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Foundational Beliefs about the Bible

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What must you believe about the Bible in order to properly study the Bible? Joel Beeke and Michael Barrett suggest that we cannot avoid this question:

When we view the Scriptures through faith, we do so with a set of beliefs that we take for granted to be true. These presuppositions are essential and inevitable. It is absolutely impossible to come to the Bible with an open mind. Liberal scholars often claim they approach Scripture with an open mind in order to evaluate the Word of God and judge its accuracy. In reality they come with the presupposition that human reason is superior to divine revelation. That is not an open mind; it is a closed heart that evidences a mindset predisposed against God and truth. Man cannot stand as the judge of Scripture; Scripture stands as the judge of man. As believers, we must come with an open and receptive heart to receive and believe what God says.

And if we believe that God’s word is true, then we must also believe the things the Bible says about itself.

…every time we open the Scripture, we must do so with awe and reverence generated by the certain knowledge that the Bible is not an ordinary book but the very Word of the eternal God, whose veracity is beyond question or doubt. The Bible is not what men define it to be; it is what God declares it to be. Men can believe that or deny that, but they cannot alter that. The premise that the Bible is the inspired, authoritative, infallible, sufficient, and effective Word of God should be the foundation for the study of Scripture. All truth has its source in God and, consequently, His truth is universal and timeless. Although times change, truth is changeless. Although applications of truth can vary, truth is constant. This is good reason to make the Bible a subject for study.

In their brief article, Beeke and Barrett explain what it means for the Bible to be inspired, authoritative, infallible, sufficient, and effective. I commend their reflections to you.

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Why Memorize a Whole Book

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Beth Myers memorized the entire book of Romans and lived to tell us about it. She found the following benefits of such lengthy memorization:

  • Discovery of passages hidden in plain sight
  • Understanding of the Scripture
  • Weapon against anxiety
  • Love of Scripture
  • Duty becomes delight
  • Renewal of the mind
  • Keen sense of the love of Christ for me
  • A soaring of my spirit

Perhaps this is worth trying for yourself. Let Myers encourage you to consider it. Check it out!

How the Reformation Gave us the Bible

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Barry Waugh takes advantage of the anniversary of Martin Luther’s 95 theses to reflect on how the Reformation put the Bible into the hands of God’s people.

Owning Scripture was not only pricey but possession could lead to imprisonment or execution. Fourteenth-century forerunners of the Reformation such as John Wycliffe of England and one of his followers in Bohemia, Jan Hus, were persecuted for providing Bibles in the common language of their people. In the case of Hus, translation work contributed to the heresy case against him resulting in his execution at the stake. In the next century, William Tyndale was hunted down wherever he set up his printing press as he moved from place to place to clandestinely provide Scripture in English. He was eventually caught, strangled, and burned at the stake for publishing the Word in the vernacular. Lives were sacrificed for the translation and distribution of Scripture. If Wycliffe, Hus, and Tyndale could return to visit their homelands today they would likely be encouraged by the availability of the Word, especially with digital Bibles accessible on a variety of devices, but they would also be discouraged by the common indifference to and ignorance of Scripture.

Along with the history lesson comes some helpful advice regarding Bible reading.

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How God Directs His People in the Book of Numbers

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A few weeks ago, I finished reading the book of Number 20 times in a row. From that reading, my draft of the main point is “Yahweh sees his people through the wilderness, though not in a manner any of them hoped or expected.”

Douglas Allison recently posted an overview of Numbers, where he proposes a similar main point: “I have taught that the big idea of Numbers is that Yahweh is his people’s guide to the promised land.”

Allison defends his main point through an outline of the book and an explanation of benefits for reading the book.

As we read today, we can be confident that the same God who led the Israelites through the wilderness in Numbers is the same God who will see us home. Yahweh was Israel’s guide to the Promised Land. And he has not left us without a guide.

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Watch Out for Silly Putty Bible Study

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Consider the following scenario. What do you think could be the problem with it?

…a Christian woman who has been praying for her family’s conversion stumbles upon Acts 16 during her quiet time. Her eyes settle on Paul’s response to the Philippian jailer, who asked, “What must I do to be saved?” “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved,” Paul answered, then added, “you and your household” (vv. 29–31).

Encouraged by these words, the woman begins to claim the “promise” that her own household will be saved, with the justification that “the Holy Spirit gave me this verse.”

This situation comes from a wonderful article from Greg Koukl about how easy it is to treat the Bible like Silly Putty®—a squishy, doughy substance you make into any shape you want. Koukl’s analysis and counsel is very good.

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Follow Your Heart: Is it in the Bible?

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Yes, it is.

Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.

Ecclesiastes 11:9

Mitch Chase wonders what this could mean, in light of all that Jesus, Moses, the prophets, and sages of Israel had to say about not following one’s own heart.

Chase makes excellent use of correlation with other wisdom texts as well as the context of the argument within the book of Ecclesiastes to answer the question. And he arrives at a great place.

The writer, in Ecclesiastes 11:9, is not advocating reckless living but Godward living, decisions made overflowing from a heart that fears and follows the Lord.

The only thing I might add to Chase’s conclusion is that, in light of the joy granted as a gift of God, all throughout the book of Ecclesiastes, “the ways of your heart” here are not only the commands of God that have been written on the heart—but also the personal affections and delights God implants when he shapes a person in his image. In other words, when one fears God, not only their Godward morality—but also their Godward hobbies, vocation, and delights—are unlocked to enjoy to the fullest.

As long, of course, as one never forgets that the Lord remains the judge of our hearts’ delights, such that we might walk in the fear of him.

So go swing a baseball bat, plant a rose garden, or audition for a play—to the glory of your creator. Such things are nothing but vanity in themselves. But the gift of God to those with whom he is pleased is the ability to enjoy such vain things to his glory.

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How Can a Human Book be Divine?

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Lewis Varley addresses a matter commonly raised by both Muslims and secularists against the Christian doctrine of special revelation: How can a book produced by humans be inspired by God or accurately communicate divine speech and intentions? Isn’t God—according to the Christian conception—so far above us that human speech and human writing is utterly unable to adequately communicate his will?

Varley offers a number of helpful responses:

  • The Divine-Human Scriptures Point to God’s Power
  • What Form Should a Book of Direct Revelations Take?
  • God Has Shown His Kindness to Us in the Accommodation of Scripture
  • The Divine-Human Scriptures Are Made Possible Because of Our Identity as God’s Image Bearers
  • The Literary Forms of Scripture Resonate with Our Lives

Here is a taste:

It comes as no surprise that our friends who deny that God could inhabit a human body would also deny that God’s words could also be human words. To deny the character of Scripture as a divine-human book is, by extension, to deny that God could ever come into our world, our times, our lives, but must inevitably be detached from us. To affirm the divine-human word is to affirm God’s immanent involvement in our everyday, often ordinary, lives.

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Subverting Abraham’s Bad Rap

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I am grateful to T.M. Suffield for his courage to take on (and take down) our widespread presumption that Abraham was a cowardly liar. Suffield takes us deep into the argument of Genesis and the overall message of the book.

What I am suggesting is that we should read these texts looking at the warp and woof of the Bible, the texture of the whole story, and considering why these stories are in Genesis at the point that they are. We’ll notice that they have more to do with the grand narrative and with Jesus than we might just think; this isn’t just by contrast either. Jesus does treat his wife differently in the presence of evil kings to Abraham. The point isn’t that he doesn’t disown us, because Abraham doesn’t and Jesus is our brother, but that he can protect us from snake-like kings. Some of them might even turn to God because of the church’s beauty.

And I think Suffield is exactly right. My co-blogger Ryan has written a wonderful piece on how we love to give gold stars to Bible characters. And that tendency too often leads us to draw all the wrong conclusions, sometimes missing the explicit assessment of Bible characters given in the text itself.

For example: Here is my not-at-all-controversial list of things I’ve found people typically get wrong:

  • Noah’s drinking wasn’t the issue; Ham’s rebellion was (Gen 9:24-25).
  • Abraham’s description of his wife as his sister wasn’t the issue; the evil king’s oppression was (Gen 12:17, 20:6-7, 20:18).
  • Jacob wasn’t as much a wicked trickster as he was a courageous fighter for the promises of God (Gen 25:34b, 32:28).
  • Moses: an out-of-control hothead and murderer? Try again: He was an attempted—albeit rejected—deliverer (Acts 7:24-25).

I can’t say whether Suffield would agree with all the items on my list here. But his piece on Abraham and Sarah is well-argued and worth your consideration.

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5 Good Reasons to Mark Up your Bible

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Kevin Halloran wants you to mark up your Bible. Don’t be shy. We agree that it’s a worthwhile practice.

Halloran gives 5 good reasons:

  1. Marking up my Bible helps engage me in more careful study.
  2. Marking up my Bible helps with future reading of the Bible.
  3. Marking up my Bible helps remember past experiences.
  4. Marking up my Bible helps me to encourage other saints who see my marked-up pages.
  5. Marking up my Bible is visible evidence that I treasure God’s revealed Word.

Halloran also suggests what exactly to mark when you study your Bible. For more information, check out our reasons for getting a markup Bible. If you’d like ideas for a new markup Bible, see our post comparing the options.

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The Sluggard in Every One of Us

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Scott Hubbard wants you to know four things about the Bible’s portrait of a sluggard:

  1. ‘A little’ adds up.
  2. Neglect grows weeds.
  3. Our desires often deceive us.
  4. Hard work flows from the heart.

Hubbard does a great job correlating the teaching of Proverbs on the character of the sluggard. In the process, Hubbard models terrific head and heart application.

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