The Christian Bible forms the measure of our faith. While tradition, reason and experience can contribute in valuable ways to our faith, they are not always the teachings of Jesus, the prophets and apostles. Let’s look at the canon of the Bible.
Compiling the Bible over thousands of years is called canonization. Canon means rule or measure and the Bible canon is thus the measure of the Christian faith. Canonization was a process whereby over time, ancient documents were deemed as authoritative and thus incorporated into the Bible by believers.
The Old Testament or Hebrew Scriptures were put together in a gradual process beginning with the earliest records compiled by Moses and concluding with Ezra. The New Testament canon was widely recognized long before any official acceptance.
Factors involved in deciding which books ought to be in the New Testament included 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, we all agree on the same central 66 books. The canon was already widely recognized and later confirmed during many North African meetings of church leaders known as the Councils of Carthage from 397 to 419 AD.
Inerrancy and infallibility
Inerrancy is a term that is much maligned and misunderstood. It is not found in the Bible. Rather, it is a negative synonym to the positive biblical word truth.
Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. (John 17:17 NIV)
Is understanding the Bible important?
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)
Inerrant explains truth to a world that no longer believes in absolute truth. It does not include translation errors. It means that the Bible will not fail in its purpose.
Inerrancy is not a perfect word but is widely used among conservative Christians and usually limited to describing the original writings. Inerrantists recognize that no later translation of the Bible is perfect.
Another proposition is the infallibility of the Bible. Some believe it’s a better word, some think it is equal, and others consider it to be inferior to inerrancy. Infallibility means that the Bible is completely trustworthy as a guide to salvation and faith. It will accomplish its purpose.
How to Understand the Bible
Interpretation
How can we understand the Bible? Do we need heaven to help us understand? Did the Holy Spirit aid the apostles in accurately recalling events of Christ’s earthly ministry that they would eventually write down?
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)
Does something or someone lighten our path?
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 don’t begin by shoving our culture backwards into history. Rather, we begin in the past, with their culture, their grammar, genre, history, and ask questions like “What did the author intend?”, “What did God intend?”, “What does the text actually say?”, and “What does the text NOT say?”
The process of exegesis is already done in large part down through history by dedicated theologians and other researchers who understand the original languages and study ancient history. One of the very best places to start is by using trusted conservative commentaries. Beware! Some Bible commentaries are written by people who do not believe that all scripture is God breathed. They sow doubt and not faith.
It is almost a useless exercise asking a group Bible Study questions like, “What does this verse mean to you?” In reality, we should not care what people THINK a text means. We should want to know what it actually means. That’s where experts who write commentaries help.
Application
The whole process of studying the Bible should take us from the historical context through a modern application into our hope of eternity. This process is also called hermeneutics. Since ancient times, Bible students have studied four different facets of hermeneutics: a literal, moral, allegorical and anagogical lesson. The last of these deals with the afterlife. Any passage of scripture can involve all four facets.
Application can be a joyful journey of Christian discussion. The application step is where everyone can be an expert. How does a passage of Scripture apply to business, politics, church, farm, community and family?
The application step can also be dangerous, legalistic and even heretical. We may be tempted to have legalistic man-made rules which supersede God’s law, vain traditions and even heresy.
The Holy Spirit’s Help
The Holy Spirit helps us understand the Bible. However, we need to be careful, pray for discernment, and test or prove the spirits.
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1 NASB)
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 who can advise us. Going it alone is dangerous for any Christian. Conservative Bible commentaries, written by those who actually believe the Bible, are excellent counselors.
Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety. (Proverbs 11:14 ESV)
Of course, the Holy Spirit is our main advisor.
… 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)
May our hearts be flooded with heavenly light.
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)
Do you believe that God inspired a handbook for all humanity? Do you believe it to be a record of His dealings with mankind through many generations? Do you believe it contains a blueprint of His eternal plan for us? You decide!
