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As saved ones, we should at least have a basic knowledge concerning certain matters, such as there is God, Jesus is our Savior, we are sinners, our sins have been forgiven, and we have the Lord’s life in us. In addition, we should further know how the Bible came into existence, how it was handed down, how it was translated, and what its functions are. We should also know who Christ is. Is He God or is He a man? What was He in the past, and what will He be in the future? Not only so, we should know the development of Christianity on earth. What is the “old religion”? What is the “new religion”? What is the Catholic, or Roman Catholic, Church? What is the Greek Orthodox, or the Eastern Orthodox, Church? We need to have a basic knowledge of all these matters.
Christians all acknowledge that the Bible is God’s word, God’s speaking. Not only so, the Bible is God’s speaking to man through human language. The Bible comes out of God and is God’s own speaking, yet God speaks by words that are intelligible to man. Because man understands only the human language, and because God desires to speak to man, God must use a language that man can understand. We may compare this to the way we use the appropriate language to express our ideas to a foreigner; even though we speak in a foreign language, the content is still our thoughts.
There are several great matters in the universe. The first matter is God’s creation of heaven and earth, which is an evidence of God’s existence. That God created all things proves His existence. Everyone recognizes that the creation of the universe, the existence of the universe, is a great miracle. The universe is so mysterious and so great, yet it came into being through creation and is upheld and borne by Christ. This great matter proves the existence of God.
The second great matter in the universe is God’s speaking. God, indeed, created the universe; however, if God merely uses the universe to prove His existence, it would be difficult for man to fathom and believe. Therefore, God came in to speak to man. The creation of God is the verification of God, whereas the speaking of God is the explanation of God, the making known of God Himself by His speaking. For example, I have something in my pocket, but if I do not say anything about it, then you will have to make all kinds of guesses as to what it is. Some might be partially right and others might be totally wrong, but no one can be absolutely correct. However, once I explain what it is, then no one needs to guess; everyone will know what it is.
In the same way, the Bible is an explanation. The universe is the creation of God, whereas the Bible is the word of God, the explanation of God. The creation is God’s work, and the word of God is His explanation. His word clearly tells us where the universe came from, what its course is, and where it is going. It even tells us in detail where man came from and where he is going. This is the Bible. Anyone who really knows the Bible will confess that it is the word spoken by God to reveal Himself, the universe and all creation, and even the relationship of mankind with God.
God is a speaking God; He reveals Himself to man by His speaking. Those who do not know God might say that everything is really a mystery. Those who know God, however, can understand His revelation because they have the Spirit within and the Bible without. The universe is laid open to them, and the matters of the universe are as clear as crystal. If God had never spoken to mankind, then we would not know how to go on while we are living on earth. Hebrews 1:1-2a says, “God, having spoken of old in many portions and in many ways to the fathers in the prophets, has at the last of these days spoken to us in the Son.” God spoke to the fathers in the ancient times. Now He is speaking to us. Moreover, God does not only speak, but He speaks continually. This is truly a sweet and wonderful thing.
Perhaps some may ask, How can the Bible be the word of God? Was the Bible not written by men? This is not difficult to explain. For example, when someone telephones you from abroad and you hear his voice through the receiver, would you say that the voice is the voice of the receiver? We all know that the voice in the receiver comes from someone who is outside the receiver but speaks through the receiver. Apparently, the Bible is the word of men; actually, it is the speaking of God in and through men. Second Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (KJV). In Greek, given by inspiration of God means “God-breathed.” The Scripture is the word of God breathed into men and then written down by men. It is God’s thoughts being written into men and then spoken out by men. We may use the record player as an illustration. The voice is breathed out by the singer, stored onto a record, and then it is played back through the record player. We all know that the voice and the words stored on the record are exactly the same as the voice and the words uttered by the singer. It was the same in the beginning when God breathed out His thoughts to be received into men and then spoken out by men.
Every writer of the Scripture would reverently confess that what he wrote was not his own word but God’s word. In the Old Testament it is frequently mentioned that men were inspired by God. Balaam, who was an evil prophet, originally intended to curse the Israelites, but it was not up to him. Whenever he opened his mouth, he spoke words of blessing instead of words of cursing. Those words were not what he had intended to say; rather, they were beyond what he had expected (Num. 23—24). In this way we can understand the meaning of being inspired by God. God spoke through men by giving them inspiration. This means that the Spirit of God came upon men and wrote the word of God through them. The Bible was written in this way.
There were approximately forty writers of the Bible. Among them, some were men of noble birth, such as King David; some were lowly men, such as Peter; some were shepherds, such as Amos; some were highly educated, such as Moses; some were men of great wisdom, such as Paul; and some were very simple, such as John. Some lived in palaces and some were in the wilderness; some were in Judea and some were in Arabia. They had different styles, they were in different places, and they wrote at different times, yet when their writings were put together, these writings formed the complete Bible with a consistent line of thought. This shows that the Bible truly came out of the inspiration of God. God first wrote a portion through Moses, then after a period of time, wrote another portion through Isaiah; later, He wrote through Jeremiah and still later through Daniel; then finally, He wrote through John. There were at least forty writers, yet they all wrote under the divine inspiration over a period of more than 1500 years. The first book was written by Moses around 1500 B.C.; the last book was written by the apostle John around A.D. 94-96, which was about 1500 to 1600 years after the first book. The entire Bible consists of sixty-six books. These books were written in many different places, such as Palestine, Rome, and Ephesus. However, although they were written in so many places, over such an extended period of time, and through so many hands, after they had been compiled together, they formed the complete Bible, in which all the thoughts are consistent. This is full proof that the Bible truly originates from God.
It is amazing that the Bible could be transmitted to us. The first book of the Old Testament—Genesis—was written about 1500 B.C., and the last book—Malachi—was written about 400 B.C. In other words, the Old Testament was already completed in 400 B.C. After the Lord Jesus came, in His preaching He often quoted the words of the Old Testament. This is proof that at His time the Old Testament had already been completed.
When the Lord Jesus was on the earth, since printing had not yet been invented, the Bible had to be copied by hand on sheepskin. The Jewish scribes were very reverent in making copies of the Scriptures. History tells us that they wrote on sheets made from the choicest sheepskin and exercised the greatest possible care in copying. They counted not only the words, but every letter in every line. If an incorrect letter was found, the whole copy was rejected. It is said that the writers also had to pronounce each word aloud before writing it. They were required to wipe their pen before writing the name of God in any form, and to wash their whole body before writing Jehovah. This shows how much they revered the Holy Scriptures. After the Lord Jesus had departed the world, the apostles were inspired to write the New Testament. By A.D. 100 the entire New Testament had been completed. In the second century the God-fearing people often cited the words of the New Testament in their writings. This proves that within a hundred years after the Lord’s departure, the New Testament was already there.
The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, the ancient language of the Jews. The following four passages, however, were written in Aramaic: Jeremiah 10:11; Daniel 2:4—7:28; Ezra 4:8—6:18; and Ezra 7:12-26. These portions contain records of the events related to the Babylonians, who used the Aramaic language, so they were written in Aramaic and not in Hebrew. The Chaldeans also adopted the Aramaic language. At the time of the Lord Jesus, many Jews still used the Aramaic language. By that time the Roman Empire had already captured the land of Israel. When the Roman Empire conquered all the surrounding areas of the Mediterranean Sea and spread the Greek culture to all those places, the Greek language became the common language of the Roman Empire of that day. Hence, the apostles used Greek for the writing of the New Testament.
The Bible in common use today, however, was not translated from the original manuscripts because they have all been lost. According to the researchers of the ancient manuscripts, the oldest manuscripts that have been discovered are from the third and fourth centuries after Christ. In other words, the oldest manuscripts are only 1500 to 1600 years old. Although the originals are no longer in existence, three early manuscripts still exist. These have been considered to be three among the fifty copies of the Bible that were made through an edict issued by Emperor Constantine in A.D. 330.
Of these three manuscripts, the oldest and most complete copy is known as the Vaticanus manuscript and is being kept in the Vatican Library. It was done around A.D. 350 and was discovered over 500 years ago. The second copy, which was beautifully written, is the Sinaiticus manuscript. In 1844 it was discovered by Dr. Tischendorf, a renowned German scholar, in a monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai. Later, it was deposited in the Royal Library of Russia until 1933, when it was sold to the British Library in London for 100,000 pounds sterling. The third copy is the Alexandrinus manuscript. It was presented to King Charles I in 1628 by Cyril Lucar, a Greek patriarch of Alexandria, and is also being kept in the British Library in London. Thus, of these three ancient manuscripts, two are in London, and one is in the Vatican.
Around 400 B.C. all the books of the Old Testament had been completed. By 300 B.C. the Jews who dwelt in Egypt, in the city of Alexandria, had begun to translate the Bible from Hebrew to Greek. The five books of Moses were finished around 270 B.C., and then the remaining books of the Old Testament were translated in the subsequent one hundred fifty years. This became the earliest translation of the Hebrew Bible. According to the Letter of Aristeas, this translation was done by seventy-two scholars, all of whom were experts both in Hebrew and in Greek; hence, it was called the Septuagint, which is the earliest translation of the Bible. Later, when the Roman Empire unified the areas surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, some began to translate the Bible into Latin, but their translations were in a crude vernacular style and contained many absurdities. In A.D. 384 the church father Jerome undertook the revision of the Latin New Testament; his work of retranslating was completed in A.D. 388. The Latin translation of the Old Testament from the original Hebrew was finished by A.D. 404. This version was later called the Vulgate, which itself is a Latin word, meaning “made common.” Hence, it is also known as the Latin “common” version and is still being used by the Roman Catholic Church today.
At the time of the Reformation, the primary work of Luther was to translate the Bible into German. This marked the beginning of the Bible’s being widely translated into different languages. As to the English Bible, John Wycliffe was the first to translate the Vulgate into English. Afterward William Tyndale and a few others also undertook the translation work. However, due to the great differences reflected in the various versions, in 1604 King James I of England established a Bible translation committee and assembled fifty scholars to undertake the translation work. Subsequently, in 1611 the authorized English version, the King James Version, was published. This version was gradually accepted by Christians as the standard version of the English Bible because of its fluency in the English language and its faithfulness to the original language. Later, in 1870, due to the progress made in research on the original languages and the old manuscripts, nearly a hundred British and American scholars formed a committee to revise the King James Version. The revision of the New Testament was completed in 1881, while that of the Old Testament was done in 1885. This translation is known as the Revised Version. After the completion of its work, the committee transmitted all the texts from England to America by telegraph. Then after further revisions in vocabulary were made, another edition was published in 1901 in the United States and is known as the American Standard Version. Because this translation was very faithful to the original text, about ninety-five percent of the content of subsequent Chinese versions conformed to this version.
The work on the Chinese translation also underwent a long process. The earliest traceable work, carried out in the thirteenth through the sixteenth centuries, was the translation of the New Testament and the book of Psalms by some Catholic priests in China, including John of Monte Corvino and Matteo Ricci. Then in 1807 Robert Morrison went to China to preach the gospel. During his stay he translated the Bible into the Chinese language with the help of a Chinese helper by the name of Liang Ya-fa. This version was published in 1823. Subsequently, various Chinese Bible versions came off the press, but nearly all of them were in classical Chinese. In 1885 John Griffith, an evangelist who preached the gospel in the northeastern region of China, used the semivernacular Chinese style to translate the New Testament. Then in 1889 a New Testament, entirely in vernacular Chinese, was officially published. A year later a joint convention of the missionary societies of various Protestant denominations in China was held in Shanghai. During that time there were ardent discussions about the translation of the Bible into Chinese. As a result, a committee of seven scholars was formed to be responsible for the undertaking. After twenty-eight years of laboring, in 1919 the entire Union Version was completed using the official Chinese language. The literary style was beautiful, far surpassing all other versions. Hence, it is still widely used today. In 1939, after some revisions, it became known as the Mandarin Union Version or simply, the Union Version.
Throughout the generations Christians have had many ways of reading the Bible. Some of the ways require much time and effort but produce little result, while other ways likewise require much time and effort but yield no result at all. However, one way that is worth trying is to read the Bible once a year. Daily read one chapter of the New Testament and three chapters of the Old Testament; this is to read four chapters a day. In this way the Bible can be read through once in a year. It is best to read the New Testament in the morning and the Old Testament during the day. This way is even more necessary for the new believers. After you rise up every morning, before doing anything else, you should pray and read the Bible. This does not require a great amount of time. Normally, people think that they do not have enough hours in a day, but if we allot time to read the Word and pray, we will gain the benefit of redeeming our time. More importantly, this will cause us to be nourished and supplied every day; we will not only increase in knowledge but also grow in life.
Furthermore, when you read the Bible, first you need to follow its sequence. Read the Old Testament starting with Genesis and the New Testament with Matthew, reading both parts in parallel and following the sequence chapter by chapter and verse by verse. In this way you can easily finish reading the Bible once a year. Second, there is no need to seek for a deep understanding. Your seeking for deeper understanding may actually become a hindrance. When you are just beginning to read the Bible, the more you read, the better. Do not just read more chapters but more books. Third, there is the need to pay attention to the facts or the summary of each chapter. For example, Matthew 1 tells us two things: first, the genealogy of Christ; second, the birth of Christ. It is sufficient to remember these facts.
Fourth, receive inspiration from each chapter you have read. From that chapter there may be a sentence or a few verses that touch you very much. You should meditate on them, pray over them, and memorize them. For example, Matthew 1:21 says, “She will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.” If you are moved by this word “for it is He who will save His people from their sins,” then you can pray, “Lord Jesus, I ask You to wash away whatever sins are still in me. Lord, I am sinful. Save me from my sins.” In doing so, the benefits you receive daily will be immeasurable. If you cannot understand a certain portion, do not be anxious to understand it right away. In time, when you come back to that portion, you will spontaneously understand more and eventually understand it thoroughly.
If we read the Bible in this way, the more we read, the more we will be helped and our spiritual life will grow. This is a continuous cycle of cause and effect. In addition, when reading, it is best to go through the Old Testament at a faster pace; just try to remember the facts, and this will be good enough. Holidays and vacations are the best times to read the Bible. During such days we should spend more time to read and memorize the Scriptures. This will stabilize our Christian life and keep us from slipping. When we come to the Bible, we are coming before God; hence, each time we read the Bible, we are refreshed. Many of us love to read magazines and newspapers. However, that kind of reading can only increase our worries; it cannot refresh us. When we read the Bible, however, we are always refreshed. This is just like a glass being washed in water; even if it is empty, at least it is clean.
Someone may ask, “How can I read the Bible? My memory is poor, so I cannot remember anything I read.” Whether we can remember what we read is another matter. The primary purpose of our reading the Bible is that we may be nourished and enlightened so that we may have strength for our living, light for our way, and growth for our spiritual life. May we begin immediately to practice this.
