75
“The Scriptures” I. A BIBLICAL DEFINITION OF THE BIBLE
The phrase, “the Scriptures,” suggests a synthetic definition of the Bible. There were other writings, but these were the writings. They had them in the Hebrew tongue, and also a translation into the Greek, known as the “Septuagint,” made nearly three hundred years before Christ. But it takes our second Scripture to complete this definition of the Bible “Every Scripture is God-breathed.” A noted scholar has taken the pains to collate the texts in the New Testament where this Greek idiom occurs, and he declares that the King James ver- sion, and not the Revised, is the correct translation, and sev- eral eminent scholars on the Committee of Revision agreed with him. “All Scripture is God-breathed” is evidently what the Holy Spirit meant to write. Of course, the writers were inspired. “The Holy Ghost spake by the mouth of David” (Acts 1:16). “The word of the Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel” (Ezek. i :3 ) . But the writings as well as the writers were inspired, because “all Scripture is God-breathed.” God, who “breathed into man the breath of life and he became a liv- ing soul,” has also breathed into His Book the breath of life, so that it is “the Word of God which liveth and abide* for- ever.” ' I There are many writers, but one Author. These writers were not automatons. Each one shows his own style and per- sonality which the Holy Spirit uses. II. A BIBLICAL USE OF THE BIBLE It is four-fold: “Profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” “Doctrine is the teaching, not of the man as he may express his opinion in social converse, but of the ambassador who carries with him the weight of his government’s authority; and in the Bible we find God’s official proclamation of love, pardon, cleansing, right- eousness and peace.
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker