Sunday, August 15: How well do you know the Bible?

When it comes to the availability to read and study the Bible, it is certainly easier today than ever in history. In the days of Jesus, there were a limited number of hand-written scrolls, not books, yet knowing the Tanakh (the Hebrew Old Testament) was an important task for the Jewish men. After the completion of the New Testament, scribes copied the Bible. According to legend, any time the scribe wrote the word “God,” he would bathe and clean himself thoroughly beforehand. A passage mentioning God’s name more than once would be an arduous process. If a scribe misspelled a word, he started the page over again, as there was no white-out and the copy needed to be perfect. Consequently, there were not that many copies of the Bible in its entirety.


When Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, it all changed. In 1455, Gutenberg published the Bible. After that time, many Christians began to read the Bible, instead of relying on a priest to read it to them in Latin. Today, we have the freedom to read whenever and wherever we like. Additionally, we have many different versions of the Bible along with computer software to help us to read the Bible in the original languages of Greek and Hebrew. Yet in some ways, there are fewer people studying the Bible than ever before.


Why is it important to know the Bible? In addition to teaching us about the words and deeds of Jesus, God’s own Son who walked this earth, the Bible teaches us about God’s dealings with man all throughout time. Because God doesn’t change, His Laws do not change. The Bible gives us instructions of how to live in a godly manner, and how to know God. Additionally, God wants us to know His Word well enough to share it with others:


15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; 16 having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. 17 For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
1 Peter 3:15-17


This verse is not instructing us to go door-to-door like the Jehovah’s witnesses, but as misguided as that group may be in some regards, they are typically better instructed in defending their faith. We are to be prepared to defend our faith whenever naysayers come our way. Yet the heart is a key to it all, as we are to have both meekness and fear when sharing our faith with others. Meekness has been described as power under control, with the picture coming to mind of a stallion, that runs both gracefully and powerfully. Certainly, meekness is not a synonym of weakness. Additionally, Jesus overturning the tables of the money changers in the temple gives us a better picture, as it took strength to completely intimidate a group, yet He did it as humbly as possible.


Many Christians attempt to argue another person to the Lord, but rare are the times when an argument actually changes someone’s mind. Most of us have come to our beliefs based on our upbringing, our education, our life experiences and our own thought processes. Middle-Easterners admire a man capable of a logical argument, but in the Western world, an argument is more of a sign of disrespect. Consequently, if we are prepared when someone asks a question about the Bible, we honor God in our humbleness and fear. We don’t lead someone to Jesus; He draws them:


No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.
John 6:44

Sometimes, we lose heart when the person we share with doesn’t seem ready to walk away from the cares of the world. Yet every word about God is a planted seed. With that being said, if someone sees the joy in your life, especially in the midst of hardship, and asks questions about God based on what they see in your life, you need to be ready.


So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55:11


But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
John 14:26