My View of the Christian Bible

I am a Christian and in order to follow Christ's teachings, I must know and understand them. Christianity is the practice of following the teachings of Christ. Knowing His written word is a means of knowing what He teaches and how to put those teachings into practice. The believers in the early church "devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching" (Acts 2:42). By studying the Scriptures, I am doing the same. The Christian Bible, in addition to the Holy Spirit, is what guides how I live and the choices that I make in this life.

God inspired imperfect men to record His revelation and controlled the recording. The Scripture during the New Testament time was what we now know as the Old Testament. 2 Timothy states that all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable. Hebrews 4:12-13a states: "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." Jesus used the Scriptures of the Old Testament to refute Satan. If Christ thought it was important to know and use the Scripture, I must do the same.

The Christian Bible that we have today is not the infallible word of God. This Bible has come through a process of human copying. While copying, errors were made; in addition, errors of those copy errors were also copied and dispersed. Through the ages, many varying copies of the original texts of Scripture have come into being. Educated men had to exam these texts and pray over them in order to choose which ones were closest to the originals and which ones should be included in our Bibles today.

Another factor affecting the use of Scriptures is translation. The sixty-six books of the Protestant Bible were originally written in three different languages: Hebrew (most of the Old Testament), Aramaic (used in half of Daniel and two passages in Ezra) and Greek (all of the New Testament). These languages differ in many ways from English. Often times there will be a word in one of the original languages that we do not have an English word for. Also, many of the words have a semantic range, meaning that the word has a variety of possible meanings. The translators have to use their best judgement in using the words that they think best conveys the original intent. Besides the language differences, what we read is a translation based on the interpretation of imperfect men. These translations, however objective they may claim to be, are made based on the presuppositions and worldviews of the interpreters, and may not be correct.

It is my desire to learn the languages of the texts the Christian Bible was derived from. I am currently studying biblical Greek. The original translators were/are much more skilled and educated than I am, so it is good to read their interpretations. However, I want to get as close to the original texts as I can. Gaining a better understanding of God's will is the duty of all Christians. If I had a New International Version of the Bible and a Living Bible sitting in front of me, I would choose the NIV. I could probably learn a lot from the Living Bible; however, the NIV is closer to the original and the content is so much deeper. That is the way I view the NIV next to the Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic. I want to get as close to the original as I can so that I can study the deeper content. There is so much more meaning in the Scripture than is conveyed in our English translations. I think that learning these languages is a goal worth pursuing and one that pleases God.

When one reads the Bible they need to consider both the content and the context. One needs to ask various questions of the text including: Who was the author? Who was the author writing to? Why was he writing this particular message? What were the political and cultural issues surrounding this letter/book? How do the surrounding passages apply and/or affect this passage? One needs to understand what the author was trying to convey to his intended audience. The purpose of reading Scripture is to find the original intent and then to look and see if and how it applies to us.

To sum up my view of the Christian Bible, it is derived from the infallible and inspired word of God, and although it may not be perfect, it is still profitable to study and learn from. As a Christian, it is the book that is guiding and shaping who I am.