Literary Value of the Bible
Introduction
A Book That Makes Everyone Prosperous
Let us imagine that I wrote a book, and in the book I guaranteed that, if you follow what the book says, you would be prosperous, and you would be successful. If I wrote that book and guaranteed without any question that you would be prosperous and successful, you probably would not buy it. You would look at me and you would ask, “Is he prosperous?” “Is he successful?” You probably would not spend money on such a book, unless you could see that is has worked in my life at least, and also in the lives of others.
But let us say that I gave you one of the copies of that book, and you followed the instructions in that book, and, because of the instructions in that book, you became prosperous and successful. You would probably tell one of your friends about it. You might buy a copy and give it to them, so that they can become prosperous and successful, and they do. Then the two of you become pretty excited about this. You want your other friends to be prosperous and successful, so you give each of them a copy, and the principles work for every single person that applies those principles every single time. We would, eventually, become a prosperous nation again, because we apply the principles that are found in that successful prosperous book. Then the Canadians get copies of it and become prosperous. Then the British would get copies of it, and they would become prosperous and successful. Then some Frenchmen, who are not fluent in English, would want copies. So the book would probably be translated into French. Then the Chinese would translate it into their language. If every single person became prosperous and successful every single time the principles were applied, eventually, that book would become a worldwide bestselling book. Then many people in every nation of every language would want one in their language.
If everybody you knew was prosperous and successful because of the principles in this book of instructions, you would probably be talking about it. I would bet that you would have some book parties. People would think it was a pyramid scheme, but there is no pyramid there. All they have to do is get the book and apply the principles, and just do what the book says.
HOW TO BE PROSPEROUS AND SUCCESSFUL
In Joshua 1:8 God instructs us, “This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth.” In other words you are commanded to always keep it in your mouth. You should always be speaking or talking about it.
“This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night.” You need to think about it. Consider it. Meditate upon it.
HOW TO MEDITATE
There is a prerequisite to meditation, which should be pretty obvious. You must first memorize it. If you do not memorize verses of Scripture, you cannot meditate upon verses of Scripture. Read one verse out loud ten times a day, so you become very familiar with it. Do not worry about memorizing it. That will come. Just become familiar enough so that you can look it up in a concordance and refer back to it to find out exactly what it says. You will become familiar enough with it that you can use tools to find it, but if you have made no effort to memorize it or at least have some kind of idea what the words are in that verse, you are not going to be able to find it in Bible helps or a concordance. It does you no good have an electronic Bible or concordance if you do not know how to find what you need. The only way you are going to find it in helps is to know at least some of the words in it.
If you are going to think about God’s Word, you have got to have it memorized before you can meditate on it. That is a no-brainer. You cannot meditate about something that is not in your thoughts.
WHY MEDITATE
God says, “Thou shalt meditate therein day and night that.” “That” is a purpose word. He is telling us there is a purpose for what He has just said. This book of the law should stay in your mouth. It should stay in your brain so that: “Thou mayest observe to do.” You must follow its instructions. “According to all that is written therein.” When you start talking about it, and you start thinking about it, then you should start doing it.
What happens as a result? “For then thou shalt make thy way.” If you do these things, something will happen in your life. What you do is going to change you.
How? In what way? God says, “Thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”
TWO KINDS OF SUCCESS
You can be successful without reading the Bible and without doing the things in the Bible, but it will not be good success. Here God has given us His promise that, if we do these things, we will have good success.
Think back about the illustration of the book on success that I pretended to write. If you read my book and did what I said to do in my book, you might have immediate success, but it may not be good success. The world’s success is a little bit different than God’s success.
God’s success takes effect immediately, but the results continue throughout eternity. In other words when you look back from 100 years from now, you can see the success that you experienced and the prosperity that you experienced. You may not see it now, but you will see it then, and these results will last throughout eternity.
If I could give you a book that could make you financially successful, it would not be successful and prosperous for you even a hundred years from now. It might work if you are living a hundred years from now, but you are not going to be alive a hundred years from now. We are going to all be gone, and, therefore only those things that last us longer than that are part of “good success.”
God tells you how to have success. I am not a prosperity preacher. However, what is taught in God’s Word is what you need to do to be successful and to be prosperous. What is that? It is this book of the law. Do not let it depart out of your mouth.
I am not going to tell you how to be prosperous, and I am not going to tell you how to have good success. I am going to tell you about the book that tells you how to have those things. This section will look at the literary value of that book. We are going to learn about the literary value of the Bible.
THE THREE TESTS OF LITERARY VALUE
There are three tests of literary value. These tests have nothing to do about what a critic says about a book. They have nothing to do with what anybody says about it at all. If you want to know if a book is a valuable piece of literature there are three tests that show a book’s value.
Many books are published every year, and people will tell you what wonderful books they are and how well written they are; or maybe they will tell you that the book is not such a wonderful book, and it is not very well written, or that is not applicable to this day and time, or that the principles do not work or whatever. Whatever people say about it is irrelevant as far as the actual value of the book.
SALE ABILITY
There are three tests of literary value that demonstrate whether or not a book is a successful piece of literature. One is its sale ability.
The fictitious book of which I told you earlier that sold in France, and in Australia, and South America, and Canada, and China, and Japan, and sold all over the world was a successful book. Of course, that was a fictitious book, but that does not matter. If it sells, that makes it valuable, and that makes it successful.
The Bible has outsold all other books. When considering the literary value the Bible, we must consider the fact that the Bible has outsold all other books in history. In fact it is the top seller every single year. There are other books that have out sold the Bible in one year, however, after another year, the Bible will outsell last year’s best seller almost every time. In fact the Bible is so marketable that there are whole bookstores devoted to the sale of the Bible and Bible helps. There are several chains of Bible book stores. There have been many people that make their living going from house to house selling Bibles and books about the Bible. I have known of people who have paid their way through college with door to door Bible and Christian book sales. No other book can make that claim. The Bible is the biggest selling book of all time in all history.
Now think about this. Why do you suppose the Bible has sold so well? It has sold so well, because it works. Obeying its precepts accomplishes what God intended it to accomplish for the needed benefit of man. What is more, if the Bible is the most successful book in history, then it would be highly illogical to keep the Bible out of our schools. That would be ludicrous. It does not matter if it is true or not, the fact that it is the most popular piece of literature of all time would make any prohibition or limitation of its reading or teaching absurd. It would be ridiculous not to make it the main piece of literature taught in school, and if a school leaves the Bible out of its curriculum and does not make it the mainstay of its literature curriculum and the literature program in that school, they have their heads on backwards. It would be ridiculous not to study the most popular piece of literature of all time.
TRANSLATABILITY
The second test of literary value is its translatability. The reason books are translated into other languages is because of demand. Books are translated into other languages, because people want to use it, or they want to read it. So the second test of literary value is its translatability – how often it has been translated.
The Bible has been translated into every language in the world and into every major dialect. Translators are still translating it into minor dialects today. Whole missionary societies exist for the purpose of translating the Bible. Praise God for those people and their work, so that every person can, eventually, have the Bible in their own native dialect.
In view of the fact that the Bible has been translated into more languages than any other book has ever been translated shows that it is the most valuable piece of literature according to the test of translatability.
LONGEVITY
The last test of literary value is longevity.
There have been other books that have out sold the Bible in a single year, but none has even come close to the sales of the Bible over a period of time.
The same thing goes for its longevity. Longevity is not talking about how old something is. It refers to how long something has been in use.
Job, the oldest book of the Bible, is 3500 years old, yet it is read daily. The Bible, having begun to be written over 3500 years ago and continued to be written over a period of 1500 years, is still read daily, and it is read daily by more people than any other book today. Some time back people talked about the books about the hunger games. Five years after the initial popularity of this series, how many people will still be reading about hunger games? How many people do you know who have bought any of the books about the hunger games recently?
Every year a book will be published that will take the world by storm, yet that book will become passé in a very short time. Even classics lose their popularity. How many people have read a portion of Moby Dick, Treasure Island, The Time Machine, Tom Sawyer, or War and Peace every day last year, and again this year. Other books are the same way, but the Bible is still read every day even today. That is longevity.
Let us say I have two lawnmowers in my garage. I bought one 15 years ago and it is still sitting in the garage. I quit using it because it broke. So 10 years ago I bought another one to replace it. It works great, and has for ten years. Now, which one has a greater longevity? The one that is 15 years old, which is five years older than the one I am still using, or the newer one? The age makes no difference. The one with the greater longevity is the one that has longevity of ten years, not the older one that only had a longevity of 5 years. The age has little to do with it. Longevity refers to how long something has been in continuous use.
It is the same thing with the Bible. There may be other books that are older than all of the writings in the Bible, and there have definitely been some books that are older than some of the books of the Bible which are in the New Testament, but we do not read them anymore.
We hear about the writings of Aristotle, Socrates, and Plato, and we think that those writings are older than the New Testament, since these men lived long before the New Testament was written. We give them full credence and do not question the genuiness, or accuracy of their writings.
However, there are no writings by Aristotle at all. There are only extensive notes that some of his students recorded, and while Aristotle lived between 384-322 years before Christ[1], yet the earliest records that we have of his writings were written 250 years after he died.
Plato lived before Aristotle between 427-347 B.C. His extant writings consist of dialogues and letters many of which are known to be spurious, and the rest are considered to be of dubious origin at best. Yet he is considered to be a superb writer even though we doubt that we have any of his writings[2].
Socrates lived before Plato between 469-399 B.C. What we know of his writings were written by Plato and Xenophon. However the writings, while largely supplemental, the records are also contradictory[3].
How many have read all of Aristotle’s, Socrates’, or Plato’s writings? Nobody. We may have read some quotes from them, but we do not read their books.
While we assume that the encyclopedias are accurate in these records, but the point is we refer to these men and their writings without questioning what they taught or if even they really wrote anything at all, because others that heard them, wrote down what they said…in some cases centuries later. But the Bible was written by eye witnesses who were inspired by God. And there is no contradiction or error, and no book of the Bible is of dubious origin. They prove to have all been written by whom they claimed to be written, and they prove to have been written at the time they claimed to have been written.
Other books, which were written during the era of the church fathers and thereafter, have never been accepted as being inspired, whereas all of the books of the Bible which were written by eyewitnesses and their recorders were always accepted as inspired of God[4].
The parchments of the Dead Sea Scrolls[5] were written between 150 to 250 years before Christ, and we have them today. So we know that all of the Old Testament was at least 250 years old when Christ was born. We know that, because the parchments are that age. Therefore, we realize that the things that we have in the original languages are exact copies of what were written.
We still have documents copied from the original languages today, therefore, we can know that they are older than any of the other documents mentioned.
There are writings in India that were written in Sanskrit which was a language that is supposed to be older than the languages used in parchments of the Bible. That may or may not be true, but nobody reads any of those writings. I have never read any writings in Sanskrit.
What about Julius Caesar? We know exactly what happened before the time of Christ with Julius Caesar, right? We know this, because of the play about Julius Caesar. Do we believe that? No. That play is a fictitious historical play written by William Shakespeare just a couple hundred years ago. Yet we will give more credence to it as historically accurate and we will study that play, which is a work of fiction, with more trust than we will the factual work in the Bible.
We must understand that the Bible is 3500 years old, and the New Testament is 1900 years old, yet the Bible is read daily, today. That shows that the Bible has greater longevity than any other book.
Do you read any other books daily that are over 100 years old other than the Bible or commentaries about the Bible? Maybe. You probably have if you really thought about it. You may have a Webster’s dictionary or a copy of the blue backed speller. These books were written a few hundred years ago, originally, but the Webster’s dictionary we have today is no longer that old. If it were, you would not have entries about jet propulsion or nuclear fission. But those entries are there, because Webster’s dictionary has been revised[6].
So, if we are going to study any literature in public school, studying about the Bible must be included, because it is the greatest piece of literature of all time. Otherwise, those who graduate with that omission will be sorely lacking in their literary education. We need to understand that.
The Bible was written over a period of 1500 years by about 40 different writers, yet there is no contradiction[7]and no error[8] whatever. People have tried for hundreds of years to find a contradiction or error in the Bible, and, occasionally, they may come up with a list. If you look at the things on the lists of these critics you will find them to be rather ridiculous. For example, one of the things in question was a contradiction in the size of the ark. However, these critics were comparing the size of Noah’s ark to the Ark of the Covenant which was about the size of a small table.
When you look at the so called contradictions, you find out that they really do not hold any water. They are just trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the public. For example, some have tried to compare the number of soldiers that went into a certain battle. In one book God records the number of career soldiers that went into battle, and another book would include the number of militia or fair weather soldiers that would be under the command of the career soldiers.
I was in a debate one time and I had to a study about these contradictions to prepare for the debate. As I studied I found out that there was not one valid argument against the Bible. They were all mis-readings, or statements taken out of context. There are no errors in the original writings of the Bible.
NO ERRORS OR CONTRADICTIONS
There were about 40 different writers who wrote the Bible over a period of about 1500 years. They were from different walks of life, yet there are no errors or contradictions.
EFFECT ON LITERATURE
While looking at the literary value of the Bible, we also should consider its literary effect. What do I mean by a literary effect? One of the greatest things about the literary effect of a piece of literature, is its impact on language. We have started losing the stability of our language. One thing that maintained the stability of our English language has been the use the words and phrases in the Bible. Now that we have gotten away from the everyday use of the King James Bible, and have gravitated toward the use of contemporized translations of the Bible, our language has begun to change rapidly. New translations are not a bad thing necessarily, unless they are inaccurate- and many of the contemporary translations are inaccurate- but the continuous use of the King James Bible has added stability to our language. The issue here is not the accuracy of the King James translation, but the continual use the of the Kings James translation that has given our language stability. The way the King James has added stability is by the use of literary phrases and words in our contemporary literature.
LITERARY PHRASES
Phrases that have always had meaning because of their use in the Bible are beginning to lose their meaning. I am speaking of phrases such as “a stone’s cast away,” “the apple of his eye,” “strain at a gnat and swallow a camel,” “see eye to eye,” “eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die,” “holier than thou,” “at my wit’s end,” “What aileth thee?”, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”, Let us “wrap it up,” (that’s a wrap) “a drop in a bucket,” “Render unto Caesar,” “What have we here?”, “saved by the skin of my teeth,” “Woe is me,” are just a few of the phrases that have kept their meanings for years because of the Bible. Words such as Armageddon, hell, wisdom of Solomon, Goliath, Pharisaical, new life, Heaven, Paradise, good Samaritan, prodigal, devil, Lucifer, satanic, hypocrite, Broadway, and sodomy are just a few of the words that derived their meanings from their use in the Bible[9].
Have you ever heard of somebody being called a Nimrod? A Nimrod is someone who is a ruthless hunter. That came from the Bible.
Many times you read that someone was thrown to the lions. That is from the story of Daniel and the lion’s den.
Have you ever heard of somebody being called a Jehu? A Jehu refers to someone who is a crazy driver. Back in the time of Ahab, king of Israel, there was a guy that ultimately became king after Ahab who was a crazy chariot driver. So anybody that drove their car crazily became known as Jehu.
You may see in a newspaper that we are close to an Apocalypse-meaning some great catastrophe. All these things come straight from the Scriptures and we understand them only if we understand Scripture. We do not know where they came from, if we do not know the Bible.
USE OF BIBLICAL TERMS
Another benefit of the Bible as literature is its literary commentary. What do I mean by literary commentary? When I use the term, literary commentary, I am referring to the use of Biblical terms in other literature. If you do not have an understanding of the Bible, you will find some contemporary writings hard to understand-especially in the literature of the classics.
One of my favorite writers is Edgar Allen Poe. Some might say, “Well, he was a drunk.” Yeah, he was, but I still like his writings. He wrote one of my favorite poems named “The Raven.” There are several Biblical references in the poem that, without an understanding of the Bible, renders many portions of the poem meaningless. Consider the sentence: “Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censor Swung by seraphim whose footfalls tinkled on the tufted floor.”
What in the world is that all about? Well, if you know the Bible you know what it is talking about. The priest would carry a censor into the Holy of Holies[10] to represent the prayers of the people. Seraphim are angels. That is why the censor is unseen. Around the border of the robe of the priest were bells that would be “tinkling” as the priest would discharge[11] his duties in the temple. If the bells ever stopped, since there were no seats in the temple where he could sit down, they would think the priest went in there without having a clean life, and God had struck him dead. So they would have to go in there and get the priest. They would listen for the Bell’s the whole time he was in there as he would go from one place to another, and the foot falls would tinkle on the tufted floor. Those terms are used in the Bible.
In the climax of the poem Poe says, “Is there, is there balm in Gilead?”
What in the world is Poe talking about there, when he said, “Is there balm in Gilead”? That sentence is straight from Jeremiah 8:22 where God says, “Is there balm in Gilead; Is there no physician there?” Poe was asking where the relief for his mental anguish over the loss of Lenore was, since the raven had just told him he would not forget her in heaven.
Then, when he asked if he would be reunited with her in heaven, the raven again said, “Nevermore.” Poe wrote it this way:
“Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn (Eden or heaven), It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore: …Quoth the raven, ‘Nevermore.’[12]”
I do not know that Poe was a believer, but he still used many biblical literary references. Most writers of the classics did.
You see, to understand the literature of the great writers you have to understand and know the Bible. To leave the Bible out of the study of literature, as is done in many public schools today, is to handicap a person as he studies any literature, because he is not going to understand large portions of literature.
THE CANON
Let us consider the canonization of Scripture. None of our 66 books in the canon of the Bible were ever in doubt as to whether or not they would be considered inspired of God, and, therefore, whenever there began to be the idea of canonizing Scripture, it was assumed that the 66 books that we have in the Bible today, would be in the canon. The question was whether or not to include other books[13].
On the other hand none on the books that were not in the canon originally were ever seriously considered to be placed into the canon. Now the reason for that was that all 66 books in the Bible were verified while the prophet or writer was still alive. They were also verified internally. That means the writings themselves show that they are inspired of God. Whereas hundreds of years after the Bible was finished, there were some other books that were suggested to be included in the canon by heretical cults.
THE EPISTLE OF BARNABAS
Consider the epistle of Barnabas[14]. There was a man named Barnabas who was one of Paul’s cohorts. However, the epistle of Barnabas did not come along until three hundred years after Christ. In contrast to that, all of the inspired Scriptures were accepted and verified before the end of the first century. No one can verify from where the book of Barnabas came.
THE BOOK OF ENOCH
About 200 years before Christ there was a book written called the book of Enoch[15]. Think about it. Since it was written about 200 years before Christ, consider when Enoch lived. He lived about 2500 years before the book that bears his name was written. So how could he have written it 200 years before Christ? It is of little wonder why it was never included in the canon. The reason the other books are not included in the Canon is because they were not included in the original 66 books. The reason for that is because they were never considered to be inspired or authentic in the first century after Christ, while the 66 books were never in doubt.
THE APOCRYPHAL BOOKS
Consider the Apocryphal books. Some of them were written before Christ, but the authors and dates they were written were not verified. However, the main reason they were never considered to be inspired of God is they were almost all doctrinally unsound and cultic.
TWO TYPES OF SCRIPTURAL VARIFICATION
What about verification of Scripture? There are two types of verification.
First there is internal verification. Internal verification is what the Bible says about itself.
OLD TESTAMENT VERIFICATION
Jesus Himself confirmed all the books of the Old Testament in one fell swoop when He explained after His resurrection that the Scriptures spoke of Him in the Psalms, the law, and the prophets[16]. That would verify the three divisions of the Old Testament as being prophetically accurate and inspired of God. Now we have divided the Old Testament Scripture into more than three divisions, but that does not mean that there were books added to the Old Testament sometime later. For example, I and II Samuel are no longer considered in one book, nor are I and II Chronicles any longer in the same book. The same is true of I and II Kings. Neither were the Minor Prophets called Minor Prophets. They were called “the 12.” If you count the books that were originally in the Old Testament, you will find that originally there were only 24 books in the Old Testament not the 39 we have today[17], but there was nothing missing or added. They were just originally combined with other books. Now they have been separated, so that we can find things easier. However, they are all there.
The point is this: Jesus confirmed all of the Old Testament.
NEW TESTAMENT VARIFICTION
What about the New Testament?
Hebrews 2:3-4[18] points out that Jesus confirmed the giving of the Word of God to eye-witnesses. Jesus confirmed that He chose Matthew, Peter, and John to record what they saw[19]. Paul
confirmed Mark, Luke, and Acts, because Mark and Luke, who also wrote Acts, were his travel companions[20], and, therefore, secretaries for Paul who was also an eyewitness[21]. Peter confirmed the books of Romans through Hebrews by confirming the writings of Paul[22]. Jesus and Paul both confirmed James and I and II Peter. That is almost the whole New Testament. Jesus confirmed the books of I, II, III John, James and Jude. James and Jude were the half brothers of Jesus. Jesus also confirmed the book of Revelation, because Revelation was written by John and Jesus confirmed John as an inspired writer. So we have internal evidence that God approved of the 27 books of the New Testament as His inspired Scriptures.
EXTERNAL EVIDENCE
There is also external evidence. External evidence is evidence outside the Bible such as writings by authors who lived at the same time as the apostles lived such as Josephus, Tacitus, and Clement of Rome.
We also have writers who were contemporaries of the apostles, though they were much younger than the apostles. Nevertheless they were old enough to verify that the New Testament was written by whom it was claimed to be written and when it was claimed to be written. Irenaeus was one such writer.
By A.D. 150 the whole New Testament was accepted as inspired of God. However, just about that same time there was a fellow named Marcion that tried to create his own Canon. He was the guy that organized Gnosticism, although Gnosticism had been around in some form or another since 250 B. C. He rejected all of the gospels, and three of the epistles of Paul. He tried to reduce his Canon to 20 New Testament books[23].
Remember, at this time there was not really a Canon at all. There was just Scripture, and almost everyone had agreed on what Scripture was until Marcion came along. He was, eventually, rejected by the church for his heresy, but, because of the communication about this continuing cult, we have many writings that verify what Scripture is inspired. Polycarp was a contemporary of Marcion as was Justin Martyr. Also, in the second century Tertullian and Eusebius wrote after the writings of Marcion. Origen quotes from Eusebius in the third century.
Other early writers that verify the inspiration of the 27 books of the New Testament are Cyprian[24] and Hypolytus having written in the third century. However, the recurring errors preserved by the Qumran Sect of the belief in Gnosticism, special personal revelations, human communications and interaction with angels, and mediations by priests, departed men, and angels, gave rise to additional heretical books which these cults insisted should be included as the inspired Word of God.
This was the very reason that the Canon was formed. It was not to decide which books should be included, but to settle the argument that additional books must be excluded.
INSPIRATION
Finally, I want to look at inspiration.
In II Timothy 3:15 God says, “And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
When the Bible refers to the fact that the Scriptures are “holy” that means that the Bible is perfect. It is complete. What does that mean? That means that we are not looking for further writings. It is finished. Paul was the last person to be approved by God to add to God’s completed revelation[25], which is the Holy Scriptures.
“Holy” also refers to the fact that the Bible is without error or contradiction.
PURPOSE OF THE SCRIPTURES
This verse also tells us that the Scriptures are “able to make thee wise unto salvation which is through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” We see the main purpose of the Scriptures in that statement. What did Jesus say? “Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me,” in John 5:39. So the purpose of Scriptures is to help us understand about eternal life and then trust Christ.
Notice the words “All Scripture.” Interestingly enough, Peter refers to all of Paul’s writings as Scripture in II Peter 3:15-16, but he does not refer to them simply as Scriptures. He refers to them as other Scriptures. Now what does that tell me? That tells me that Paul is not the only one that wrote Scripture. We know that from the Old Testament. However, some people believe that only Paul’s writing are applicable for the church, today. So they are disagreeing with what God says here in this verse, because God says all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine. We get our doctrine from all Scripture.
This verse tells us that God gave the Bible for “reproof.” That tells us what we are doing wrong. We get reproof from all Scripture including the Old Testament. God also tells us that all Scripture has been given “For correction.” What do we do about problems? We get the answer from all Scriptures, not just from Paul’s writings. “For instruction…” Where do we get instructions in righteousness? We get instruction from all Scripture, not just Paul’s writings.
Verse 17 says, “That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”
FOR WHOM WERE THE SCRIPTURES WRITTEN?
The Scriptures were given so that we can be mature or complete. In Ephesians 4 God tells us how the church can be mature and complete. In Ephesians 4:11 God says, “And he gave some, apostles (people sent out with the gospel); and some, prophets (those who preach the Word of God); and some Evangelists (soul winners); and, some pastors and teachers.” Now, why did He give these? “For the perfecting (the completion the maturation) of the saints.” In other words God gave the Word of God and positions to every single member of the church of God (Verse 7[26]), so that it would increase in number and increase in spiritual maturity. That is why the gifts were given. They were given for the edification of the body of Christ (Verse 12[27]). So, the Word of God and those people who explain and share the Word of God were given “That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” That is how we will be equipped to increase the size of the body of Christ and increase the spirituality within the body of Christ.
It is incumbent upon a prophet as a preacher to preach God’s Word, but there are other offices within each church. The teacher is supposed to help with this. The evangelist is supposed to go out and win the souls, and the pastor is the one that is going to comfort and be the leader in the flock. There are other ways that each person has to increase the body Christ. If you do not fulfill your part, the body of Christ goes lacking in numbers and in spirituality. Where do we learn this? We learn it from the Scriptures. So we need to understand Scriptures.
IN CONCLUSION
In conclusion the Bible is the greatest piece of literature ever written, because it is inspired of God. It ought to be treated as such. What did God say? He said, “This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth.” You are supposed to keep talking about God’s Word.
“Thou shalt meditate therein day and night.” You are supposed to keep thinking about God’s Word.
“That thou mayest observe to do all things that is written therein.” You are supposed to do what it says.
“For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and thou shalt have good success.” Joshua 1:8.
If you do these things, you will be prosperous and successful in this life and for all eternity.
Our Father has given us His written Word which will equip us fully so that we can be prosperous and successful as a church and as individuals.
Literary Value of the Bible
Outline
I-Literary value of the Bible
A-Sale ability
B-Translatability
C-Longevity
II-Literary accuracy
A-40 writers
B-1500 years
C-Varied walks of life
D-Yet:
1-No errors
2-No contradictions
III-Literary effect
A-Language stability
B-Literary commentary (Example: Poe “The Raven”)
C-Literary phrases
1-Stone’s cast
2-Strain at a gnat
3-See eye to eye
4-Apple of His eye
5-Skin of his teeth
6-Eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die
7-A Jehu
8-Apocylyps
9-Pharisaical
10-Thrown into the lion’s den
IV-Canonization
A-None of the books in the canon were ever in doubt
B-None of the books left out of the canon were ever considered seriously
V-Verification
A-Internal
1-Jesus confirms Matthew and John
2-Paul confirms Mark, Luke, and Acts
3-Peter confirms Romans through Hebrews
4-Jesus and Paul confirm James through III John
5-Matthew confirms Jude
B-External
1-Church fathers
2-Secular historians
VI-Inspiration-II Timothy 3:15-17
A-V15-Holy Scriptures
1-Perfect (Holy)
a-Without error
b-Complete
2-Scriptures-No other writings
B-V16
1-All (Not just writings of Paul)
2-Scripture (No other revelation)
3-By inspiration of God
4-Profitable for:
a-Doctrine (Bible truth)
b-Reproof (Pointing out where we are in error)
c-Correction (What to do to correct error)
d-Instruction (How to keep from making errors)
V-V17-That (Purpose word) man of God
1-Perfect (Mature) cf. Ephesians 4:11-12
a-V11-Offices to build the body
b-V12
(1) To complete (Build numbers)
(2) Edify (Build spiritually)
2-Completely equipped to do good works
Conclusion:
The Bible is the greatest piece of literature ever written, because it is inspired of God, and ought to be handled as such.
[1]The New Illustrated Encyclopedia Columbia Volume 2, pp. 417-418
[2] Ibid. Volume 18, pp. 6312-6313.
[3] Ibid. Volume 21, pp. 5366-5367.
[4] Miller, H.S, General Biblical Introduction, p. 90.
[5] Archaeological Study Bible, pp. 730,1115,1151, 1240, 1371, 1385,1491-1492, 1551, 1603, 1679
[6] Guralnik, David G. Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language. P. 757 & 975.
[7] Stanford, A. Ray, Handbook of Personal Evangelism, p. 143
[8] Pinnocl, Clark H., Set Forth Your Case, p. 71.
[9] Lang, Stephen J., The Complete Book of Bible Trivia, pp. 219-222.
[10] Leviticus 16:12-13 “He shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and bring it within the vail that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not.”
[11] Exodus 28:33-35 “Beneath upon the hem of it thou shalt make bells of gold round upon the hem of the robe round about, and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the LORD, and when he cometh out, that he die not.”
[12] Poe, Edgar Allen, The Raven from Adventures in American English, by Gehlman and Bowman, pp. 543.
[13] Miller, H. S., General Biblical Introduction, pp. 89-90.
[14] Quasten, Johannes, Ancient Christian Writers, p. 29.
[15] Schafer, Peter, The Origins of Jewish Mysticism, p.66
[16] Luke 24: 25, 27, 44, “He said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. 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.”
[17] Brenton, Lancelot C.L., The Septuagent with Apocrypha: Greek and English.
[18] Hebrews 2:3-4 “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost?”
[19] Matthew 10:2-3 “The names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus.”
[20] Acts 13:5 & Acts 20:6 “They preached the word of God, and they had John (Mark) to their minister.” “We came unto them Troas in five days; where we (Luke) abode seven days.”
[21] I Corinthians 15:8 “Last of all he was seen of me (Paul) also, as of one born out of due time.”
[22] II Peter 3:15-16 “Account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.”
[23] Miller, H.S. General Biblical Introduction, p.134.
[24] Ibid. p. 135.
[25] Colossians 1:25 “Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil (fill up-finish) the word of God.”
[26] Ephesians 4:7 “Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.”
[27] Ephesians 4:12 “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”