The Bible - God’s Word

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The Bones of Belief

A clergyman took a seat in a dining car on a train traveling along the Hudson River. Opposite him was an atheist who, seeing his clerical collar, started a discussion. “I see you are a clergyman.” “Yes,” came the reply. “I am a minister of the gospel.” “I suppose you believe the Bible.” The clergyman, orthodox in his views, responded, “I certainly do believe the Bible to be the Word of God.” “But aren’t there things in the Bible you can’t explain?” With humility the minister answered, “Yes, there are places in the Bible too hard for me to understand.” With an air of triumph as though he had cornered the preacher, the atheist asked, “Well, what do you do then?” Unruffled, the clergyman went on eating his dinner—which happened to be Hudson shad, a tasty fish but noted for its bony structure. Looking up, he said, “Sir, I do just the same as when eating this shad. When I come to the bones, I put them to the side of the plate and go on enjoying my lunch. I leave the bones for some fool to choke on.”

The Deeper Meaning of Scripture

So Much Time to Read

How much time does it take to read from Genesis to Revelation? If you would read the Bible at standard pulpit speed (slow enough to be heard and understood) the reading time would be seventy-two hours. If you would break that down into minutes and divide it into 365 days, you could read the entire Bible, cover to cover, in only twelve minutes a day. Is this really too much time to spend reading about God?

The Bible and Its Christ

We have an almost superstitious attitude to Bible reading as if it had some magical efficacy. But there is no magic in the Bible or in the mechanical reading of the Bible. No, the written Word points to the Living Word and says to us, “Go to Jesus.” If we do not go to Jesus to Whom it points, we miss the whole purpose of Bible reading.

Evangelical Christians are not, or ought not to be, what we are sometimes accused of being, namely, “bibliolaters,” worshipers of the Bible. We do not worship the Bible; we worship the Christ of the Bible. Here is a young man who is in love. He has a girlfriend who has captured his heart. As a result he carries a photograph of his beloved in his wallet because it reminds him of her when she is far away. Sometimes, when nobody is looking, he might even take the photograph out and give it s surreptitious kiss. But kissing the photograph is a poor substitute for the real thing. And so it is with the Bible. We love it only because we love Him of Whom it speaks. –John R. W. Stott

Rule for Prudent Religion

On the whole subject of religion, one rule of modesty and soberness is to be observed, and it is this: In obscure matters not to speak or think, or even long to know, more than the Word of God has delivered. A second rule is that in reading the Scriptures we should constantly direct our inquires and meditations to those things which tend to edification, not indulge in curiosity, or in studying things of no use. –John Calvin

The Potent Word of God

The Epistle to the Hebrews is difficult to translate because so much of the content concerns the Jewish culture and religious rituals that are totally foreign to the Agta people who live in the northern Philippines. However, some parts of the epistle really makes sense to them, like the verse in Hebrews 4:12: “The Word of God is living and potent.”

Depending upon the context, the Agta word madagat can mean stinging, venomous, or potent. A poisonous snake is madagat, but so are some medicines that can heal. My translation assistant explained his understanding of how the Word of God is potent: “It depends upon how we approach it. If we disregard it, it’s like the poisonous snake. But if we live by it, its potency is like medicine.”

Simple Understanding

There was no gymnasium on our seminary campus, so we played basketball in a nearby public school. The janitor, an old black man with white hair, would wait patiently until the seminarians had finished playing. Invariably he sat there reading his Bible.

One day I went up to him and inquired, “What are you reading?”

The man did not simply reply, “The Bible.” Instead he answered, “The Book of Revelation.”

With a bit of surprise, I asked, “The Book of Revelation? Do you understand it?”

“Oh, yes,” the man assured me. “I understand it.”

“You understand the Book of Revelation? What does it mean?”

Very quietly that old janitor answered, “It means that Jesus is gonna win.” –Bernard Travaielle

The Age of Elizabeth I

No greater moral change every passed over a nation than passed over England during the years which parted the middle of the reign of Elizabeth from the Long Parliament. England became a people of the book, and that book was the Bible. It was read at churches and read at home, and everywhere its words, as they fell on ears which custom had not deadened, kindled a startling enthusiasm. As a mere literary monument, the English version of the Bible remains the noblest example of the English tongue. But far greater was the effect of the Bible on the character of the people. Elizabeth might silence or tune the pulpits, but it was impossible for her to silence or tune the great preachers of justice and mercy and truth who spoke from the Book. The whole temper of the nation felt the change. A new conception of life and of man superseded the old. A new moral and religious impulse spread through every class.

–John Richard Green