What is the Bible?
Written over a course of around 1500 years by over 40 individuals, the Bible is an inspired literary work that is unlike any other. Beginning with the creation of the universe and all it contains, it provides a written history of God interacting with mankind. Though these words were penned by human authors, we affirm that God governed and guided them in such a way as to guarantee that the writings being produced utilized the exact words that God Himself desired. The Bible claims for itself that “all of Scripture is breathed out by God” and therefore comes to us with the same authority and perfections as God Himself. Because the words of Scripture are God’s words, then to disbelieve or disobey the Bible is to disbelieve or disobey God Himself.
How can we trust that the Bible is reliable?
The original, handwritten copies of the books in the Bible are called autographs. For instance, the writings of Moses, the Psalms of David, the Proverbs of Solomon, or the letters of Paul which they themselves wrote by hand. These autographs are not available to us. God, in His infinite wisdom, has decided not to allow us to have these. (Perhaps to eliminate the risk of us setting them up in glass cases to worship.) Instead, we have copies of them, known as manuscripts. Because of the vast amount of these manuscripts discovered in different locations at different times, and because they are all virtually identical, we can trust that they are faithful reproductions of the autographs and that God has preserved and protected them in such a way as to ensure that they are still His words for us.
To put the issue of manuscripts into perspective, here is a comparison to Homer’s Iliad:
Homer wrote Iliad in 900 BC. There are 643 known copies, with the earliest known copy being written in 400 BC, 500 years after the autograph was written. With a 500 year span between the autograph and the earliest known copy, there is still a 95% accuracy between the copies. The New Testament, on the other hand was written between 50-100 AD, with the earliest known manuscripts being written in the year 130AD. This puts a span of less than 100 years between the original autographs and the copies. In contrast with the 643 copies of Homer’s Iliad, the New Testament has over 5,600 copies, with an internal accuracy of 99.5%!
Other ancient writings by authors such as Aristotle, Plato, Caesar, and Lucretius have as much as 1400 years between the autographs and the manuscripts, and as little as 2 known copies discovered. Since modern scholars do not doubt the authenticity nor the accuracy of other ancient writings, we should have no problem doing the same thing with the writings of the Bible. Rather, we should praise God and be grateful for the vast amount of copies available of His word, and lay aside any doubts or aspersions we may have about the reliability of the Bible, trusting that He has guarded and preserved His word for us today.
For more information on this topic, please see
https://carm.org/about-the-bible/manuscript-evidence-for-superior-new-testament-reliability/
Are there books that have been removed from the Bible?
Throughout the course of history, there have been writings claiming to be inspired by God that have been contested, proved, or disproved. So how can we be sure that the books contained in the Bible are correct, and that other books have not been erroneously removed?
Throughout the history of the church, there were many different councils, or meetings, which took place where individual writings were inspected in order to discern whether or not they had a proper place in the Bible. These councils were made up of many people, and writings were carefully examined under certain criteria, such as:
- Was the author an apostle or have a close connection with an apostle?
- Is the book being accepted by the body of Christ at large?
- Did the book contain consistency of doctrine and orthodox teaching?
- Did the book bear evidence of high moral and spiritual values that would reflect a work of the Holy Spirit?
“The concept we have today of a completed Bible was formulated early in the history of the church. By the end of the second century all but seven books (Hebrews, 2 and 3 John, 2 Peter, Jude, James, and Revelation) were recognized as apostolic, and by the end of the fourth century all twenty-seven books in our present canon were recognized by all the churches of the West. After the Damasine Council of Rome in A.D. 332 and the third Council of Carthage in A.D. 397 the question of the Canon was closed in the West. By the year 500 the whole Greek-speaking church had also accepted all the books in our present New Testament.” *
We should be careful as we approach this topic, recognizing that no person has the authority to decide which books belong in the Bible. God alone decides which books belong in the Bible. In the same way that God created gravity, and mankind has discovered the characteristics and laws that He established, so God has established His word and mankind has studied it in order to better understand the boundaries of it while also safeguarding it from error.
What is the Trinity?
God has eternally existed as three divine Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. While being three Persons, there is only one God. Each Person of the Trinity is fully God and shares the same characteristics such as all-knowing, all-powerful, eternal, holy, and just. Despite having the same essence, each Person is distinct in their personhood, roles, and functions.
Of all the teachings of the Bible, the trinity may very well be the most difficult to comprehend. While many explanations have been offered to help grasp the concept of a triune God, eventually they all fall short, for the triune nature of God is unlike anything else in all of creation with which we can compare.
What we can do, rather than seek analogies to explain the trinity, is to simply affirm the things that the Bible teaches about God, namely, that He is three and that He is one.
The “three-ness” of God:
At creation, God said “let us make man in our image”, this tells us that there was more than one person involved in creation, and that mankind is made in the image of them. (Gen. 1:26-27) When Christ was baptized, we see an interaction between each distinct person of the trinity. (Matt. 3:16-17) Further, when Christ prays, He is praying to the Father - another person distinct from Himself. Jude 20-21 instructs believers to “pray in the Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In these ways, Scripture repeatedly teaches us that there is a triune God.
The “one-ness” of God:
While there are three persons in the trinity, there is only one God. “The Lord is one.” (Deut. 6:4) “I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no other God” (Isa. 45:5) This truth is reaffirmed in the New Testament when it says “God is one” (Rom. 3:30) and “There is one God” (1 Tim. 2:5).
The most concise summary of these teachings are: 1) The Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct persons, 2) each person is fully God, and 3) there is only one God. Each of these three statements is true, and cannot be removed from our understanding of the trinity without falling into a false belief about God.
For more information:
https://www.aomin.org/aoblog/theology-matters/a-brief-definition-of-the-trinity/
Who is God?
While the answer to the question “Who is God?” would require an answer of inconceivable length, what follows is an attempt to provide a foundational knowledge of Him provided by Scripture.
- God is spirit
John 4:24 tells us that ”God is spirit”. This means that God is not limited to any kind of spacial restrictions, He doesn’t have volume, mass, or any physical measurement. Since God is not limited to dimensional restrictions, He doesn’t rely on any space to “be in”. God is infinite and exists outside of space, He is invisible, without body or bodily parts, not like a man or any other creature.
- God is eternal
In Psalm 90:2 we read “Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” God is unrestricted by time, for He is eternal. When the Bible opens with the words, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” we must understand that He existed before He created space and time. He doesn’t depend on a space to exist in, nor does He depend on a timeline to exist in.
- God is omniscient
God is omniscient, or all-knowing. This means that anything that can be known, whether past, present, or future, is known to God. He knows all things that are real and possible. In His wisdom of all things, He always does what is best. There is nothing hidden from His sight, even the thoughts and attitudes of our heart.
- God is omnipotent
God is omnipotent, or all-powerful. “Our God is in the heavens, He does all that He pleases.” (Psalm 115:3) God is in complete control of Himself and all of His creation, there is no person and no thing that can convince God to do something that He doesn’t want to do. Any sort of boundary in God’s behavior is dictated by His own character. He can not lie (Titus 1:2), He can not act unjustly or do wrong (Deuteronomy 32:4).
- God is unchangeable
God is unchangeable in His being (Malachi 3:6, James 1:17) which means that no other thing can ever alter who God is. This is sometimes referred to as the immutability of God. Apart from God, everything in the universe is created and is subject to change. Trees grow and die; flowers fade; rocks wear down into sand; a man is born, ages, and changes his mind on any given topic daily. God, on the other hand, is the same yesterday, today, and forever. While a person will make promises and then break them, or make commitments and forget about them, God never will. “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” (Numbers 23:19)
- God is holy
“Holiness” in it’s basic sense means separated or set apart. We might have a separate set of dishes that are set apart for special occasions. God is also separated from all that is sinful, wicked, or unclean. In His being - or who He is - there is no room for intimacy with sin. God is the only one who is holy in this way, “There is no one holy like the LORD; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.” (1 Samuel 2:2)
Who is Jesus?
Jesus is fully God and fully man. In the person of Jesus Christ, God became a man and dwelt among us (John 1:14). The New Testament affirms both of these realities. We are told that, at times, Jesus hungered and thirsted (Mark 11:12, John 19:28) or grew tired (Mark 4:38), as a true human being would. Yet at other times, He displays power and authority over His creation (Mark 4:39). Although Jesus grew as a human child would, learning new things (Luke 2:52), He also knew things that had not been naturally revealed to Him (Matt. 9:4, John 4:16-18).
The Bible affirms that Christ, though totally human, was also God in the flesh. “In Him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell.” (Col. 1:19) “In Him the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily.” (Col. 2:9) When asked if He had seen Abraham, who lived hundreds of years before, Jesus states “Before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:57-58) And again, in the book of Revelation, Jesus says “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last” (Rev.22:13) which is an echo of what God the Father had said in the opening of the book: “I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end. I am the One who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.” (Rev.1:8)
So why did God become a man? To remedy the fallen state of man. Mankind was guilty of sin, and so a man had to pay the penalty. But who could take the fulness of the wrath of God? Certainly not a man alone. The fallen state of man was so great that God Himself had to do something. Therefore, God became a man in the person of Jesus “to seek and to save the lost."
Who is the Holy Spirit?
As discussed in “What is the Trinity?”, the Holy Spirit is God. He possesses all of the same attributes and character of God, and is co-equal with God the Father and God the Son, consisting of the same divine essence. This is very clearly evidenced in Acts 5:3-4. When Ananias is charged with lying to the Holy Spirit, Peter tells him “You have not lied to man but to God.”
Being the third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit is just that: a person, with a mind (Rom. 8:6), a will (1 Cor. 12:11), and emotions (Eph. 4:30). Often times today, the Holy Spirit is treated as sort of an impersonal force that one can “tap into” in order to receive power to do supernatural things, whereas the Bible speaks of God the Spirit in the same way that it speaks of God: a divine Person to whom we should submit ourselves.
Though there is much confusion that often surrounds who the Holy Spirit is and how believers should relate to Him, Scripture offers us clarity. The Holy Spirit is given to lead us to Christ as He convicts of sin, righteousness, and coming judgement (John 16:8), as a guarantee of our salvation (Eph. 4:30), to lead us as we walk in holy living (Gal. 5:16-18), empower us for our role in the church (1 Cor. 12), help us to overcome our sinful behavior and produce Christ-like character in us (Gal. 5:19-23), to help us and guide us in the truth (John 16:5,13).
These are some of the major activities that the Scripture informs us on regarding the work of the Holy Spirit. In short, the Holy Spirit is at work bringing people to Christ, and then helping Christians to live lives that rest in Him, obey Him, enjoy Him, and glorify Him.
What is sin?
In 1 John 3:4 we read “Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.” In Exodus ch. 20, God gave a very clear definition of His moral expectations expressed in 10 distinct commandments, such as “You shall have no other gods before Me”, “You shall not murder”, “You shall not steal”, and “You shall not covet your neighbors house..wife..servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
These commandments address our attitudes and actions toward God and toward man. When Jesus came, He taught that these commandments addressed much deeper issues than previously understood. “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matt. 5:28) Our failure to conform to God’s moral standard actually begins inside the secret and hidden places in our heart, our very desires are against God’s law.
Even further than our hearts we must consider our nature. Paul writes in Ephesians 2:3 that all of mankind is “by nature children of wrath”. The foundational fiber of our being is that we are opposed to God and to His law. Even when sleeping and not actively engaged in breaking God’s law, all were under God’s wrath and displeasure, without His favor.
We can then add some clarity to our definition of sin: “Sin is any failure to conform to God’s moral standard, whether in action, attitude, or nature.” Sin has brought all of mankind into a horribly helpless position. So what can we do? We need Christ, we need the good news of what He has done in our place…
What is the gospel?
The greek word where we get “gospel” is euangelion, which means “good news.” The gospel is primarily good news. To better understand the gospel, there are four points to consider:
- Because God is the creator of mankind and the world in which we live, we have a moral responsibility to uphold His laws through our obedience.
- Because we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s moral laws, we are liable to receive God’s judgement against us.
- The Son of God came in the flesh and lived a perfect life of obedience which did not deserve any punishment, yet, He died on a cross and received the penalty for sin upon Himself.
- By God’s grace, credit for the obedient life of Christ and His punishment satisfying death can be received by the faith of the believer and credited to them.
It might help to think of this in financial terms. It is as though we all have a “Bank Account of Righteousness”. With no righteous acts of our own, our account would sit at a balance of “zero”. Yet, because of our sinful nature and our own personal sinful acts, our account was in the negative. One might think that if they stopped sinning and started acting good, they could build their account up. Yet because of our sinful nature and our daily sinful actions, attitudes, and behaviors, we are incapable of correcting our negative balance of righteousness. Scripture informs us that “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6) and that “a person is not justified by works of the law” (Gal. 2:16). This poses a serious problem for our Bank Account of Righteousness. So, what do we do?
When Jesus lived on earth, He never broke God’s law. “He knew no sin” (2 Cor. 5:21), He “in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). This is sometimes called His “passive obedience.” Since Jesus never sinned, His account never dropped into the negative. Instead, Jesus said His life on earth was spent “not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38) and again “I always do the things that are pleasing to him” (John 8:29). This is sometimes called His “active obedience.” Because Jesus always did what was right, His account had a positive balance of righteousness. He was then resurrected from the dead to demonstrate that His sacrifice was sufficient, that there was no sin in Him personally, and to live on as our intercessor, God, and king.
In keeping with our financial terminology, the Bible says that “the wages of sin is death”. In other words, the reward or payment that we have earned is death. Because of our sin, God owed us a penalty, and that penalty was paid by Christ. When Jesus hung on a cross, He received into His own body the deathly payment that we were due. Christ had done no wrong in His life, yet suffered as though He had. Isaiah 53:10 says that “it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer” and to “make his life an offering for sin”. When Christ suffered on the cross, He was making the payment on our behalf which we owed to God.
Our debt has been paid for us, which brings our “Bank Account of Righteousness” to a zero balance, but that is only half of the problem. For “without holiness none shall see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). Yet, it is not only Christ’s death that applies to us, but also His life. While Christ’s sacrifice on the cross paid the penalty for our sins, His righteous life is also credited to us. His sacrifice brought our account to a zero balance, but His life gives us an infinitely positive balance before God.
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). The good news of the gospel is that Christ has earned a righteous standing before God for our sake, and then carried the burden of our sin to the cross, - making a payment in full. For all who trust in this simple gospel, there is forgiveness of sin and a righteous position freely given.
How can I be saved?
Mark 1:15 records some of the first words of Jesus’ public ministry: “Repent and believe in the gospel.” To repent of our sin is to turn from sin and turn to God. All at once, a person who repents is one who recognizes their own personal sinfulness and God’s righteousness, and their need to forsake their sin, be forgiven, and be restored to a right relationship with God.
To believe in the gospel begins first with the facts of the gospel: that Christ lived a righteous life, died a sacrificial death, and was resurrected from the grave. We can’t believe a gospel if we don’t know what it is that we are to believe.
But, believing the facts of the gospel differs from believing the gospel itself. “Even the demons believe” (James 2:19), yet, they shudder in fear. To believe the gospel is to put our trust in the fact that Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection is enough to justify us (earn our position of innocence) before God. Thus, believing the gospel is not merely recognizing the truthfulness of the claims of the gospel, but to entrust ourselves into the gospel itself.
Scripture tells us that it is “by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8-9). Grace is favor that we have not deserved, and faith is simple trust. We can think of this as a boat sailing across the Atlantic Ocean. This boat was not built by us, it was provided, and the ticket paid for. To get into the boat and travel across the middle of the ocean is to trust that the boat can get us safely to our destination, knowing that if the boat fails to carry us, we have no viable alternative to save ourselves. The gospel is like that boat. God provided the means for us, paid our passage, and we trust Him by boarding.
God has provided His Son, Jesus Christ, and He is the only way for us to be saved from our sin and restored into a proper relationship with God. If you have never trusted in Christ for your salvation, you can do that right now. Recognize your sin, repent from it, turn to God, and trust in Christ as your savior.
If you’re not sure that you’ve truly trusted in Christ, envision this scenario: When you stand before God, and He asks you “Why should I show you favor? On what grounds should I allow you into My heaven?” What will you say? Will you point to the things that you’ve done in this life and hope that they have been good enough to earn God’s favor? Or will you point to Christ and say, “Because of what He has done on my behalf.”
“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
