Who wrote the Bible?

A simple but most important question. Many years ago I was heading home from work on the bus. I was sitting in the back and heard a man say, “well you know man wrote the Bible!” Since he was in my earshot, I felt compelled to tell him that that was an untrue statement. Surprisingly, he listened to me as I presented my case. The scripture I used to prove my point was 2 Timothy 3:16, “All scripture is theopneustos in the original Greek language or God-breathed, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be complete or mature, equipped for every good work.”

The man’s reply to me was, “You’re the first person to ever tell me that!” Why do I bring this matter up? Because it is essential that we as believers can 1) know the origin of the Bible, and 2) be able to properly defend its truthfulness (1 Pet 3:15; Jude 3).

If we believe man wrote the Bible, then it is no different than any other false religious book. It does not have divine authority, and it is untrustworthy. But, if we believe the collection of 66 books are of a divine origin, then we have to believe it has absolute authority, and we MUST submit to its demands.

Here is another passage that proves that the Bible is God’s word, “Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever (italics mine) by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 2:20-21).

Someone may still argue that “The words were still written by men!” True. But that is where it ends. Man did not contribute any wisdom or insight into God’s word. Man was only an instrument the Lord used to record it.

In Exodus 24:12 God commands Moses to come up to Mount Sinai so he could receive tablets of stone with the Lord’s commandments on them (Emphasis added). Once again, these are God’s words, not man’s.

All throughout scripture we read the phrase(s), “The word of the Lord came to me saying, or God spoke to….”

Jeremiah 1:4 – Now the word of the Lord came to me saying…

Jeremiah 1:9 – Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me, “Behold I have put my words in your mouth.”

Jeremiah 30:2 – Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you.

Ezekiel 3:4 – And he said to me, “Son of man, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears.”

Ezekiel 22:1 – And the word of the Lord came to me saying…

Zechariah 4:8 – Then the word of the Lord came to me saying…

Jonah 1:1 – Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying…

1 Kings 21:17 – Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite saying…

Luke 3:2 – during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

Acts 13:48 – And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

1 Corinthians 14:37 – If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the things I write to you are the Lord’s commandment.

Even Jesus while on the earth respected and obeyed his Father’s commands. “For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment – what to say and what to speak (John 12:49).

These men of God did not move unless commanded to do so. Jonah is an exception – he did not initially obey the word of God when he was commanded to preach to Nineveh (Jon 1:3). He did obey later on (Jon 3:1).

The aforementioned verses clearly let us know the words in our Bibles come from God. This is the order of how the word of God came to us in the present:

1

.       Revelation – God supernaturally disclosing his words to the prophets and apostles and men of old

2.       Inspiration – Or better translated, God-breathed. From the mind of the prophet to the original document. Lord placed his words in the minds and hearts of the human authors of scripture to record it on a document

3.       Canonicity – The process that determines which books would comprise our Bibles. We have 66 books in our Protestant Bibles. The Catholic Bible has an additional 12 books called the Apocrypha.[1] Protestants do not believe the Apocrypha are inspired books. Two of the books have reliable historic material – The books of 1 & 2 Maccabees

4.       Transmission – The method of preserving and getting the manuscripts through time to us in the present

5.       Textual Criticism – We have numerous extant (or existing) manuscripts that have to be placed into Old & New Testaments, Hebrew and Greek Bibles

6.       Translation – The process of getting our Hebrew and Greek Bibles into one’s native language

Men throughout history have carefully preserved the Biblical text. That has been their involvement regarding it. He has never had the responsibility or the right to write his own thoughts. The wisdom it contains is far too great for any man or committee of men to develop. The reason the writer of this article can dogmatically say that is because I have read the entire Bible several times, and feel like I have just scratched the surface regarding its marvelous truth. One of my teachers likened his knowledge of Biblical truth like walking along the beach standing at the shoreline with his feet barely getting wet. In his mind, he had not reached into the deep richness of God’s word. What was amazing about his statement was he had been teaching God’s word for forty years and was an amazing and extraordinary expositor of the truth before his passing.

So again, the question must be asked, “Who wrote the Bible?” If you say man wrote it, then we must conclude that it contains nothing but errors and cannot be trusted. It is corrupted and should be thrown away. But, if these are the very words of God, then we must embrace it as the most precious, priceless commodity on earth and be willing to study it diligently, learn its precepts, plumb its depths, obey its commands, preach and teach it lovingly, and boldly, and defend it at all costs. That is what faithful men and women have done throughout history; they were convinced the word of God was true and many gave their lives for it.

Why should we do this?

Simple, because its true (Pro 30:5; John 17:17).

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[1] Apocrypha means hidden. These books were written in what is called the intertestamental period – between the Old and New Testaments. None of the N.T. writers quote from these books. That is why they are not included with the Canon – i.e. the sixty-six. If they are in any Bibles they should be included as a post script indicating they are non-canonical.  

Is God a Respecter of Persons?

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What does genuine confession of Sin look like?

How do you know if someone has really repented of sin? How do you know if you have really repented of sin? Can you say you have sincerely repented if you continue to commit the same sins over and over again? Repentance by definition means in Greek to change one’s mind. Regarding sin we are not only commanded to change our minds, we are to change our behavior as well.

The best illustration in the New Testament would be that of King David. We all know the story of David and Bathsheba, and how he committed adultery with her (2 Sam 11:4). When David was confronted with his sin by the prophet Nathan, David immediately expressed contrition and repented (2 Sam 12:13). As a matter of fact, David said, “ I have sinned against the Lord”. Well, didn’t he sin against Bathsheba and her husband Uriah whom he arranged to have killed in battle too (2 Sam 11:17;12:9)?

Yes, David sinned against all three, but he knew the ultimate and most gravest of his sins was against the Lord who’s laws he broke. God through Moses said, “You shall not murder (Ex 20:13). You shall not commit adultery (Ex 20:14). You shall not steal (Ex 20:15). You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife (Ex 20:17).

To go deeper into David’s grief we must travel to the fifty-first Psalm.

1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.

5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

9Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.

10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you.

14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.

15 Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise.

16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.

18 May it please you to prosper Zion, to build up the walls of Jerusalem.

19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous, in burnt offerings offered whole; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

This is what is called a penitential psalm because the psalmist is expressing grief over his sin. Notice what David says in verses 12-13, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me, then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you.”

What the psalmist means in these verses is that once he cleans his own life up, he is in a position to help others see their sin so that they can repent and turn to God like he did.

David is devastated by his sin, and begs to be restored to a right relationship with God. Sin breaks our fellowship with God, not our relationship. David never ceased being a child of God, he was simply in disobedience to his Heavenly Father so he had to be severely chastened for his evil ways (Heb 12:5-11).

This is a clear picture of what genuine repentance looks like. How do we know David truly repented? He never committed adultery again.

We all need to use David’s words as a model of genuine confession of sin and by the power of the Holy Spirit vow to never commit the same sins over and over again. Will we always succeed? No. Because sin or evil dwells within us. But, as we become more like Christ, and develop a more Biblical mind, our frequency to sin should decrease. The more real God becomes to us, the more we will love and revere his commands, the stronger in our walk we will be.

Fire Insurance Christian

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About Evil

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Originally recorded November 1, 2015.

Struggles

There is warfare within my being

the part I hate is prevailing 

my steps are slippery I'm unsure ground

my judgments are those of a fool

Apprehension is laughing at me

focus has forsaken me long ago

I cry a loud to God for I need him so

for my indecision has me in derision

Are there any faithful around

someone who can instruct me now

are all the sons of men unwise as I hear

can anyone lend a hand

I'm sick of myself and my trifling ways

when will I ever change 

for I'm engaged in struggles with Yahweh

like Jacob and my hip is out of joint

When I intend to do well evil is present

when will I ever break free can't lay hold of 

righteousness once credited to my account

for wickedness has me overdrawn

For in confusion I scribe and by faith I pray for 

ignorance is baptized me in its pool

for wisdom's a mirage and anguish an ocean as I struggle

to keep afloat

I'm on the edge of life as the struggles ensues

the chasm of despair I'm so near

mercy hold my hand that I'm not cast into Sheol

save me now so the struggle I can bear

Inspired by Genesis 32:24-32. Originally scribed in 2004

                              

Let's discuss Baptism

When most people talk about being baptized, they strictly refer to water baptism. For many, this equates to salvation, but that is not true; water baptism never saved anyone. There is a baptism that saves, and that is the one I want to discuss.

Baptize by definition means to immerse, submerge. It also means to dip.

Baptism into death

In Romans 6:3-11 we read, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ have been baptized into his death? We were buried with him by baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

Our lives in Christ must be a life of imitation. Paul clearly reveals this in the preceding verses. Paul using the temporary sign gift of revelatory knowledge[1] explains to us what the purpose was for Christ’s life, death, and resurrection.

Jesus’ death served two purposes. First, Jesus died for God. “In what way” you may ask. Jesus had to die to satisfy the Father’s wrath and hatred against sin. Sin always will result in death. And since Christ became our substitute he willingly gave up his life for ours. So in this sense, Jesus had to die as an act of obedience to his Father. The cross was the alter by which he offered a perfect sacrifice to God. By the way, Jesus regarded his death as a baptism; no water involved (Luke 12:50).

Secondly, Jesus died to take away the sins of all those who would believe in him and grant them eternal life.

Now, what does Paul mean that we have been baptized into Jesus’ death? Paul is speaking metaphorically of course. This baptism into death is one of identification with our Lord, but make no mistake, it is a real death; the death of the old man of sin. When Jesus was raised from the dead, we were too – as a new man in Christ. The old man of sin was buried.

That is why the scripture admonishes, reminds and warns us to live holy now that we have been converted.

Romans 13:14 says, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.”

Ephesians 4:22, “That you put off concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”

Jesus’ death (or baptism) was for the conversion of sinners to live like him in this world so that others who are affected by our righteous living can also be brought into the body of Christ.

Now that we have been raised to new life through baptism, we must reckon ourselves dead to sin in as much it no longer has dominion over us, and alive to God who we joyfully serve as a new creation in Christ Jesus (2 Cor 5:17).

Putting it another way the old man with his sinful ways cannot serve God because he is of the flesh which represents death, and the new man who is redeemed and alive to God cannot serve the flesh. It's illogical, why would a living person serve a dead one? The dead cannot respond.

Do you see the radical change Christ has conferred upon us? He literally has taken away eternal death from us and buried it in ground, and in exchange given us eternal life now! We will experience the fullness of our salvation when we are glorified in his holy presence. I for one can hardly wait!

Baptism of the Holy Spirit

What is the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Simply it is when a sinner is converted and brought into the body of Christ. It is another way of saying someone is saved. One cannot be Spirit baptized without being saved; they are synonymous. Contrary to popular belief by those in the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements, babbling in unintelligible speech (or what many regard as speaking in tongues), is not evidence someone has been baptized by the Spirit. How do I know this? Because in the first century when that temporary sign gift of was operative, not all spoke in tongues (1 Cor 12:30).

In 1 Corinthians 12:13 we read, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and have been made to drink into one Spirit.”

When one is Spirit baptized, they have acknowledged they are a sinner in need of Savior to wash away their sins. There are many references to this baptism. Let’s look at a few.

Ezekiel 36:24-25: “For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out from all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.”

Titus 3:4-6: “But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit whom he poured on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior.”

Ephesians 1:7: “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”

Ephesians 5:25-26; “Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of the water by the word.”

Revelation 1:5b: “To Him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood.”

And one thousand years before Christ King David said, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity” (Psalm 32:1-2).

Water Baptism

The purpose of water baptism is to declare publicly what has happened to one inwardly. It can never take away sins. When we are water baptized, we are identifying with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. The old man of sin is dead and buried in the grave, and the new redeemed man is the one brought back from the dead. This coming out of the water is symbolic of the new birth. When John the Baptist was on the scene, he was baptizing people so they could acknowledge their sin – a baptism of repentance, (Matt 3:6), and to wait for the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

So for those reading this article who may have been baptized perhaps as a child or even as an adult, and you never repented of sin, and believed on Christ for salvation, your baptismal did not mean anything.

Once one is saved, then baptism makes sense.

In conclusion, there at least four baptisms in scripture. 1. There is John the Baptist’s baptism of repentance. This baptism no longer exists. 2. There is Jesus’ baptism of suffering and death mentioned in Luke 12:50. 3. There is the sinner’s baptism into the body of Christ (I Cor 12:13). 4. There is the sacrament of water baptism of the Christian identifying with the death, burial and resurrection of their Lord (Acts 2:41;8:38;10:47-48).

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[1] This gift was endowed by the Holy Spirit to the gospel writers to dispense revelation that had never been given before. Once the N.T. scriptures were complete, this gift ceased to operate (1 Cor 13:8).