2004-04-05 - Who Wrote the Bible?

Hebrews 4:12, "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

Who wrote the Bible? We have books by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. We have Paul's letters, James, and Jude. We have the Pentateuch, which was penned by Moses. David wrote most of the Psalms. We have Jonah, Amos, Obadiah, Isaiah, and so on and on. Do these writers claim to be the authors of the Bible? Absolutely not! These books and letters were written by the Holy Spirit, who used and guided the pens of those who actually put pen to paper. As it is God's Word to us, we ought to cherish it and study it carefully, to be sure that we do according to all it teaches and believe according to all it says.

When I was in seminary, there was a professor, over 90 years old, who taught just one class. He taught the final semester of Greek. He would walk into class, sit down, and name someone to start translating, parsing, declining the Greek New Testament. The amazing thing was that he sat at an empty desk. He had no text in front of him. He simply listened, and since he knew the Bible so well, since he had committed the entire New Testament in Greek to memory, he needed no text. He knew if the student was translating correctly. He knew if the student was parsing the verbs correctly. He knew if the student was declining the nouns correctly.

This should, in many ways, shame us. Here is a man, in his 90's. who knew the New Testament like he knew his own reflection in a mirror. He so loved the Lord that he had dedicated his life to the study of God's revealed revelation to us.

My fear is that many people who consider themselves Christians pick up their Bible like a trophy on Sunday morning, bring it to church, and then come home from church and put it back until next Sunday. This is a horrible thought, but I bet many do it. The cares of the world have choked out the spiritual life of such persons. God's Holy Word is so vital to the life of the Christian, that were the 12 Apostles staying next door and wished to visit with you, if you gave up reading God's Word to go see them, you would be choosing the lesser good. How much does such a thought say to those of us who watch evening TV shows, to 'relax,' at the expense of reading God's Word.

Even worse is the truth that many who profess to be Christians find such little use for their Bibles that dust may be found upon them. If you can find dust on your Bible, see if you can also find the space to write the word, "Damnation" in the dust. That sounds harsh, but if we have so little use and time for God so that we ignore His Word, how can we be so foolish as to not assume that He will have little to do with us either?

These devotionals are no substitute for God's Holy Word. If you read these devotionals in the place of reading a couple of chapters of Scripture, then you are harming yourself. These devotionals can be a supplement to generate thought, or stimulate you in your study of God's Word, but they can never be a substitute for God's precious revelation to us. As God's Word is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, so in comparison to God's Word, these devotionals are gasping for breath and duller than any plastic knife. Let us be careful to never leave off God's Word for anything we might foolishly justify to be a greater good.

Soli Deo Gloria,
T-

tim@cfdevotionals.org
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