How does God reveal himself in the Bible? What are inerrancy and infallibility? How do we understand the Bible? How does the Holy Spirit help us understand the Bible? All this is a special part of studying God by studying how important his revelation in the Bible is called bibliology.
How God Reveals Himself
Since ancient times God has revealed Himself to humans in various ways that are familiar to us. He reveals Himself to us in everyday experiences of His creation, and God also reveals Himself in special ways. One of those special forms of self-disclosure is the Bible.
1. General Revelation
Does all creation broadcast the abundant and compelling evidence for God’s existence?
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. (Psalm 19:1-4 NIV)
Do people suppress the truth of God’s existence?
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. (Romans 1:18-20 NASB)
Is God’s law universally instinctive throughout human cultures?
Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it. They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right. (Romans 2:14-15 NLT)
Does God still provide even to those who ignore Him and the obvious evidence for His existence?
… turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. (Acts 14:15-17 NKJV)
God reveals himself in his creation, in human culture and in history.
… in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ … He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness… (Acts 17:22-31 NKJV)
There is common ground between believers and unbelievers on the evils of murder, theft and a host of other things. However, that common ground is limited.
How far can we discover information about God unless he also provides us with extra, special revelation?
2. Special Revelation
When God provides us special revelation beyond what we can observe with our eyes, He is unveiling His person to us and His plan of salvation in Jesus.
You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. (John 5:39-40 NIV)
He must condescend to and accommodate our limited human abilities. We are only physical and cannot understand spiritual things without extra help. There have been other kinds of special revelation.
Dreams
God has revealed Himself in dreams.
But God came to Abimelek in a dream one night and said to him, "You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman." (Genesis 20:3 NIV)
Visions
God has also revealed Himself in visions.
In a vision during the night, I saw a man sitting on a red horse that was standing among some myrtle trees in a small valley. Behind him were riders on red, brown, and white horses. (Zechariah 1:8 NLT)
Theophanies
A theophany is a visible manifestation of God.
When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him… I am the commander of the army of the Lord… Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. (Joshua 5:13-15 ESV)
Divine Speech
God has revealed Himself in voice only.
Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, “Who is this that darkens counsel By words without knowledge? (Job 38:1-2 NASB)
Special Acts
God has revealed Himself in special acts.
And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, and his servant Moses. (Exodus 14:31 KJV)
Jesus Christ
God is revealed in Jesus.
No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. (John 1:18 NKJV)
The Bible
The Bible is a written form of special revelation.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV)
The Bible is what witnesses have written down over perhaps forty generations of testimony and inspiration of God. They also made special claims about its source.
for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:21 NKJV)
So, in summary, the Bible was all given by inspiration of God as its writers were moved by the Holy Spirit.
How did we get the Bible?
The putting together of the Bible over thousands of years is called canonization. Canon means rule or measure and the Bible canon is the measure of Christian faith. Canonization was the process whereby books were considered as the authoritative written measure of our faith and incorporated into the Bible by the Jews and the Church.
The Old Testament or Hebrew canon was put together in a gradual process beginning with the earliest records compiled by Moses and concluding with Ezra. The New Testament canon was unofficially recognized widely even before it was made official.
Factors involved in deciding which books ought to be in the New Testament include that each piece was to be of apostolic origin, catholic (that is, universally accepted), Christ-centered, orthodox in its teaching, and contain internal evidence supporting it.
The number of books in the Christian Bible varies across Protestant, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Assyrian Eastern traditions. However, they all agree on the same central 66 books. The Christian Bible was finalized at one of the many North African meetings of church leaders known as the Council of Carthage in 397 and 419 AD.
Inerrancy and infallibility
Inerrancy is a term that is much misunderstood. Although it is not found in the Bible itself, it has been widely used to expound upon the Bible’s own definition of itself as truth.
Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. (John 17:17 NIV)
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15 NKJV)
Inerrancy is a term used to mean that the Bible is completely truthful and accurate. In today’s world, the word truth has taken on a relative meaning, so the word inerrancy is often used to explain what truth is supposed to mean. It is not meant to include translation errors or other such apparent discrepancies, and includes the concept that the Bible will not fail in the purpose for which it was written
Inerrancy is not a perfect word but is widely used among conservative Christians and usually limited to the original writings not later translations. All scholars tend to agree that no translation of the Bible is perfect.
Another widely accepted description is the infallibility of the Bible. To some people, it just sounds better than inerrancy though it can mean the same thing. Infallibility means that the Bible is completely trustworthy as a guide to salvation and faith. It will not fail and will accomplish its purpose.
How to Understand the Bible
Interpretation
How do we understand the Bible? Obviously, because the meaning is spiritual, heaven must illuminate the scriptures to our understanding.
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 that I said to you. (John 14:26 NASB)
There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. (John 1:9 NASB)
The most widely accepted process of understanding the Bible among faithful experts is to start with exegesis. That means to prayerfully extract as best we can the original meaning. We begin in the past. We must look at the grammar, genre, history, ask “What did the author intend?” and “What did God intend?”
The process of exegesis is already done in large part down through history by dedicated theologians who understand the original languages and study ancient history. One of the very best places to start is by using trusted commentaries. Commentaries exist for all levels of education from the very simple and popular to the very deep and thorough “critical” (meaning analytical) commentaries. Just take a look through a Christian book store or on the internet to find commentaries that will help with every book of the Bible.
It is almost a useless exercise asking a group questions like, “What does this verse mean to you?” In reality, we don’t care what people think a text means, but what it really does mean. That’s where experts who write commentaries help.
Application
Only once we understand the past can the Holy Spirit can help us begin to see how to apply the Bible to our present situations. The whole process from past to present becomes a complete hermeneutic or interpretation.
As we learn the interpretation, formulate scriptural principles, meditate and correlate them and most importantly pray, we can then begin to understand how to apply God’s instructions in theory or practice today.
Application is at once a dangerous step and also a joyful journey of Christian discussion. However, the next step, application, is where everyone can be an expert.
One person in a discussion may have ideas as to how a particular passage of Scripture applies to the business world and another to government. One may see applications in church life and another may see applications in farming life.
The danger in the application process that we ought to avoid is making up lists of do’s and don’ts. This is a form of legalism, whereby we make up the rules for others to follow and is a major cause of heresies in the church.
The Holy Spirit’s Help
The Holy Spirit can help us understand the Bible. However, we still need to be careful. Many people have gone off in crazy directions claiming that the Holy Spirit led them there. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to illuminate the Bible to our understanding, but He also lights up the understanding of others, so it is always wise to double check in a commentary or with those who are better trained in what the Bible says.
… these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit… that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual… they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:9-14 ESV)
I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. (Ephesians 1:18 NLT)
The Word of God
The Scriptures and the Word of God are treated synonymously throughout the Bible.
For instance, on the one hand God said:
I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. (Genesis 12:3 NIV)
This is also described as something that scripture said:
Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: ‘All nations will be blessed through you.’ (Galatians 3:8 NIV)
Again we read that God said:
But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” (Exodus 9:16 NIV)
But elsewhere this is something that scripture said:
Scripture says to Pharaoh: ‘I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.’ (Romans 9:17 NIV)
Again scripture says:
That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. (Genesis 2:24 NIV)
And again, scripture saying is the same as God saying:
‘Haven’t you read,’ he replied, ‘that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?’ (Matthew 19:4-5 NIV)
David composed a Psalm asking:
Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?” (Psalm 2:1 NIV)
Yet, Peter and John prayed to God:
You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: ‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?' (Acts 4:24-25 NIV)
On the one hand we read:
The Lord says, ‘Don’t harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah, as they did at Massah in the wilderness.’” (Psalm 95:8 NLT)
And this is the same as:
the Holy Spirit says, ‘Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled, when they tested me in the wilderness.’ (Hebrews 3:7-8 NLT)
Summary
The Bible is one way God specially reveals Himself to us. All Scripture, not just part, is gently breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. All Christians agree on the core books of the Bible. Conservative, orthodox Christians use terms like inerrant and infallible to describe the Bible to a world that no longer understands what truth means. The Holy Spirit illuminates understanding of the Bible to those led by the Spirit. Exegesis attempts to draw out the true meaning whereas eisegesis just shoves our heresies into the Bible. We apply the Scriptures to our lives carefully, trying not to create legalistic, man-made rules that are not in the Bible. The Scriptures are the Word of God.
