Sixty-six
books claiming divine inspiration, written over a span of 1500 years…Why do these
books constitute the Bible and not others?
How were they determined to be the Word of God? Why do some Bibles have
the Apocryphal books and some don’t?
Should we read the Apocrypha? How
are errors or differences between ancient manuscripts handled? Can they be trusted? How much can we trust our English
translations? You don’t need to go to
seminary to learn this. Norman Geisler
and William Nix provide a comprehensive guide in their book From God to Us: How We Got Our Bible.
While
both Dr. Geisler and Dr. Nix are seminary professors with extensive academic
backgrounds, they do not write as if they are stuck in an ivory tower. This book answers the above questions and
more in an organized, readable format, divided into four parts, or links, that
show how the chain of communication from God to us is strong: inspiration, canonization, transmission, and
translation.
The
first half of this book explains what every Christian should know about why we can
have confidence in the Bible as the Word of God. In the first two sections, the authors explain
what it means that the Bible is “inspired” and provide the evidences for
inspiration. The second part explains
how the Bible was developed and put together.
The authors examine how Jesus viewed the Old Testament, which books he
considered Scripture, and how Jesus used those words to show who he is. The logical
and practical presentation of evidence that the Bible is the Word of God is
persuasive. But they don’t leave us
there; they emphasize why it is important to know this for our faith.
You
can go as deep as you want with this book, as each part and chapter progresses
from a simple overview to an in-depth treatment. In Part 3: Transmission, we learn how these
words were transmitted over two thousand years and whether or not our 20th-century
English Bible is an accurate reproduction of the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek
texts. First they introduce why written
languages are important, how manuscripts were prepared and preserved, and then
if you are interested still, you can dive into details of the original
manuscripts and textual criticism. If
some readers find this too detailed, they can skip ahead to the beginning of
the next chapter understand the general concepts without getting bogged down in
the details, such as manuscript types.
In
Part 4: Translation, the authors cover the history of translation from the Aramaic,
Syriac, Greek and Latin languages. Most
readers may be especially interested in the last couple chapters about English
translations, particularly from the 16th-century translations such
as Tyndale’s, and the King James Bible through current versions, such as The Message. With
the proliferation of Bible translations we have today, the authors warn that we
must use discernment with consideration of the background of the translators
and their source documents used for translation. Some may present dangerous
aberrant teaching, heresies, and doctrinal distortions not just in the study
notes but into the translation itself.
Ultimately,
this book is excellent for learning how the words of both the Old and New
Testaments were preserved over the centuries, why we can have confidence that
these words are the Word of God, and how we know they are inerrant. It provides a guide for us to continue in
selecting English translations that are faithful to the true Word of God. This book is a valuable addition to my
personal library.
Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Moody Press in exchange for
my honest review.
No comments:
Post a Comment