The
writing of the Sacred Volume called the Bible was a cooperative venture
between
God and man, with the Holy Spirit revealing and guiding every step of
the way.
However, lest someone get the idea that we believe the Bible is a mere
dictation product of heaven, we wish to look into the human aspects of
this
great undertaking.
The
Bible was written in human languages. As a matter of fact, we know not
that God
ever attempted to communicate with man in any other way than through
languages
known to man. The Bible was written in at least three
languages—Hebrew, Aramaic,
and Greek—all three of which are dead languages, and have
been for thousands of
years; hence, the meanings of their words have not changed in all these
centuries. These languages exhibit their own peculiar linguistic forms,
and
this makes the job of translation a sticky wicket at times.
The
Bible, since it is in reality a library of books, was written by more
than
thirty-five writers over a period of some sixteen hundred years. It
reflects
grammatical changes, irregularities, and nuances of the authors and the
times
in which it was written. It also was written in different genres, such
as
poetry, prose, literal, figurative and symbolic languages. Therefore,
if it is
to be understood, poetry must be read as poetry, prose as prose, etc.
Sometimes
one finds both prose and poetry in the same chapter, especially when
studying
the prophets. Not only are there different types of writing in the
Sacred
Volume, but there are different styles within the types. For example,
Paul and
Peter may have written about the same thing, as they obviously did (2
Peter
3:14-16), and they may have both written in prose, and yet we know the
writing
of Paul from that of Peter by the styles of the writers, which is to
say, the
way they used words, arranged words, their distinctive forms of writing.
The
Book of books speaks of human interests as one can see from such
passages as 2 Timothy 4:13,
in which we find Paul urging
Timothy to come to him before winter and to bring with him the cloak he
left in
Troas, his books and especially the parchments. These things reveal
something
of Paul’s personal wants and desires. While speaking of Paul,
we will point out
that the Bible sometimes utilized fallible human memory to recall
facts. In 1 Corinthians
1:14-16, Paul, recalling his own
work in Corinth, spoke of baptizing only Crispus and Gaius, then
remembered
that he had immersed the family of Stephanas, but could not recall
whether he
had baptized any other. It is almost like overhearing Paul talk of
these
matters. The Holy Spirit did not bring everything to his memory. That
would not
serve the purpose for which the Bible was written.
The
awesome Book incorporates the distinct characteristics of different
human
cultures. For example, as Paul was closing his first letter to the
church in
the city of Thessalonica,
he wrote, “Greet
all the brethren with a holy kiss” (1
Thessalonians 5:26 NKJV).
Had he been writing to a modern
American church he would have said, “Greet everyone with a
hearty handshake.”
Why the difference? Because of the differences in culture, both ancient
and
modern.
Finally,
the Bible speaks of God from a typical human perspective. It virtually
overflows with what we call, “anthropomorphisms.”
By that we mean that it
assigns human elements and characteristics to God. He is spoken of as
having
eyes, ears, arms, hands, feet, legs, heart, etc. Yet John 4:24 plainly reveals
that this is not the case. Jesus told
the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must
worship in spirit and truth” (John
4:24 NKJV).
We all understand that a Spirit does
not have the elements that make up human beings, though these things
are said
to belong to God. The Bible was written by God and man for the purpose
of man’s
understanding what is found in it. Won’t you read and search
it daily?
