Theology – Bibliology

Theology – Study of the Bible

Overview – of Bibliology

Bibliology is the study of the Bible. The Bible is:

• A compilation of 66 different books
• Written by 40 different authors
• Each author with a diverse background (kings, prophets, poor & rich men, physicians, historians)
• Over a time span of more than 1000 years (roughly 1200 b.c. to 100 a.d.).

The Bible is the Word of God, given to mankind, by God. It was given for various purposes as discussed in the this article; but unlike all other books that attempt to make similar claims to be divinely inspired, the Bible does a perfect job proving its claim through various means.

Þ    see Apologetics : Prophetic Facts in the Bible

Þ    see Apologetics : Archaeological Facts in the Bible

Þ    see Apologetics : Scientific Facts in the Bible

Bibliology – Written Perspective

One of the most interesting facts about the Bible, besides its apologetic factors, is that the entire book is written from a perspective outside of time itself. Those who examine the book find it not only contains all of time based events, but seems to be written form a perspective ‘in eternity,’ or outside of the time-dimension all together.

WHATS IN THE BIBLE

The Bible gives mankind many different revelations about the spiritual world and the Divine, and what our relationship and role is to the Divine.

Who God Is & What Does He Does

• The Bible tells us all about who God is, what He is like and how we can get to know Him.
• It teaches us how to have a relationship with Him and what He wants us to do.

What God Wants & How We are Supposed to Live our Lives

• LAW – The Bible teaches us how we are supposed to live our lives.
• LIFE – The Bible teaches us the purpose for our existence.
• LIBERTY – The Bible teaches us the rewards of living for God.
• LIABILITY – The Bible teaches us the penalties for rejecting Him.

God’s Plan – All of Human History

• The Bible tells of all human history: starting with the beginning of the creation of the universe, and ending with the destruction of the universe.
• There is no other book like it, written from a perspective outside of time telling the beginning from the end of all creation.

Bibliology – Purpose of the Bible:

The Bible is given to mankind for many different purposes, as it tell us throughout its pages:

1. The  revelation of God & His Glory (Ps 25.14)
2. To reveal the way to God (Amos 3.7)
3. To inspire faith in it hearers (Rom 10.17)
4. To teach, convict & prove, correct and instruct for everything righteous (2Tim 3.15-17)
5. To equip man to do everything good (2Tim 3.17)

BIBLICAL CHRONOLOGY (Complete Biblical History)

Creation – Adam & Eve

God created everything out of nothing, including the heavens and the earth. From the dust of the earth God created Adam and Eve, perfect in the image of God. The Devil tempted them and they sinned against God. It was their sin that corrupted all of creation and creation has been decaying ever since. Afterwards they gave rise to the entire human race.

Þ    Entire human race from just 2 people!

World Flood – Noah

Generations after the creation of the world, mankind became so corrupt God decided to judge all mankind for their wickedness. He cause a catastrophic world flood and kill everyone except Noah and his family (Noah, his wife, his 3 sons and their wives).

Noah’s 3 sons repopulated the entire ‘new world.’ Genetics and history confirm the tracing back of the world’s nations to the 3 sons of Noah: Ham, Shem and Japheth.

Þ    see Noah’s sons

Job

The book of job is estimated by most scholars to predate Moses. Due to many references in the book and the seeming expectation Job was a man of God yet a gentile (non-Jew). It would seem to conclude it was written only a few generations after Noah’s time.

God’s Covenant – Abraham

God chose a single man from all the tribes of the earth to whom He would make a covenant with, so that He would use their offspring to display His glory to the rest of the world. God chose Abraham, so that through his offspring the rest of the world would be blessed, meaning that his lineage would herald the coming Messiah that would redeem mankind of their sins.

After a few generations from Abraham, a great famine broke out in the middle eastern world, and Abraham’s descendants fled to start a new life in Egypt.

Exodus – Moses & Joshua

Moses was chosen by God to lead the Hebrew people out of Egypt into the land of Israel, after the Egyptians began to oppress the Hebrew people. He led them through the wilderness, and eventually Joshua would lead the people into the promised land (Israel)

Moses wrote the first 5 books of the Bible.

Judges & Samuel

God setup the authority in the land of Israel to be ruled by judges, that dictated rule over the people. The hearts of the people would turn back and forth from God during the rule of the judges.

Kings – David & Solomon

Eventually the people would be restless with the judges and the prophets so they demanded a king. God shortly afterwards setup king David as a man after His own heart to rule and unit the people.

After king David, many kings came and went, most where corrupt and followed the ways of corruption, greed and idolatry.

Exile – Rule of Babylon, Persia & Greece – Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Daniel & the Prophets

As the Hebrew people turned away from God and the kings continued to be corrupt, God gave them over as punishment to the gentile (non-Jewish) nations in exile, driving them from their homeland. Over time and after many generations, God finally returned them to their homeland – Israel.

Þ    see prophecies of the Bible

The Gospels – The Messiah

In the New Testament, it is revealed that God has finally brought His long awaited promise to the people, the Messiah who came as the redeemer of Israel. The Hebrew (Jews) people rejected Him, and He was crucified.

This was all a part of God’s plan, as Jesus Christ (the Messiah) was the perfect sacrifice who’s blood would cleanses all those who believe in Him from all sins.

The Epistles – The Church

The remaining portion of the New Testament instructs all believers in the Lord Jesus, and how they are to live and follow God. It gives a history of the beginning of the church age, and ends in the Revelation of the end of the world and how God will finish and judge all His creation.

ORIGIN & INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE

Bibliology Divine & Human Natures

The Bible has a duality in nature (just like Jesus Christ), it has both a human and divine attribute. It came from God, but was penned through men; all done for a divine purpose.

The Bible is the inspired word of God; inspiration does guarantee the teachings, implications and all that it entails both spiritual and factual information that it contains is true and from God. Jesus ensures us that the Holy Spirit is the one whom teaches and reminds Gods people of everything God has said; thus as Gods scribes are writing down Gods words, the Holy Spirit is right there leading them the entire time.

But the Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you.  – John 14.26

God continually shows us in His word, that everything in scriptures comes directly from Him:

I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.  – Deut 18.18

(Samuel) The spirit of the Lord had voice through me, his word was on my tongue.  – 2 Samuel 23.2

Now when they were taking out the money which had come into the Lord’s house, Hilkiah the priest came across the book of the law of the Lord, which he had given by the mouth of Moses.  – 2 chronicles 34.14

And as for me, this is my agreement with them, says the Lord: my spirit which is on you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, will not go away from your mouth, or from the mouth of your seed, or from the mouth of your seed’s seed, says the Lord, from now and for ever.  – Isaiah 59.21

But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is from God; that we might know the things that were freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth; combining spiritual things with spiritual words. Now the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually judged.  – 1 Corinthians 2.12-14

And that from a babe thou hast known the sacred writings which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness. That the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work  – 2 Timothy 3.15-17

After a long time, again naming a certain day, he says in David, Today as he had said before, Today if you will let his voice come to your ears, be not hard of heart,  – Hebrews 4.7

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of private interpretation. For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spoke from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit.  – 2 Peter 1.20-21

Divine & Human Nature of the Bible

Errors in Bibliology Interpretations

Two errors come from trying to understand both the natures of the Bible.

Arianism is the belief that the Bible is of human origin with very little emphasis of its divinity.

Docetism is the belief in the divinity of the Bible with very little emphasis on the human nature of the Bible.

The truly appreciate all of the Bible, we must embrace both natures of the Bible equivalently, both the Divine inspiration and the human vessel. The authorship of both the Divine and human.

Bibliology – Divine Nature

What does Divine Inspiration mean?

1. Divine inspiration means that all of scripture originated from the mouth of God
2. Divine inspiration means that all parts of the Bible are ‘equally’ true, there is not any part of the Bible that is more ‘true’ then any other part.
3. At the same time there are levels of importance depending on the reference; such as the facts concerning who God is, and how a man can be saved by Jesus Christ. These issues are more important concerning human salvation then say the part about Jesus’ genealogy in Matthew.

What Divine Inspiration Does Not Mean?

1. Divine inspiration does not mean that people cannot change God’s word. In fact is it possible yet God strictly forbids it. The Bible is on earth, and humans are corrupt, as is language and the entire social world.

God moves the original authors, therefore the original texts are infallible and flawless.

This is why it is important to ‘study to show yourself approved (2 Tim 2.15),’ and look and study the scriptures and their origins, and all the claims of the Bible. The Bible is meant to be for every person to develop their relationship with God.

False Bibles / Doctrines

People have attempted to create false doctrines & false books of the Bible, but the awesome thing about God is He is faithful to ensure we have access to the truth.

We have numerous copies of the original texts to be able to comparatively identify if any changes where made to the originals. Scholars find that few changes in ancient text make little to no difference to the original interpretation or meanings. The true canon and accuracy of the original text from God stands firm.

How do you know the Bible is true?

Study! find out the history of each book of the Bible, learn how many translations and how they all came about and it will grow your faith.

1. You will find that thousands of copies of the original translations have been preserved all even though with slight variations, always concluding with the exact same context! Ancient manuscripts have been found over 2000 years old (like the Septuagint) all texts matching the current Bible exactly!

We find all throughout history that all the constant attempts to discredit and create false doctrines, always fail!

Þ          see “Canon of the Bible”

1. Divine inspiration doesn’t mean that every part of a specific parable is true, but rather the point of every parable is true. Or that some parables are used to test people’s reactions or their faith- Luke 18.19.
2. Divine inspiration does not mean that a truth can have only one perspective. Such as 4 gospels highlighting 4 different sides to Jesus mission on earth. Different perspectives do not imply a need for reinterpretation.
3. Intent is very important in God word (the Bible), and it should be the question that drives the reader, “What does God intent for me to understand in the verse.” Direct or strictly identified revelations need to be revered by people as God intended. If God says don’t commit adultery, or that kind of lifestyle will lead to death and hell, it’s a warning that God intends for all men to heed.

Bibliology – Human Nature

The Bible has a human aspect to it. It was written by men, displaying their personalities, lives, environment, and emotions. It was written in human languages, interpreted through human writings. The Bible continually portrays human culture and human interests.

The Bible reflect the different types of people and how different people react and convey different though patterns.

God’s Spokesmen – Prophets & Apostles

God spoke through prophets, apostles and men of God. As they wrote what the Spirit of God spoke through them, they were also lead by the Spirit what to write, yet through their own personhood , experience and human nature.

1. God spoke to and through men of God – 1 Kings 12.22
2. God spoke through His servants – 1 Kings 14.18
3. God spoke through His messengers – Isa 42.19
4. God spoke through seers – Isa 30.9
5. God spoke through a man of the Spirit – Hos 9.7
6. God spoke through His watchmen – Ezekiel 3.17
7. God spoke through His prophets (spokesmen) – Hebrews 1.1
8. God spoke through His apostles – Ephesians 3.5

God spoke and continues to speak His messages in various ways (Heb 1.1)

1. By dreams – Gen 37
2. By visions – Daniel 7
3. By audible voice – 1 Samuel 3
4. By inner voice – Hos 1; Joel 1
5. Revelation of Angels – Gen 19, Rev 1
6. By miracles – Exodus 3, Judges 6
7. Casting of Lots – Prov 16.33
8. By the Urim and Thummin – Exodus 28.30
9. By revelations in nature – Psalms 19, Rom 1

Human Persona in the Bible

God allowed the writers to portray they human personality in His word to relate to all the people of the world, and all of mankind of different types of backgrounds, ethnicity, and lifestyles.

Everything in the Bible is divinely inspired and given from the mouth of God, it is filtered through men to the people of the world. Jeremiah for instance portrays his weeping for the people of Israel and his sorrow throughout his book. King Solomon portrays his disappointment in his quest for knowledge in his book of ecclesiastics. You can feel the apostle Johns love for God’s people in his book 1 John.

Although it was written with human persona involved, we must remember that even the very choice of words was from God Himself, as it is written:

… do not omit a word  – Jeremiah 26.2

Penalties for False Prophets

There have been many false teachers and false prophets that have risen up  since the beginning of human civilization; attempting to slander and mimic the word of God to deceive other people. All attempts have been discovered and even today can be identified when compared to the original texts that God has graciously spread throughout the entire world.

All false prophets face the strictest of judgments and condemnations

When a prophet makes a statement in the name of the Lord, if what he says does not take place and his words do not come true, then his word is not the word of the Lord: the words of the prophet were said in the pride of his heart, and you are to have no fear of him.  – Deut 18.22

But the prophet who takes it on himself to say words in my name which I have not given him orders to say, or who says anything in the name of other gods, will come to his death.  – Deut 18.20

I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto them, God shall add unto him the plagues which are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, which are written in this book.  – Revelation 22.18-19

In ancient times, if you claimed to be a prophet and just one of your prophecies failed, you would be killed instantly; so the stakes for being a prophet was absolute perfection, which of course only come for a Divine Creator!

Humans are flawed and much less are not able to prophecy about future of current events, thus proof about a person’s inspiration will always be revealed.

HOW THE BIBLE CAME TO BE

History of the Bible, The Word of God

The Bible was written by various men as they were inspired by the Spirit of God, whom told them what they were to write.

Beginning with Adam and through the generations of Noah’s time, God spoke and used various men to be His mouthpiece to the people of the world. Noah himself was a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2.5).

After Noah’s time, we know that God used various other means to spread His word to the people of the world, as even Abraham knew about God even though he did not have any portion of the Bible we have today, and still retained the title of being the father of faith (Rom 4.16).

Since Moses time until now, God has revealed Himself through the first known recorded ‘Word of God,’ which came to us beginning with His chosen nation, the Hebrew people. It was through Moses that God gave us the Torah (the first 5 books of the Bible) and almost every other book of the Bible.

Manuscripts, Autographs and Translations

To further verify the validity of all the books of the Bible, and to ensure they match the ‘autograph’ original, we must examine the evidence we are given for accuracy and dating of the manuscripts of the original texts.

Many of the archaeological finds have proven beyond a doubt our manuscripts are exact copies of the originals. With many references to these manuscripts that can be publicly viewed today:

The ‘Books’ or ‘Scrolls of the Bible’ when copied in ancient times when through intense scrutiny to validate and verify their accuracy and continuity of the original text, even down to the most minute punctuation.

Scrutiny of Validation

• Copying the ancient scriptures was the job of the ancient Hebrew Scribes whom spent their entire lives copying the materials that where handed down to them. They were continuously ever meticulous in regard to providing an exact duplicate of the original document. Not to mention that there were also many different various groups of scribes all performing this same function in different locations.
• The group of scribes known as Masoretes would count every single letter, word and verse of the old testament in order to preserve its accuracy.
• They spent their entire lives making exact copies and performing rituals to keep everything without variances of the original.
• Accuracy was kept to an unprecedented and detailed degree, so much that when we do make startling archaeological finds like the dead sea scrolls (over 2000 year old documents) and match them up with today’s copies, they match word for word! Few documents in the word retain this degree of preserved accuracy, especially over such a long period of time.

Autographs:

Autographs are the original texts that where written by either the author or a scribe under his supervision.

• Old Testament – est. 1500 b.c. Moses write the original first 5 books of the Bible in traditional Hebrew.
• Old Testament – 586 b.c. Babylon took over Jerusalem and sent the Israelite’s into slavery. They remained in Babylon after it was taken over by Medo-Persia and began to speak Aramaic.
• Old Testament – In 425 b.c. the last prophet of the Old Testament wrote the book of Malachi.
• New Testament – 125 a.d. NT Manuscripts still exist with small amounts of legible portions matching up to today’s NT Bible sections.

Manuscripts:

Manuscripts are ancient texts of Hebrew STILL in use today:

• Old Testament – The Dead Sea Scroll – Dating from 200-70 b.c.
• Old Testament – Geniza Fragments – Dating from 400 b.c.
• Old Testament – Ben Asher Manuscripts – Dating from 700-950 a.d.
• New Testament – over 5500 early Greek manuscripts still exist today, originally written on papyrus then onto parchment paper.

Translations:

The Bible is translated into different languages from its original Hebrew and Greek text. The Old Testament was translated early on into Aramaic and Greek.

• Old Testament – Aramaic Targums – around 400 b.c. the Old Testament began being translated into Aramaic. This was because the Hebrew people began to speak the language of their captive land, and wanted their Bibles in the language they spoke.
• Old Testament – Septuagint – around 200 b.c. it is believed that over 70 translators worked to translate the entire Hebrew Bible into Greek. This was also the translation used by the early church because that was the language of the common world during that time period.
• New Testament – 180 a.d. early translations of the New Testament when translated from Greek to Latin, Syriac, and Coptic from which we are able to validate many of our ancient Latin versions today.

Canon of the Bible

Throughout history, beginning with God chosen people, the Hebrews, until the church age, there has been a set group of books known to be from God’s chosen prophets and apostles.

It is from God’s prophets and apostles He scribed His word for us to read. These books written throughout History, recorded for Gods people, make up what is known as the canon of scripture. The canon is the collection of all the books in which God personally intervened to give to mankind.

The Canon Books of the Bible are:

A well documented and historic sequence was used to determine the order and use of all the book that became the common Christian Biblical Cannon known today, based from all the known Biblical and Apocrypha books.

Þ    See Canon of the Bible

Apocrypha Books (Hidden, Secret or Questionable Origin)

Bibliology – Non-Canon & Historical Books

There is an extensive list of non-biblical books that, even though they may have been true or written by prophets, where NOT the inspired word of God. These books may be completely accurate historical books, but once again do not meet the criteria of being God’s divinely inspired word (meaning it didn’t come from God).

Þ    see list of non-biblical & apocrypha books

Beginning with Enoch, only 7 generations from Adam, he was called by God to preach but was caught up to God.

After him the only person historically known to have been a preacher was Noah, whom was a  preacher of righteousness, but no one listened so that they could have been saved. No book of Noah or his inspiration was ever discovered, except the historic account of him in Moses book.

THE WORD OF GOD

The Bible is the Word of God. God has revealed Himself to men continually since the time He created everything, and leaves that record with men to pass down through each generation.

Characteristics of the Word of God:

• The Word of God is Alive 1 Peter 1.23
• God’s Word is inexhaustible Hebrews 4.12
• The Word of God is sharper then a double edge sword Hebrews 4.12
• God’s Word is unbreakable John 10.34-35
• God’s Word is unfailing Isa 55.11
• God’s Word is eternal, forever Ps 119.60, 89
• God’s Word is indestructible  Matt 5.17-18
• God’s Word is inerrant Ps 119.160, John 17.17

What the Word of God is Used for:

• God’s Word is a seed Luke 8.11
• God’s Word is Spiritual Milk 1 Peter 2.2
• God’s Word is Spiritual Food 1 Peter 2.2
• God’s Word is the Water of Life Eph 5.25
• God’s Word is a Consuming Fire Jer 23.29
• God’s Word is Hammer Jeremiah 23.29
• God’s Word is a sword Heb 4.13
• God’s Word is a mirror James 1.23
• God’s Word is a lamp Ps 119.105

Jesus is the Word of God

Jesus – The Incarnate Word of God

Jesus is the incarnate Word of God, meaning He is the Word made flesh! In the original Greek the word used to describe Jesus as the Word is ‘logos’, or logic of God. The Word is literally the mind, thoughts, reasoning or logic of God. The incarnate Word of God is God Himself, for He is God’s image, THE fullness of the expression of Himself, which can be nothing less than God Himself!

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.  – John 1.1-2

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth.  – John 1.14

(Jesus) Who is the image of the invisible God …  – Colossians 1.15

Þ    see Christology

Bible – The Written Word of God

The Bible is the written Word of God, but Jesus is not the Bible, nor is the Bible God. The Bible is the written Word of God, from God by humans & in human words for human understanding.

but men spoke from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit.  – 2 Peter 1.21

Inerrancy of & Errors in the Bible

The Bible has two natures: Divine and human, also known as a hypo-static union! The Divine nature of the Bible cannot err. The human characteristic the Bible allow for it to have errors, but it does not (because the originals where written by men as they were moved by God). In the same way Jesus was Divine, divinity cannot sin. His human nature could sin, but He did not.

The logic of the Bible is simple: God cannot error, the Bible is God’s Word, thus it cannot error.

Originals and Copies of Scripture

Christians only claim that the original texts from God are without error, not the copies. Man is erroneous and is not capable of completing continuous work with eventual error, which remains true as well in coping the Bible. Some examples of minor copyists errors are found in 2 Chron 22.2 and 2 Kings 8.26:

Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was Athaliah the daughter of Omri.  – 2 Chronicles 22.2 (ASV)

Two and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Athaliah the daughter of Omri king of Israel.  – 2 Kings 8.26 (ASV)

Divine inspiration and inerrancy applies to everything that God gave to man, and He has entrusted us to pass it on with truth and accuracy. Indeed the Bible has the highest degree of accuracy than that of any other book of antiquity, this is because God has preserved His word in us and we find evidence of this fact all throughout history and in the text today. In fact the Bible does exceed an accuracy ratio of more than 99%, and the reason for this accuracy is due to:

1. There are more copies available of the entire Bible than any other book of ancient times.
2. All manuscripts more closely date to the original
3. The copies went through amazing traditional scrutiny when they were copied from the originals.

Bibliology – Important Note of Copies Errors

1. Absolutely NO original manuscript has ever been found with an error in it!
2. Errors are excruciatingly rare in the original copies.
3. Most cases point to errors in parallel passages.
4. No error effects doctrine of scripture, or any central message that is radically reversed many times in different areas of scripture.
5. Most cases errors vouch for the coping process, in the fact that scribes when making copies would know that something seemed to be a mistake, they would always add correcting in the margins; NEVER changing the original they used to make the copy! In this way, mistakes are typically encouraging evidence that the text was scrutinized to be kept in its original condition.
6.  This is the importance of having different translations to receive a broader perspective and view different text copies.
7. So many copies of the originals where continually created, scholars can easily compared them to one another and decipher exactly what the original text was.

Objections in Bibliology and the Bible:

The Bible is like the Game of Telephone

Everyone is familiar with the game telephone: when one person whispers something into another person’s ear, it travels from person to person and the story changes through each person’s interpretation.

The Bible however is more like this: Imagine you give your message to one person and tell them to write it down, a message so important it will save the life of everyone whom reads it! This message once is understood, and brought to the next person, have 5 people come and write down that message; now there 5 copies of the original message.

Now form each of those 5 copies. Each of those 5 tells 5 more whom also make copies; now we have 25 copies. Even if there are any changes within those copies, comparing all 25 may differ slightly when you match them up you can determine the true original story!

This is exactly what we have with the Bible, literally thousands of copies that we match up to verify the original story.

The great part about the Bible is that almost all copies verify each other with approximately 99% of their entire text, the slight variations are simple grammatical or various minor errors as found in 2 Chron 22.2 and 1Kings 8.26.

This is continual evidence God gave us and continues to uphold the Bible as His Word!

Humans are Flawed so therefore the Bible must be Flawed

This is found to be a fallacy when considering a few logical factors:

1.) Human do error, but do not always error. With the help of divine inspiration, man can achieve perfection, especially when being directed by the Spirit of God.

2.) As we have already seen in other examples in the article, with multiple manuscripts we are able to piece together any problems that could have arose by comparing each copy of the text.

References – Bibliology

Dating the New Testament by Dwight Longenecker at patheos.com