Unlocking the Scriptures

What the Bible Is, How We Got It, and Why We Can Trust It

Jeff Lasseigne

• Publisher: Baker Books
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780801075841
• eBook ISBN: 9781493412457
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Reference

With clarity and wit, pastor and Bible teacher provides an easy-to-use guide to the Bible, highlighting its origin, history, trustworthiness, and significance as well as key aspects of every book from Genesis to Revelation.

Part 1
The Big Picture

1
How We Got the Bible

Many years ago, I was trying to share the gospel with a co-worker, and when I made reference to the Bible, he said, “The Bible is nothing more than a collection of fables written by a bunch of old Jewish men.” So I smiled and said, “What if you’re wrong, and the Bible actually is God’s Word? What will you say when you stand before the Lord?” He winked at me and said, “I’ll think of something.”

Good luck with that!

Let’s begin with some basic facts about the Bible.

What Is the Bible?

Dr. David Jeremiah writes, “The Bible is the Word of God in the words of man,” and I like that definition.1 John MacArthur says, “The Bible is a collection of 66 documents inspired by God.”2 Greg Laurie likes to call the Bible “the user’s manual for life.” In the simplest of terms, the Bible is the Word of God. It is God’s written revelation of Himself and of His will for mankind.

Our English word Bible means “book.” It comes from the Latin word biblia and the Greek word biblios. Interestingly, the word Bible is not found in the Bible, but that’s not a major mystery. All of the New Testament was written by the end of the first century, and then it wasn’t until the second century that the church began calling it “the Bible,” so that particular title is not found in Scripture. The Bible is far beyond any book and is nothing less than God’s voice from heaven. It’s not the book of the month or the book of the year; it’s the book of eternity!

There are over a dozen names and titles in the Old and New Testaments that are used for the Bible. For example, in Psalm 19:7 it’s called “the Law of the LORD,” and David writes, “The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul” (NIV). In Romans 1:1–2 Paul calls it “the Holy Scriptures,” and he writes of “the gospel of God which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures.” The word Scripture means “sacred writings.” Other religions have their sacred writings: the Muslims have the Koran, Mormonism has the Book of Mormon, and the atheists have the complete works of Dr. Seuss!

In Ephesians 6:17 Paul gives the Bible two more names: “the sword of the Spirit” and “the word of God.” In John’s Gospel Jesus called it “truth” in His prayer to the Father, when He said, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (17:17). Those are just a few of the many names and titles for the Bible.

From the divine perspective the Bible is one book with one Author and one message. From the human perspective it’s also recognized as a collection of sixty-six books with different authors and subjects. It’s not unlike the human body in some ways. We have one body, but that body is made up of many different parts, all working together. So the one book of the Bible is divided up into sixty-six different books, and those sixty-six books are divided up into two testaments—the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament and the twenty-seven books of the New Testament.

The word testament means “covenant” or “agreement.” The Old Testament is God’s covenant with Israel, and that covenant included any non-Jew who believed by faith. Paul calls that first covenant “the Old Testament” in 2 Corinthians 3:14. The New Testament is God’s covenant with mankind about salvation in Jesus Christ (see Matt. 26:28). The Old Testament prepared people for the coming of the Savior while the New Testament tells us that the Savior has come—and is coming back again!

The Old Testament covenant can be summarized by the word law while the New Testament covenant is summarized by the word grace. In John 1:17 we read, “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” The Old Testament is associated with Moses and Mount Sinai. The New Testament is associated with Jesus and Calvary. The Old Testament begins in Genesis 1:1 with God; the New Testament begins in Matthew 1:1 with Jesus Christ. The Old Testament ends in Malachi 4 with “a curse,” while the New Testament ends in Revelation 22 with “grace.”

Why Is the Bible So Important?

1. It’s God’s communication to us.

When God created Adam and Eve, He spoke with them personally; face-to-face, if you will. But when they sinned, they broke off their fellowship and communication with God. So while God has occasionally spoken to individuals such as Moses and Abraham, He primarily communicates to us through His written Word. The good news is that one day, when Christ returns, our communication will once again be face-to-face.

2. It reveals God’s nature to us.

Without the Bible, we wouldn’t know who God is or about any of His characteristics and attributes. But in the pages of Scripture we learn that God is eternal; He has a triune nature of Father, Son, and Spirit; He is holy; He is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient; and so forth. We wouldn’t know those things apart from God’s revelation to us through His Word.

3. It answers our greatest questions.

Through the Scriptures, we find the answers to such questions as: “Where did I come from?” (God created us in His own image.) “Why am I here?” (To know God and bring Him glory.) “What happens after death?” (We go to either heaven or hell.) There’s the often-told story about comedian and actor W. C. Fields, who was a staunch atheist and a heavy drinker. Toward the later part of his life he was caught thumbing through a Bible, and when he was asked what he was doing, he famously replied, “Looking for loopholes.”

4. It addresses our greatest needs.

In Scripture, we learn that everyone is a sinner in need of a Savior, and that Savior is Jesus Christ. We also discover that forgiveness and salvation only come through faith in Christ—through His sacrifice and resurrection. At the same time, the Bible shows us how we are to live in this world as we prepare ourselves for the next.

Where Did the Bible Come From?

Short answer: it came from God!

More than two thousand times in the Old Testament alone, the Bible declares that God is speaking. Time and time again, we find phrases like, “The LORD said,” or “God declared,” or “The Word of the LORD came.” In the New Testament there are more than three dozen instances where people speak of the “Word of God” in referring to the Old Testament (see Luke 4:4) and specific statements that Scripture is literally “God-breathed” (2 Tim. 3:16 NIV) and that God spoke through holy people (see 2 Pet. 1:21). What the Bible says, God says!

The Bible came from God, and that transmission process included using “holy men of God” (2 Pet. 1:21). The actual writing and recording of the Old Testament took place over a thousand-year period, starting with Moses—either writing Job or Genesis—and then ending chronologically with the book of Nehemiah, written by Nehemiah and Ezra.

After that thousand-year period of the Old Testament being written, there were four hundred years when God did not speak or provide any revelations. That period is commonly referred to as “the four hundred years of silence,” and I will address that topic later in the book. Then finally, the New Testament was written in about a fifty-year period, between AD 45–95, being completed by the end of the first century. So when we take the thousand years of the Old Testament, followed by the four hundred years of silence, and add in the hundred years of the first century, we have about fifteen hundred years during which the Bible was written and recorded by God’s chosen vessels.

In addition to being completed over a period of fifteen hundred years, the Bible was written by at least forty different writers whom we know of. As I already mentioned, the first writer and recorder was Moses. On the other end of the spectrum, the very last writer was the apostle John, near the end of the first century. Other Bible writers included prophets such as Samuel, Jeremiah, and Malachi. Some of those writers were shepherds such as Hosea and Amos.

Joining them we have a soldier (Joshua), a scribe (Ezra), a prime minister (Daniel), a tax collector (Matthew), and a doctor (Luke). Other New Testament writers were fishermen such as Peter and John. So the Bible was written over a period of fifteen hundred years, by at least forty different writers who came from a wide variety of backgrounds and occupations. These facts are important to note, because while there was a wide variety in the circumstances, years, and people, the message and theme of Scripture are consistent.

The various books of the Bible were written on three different continents: Africa (Moses in the Sinai desert), Asia (Ezekiel in Babylon), and Europe (Paul in Rome). The Bible was also written in three different languages: the Old Testament in Hebrew, with a few parts in Aramaic, and then the New Testament in Greek. The writers were also in very different and oftentimes difficult circumstances. For example, Moses was in the wilderness, Ezekiel was a captive in Babylon, Paul was a prisoner in Rome, and John was banished to an island.

Parts of the Bible were written to individuals. Other parts were written to specific groups or to God’s people in general. But in spite of all that variety, the Bible is the history of God’s dealings with humankind. It has two dominant themes: humanity’s sin and God’s salvation. This fact reveals its divine nature.

Another detail helps us to appreciate the divine nature of Scripture: the people in the Bible are presented to us with flaws and all. Someone trying to write a book that proposed to be the Word of God would paint all of its people in the most favorable light. But the Bible gives us the heroes of the faith with all their flaws and failures on display.

For example, faithful Noah got drunk. The great Abraham lied about his wife, Sarah. Humble Moses got angry and missed out on the Promised Land. Wise Solomon started out well and ended terribly. Brave Peter denied the Lord three times. Missionaries Paul and Barnabas exchanged heated words over Mark. And the list goes on. The Bible is about a real Savior—and real sinners!

How Was the Bible Put Together?

You may have heard of “the canon of Scripture.” The word canon is not referring to an outdated military weapon that fires cannon balls! The English word canon comes from the Greek word kanon. In Greek culture, a kanon was a measuring rod, ruler, or staff. Today’s counterpart would be a ruler or a tape measure.

So the term canon of Scripture refers to the books that are in the Bible, which have measured up to the standards of being divinely inspired by God. In other words, when the Old Testament and New Testament were put together, there was a standard used to determine which books did, and did not, belong in the Bible. What was that standard and measurement?

Let me first say that in the early centuries of the church, Christians were sometimes put to death for having copies of the Scriptures because of the great persecution that existed in those times. So while our question today is, “Which books belong in the Bible?” back then the question was, “Which books are worth dying for?” Let me also point out that God—not people—decided which books ended up in the Bible. With the guidance of the Holy Spirit, people simply recognized which books were divinely inspired. In fact, as soon as God’s Word was received and recorded, it was already inspired of God whether people recognized it or not.

Let’s begin with the Old Testament books. We know that God directed certain individuals to write down their revelations and experiences. For example, in Exodus 17, after Joshua and the armies of Israel defeated the Amalekites, we read, “Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua’” (Exod. 17:14). Later, in Exodus 24:4, we’re clearly told, “And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD.”

Those earlier writings were kept alongside the ark of the covenant. We read about this in Scriptures such as Deuteronomy 31, which reads:

So it was, when Moses had completed writing the words of this law in a book, when they were finished, that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying: “Take this Book of the Law, and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God.” (Deut. 31:24–26)

Then after the temple was built, the sacred writings were kept inside it. That special attention and reverence given to those writings testifies to how God’s people recognized it to be the Word of God.

When the time of captivity came, and the Jews were carried off to Babylon, it is believed that they took those writings with them. Later on, they were probably collected by Daniel. In Daniel 9:2, we read, “In the first year of [the king’s] reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.” Daniel was saying he knew that the captivity would last seventy years because of Jeremiah’s written prophecy. So Daniel refers to “the books,” which would be the writings of Moses, Samuel, and Jeremiah—and all of it was Scripture.

After the Babylonian captivity ended and the Jews returned to their homeland, it is believed that Ezra the priest and other leaders of Judah continued to collect the writings and safeguard them in the newly built second temple. In Nehemiah 8, the people gathered together in front of the temple and Ezra read to them from “the Book of the law of Moses” (see...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Endorsements
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part 1: The Big Picture
• Part 2: Books of the Bible
• Bibliography
• Notes
• About the Author
• Back Ads
• Back Cover