The Bible and its
Critics (Part III: Literary Issues)
(Pastor Terry L.
Reese, Valley GBC, Armagh, PA, June 21, AD 2020)
Text: 2 Pet. 1:16-21.
We saw in
previous messages that Our Lord Jesus Christ placed His Divine stamp of
approval upon the entire sacred Canon of 66 Books—but this has not stopped
godless men from finding all manner of “difficulties” with the Scriptures.
Natural man
has a vested interest in pulling down the Word of God, for within its
authoritative proclamations lies his own doom!
Heb. 4:12 For the word of
God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even
to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and
is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
I. Critics of the Word
of God ceaselessly claim errors, always presuming it “Guilty!” Often, the
answers are quite simple—but once again, no
answer will prove sufficient for some (Matt. 7:6).
For the
sincere questioner and honest seeker, however, we should endeavor to provide
reasonable responses to their concerns (1 Pet. 3:15), and we should also desire
to minister to our fellow believers who are looking for answers to various
difficulties.
Once again,
we remind you of our most basic assumption and presupposition as believers when
we approach the Word: while there are difficulties
and enigmas (2 Pet. 3:15-16), there are no errors.
As a DIVINE BOOK, it must be
presupposed to be accurate, holy, authoritative, and infinitely trustworthy! As
Jesus reminds us in John 17:17b: "Thy word is truth.”
But, there are things that are hard to understand;
thus, the reason behind this entire series on Bible difficulties.
Today, we look at problems related to Literary Issues—and many of
these “problems,” in the last analysis, will prove to be mere misapprehensions.
We now bring to the table various questions and inappropriate expectations in
this regard that have unsettled various individuals and caused many of these
so-called “difficulties.” Some of these concerns, as we shall see, are patently
ridiculous, but have nonetheless have proven to serve as a cause for angst
amongst various individuals.
I. Question # 1: “Can
the Bible be judged appropriately according to Today’s modern literary styles?
Is this fair?”
Answer: The Bible must be properly understood
according to the literary styles, standards, and conventions
of the age in which it was written.
Let us remind
ourselves that the inerrant Word of
God is a HUMAN book, as well as a Divine book.
2 Pet. 1:20-21 ESV “20…knowing this first of all, that no
prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. 21For
no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as
they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
The Holy
Spirit infallibly guided and bore along (2 Pet. 1:20-21) the human authors
(much like Paul’s ship was driven along in Acts 27:15 & 17 during the
tempest, in which the same Greek terminology is employed). In a wonderfully
mysterious process, the Holy Spirit employed their human faculties, literary
styles, and personal experiences to say exactly what the God of Truth wanted
them say, down to the very words they chose.
The authors
Scripture were not unconscious or empty vessels (as one sees in the occult
world with the phenomenon of “automatic writing,” or like Mohammed and the
Koran, in which he entered an ecstatic trance-state). The process of the
inspiration of Scripture was infinitely more mysterious than simple mechanical
dictation theories will allow. Hence, the writings of the Biblical authors
are not only Divine, but tremendously human and personal. Note the passion of
the repentant David:
Ps. 51:2-4: Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me
from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so
that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.
The Bible (and
every other literary document written by men) must be properly analyzed and
understood according to the literary styles, standards, and conventions of the
age in which it was written.
Every age has
its own literary conventions, which may seem unusual to people living in
another time frame. For example…
·
Paul’s name is placed at the beginning (not the end) of his letters;
·
Moses
and Daniel speak of themselves in the third
person in their writings, rather than in the 1st Person (note
that Caesar did the same thing in his history of the Gallic campaign);
·
Genealogies are often abbreviated—a common
practice in antiquity, but not so much today:
Matt. 1: 8: And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and
Joram begat Ozias…
Betweem
Joram and Ozias were three kings: Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah, which are here
omitted. Matthew had his own literary purpose in doing this; there is no error
on Matthew’s part! Modern literary conventions and genealogical practices don’t
apply here!
II. Question #2: “Why
is the life of Christ laid out differently by different Gospel writers? Why is
there a different ordering of events, and why are various events omitted in
some accounts?”
Answer: Let us understand that the Gospels
not written simply as matter-of-fact, modern
chronologically-structured biographies. Each Gospel writer had his own
themes and special purposes in writing, and also had different initial target
audiences (e.g., Matthew had a special emphasis towards the Jews). Thus, each
writer arranged and chose their material in accordance with these specific needs.
Thus…
o
While
some material is arranged chronologically, some is arranged thematically.
o
The
authors are not claiming that
everything they present is in accordance with a strict chronology!
o
Imposing
modern literary styles and conventions upon ancient men, with regard to their
choices in organizing material, is patently absurd.
III. Question #3: “Does
the Bible employ such well-known literary conventions such as rounding-off
numbers and paraphrasing… and is this OK for an inerrant book?”
Answer: “Yes” on both counts! The Bible
employs the following literary devices:
a. The
language of appearance
(common, non-technical, everyday, descriptive language (Josh. 1:15: “the sunrise”);
b. Round (as opposed to exact) numbers (1 Chron.
19:18);
c. Paraphrasing (i.e., restating things using
different words, rather than employing exact quotation).
Let us
analyze these conventions individually…
a) The
language of appearance. The Bible uses the everyday, non-technical language
of appearance in order to describe things.
For
example, Joshua 1:15 speaks of “the
sunrise”—yet, we know that from a purely scientific basis, that this
phenomenon is not caused by the sun’s motion, but by the Earth spinning upon
its axis. But things are NOT required to be written in technical, scientific
jargon in order to be true. These
things were written for people of all times, using common, everyday, phenomenalistic
language. Scientists of our own day
use this language, in popular conversation. It is a matter of author’s INTENT!
b) The use of round numbers.
1 Chron. 19:18: The Arameans fled before Israel, and David killed of the
Arameans 7,000 charioteers and 40,000 foot soldiers, and put to death Shophach
the commander of the army.
Is
this an exact number? If not, does that make it a false report? No; again, it
is a matter of author’s INTENT! The
Chronicler is not intending to give
an exact, precise, numerically accurate statistical report. He is employing linguistic
and numeric shorthand so that we get the main idea. For example, it is not
inaccurate to state that Hitler killed 6,000,000 Jews. We understand this to be a generalization. INTENT!
c) Paraphra
The
Bible uses the literary device of paraphrasing (i.e., restating things using
different words, rather than employing exact quotation). This “problem”
involves the following misperceptions:
i.
Modern
critics sometimes seem to lack the consciousness that the Biblical writers do, in fact, often paraphrase;
ii.
The
above misapprehension is sometimes misperceived by critics as a failure of the
author’s to quote accurately.
Biblical
statements are not always direct quotes—and do not claim
to be! Many modern translations, for the sake of readability, employ the device
of quotation marks—but there are no quotation marks in the
original languages!
Thus,
with regard to Peter’s good confession of Jesus as the Christ, there are three
different wordings given:
Matt 16:16 : "You are the Christ, the Son of the living
God."
Mark 8:29: "You are the Christ."
Luke 9:20: "The Christ of God."
Likewise,
the New Testament also paraphrases the Old Testament, employing “free”
quotation:
Matt. 2:6: And thou
Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda:
for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.
Micah 5:2: But thou,
Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out
of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings
forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
Statements
are paraphrased by the authors in their
own words for emphasis of meaning. We
do all of these things today—and it is understood, by way of INTENT, what we are doing! These
are not “errors;” they are acceptable literary devices and conventions.
IV. Another misunderstanding of language: confusing general statements with universal
ones, or proverbial truisms with absolute truths.
Often
the Bible (e.g., Proverbs) offers general truisms—which are general
rules-of-thumb that USUALLY hold true. They do, however, admit of EXCEPTIONS. These
are given for purposes of general
guidance
(e.g., Prov. 16:7, Prov. 22:6)—not
for universal assurance. Let us consider,
for example, the case of Prov. 22:6:
Prov. 22:6: Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he
is old he will not depart from it.
But
what about the notorious gunslinger John Wesley Hardin, who killed perhaps
forty men? He was the son of a devout Methodist minister, James "Gip"
Hardin, who named his son after the founder of the Methodist Church. And what
of modern “church brats”—the badly behaving sons and daughters of godly
pastors, who are often the shame and reproach of many a local church? Or, what
of the wicked sons of the prophet Samuel and King Josiah—two of the most
faithful men in the Bible? Should Prov. 22:6 be seen as a falsehood?
Not
at all. Prov. 22:6 is intended as a truism,
demonstrating a general pattern of truth—but it is not intended by Solomon as
an absolute truth that will not permit exceptions.
Absolute truths, however, are ALWAYS true without any
exception whatsoever (e.g., John 3:16 & Rom. 10:13). God’s great and
everlasting promises of salvation and eternal security for the believer will
ALWAYS hold true!
V. Conclusion.
Natural man,
as we stated at the outset, has a vested interest in pulling down the Word of
God, for within its authoritative proclamations lies his doom. That’s why he strips
himself of all common sense, and relentlessly searches for error, even in the
most ridiculous places.
1Cor. 2:14 The natural person does not accept the things of the
Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them
because they are spiritually discerned.
Natural man
has a with a final, unerring, objective source of authority in a
post-Christian, postmodern world that is floundering in moral and ethical
ambiguity. His relationship to Jesus is like that of the wicked citizens in the
Parable of the Ten Minas in Luke 19:14:
“But
his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We will not
have this man to reign over us.'”
It also
recalls the relationship between God and the Israelites in the days of the
Judges:
Judges 21: 25: “In
those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own
eyes.”
There is no
problem with the Word of God—only with Modern Man in his insane flight from
Reason and Truth…
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