The Bible is one of the most influential yet undervalued books in our day. It's the core of Western Civilization. Most of the Great Books were influenced by its teachings. Numerous lives have been lost over conflicting interpretations of it. Governments have been based on those described within its pages.
Yet many of us give it little notice each day. How many Americans can recite the 10 Commandments, or quote a verse within context? We disregard the most influential text in history.
Perhaps we would appreciate it more if we thought more deeply about why we have the Bible, and what people went through to give it to us.
Throughout the Old Testament, God revealed Himself to men whom He charged with proclaiming His will to His people. The people hated the prophets. As Hebrews puts it, these men "experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also
chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were
sawn in two...." and why? They loved God, and were committed to declaring His message at any cost. After Christ's life on earth, His disciples painstakingly recorded His ministry. The Apostles wrote letters of encouragement, instruction, and admonition to their fledgling churches
while in prision.
At the close of the Canon, church councils met to determine which were the genuine books of the Bible, and which texts were imposters. A task as arduous as this could only have been successfully accomplished by the grace of God. The Confession states criteria by which we may know the true Biblical books -
- The Heavenliness of the Matter
- The Efficacy of the Doctrine [one book doesn't promote doctrine in contradiction to another's]
- The Majesty of the Style
- The Consent [or agreement] of all the Parts
- The Scope of the Whole (Which is to Give all Glory to God)
- The Full Discovery it Makes of the Only Way of Man's Salvation
During the Middle Ages, the Bible was undermined by Catholic dependence on the pope and tradition to dictate God's will for the church. Men gave their lives in defense of the Scriptures - they translated them into the common languages, stood up for correct interpretation of them, and circulated them among the laypeople.
Why all this? God has a reason for preserving His Word throughout all generations. Romans 1 states that all men instinctively know of God's existence; nature proclaims it everywhere we look. But looking at a tree isn't going to teach us in-depth theology. And so God mercifully gave us the His written Word - to proclaim Who He is, and how we might be saved.
The message is the most important in the world. Dont ignore the Book in which it's found. Would that we had the same love of the Scriptures that those who courageously went before us did.
