Today we conclude our study in “the reliability of the
Bible.” On Friday, we began our two-part blog entry on the uniqueness of the
Bible. We examined how the Bible is unique in its circulation, unique in its
translation, and unique in its survival. Today we will study the Bible’s
uniqueness in its teaching and influence.
4.
The Bible is unique in its teaching.
The Bible is a historically
accurate and detailed book. In The
Cambridge Ancient History, we read, “The Israelites certainly manifest a
genius for historical construction, and the Old Testament embodies the oldest
history writing extant.” Consider The Table of Nations in Genesis 10. The Table
of Nations provides an astonishingly accurate account of history that lines up
with what one would learn in an ancient world history class. Archaeologist
Professor W.F. Albright wrote, “It stands absolutely alone in ancient
literature without a remote parallel even among the Greeks” or Romans, who were
known for being quite meticulous in their early histories. While there are
places and people mentioned in the Bible that archeological digs have yet to
uncover, there have been no discoveries which discount the people and places
referred to in Scripture. It has yet to be disproven.
Lewis Chafer, founder of Dallas
Theological Seminary, wrote, “The Bible is not such a book a man would write if
he could, or could write if he would.” We see evidence of the first half of
this statement in the diversity of personalities in the Bible. The level of
honesty in the Bible about the sins and failures of its heroes was unknown in
the ancient world.
Consider today’s writing style
versus that in ancient eastern cultures. We are accustomed to modern
biographies which are often avant garde and highly concerned with detail,
absolute accuracy, and skepticism about facts until they can be verified.
Modern biographers are less interested in painting people in a positive light
and far more concerned with painting an accurate picture of a person, even if it
means highlighting one’s moral failures and exposing the skeletons in his or
her closet. In fact, biographers are often met with successful book sales if
they can dig up factual information that taints a person’s character or calls
into question what the public thought to be true about a person.
This, however, was not the case
with ancient biographies. These works, often called hagiographies, are most
concerned with painting a broad picture of one’s impact. At times, they
exaggerate a person’s abilities or traits even to the point of bending the
truth—all in an attempt to make them look favorable. The purpose of the
hagiographer was not to get every detail nailed down, but to prove what a
remarkable person their subject was in history.
Unlike the literature of its
time, the Bible contains very earthy material about its supposed heroes—flaws
and failures. Take Peter, for example. Peter is called “petros”, meaning “the
rock”. He was one of the key disciples in the establishment of the church in
Rome. But the Bible includes the embarrassing detail of Peter’s denial of
Christ. This points to the reliability of the text. Why would the author invent
that part of the storyline? At that point in history, one would not include the
rejection of Peter’s Lord if it was an invented story.
Another example is the women at
the tomb as the first eyewitnesses to Jesus’ resurrection. The Siddur, or Jewish prayer book, contained
a prayer for men that read, “Blessed are you, Hashem, King of the Universe, for
not having made me a woman.” A woman’s testimony was not accepted in a court of
law. At that point in history, if a person wanted to invent and fabricate the
details of the resurrection, the last audience he would choose to witnesses the
resurrection of Jesus are women. So why women? Because they were the ones to
whom Jesus first chose to reveal Himself!
Also consider the little details
recorded in Scripture, such as the account in the Gospel of John when Jesus is
on the shore following His resurrection. The disciples have returned to their fishing
career, and reminiscent of their first meeting, Jesus tells them to cast their
nets on the other side. They do not realize it is Jesus speaking to them, but perhaps
because they had been fishing all night with nothing to show by daybreak, they
obey His command. Their net teamed with so many fish that they were unable to
haul it in at first. John records that there were 153 fish. Why include this
detail? Numerologists think there is meaning in every number and attempt to
figure out what 153 “means”. But there is no hidden code in that number. All it
means is that someone counted them because they were fishermen. And this detail
is recorded in Scripture because the story is true!
5.
The Bible is unique in its influence.
The Bible is utterly unique in
its influence on culture and history. No other book comes close. Think about
the Bible’s influence on art, music, literature, and government. It is
unparalleled in history.
Consider the incredible musicians
and their scores that have been inspired by Scripture: Handel’s Messiah, Mozart (who was not a
Bible-believing Christian, but some of his best pieces were inspired by the
Bible), pop singers, and gospel songs.
Consider the amazing works of
art inspired by the Bible: Michelangelo’s David
and The Sistine Chapel, Leonardo da Vinci’s
The Last Supper, Vincent van Gogh’s The Good Samaritan and The Raising of Lazarus, and over 100
pieces by Rembrandt.
Consider the wonderful works of
literature inspired by the Bible: works by Dante, William Shakespeare, John Steinbeck,
Charles Dickens, John Donne, and John Milton. The list is endless.
Phillip Schaff writes, “If every
Bible in every city were destroyed, you could reconstruct it entirely from the
quotations on the shelves of public libraries.”
Consider the orphanages,
schools, universities, hospitals, missions, and charitable organizations that have
been established because of the influence of the Word of God on people’s lives.
One of the criticisms that you
hear about Christianity is the evil done in the name of God, among which
include the Inquisition, the Salem Witch Trials, and the Crusades. There are
some dark spots in our history of trying to follow God. But all of this pales
in comparison to the massive amount of good because of the influence of God’s
Word on people’s lives.
So we close out this series of posts by returning to the reason
that we believe the Bible is God’s holy, inspired, infallible, inerrant Word. I
choose to believe the Bible because it is a reliable collection of historical
documents written by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses.
These eyewitnesses report supernatural events that took place to fulfill
specific prophecies and they claim their writings are divine rather than human
in origin.
The implications of all of this? Devote yourself to
knowing the Word of God!
Pastor Jeff Frazier
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