TOPIC:“There's a Christian Way to Understand the Bible”
by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap
TEXT:Hebrews 4:9-16
“For the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing even to dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and
marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart”
(Hebrews 4:12).
I have been a student of the Bible for the last fifty years. I have read it entirely through, read it by books, chapters and verses. From this vast experience of reading, studying and meditating upon this blessed Book, I can truthfully state that to me the Bible is without doubt the greatest Book that has ever been written.
I realize there are many people who ignore the Bible and don't read it. Others read it but don't understand it for they lack the spiritual insight which the Holy Spirit provides those who have been born into the family of God. Still others think the Bible is nothing more than a collection of fairy tales, myths and legends. This is to their shame, and eventually, to their eternal loss.
But to those of us who know not only the Word of God, but the God of the Word as revealed in Jesus Christ, the Bible is much more than just a book of ethical teaching, literary beauty, it is God's divine revelation of Himself to man. It is a revelation of God's grace and love to man. From its pages we expose ourselves to the LIFE which it gives, to the LIGHT which it shares, and to the LOVE it reveals:
Now let the Holy Spirit be our Guide as we seek the Christian way to understand God's Word.
I.
Think, first of all, of the CONSTRUCTION of the Bible. The author writes: “For the Word of God…” (v. 12). The word “Bible” is derived from the Greek word “biblos” meaning a book. Towards the end of the second century Greek believers called their sacred writings “The Books.” Often the Bible has been called “the Divine Library” or the Book of Books.
The Bible was written by about forty different writers who lived in different countries, spoke different languages and came from different backgrounds. These writers included a king, a fisherman, a rabbi, a poet, a statesman, a politician, a general, a scribe and so many other vocations. . . .