The Strand Study Bible

LUKE

LUKE

1655

one (Esther) of the 39 OT books. *Two small silver amulets containing Numbers 6:24-26 discovered in 1986, which dates back to the seventh century BC * More than 5,000 manuscripts of the Greek New Testament exist today, which makes the Greek New Testament the best-

attested document in all ancient writings. 5. Which books brought about a unity of theme ?

*Written over a period of some 1,500 years by nearly 40 different authors in several languages, the miracle of the 39 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament becomes all the more obvious when the Book is studied as a whole ( II Pet 1:21 ). W. B. Pope, the great Methodist theologian, notes:

“ The unity of Scripture is a very strong credential in its favor as professing to be from God. It is one great vision, and its interpretation one: beginning and ending with the same paradise, with thousands of years of redeeming history between . . . . One idea runs through the whole: the kingdom of God set up or restored in his Incarnate Son. To this idea authors of various ages and of various races contribute in harmony which never could be the result of accident or mere coincidence. ” 7 Seven reasons why the Bible is God’s Word

According to James Macdonald in God Wrote a Book , there are seven reasons why the Bible is God’s Word and why the extra biblical books (such as, Hindu Literature , the writings of Gautama Buddha and Chiu Kung , the Apocrypha , the Gnostic Gospels , the Talmud , the Koran , the books of Mormonism , etc.) are not in the same category as the Jewish Scriptures: 9 1. The Bible is paramount in the world of literature Even if you don’t accept it as God’s book, it is absolutely irrefutable that the Bible stands alone among all other books–by far! Stack up all the books ever written–ancient and modern–and the Bible is unsurpassed. Dr. Harry Rimmer in Seven Wonders of the Wonderful Word notes: The Bible is the astonishment of the literary world. It is alive, but never grows! That in itself is a great paradox, for the very purpose of life is growth. But growth implies increasing perfection and advancing maturity, and these are ideas that are not applicable to the Bible. It does not grow with the centuries, nor mature with the advancing wisdom of man in the successive ages he has possessed it. It came from the hands of its writers perfect to begin with. When the Holy Spirit inspired certain men to write these undying words, a perfection was ingrained into the entire contents of their writings which was supernatural in source and inherent in the very revelation which they thus made available to our generation. Hence there was no need for change, revision, growth or improvement. The Book by which men live successfully and die triumphantly needs no help from scholarship and asks no aid from science: in all things and in every generation it is sufficient unto itself, and has an abundant contribution to make to every mental and spiritual need of man. This can be claimed for no other writing in the possession of our race. The Koran may have been adequate for the rude age of its origin, but a simple and cursory examination of its contents will show that it is an impossible guide for an age such as ours. The writings and sayings of Confucius were remarkable in their century, but they would scarcely suffice for the scientific times in which we live. The books of the religion called Buddhism and the ‘sacred’ writings of every sect and cult of old are but curiosities today, while the Bible is alive and more timely than it has ever been in its entire span of existence! 10 No other book can “stack up” to the Sacred Scriptures. 2. The Bible is preeminent in its circulation The Bible has been read by more people in more languages than any other book in human history. The entire Bible is now translated into more than 400 languages, and portions of it have been translated into nearly 2,500 languages. With a total circulation well into the tens of billions, the Bible is definitely preeminent in its circulation. Stephen Hawking (without a doubt, the smartest man living today) in A Brief History of Time notes: Although Hawking sold an astonishing number of copies (well over 10 million copies), and though I thoroughly enjoyed what I could understand of his book ( II Pet 3:3 ), according to Macdonald, the Bible has been translated into ten times that many different languages. 3. The Bible is preeminent in its influence The Bible’s influence on other books is incalculable. More books have been written about the Bible than any other subject, and more authors quote the Bible than any other source. No book even comes close to influencing human history like the Bible has. There are more books written to assist in studying the Bible than any other book in history. 4. The Bible is preeminent among religious writings Professor M. Montiero Williams was the Boden Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford University during the latter half of the nineteenth century. He spent forty-two years studying Eastern religious books. Comparing them to the Bible, he notes: Pile them, if you will, on the left side of your study table; but place your own Holy Bible on the right side–all by itself, I don’t think anyone, my publishers, my agent, or myself, expected my book to do anything like as well as it did. It was in the London Sunday Times best-seller list for 237 weeks, longer than any other book (apparently, the Bible and Shakespeare aren’t counted). It has been translated into something like forty languages and has sold about one copy for every 750 men, women, and children in the world. 11