International Bible Baptist Church, Bangkok, Thailand

CongregationSeptember 28, 2013

STUDIES ABOUT THE BIBLE

I. What is the Bible?

A) The Bible is the Word of God. 1) Biblical Inspiration: The writers were inspired. II Tim. 3:16 a) The Bible is “theopneustos” meaning “God-breathed” “By inspiration we mean the supernatural control by God over the production of the Old and New Testament.” -----Robert Lee

b)God speaking through men.” --William Evans c) The Holy Ghost was miraculously present, preserving accuracy in the writings. Holy men of God, overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, wrote at His command; thus they were kept from error as they recorded things known and unknown to them. II Peter 1:21

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2) Some of the authors recorded history that they have witnessed.(Ex.: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

3) Others have written about things that happened long agoEx.: Moses writing about the creation

There are two theoriesabout this: a) The Jews carefully kept records of their genealogies over the years and Moses just compiled them b) God dictated everything during his 40 days in Mount Sinai.c) Logically, God might have told Moses to include records of the generations also in Mt. Sinai

4) Others wrote prophesy. a) God spoke to Jeremiah directly and gave him visionsJeremiah 1: 13-14 b) Isaiah prophesied about Jesus Christ and he died without seeing his prophesies fulfilled Isaiah 53: 7,8

c) John the Apostle wrote the Book of Revelation.He said that he saw one like unto the Son of man and he told him to write everything that he saw. Rev. 1: 11

2) Illumination:The Holy Spirit illuminated them to see the event in a spiritual manner and then they wrote them down in their own words and style of writing. We believe that not only the thoughts are inspired but also the words. God allowed the writer to use his own words and education, revealing his personality. Ex.: a) David wrote about sheep, rod and staff

b) The education and logical mind of Paul is evident in Romans and Galatians

3) Other Theories A) Verbatim Reporting: God dictated the Scriptures as an executive to a secretary. So inspiration would be reduced to a mechanical process.B) Thought InspirationGod gave the main thought to the writers and they were free to express these in their own words as they thought best.We believe that every word

was approved by the writer, the Holy SpiritC) Partial InspirationOnly parts of the Bible are inspired or the Bible contains the Word of God instead if the Bible is the Word of God

4) The True Explanation: > Plenary or Full Verbal Inspiration > We believe that every word in the Bible is inspired “All Scripture” II Timothy 3:16We believe that each writer had liberty to use his personality, education and experience with certain limits. The Holy Spirit guarded each thought, each phrase, each word to preserve accuracy.

II. The Bible is Perfect and Inerrant or Has No Errorsa) So if we believe that the Scriptures are inspired, we should believe that it has no error because God will not do anything that has any errors in it. Every promise will be given, every principle will definitely push through and every prophesy will be fulfilled. Matthew 5:18, Psalm 19:7

b) Other religions or denominations use the Bible if they like what it says. But they have other sources of their doctrines like teachings of their leaders or other reading materials. It is only one of their referencesc) Christians believe that the Bible is the final authority of faith and practice. We believe that the Bible has a passage about every aspect of Christian life and church management. It is unsurpassable in wisdom and it is complete. It is not just a reference but it is our TEXTBOOK. Some Christians also just what to read, believe and do what they like to read do and believe but we should follow all the commands of God in order to be truly blessed. II Peter 3:2

III. The Bible is Eternal; Matthew 24:34There only three things in this world that are eternal: the soul, the spirit and the Word of God.The Bible itself said that heaven and earth shall pass away but His Word will not pass away. This book will be used to judge us in the judgment day. Revelation 20:15

IV. The Conclusion

We accept the Scripture as the infallible Word of God; the canon of 66 books as complete, we do not recognize the Apocrypha or any other books to be inspired. The original Scriptures will be the standard of judgment in the last day, John 12:48Let us read the Bible daily and obey its message in our daily lives. God’s people must handle this book carefully and reverently; it is God’s love letter to us. Let us rejoice that God has spoken and endeavor by the power of the Holy Spirit to walk in the light of its revelation. It is life’s manual of handbook. If we follow it, surely we will live abundant lives.