Is the Bible the word of God?
Scriptures
2 Timothy 3:12-4:5
‘Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. ‘I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. ‘
Quotes & References
George Bernard Shaw “No man ever believes that the Bible means what it says: He is always convinced that it says what he means.”
Gandhi “You Christians look after a document containing enough dynamite to blow all civilisation to pieces, turn the world upside down and bring peace to a battle-torn planet. But you treat it as though it is nothing more than a piece of literature.”
Tim Keller “For years I thought that God could be active in my life through the Spirit and that the Bible was a book I had to obey if God was going to come in. I now realize that Bible is the way that, through the Spirit, God is active in my life.”
Recommended Resources
From Pastor Caleb
The following resources are ones I have personally benefited from and recommend. I have noted some of my thoughts on various resources. I have also tried to arrange into three categories in the hopes of pairing you with the right resources. Aside from these books, I highly recommend the articles and videos available at ExploreGod.com.
Regardless of what resources you use, my hope is that you would explore the scriptures on your own and in the context of community. If you are interested in learning more about joining a group at DSBC, email our team at info@dsbc.church or check out this page.
STARTING OUT
This Bible has notes in the margins that help explain a lot of the culture, context and strange words or theological terms. Study Bibles are usually more expensive since they have all the notes. For a copy of the Bible without notes, I recommend this one.
This accessible book is a great place to begin! For those just starting out in Bible reading, I highly recommend this one.
I highly recommend reading the Gospel of Mark along with a commentary. This application commentary provides help in understanding the culture, context, structure and terminology found in the Gospel of Mark.
INTERMEDIATE
This book explores how Jesus engaged with, spoke about and taught from the Scriptures. It is a fascinating approach to this topic.
This book explores how the Old Testament points to and deepens our understanding of Jesus.
For a deeper study of the Gospel of Mark, try the Bible Speaks Today series. I highly recommend their commentaries for any Bible Study.
ADVANCED-ISH
The Drama of Scripture explores how the story of God is woven together in the scriptures. The author’s provide a more robust version of the Creation-Fall-Redemption-Restoration flow of scripture.
A deep dive into the Old Testament and how it weaves together to point to Jesus. Clowney’s concept of Christ in all of Scripture has deeply informed my understanding of the scriptures.
I often encourage people, after reading the Gospel of Mark, to read Genesis. Waltke’s commentary provides helpful input in navigating this foundational book. Oh, and be sure to compare Genesis 1 with John 1… tons of fascinating parallels.