In the previous two chapters we found that the Bible is unique and accurate. To refresh our memories, let us review some of the more pertinent points that we discovered.

1. The Bible was written over a 1536 year time span by 40 different writers from various walks of life; yet it reveals the single coherent theme of God's redemption of man.
2. It has been read by more people than any other book and has been published in more languages and dialects than any other piece of literature.
3. Even though many kings, nations and governments have tried to destroy it, there still exists more ancient manuscript evidence of the Bible than any other ten pieces of ancient literature combined.
4. Its accuracy has been and continues to be verified from the historical, scientific and prophetic viewpoints. In fact, its prophetic accuracy is unprecedented. Within its pages prophecies that were predicted to occur in the near term, that is one year or less, to prophecies predicted to occur within tens, hundreds and even thousands of years have been and continue to be fulfilled.

Why? Why is the Bible so unique? Why is it so different from all the other known pieces of literature? What we will find is that the reason for this is because It is the Word of God.

To see this we will,

1. Conduct a brief survey of the books of the Bible.
2. Review the history and origin of the Bible.
3. Search the Scriptures to fine that the true Author of the Bible is God Almighty.

Before we begin our study, let us now come before our God and Father and ask Him for His guiding hand,

Dear Heavenly Father,

I come before You in Jesus Christ’s Holy Name. Father please provide me true spiritual wisdom and understanding so that I will be able to recognize Your Word. Lord please do not allow me to go to the left or right but lead me directly to the knowledge of You and Your Word.

Amen

There are two major divisions of the Bible, the Old Testament (the books written before Jesus Christ’s life upon this earth) and the New Testament (the books written after Jesus Christ’s death, resurrection and ascension into heaven). The reason for this division goes back to the belief that the Old Testament, which documents God's covenant or promise given through Moses, was superceded by a new covenant provided by Jesus Christ. However as we progress through the remaining chapters of "Spiritual Foundations" we will find that the New Testament is not really new. Actually, the New Testament records the fulfillment of what God foretold and promised during the Old Testament days of what was to come. Specifically, He, the Messiah, would come to save mankind from their sin.

The Old Testament is the collection of thirty nine books that were considered by the Jewish elders and priests as being divinely written or inspired. The Old Testament begins with the book of Genesis and ends with the book of Malachi. As we will see later in this chapter Jesus separates these books into three partitions: the Law of Moses, the Psalms and the Prophets.

In this partition we read about God’s creation of the universe and His establishment of the nation of Israel. We also find within this partition the description of the various moral and ceremonial laws that God gave through Moses. This partition contains the following books,

1. Genesis
2. Exodus
3. Leviticus
4. Numbers
5. Deuteronomy

These are the books that are often called the books of wisdom and poetry. In this partition of the Old Testament we find good examples for prayer, worship and proverbs to live by. This partition also contains some prophecies and is composed of the following books,

1. Job
2. Psalms
3. Proverbs
4. Ecclesiastes
5. Song Of Solomon

This partition, the last major partition of the Old Testament and the largest by far of the three, is normally divided by the English Bible scholars into three sections: the Historical books, the Major Prophets and the Minor Prophets.

1. HISTORICAL BOOKS

These are the books that record the history of the nation of Israel. This history starts after Israel's exodus from Egypt and enters into the land of Canaan. These books also contain, as good object lessons for us, many accounts of God’s dealings with various individuals and the nation of Israel as a whole. This section contains the following books,

1. Joshua
2. Judges
3. 1 Samuel
4. 2 Samuel
5. 1 Kings
6. 2 Kings
7. 1 Chronicles
8. 2 Chronicles
9. Ezra
10. Nehemiah
11. Ester
12. Ruth

In addition to the historical books there are the major and minor prophets. The distinction between major and minor prophets is only a reference to the length of their writings not to their quality. These books record various prophecies with respect to individuals, the nation of Israel and various Gentile (that is non Jewish) nations.

2. THE MAJOR PROPHETS

1. Isaiah
2. Jeremiah
3. Lamentations
4. Ezekiel
5. Daniel

2. THE MINOR PROPHETS

1. Hosea
2. Joel
3. Amos
4. Obadiah
5. Jonah
6. Micah
7. Nahum
8. Habakkuk
9. Zephaniah
10. Haggai
11. Zechariah
12. Malachi

The New Testament is the collection of twenty seven books written after the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The New Testament begins with the Gospel according to Matthew and ends with the book of Revelation, that is The Apocalypse. These books are normally partitioned into four categories: the Gospels, History, the Epistles and the Prophecy.

In this partition we find the Gospel’s according to,

1. Matthew
2. Mark
3. Luke
4. John

In this category there is only one book, the book of the Acts of the Apostles which commonly called the book of Acts. This book provides us an historical account of the early development of the Christian Church.

The epistles, which are letters of instruction and/or correction, written to churches, or individuals have been partitioned into the following two sections,

1. PAULINE EPISTLES

1. Romans
2. 1 Corinthians
3. 2 Corinthians
4. Galatians
5. Ephesians
6. Philippians
7. Colossians
8. 1 Thessalonians
9. 2 Thessalonians
10. 1 Timothy
11. 2 Timothy
12. Titus
13. Philemon
14. Hebrews

2. GENERAL EPISTLES

1. James
2. 1 Peter
3. 2 Peter
4. 1 John
5. 2 John
6. 3 John
7. Jude

In this partition of the New Testament there is only one book and that is the book of The Apocalypse, which means the revelation. This book was written by the Apostle John.

For us to better understand why we can be sure that the thirty nine books of the Old Testament are Holy Scripture, we will,

1. Review the history and origin of today's Old Testament.
2. Find that in the first century writings the present Old Testament was identified as Holy Scripture.
3. See that our Lord and His Apostles bore witness to the divine inspiration of the Old Testament.

According to the, "Chronological and Background Charts of the Old Testament" by John W. Walton in approximately 200BC there were in use four Old Testament texts that were considered to be Holy Scripture. The development of these four texts are briefly described in the following paragraphs.

After Cyrus set the Jewish people free, in approximately 538BC, from their Babylonian captivity there were some who elected to remain in Babylon and not return to Jerusalem. Using the Old Testament that was brought from Jerusalem when the Jewish nation was initially captured, these Jewish people, who remained in Babylon, ultimately developed and used by 400BC a version of the Old Testament that is called the "Proto-Masoretic" text.

Using the Scriptures that was originally carried to Babylon, Ezra, in the fifth century BC, after returning to Jerusalem, formulated an Old Testament called the "Old Palestinian" recension. Over the years this text was refined and a second version of the Scriptures emerged in approximately 400BC known as the "Proto-Samaritan" text.

The third version of the Old Testament in use from around 300BC is called the Greek Septuagint, also known as LXX. This version of the Scriptures is a Greek translation of the Hebrew "Proto-Septuagint. The "Proto-Septuagint" was a development by the Jews living in Egypt using Ezra’s "Old Palestinian" text. It is this Greek Septuagint version of the Scriptures that Jesus and His disciples most often used for the Greek speaking culture of that day.

In approximately 200BC, even though the above three versions remained in use, a fourth text or version of the Scriptures was developed and put into use. This version is known as the "Samaritan recension" and was the initial effort to consolidate the previous three texts of Holy Scripture.

The most authoritative witness to the divine inspiration of the Old Testament are the Apostles and the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself. To see this, let us begin with the Apostles.

As one reads the letters of Paul one can not help but marvel on how often the Holy Spirit, through Paul, uses the Old Testament Scriptures to teach us about faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. An example of this can be seen in,

It is pointed out that the phrase, "the righteous will live by faith" comes from the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk 2:4.

The Apostle Peter also bears witness to the authority of the Old Testament. One example of this is in,

It is noted that verses 24-25 is a direct quote from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah 40:6-8. Let us also note how in verse 23 and 25 the Scripture is referred to as the Word of God.

Even though there are many examples in the letters penned by James, John and Jude that also bear witness to the authority of the Old Testament, let us move on to the most authoritative witness to the divine inspiration of the Old Testament namely, the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself. To do this, we will review some examples from the many teachings of Jesus Christ that encompass the three major divisions of the Old Testament; namely, the Law of Moses, the Psalms and the Prophets.

For an example of the many times that Jesus bore witness to the authority of the Law of Moses, let us read how He treated the incident of God's appearance to Moses from the burning bush. As we see in the following passage of Scripture Jesus uses this incident to teach the Sadducees, a Jewish sect who did not believe in the resurrection, that they were in error.

Notice that Jesus does not treat this appearance of God in the burning bush as fable. No, Jesus considered this event as an actual encounter that God had with Moses.

For a representative book from the division of the Psalms, let us use the book of Psalms. As we read the New Testament we find that in His teaching, the Lord Jesus Christ often used the Psalms. For example, in the Sermon on the Mount we read,

(taken from Psalm 37:11)

And,

(a paraphrase from Psalm 24:3-5)

In addition to teaching us about the kingdom of God, Jesus also used the Psalms to reveal to us that He was the fulfillment of them. To see this, let us see how Jesus used the Parable of the Tenants to teach the chief priests and elders of the people of what was soon going to happen to Him. As we read this parable let us keep in mind that:

1. The landowner represents God the Father.
2. The vineyard represents the people.
3. The farmers or tenants represent the elders of Israel.
4. The servants represent God’s prophets.
5. The son represents Jesus, the Son of God.
6. The other servants represent the soon to be Christians.

With this in mind let us now read from,

As Jesus completes this parable He tells the chief priests and elders that they should not be surprised at this. He does this by asking them the following question,

In other words, Jesus is telling them that if they had read and understood the Scriptures, they would know that His rejection and death were foretold in them. The significant point to made for this study is that the above passage that Jesus used to reveal what will happen to Himself is from Psalm 118:22-23. In addition, let us also note that He identifies the passage as Scripture, that is sacred writing or canon.

For our representative from the book of the Prophets, let us explore how Jesus utilized the book of Jonah to teach the people and us about the significance of His death and resurrection.

Notice that Jesus did not treat the account of Jonah and the huge fish as a mythical story. No, Jesus considered it to be an actual fact. Also notice that in verse 39 Jesus declared Jonah to be a prophet.

Thus we find that Jesus Christ Himself bore witness to the fact that the Old Testament, that is the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms were Holy Scripture. Jesus beautifully summarizes this when He appeared to His disciples, after His resurrection, and instructs them about how everything written about Him must be fulfilled. We find His instruction recorded in,

Let us notice the following verses,

In deciding whether or not a New Testament piece of writing was dynamic or not, the early church had to determine whether or not the book or letter contained the life transforming power of God. Obviously time was required for the early churches to observe and discern the effects that a piece of writing had upon its membership.

The guiding principle to determine if a piece of literature was prophetic was to determine whether or not it was written by an apostle or a person carrying the apostolic authority. Although many qualifications are needed to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ, two key ones are: to have actually seen the resurrected Christ and to have the attesting signs, wonders and miracles.

The qualification for an Apostle of Jesus Christ to have actually seen the resurrected Christ is given to us by the original eleven apostles when they were deciding who was to replace Judas after Judas committed suicide. To see this, let us read from,

Let us notice the last part of verse,

The second key qualification of attesting signs, wonders and miracles is given to us when Paul was defending his apostleship to the church in Corinth. To see this, let us read from,

Whenever the early church had a doubt with respect to the authority or origin of a New Testament book or letter, it was either discarded as spurious or held in dispute until more evidence surfaced to make a more final determination. This activity is called by Geisler and Nix as acting on the guiding principle to determine whether or not a book or letter is authentic.

This now brings us to the guiding principle of usage.

Here the authority or witness given to a New Testament work to be Scripture was actually provided by its acceptance and usage by the people of God. As an example, we find that within the Bible itself we read that the apostle Peter acknowledged Paul’s letters as Scripture. We find this given to us in,

Notice in the above passage that Peter equates Paul’s writings to the other Scriptures thereby also acknowledging them as Scripture. Unfortunately this is the only passage within the Bible that one New Testament author bears witness to the authority of another person’s writings. Consequently, one must look outside of the Scripture to the early church to see how over time they considered and used the various pieces of New Testament writings.

The final and most critical principle is one of authority. Here the issue before the early church was to decide whether or not the words within a book or letter came from God. Since this is the most critical issue of all, let us explore in a bit more depth about who the author of the Bible really is. To do this, we will look to the Bible itself and find out what it has to say about its own authorship. Because of its extreme importance our study will encompass both the Old and New Testaments. In doing so we will find that,

Since the Old Testament is composed of thirty nine books, our study of their authorship will be limited to a representative book from each of the major categories. In other words, instead of examining the authorship of each and every book of the Old Testament, this portion of our study will focus on just a representative book from the Law of Moses, The Psalms and the Prophets. However, since there are also three partitions within the Prophets, that is the historical books, the major prophets and the minor prophets, representative books from each of these partitions will also be examined for their authorship.

With this introduction, let us begin our examination by first determining who the true author is for,

Our representative book from the Law Of Moses is the book of Exodus. To find where and how Moses received the information that he wrote in the book of Exodus, let us first read from the time when God told Moses to bring the priests and elders of Israel up to Him on top of Mount Sinai.

Let us notice the following verses,

Let us now read about what happened when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments to bring them to the camp of Israel.

Let us notice the following verse,

However, as we read further we find that as Moses came down from Mount Sinai to return to the camp of Israel, he found the people steeped in the sin of idolatry. Unfortunately, Moses became so angry at them that he threw the tablets down on the ground and broke them. Consequently, Moses had to return to Mount Sinai and receive a new set. What is interesting to note here is that Moses himself could have just as easily made another set of tablets. However, this was not to be the case because God tells Moses to bring Him (God) two more tablets to write on. To see this, let us read from,

It is pretty clear that when we read the Law of Moses that we are really reading God’s Word … isn’t it?

For us to understand who is the true author of the Psalms, let us read from the New Testament where Jesus quotes from Psalm 110. Jesus uses this Psalm to teach the people and us that He (Jesus) is the Son of God and only from a human perspective does He come from the lineage of David. We find this teaching in,

In verse 36 the passage: "The Lord said to my Lord …" is a quote from Psalm 110. Thus, Jesus is telling us that it was not David, but God the Holy Spirit speaking through David who provided us this Psalm.

Our representative from the Old Testament historical books is 1 Kings. As mentioned earlier, the historical books not only provide us with the history of the nation of Israel but also provide us with various accounts of God’s dealing with many individuals. As an example, let us read the account of what God said to King Solomon when Solomon was building the Temple. To do this, let us read from,

Let us notice the following verses,

12-13 - the Bible now tells us what God said to Solomon.

Given the above, the question to be asked is, "Whose words are we really reading? Are we reading what Solomon or some other human being had to say or are we reading what God said to King Solomon?" I believe one can only conclude that it is God’s word that we have just read.

For our next example, let us examine the book of Isaiah as our representative from the major prophets. To more fully understand whose words we are really reading in the book of Isaiah, let us read how Isaiah was commissioned to be a prophet of God. The account of his commission or ordination is provided to us in,

Let us notice the following verses,

9 … God now tells Isaiah what to say to the people.

Let us read just one more example from the book of Isaiah,

"[1] The Lord said to me, "Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary pen: Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz." (God now continues with the message.)

Notice it was God who told Isaiah of what to write. Thus, as we read the book of Isaiah we are reading what God told Isaiah to say and write. In other words we are reading God's Word.

For our last Old Testament example let us examine the book of Zechariah as a representative from the minor prophets. To see whose words we are really reading in the book of Zechariah, let us read from,

It is pretty clear that what we are reading here is what God told Zechariah, isn’t it? What is also interesting to note is that in verse four we read that God tells us that the earlier prophets were also sent by Him (God) and they too spoke His words.

Let us now move on to determine who is the true author of the New Testament.

We begin our examination by determining whose words and activities we are really reading about in the Gospels. To do this, let use the Gospel according to Luke as our representative. To determine whose words we are reading in Luke’s account of the Gospel we must read what Luke wrote in,

Let us notice the following verse,

What about the epistles? Whose words are they? Well, to find out let us first investigate,

To find where Paul received the information that he spoke and wrote about, let us read the following excerpt from where Paul defends his apostleship to the church in Galatia:

As one reflects upon the above it is very clear that Paul is conveying to us that what he preached and wrote in his epistles is what he received from the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself.

Let us examine the first letter of John as our representative from the General Epistles. In the introduction to his first letter John tells us exactly where he got his information.

In other words what John is telling us is that what he wrote was what he heard Jesus Christ say and what he saw Him do. In fact, he also tells us that this was not a dream or some ecstatic vision for he also tells us that they even touched Him with their own hands!

For our final example, let us determine from whom the Apostle John received the information that he wrote in the book of Revelation. Perhaps the best way to make this determination is for us to read from,

In other words it was the resurrected Christ Himself that told John exactly what to write and obediently John did exactly that.

What is the point of this study? What is the message of it all? Well, the answer to these questions is provided to us very clearly in Peter’s second letter. In this letter the Apostle Peter tells us exactly what he wrote about.

Let us notice the following verses,

Thus we find that the Bible is not only a set of very unique books, as we saw in the first two chapters, but it is in fact the Word of God. Given this, what shall we do? What is the point of it all?

Well, if God and His servants took all the time and effort to have it written, published and distributed for us, then it must be important and hence we should prayerfully read it. To see this, let us consider the following Psalm.

Blessed be the Lord forever!