The Word of God is “God breathed.” Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, inspired men wrote at God’s direction so that persons might have the very Word of God Himself for the purposes of doctrine (belief), reproof (chastisement), correction (righting), instruction in righteousness (direction to go). This four-fold purpose of the scripture is that the man of God (believer, Christian) may be led to do good works. The Bible is at the same time our instruction book of how to be and how to do, how to order life according to God’s principles and how to live life according to God’s directives. Paul knew how important these concepts were for the young preacher Timothy to know and practice, and he instructed him to “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (I Timothy 4:2-4, KJV).
Yesterday some friends and I had a wonderful experience. We traveled to Atlanta to view “Passages,” an interactive Bible display that is currently set up for public view in a section of Perimeter Mall. “Passages” is described as a “fascinating story that spans over 2,000 years…with expert commentary on the artifacts by some of the world’s leading scholars.” (Passages brochure). It is in celebration of the 400th year (in 2011) since the translation of the King James Version of the Bible in 1611, and in honor of the men (and women) who lost their lives because they stood up for their beliefs that the Bible should be made available to all people in the language of the people. Even though I had studied the history of how the Bible came to us, and had a deep appreciation of the price people throughout history have paid to bring God’s Word to us, I will not again take for granted the privilege of reading and studying God’s Word. From efforts of the ancient scribes of Old Testament days to those who, amidst great persecution and loss of lives persisted in translating and transcribing the Word of God, it has come to us at a great cost in dedication and lives lost. The Passages museum collection will be on display in Atlanta at Perimeter Mall through mid-May 2012. I recommend that you visit it if you can; plan to spend several hours there, because it is not a quick-through exhibit. Serious viewers will certainly come away with a deeper appreciation of God’s Word, Scripture, and how it came to us. You will see a reproduction of the Gutenberg printing press on which Johannes Gutenberg and six assistants took two years of very hard work to produce the first Bible printed on moveable press and completed in 1454 in Germany. The Bible became more available in English in 1611 with the King James edition, although noble efforts by Caedmon, John Wycliffe, John Purvey (the Lollard’s Bible), and William Tyndale had produced portions or all of the scriptures in English prior to 1611.
We can truly appreciate the “God-breathed, God-inspired” writers of the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, who at the instruction of God wrote the Bible in its original languages. Added to that noble company of Holy Spirit-inspired writers is a host of others through centuries who, with singleness of purpose and with God-inspired determination faced great odds, even loss of life, to give us the Bible in our own language. The efforts are still moving forward today as linguists work diligently to translate the Bible. Religion, society, culture, archaeology, science and technology have all played important roles in preserving and transferring the Bible. Scholar G. S. Wegener wrote of the Bible: “it has passed through all the stages of man’s achievements and come out unscathed and full of life. And always will be, till the end of the world.” (Wegener, G. S., 6,000 Years of the Bible. New York: Harper, 1958. p. 340). Thank God for His Word and for the great price paid by many to bring it to us intact. Truly we can say with deep thanksgiving, ”Thy Word is a lalmp unto my feet and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105).
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