Author: believersarmedanddangerous

I love to study the Bible, and I’m sure most of you do as well.  Over the years, I’ve found a few important books I rely on or that have taught me something significant.  I wanted to share these here.

A Good Bible Translation

Of course, the most important book for Bible study is the Bible.  For good solid study, we need a good literal “word-for-translation” such as the ESV, NASB, or KJV.  This way when we do word studies, the word is actually there and is represented accurately.

I don’t use a study Bible for my Bible study.  That may sound odd, but because Bible study is a personal thing, I want to know what God is saying to me and not what He said to the guy who wrote the notes. 

The Navigator Bible Studies Handbook

This book is invaluable.  I first read it when I was about five years old in the Lord, and it changed not just my study habits but genuinely changed my life.  I’ve had very little formal education in studying the Bible.  Probably 75% of what I’ve learned over the years is due to this book.  It gives several methods for digging into the Bible and drawing out the “gold ore” rather than just looking around on the surface for nuggets.  The best thing about this book is it relies very little on reference books.  Bible study is personal, just you and your Bible.  This book takes that approach.

An Exhaustive Concordance

Strong’s Exhaustive or Young’s Analytical are excellent concordances for Bible study use. 

The concordances in the backs of our Bibles are for “What was that verse again that started with ‘for God so loved . . .”  An exhaustive concordance is probably the most useful book ever for Bible study.  It gives no opinion, no slant on a passage, just the facts.  In the front of the Strong’s is a set of Bible study methods the concordance can help you with: yes you can find that verse you’re trying to remember, but you can also do word studies, language studies, character, and topical studies.  You just need to know how, and they will show you.

A Harmony of the Gospels

A harmony of the Gospels is a book which presents the four gospels chronologically and the texts side by side in columns.  This book enables us to look at passages that are duplicated in other gospels to pick up additional details not in the specific passage we are studying.

Let’s use Jesus’ miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 as an example.  The event is one of the very few recorded in all four gospels (Matt. 14:13-21; Mark 5:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; and John 6:1-13).  When Jesus asks Philip “Where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat?” only John tells us Jesus said this to test Philip (John 6:6).  Only Luke and Mark tell us Jesus divided the people into groups (Mark 6:39-40; Luke 9:14).  Only John tells us it was a boy who contributed the loves and fish (John 6:9).  Only Matthew and Luke tell us Jesus healed the sick among the crowd, and only Mark leaves out the fact the disciples picked up 12 baskets of leftovers afterward. 

So, the Harmony of the Gospels is very useful if you are interested in the details full picture of a passage.

A Bible Dictionary or Bible Encyclopedia

These are really handy for looking up the who, what, where, why, etc. of people, places, and things.  Nowadays it’s difficult to tell the difference between a Bible dictionary and a Bible encyclopedia.  The dictionaries have broadened the number and topics they cover.  It used to be a Bible encyclopedia wasn’t just larger but covered lots of information outside the realm of a dictionary, but they are becoming the same animal today.  I like New Unger’s Bible Dictionary, and the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia is the standard for Bible encyclopedias.  So, if you wanted to know who Molech was or the dimensions of the Sea of Tiberias, these books are where you’ll find that information.

A General Systematic Theology or Dictionary of Theology

Now we’re starting to get a little into the opinions of man: careful.  I like Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Theology.  It’s pretty thorough for the typical Bible student or Sunday School teacher.  Written at a modern high school level, it explains more than most folks want to know.  Someone once said 20% of what we read should be over our heads.  Baker isn’t that, but it does peak your interest.  Stay away from Finney and Hodge.  Hodge is huge and Finney is less reliable.  Check any theology before you buy.  Some are a hundred years old or more, and the language is somewhat awkward.  The older stuff is often the cheapest and most conservative, though.

Commentaries

I’m not going to recommend commentaries.  I do have a few and use them fairly often, but commentaries go against my “motto” of Bible study is personal, and I don’t need someone other than the Holy Spirit to explain a passage to me.  I used to use commentaries to check my work because I’ve come up with some pretty pathetic conclusions on my own over the years, and a commentary will say “One pathetic conclusion to this passage is what Mike thinks, but it’s not true because . . . “

I do find I lean on them more now that I’m teaching through the gospel of John at local nursing homes.  Because of the checking-my-work effect, I’ve learned to trust a few and turn to them for guidance when needed.  This is probably a good practice.

A Computer

When I started studying the Bible, it was all books.  I had to do my studying on the dining room table to have enough space for all the open publications.  Today, my study is done on a computer and most of the books listed above are in my software.  What used to take hours with books now takes just a few minutes on my computer.  I use Logos Bible software because Logos bought up the software I was using and grandfathered me in.  It is an excellent program and I love it, but it’s a little pricey if you’re starting out.  There are several out there including the Blue Letter Bible: a free online study tool.  Most software offered begins with a “starter” package many of which are free and include several translations, dictionaries, commentaries, etc.  Ask a fellow Bible studier what they use.  Buying the books listed here will cost you several hundred dollars.  Investing that into a good computer program might be a good idea.

Why is this important?

Wow!  I think this is in the top five longest blog posts I’ve done.  Sorry.

These books are important to give you an accurate understanding of Scripture once you learn to use them.  I put these in a particular order.  The farther down the list you go, the less reliant on Scripture the books are and the more we rely on another human to tell us what something means.  Be careful.  When we include humans into the process, our study becomes more vulnerable to error.

Last week I posted the full Christmas story from the gospels of Matthew and Luke. Let’s see how closely you paid attention. Here are twenty simple questions about Christmas:

A Christmas Quiz: How much of what we know is really just tradition? by Steve and Ella Pettit

We’ve all seen and heard the Christmas story so many times that we know exactly what God’s Word says about it, right? Or do we sometimes let tradition overtake the truth? Dates and Mates 1.  For the journey to Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph a) walked b) Joseph walked; Mary rode a donkey c) rode a bus d) Who knows? 2.  When Mary became pregnant, Mary and Joseph were a) married b) just friends c) engaged d) none of the above 3.  When Mary became pregnant, a) Joseph married her b) Joseph wanted to dissolve their relationship c) Mary left Nazareth for a while d) an angel told them to go to Bethlehem e) both b and c f) both b and d 4.  Christmas has always been observed a) on December 25 b) on January 17 c) at Grandma’s house d) none of the above Kings and Wings 5.  Who directed Mary and Joseph to go to Bethlehem? a) Herod b) an angel c) Caesar d) the IRS 6.  Just what is a “heavenly host”? a) an angelic choir b) the welcoming angel in heaven c) an army of angels d) none of the above 7.  How many angels spoke to the shepherds? a) a multitude b) two – Gabriel and Michael c) one d) Who knows? 8.  What song did the angels sing? a) “O Little Town of Bethlehem” b) “Joy to the World” c) “Glory to God in the Highest” d) none of the above Barns and Yarns 9.  The baby Jesus was born in a a) cave b) manger c) hurry d) barn e) Who knows? 10.  What animals were present at Jesus’ birth? a) cows, sheep and camels b) cows, sheep and donkeys c) lion and tigers and bears d) none of the above 11.  What is a manger anyway? a) a barn b) a place for hay c) a feeding trough d) a Greek term for the church nursery 12.  When did baby Jesus cry? a) when He opened the wise men’s gifts b) whenever babies usually cried c) when the cattle started lowing d) “No crying He makes” Signs and Lines 13. Joseph’s family was from a) Jerusalem b) Nazareth c) Bethlehem d) none of the above 14.  Who saw the star over Bethlehem? a) Mary and Joseph b) shepherds c) the three kings d) both b and c e) none of the above 15.  What sign were the shepherds to look for? a) a star over the stable b) a barn outlined with Christmas lights c) a baby in a manger d) both a and c e) none of the above 16.  What did the innkeeper say to Mary and Joseph? a) “I have a stable out back.” b) “Come back after the holidays.” c)  “There’s no room in the inn.” d) both a and c e) none of the above Wise Guys and Testing Lies 17.  How many wise men came to see Jesus?  ____    (Write in correct number) 18.  What in the world are Magi? a) Eastern kings b) magicians c) astrologers d) wise enough to follow the star e) none of the above 19.  When the wise men brought their gifts to Jesus, they found Him in a) a manger b) a house c) Vacation Bible School d)  none of the above 20.  In what books of the Bible will you find these fascinating facts? a) Matthew, Mark, Luke and John b) Matthew and Luke c) Mark and Matthew d) Matthew, Mark and Luke Answers: Dates and Mates 1.  d  The Bible gives no record of their means of travel. 2.  c  Matthew 1:18 3.  b and c  Matthew 1:19; Luke 1:39, 56 4.  d  December 25 was selected late in the 4th century as the day to celebrate Christ’s birth Kings and Wings 5.  c   Luke 2: 1 6.  c 7.  c   Luke 2:10 (“the angel said to them”) 8.  d  Luke 2:13 (They didn’t sing; they said.  OK, if you picked c we’ll give you a point. Barns and Yarns 9.    e  Luke 2:7 (We aren’t told where Jesus was born, only that after His birth He was laid in a manger.) 10.  d  The Bible doesn’t say anything about animals being present. 11.  c 12.  b  He was fully human as well as fully God. Signs and Lines 13.  c   Luke 2:4 14.  e   none of the above (Three kings are not mentioned in the Bible.  Only in songs.) 15.  c   Luke 2:12 16.  e   An innkeeper is never mentioned in the Scriptures. Wise Guys and Testing Lies 17.  The Bible doesn’t say how many – only that Magi came bringing gold, frankincense and myrrh (see Matt. 2 :12). 18.  c  Astrologers who dabble in the natural sciences. 19.  b  Matthew 2:11 20.  b  Check it out! Scoring: 19-20 correct:  Congratulations!  You can separate fact from fiction. 18-16 correct:  Not Bad!  Truth wins over tradition. 15 – 11 correct:  Uh oh!  You’ve been to too many Christmas plays. 10 or below correct:  Ouch!

Long ago I came to understand whenever God commands us to behave in a particular way, He is actually asking us to live in accordance with His nature.  God is love (1 John 4:8), so He wants us to love others.  God keeps His promises, so He commands us to keep ours (Matt. 5:37), and so on.

With this in mind, God tells us to honor others.  He tells us to honor our parents, for instance (Ex. 20:12).  This commandment is mentioned no fewer than seven times in the Bible, five times in the New Testament.  He also tells us to honor widows (1 Tim. 5:3) and others.

My conclusion here is if God tells us to be honorable, He must be honorable as well.  This seems obvious to us as Christians since we depend on it so, but maybe we don’t realize the extent of the honor God gives.

He is honorable in that He is not a hypocrite: He doesn’t tell us to do something He will not do Himself:  He was tempted but without sinning (Heb. 4:15).  He also tells us to be more like Him knowing we cannot do this on our own (Gal. 5:22-23), so He helps us by filling us with His Spirit (Acts 13:52). 

In the Old Testament, there is only one Hebrew word translated as “honor:” kabbeb.  This is the word for honor in the fifth commandment.  Kabbeb means to “weigh heavily.”  So, honoring our parents is extremely serious, it should weigh heavily on us.

The New Testament writers quote this same commandment no fewer than five times (Matt 15:4, 19:19; Mark 10:19; Luke 18:20; and Eph. 6:2), so for us to honor our parents is extremely important to God.  This word for honor translated from Greek to English is timea.  This Greek word doesn’t just mean to honor but also to hold in high esteem and reverence.

Peter has something important to say about how this word is to be used:

1 Peter 2:17 (ESV)  Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

So, God asks us to follow His lead and honor everyone even the emperor.  Imagine their difficulty in doing this in the first century.  When this was written the emperor, Nero, was killing the very people Peter was talking to, the Christians.  How could he ask this?  Verse 15 tells us:

1 Peter 2:15 (ESV)  For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

We really have no choice as Christians since, as Peter says, “this is the will of God.”  God is the standard of all truth, all moral judgment, and all action for us. 

God is telling us to honor, esteem, and even reverence all others.  After all, we are all people Jesus died for.  Should we treat others with any less honor than God does?  There is a reward that comes with this by the way:

John 12:26 (ESV)  If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

“Honor” here is the same Greek word, timoa, as we have been looking at.  If we serve and follow Jesus, the Father will hold us in reverence and esteem.  Imagine being held in such high regard by the Creator of the universe.

Why is this important?

There’s a greater honor given by God to mankind we could never hope to repay.  He didn’t wave His hand and unjustly allow sin to grow in our lives, He didn’t by fiat forgive us at no cost.  That, too, would have been unjust – dishonorable.  God didn’t create another being to die in our place.  That would be the coward’s way out.  Instead He came Himself.  Paul made this very clear when he spoke with the Ephesian elders.

Acts 20:28 (ESV)  Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

Our God is an honorable God Who holds the people of this world in such high esteem He came to earth, took on the form of man, and gave His own blood that we might have the opportunity to spend eternity with Him.  He honored us by giving the greatest price He could pay, He Himself died in our place.  That which would cost Him the most gives us the greatest gift.  This shows us our value to Him and that He would honor us enough to give His all for us.

How many sons of God are there?  There are millions, I’m sure.  Romans 8:14 says For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.  So, all Christians are called sons of God or children of God.  Job 1:6 seems to say angels are called “sons of God” as well: Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.  So, how is Jesus different if He’s a Son of God, too?

The difference is Jesus not “a” son of God but “The” Son of God, the one and only Son of God.  In John chapter 5, Jesus calls God the Father His own Father rather than “Our Father,” the general term the Jews used.  The Jewish leaders He was speaking to saw this and decided to kill Him for what they saw as blasphemy because of it:

John 5:18 (ESV)  This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

The Jews, of course, thought God was only one Person even though there were hints He was more:

Isa. 44:6 (ESV)  Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.

Isaiah mentions two divine Persons here: Yahweh, the King of Israel and a second Person, His Redeemer, Yahweh of hosts, yet together they are identified as the one God.

So, like many, the Jews had an insufficient understanding of their own Scriptures.  But Jesus didn’t shy from the fact they understood He was claiming equality with their God.  He began to build on it.  He started comparing Himself to God the Father Who they already believed in.  He said first He does nothing by Himself.  This is again pointing to His equality and relationship with the Father.  He says in verse 19 “For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.”  The Father and Son are working in union.  In this case, Jesus does not point to the Father as the one doing the work but that He and the Father are working together to achieve their common work.  In verse 21, Jesus says “For the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life.”  If Jesus was just saying the Father raises the dead through me, He certainly didn’t convey that thought.  It was a cooperative effort. Both were working together.

The Jewish leaders believed only God could raise the dead.  He used people to do so, but it was obvious God was doing the work.  Here Jesus is saying both the Father and the Son can each raise the dead again claiming equality with the Father.

Most important of all, Jesus points to the Jewish leaders’ purpose in life, the worship and honor paid by them to God, and in verses 22-23, Jesus says they must do the same for Him as well: For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.  Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

Jesus went on in this same chapter to provide five witnesses that He is the Son of God: John the Baptist (vs. 33-35), Jesus’ works (vs. 36), God the Father (vs. 36), the Scriptures (vs. 39-40), and Moses (vs. 45-47)

Throughout the New Testament, Jesus is recognized as the Son of God by every gospel writer, by Satan (Matt. 4:3), by demons (Matt 8:29), by the disciples (Matt. 14:33), by bystanders at His crucifixion (Matt. 27:54), by the angel Gabriel (Luke 1:35), Jesus Himself (John 10:36), and of course by God the Father (Heb. 1:8)

Why is this important?

We need to gather from just these few verses in the fifth chapter of John that Jesus is equal to the Father, that even when He walked the earth, He did many things in His own power alongside the Father, and we are to offer the same worship, honor, and praise to Him as we offer to the Father.  According to Jesus’ own words, to honor the Father alone or to honor the Father in a greater way than we honor the Son is to dishonor the Father.

Looking at all that Jesus said here, we must see the term “the Son of God” is equal to the term “God the Son,” and with the centurion, we should realize “Surely this man was the Son of God.” (Mark 15:39)

Jehovah’s Witnesses and Christmas

It has been five years since I last centered on Jehovah’s Witnesses who claim 8.7 million followers worldwide and 1.238 million in the US alone.  According to their own figures, that’s one out of every 272 Americans is a JW.

At this time of the year, we will often hear from JWs to tell us Christmas should not be celebrated by God’s people.  I thought it would be good to look at why.  These six objections are taken directly from their website

For the most part, these complaints boil down to a logical fallacy: guilt by association.  Because some pagans did something or something evil happened on a particular day, we must link all similar days and celebrations to the sins or pagan practices of that day. This is akin to saying “Hitler loved dogs, so all dog lovers should be careful of loving their dogs. It’s a Nazi practice:”

•  Celebrating a birthday   JWs like to point to evil events which happened on birthdays in the Bible to discourage birthday celebrations of all sorts: Pharaoh hanged the chief baker on his birthday and Herod ordered John the Baptist beheaded at his birthday party, “so,” they say, “we shouldn’t celebrate birthdays.” 

In contrast to Pharaoh and Herod, Jesus’ birth was, of course, a joyous occasion attended by the angels of heaven (Luke 2:13-14) and announced by the angel, Gabriel himself (Luke 1:26), who stands in the presence of God (Luke 1:19).

Job’s sons also celebrated their birthdays with the full approval and even consecration of Job, a blameless and upright man (Job 1:1-5). 

• The fact Christmas is celebrated on December 25th.  “There is no proof that Jesus was born on that date. Church leaders likely chose this date to coincide with pagan festivals held on or around the winter solstice.” (Watchtower)

Of course, very few Christians believe Jesus was born on December 25th.  We don’t know exactly when Jesus was born, and the Bible doesn’t tell us.  If the shepherds were in the fields with their flocks, it was more likely earlier in the year. December would have been too cold.

The early Church didn’t celebrate Christmas.  Most likely the December date was chosen in 336 a.d. when the Christian Roman Emperor, Constantine, decided to make this date important in order to draw pagans away from the Saturnalia celebration.  So, Rome’s Christian emperor invited the lost to our party rather than the pagan’s, and this helped bring them to Christ.  I’m not saying this was a good thing necessarily, it was man’s choice 1700 years ago. Certainly today’s celebration doesn’t involve or commemorate Saturnalia or any other pagan practice.

It doesn’t matter which day we celebrate the birth of our Savior.  If we want to celebrate it on December 25th, who’s to keep us from doing so? 

• Gift-giving has pagan roots.  The Watchtower brings Saturnalia into the mix here as well claiming gifts were given at that celebration and feast.  So, their implication is gift-giving at Christmas is just another pagan ritual being repeated. 
  
  Actually, gifts are very biblical.  They are mentioned 126 times in the Bible: gifts to God, gifts as a returned favor, gifts to one another as a sign of friendship, and God even gives us gifts (Lev. 1:10; Gen. 24:10, 25:6; Eph. 2:8-9). Gift-giving is hardly pagan.
   
• Christmas Lights.  Here, once again, is guilt by association.  They claim because Europeans often decorated their homes with lights and candles to celebrate the Winter solstice and ward off evil spirits, so displaying candles and Christmas light must be evil.  The logic escapes me.  It is just an attempt to keep the Jehovah’s Witnesses from celebrating Jesus in any way.
  
• Mistletoe and Holly.  “’The Druids ascribed magical properties to the mistletoe in particular. The evergreen holly was worshiped as a promise of the sun’s return.’”—The Encyclopedia Americana.”  Once again, because the Druids used mistletoe and holly in a particular way, we shouldn’t see it that way too rather than use it in our homes for the holiday. 
  
• Christmas Trees.  Pagans worshiped trees, so having a Christmas tree must be a pagan practice. 

Why is this important?

Jehovah’s Witnesses used to celebrate Christmas.  The photo at the top of this blog is of the 1926 Christmas party at their headquarters in Brooklyn, NY.  But, it just gave too much attention to Christ, so they ended the practice.

It all comes down to this: celebrate Christmas in your own way.  If you’re praising God for His greatest Gift, His Son, you’re on solid ground.  The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, Jehovah’s Witnesses’ organization, seeks to keep any sort of honor from God’s Son, and their attack on our celebration of His birth is just another feature of this quest.

Rom. 14:5-6a (ESV)  One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.  The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord.

John 5:39-40 (ESV)  You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.  

This is a part of a talk Jesus had with the Jewish leaders right after He healed the man at the Pool of Bethesda.  Like much of Scripture, there is more than one application to this passage.  The first, of course, is to the Jewish leaders.  These guys had spent their entire adult lives studying the Scriptures, and Jesus said it’s not enough, not even close.  They needed to come to Him for salvation.

The world is filled with people in various groups who think study will bring them favor with God and even salvation.  They’re wrong.  Jesus says to them exactly what He said to the Jewish leaders here.  So far as salvation is concerned, Bible study doesn’t do it.  Only Jesus can save you:

Acts 4:11-12 (ESV)  This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

So, studying the Bible is an excellent way to grow as a Christian, it does nothing by itself for someone to become a Christian.

Bible study is a work.  It’s a good work, but it’s still a work.  It won’t save you because we aren’t saved by works:

Titus 3:4-6 (ESV)  But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

This idea of works bleeds into other areas of our Christian life, of course.  We are created for good works but not concerning our salvation:

Eph. 2:8-10 (ESV)  For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

So, works are important but have nothing to do with our salvation.  Works are the result of salvation not a requirement for salvation.  In fact works are expected.  They are to be a natural part of the Christian’s life.  Visiting orphans and widows, for instance, is one thing the church is expected to:

James 1:26-27 (ESV)  If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Rejecting the works God has given to the church is to reject God’s commands.  Of course, one Christian can’t do it all, but Christians as a whole cannot long ignore God’s commands.  We are expected to do something.  We are not thrilling God because of what we do as the Jewish leaders thought.  A servant is expected to do the will of the master. 

Luke 17:7-10 (ESV)  “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? ⁸ Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? ⁹ Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? ¹⁰ So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’ ”

Many of us think, “Well, if I just do this little thing here and another there, God will be pleased,” yet, it is impossible to do more than is expected by God.  The blessings we receive don’t come from gratitude for a good job.  They are simply God’s grace poured out on His child.

Why is this important?

The first thing we can learn from John 5:39-40 is knowing Jesus is so much more important than knowing about Jesus.  I know a bit about the apostle John, but I don’t know him.  Jesus said our first priority is Him.  After we come to Jesus as He Himself tells us to do, then we can work on knowing more about Him.

Phil. 3:10 (NASB)  that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the  fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;

“The fellowship of His sufferings,” what a strange thing to say.  How would our sufferings create a greater fellowship with Jesus?

Someone once said the world has yet to see a man completely sold out to our Lord.  If Paul wasn’t that man, he was very close to it.  Here he sees Jesus’ sufferings on an equal footing with the glory and power of His resurrection.  Paul deeply desired to share in full all Jesus faced while here on earth.

I have friends who have been in combat, military combat.  They tell me while it was no cake walk, it drew them closer to the other men with them than anything else could.  There is a brotherhood with men and women who have experienced combat.  Likewise, there is the same sort of closeness with those who have experience deep suffering. 

How severe was Jesus’ suffering? Speaking of the beaten and crucified Jesus, Isaiah said this:

Isa. 52:14 (ESV) As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind

Paul was willing to share this kind of suffering for the privilege of sharing it with his glorious Lord.

Earlier in the chapter, Paul tells us he gave up everything to honor God.  His desire was so great to share everything with Jesus he sought to allow nothing to stand in his way.

There is a practice among Christians I sometimes follow: to pray the Scriptures, to apply a particular passage to yourself in prayer.  I’m certainly not strong enough to do so with this passage.  I deeply want to know Him as Paul did and does.  I certainly want to know the power of His resurrection, but to pray to suffer as He did, to have the flesh torn from my back as I endure a Roman scourging, to feel spikes driven through my wrists and ankles, then feel myself raised on a cross and struggle for hours for each breath.  I ask myself if I love Jesus that much.  I like to think I do, but truthfully, I don’t know.

Do I want all Jesus has for me?  Could that include such torture? Probably not.  I may never have to make that decision whether or not to suffer for Him to this extent.

Some early Christians saw martyrdom as more than a privilege.  They saw it as something to be pursued.  There was no greater honor than to give your life for Christ. They welcomed the suffering. This was not the case, however, with a man named Attalus.

A blacksmith who lived in Lyons in Gaul in 177 a.d. during the persecution of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, Attalus was discovered to be a Christian.  He was arrested and scheduled to be made an example.  He was taken along with four others (the five known as the Martyrs of Lyons) to the local Roman arena and stripped.  A sign was hung around his neck which read “Attalus, a Christian.”  The Romans had a highly effective method of torture using an iron chair.  They used this on Attalus in an attempt to persuade him to deny his faith.  The chair was heated until it was cherry red and the Roman soldiers forced Attalus to sit in it.  They then marched the severely burned man around the arena commanding him to deny his faith.  Instead of this, he held up the sign for the crowd to see and shouted “Attalus a Christian.”

He was a physically powerful man and survived this process for three days while all of Lyons could watch.  Attalus never faltered in his faith, proclaiming it until his death.

Why is this important?

Corrie Ten Boom said we are not given the strength to suffer for God until the point of suffering.  If anyone could know, she would, having watching her sister die at the hands of the Nazis during WWII.  I hope that’s true.  Maybe Paul knew this after all he had already been through

2 Corinthians 11:24-27 (ESV)  Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

I wonder if, in the suffering of both Paul and Attalus, they found a closeness to their Christ they found in no other way.  Praying for that fellowship of His sufferings does seem more reasonable now.

I’d like to start by giving a definition of a Greek or Hebrew text.  An original language text is the compilation of several original language manuscripts that have been examined and criticized in order to produce what the textual critic believes is a Greek work closest to the original autographs (original writings).  This work is called a text. We have more than 6,000 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament currently.  These are examined and weighed to judge which are the most reliable.  From these, we have two major Greek texts of the New Testament: the Textus Receptus (TR) and the Westcott and Hort 1885 (W&H) text.

There are two main philosophies of texts: the older the better (W&H) and the more the better (TR).  Most of the reliable modern translations come from these two philosophies.  Within those, the majority are from the older the better approach.  These texts are then translated into our languages (English in our case) to produce the Bibles we have today.

When we look at various Bibles, we see most are called versions rather than translations, and there is a reason for that.  Technically, the first translation of the original languages into another language, like English, is called a translation.  For instance, Tyndale’s Translation (c. 1526) is the first English translation of the New Testament.  All translations of the New Testament after that should technically be called versions – someone else’s version of the Bible in English – the King James Version, New King James Version, English Standard Version, the New International Version, etc.  The New American Standard now just calls itself a Bible rather than a version.  According to the American Bible Society, there are currently about 1,000 English translations of the Bible.

Within these there are different philosophies of translations.  There is the word-for-word approach where the translator tries his best to give as exact a representation of the original language text in a given language like English.  We’ll consider English the typical example from here on.  Word-for-word translations are best for serious Bible studies especially if you want to do word studies and original language studies because they best represent the original text.  King James, New American Standard, English Standard, and New King James are excellent examples of word-for-word translations.

Second are the Dynamic Equivalence (DE) translations.  These are a thought-for-thought type of translation.  Rather than giving the actual wording of the original text, these give the idea of what is being said.  They are considered translations since they are attempting to give the mood and feel of the original text.  The New Living Translation is the most popular of these translations.  If you are confused reading a passage in your word-for-word translation, read it in a DE translation.  Then go back to the word-for-word.  You’ll get the idea of the passage in the DE and be able to better understand what is being said when you return to a direct translation.

Third are paraphrases.  A paraphrase is not a translation at all but an attempt to present what the paraphraser thinks the passage says.  The most popular paraphrase is the Living Bible.  This was written by Kenneth N. Taylor beginning in 1971 as a way to read Bible stories to his children for family devotions.  Taylor did have his PhD in Theology but was not a Greek scholar. 

Paraphrases are a step further away from the word-for-word translation of God’s Word, but they have their benefits.  The New Testament in Modern English by J. B. Phillips is a much more scholarly paraphrase.  Phillips was a genuine Greek scholar.

The next category is what I like to call horrible translations.  The most popular currently is the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures published by Jehovah’s Witnesses.  This is not a translation but an attempt to bias the Word of God to reflect the doctrines of the cult.  Words are added or removed and whole passages have been reworded in order to purposely change the obvious meaning of the passage. 

My favorite horrible translation, though, is the Twentieth Century New Testament.  This was translated at the end of the 19^th century when a woman wrote a Christian publisher because she was frustrated by the archaic language in the King James Bible.  The publisher wrote back asking her to produce one.  She formed a committee of homemakers, local businessmen, pastors and other non-scholars and they produced “this translation.”  It’s horrible, but it is another good example of how some of these oddball translations come about.

Why is this important?

Translations/versions are at the center of the Christian’s growth.  The Holy Spirit will work through the written Word of God to teach us and sanctify us.  We need to be sure we use a reliable translation we can depend on.

Word-for-word translations are the best for study and we each should use at least one of those as our go to Bible.  The translators have tried to help us best understand how words, figures of speech, and other devices are used in the original text. 

We should be very careful who translated our Bible.  We need to make sure genuine and reputable scholars in the original languages were the translators or we can fall into all sorts of problems and even error.

When I was a new Christian trying to find my way around the Bible, I was confused.  The books of the Bible are not arranged in alphabetical order; nor are they in chronological order.  So, in what sort of order are they listed in the Christian Old and New Testament?

The order actually makes a lot of sense unlike other religious books such as the Q’uran which orders the Suras (Chapters) by size alone.

In the Protestant Christian Bible, the first five books are the Law: the Pentateuch, the books written by Moses.  After this, we have the historical books, Joshua through Esther.  Then come the poetic books sometimes called the “writings:” Job through Song of Solomon.  After this come the prophets: first the Major Prophets, Isaiah through Daniel, then the Minor Prophets, Hosea through Malachi.  The Major Prophets are no more important than the Minor Prophets, they are just longer.

In the New Testament, the category order is pretty much the same.  First we have the biographies, the Gospels, Matthew through John.  Next we have the historical book of Acts.  After this come the writings, the epistles and, no, an epistle is not the wife of an apostle.  These epistles are usually broken up into Paul’s epistles and the others are called the General Epistles.  This is because Paul’s epistles were written to specific churches such as the Romans, Galatians, Corinthians, etc. or to individuals such as Timothy and Titus. 

The General Epistles were written to the church at large and by writers other than Paul: James, Peter, John, Jude, and we’re not sure who wrote Hebrews.

Sometimes Paul’s epistles are broken down even further, and the Prison Epistles which Paul wrote from captivity around 60-62 a.d.: Epistles, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon are seen as separate.

Last of all comes the prophetic book of the New Testament: Revelation.

This only covers the books of the Protestant Bible.  Though we have 39 books of the Old Testament, the Rabbinic Jewish canon (recognized books) only has 24 books, but the books outside of the Torah, the five books of Moses, and the Prophets, are “fluid;” the number can change.  The Jewish view of inspiration is different than the Christian. 

Within Christianity, there are different canons (lists of inspired books).  The Protestants recognize 66 inspired books while the Catholic Bible currently contains 73 books.  The additional seven books are the Old Testament books of Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, 1 Maccabees, and 2 Maccabees.  These are seen by the Catholic Church as important and added to the Bible in the 16^th century at the Council of Trent.  The Protestants see them as “apocrypha,” books accepted by some as inspired but not by others.

The question arises how the Protestant Bible came about, how did they know the books that are included in their canon?  In A General Introduction to the Bible by Geisler and Nix, a list of tests is given that were used by the early church to discover which books were inspired. 

A New Testament book needed to be written by someone with Apostolic Authority.  That meant the book needed to be written by an apostle or someone closely related to an apostle.  Luke wasn’t an apostle, but he was a close associate of Paul’s and traveled extensively with him.  James and Jude were the Lord’s half brothers.  Paul calls James an apostle in Gal. 1:19.  We don’t know the author of Hebrews, but it passed the other tests.

A book needed to be widely recognized as inspired by the church.  It also needed to be consistent with those books already accepted as inspired, and it must carry the power of God.

The New Testament Canon was not agreed upon until 367 a.d. when Athanasias included his list of the 27 books in his Easter letter.  There was no rush on this as the early church didn’t recognize a need to form a “collection” of inspired books.  In fact, the first list of books doesn’t appear until 100 years after the death of all the apostles but John. It was in 170 a.d. when 23 of our current New Testament books were contained in what is known as the Muratorian Canon.  The only books not listed were 2 Peter, Hebrews, and two of John’s epistles.  By then the other 23 were accepted.  In fact, as early as late in Peter’s ministry, he tells us Paul’s epistles were accepted as Scripture (2 Peter 3:16).

Why is this important?

To defend the Bible against those who would attack its reliability and inspiration, we need to understand what it is and how it came to be.  Christians don’t cling to some old random collection of ancient documents for direction.  The Bible is a very carefully compiled collection of 66 books written by more than 40 authors over a period of 1500 years.  Christians believe in it strongly enough to defend it robustly and eagerly. 

How accurate is our modern Bible? Astrophysicist, Dr. Hugh Ross, went on a search for the Creator God of the universe he saw.  He felt this God might want to communicate with His creation, and so began to read the writings of all the major world religions.  He left Christianity for last but discovered great accuracy in the writings of the Bible when compared with the universe around us and gave his life to Christ.

The book we know as the Bible is as trustworthy as the reality of the universe and its Creator it describes.