February 8, 2025 • 17 mins
Have you ever pondered the true significance of the Bible in your daily life? In this episode of Faithfullyliven, we discuss how it the Bible provides a foundation for our beliefs, historical context for Christianity's origins, and a source of personal transformation. The Bible fosters unity within the Christian community, transcending cultural and denominational differences. Hopefully, this episode will deepen your understanding of why the Bible remains a vital part of our faith journey today.
Do you want to learn how to study the Bible? Check out the YouTube channel Faithfullyliven youtube.com/@faithfullyliven
Do you want to read about how to live faithfully? Check out the blog http://lyfe102.org
Get a free Road Map to get started learning how to study the Bible https://mailchi.mp/88f9c9405da0/bible-study-road-map
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to Faithfully Living, the Podcast, where we
learn how to live for Christ inour daily lives.
I am Dwan, your host, and Iwould like to invite you on a
journey with me to explore andlearn how to be a faithful
follower of Christ.
Hey everyone, welcome toFaithfully living, the podcast,
(00:33):
where we strive to encourage youto live for christ faithfully
by offering guidance on how tostudy the bible, how to
understand the bible better andhow to remain faithful to
historic christianity and acontemporary society.
So let me ask you a questionwhat is your view of the Bible?
Do you trust it?
Take some time to think aboutit.
We're going to start a newseries about all things Bible.
(00:57):
The topics are going to vary tocover topics like how we got
the Bible we have now, why theBible is, and should be, an
important part of our lives asbelievers.
So I hope you stay tuned overthe next couple of episodes to
hear and learn more.
(01:17):
So clearly we know that, asfollowers of Christ, that the
Bible is important and what webelieve about the Bible is
essential to our life.
In his book, the Doctrine ofScripture, an Introduction, mark
Thompson says Christianinterest in, and even devotion
(01:40):
to the teachings of the Bible isintegral to Christian
discipleship.
It is difficult to sustain theclaim to be a disciple of Jesus
Christ if you do not take thewords he endorsed the Old
Testament and those hecommissioned the New Testament
seriously.
So let's talk about the reasonswhy the Bible is important.
(02:01):
The Bible is important, alright.
First off, let me just say thisis not an all-inclusive list.
These are just some of themthat come to mind.
So why is the Bible important?
It's God's divine revelation.
You know we believe that theBible is the inspired word of
(02:24):
God.
It contains truths about God'snature, his will for us as
people and humanity.
It also chronicles the story ofhis interactions with his
creation.
It's God's message for her.
The Bible is also part of ourfoundation of faith.
It serves as the foundation forour Christian faith and it
(02:47):
provides a basis for belief,doctrines and practice of our
faith.
And then also, the Bible is aguide for our life.
We often call it a guidebook.
It gives us wisdom, provides usmoral principles for navigating
challenges or decisions we haveto make that we want to be
(03:10):
within God's will.
The Bible is also a source ofspiritual nourishment.
It provides us encouragement,comfort, it gives us strength,
you know, when we go throughtrials and difficult situations,
and also as believers.
It gives us a way to know howto be saved.
(03:32):
It tells us the plan ofsalvation through Jesus Christ
and how we as people can bereconciled to God through the
atonement of Christ's sacrificefor us.
The Bible also helps usunderstand and know God's
character.
So as we read through the Bible, the stories, the teachings,
(03:55):
its revelations, it helps us toknow who God is, his character.
We see things like his love,his justice, his faithfulness,
his mercy to you know thosepeople in the Bible, and the
same God that's in the Bible isthe same God that we serve today
.
The Bible also provides us witha historical context for
(04:20):
understanding the origins ofChristianity, understanding the
origins of Christianity.
It gives us the culture andsocial milieu of biblical times
and the development of God'scovenant relationship with
humanity.
The Bible can also assist uswith personal transformation.
You know, christ gives us a newlife when we give our lives to
(04:46):
him.
The bible has the power totransform our lives, renew our
minds.
It can, it can convict ourhearts and leaders toward
repentance, faith and spiritualgrowth.
And then also the last one,which is I I kind of like is
that it provides a place forcommunity and unity among
(05:07):
believers.
So it's kind of like a unifyingsource or force for us as
christians that we have a commonsource of authority, belief and
practice that can transcendculture, denomination and
linguistic differences.
(05:27):
So you see, there's a varietyof reasons why the Bible is
important for us as believers.
All right, on the other side oflooking at the Bible is looking
at the systematic theology,where there's a doctrine called
(05:48):
bibliology.
It is a doctrine of the Bible.
There are various aspects ofthis doctrine.
We have the inerrancy ofscripture, the authority of
scripture, the clarity ofscripture, the necessity of
scripture and the sufficiency ofscripture and, of course, you
know I always like to defineterms.
(06:08):
So I'm going to briefly defineall of these for you and then in
later episodes we're going tolook at them a little bit more
closely.
So first of all we're going tolook at the inerrancy of the
word, the definition it says.
Paul Finberg defines theinerrancy as follows when all
the facts are known, thescriptures in their original
autographs, so the original inwhich they were written, and
(06:32):
properly interpreted, will beshown to be wholly true in
everything they affirm, whetherit has to do with doctrine or
morality or with the social,physical or life sciences.
It is a belief in the totaltruthfulness and reliability of
God's word.
(06:53):
So just a side note that wedon't have the original
autographs anymore.
We have copies of the scripture.
There are multiple copies thatwere transcribed throughout the
years.
So there are hundreds andhundreds of copies of the Bible.
We just don't have theoriginals in which the original
writers wrote them.
(07:13):
Just to get back on track, weshould believe that the Bible is
without error.
That was in conferences, inerrancy when it was originally
written.
So the doctrine of biblicalerrancy is essential because
it's a matter of truth, itreflects on the character of God
and is foundational to ourunderstanding of everything that
(07:37):
the Bible teaches.
All right.
Next is going to be thedefinition of the authority of
scripture, and the rest of thedefinitions are going to be from
Wayne Grudem's systematictheology.
So the definition of theauthority of scripture.
The authority of scripturemeans that all the words in
scripture are God's words insuch a way.
So the authority of scripturedepends on the power and
(08:13):
supremacy of its author, whichis God.
So we know in scripture thatscripture is God breathed, that
scripture is God-breathed.
2 Timothy 3.16 says Allscripture is breathed out by God
and profitable for teaching,for reproof, for correction and
for training in righteousness.
Scripture is God-speaking andhas a final word in all matters,
whether we choose to submit toit or not.
(08:35):
Next we have the clarity ofscripture.
The clarity of scripture meansthat the Bible is written in
such a way that it is able to beunderstood.
But right understanding requirestime, effort, use of ordinary
means, a willingness to obey andthe help of the Holy Spirit,
(08:58):
and our understanding willremain imperfect in this
lifetime.
So when we read and study theBible, you know, I'm sure you
come across passages that areeasy to understand and then
others that are more difficultto understand.
So the Bible was written, sothat a person can learn what is
needed to be a follower ofChrist and how to live as one.
(09:21):
Then we have the necessity ofscripture.
It means that the Bible isnecessary for knowing the gospel
, for maintaining spiritual lifeand for knowing God's will, but
it is not necessary for knowingthat God exists or for knowing
something about God's characterand moral law.
(09:42):
So to be a follower of Jesus,we need the Bible.
It's going to be our guide forlife and what brings glory to
God.
And then our last, one lastdefinition is going to be the
sufficiency of scripture.
It means that scripturecontains all the words of god we
need for salvation, fortrusting him perfectly and for
(10:05):
obeying him perfect.
So this kind of means that weneed the bible to equip us for
faith and service to god, so noother writings are necessary for
this good news to be understood, or any other writings required
to equip us for a life of faith.
So what we believe about theBible shapes how we view its
(10:30):
place in our lives.
I love this quote by CharlesHatton Spurgeon.
It says a Bible that's fallenapart usually belongs to someone
.
It isn't so when we trust God'sword completely, that means
we're trusting God.
So the Bible has had, or hasmade, a broad impact in the
(10:55):
world around.
This.
The impact of Bible expands awide range of areas such as
language, poetry, art,development of languages, music,
films, global missions,humanitarianism, just to name a
(11:17):
few examples.
So let's kind of look at thesea little bit more closely.
So literature, art, if you, ifyou're familiar with michael
angelo's creation of adam, whichis a painting on the ceiling of
the sistine chapel in vaticancity city.
It depicts the creation of adamfrom the book of genesis.
(11:41):
So if you've seen pictures ofit, you'll see like a man
pointing and then a depiction ofwhat is supposed to be God, you
know, almost touching thefinger of Adam.
So that is the creation of Adamby Michelangelo.
Then also another one would bethe Last Supper by Leonardo da
(12:04):
Vinci.
It's a mural painting thatdepicts Jesus and the disciples
doing the Last Supper.
So you know that comes from theNew Testament.
In literature you have thingslike Paradise Lost by John
Milton.
It's a poem that retells thebiblical story of the fall.
(12:26):
So it draws heavily from thebook of Genesis and other
biblical texts.
If you heard of the Chroniclesof Narnia by CS Lewis, it's a
series of fantasy novels aboutChristian allegory and it also
is inspired by some biblicalnarratives and christian
(12:47):
theology when you come to music.
If you've ever heard of georgefrederick handel's, messiah is a
oracle composed in 1741.
In its text is taken from theking james bible and the Book of
Common Prayer.
So the Messiah focuses on thelife, death and resurrection of
(13:11):
Christ.
And then Johann Sebastian Bachhe wrote an oratory called St
Matthew's Passion.
He wrote that in 1726, and it'sbased on the Gospel of Matthew.
He wrote that in 1726 and it'sbased on the Gospel of Matthew
(13:33):
and it recounts the eventsleading up to the crucifixion of
Christ.
Then you have Themes.
If you've never seen the TenCommandments, with Charles
Heston in it, it depicts thebiblical story of Moses and the
exodus from Egypt.
Then we have more.
Well, it's not recent, but youhave the Passion of Christ by
Mel Gibson.
That depicts the final 12 hoursof the life of Jesus and it
(13:57):
focuses on his crucifixion andhis death.
Other ways that the Bible hasmade an impact is through
morality and ethics.
The teachings of the Bible haveinformed the moral and ethical
framework of pretty muchworldwide, or it has guided
(14:22):
people on matters of justice,compassion and personal conduct,
how we relate, behave towardeach other.
So we know that God is theultimate source for truth and
good and all of the good that isin the world is innately given
(14:43):
by God.
Like I said, god is theultimate source for right and
wrong, because the opposite ofwrong, opposite of right, is
going to be wrong.
So the standard you know helpsus.
The standard of good helps usto know.
You know things that are notgood and the Bible gives us a
source of all that is right,true and good.
(15:21):
Then you have global missions,charitable work that goes out to
relieve suffering and spreadlove and compassion to those
around us, so doing good,helping others.
It comes from the commandmentthat God tells us to love our
(15:41):
neighbor.
So you have relieforganizations such as World
Vision, samaritan Purse,catholic Relief Services that
are inspired by poverty, naturaldisaster and conflict and
disease.
And then you have other areassuch as history, culture, social
(16:19):
justice, activism, personalgrowth and development,
environmental stewardship.
There are other areas in whichthe Bible has had some influence
over, and it has influence over, believers and non-believers
alike.
All right, so now I hope youunderstand why the Bible is
(16:45):
important, and this wraps up ourepisode, but stay tuned as we
explore more about the Bible.
Until next time, remember Godis always good and he's always
faithful.
Thank you for listening to thepodcast.
Do me a favor by following thepodcast and leaving a review to
help spread the word.
I look forward to hearing fromyou.
Welcome to Faithfully Living, the Podcast, where we
learn how to live for Christ inour daily lives.
I am Dwan, your host, and Iwould like to invite you on a
journey with me to explore andlearn how to be a faithful
follower of Christ.
Hey everyone, welcome toFaithfully living, the podcast,
(00:33):
where we strive to encourage youto live for christ faithfully
by offering guidance on how tostudy the bible, how to
understand the bible better andhow to remain faithful to
historic christianity and acontemporary society.
So let me ask you a questionwhat is your view of the Bible?
Do you trust it?
Take some time to think aboutit.
We're going to start a newseries about all things Bible.
(00:57):
The topics are going to vary tocover topics like how we got
the Bible we have now, why theBible is, and should be, an
important part of our lives asbelievers.
So I hope you stay tuned overthe next couple of episodes to
hear and learn more.
(01:17):
So clearly we know that, asfollowers of Christ, that the
Bible is important and what webelieve about the Bible is
essential to our life.
In his book, the Doctrine ofScripture, an Introduction, mark
Thompson says Christianinterest in, and even devotion
(01:40):
to the teachings of the Bible isintegral to Christian
discipleship.
It is difficult to sustain theclaim to be a disciple of Jesus
Christ if you do not take thewords he endorsed the Old
Testament and those hecommissioned the New Testament
seriously.
So let's talk about the reasonswhy the Bible is important.
(02:01):
The Bible is important, alright.
First off, let me just say thisis not an all-inclusive list.
These are just some of themthat come to mind.
So why is the Bible important?
It's God's divine revelation.
You know we believe that theBible is the inspired word of
(02:24):
God.
It contains truths about God'snature, his will for us as
people and humanity.
It also chronicles the story ofhis interactions with his
creation.
It's God's message for her.
The Bible is also part of ourfoundation of faith.
It serves as the foundation forour Christian faith and it
(02:47):
provides a basis for belief,doctrines and practice of our
faith.
And then also, the Bible is aguide for our life.
We often call it a guidebook.
It gives us wisdom, provides usmoral principles for navigating
challenges or decisions we haveto make that we want to be
(03:10):
within God's will.
The Bible is also a source ofspiritual nourishment.
It provides us encouragement,comfort, it gives us strength,
you know, when we go throughtrials and difficult situations,
and also as believers.
It gives us a way to know howto be saved.
(03:32):
It tells us the plan ofsalvation through Jesus Christ
and how we as people can bereconciled to God through the
atonement of Christ's sacrificefor us.
The Bible also helps usunderstand and know God's
character.
So as we read through the Bible, the stories, the teachings,
(03:55):
its revelations, it helps us toknow who God is, his character.
We see things like his love,his justice, his faithfulness,
his mercy to you know thosepeople in the Bible, and the
same God that's in the Bible isthe same God that we serve today
.
The Bible also provides us witha historical context for
(04:20):
understanding the origins ofChristianity, understanding the
origins of Christianity.
It gives us the culture andsocial milieu of biblical times
and the development of God'scovenant relationship with
humanity.
The Bible can also assist uswith personal transformation.
You know, christ gives us a newlife when we give our lives to
(04:46):
him.
The bible has the power totransform our lives, renew our
minds.
It can, it can convict ourhearts and leaders toward
repentance, faith and spiritualgrowth.
And then also the last one,which is I I kind of like is
that it provides a place forcommunity and unity among
(05:07):
believers.
So it's kind of like a unifyingsource or force for us as
christians that we have a commonsource of authority, belief and
practice that can transcendculture, denomination and
linguistic differences.
(05:27):
So you see, there's a varietyof reasons why the Bible is
important for us as believers.
All right, on the other side oflooking at the Bible is looking
at the systematic theology,where there's a doctrine called
(05:48):
bibliology.
It is a doctrine of the Bible.
There are various aspects ofthis doctrine.
We have the inerrancy ofscripture, the authority of
scripture, the clarity ofscripture, the necessity of
scripture and the sufficiency ofscripture and, of course, you
know I always like to defineterms.
(06:08):
So I'm going to briefly defineall of these for you and then in
later episodes we're going tolook at them a little bit more
closely.
So first of all we're going tolook at the inerrancy of the
word, the definition it says.
Paul Finberg defines theinerrancy as follows when all
the facts are known, thescriptures in their original
autographs, so the original inwhich they were written, and
(06:32):
properly interpreted, will beshown to be wholly true in
everything they affirm, whetherit has to do with doctrine or
morality or with the social,physical or life sciences.
It is a belief in the totaltruthfulness and reliability of
God's word.
(06:53):
So just a side note that wedon't have the original
autographs anymore.
We have copies of the scripture.
There are multiple copies thatwere transcribed throughout the
years.
So there are hundreds andhundreds of copies of the Bible.
We just don't have theoriginals in which the original
writers wrote them.
(07:13):
Just to get back on track, weshould believe that the Bible is
without error.
That was in conferences, inerrancy when it was originally
written.
So the doctrine of biblicalerrancy is essential because
it's a matter of truth, itreflects on the character of God
and is foundational to ourunderstanding of everything that
(07:37):
the Bible teaches.
All right.
Next is going to be thedefinition of the authority of
scripture, and the rest of thedefinitions are going to be from
Wayne Grudem's systematictheology.
So the definition of theauthority of scripture.
The authority of scripturemeans that all the words in
scripture are God's words insuch a way.
So the authority of scripturedepends on the power and
(08:13):
supremacy of its author, whichis God.
So we know in scripture thatscripture is God breathed, that
scripture is God-breathed.
2 Timothy 3.16 says Allscripture is breathed out by God
and profitable for teaching,for reproof, for correction and
for training in righteousness.
Scripture is God-speaking andhas a final word in all matters,
whether we choose to submit toit or not.
(08:35):
Next we have the clarity ofscripture.
The clarity of scripture meansthat the Bible is written in
such a way that it is able to beunderstood.
But right understanding requirestime, effort, use of ordinary
means, a willingness to obey andthe help of the Holy Spirit,
(08:58):
and our understanding willremain imperfect in this
lifetime.
So when we read and study theBible, you know, I'm sure you
come across passages that areeasy to understand and then
others that are more difficultto understand.
So the Bible was written, sothat a person can learn what is
needed to be a follower ofChrist and how to live as one.
(09:21):
Then we have the necessity ofscripture.
It means that the Bible isnecessary for knowing the gospel
, for maintaining spiritual lifeand for knowing God's will, but
it is not necessary for knowingthat God exists or for knowing
something about God's characterand moral law.
(09:42):
So to be a follower of Jesus,we need the Bible.
It's going to be our guide forlife and what brings glory to
God.
And then our last, one lastdefinition is going to be the
sufficiency of scripture.
It means that scripturecontains all the words of god we
need for salvation, fortrusting him perfectly and for
(10:05):
obeying him perfect.
So this kind of means that weneed the bible to equip us for
faith and service to god, so noother writings are necessary for
this good news to be understood, or any other writings required
to equip us for a life of faith.
So what we believe about theBible shapes how we view its
(10:30):
place in our lives.
I love this quote by CharlesHatton Spurgeon.
It says a Bible that's fallenapart usually belongs to someone
.
It isn't so when we trust God'sword completely, that means
we're trusting God.
So the Bible has had, or hasmade, a broad impact in the
(10:55):
world around.
This.
The impact of Bible expands awide range of areas such as
language, poetry, art,development of languages, music,
films, global missions,humanitarianism, just to name a
(11:17):
few examples.
So let's kind of look at thesea little bit more closely.
So literature, art, if you, ifyou're familiar with michael
angelo's creation of adam, whichis a painting on the ceiling of
the sistine chapel in vaticancity city.
It depicts the creation of adamfrom the book of genesis.
(11:41):
So if you've seen pictures ofit, you'll see like a man
pointing and then a depiction ofwhat is supposed to be God, you
know, almost touching thefinger of Adam.
So that is the creation of Adamby Michelangelo.
Then also another one would bethe Last Supper by Leonardo da
(12:04):
Vinci.
It's a mural painting thatdepicts Jesus and the disciples
doing the Last Supper.
So you know that comes from theNew Testament.
In literature you have thingslike Paradise Lost by John
Milton.
It's a poem that retells thebiblical story of the fall.
(12:26):
So it draws heavily from thebook of Genesis and other
biblical texts.
If you heard of the Chroniclesof Narnia by CS Lewis, it's a
series of fantasy novels aboutChristian allegory and it also
is inspired by some biblicalnarratives and christian
(12:47):
theology when you come to music.
If you've ever heard of georgefrederick handel's, messiah is a
oracle composed in 1741.
In its text is taken from theking james bible and the Book of
Common Prayer.
So the Messiah focuses on thelife, death and resurrection of
(13:11):
Christ.
And then Johann Sebastian Bachhe wrote an oratory called St
Matthew's Passion.
He wrote that in 1726, and it'sbased on the Gospel of Matthew.
He wrote that in 1726 and it'sbased on the Gospel of Matthew
(13:33):
and it recounts the eventsleading up to the crucifixion of
Christ.
Then you have Themes.
If you've never seen the TenCommandments, with Charles
Heston in it, it depicts thebiblical story of Moses and the
exodus from Egypt.
Then we have more.
Well, it's not recent, but youhave the Passion of Christ by
Mel Gibson.
That depicts the final 12 hoursof the life of Jesus and it
(13:57):
focuses on his crucifixion andhis death.
Other ways that the Bible hasmade an impact is through
morality and ethics.
The teachings of the Bible haveinformed the moral and ethical
framework of pretty muchworldwide, or it has guided
(14:22):
people on matters of justice,compassion and personal conduct,
how we relate, behave towardeach other.
So we know that God is theultimate source for truth and
good and all of the good that isin the world is innately given
(14:43):
by God.
Like I said, god is theultimate source for right and
wrong, because the opposite ofwrong, opposite of right, is
going to be wrong.
So the standard you know helpsus.
The standard of good helps usto know.
You know things that are notgood and the Bible gives us a
source of all that is right,true and good.
(15:21):
Then you have global missions,charitable work that goes out to
relieve suffering and spreadlove and compassion to those
around us, so doing good,helping others.
It comes from the commandmentthat God tells us to love our
(15:41):
neighbor.
So you have relieforganizations such as World
Vision, samaritan Purse,catholic Relief Services that
are inspired by poverty, naturaldisaster and conflict and
disease.
And then you have other areassuch as history, culture, social
(16:19):
justice, activism, personalgrowth and development,
environmental stewardship.
There are other areas in whichthe Bible has had some influence
over, and it has influence over, believers and non-believers
alike.
All right, so now I hope youunderstand why the Bible is
(16:45):
important, and this wraps up ourepisode, but stay tuned as we
explore more about the Bible.
Until next time, remember Godis always good and he's always
faithful.
Thank you for listening to thepodcast.
Do me a favor by following thepodcast and leaving a review to
help spread the word.
I look forward to hearing fromyou.
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