BIBLE

       This section deals with the doctrine concerning the Bible as the Word of  God.  The word Bible is from the Greek word which means simply "Book."  This writer has often referred to the Bible as THE BOOK.  This subject is so huge (as is every truth of  God) that he is only scratching the surface and presenting the broad picture.  Before getting into the seven aspects of  study regarding the Bible as God's Word, this writer does not hesitate to assume God's existence, here without any proof.  The Bible starts, "In the beginning God."  The Bible assumes His existence without argument or discussion.  This writer, therefore, begins where the Bible begins without any apology.  Obviously, because of  the limited space and the vastness of  the subject this writer will try to cover the subject on this page alone without any subsidiary pages which will actually cover the seven aspects.  Briefly, the Bible is of  supernatural origin.  As one writer well said, "It is not such a book as man would write if  he could, or could write if  he would." (Lewis S. Chafer, Systematic Theology, I:22).  The Bible everywhere sets forth that it is declaring God's message to mankind.  It is both God-centered and man-centered.  For a brief presentation of  the truth of  this section you may consider Reasons for Believing the Book.  Now this writer gets to the heart of  the subject.  There are seven aspects to this doctrine which you can study one after the other or by separately clicking on the term in question..

1. REVELATION--This writer is referring here to the doctrine, not the book.  This aspect of  the doctrine of  the Bible, Revelation deals with the divine act of  communication with man what can not be otherwise known.

2. INSPIRATION--Whereas revelation deals with God making known Himself to mankind, Inspiration deals with the accurate recording of  that revelation.  This is a cardinal truth of  the nature of  the Bible.  The Bible sets forth its own statement of  inspiration, so this writer need not try to construct one of  his own.  Thus he is not concerned with what man--even they be great scholars--think inspiration is, but solely what the Bible declares to be the case.

3. CANONICITY AND AUTHORITY:  This section chiefly is concerned with the Authority of  the Bible.  Its canonicity has to do with which books are part of  the Bible.  This aspect of  authority is important because of  the human cooperation regarding the books belonging in the Bible.  The main emphasis, therefore, will be on its authority.

4. ILLUMINATION:  This section deals with the work of  the Holy Spirit in the life of  the believer to enlighten his heart and mind as to the truth of  God Word.  Illumination is set forth in a number of  passages, but certainly 1 Corinthians 2:14 implies it in the phrase "spiritually discerned."

5. INTERPRETATION:  The problem of  Interpretation are numerous, but can boiled down to basically two kinds. This problem will be discussed in this section.  It is essential to the proper understanding of  the Bible to have a correct method of  interpretation.

6. ANIMATION:  The Animation of  the Bible refers to its living quality.  It is this aspect of  the Bible that is discussed in this section.

7. PRESERVATION: This division is concerned with the preservation of  the Bible, the Word of  God.  We briefly consider two aspects:  general preservation and the preservation of  translations.

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