So why do we need to read the Bible? Well, one reason is, the Bible is
God’s story. Consequently, it will help us know something about Him and His
ways. The Bible shows how He has related to people just like us throughout
history. It conveys the unfolding story of recovery
of damaged humanity.
The Bible is a big picture view of God’s work within this damaged humanity. However, there are individual parts to the story, revealing God’s work in history as He reached out to humanity. It is like a guidebook reliably showing the way to an eternal relationship with God. It records God’s revelation of Himself and His work of redemption. It is important not miss out on the amazing harmony and continuity within His story that makes up the Bible. It is His inspired Word to us as Paul has said,
The Bible is a big picture view of God’s work within this damaged humanity. However, there are individual parts to the story, revealing God’s work in history as He reached out to humanity. It is like a guidebook reliably showing the way to an eternal relationship with God. It records God’s revelation of Himself and His work of redemption. It is important not miss out on the amazing harmony and continuity within His story that makes up the Bible. It is His inspired Word to us as Paul has said,
16 “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to
teach us what is true and to make us realise what is wrong in our lives. It
corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17
God uses it to prepare and equip His people to do every good work” (2 Tim
3:16-17 NLT).
The Bible is one book in three familiar sections,
- · The Older Testament (before the coming of Christ): The story of God’s redemptive work through and with Israel the promise and expectation.
- The Newer Testament (the Gospels, the coming of Christ): The promise of hope fulfilled, in Jesus Christ.
- · The Newer Testament (Acts and the letters, post-Christ’s first coming): That is, the impact that it brought about, the Church.
But, it has also rightfully been said,
“The relational approach
distinguishes God from the Bible. God existed before the Bible existed; God
exists independently of the Bible now. God is a person; the Bible is paper. God
gave us this papered Bible to lead us to love His
person. But the person and the paper are
not the same.”[1]
Yet, the value of the Bible is that it
is God’s Word to us. Thus, God speaks through His Bible, and we need to listen and obey. This is part of
the relationship with God; He spoke to the original hearers in the Bible and through
it speaks to us today. In a relationship,
He speaks through the Bible. In relevance, it is not outdated. In power, the Bible changes lives, give hope, direction a reason for life
etc.
Pause in His presence for a moment and
think this over…
[1] McKnight, Scott. The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read
the Bible. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008), 87.
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