What The Bible Is And How We Should Approach It

Before we jump in with our first tool, we're going to pause to examine the nature of the Bible — what kind of book it is and how it came about. That will lead us to the right way to approach it.

Imagine that a friend who isn't a Christian asks you, "Why do you bother reading the Bible? Isn't it out-of-date?" How would you respond?

We hope you would disagree. The Bible isn't like an old railroad timetable that has outlived its usefulness because things have changed. It is something that the eternal, almighty God has said, and therefore it is relevant and important for all times and cultures: "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever" (Isa. 40:8).

You can see where your friend is coming from, though. We would have to admit that parts of the Bible seem a bit dated. After all, it was written between 1,900 and 3,500 years ago; it describes the history and events of people we've never heard of and who often don't seem anything like us; it talks about what food you should and shouldn't eat, how you should sacrifice animals, and the type of material you should make your clothes from — none of which directly applies to us today. It isn't hard to see why someone might say it's out-of-date.

Our dilemma is caused by the dual nature of the Bible. It is a divine book, spoken by God, and therefore it is always true and relevant. And yet at the same time it is ahuman book, written by people a long time ago, and therefore it is in some senses dated. Let's think about each of these two natures of the Bible and how they should influence the way that we approach it.

A Divine Book

By calling it a "divine book," we mean simply that the Bible comes directly from God. Behind the various human authors, he is the ultimate author.

That's a huge claim to make, and lots of people would dispute it. But for Christians the issue is settled very easily: this is what Jesus himself believed about the Bible.

When asked by the Pharisees about divorce, Jesus said this: "Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh'?" (Matt. 19:4–5).

Jesus quotes from Genesis 2:24, which, he says, was spoken by "he who created them." But when we turn to Genesis 2:24, we find that it is not a direct pronouncement from God (compare Gen. 2:18), but simply part of the narrative written by the human author of Genesis, probably Moses. However, Jesus sees this human sentence as something spoken by the Creator, God himself. We could multiply the examples showing that this is typical of Jesus' attitude to the Old Testament.

The apostle Paul delivers the same verdict: "All Scripture is breathed out by God ..." (2 Tim. 3:16). You can't speak without breathing — your lips move, but there will be no sound (try it!). Words travel on our breath. That explains what Paul is saying about the Old Testament ("Scripture"). It comes out of God's mouth. It is his word. This is sometimes called the doctrine of inspiration.

But what about the New Testament? That was written after Jesus returned to heaven, so presumably we can't know what he thought about it. Wrong. While Jesus was on earth he told his apostles that they were to be his witnesses and speak for him after he had left (see John 15:27; 17:20), and they went on to write the books and letters we call the New Testament. In effect, Jesus deliberately planned and commissioned the New Testament. To make sure they got it right, he didn't just leave the apostles to write it by themselves. He promised the help of his Spirit: "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you" (John 16:12–14).

The other New Testament writers seem conscious of this. Peter, for instance, wrote: "This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandments of the Lord and Savior through your apostles" (2 Pet. 3:1–2).

Do you see what Peter is saying? It is Jesus' command, but from the apostles' lips. The apostles speak for God.

Much more could be said about the inspiration of the Bible, but we don't have room here. If you want to explore it further, we highly recommend chapter 2 of Bible Doctrine by Wayne Grudem.

Let's think about four implications that flow from the Bible being a divine book.

The Bible Is Alive, Not Dead History

If the Bible is God's Word, then, far from being out-of-date, it is a book that is alive and speaks to us today. As the book of Hebrews puts it: "the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Heb. 4:12).

Imagine a lawyer who has to answer a tricky legal question. He knows that the answer lies in the dusty, leather-bound volumes in the law library, among all the previous cases and legal precedents. However, reading those books is rather boring and takes a long time. It's much easier to phone up a fellow lawyer who knows more than he does. His friend can tell him the answer right away; it's quick and easy.

Of course, our lawyer friend still thinks highly of the books in the law library. They are the final authority on what is right and wrong. But he reads them only when he really has to or when he needs to check that his friend's answer is right. Otherwise, it's much easier to stick with the immediate answer he gets over the phone.

That can sum up how many of us treat the Bible. We have lots of questions we want God to answer, but we think of the Bible as old and boring. It's much easier to try to get answers more directly. We either ask God to tell us answers in some way that doesn't involve the Bible, or we ask Christian friends for their opinion. We still think the Bible is very important, though. Like the law library, it is our final authority; it decides what is right and wrong. But we go there only as a last resort, to check on things we've heard from elsewhere.

From what we've...