"What Is The Bible?"
We are living in a land of Bibles, in an age when the Bible is the most publicized book on the market. Since the first Latin Bible was printed on the Gutenberg press in 1455, the Bible has never been outsold by any publication. It has not had even a close competitor. It has been printed, either in part or in whole, in 1060 languages. One distribution agency alone, the American Bible Society, has distributed over 875,500,000 copies of the sacred scriptures. In the face of this wide publicity, and general knowledge of its existence, does it seem incredible that we should even suggest that there are persons right here in our own land who do not know what the Bible actually is? Strange as it may seem, there is ample evidence that the vast majority of our citizens are woefully ignorant of the Bible message, and of how to apply it to our daily program. There are more false theories about the Bible than about any other volume known to man.
"Bible"
The word "Bible," as you know, comes from the Greek word "biblia" and means "the book." However, it is more than a book in the usual sense of the word. There are actually 66 books written by some 40 authors that make up the body of its contents. It is literally not one book, but many books of poetry, history, biography, law and prophecy. It has been most appropriately called the "Book of Books." In the 4th century, the translator Jerome referred to the Bible as "the divine library."
Who Wrote The Bible?
Who wrote the Bible? We are not referring to the mechanics of the book, or to its physical make-up. The copying, translating, printing, and binding of the volume was done by man, of course. But who is its author? Who wrote the message, or text, of the Bible?
Did good men write the Bible? Good men do not attempt to deceive other men. Every one knows the marks of a good man. He is truthful, honest, sincere and straightforward. A good man will not pretend to be something he is not. Yet, the men who penned the Bible do not claim to be the authors of its message. Hear the honest apostle Paul, "But I certify you, brethren that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." (Gal. 1:11, 12) Other writers of both the Old and the New Testaments make the same claim. If they actually were the authors of what they wrote, then they could not be classified as good men. They would be deceivers. Our only justifiable conclusion is that: good men did not write the sacred text.
Did bad men write the Bible? If bad men had been authors of the Bible, then surely they would not have condemned their own actions. Men who are normally bad try to justify their actions. They surely would not have "created" such a desirable place as heaven, and then so completely have cut off their own chances of entering it. Hear again the inspired Paul as he writes; "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these...(and he names 17 different kinds of sin. He concludes the arrangement on this note of finality)...of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." (Gal. 5:19-21) Every grade of immorality and sin is described in the Bible and denounced in peals of divine thunder for all to hear and heed. This continuous warning against sins, which would destroy man, could not be the creation of men who were obvious sinners. Bad men would not create a heaven they could not enter, nor prepare for themselves a hell they could not escape. Bad men did not write this Book.
If good men did not create the Bible, and bad men did not produce it, from whence did it originate? There is only one possibility remaining—God produced it! The Bible came from God. Over 4,000 times In the Old Testament alone, this statement (or its equivalent) is made: "And God said," "and the Lord said," "and Jehovah God said." The Bible, then, is truly the word of God. The word was delivered to man, and then spoken or written by man—but the word came from God. The apostle Peter speaks very clearly on this point, "For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount." (2 Pet. 1:16-21)
Peter is speaking of his experience on the Mount of Transfiguration, when he and James and John saw Jesus transfigured, as he spake with Moses and Elijah. Peter says they were eyewitnesses of this glorious event. Yet, listen as he relates something more sure than eye and ear evidence, "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." (2 Pet. 1:19, 20)
"More Sure" Word
There is something which I can believe with more surety than that which I see with my eyes, and hear with my ears. My eyes and my ears might deceive me. When the prophets of old spake in minute detail of things that would happen in the future, and those things did come to pass in exact fulfillment of the prophetic utterance, then people who saw and heard the evidence could know of a surety that the prophet's words came from God. They could know that he was not guessing. Moses gave the rule "And if thou say in thine heart, how shall we know the word which the Lord bath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously; thou shalt not be afraid of him." (Dent. 18:21-22)
But now, we have a more sure word of prophecy, according to the apostle. When an inspired man of the New Testament reaches back many hundreds of years to an ancient prophecy and says, "this is that which was spoken by the prophet Isaiah," or "this is that spoken by the prophet Joel," and can couple that utterance to miraculous power to work wonders, then we can be absolutely sure that the words were from God, and that the fulfillment was true. Thus the Bible becomes its own interpreter. The same power that first delivered the message, even though it was not fully understood at the time, can later deliver the message that explains the fulfillment. Truly then, did holy men of God speak "as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." The Bible we now have is the record, in modern speech, of the message God originally delivered to man. It is the word of God. It is God's revealed will to man. To understand and do the things required in that will is absolutely essential to man's well being upon the earth, and carries the only hope of happiness in the world to come. The Bible message presents the last hope of man on this earth. To reject its promises and ignore its warnings is to invite disaster.
—O—
Dear Brethren:
This is just to let a number know why their kind letters and "Get-Well" cards have not been answered. I no longer have at home any one to take care of such matters, and from the date of January first I have been under the care of doctors, also laid up in San Diego for three weeks, then home and four days later carried to El Paso to the Southwestern General hospital where I remained until the 5th of February.
A heart condition, high blood pressure and such ills have just about broken me down in every way. I am up and about today, but tomorrow is as yet unrevealed. Pray for me and also my companion who is in bad health.
Faithfully, The Elkins