Back to Basics!

Back to basics!

I have access to a great deal of really good resources concerning scripture and a fairly large library myself, but honestly; you can find a lot of the same information in a good “Study” Bible. The thing to remember is: the people who write the information are not as reliable as the scriptures themselves.

They, like me can make mistakes, but they provide for you the scriptures with which to measure their words. Meaning that you should judge everything according to the scriptures -including everything I myself will tell you.

This is your Salvation we are talking about here. This is Your Relationship with Jesus; you are the one who has to be responsible for it. Not your pastor, minister, group leader, parents, or me. All of those people can make mistakes. You can help them however, by checking what they say against what the scripture says. If their heart is after God they will be grateful for your efforts.

Having said all of that, you can find a lot of what I am going to tell you in the pages of the “Ryrie Study Bible”. Charles Ryrie provides a lot of history and background of the Bible. I don’t always agree with his point of view but in those few cases it isn’t anything terribly important.

The Bible, The Book itself:

The word canon means rule or measuring rod, and in relation to the Bible it refers to the collection of books that passed a test of authenticity and authority.

The Old Testament:

There are some who assert that all the books of the Old Testament “canon” were collected and recognized by Ezra in the fifth century b.c.

Jesus Himself seemed to set the limit on the extent of the canonical books of the Old Testament when He accused the scribes of being guilty of slaying all the prophets God had sent Israel, from “Abel to Zechariah” (Luke 11:51). The account of Abel’s death is, of course, in Genesis; that of Zechariah is in 2 Chron. 24:20-21, which is the last book in the order of the books in the Hebrew Bible (not Malachi as in our English Bibles). Therefore, it is as if the Lord had said, “Your guilt is recorded all through the Bible—from Genesis to Malachi.’’

The New Testament:

The “Council of Carthage” has been listed as the first church council to list all 27 books of the New Testament. This happened way back in A.D 397. Keep in mind that many of those books were already accepted as scripture before this but were considered to have passed all tests of “canonicity” at this time.


Okay, enough of the “egg head” stuff.

The point I am trying to make with all of this is The Bible is not “just a book”. It is quite possible to see the Hand of God in how it was brought into being.
There were many different “churches” involved in its collection. With all the different types of “Christian Churches” out there and how they all differ you can see how difficult it is to get so many people to agree on anything, yet they did back then and they still do now.
All the generations from then till now agree that Bible that we have now is indeed the Word of God.

Charles Ryrie put it succinctly:
“By some very obvious tests the Bible is a unique book. It was written over a period of 1,500 years by about forty different authors, and yet it is one book without contradictions in what it says. And what it says is remarkable, for it speaks with equal ease and authority of the known and unknowable, of the pleasant and unpleasant, of man’s accomplishments and failures, of the past and the future. Few books ever attempt such scope; none is completely accurate except the Bible.”

The Old Testament tells about Gods nature, about who He is and it quite clearly points to Jesus. It tells who Jesus would be and what He would do very clearly and specifically.

So specifically that the odds against any one person being able to accomplish all the prophecies of the Old Testament "Messiah" are staggering to say the least.

Yet, History records that Jesus was able to do all these things. Not just the New Testament but also the History of the Jewish Nation as well as the Roman Empire.

Really, the only thing that is under debate is whether Jesus really is the Son of God, The Messiah, and whether He rose from the dead. There are hundreds of witnesses of Jesus’ life after death. Hundreds of People recorded having seen and heard Him and I’m being conservative with the number.

So really the debate isn’t Whether Jesus is the Son of God. We know that He is the Son of God by the way He fulfilled the Old Testament Prophecies.
The Orthodox Jews agree that He was a Great Prophet but they think He went “too far” proclaiming Himself the Son of God. Yet after being beaten and crucified publicly, buried with guards placed at His tomb, there are still hundreds of witnesses to His Life after Death.

Being Resurrected puts Gods final stamp of approval on His Son. (There are many other times where God made known to the world that Jesus is His Son).

Again what is really going on –and the Bible also agrees with this- is a refusal to submit. We can’t say the Bible is just a book because it is so obvious that it isn’t.

We really can’t argue too much over which “version” is the “right” one because if you read them all, the points that they appear to disagree on are for the most part small and insignificant.
My personal point of view has always been to use different versions for different purposes.
Not to make scripture say what I want but to make it more clear to the individuals I am speaking to.
Sometimes I use different versions for different purposes all together, such as reading the “Living version” purely for my own enjoyment and using the New American Standard or the New King James versions for more serious study. Often when I speak in Church I will use the New Revised Version because I know that is what is in the holders in front of the listeners.

If you want to get a much clearer idea of the meanings of certain verses you should try reading the same verses in each of the different “versions”. There is quite a bit of insight to be had that way.

The biggest help is to rely on the Holy Spirit. If you are honestly searching for the Truth, relying on the Holy Spirit to guide you through the scriptures is always your best bet.
The Holy Spirit might guide you to a place where you see things a little different than I do but you can bet we will agree on all the most important parts such as:

“‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸“This is the great and foremost commandment. ³⁹“The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰“On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

And:

”… ¹⁶“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life….”

The Bible you and I can hold in our hands may only be made of simple ink and paper but it’s not just a book. The meanings of the words –when taken in context- are Holy indeed.

John 1

The Deity of Jesus Christ

¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was in the beginning with God. ³All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. ⁴In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. ⁵The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not ^£comprehend it.