The Bible The Word Of God
The central theme of the Bible, the theme about which every other in the whole book clusters, is the redemption plan, the restoration in the human soul of the image of God. (Ed. 125)
How did Jesus call the Sacred Writings?
Answer:
"Did ye never read in the scriptures,..?" Matt. 21: 42
What is in the Scriptures?
Answer:
"Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." 5:39
What other term does John refer the Scriptures to where we could search for eternal life?
Answer:
"...our hands have handled, of the Word of life;" 1John 1:1
In the book of Luke, how did Jesus regard God's message to us?
Answer:
"And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it." Luke 8:21
How were the Scriptures given? And who gave it?
Answer:
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:" 2Tim 3:16
How does the Holy Scriptures come to us?
Answer:
"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:" Rev. 1:1
Note: The Bible within our reach exists not by the will of man but through the Holy Spirit who moved the writers (2Peter 1:20,21). They were inspired and was led to write those things that they had witnessed directly from God. "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full." 1Jn 1:1-4
The Profit of the Scriptures
For what are the scriptures profitable for?
Answer:
"And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." 2Tim. 3: 15-17
How does the word of God work in us?
Answer:
"For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe." 1Thess. 2:13
What are the results of its working?
Answer:
"Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." John 15:3
"shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Ps. 119:9- 11
God's Word Was Preserved
God committed the preparation of His divinely inspired Word to finite man. This Word, arranged into books, the Old and New Testaments, is the guidebook to the inhabitants of a fallen world, bequeathed to them that, by studying and obeying the directions, not one soul would lose its way to heaven. (1SM 16)
Did God preserve the Bible from corruption?
Answer:
The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever. Psa 12:6.7
Does Jesus Christ confirm the authenticity of the Bible?
Answer:
Jesus confirmed it by quoting most of the books of Moses and the Prophets;
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself... And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Luk 24:27,44
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. John 5:39
note: From the texts above the "scriptures" referred here are those which were written by Moses and the Prophets.
Thus also Philip confirmed:
Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. John 1:45
And also by Paul:
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) Rom 1:1,2
Did Paul start to gather all the Scriptures, including his epistles, even in his own time?
Answer:
The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments. 2Ti 4:13
And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea. Col. 4:16
This Holy Book withstood the attacks of Satan -- who has joined with malicious men -- to make everything of the heavenly things covered in mists and obscurity. In any case, the Lord has saved this Holy Book by His inexplicable force in its current shape—a graph or manual to the human family to show them the best approach to the heavenly paradise.