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Chapter One the Doctrine of the Scripture

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Chapter One the Doctrine of the Scripture 1 Chapter One The Doctrine of the Scripture Bibliology INTRODUCTION God reveals Himself. He does not remain silent. The Lord takes pleasure in making Himself known to His children. God is love; love must always communicate itself, and that revelation must come from God. The thoughts of a person can only be disclosed by that person. Likewise, only God can make Himself known. The God of the Bible is a God who speaks. He spoke the universe into existence: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth” (Ps. 33:6). God has conveyed His will and purposes by speaking to chosen men and women, with the greatest of all His revelations being found in the Person of Jesus Christ, the Word Incarnate: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1-14). Hebrews states, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds” (Heb. 1:1-2). FOPT Combined Version 082820.indd 1 8/28/20 11:31 AM 2 FOUNDATIONS OF PENTECOSTAL THEOLOGY God preserved these revelations of Himself in the Bible. Some claim God’s revelation is best found in nature. They see no need for the special revelation contained in the Bible. It is true that, if God is the creator of all nature, then nature will reveal much about the One who brought it into existence (Rom. 1:20). However, nature’s revelation of God is very limited. Certainly the God who created this amazing world and the vast universe of which the earth is a minute part must be a God of great wisdom and power. But the revelation of nature is incomplete. Nature alone cannot fully reveal the marvelous love of God, God’s holiness, or the grace of God that has pro- vided salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. Rather, it is the written Word, the Bible, that best reveals the testimony of God’s great purposes and plans for humanity. Some view the Bible as only a collection of stories about man’s effort to find God. If this were so, the Bible would have no authority or sense of divine revelation. Instead, it would merely be the account of humans groping for truth they cannot obtain. The Bible is not just the story of humanity’s attempts to find God. Rather, the Holy Scripture is the account of God’s effort to reveal Himself to every human being. Consequently, it is tremen- dously important that we understand something concerning the Bible’s ori- gin, formation, authority, inerrancy and divine inspiration. These issues will be considered under the study of bibliology. I. The Names of the Scripture A. The Bible The English word Bible comes from the Greek word biblos, meaning “a book.” “The book [biblos] of the genealogy of Jesus Christ …” (Matt. 1:1). Scripture also use biblion, a diminutive form of biblos, meaning “little book”: “And he was handed the book [biblion] of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book [biblion] …” (Luke 4:17). Biblos comes from the word given to the inner pulp of the papyrus reed on which ancient scrolls (books) were written. FOPT Combined Version 082820.indd 2 8/28/20 11:31 AM The Doctrine of the Scripture • Chapter One 3 B. Other names The Bible is also called Scripture (Mark 12:10; Mark 15:28; Luke 4:21; John 2:22; John 7:38; John 10:35; Rom. 4:3; Gal. 4:30; 2 Pet. 1:20) and the Scriptures (Matt. 22:29; Mark 12:24; Luke 24:27; John 5:39; Acts 17:11; 1 Cor. 15:3-4; 2 Pet. 3:16). These terms signify holy writings. Paul also used the Holy Scriptures (Rom. 1:2; 2 Tim. 3:15) and the oracles of God (Rom. 3:2). One of the most descriptive and satisfying names is the Word of God (Mark 7:13; Rom. 10:17; 2 Cor. 2:17; 1 Thess. 2:13; Heb. 4:12). II. The Divisions of the Scripture A. The two testaments The Bible is divided into two sections known as the Old Testament and the New Testament. The word testament was originally translated “cove- nant” to signify the Old and New Testament are both covenants God made with His people. There are 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. B. Divisions in the Old Testament The Hebrew Old Testament was commonly divided into three sections: 1. The Law (Torah): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy 2. The Prophets (Nebhiim): Former Prophets: Joshua, Judges, 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Kings Latter Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, The Twelve (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi) FOPT Combined Version 082820.indd 3 8/28/20 11:31 AM 4 FOUNDATIONS OF PENTECOSTAL THEOLOGY 3. The Writings (Kethbhim): Poetical Books: Psalms, Proverbs, Job Five Rolls (Megillot): Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Esther, Ecclesiastes Historical Books: Daniel, Ezra/Nehemiah (combined), 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles1 These divisions are in keeping with Jesus’ words, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me” (Luke 24:44). Sometimes the Old Testament is referred to as the Law and the Prophets (Matt. 5:17; Matt. 11:13; Acts 13:15) or simply the Law (John 10:34; John 12:34; John 15:25; 1 Cor. 14:21). C. Divisions in the New Testament 1. Biographical: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John 2. Historical: Acts 3. Pedagogical: Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude 4. Prophetic: Revelation Sometimes the following alternate divisions are suggested: The Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John The Acts of the Apostles 1 This order is suggested in Norman L.Geisler and William E. Nix, From God to Us: How We Got Our Bible (Chicago: Moody Press, 1974) 10. They state their source as The Holy Scriptures According to the Masoretic Text, and Rudolf Kittel and Paul Kahle, eds., Biblia Hebraica (Stuttgart: Wurttembergische Bibelanstalt Stuttgart, 1937). FOPT Combined Version 082820.indd 4 8/28/20 11:31 AM The Doctrine of the Scripture • Chapter One 5 The Epistles of Paul The General Epistles The Book of Revelation2 D. Chapters and verses The Bible was not originally divided into chapters and verses. For con- venience of reference, these were added much later. It was once assumed that chapter divisions were first introduced by Cardinal Hugo (died 1263). Later investigations attribute the divisions to Stephen Langton (died 1228), Archbishop of Canterbury. The New Testament was first published with verse divisions by Robert Stephans in 1551. The first Bible to be published entirely divided into verse was the Geneva Bible of 1560. It is important to realize these divisions were not in the original texts and were not inspired. Most of the divisions are very helpful, but some have proven to be quite misleading, especially when a division comes in the middle of a specific event, idea, or flow of thought. Chapter divisions tend to suggest that a new subject is being introduced even though this is frequently not the case. Consequently, it is important at times to ignore the chapter division when analyzing the meaning of the text. For example, when John 7:53 and John 8:1 are read together without the chapter break, a significant contrast is evident: “And everyone went to his own house. But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.” 2 William Evans, The Book of Books: What It Is; How to Study It (Chicago: The Bible Institute Colportage Association, 1902) 95. FOPT Combined Version 082820.indd 5 8/28/20 11:31 AM 6 FOUNDATIONS OF PENTECOSTAL THEOLOGY III. The Writers of the Scripture The Bible is one book, but it is also many books written by at least 40 authors over a period of not less than 1,500 years. Many of the authors never met each other, yet the Bible’s unity and continuity is so apparent; it is easy to think of it as having just one author, God Himself. Of the 66 different books in the Bible, the authors of 55 are well identi- fied by history and tradition. The 11 books whose authors are not known are Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles, Esther, Job and Hebrews. Some books, such as Genesis, Judges, 1 Kings and 2 Kings, and 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles, cover such long periods of history it is possible that they are collections of ancient records brought together and edited by one individual towards the end of the histor- ical period described in the book. For instance, Moses could be the compiler of the book of Genesis. If this is so, then the actual number of writers contributing to the Bible may be con- siderably more than 40.
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