The Uniqueness Of The Bible - Part 1 - Calvary Road Baptist Church

“THE UNIQUENESS OF THE BIBLE”[1] - Part 1

I want to speak to the curious, to the questioning, to the inquiring person. Perhaps you are a visitor, or maybe you are a long-time attendee. You may be a college-age fellow or one of our younger people. Whoever you are, I would like to spend our time together accomplishing a single thing.

I do not want to prove that the Bible is God’s Word, though I am convinced it is. I will even take the unusual step of keeping my Bible closed this evening. It is one of the few times I have spoken to people with a closed Bible. But I do so for the purpose, by using evidence external to the Bible, of establishing in your mind that the Bible is unique, that there is no other book like it in the world. If I can convince you that the Bible is unique, I will have accomplished my goal for this message, part 1, and for the following message, part 2.

Something is said to be unique if it is the only one of its kind, if it is solitary in type or character, if it is without parallel, if it is incomparable.[2] So says the unabridged Webster’s dictionary. Using that dictionary definition of “unique,” can the Bible be shown to be unique? Can the Bible be shown to be the only book of its kind, without parallel? Following the lead of Josh McDowell’s book, The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict, I think anyone with an open mind can be shown that the Bible is unlike any other book.

You do not have to be a scholar of ancient Eastern languages to conclude the uniqueness of the Bible. Neither do you have to be a schooled theologian. You can come to the right conclusion about the Bible yourself if you will consider the facts.[3]

Seven ways in which facts lead an honest inquirer to conclude that the Bible is unique:

First, THE BIBLE IS UNIQUE IN ITS CONTINUITY

Did you know that the Bible is the only book written over a fifteen-hundred-year period?

Did you know that the Bible is the only book written by more than forty authors from every walk of life, including kings, military leaders, peasants, philosophers, fishermen, tax collectors, poets, musicians, statesmen, scholars, and shepherds? For example:

Moses was a political leader and a judge, trained by the scholars of Egypt.
David was a king, a poet, a musician, a shepherd, and a warrior.
Amos was a herdsman.
Joshua was a military general.
Nehemiah was a cupbearer to a pagan king.
Daniel was a politician, and the prime minister of two foreign countries.
Solomon was a king and a philosopher.
Luke was a physician and an historian.
Peter was a fisherman.
Matthew was a tax collector.
Paul was a rabbi.
And Mark was Peter’s secretary.

What a collaboration to have produced the internally coherent Bible from such a diverse group of authors.

Did you know that the Bible was written in different places?

Moses wrote in the wilderness.
Jeremiah wrote in a dungeon.
Daniel wrote on a hillside and in a palace.
Paul wrote from within prison walls.
Luke wrote while traveling.
John wrote while in exile on the isle of Patmos.

Did you know that the Bible was written at different times? David wrote in times of war and sacrifice, while Solomon wrote in times of peace and prosperity.

Did you know that the Bible was written during different moods?

Some of the Bible’s authors wrote from the heights of joy.
While some wrote from the depths of sorrow and despair.
Some wrote during times of certainty and conviction.
While others wrote during days of confusion and doubt.

Did it ever dawn on you that the Bible was written on three continents? While most of the Old Testament was written in Asia, a portion was written in Africa, and portions of the New Testament were written in Asia and Europe.

Did you know that the Bible was written in three languages? First, there is Hebrew, the language of the Israelites, and practically all of the Old Testament. In Second Kings 18.26-28 and Nehemiah 13.24, it is called “the Jews’ language,” and in Isaiah 19.18 it is called “the language of Canaan.” Then there is Aramaic, the “common language of the Near East until Alexander the Great (sixth century B.C. through the fourth century B.C.). Daniel chapters 2 through 7, and most of Ezra chapters 4 through 7 are written in Aramaic, as are occasional statements in the New Testament. Most notable was Jesus’ cry from the cross, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani,’ which in Aramaic means “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Matthew 27.46. Finally, there is Greek, the language comprising almost all the New Testament. It was also the international language spoken during Christ’s earthly ministry, as English is becoming the international language of the modern world.

Have you ever thought that the Bible was written in a wide variety of literary styles? The Bible includes, at a minimum, such diverse literary styles as poetry, historical narrative, song, romance, didactic treatise, personal correspondence, memoirs, satire, biography, autobiography, law, prophecy, parable, and allegory. Additionally, the Bible features one literary type found nowhere else: the Gospel form. Do you imagine the likeliest grasp of different Biblical passages will be gained without giving some attention to the literary styles used by the Biblical authors? And what about nuances used in one language but not found in other languages, which is the case with Hebrew and Greek? Therefore, you may think you understand a Bible passage without considering the literary style used, be it irony or allegory, parable, or poem.

Have you ever thought that the Bible addresses hundreds of controversial subjects, subjects that create opposing opinions when mentioned to people or discussed by people? The hot topics in the Bible include marriage, divorce and remarriage, homosexuality, adultery, obedience to authority, truth-telling and lying, character development, parenting, the consumption of drugs and alcohol, and the nature and revelation of God. Yet, from Genesis through Revelation, the Bible’s more than forty writers addressed these various topics with a fantastic degree of harmony. And despite its diversity, the Bible presents a single unfolding story: God’s redemption of individual sinners. Theologians Norman Geisler and William Nix said this: “The ‘Paradise Lost’ of Genesis becomes the ‘Paradise Regained’ of Revelation.” The unifying thread throughout, what W. A. Criswell termed “the scarlet thread,” is salvation from sin and condemnation to a life of complete transformation and unending bliss in the presence of the one, merciful, holy God, through faith in the shed blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. Not to mention the kingdom. Ah, yes, the kingdom. You must be born again to see the kingdom. You must be born again to enter the kingdom. It was the kingdom the Jewish people were promised. It was the kingdom the Jewish people looked for. It was the kingdom the Lord Jesus Christ spoke to. And it is the kingdom that was promised to come.

Finally, has it dawned on you that, among all the people described in the Bible, the leading character throughout is the one, true, living God made known through His Son, Jesus Christ? Consider first the Old Testament: The Law provides the “foundation for Christ,” the historical books show “the preparation” for Christ, the poetical works “aspire” to Christ, and the prophecies display an “expectation” of Christ. In the New Testament, the “Gospels ... record the historical manifestation of Christ, the Acts relate the propagation of Christ, the Epistles give the interpretation of Christ, and Revelation is found the consummation of all things in Christ.” From cover to cover, the Bible is Christocentric.

With these considerations in mind, we cannot resist concluding that the Bible is unique in its continuity.

Next, THE BIBLE IS UNIQUE IN ITS CIRCULATION

It’s not unusual to hear about books that have hit the bestseller list, selling a few hundred thousand copies. It’s much rarer to find books that have sold over a million copies. Rarer still to find books that have passed the ten-million mark in sales. It staggers the mind to discover that the number of Bibles printed and distributed reaches the billions. That’s right, billions! More copies have been produced in its entirety and selected portions than any other book in history. Some will argue that more of a particular book was sold in a designated month or year. However, no other book even compares to the Scriptures regarding its total circulation.

According to the United Bible Societies’ 1998 Scripture Distribution Report, member organizations were responsible for distributing 20.8 million complete Bibles and another 20.1 million testaments in that year alone. The total number of copies of the Bible or portions of the Bible distributed in 1998 reached a staggering 585 million - and these numbers only include Bibles distributed by the United Bible Societies!

In other words, if you lined up all the people who received Bibles or Scripture selections in 1998 and handed a Bible to one of them every five seconds, it would take more than ninety-two years to do what just the United Bible Societies accomplished in 1998 alone.

As The Cambridge History of the Bible states, “No other book has known anything approaching this constant circulation.” A critic would correctly assert that “This doesn’t prove that the Bible is the Word of God.” But it does demonstrate that the Bible is unique.

Third, THE BIBLE IS UNIQUE IN ITS TRANSLATION

The Bible was one of the very first significant books ever translated. Around 250 B.C., the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into Greek and named Septuagint. The work was initially produced for Greek-speaking Jews living in Alexandria, Egypt, who could no longer read Hebrew.

For reasons I presented to this congregation several years ago, it is asserted by many that the King James Version is still the best English translation of the Bible. This is despite the publication of many modern versions of the Bible. So, I will not speak about that subject today. Insofar as the Bible is unique in its translations, allow me to focus in this message on translations of the Bible into other languages.

The number of translations of the Bible into other languages is every bit as impressive as its sales numbers. Most books are never translated into another language. Among the books that are, most are published in just two or three languages. Far fewer books see translation figures rise into the teens. Yet, according to the United Bible Societies, the Bible (or portions of it), has been translated into more than 2,200 languages! Worldwide, no other book in history has been translated, retranslated, and paraphrased more than the Bible. No other book in history comes close to comparing with the Bible in its translation activity. It is unique in that respect.

I think it best to stop at this point, taking up the rest of what I have to say about the uniqueness of the Bible next week, Lord willing.

Let me quickly restate: First, the Bible is unique concerning its continuity. No other written material known to humanity equips the Bible’s continuity. Not the Quran. Not the so-called Hindu holy writings. And no other example of literature.

Second, the Bible is unique concerning its circulation. By the end of the second century after Christ multiplied tens of thousands of copies of the various books of the Bible were copied and in circulation. No such comparable thing is found in history. And in modern times, more than one billion copies of the Bible, the New Testament, or portions of the New Testament have been printed and circulated.

Third, and with this, I will pause until next time, the Bible is unique in its translation into different languages. I think I am correct in stating there are fewer than a dozen translations of the Quran into different languages. Correct me if I am wrong.

Contrast that with CNE.News reports that as of April 6, 2023, “the Bible is available in 733 languages. That means that 5.9 billion people can read the Word of God in their mother tongue. The New Testament is translated into 1,622 languages; other parts of the Bible in 1,255 languages.”

On what basis would any rational person challenge the assertion that the Bible is unique in literature, and, therefore, worth reading by anyone and everyone who does not want to be numbered among the willfully ignorant?

__________

[1] Adapted from Josh D. McDowell, The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999), pages 3-16.

[2] Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, (New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1996), page 2074.

[3] https://www.facebook.com/reel/234976272530148

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Pastor@CalvaryRoadBaptist.Church