What is the Bible? Where does it come from?

Background
What we call the Bible contains the words of God. The word bible simply means book which is why the Bible is usually labeled as The Holy Bible, meaning the pure book, the book from God. The words of God were written by God's specific influence, spiritual direction, & sometimes dictation by His followers who were eye-witnesses of the events they wrote about. The Bible speaks about who God is and what God has done.

The Bible was originally written primarily in languages Hebrew, for the Old Testament, and Greek, for the New Testament. The text of the Bible has been preserved in what we are called manuscripts. Manuscripts are handwritten copies of a portion of text written by someone else. There are 5,686 Greek manuscripts for the New Testament and those manuscripts agree with each other 99.5% of the time. To put this in perspective, the New Testament was written in the first century. Shakespeare wrote his works in the 1600s and there is more variation in the surviving manuscripts of Shakespeare's works than in the Bible's manuscripts. Even if there were no manuscripts existing at all of the New Testament all but 11 verses from the entire New Testament can be reconstructed from material written within 150 to 200 years from the time of Christ. Based on the number of manuscripts, the date the manuscripts were written, and the agreement between the manuscripts, the Bible by far is the most reliable ancient text in existence. God has very much preserved His words through the many ancient manuscripts.

As the Bible spread throughout the world and new languages began to emerge the Bible has been translated many times into many languages. There are no perfect translations. Simply because of the difference between languages it cannot be so but many translations are largely accurate. Today we have a wealth of information regarding the languages of Greek and Hebrew to help us get the best understanding of what the Bible says even with our imperfect translations. Some translations today are more literal which means they take one word in the original language and translate it as one word into English and words are only added to help the English reader comprehend what has been written. A paraphrase is a translation that takes the meaning of a text of multiple words and rephrases it for an often clearer & simpler understanding. The benefit of the more literal translation is that there is less interpretation occurring from the translator. The NASB is an example of a more literal translation. The Message is an example of a paraphrase.

Illumination
When reading an ordinary book it is not necessary to meet the author to benefit from the book. With the Bible, everything is different. It is necessary & vital to meet the Author if you are to understand the Bible. We can’t we expect to know the Bible of God without knowing the God of the Bible. One can never understand the message and intent of the Bible, unless you have a redeeming encounter with its Author.

The Holy Spirit of God is given to those who receive the free gift of eternal life that Jesus offers. It is the Holy Spirit of God who illuminates us to God’s word. By illuminates I mean that illumination makes the Bible understandable & clear, that the Holy Spirit of God shines light on the truth for us to see it. Jesus said in John 14:16, "The Helper, the Holy Spirit, will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you."

1 Corinthians 2:12-16 explains how the Holy Spirit of God is essential to learning the knowledge of God.
"We have received the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand the things freely given to us by God. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. "Who can know what the Lord is thinking?" We can understand these things because we have the mind of Christ.

In Psalm 43:3, the writer prayed this, “O God, Send out Your light and Your truth, and let them lead me.”
Note the combination of light and truth in his prayer. It is wise to pray to the Holy Spirit for His light before you expose yourself to His truth. It is not enough to have the Bible. Many people take up the Bible and read—and receive no benefit at all. Why? Because they had the truth, but had no light to detect it.

Supplementary
More On Manuscript Trustworthiness
Homer's Iliad is an ancient Greek writing. It is the second most reliable ancient text next to the Bible. It said to have been written around 900 B.C. but the oldest manuscript we have of the Iliad is from 400 B.C. That is 500 years between supposed writing and the oldest existing copy. Again the New Testament was written in the first century. The oldest existing manuscript containing a portion of the New Testament is from 125 A.D. a mere 25 years from the first century. The 5,686 manuscripts of the New Testament agree with each other 99.5% of the time. Homer's Iliad has 653 manuscripts which only agree with each other 95% of the time and it is the second best preserved ancient document. The oldest manuscripts of Plato's writings are from 1200 years after he was said to be alive.

Let's say my great grandpa wrote a letter for our family's future generations. I made a copy of the letter 25 years after he died to preserve it. Would you say it would be likely that the copy I made was really of my great grandpa's letter after only 25 years? Now let us say that in the future people claim I wrote a letter to you but the oldest know copy of that letter came over 1000 years after I died. How much less reliable is that letter if it came so long after my death?

More on Literal Translations vs. Paraphrases
If anyone supposes he knows something not yet to know as he ought know (1 Corinthians 8:2, Literal)
If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know (1 Corinthians 8:2, NASB)
The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. (1 Corinthians 8:2, NIV)
If someone thinks he knows something, he does not yet know to the degree that he needs to know. (1 Corinthians 8:2, NET)
Sometimes our humble hearts can help us more than our proud minds. (1 Corinthians 8:2, The Message)

See how in The Message, which is a paraphrase, meaning is lost and changed from what the original author intended. It almost even implies that our proud minds can, at other times, help us more than our humble hearts. So it is good when reading a paraphrase to have a more literal translation on hand to look at as well. Still I have come across times where The Message or the New Living Translation (another paraphrase) gave the meaning to the original words much more outright than the more literal NASB and others.

The Meaning of Life: Part 1, How to Know God

There is a God. This is His world. We live in His world. This God is totally good, totally trustworthy, and totally competent. He comes to us in Jesus Christ whom we can totally trust. He gives those who trust Him His Spirit which will lead us to all we need to know about Him and about us.

The Meaning of Life
You've probably heard of people asking "What is the meaning of life?" "Why are we here?" I believe I have found a scripture that puts it very clearly.
"This is eternal life, to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent" (Jesus as recorded in John 17:3).
 
The purpose of life is to know God. Since we are to know God we are here to find out who God is and what He is like.

Know God
We are to "know God." In order to know we must first learn.
What is the purpose of learning about God?

The purpose of learning about God is to know who He is, what He has done, and what He has said in order for us to establish a love relationship with Him and then grow in that relationship with Him more and more.

We are to learn of God, from God, for God, for others.
The purpose of life isn't for me to "be saved" and have a ticket to heaven it is for me to know God personally. 

How can we know God?
How can we know God? Hebrews 11:6 says, "Without faith it is impossible to please God because anyone who wants to approach God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." So to know God first we must believe that He exists. In order to do that we must have faith. Faith in its most basic form as it relates to God is that even though we cannot see God we are convinced that He really exists.

Second we must believe that, this God who truly exists, rewards those who seek Him. Belief is when your whole being is set to act as if something is so. Both faith and belief are best defined as trust. Trust is to be fully convinced about the truth of something to the point of confidently acting upon it. If I believe that when I sit in a chair it will hold me up and give me rest I will not shy away from sitting in that chair. If I am tired I will sit in the chair because I believe that not only will it hold me up but it is also good for me because it gives me rest. Belief is the same when applied to God. If I truly believe that He rewards those who seek Him I will not shy away from seeking Him. I will try to find out about God because I believe He will reward me for doing so. If I truly believe I will act on it and not just think about it to myself.

God rewards those who seek Him
Again Hebrews 11:6 says, "Without faith it is impossible to please God because anyone who wants to approach God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." Now here is a true story that exemplifies this verse.

There was a man in China who longed for a God he did not know. One day he found on a mountain path a torn page that read "Are there more gods than One?"—"No, there is only One God." "Should we worship idols?"—"No..." And the rest was torn away.

The man went home and destroyed his altars to the idols he had been worshipping. Immediately his daughter became very ill and his neighbors taunted him for making the demons angry. The man thought if there was one true God perhaps he could reach that God with his voice. He climbed to the top of the highest peak in the vicinity—12 or 14 thousand feet high-and shouted out, "Oh, God, if You really are there and You are the One I am to worship, please make my little girl well again."

It took a long time to climb back down, but upon arriving home he found the little girl completely well, with no time of recuperation needed. She had recovered at the time he had prayed. That man went on to proclaim the gospel across the entire area.

You see this man believed that God exists and that God rewards those who seek Him. He truly believed because He acted upon it by climbing a mountain and calling out to God. "God searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts" (1 Chronicles 28:9). You see, God is always seeking those who seek Him so that He may reward them but God understands every intent of our thoughts so He is able to rightly discern when someone is truly seeking Him. Be careful to understand that God rewards those who seek Him, not those who seek to earn a reward.

When we seek God that assumes we realize and consider God as wiser, smarter, and more powerful than ourselves. We humbly realize that we are mere human beings who have little power and that God is the powerful & knowledgeable creator of the universe. The fact that God rewards those who seek Him means He loves us. Trusting that God exists and is loving is the requirement to know God.

This is Eternal Life
To know God we must be exposed to the truth about and the person of Jesus, the Son of God. Before God created the world He knew that mankind would sin (harm each other, disregard God) and that they would need a way to be able to know and have a relationship with God again. God decided that when the right time had come He would send His Son, Jesus, to become God in the flesh, born of a woman, born under the law of God (see Galatians 4:4-5). Jesus perfectly obeyed all of the laws of God, provided the perfect example of how to live, and then even in His perfection chose to die a gruesome death on a cross to free the world from the power of sin. Then to prove He was sent by God & to break the power of death He rose to life again 3 days after His death. These facts about Jesus are called the gospel, the word gospel means good news. This is good news indeed that God has done everything necessary for us to know and have a relationship with Him. Because of Jesus sin no longer stands between us and being able to know God. Because of Jesus we can know God & enjoy Him forever. 

1 John 4:9-10 says, "By this the love of God is revealed: that God has sent his one and only Son into the world so that we may live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins."
Romans 5:8 says, "God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still helpless sinners, Jesus died for us."

Through Jesus we trust in God and because God raised Him from the dead we can confidently put our trust and hope in God (see 1 Peter 1:21). John 3:16 says, "This is the way God loved the world: God gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who trusts in his Son will not perish but have eternal life." Anyone who trusts that the good news about Jesus is true and thus trusts Jesus will have eternal life. Eternal life is that we get to know God & live in His love in this life and forevermore.

Jesus said in John 17:3, "This is eternal life, to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent."
1 John 5:20 says, "The Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. Those who trust Him are now in God because we are in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life."

Summary
There is a God. This is His world. We live in His world. This God is totally good, totally trustworthy, and totally competent. He comes to us in Jesus Christ whom we can totally trust. He gives those who trust Him His Spirit which will lead us to all we need to know about Him and about us. The purpose of life is to Know God, Jesus Christ.

How can we know God?

1. We must be fully convinced that God exists.
   
2. We must seek God while being fully convinced that God is loving by rewarding those who seek Him.
   
3. We must trust the truth about and the person of Jesus, the Son of God. Jesus made relationship with God available to us by death on a cross and rising again to life. Because of Him we are able to have an everlasting personal relationship with God that is free from any barriers.

Once again here is 1 John 5:20, a key verse, "The Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we are in God because we are in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life."

This was Part 1 of 2. Read Part 2, Understanding the Relationship