What’s unique about the Bible?
The Bible[1]
is a collection of books from the ancient world[2]. It is by all means possible to study the
literature of the Bible in the same way that one would study the texts of any
ancient culture (many scholars do exactly this). However, prior to the 18th century
AD[3],
no one was studying the Bible in this “neutral” way.[4] For 2,000 years, the Christian Church has
read the Bible as the “Word of God”. We
will discuss this notion in more detail shortly. Because, to put it mildly, there is something that sets the Bible apart from
other texts from the same time period.
Think about it: Who has ever heard of the Epoch of Gilgamesh (ancient Mesopotamian text containing a story of
a catastrophic flood and a man who built a boat in order to survive it)? Who has ever read Julius Caesar’s[5]
The Gallic Wars (Caesar’s memoirs of
his campaign to conquer Gaul [France])?
It would be considered extremely strange for someone who grew up in the
Western world not to have heard about
the Bible, whether at school, home or church, or not to have been made aware of the Bible through references from
movies, literature and the media. The
Bible is not to be found on the
bestseller lists. There is a good reason
for this: since the invention of the printing press in the 15th
century AD, the Bible has ALWAYS been the # 1 bestselling book! So why have the books of the Bible survived,
and why have they been considered so
important to so many people for so long?
We will examine these questions together.
Holy. First of all, let’s consider that other word that
is to be found on the cover of most Bibles – “holy”. Something or someone that is considered “holy”
is an object or person that is “set apart” as being unique and possessing
special qualities believed to be bestowed upon it (her, him) by God. Those who wrote the books of the Bible and
those who belonged to the communities for whom the Bible was a “holy” book
believed that the Bible was the “Word of
God”. They believed the Bible was
God’s message to his people. This is not to say that the words of the Bible
are not human words (obviously)! Rather,
the words of the Bible were believed to be “God’s word” communicated by and through the words of the human authors.
Inspiration. A term that is used to describe this
phenomenon is the word “inspiration”. In
one of his letters, St. Paul tells his young apprentice Timothy that “All
scripture[6]
is inspired by God and is useful for
teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness (i.e. holy
living)”[7]. St. Paul wrote in ancient Greek, and the term
translated as “inspired” here literally means “breathed by God” (in the Bible,
when God “breathes” into something, that thing or person comes to life: e.g.
Gn. 2.7). The Bible teaches that we have
all been granted the “breath of life” from God (Ecclesiastes 12.7). So God, the source of all life, has breathed
his life-giving breath/Spirit[8]
into the biblical authors and through their words,
has bestowed his life-giving Word –
in Scripture – to his people.[9]
Revelation. Another (theological) term often associated
with the Bible is the term “revelation”.
This is the concept that God – through Scripture – has unveiled truth to
humanity that could not have been accessed any other way. This is not
to say that the Bible contains information that the authors of Scripture would
not have been able to know at their time in history or as members of their
specific culture; e.g. the biblical writings, divinely inspired as they are, do
not contain information about the
cosmos that was only made accessible through technology such as the
telescope. Rather, through the Bible,
God reveals himself – his character,
his ways and his plan to rescue the world he created.
[1] From the
Greek “ta biblia” = “the books”.
[2] The
Ancient Near East [OT] and the Greco-Roman world of the first century after
Christ [NT].
[3] I.e.,
1,700 years after the final portions of the Bible were written.
[4] In the
case of the Bible, one wonders what the word “neutral” could possibly
mean… In fact, the “critical” study of
the Bible that originated in European universities during the 18th
century was anything but neutral! This “critical” approach to the Bible was
modeled on the principles of modern scientific methods of research. This academic study of Scripture had the
explicit agenda of discrediting the historical foundations of Christian
doctrine, thereby undermining the authority of the Church. After all, the Bible is premised upon the
conviction that Israel’s god was the one
true God who had created the world and that this God had acted within the life
of the nation of Israel in order to rescue her (ultimately, in the Exodus
from Egypt) and, through her, to rescue the entire creation.
This is not to say that
“critical” study of the Bible does not have its place. On the contrary, we need scholars of the ancient world to translate the text of the
Bible into modern languages (as well as reveal the inadequacies of past
translations), and to help us understand the culture of the biblical period so
that we can better interpret the Bible as
believers. It is “traditional”,
within academic contexts, to bracket out from the discussion of the Bible
questions of the inspiration of the biblical text or a purported divine origin
for the books of the Bible. When the
Bible is read and commented upon within the context of the Church’s liturgy,
the biblical text is received as “the Word of the Lord” or “the Gospel of the
Lord” (i.e. the “Word of God”).
[5] Caesar’s
adopted son, Augustus, was emperor of Rome when Jesus was born (cf. Gospel of
St. Luke 2.1).
[6] The
« Scripture » being referred to here is the Tanak, the collection of Jewish Scriptures that Christians call the
« Old Testament ».
[7] 2 Tm.
3.16.
[8] The
Biblical words for “breath” and “spirit” are very close to each other
etymologically, and are sometimes identical: eg. Hebrew “ruah” and Greek “pneuma”
= “breath”, “wind” and “spirit/Spirit”.
[9] In the
Bible, when God speaks, He creates (cf. Gn. 1; Is. 55.10-11). The Bible also affirms that God creates
through his breath/Spirit (Ps. 104.30).
When God breathes his Word (Scripture), it is with the goal of renewing
his human creatures.
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