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Why We Believe What We Believe: A Very Brief Introduction to Bibliology Our English word Bible comes from the Greek bibloion meaning “book” or “roll.” Scripture comes from the Greek word graphe or writing. Bibliology is the study of the Bible as revelation. Some topics related to of Bibliology include: revelation, inspiration, inerrancy, canonicity, illumination, and interpretation. In simple terms, we classify the Old Testament Scriptures into categories such as law, prophetic, wisdom, narrative, etc. Eventually, the collection of the thirty-nine books were formalized and recognized as the Old Testament canon. The New Testament refers often to the Bible with noun and verbal references of grapho / graphe (140+ times). The Bible is an unique book. Internal evidence (what the Bible says about itself; what one part of the Bible says about another part of the Bible) and external evidence (from sources other than the Bible like archeology, history, other writings) speak to Scripture’s divine origin confirmed by many witnesses and facts. Individuals (Moses, Joshua, David, Daniel, Paul, Luke…) confirm and corroborate the authority and veracity of the Bible. The Bible is a collection of narrative, poetry, wisdom, prophetic, literature, with remarkable continuity of thought and message. Forty unique authors contribute the same doctrine, message, and goal: the kingdom of Christ. Dozens of doctrinal issues including sin, suffering, evil, salvation, holiness, repentance, the trinity are sewn together in a masterful craft and consistency. Written at different places, at different times, by different authors does not diminish but rather confirms the veracity of the Bible. The Bible was compiled over at least fifteen hundred years argues an extraordinary unity. Apart from simply denial of faith or denying and recognition of God, the assembly of the Bible, its themes, message, story argue for divine authorship at many levels. Simply said, there is no other book written over such a length of time with so much consistency.
Revelation “Revelation” is from the Greek word apokalupsis, which means to disclose, unveil, or uncover. Evangelicals hold that revelation is how God discloses Himself to man. God reveals Himself through a variety of revelation “means” including miracles, visions, angels, dreams, theophanies (also called “Christophanies”), Jesus Christ, and Scripture. Students classify two kinds of revelation as 1) general revelation through nature (i.e., the created order), conscience, and providentially orchestrated history and 2) special revelation in the person and work of Christ and in Scripture (Ps 19:1-6; Rom 1:18-20; 2:14-16; Acts 17:24-34; John 1:14-18). (Cp. Paul Enns, Moody Handbook of Theology, p. 159.) Theologians debate the merit and extent of general revelation. While available to all humans of all time, it is argued that general revelation is incapable of bringing men to salvation alone. Special revelation centers on the person and work of Christ, the only means by which salvation can be accomplished. In this vein, general revelation then leads a person to understand and see special revelation. Enns observes, “There is…a correlation between the two aspects of special revelation; the Scripture may be designated living, incarnate Word (Heb. 4:12), while Jesus Christ may be the living, incarnate Word (John 1:1, 14).” (Enns, p. 161)
Inspiration “Inspiration” comes from Latin spiro, referring to God’s superintending human authors. Inspiration explains the aspect of “big ‘A’ / little ‘a’” authorship; God being “The Author” while man being “the author.” So God is The Author of what Moses the author wrote. Those who wrote the Bible did so because they were inspired
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by His Spirit. Yet the individual authors’ styles and personalities are clearly seen. God “breathed out” His word through the words through the authors of Scripture. Students of theology continue to debate different views of inspiration. Some include: • • • •
Natural Inspiration – no supernatural import Conceptual Inspiration – only the concepts or ideas, not the specific words, were inspired. Dictation – authors of Scripture were merely amanuenses who wrote down what God instructed. (Cp. Ex. 20:1-18; Rev. 2-3) Neo-orthodoxy – The Scripture is not the word of God; God reveals Himself, not His word. The Bible becomes the word of God when the person encounters Christ in a subjective experience. The Bible is myth, story, non-historical.
Verbal Plenary Inspiration – Most evangelicals hold to verbal plenary inspiration. Verbal, meaning the language, the very words; plenary meaning “all” or the “entire” text, inspiration from God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16).1 Even with a more precise definition there is room for error. As Ryrie suggests, “…I believe in the verbal, plenary, infallible, inerrant inspiration of the Bible” (Basic Theology, p. 67), yet even this leaves room for different nuances of the extent of infallibility and inerrancy. Understanding verbal plenary inspiration includes key factors: • • • • • • •
Divine origin and causality Human agency Written verbally (in words) Plenary (all of Scripture is inspired, not just parts of it) Only (so-called) "autographs" (original documents penned by the biblical authors) are inspired Because Scripture is inspired, it is inerrant Because Scripture is inspired and inerrant, it alone has final authority
Inerrancy It is difficult to land a clear definition of inerrancy. “When all the facts become known, they will demonstrate that the Bible in its original autographs and correctly interpreted is entirely true and never false in all it affirms, whether relative to doctrine or ethics or the social, physical or life sciences.” (P. D. Feinberg, s.v. “Inerrancy,” Evangelical Dictionary of Theology.) Inerrancy is a logical and natural deduction from the Bible’s teaching on inspiration. Ryrie states, “God is true (Rom. 3:4); the Scriptures were breathed out by God (2 Tim. 3:16); therefore, the Scriptures are true (since they came from the breath of God who is true).” (Enns, p. 168.) As with the discussion of inspiration, it is important to keep in mind we refer to the autographs or autographa. The original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek manuscripts were faithfully captured without error. One problem for some is the oral-tradition of these stories were at some point written. Obviously copies, transmissions, translations include rendering errors. Modern translations have the advantage of stringent editing and manuscript science and care. The English translations we hold are remarkably accurate 1
Ps. 12:6; John 10:35; Matt. 4:4; 5:17-20; Acts 1:167; 1 Cor. 2:4; 15:3; 1 Thes. 2:13; 4:15; 1 Pet. 1:25; 2 Pet. 1:20, 21; 3:2; Heb. 1:1.
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documents. The doctrine of inerrancy allows for these different literary compilations and seeks to be faithful in translations from original biblical languages. “In a final definition it is noted that inerrancy extends to the original manuscripts: ‘Inerrancy means that when all the facts are known, the Scriptures in their original autographs and properly interpreted will be shown to be wholly true in everything they teach, whether that teaching has to do with doctrine, history, science, geography, geology, or other disciplines or knowledge.’”2
Canonicity Another critical question is “which books of the Bible are inspired and how do we know?” The sixty-six books of the Protestant Bible are recognized as the “canon.” Canonicity means a rule or measuring rod to establish what constitutes an inspired book of the Bible. Councils did not “canonize” books of the Bible, meaning they did not choose which books were to be included in the Bible. Rather, these councils recognized the books which God had inspired. In other words, the church recognized the divine origin of the sixty-six books. The Old Testament is from the Masoretic Hebrew text. Unlike the New Testament, the Old Testament documents were “managed” by the Masorete Scribes (“counters,” lawyers) for generations. The New Testament documents, written and complied by apostles, are authenticated by many features. From the First Century the church has applied tests of validity based on the apostolic teaching of Christ. Accuracy, doctrinal agreement, recognition of Christ’s life and work, geographic space and time, etc. all lend to recognition of the reliability of the New Testament. Major differences exist between Protestants and Catholics on the extent of the canon. Catholics added the so-called “Apocrypha” at the Council of Trent (AD 1545-63). “Recognizing these books contain valuable and important literary information, they cannot be regarded with “on par” with the sixty-six books of the Protestant Bible. (Even Catholics label these texts as deuterocanonical.)”3 Because the Bible is God-breathed and therefore in an entirely different dimension from other literature, it is necessary that man receives God-given help in understanding the Bible (1 Cor. 2:11). Additionally, the unregenerate man’s sin-darkened mind cannot apprehend spiritual truths (1 Cor. 2:14). The work of illumination then is necessary to enable man to comprehend the Word of God (cf. Luke 24:44–45). Illumination can thus be defined as “the ministry of the Holy Spirit whereby He enlightens those who are in a right relationship with Him to comprehend the written Word of God.”
Illumination Often there is confusion with illumination, revelation, and inspiration. “In reference to the Bible, revelation relates to its content or material, inspiration to the method of recording that material, and illumination to the meaning of the record.” The moment a person trusts Christ, the believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. It is important to make the distinction that the Holy Spirit illumines the believer in that he / she can now understand, “see value” and meaning (1 Cor. 2:9–13) where prior this indwelling, the Bible is “just another book.” This ministry of the Holy Spirit had a unique role for the disciples which Jesus explained in the Upper Room Discourse. Jesus announced that the Spirit would teach them (John 14:26), guide them into all the truth (John 16:13), and disclose the truth of God to them (John 16:14, 15). We must be careful to differentiate between the unique context and application of the Holy Spirit’s ministry to the disciples and 2
Paul P. Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1989), 167, cites James Montgomery Boice, Does Inerrancy Matter? (Oakland: International Council on Biblical Inerrancy, 1979), p. 13. 3 Refer to Greg Herrick http://bible.org/seriespage/bibliology-bible
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how (1 Cor. 2:9-13) it applies to believers. (Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23; Col. 1:9–10) and heart, or volition (Acts 4 16:14; Eph. 1:18).
Interpretation Understanding what the Bible or a passage in particular means is perhaps the most controversial issue within Bibliology. Bible students hold many different perspectives on how one it to interpret the Bible. Safeguards to correct interpretation include a literal, grammatical, historical, contextual approach. Literal interpretation means Scripture is understood in its normal meaning—the ways that words are understood in normal communication. For example, Old Testament prophecies like Psalm 22, Isaiah 7:14; 53:1–12; Micah 5:2 have all been fulfilled literally in the New Testament. Verbal (words) and plenary (full) inspiration means that the words of Scripture must be grammatically understood. Words and their meaning are influenced by how they are used and we can only understand that usage in a grammatical context. So we study the structure, sentences, phrases, idioms, etc. and how they function: verbs, tenses, mood, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, etc. The historical context is critical and helpful as we interpret Scripture. Every book of Bible was written in a historical context that needs to be studied. Too often a passage is removed from its historical context and therefore misinterpreted and misapplied. For example much of the Levitical code would only apply to Israel when separated from all other cultures within that historical time. Studying the historical context leads to an accurate interpretation and application. Enns writes, “Interpreting in context involves three main steps. Study the immediate context. The immediate context should be carefully studied; several paragraphs preceding and following the passage should be studied. Study the more remote context. The major segment of the book (usually 2–3 chaps.) in which the passage occurs should be studied. Consider the context of the entire book. The emphasis of the entire book should be studied.”5 Context covers a multitude of interpretational sins.6
Further Resources www.bible.org The Moody Handbook of Theology, Paul Enns Practical Christian Theology, Floyd Barackman Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Wayne Grudem Big Truths for Young Hearts: Teaching and Learning the Greatness of God, Bruce Ware
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Cp. further Paul P. Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1989), 175. Paul P. Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1989), 176. 6 Michael Easley 5
