Week 2 | What are the Scriptures? | Dan

What are the Scriptures? - Driscoll & Breshears

            Amazingly, this was the first time that I ever studied the history and significance of the Bible in my 20 years of being a Christian. It’s one of those things you take for granted and don’t bother to research. As the Bible is so crucial to our faith, I was really interested in reading this material.

            First off, I came to have a much deeper appreciation for the complexity and richness of the Bible even just as a literary work. It’s comprised of 66 separate books, with kings, scholars, fishermen, peasants, and a doctor among its contributors. The Old Testament alone spans a time period starting from the beginning of human existence to around 450 BC. The various contents include history lessons, eyewitness accounts, sermons, songs, letters, love letters, travel diaries, family trees, inventories, geographical surveys, and legal documents. Yet there is a continuity and a central theme that ties everything together.

            Another point that the author emphasized was that we must always read the Bible as it relates to Jesus. Regardless of which parts you’re reading, you have to see how Jesus is revealed in that scripture because Jesus is the main character and the hero of the Bible. He is the incarnate Word of God. Jesus said he came to fulfill the law. It is impossible to know and love Jesus without understanding Scripture. I thought it was interesting how even the Old Testament had so many references to the person of Jesus before he even came on the scene.

            What I was most curious about was how the Bible was put together and how it came to gain validity. The author claims that rather than the authors being inspired by the Holy Spirit, the very words themselves were God-breathed and written exactly how He intended. It’s easy for me to believe that when it comes to the Old Testament because it contains prophesies that came true hundreds of years later. But what makes the New Testament legit? Paul gives us a clue when he writes, “All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof...” He also tells the Corinthians that, “The things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord.”

            However, I initially saw a problem with the fact the church recognized these books as having divine authority based on their criteria. Shouldn’t God be the one to decide that? But F.F. Bruce argues that the canonical list was created because these books were already regarded as divinely inspired, not the other way around. Basically, there was nothing new imposed on the beliefs and practices of the early church. Another way to look at it is, “The church no more gave us the New Testament canon than Sir Isaac Newton gave us the foce of gravity.” It is also pointed out that the entire church, with its  diverse cultural backgrounds, was always in agreement as to the twenty-seven books that they recognized as canonical.