WHY SHOULD I STUDY THE SCRIPTURES?
- Because it is God’s inspired words or ‘speakings’ to us. We cannot know God when we don’t know what He has said or is saying to us. 1Timothy 3:16; Joshua 1:8; Matthew 4:4; Colossians 3:16.
- We receive comfort and assurance from the word of God because we can hear Him speak PERSONALLY to us through the Word. Genesis 15:1-4; Romans 15:4.
- God only does what is in His Word. We will be standing on NO grounds in our walk with the Lord unless we STAND ON HIS WORDS. Isaiah 55:10-11; Jeremiah 1:10b; Joshua 21:45.
WHAT ARE THE SCRIPTURES?
In a simple definition, the SCRIPTURES are the sacred writings of the Old and/or New Testaments contained in the Bible. In other words, the scriptures reveal God’s inspired speaking and words to us in written human language.
God does not have a specific natural language. If He must speak to us, He would need to communicate with us in discernible language(s).
The Greek meaning of Scriptures is (graphē), and it means the Holy Writings of God as contained in the Bible. So, from the definitions above, the Old and New Testaments form what we now know as the Scriptures, taken together or separately.
Furthermore, God is the Author of the Scriptures, but He ‘wrote’ them through men inspired by the Holy Spirit, in discernible human languages. Exodus 34:1; Jeremiah 30:2; 2Timothy 3:16-17; Romans 16:26.
Other thoughts about the Scriptures:
- Usually referred to as the ‘Book of the Law’ in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 28:58; 31:26; Joshua 1:8
This is because, at that time, God’s revelations to the first Church (The Israel nation; Church in the wilderness were contained in the Book of the Law.
The Book of the Law will then be the book containing God’s speaking to His people; that is His voice.
When these speaking became written, they became the Book of the Law containing commandments, statutes, ordinances (charge), and laws. Genesis 26:5
- The 66-books we have in the modern – day Bible are called the canonized scriptures. The Bible in our hand is adequate to reveal the mind of God to us. Philippians 3:15-16
Courtesy:
Ilorin House Fellowship, Ilorin, NIGERIA
