Facts About the Bible
- It took over 1600 years to write
From the time of Moses to the days of the apostles it took approximately 1,600 years to write the Bible.
- Written by approximately 40 people
The Bible was written by approximately 40 people from all walks of life who live in a span of approximately 1,500 years. David was a king, Amos was a herdsman, Peter was a fisherman, Luke was a doctor, Daniel was a Prime Minister, Joshua was a warrior etc…Different times and moods: Paul was in prison, Solomon was in his palace enjoying life, David was waging war, Moses was in the wilderness, etc…
Yet the Bible is one harmonious book.
In Christ alone hundreds of Old Testament prophecies have been fulfilled. Read Isiah 53 and compare it to the story of Jesus in the gospels. You will be amazed at the accuracy of Isiah's prophecy written about 700 years before the events took place.
Is the most widely distributed book translated in to more than 2233 languages (Guinness book of world records). It is the bestseller of all time(Guinness book of world records)
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It is the most surviving book ever
Survived the test of time: Compared with other ancient writings, the manuscript evidence is greater than any 10 piece classical literature combined. This is sufficient to ensure that today we are reading the words of the original writers.
Survived the test of persecution: Many have tried to burn it, ban it, and otherwise outlaw it from the days of the Roman empire to the present communist countries.
Survived the test of criticism: The Bible is the most criticized book ever. No other book has been chopped, knifed, sifted, scrutinized, and vilified.
But, the God who gave us the Bible has preserved it through all generations against all odds.
The greatest classic literature
If every Bible in any considerable city were destroyed, the book could be restored in all its essential parts from the quotations on the shelves of the city's public library.After looking at all these facts about the Bible, one thing is clear: There is something special about this book.
What The Bible is to You as a Christian
The Bible is the Word of God
"When you received the Word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as word of men, but as it actually is, the Word of God, which is at work in you who believe." 1 Thes. 2:13
Accepting the Bible as the Word of God is the very first step you need to take as a Christian. There is simply no way of being a Christian without accepting the Bible as the infallible Word of God. This in theological terminology is called canonization.
The Bible is your food
"Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God" Mat 4:4
"Like newborn babies crave the pure spiritual milk so that by it you may grow in your salvation now that you have tasted that the Lord is good" 1 Peter 2:2
The Bible is spiritual food to the Christian and is absolutely necessary if you are to grow and develop into a strong and mature Christian. The same way our physical body is made up of what we eat, our spiritual body is made up of the Word of God we eat. Make sure you always hunger for the Word. A new believer in Christ is called in the Bible a spiritual babe. Peter tells us that new babes in Christ are to desire the sincere milk of the Word that they might grow thereby. The only way a baby can develop and grow to adulthood is to eat properly.
The Bible is your light
"Your Word is a lamp to my feet, and a light for my path." Psalm 119:105
The Bible is called a light, because it guides our daily walk with God. It tells us what to do and know how to live. The Bible is our guide through this life into the life to come.
The Bible is your weapon against the devil
"Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God" Eph. 6:17
Ephesians 6:11,17 says we are to put on the whole armor of God that we might stand against the tricks of devil. When Jesus was tempted by Satan, He met every temptation with God's Word (Matthew 4:3-11). We can do the same. The Bible is our sword in the battle against Satan's temptations.
The Bible is your weapon against sin
"I have hidden your Word in my heart that I might not sin against you" Psalm 119:11
It has been said that either the Bible will keep you away from sin or sin will keep you away from the Bible. Sin and the Word of God repel each other. They are like similar poles of a magnet. Getting close to one will keep you away from the other. Hide the Word of God in your heart and it will keep you away from sin.
Methods of Bible Study
Many Christians admit that they sometimes open the Bible but do not know what to read or study. Bible study should be planned and organized. There is a lot to be gained by studying your Bible in a systematic way. Of the many ways to study the Bible, here are three commonly used by Bible students.
1. Topical Study
With topical study you will take an important subject such as grace, prayer, faith, justification, love, salvation etc. and using a topical Bible and/or a concordance, study the scope of the topic throughout the Bible. If you don't have a topical Bible and a concordance there are many Christian web sites that offer free on line access to concordances, Bibles and other Bible study tools. One such web site is www.crosswalk.com
A concordance is an alphabetical index showing all the places in the Bible where a word may be found, with its immediate context in each place. If, for example, you look up the word "Love" in a concordance, it gives you all the hundreds of places where you can find the word "Love" in the Bible. It works much like an internet search engine.
What topic would you like to study? Pick your topic and compile a list of words related to the topic you will study. Collect all references relating to each word using a concordance. Consider each reference individually. Compare and group the references. Condense the results of your study into a brief outline.
2. Biographical study
More than 2,900 people are mentioned in the Bible. The lives of many of these make extremely interesting biographical studies. What makes a biographical study even more fascinating is that the Bible does not only record the strengths of these people but tells their stories like it is with all their weaknesses and failures. That makes it real and easy to identify with.
Again using a concordance and/or topical Bible you can look up every reference there is in the Bible to an individual you would like to study about. Analyze the strengthes and weaknesses of the person, compare and contrast with another similar or opposite character in the Bible, see what God did in their lives. Keep asking questions. Why did God do what he did? What is the secret to their success/failure? What do we learn from their strength/weakness and/or what God did in their lives etc .
3 Book study
The Bible is composed of 66 books. Even though the Bible is a unified book, for Bible study purposes you can take it a book at a time. Books can be subdivided in to chapters and/or paragraphs. Captioning each subdivision helps to understand the structure. Some Bibles have captions that you can adopt to study the book.
When studying a book it helps to know who the author is, his background and when he wrote it. Knowing the timing of the book in history is a key information in understanding the book.
Keep asking questions. What are the key words in the book? What are the key verses? Why is this word/verse key to the passage? To whom was it written? Where was it written? When was it written? What was the problem? What answers were suggested? What principles were included? What practical suggestions were given? Etc.
Reading the Bible
A man once told a pastor that he went through the Bible so many times but he didn't see any change in his life. "This time", the pastor replied, "instead of going through the Bible many times, let the Bible go through you only once and see what happens."
A simple fact we seldom overlook about the Bible is that it is a book of faith. The Bible demands more of faith than understanding. It only works when read with reverence and faith. In fact, you will never understand the Bible as it is meant to be understood if you don't have faith. The Bible never tries to prove the exsitence of God. God is granted. God is real. The first sentence of the Bible says "In the begining God created heaven and earth". It does not explain what heaven is, what the earth is, and who God is. You are expected to believe that God is as real as heaven and earth are.
So, every time you come to the Bible, bring faith and obedience with you; faith to believe it and obedience to do what it says.
Understanding the Bible
Many cite the difficulty of the Bible to understand as their reason for not reading it. Also, the Bible is probably the most misunderstood and misinterpreted book. This is true even among Christians. The following three steps in reading, understanding, and applying biblical truth are meant to help you understand the Bible well and avoid misunderstanding.
Step 1: Observation
Before you try to understand the whole message and its meaning, make sure you understand the meaning of all the words you are reading. Use a Bible dictionary, if needed. Take note of repeated words. Examine their meaning. Try to understand the geogrphy, using a map if necessary, the culture, the persons etc. Keep asking questions. Analyze words within the context etc..Observe all the details of the passage. At this stage you are only gathering information that will eventually help you undersatand the message. The main point here is this: don’t rush to get the message. Observation is the foundation of interpretation and application.
Step 2: Interpretation
Interpretation is to do with meaning. What is the message? What you need to be careful is, however, at this stage you are not yet interested in how it applies to your life. You will do that at the application stage which is discussed below. Before that you want to find out what it meant first to the writer, then to the original recepient(s) and also to the Christian community at large. Pretend you don't exist and try to see how it can be interpreted without you. This will help you avoid the natural tendency we all have to impose our personal circumstances on the Bible. Remember, the Bible has been around for thousands of years before you were born. It will also likely outlive you (unless Christ returns of course). Therefore, its meaning should not depend on your life situation.
Step 3: Application
Application is the goal of Bible study.
"Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the Word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does" James 1:22-25
The Scriptures demand a response and changed lives. Application is looking into the mirror of the Scriptures and walking away a changed person. Even though the Bible is based on a totally different culture, time, language etc., the principles it teaches are timeless and timely. After doing thorough observation and good interpretation it is fairly easy to determine the timeless truth and look at how we can apply it today. Application builds on your observations and interpretations. The quality and depth of your application will depend on quality and depth of your observation and interpretation.