
the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
This Psalm
tells us the difference between a Godly person and an ungodly one. The Godly
person does not take counsel from ungodly people, but instead gets their
counsel from God’s word (Psalm 119:24). They meditate (think about) God’s word
day and night. Because of this, they soak up that word like a tree planted by a
river soaks up water. God blesses them, and whatsoever they do prospers.
This is an
entirely different life than that which is lived by most Christians. Why?
Because they do not realize that the Bible has all the answers to everything in
life. They do not live in the Bible so they do not bear the fruits of having
done so. Just as I said earlier in this article, what you believe about the
Bible will determine the effect it will have upon your life. Doctrine matters.
#7 - The Truth of ILLUMINATION
There is
another way in which the word “revelation” is used in the Bible.
Ephesians 1:16-18 … making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your
understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his
calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
In the passage above, the word
"revelation" is used in an entirely different way than in the
passages we saw in point #1. Here the word “revelation” is not referring to
"new revelation" (new spiritual truth which God is giving for the
first time). It is instead referring to being able to understand the truth God
has already given us in scripture. A particular truth may have been in the
Bible all along, but God may have just opened your spiritual eyes to see
(understand) it today. It is as if you were in a dark room and couldn't see it
until God turned the "light" on. That is why we use the term
"illumination" to describe it. We see Jesus opening the understanding
of His disciples in exactly this same way.
Luke 24:44-45 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you,
while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written
in the law of Moses, and in the
prophets, and in the psalms,
concerning me. Then opened he their
understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
Jesus didn’t give them a new revelation
which was not already contained in scripture. He opened their understanding to
what the scriptures already said. That is Illumination. These passages teach us
that we are dependent upon God/Jesus to open our understanding in this way. We
are not able to do it ourselves. The first passage shows us that we should pray
for illumination, not only for ourselves, but also for others. The Bible is not
like any other book. Its author (God) alone can unlock the depths of its
spiritual riches for us to understand.
This is part of what makes the Bible
so incredible. For in it, we have a virtually inexhaustible source of spiritual
truth. People have spent their entire lives reading, studying, and learning the
Bible and never been able to learn all its truths. The Bible holds many truths
which may only be understood as our knowledge of it increases. It is new and
fresh every day. What an amazing Book God has given us! We have more spiritual
truth in the Bible than we could ever learn in an entire lifetime.
Scripture also teaches us that God
will often reveal truth to some while withholding it from others. For example,
God will often hide spiritual truth from those who are proud but reveal it to
those who are humble. (Those who humble themselves are often referred to in
scripture as babes/children - Matthew 18:4).
Matthew 11:25 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O
Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
Being able to understand spiritual
truth and discern truth versus error is also linked to a person’s willingness
to do God’s will by obeying His word.
John 7:16-17 Jesus answered them, and said, My
doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.
John 8:31-32 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then
are ye my disciples indeed; And ye
shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
In short, scripture teaches us that if we wish to be able to
understand the Bible we must not only humble ourselves and do God’s will by
obeying His word, we must also put away sin from our lives (1 Peter 2:1-2;
Daniel 12:10), and serve God with singleness of heart/mind (James 1:5-8; James
4:8; Matthew 6:22:23). This means that serving God must be the highest priority
and purpose in our life (Matthew 6:24) and all other things in our lives must
be secondary. The Bible teaches us that we are to do all things in our life in
the service of God and in a way which pleases Him (1 Corinthians 10:31;
Colossians 3:23).
#8 – The Truth of TRANSLATION
A person who serves as a translator between two languages in our day is
called both a translator and an interpreter. The Bible uses these two words but
in quite different ways. The word “translated” is used in a different sense
entirely (Heb. 11:5; Col. 1:13). So, when we want to learn what the Bible says
about “translation” we need to look at verses which use the words
“interpretation” or “interpreted”.
John 1:41 He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith
unto him, We have found the Messias,
which is, being interpreted, the Christ.
The Hebrew word “Messias” is interpreted/translated
to its equivalent Greek word “Christos”. We then read this in our English
translation as “Christ”.
John 1:42 And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art
Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas,
which is by interpretation, A stone.
Cephas is a Syriac word. It is equivalent to
the Greek word “Petros” which is translated into
English here as “a stone”.
Apart from a few sections in Ezra and Daniel, and a few words or verses
here and there were written in Aramaic, the vast majority of the Old Testament
(O.T.) was originally written in Hebrew. The New Testament (N.T.) was written
in Greek. When we read our Bibles we are reading an English translation from
those languages. For more on the translation process see my article, “Which
Bible is the Word of God?”.
It should be noted that names in the Bible are often not translated when
they are brought over into English, but are rather transliterated.
Transliteration is the process whereby each letter of a word is brought over into
another language rather than translating the whole word. This is why many of
the names of people from the Old Testament are different from their names in
the New Testament. For example, Isaiah from the O.T. becomes Esaias in the NT
(Matt. 3:3), and Elijah from the OT becomes Elias in the N.T. (Matt. 17:3).
#9 – The truth of PRESERVATION
The Bible tells us that God not only inspired the words of scripture, it
also tells us that He would preserve the words of scripture. God promised that
He would preserve both his word and his words. God’s word refers
to the whole of scripture (the whole Bible). God’s words refer to the
individual words in the Bible.
Here are some of the verses.
Psalm 12:6-7 The words of the LORD are pure words: as
silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them
[God‘s Words], O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.
Psalms 100:5 For
the LORD is good; his mercy is
everlasting; and his truth endureth to all
generations.
Psalms 119:111 Thy
testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the
rejoicing of my heart.
Psalms 119:152 Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded
them for ever.
Psalms 119:160
Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy
righteous judgments endureth for ever.
Isaiah 40:8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for
ever.
Matthew 24:35 Heaven and
earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
1 Peter 1:23-25 Being born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God,
which liveth and abideth for ever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory
of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth,
and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word
of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is
preached unto you.
The sad thing is that despite the clear testimony of scripture on this
matter, the vast majority of Bible teachers, preachers, and professing
Christians do not believe that God actually preserved His word as He
promised. This is especially alarming because most of these same people believe
in what the Bible says about its “inspiration”. But, for every one Bible verse
which speaks about scripture’s inspiration, there are 7-10 Bible verses which
speak of scripture’s preservation. Why believe one and not the other? We are
certainly living in times of great apostasy.
Those who do believe that God has preserved His words as He promised, and
that we have them available for us to read today, are often referred to as “Bible
Believers” They are called “Bible Believers” because they actually believe
what the Bible says about itself in regard to this matter. I will (God willing)
be dealing with this matter in more detail in an upcoming article entitled “Why
the King James Bible?”. Until then, I leave you to
decide whether you will believe what God says about this matter or not.
#10 – The truth of INTERPRETATION
As we saw in
point #8, the word interpretation is sometimes used in scripture to refer to
translation from one language to another. The word interpretation is also used
another way in the Bible. It is also used to refer to the act of determining
the meaning of something, in this case, scripture itself.
2 Pet. 1:20-21 Knowing
this first, that no prophecy of the scripture
is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came
not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
The words
“private interpretation” do not mean individual interpretation. According to the Bible,
believers have both the right to interpret the scriptures for themselves (Acts
17:10-11), as well as the responsibility to do so correctly (2 Tim. 2:15). The
words “private interpretation” are referring to
interpreting the scriptures privately apart from the rest of scripture. The
Bible teaches us that all of scripture is true (Psalm 119:160). Therefore we
may not misinterpret one scripture in a way which causes it to contradict
another. After all God does not disagree with Himself. God does not state one
thing to be true in scripture in one place and then disagree with Himself in
another.
There are a
number of principles which the Bible itself teaches us regarding how it is to
be interpreted. We aren’t talking about any man-made methods here. We are
talking about how God Himself tells us to interpret His word. I have already
written about these things in an article entitled “How to Interpret the Bible”.
I will refer you to that article rather than restating those things all over
again here. You can find it by going to the link at the top of this article.
Summary
In this article, we have learned the following truths that the Bible
teaches us regarding itself.