God gave us a BOOK

The Bible is not an idol

The writings of the Holy Scriptures are the only places we learn about the God of Heaven—YAHWEH/JEHOVAH. The Bible is the only place we learn about Jesus, the beginnings of the universe and humanity.

The man Christ Jesus is the singularity—the nexus upon which all life as we know it hinges, the author and finisher of our faith. And we know of him through the words of the Bible. According to Jesus and the psalmist, the entire volume of THE BOOK is written of Him.

This is attested to in both Old and New Covenant writings. These writings are compiled in the book we call the Bible. There are other writings the ancients considered important—some considered them sacred—and preserved them for their posterity. Some of these still exist today and are quoted in the books of the Bible.

There are over 5000 extant Greek texts of the New Testament that agree with one another. These attest to the accuracy of the Bible. There are thousands of Hebrew texts that attest to the same. Yet, increasingly, professing Believers are throwing out the baby with the bathwater by rejecting the Bible as God’s gift to every generation.

Paul prophesied of this when he said the day would come when professing Christians would cease to endure sound teaching. Where do we get our teaching? From the Bible. The Holy Spirit promised to give us understanding of the Holy Scriptures even without human teachers ^{1 John 2:27}.

When John wrote that, he was not telling Believers to toss the Bible or not listen to any Bible teacher. God forbid! Bible believing Bible teachers are also gifts to God’s people. John was telling Believers who are every one indwelled by the Holy Spirit, to read the scriptures and learn for themselves, trusting that the Spirit of God would lead and teach them. Then they would be equipped with the discernment to know when some questionable Bible teacher was selling them a bill of goods or not.

This writer may question Bible scholars and English-translation-theology, but never the Bible itself—the Hebrew and Greek texts. The Bible contains the living words of God. Jesus said, “My words are spirit, and they are life.” The Bible is the only place we find the words of Jesus.

It is important for hungry hearts to understand that there are two types of words from God, one is rhema, which is inspired but subjective. Mortals must decide whether they are indeed hearing from God or from an imposter—another spirit posing as God. So how to know? The answer lies in the logos, which is the written Word of God. The psalmist wrote that God honors his Word above his name and preserves it to every generation.

Jesus is the Living Word, the Logos. In the beginning was the LOGOS and the LOGOS was with God and the LOGOS was God…. and the LOGOS became flesh and dwelt among us.

Think about that. Jesus is not called the subjective rhema but rather the undisputable logos. And we do reference the Hebrew and Greek texts here—not imperfect translations.

When Jesus was confronted by the devil, he uttered the words, IT IS WRITTEN. He used the incontrovertible logos—the Sword of the Spirit—against the enemy of his soul … and ours.

Those who claim to hear from God but reject what has already been written as the standard for judging what is or is not from God, believe they are better than Jesus, who never failed to obey the words of the prophet and use what had already been written—THE BOOK—as his standard for judging all things. ^{Isaiah 8:19-20, John 5:39}.

All subjective rhema must be judged by the impartial logos, by that which has already been written. Isaiah said so, and Jesus agreed ^{Isaiah 8:19-20}.

There is a reason Jesus, the Word, is not called the rhema but rather the Logos. By his pre-incarnate title, his words, and his example, Jesus embodies and honors THE BOOK. Jesus himself cannot be separated from THE BOOK. In the volume of THE BOOK it is written of Me.

Believing this does not transform the Bible into an idol. The Bible cannot be an idol. No true believer would ever worship anything but the one true God. Those who use the Bible to further their own selfish ends do not actually believe it at all and do not worship anything but themselves. They are their own idol.

Jesus, THE WORD, said his words are spirit and life. That means his words, when written—and we have them written in the Bible (and not just in the Gospels)—are alive. The entire volume of THE BOOK is written of him ^{Psalm 40:7, Hebrews 10:7}.

When Jesus was challenged by the devil, his only defense was, “IT IS WRITTEN.” The mortal, the man Christ Jesus—yes, he took on mortality—knew the Holy Scriptures inside and out, from the time he was a child, and commanded others to follow his example in this.

He read. He studied. Just like any other human. He became one of us and unapologetically filled his mind and spirit with the written Word of God—THE BOOK.

We find those exact words about the Bible written in the Bible. The psalmist called the Holy Scriptures THE BOOK.

The psalmist wrote of Jesus and THE BOOK. Thousands of years later, the psalmist was quoted in the New Testament book of Hebrews, where is it written, “In the volume of THE BOOK it is written of Me ^{Psalm 40:7, Hebrews 10:7}.”

Jesus challenged nay-sayers to, “Search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life and they are they which testify of me.” Jesus was speaking of the written Word of God—the logos—the same BOOK the psalmist wrote about.  

God did indeed leave us a BOOK.

Jocelyn Andersen is the author of several non-fiction books, including, Redemption: Bible Prophecy Simplified, a Study of HOPE.

She will be releasing e-book and print [comprehensive] commentaries on every book of the Bible she features in this column. Click HERE to subscribe to book release announcements via her newsletter and for links to all her Substack columns. Connect with Jocelyn on Goodreads and LinkedIn.

Note from the editor: I read my Bible every day, always picking up today where I left off yesterday. I have been doing that for over 44 years. I read my Bible every day, always picking up today where I left off yesterday. I have been doing that for over 44 years. The posts on this column are notes on whatever passage I happen to be reading on that particular day. Read more about this commentary HERE.