The existence of the Bible is both divinity and humanity. That means God spoke through men or used men to write the Bible.
The Bible’s histories, poems, letters, prophecies, and writings came from a collaboration between God and humanity.
According to 2 Timothy 3:16, all scriptures is inspired by God. This indicates that God gave the message to the people he used in the Bible to deliver his word orally or written.
When a teacher gives a message to a student to deliver it to the headmaster even though the student has delivered the message but the message is from the teacher. Is the same way the people God use in the Bible delivered or wrote God’s word but the message is from God.
BENEFITS OF THE BIBLE ACCORDING TO 2 TIMOTHY 3:16
2 Timothy 3:16, All scripture is given by the inspiration of God and is valuable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness.
Profitable: Before you make a profit, you must trade or work with what you have. One reason why a person is poor is that the person does not have a product or service to exchange for money or get a profit. In this regard, unless you do or obey God’s word before you receive the benefits or promises in the Bible.
For example, Ephesians 6:1–3 states, “Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honour thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise. That it may be well with thee and thou mayest live long on earth.”
| WHAT WE MUST DO | BENEFITS GOD PROMISE US |
| Ephesians 6:1 Obey your parent in the Lord | Ephesians 6:3 That it may be well with you thee live long on earth |
Reproof – (Scripture Text: Proverbs 15:5):
A fool despises his father’s instruction, but he who regards reproof as prudent.
The term “reproof” has its origins in the Latin word “reprobare,” which means to disapprove, reject, or condemn. Because your father or mother loves you, is not everything you ask or want that they approve of? The same applies to God.
Doctrine (Scripture Text: Psalm 34:8):
Psalm 34:8 says, “O taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that trusts in Him.”
Doctrine is a belief or set of beliefs, either religious or political, that are taught and accepted. If you see a salt and you want to know whether it is salt or sugar, you must taste and see if it is really salt.
The same applies to the Bible, if you want to know whether the word of God you are reading or being taught is true, unless you do or obey to know whether the blessings God promised will come to pass in your life.
Correction (Scripture Text: Proverbs 3:11-12):
Proverbs 3:11-12 reads, “My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of His correction. For whom the Lord loveth, He correcteth, even as a father the son in whom He delighteth.”
Correction is a punishment intended to reform, improve, rehabilitate, or chastise. It also means fixing mistakes or changing a right a wrong. Remember, it will always take humility to accept correction when you go wrong.
Instruction (Scripture Text: Proverbs 19:20):
Proverbs 19:20 states, “Hear counsel and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end.”
Instruction means direction or order. It can also mean advice and information about how to do or use something.
Based on this explanation, it means that we are unable to get things done properly in our lives simply because we do not listen or obey proper instructions.
QUIET TIME
A quiet time is a set aside part of each day for a meeting between a believer and God. It comprises studying a part of the Bible, prayer, meditation, contemplation, and worship of God etc.
Jesus had a regular quiet time while on earth according to Mark 1:35, “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place and there he prayed.”
Questions To Answer
- The existence of the Bible is both __________________________.
- Write all the benefits of the Bible and explain
- Give 5 bible quotation about what God says you should do and what God says He will Do for you
- What is Quiet Time?
- Write 3 importance of the Bible study
- If you want to do a bible study what will you have to study
- write the steps in doing bible studies
THE BIBLE
The word Bible comes from a Greek word Biblia meaning ed. It can also mean a library because is a collection of books written about God. A collection of holy books that Christians and Jews believe were written by God through men.
A school of thought believe that there are 4 stages of the Bible by which it was develop. They are
- THE ORAL STAGE: The writing or message of the Bible was delivered to people oraly or by mouth. They are not written in books.
- WRITTEN STAGE: It was now written down in books by writers called scribes.
- CANONIZATION STAGE: The message or writing of the Bible written down was chosen as books of the Bible by people of faith, Christians and Jew.
TRANSLATION STAGE: The books of the Bible was now translated into many versions and languages.
VERSIONS OF THE BIBLE
There are about 60 versions of the Bible. Division of the versions of the bible are;
- WORD FOR WORD
Word for word version are considered highly or mostly accurate translated directly from the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts. Example are The King James Version (Authorized Version) and the New King James version.
Other examples of the word for word versions are;
- NASB – New American Standard Bible
- ASV – American Standard Version
- YLT – Young Literal Translation
- The Holy Bible in Modern English
- JPS – Jewish Publication Society
- RSV – Revised Standard Version
- King James II Bible
- MEANING TO MEANING VERSION
When people don’t get the meaning from the original version such as The King James Version or The New King James Version, they rely on meaning to meaning versions.
Even though meaning to meaning versions are easy to understand but at times you can’t rely on it for doctrine or teaching because some of the interpretation differ from what the original writer intends to say. Examples of meaning to meaning versions are;
- Jewish New Testament
- CEV – Contemporary English Version
- Crood News Bible
- Knox Translation
- REB – Revised English Bible
- Today’s English version
- NJB – New Jerusalem bible
- NEB – New English bible
- NAB – New American bible
- The Bible, A New Translation (Moffatt)
- ESV – The English Standard Version
- NIV – New International Version