The Bible
The Bible is not a Holy Book.
(I had to get your attention somehow, right?) It would be more accurate to call it a Holy Anthology, because the Bible isn’t one book by one author. Instead, scholars consider it to be a collection of 66 different books written by various authors. Some of those “books” are incredibly small – only a few pages at most. Today we wouldn’t even call those books. They’d be pamphlets at best. Those are often letters written by Paul or various apostles to the church. Others are huge like Psalms often considered the longest of the books. Interestingly one scholar converted the Bible into ASCII format to calculate the true length of each book and found Jeremiah to be the longest.[1] Who wrote which books is a matter of debate even today. Scholars argue whether or not Paul wrote all the letters he is said to have written. There is also debate around the Gospels. Most assume they were written by the apostles they were named after – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Some believe that Mark wrote the first account and then Matthew and Luke added to it and changed it slightly. Because John is so different, it’s assumed that his was written by him.
Or was it?
Authorship of the Gospels is something scholars continue to argue about, too. Most don’t believe they were written by the actual disciples themselves but might have been written by their followers or from communities formed by them. Some speculate all three of what we call the Synoptic Gospels – Mark, Matthew, and Luke – were based on Mark and a secondary Q source. Sounds like the basis of a Dan Brown novel, right? But many Biblical scholars believe it to be true. They think there was another source that provided the stories that are in common between Matthew and Luke. No one has ever found such a source or evidence of such a source, but because of how similar the stories between them are scholars feel confident some other source must have been used. John, however, was so different from the others that while it is considered one of the Gospels, it is unique among the four. And also, thought not to be written by John. Many believe the purpose behind each Gospel account is different. Mark is often considered the original source and is the shortest of the four. Luke’s Gospel along with the Book of Acts is closest to an historical recounting of events. Luke takes painstaking care to include dates and events in his writing to allow historians to pinpoint his accounts to other attested things that happened during that time. Matthew’s account was written more for the Jewish people of his time. He recounts details that would matter to the Jewish community and focuses on Jesus’ fulfillment of Scripture. And John is largely seen as an appeal to the Gentiles. It is written as a story outlining the phenomenal life of Christ and is accessible to people who have no history of the Old Testament or any of the prophecies. It’s also probably why it ends with the verse, “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written. (John 21:25)”
Our Old Testament is the same as the Jewish Tanakh.
But with one big difference. The books are ordered differently. Tanakh is actually an acronym for the three major sections of the Hebrew Bible. It stands for Torah (the Law or Instructions); Nevi’im (the Prophets); and the Ketuvim (or Writings sometimes referred to as Poetry and Wisdom literature). T-N-K or Ta-Na-Kh. The Christian Bible, alternatively, orders the books of what we call the Old Testament with the same first five books, but from there they mix it up and instead of ending in the poetry and writings, ours ends with the prophets. For Christians this makes complete sense because the story of the Old Testament ends with prophets pointing to the coming of Christ which then gets fulfilled in the very next pages. And that is what the Bible is really all about. For me, the entirety of these 66 books comes down to one passage which is why it is my favorite in the whole Bible. It comes from John’s Gospel as he relates Jesus’ final commandment. It isn’t long but it has more meaning packed into it than whole books.
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” – John 13:34-35
We should know more about the Bible.
How it was created; the thought behind each book; how it is similar and different to the Hebrew Bible; but most importantly is to make sure we understand the message God is trying to share with us – love one another. How much better would the world be if we followed this simple rule. Simple to understand, not always simple to follow. But God’s message for us, while summarized here beautifully is found all over the Bible. Maybe most famously is in the Matthew which we call the greatest commandment. “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. (Matthew 22:36-40).” But there are others, too. From John’s first letter to the church: Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God… (1 John 4:7). From Peter’s first letter: Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8). From Paul’s letter to the Roman people: Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. (Romans 13:8). And so many others.
If more people read the Bible instead of quoting from it, the world would be a better place.
I want to encourage you to find a Bible that speaks to you. There are so many out there and the translation makes a difference. Take for example this passage from Proverbs:
Each passage is different in its own way, and some will speak to you more than others, but most are faithful translations of the Bible. There are a few like The Message and The Living Bible that are not translations at all but paraphrases of the Bible so that’s even one more step removed from the original source. We use the New International Version in worship. It is easy to understand yet still faithful to the original text. It’s the most widely used version and one of the most balanced. The one we used in seminary was the NRSV or New Revised Standard Version. It is closer to a word-for-word translation while still being fairly easy to read. But the one I like to introduce to people who might find the NIV a little bit tough is the New Living Translation or NLT. It’s a bit more “loosey-goosey” than the NIV but it is even easier to read, and I just find somehow enjoyable. The NiRV is also a wonderful read. Even though we do have the words on the screen in worship, I do encourage you to read your own Bibles, to take notes, to read it for yourself and see how the words impact you personally. Some of the stories may challenge you. Some might uplift you. Some might be frustrating or puzzling. But by reading it for yourself, I think you’ll get a deeper understanding of God.
If you are looking for a style of Bible, a journaling Bible is useful, especially for anyone who likes to take notes. One of my favorites is the Beautiful Word Coloring Bible. It has space for notes and has coloring throughout when you just want to sit with a verse for a while. I love the leathersoft cover. The Inspire Bible is the NLT equivalent. The cover is hardback instead of soft but otherwise very similar to the Beautiful Word Bible. If you’re more of a history buff or want to understand the culture and times the Scripture was written, my favorite over the years has been the Archaeological Study Bible. It has great resources and illustrations to bring that time to life. Another good one that I own on Kindle is the Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible. Any study Bible is wonderful, especially if you’re starting out exploring the Bible on your own. When Cassie and I first started attending Bible study together we both had the Life Application Study Bible. Even today, that version is a great place to start. No matter what Bible you start with, I would encourage you to read it for yourself. We believe in this so much we bought Bibles for you. If you don’t have a Bible and would like one, you can take one and I will even send you one for free. Every person should have a Bible to get to know God’s vision for their life. Because it’s all about love.
[1] In his article, Justin Taylor cites David J. Reimer’s research on the topic.
Craig's Corner 