The Bible as a Book

The literary element in the Oracles of God naturally first claims attention. We have to do with a book.

In nature there are conspicuous phenomena which demand explanation. The boulder is such a phenomenon. Whether or not man’s science can satisfactorily account for it, the boulder is an indisputable fact and as such must be dealt with.* The science would be blind, and the philosophy folly, that would deny or dispute its existence.

In the world of letters, there are also phenomena which call for investigation and explanation, and foremost among them all is this grand Book. Hitherto human science and philosophy have failed to account for it on any purely natural basis. Nevertheless the Bible is a fact, no less to be denied than the boulder. Within its pages may be found its own explanation. It claims to be a supernatural revelation. If this theory be accepted it adequately accounts for the book, and the

♦Prof. Barbour of Glasgow.

important question is, is the Bible’s explanation of itself to be accepted as true?

It is necessary to look carefully at this literary phenomenon, viewing it from every side, in order to appreciate both its real greatness and the need of some extraordinary method of accounting for its existence, character, survival through the ages, and influence among men.

By universal concession and confession, this is the one Book of the ages, altogether unique and wholly unrivalled. Hence, its name “The Bible,” attributed to “John of the golden mouth.” At a time when all literature was but in its beginning, appeared a book that rather befits the ending. When the foundation for the pyramid of letters was being laid, there was brought forth one stone of matchless symmetry, itself a little pyramid, the only fit apex to complete and crown the whole structure, a capstone whose lines and angles might well determine the dimensions and proportions, lines and angles of the pyramid. Whence came this capstone, while as yet the cornerstone of literature was scarce laid? In what quarry was it found and by what hand was it hewn? It is, moreover, of no common material, but a precious stone, a colossal gem, the like of which is found in none of the richest quarries or mines of the earth.

Thus to describe the Bible is not merely to indulge in the poetry of rhetoric, but to state the most prosaic fact. This is the one book, which neither belongs to nor befits the infancy of the race, and yet it was found among men in the early days of the world’s history; and, with all the boasted learning and wisdom of the twentieth century, it still defies all competition. The philosopher and sage cannot equal it, neither shall it be exchanged for all the jewels and fine gold of the noblest poetry and richest products of the imagination.

Human hands had indeed to do with it. Scores of different writers contributed to its pages; but this, instead of accounting for it, rather deepens our perplexity as to its origin, unless there was manifestly, behind and above these human composers and compilers, some one true author who at least superintended and controlled the whole. Great Cathedrals, like those of Milan and Cologne, occupied centuries in building. Hundreds and thousands of workmen wrought upon them. Generations gave their successive relays of labourers who hoisted the marble blocks to their places and built up walls and buttresses, pillars and arches, spires and pinnacles. Surely no one needs to be told that, behind and beyond these builders, there must have been some one architect who built the

13 fane in his own mind before the cornerstone was laid; who, first of all, drew the plans and furnished even the minute specifications; so that such a structure owes its matchless symmetry, not to the men of brawn that worked on it, but to that one man of brain that thought out the cathedral in its completeness, and whose detailed plans directed the day-labourers in their work.

The Bible is a stately cathedral. Many human builders have in turn wrought on the structure. Who is the architect? What one mind is that which planned and saw the whole building, before Moses wrote those first words of Genesis, which by no accident, as though to carve the architect’s name on the vestibule, are these: “In the Beginning God.”

Does the Bible, considered as a book, demand a divine author? To answer this, it behooves us, first, to look carefully at some of its leading characteristics, as a book, to examine it as a literary product and an achievement in the world of letters.

This question — whether the literary character of the Book comports with its claim to a divine authorship, is the natural vestibule by which the student approaches the inner teachings and contents of the Oracles of God.

One should make sure, as he treads this threshold that he brings to his investigation that first of all requisites, already referred to — a candid mind. Candor is a rare quality. We repeat by way of emphasis that many a truth is seen falsely, or not at all, because of defects in the mental or moral vision. Few have an unbiased mind, so open to conviction as to be prepared to weigh proofs with absolute impartiality, and to admit the full force of evidence, even when it upsets former convictions and disproves former conclusions. Bigotry hates light. Prejudice only contracts the mental eye as light is poured upon it, and may even close it so as to shut out the rays entirely. In order to form safe and sound opinions, it is necessary to lay aside prejudices and prepossessions, alike, so as to look at plain facts, and give them their full value. It is well also to bear in mind Paley’s maxim, never to let what we do not know disturb our confidence as to what we do know; and Butler’s still wiser proverb, that, if a fact is once settled, objections cannot unsettle it; for the fact rests on our knowledge, but the objections on our ignorance.

Here then is a remarkable literary phenomenon to be accounted for; if in any natural human way, by all means that should suffice: the “Law of Parsimony,” or “Economy of Force,” forbids needless admission of a miracle. But, if this greatest of books cannot be accounted for satisfactorily upon a purely natural and human basis, we are driven to accept its own self-explanation and concede the mysterious supernatural and superhuman element which it claims.

The Bible is assumed to be a phenomenon, wholly unrivalled in the world of letters, since, even its enemies being judges, this is not denied.

One of its most important features is its unity, and as marvellous as it is conspicuous. Every circumstance connected with its preparation and production, was calculated to prevent and prohibit such unity. Here are sixty-six different books, written by some forty different authors, in three different languages, and the periods of authorship cover a score or more of centuries. These human writers were brought up in different countries, and were so remote from each other in time and space, that they could have had no mutual acquaintance, and could neither have conspired for an evil end nor combined for the best purpose. The subjects on which they wrote were very diverse and various, some historical, some prophetical, some devotional, some ethical. The form of their writings was in some cases prose and in others poetry, and yet, notwithstanding all these divergent elements, they have

produced essentially one book. Not only is the

Bible as a whole an unrivalled phenomenon, but its features are all phenomenal, and none more so than this convergence of contents like rays toward one common focal point.

As the reader takes up this Book, he finds, first of all, that it is in two parts, known as the Old and New Testaments. But each of these is multiplex and complex: in the Old Testament are thirty-nine parts, and in the New, twenty-seven. Yet, when these two Testaments are examined more closely, in each is found a historic, ethic and prophetic element. The historic gives the annals, or outline of events; the ethic adds the moral and spiritual teaching necessary for guidance in practical life, and the prophetic forecasts the future. Taking the three together, the reader finds, spread before him, past history, present duty, and future destiny.

This unity reaches not only to all great matters, but even to most minute details. The grandmoral and spiritual lessons, by whomsoever taught, or in whatsoever way, essentially agree. Certain conspicuous conceptions or ideas pervade the whole book, like golden cords on which all else is strung — such as the ideas of the Kingdom of God, sin and salvation, sacrifice and priesthood. Many of these conceptions are so lofty and unique in sublimity and novelty, that it is impossible to account for them on any human theory. They are not the product of the times in which these men wrote, nor are the like found in any other literature of those or subsequent periods; moreover, for some of them no adequate words could be found then in use among men, so that old words and phrases had to be invested with a new meaning; as for instance, holiness, humility, love. In not a few cases, the conceptions were even paradoxical: they seemed to involve contradiction if not absurdity; yet they were too grand and awe-inspiring to be set aside as mere vagaries of ignorance and foolishness, as for instance, the idea of eternity — endless duration without succession — or of absolute sovereignty which decrees all events, yet both allows and ordains freedom of choice and action; or the idea of a trinity in the Godhead without plurality of Gods, and many other like conceptions which seem above the mind of man to originate, or even to comprehend when suggested.

The unity of the Bible is absolutely unique. Never elsewhere have so many different treatises, historical, biographical, ethical, prophetical, poetical, been combined together, making one book, as all the hewn stone and timber make one building,

or better still, as all the bones, muscles and ligaments combine in one body. This again, while indisputable as a fact, is unparalled in literature, all the conditions being, humanly speaking, not only unfavourable, but fatal to such combination. Wherever else we find diversity of writers, we expect diversity of matter, each writer having his own character, or individuality, reaching into all departments of his being and work. As no two faces or forms are precisely alike, the individual features of mind and heart are yet more marked. Charles the Fifth found that he could not even make two watches run exactly together, much less make two men think or feel alike. Temperaments differ. Dispositions, like lenses, magnify or minify or color whatever is seen through them. These natural peculiarities, inborn, are also inbred. Education, instead of removing, develops and intensifies them, making absolute uniformity and agreement the more impossible. The whole tendency of growth is from unity toward diversity. Society is a plant that, the more it grows, the more it branches and minutely ramifies. Men are kept alike only by keeping them from growing, and even then, the similarity is only seeming. The freedom that knocks off fetters and leaves them free to think and speak, also leaves them free to develop independence and individuality. The

19 writers of the Bible have all the marks of individuality. How different Moses from Malachi, Isaiah from Daniel, James from John, Peter from Paul! This diversity of nature cannot but betray itself in style, which, as Buffon said, ‘’is the man;” language, Wordsworth called the “incarnation of thought,” expression of feeling and words taking on all the varieties of the inner life.

Diversity of times, places and circumstances would ordinarily make unity impossible. These many writers belong to different generations, centuries and ages in human history. They lived in different lands. Their surroundings were various, they spoke different languages, were moulded in the matrix of diverse national life. How different a life of exile in Babylon from one of pilgrimage in the desert, or a home in Judea; how opposite the associations of the herdsman of Tekoa and the cupbearer in the Persian court! How far off in periods were Ezra in Jerusalem and John in Patmos; Moses in Egypt and Paul in Rome!

The diversity in subject matter is more striking.

In this one book may be found every variety of

theme that can well be imagined, from the story

of creation to the forecast of the new creation.

Here is endless diversity — fragments of national

history, and of individual biography, poems and speeches, proverbs and predictions, parables and ethical teachings, legal enactments and elaborate ritual, romances of love and awful tragedies of judgment, plain precepts for right living, and spectacular dramatic scenes, gorgeously painted in oriental imagery; miracles and mysteries, the prattle of a child, side by side with the prof oundest discourses of philosophers and sages.

All this diversity of subject implies corresponding variety in the immediate object or purpose in view. These various books were written to serve different ends. Sometimes they set forth the will of God as to daily life, and sometimes unfold His great plans for the race. Here are lyrics, intended to express and guide a devotional spirit; and again, stories of suffering to illustrate the victory of faith and rewards of patience. The evangelists give a fourfold portrait of Christ; and the Epistles apply His teachings to the current needs and perils of existing churches. The book of Joshua is a book of the wars of the Lord; Solomon’s Song is a dramatic love poem, and its scene, a court. The book of Judges treats of a period of semi-anarchy; the Acts, of a generation of primitive church life. No two of these treatises cover the same ground. The diversity, which, in any other book, would be fatal to unity — here, somehow, contributes to it,

21 as a great variety of stones, of all forms, shapes and colours, combine in an exquisite mosaic. Does not such a mosaic argue a master hand that artistically arranges the stones according to a preconceived pattern?

In many other ways or forms this unity appears, and all are remarkable. Further examples may be found in some facts, generally overlooked, of which two may be mentioned.

I. The first mention of a number, person, place or subject usually, if not uniformly, determines its general usage afterward, and its relation to the entire remainder of the book. When we first meet the number “seven,” it stands for a completed work, and a period of rest. Throughout the Bible that number seems to represent essentially the same conceptions. The first mention of the Spirit of God is in connection with brooding, like a dove, over the watery abyss to bring life and order out of chaos. From that point on, this seems to be His special work — a sort of maternal office, brooding over the chaos of a ruined race to develop celestial order, life and beauty. The first time the words, “believe”, “counted” and “righteousness” appear, either separately or together, is in connection with the statement that Abram *’ believed in the Lord and it was counted unto him for righteousness.“* From that point on, faith and the imputation of righteousness are indissolubly linked. This law of “first mention” is so conspicuous that it suppHes a sort of lexicon of biblical terms, giving the reader of Genesis a key to the meaning of the whole Scripture and making the Bible its own commentary. Yet it is plain that, without supernatural guidance, the writer who first used words or phrases in such a collection could not have forecast the subsequent use and application by other writers of the terms he used.

2. Again, it is essential in a book which is practically the guide for the faith and life of millions of men, that every great subject having to do with daily duty should have adequate treatment. Somewhere, between Genesis and Revelation, every such matter is treated, comprehensively and exhaustively, and usually once for all, very few instances of repetition occurring.

For instance, there is but one comprehensive portrait of charity (i Cor. xiii). The power of the tongue is once exhaustively treated (James, iii). Once for all the dual nature of the God-man is fully set before us (Hebrews: i, ii). The laws and principles of Christian giving are found in 2 Cor. VIII, IX. God’s search for lost souls is set forth

*Gen. XV: 6.

especially in Luke xv by a three-fold parable, and the mysteries of the kingdom in Matthew xiii in a series of seven parables. The last judgment of the great white throne is found only in Rev. xx. Faith, its nature and victories, only with any fulness in Hebrews xi, xii. There is no complete discourse on the resurrection except in i Cor. xv. The last discourse and intercessory prayer of our Lord, only in John xiv-xvii. Romans vi-viii is one complete discussion of the question, ‘’Shall we continue in sin?” There is no such chapter elsewhere as the twenty-first of Numbers, the twelfth of Exodus, or the thirty-eighth of Job, or the fifty-third of Isaiah. The present rest of faith is treated only in Heb. in: 7 to iv: 1 1. And the final community of the redeemed finds adequate treatment only in Rev. xxi-xxii.

All this implies divine foresight. Humanly speaking, no writer could have foreseen what topics would be covered in the writings of other contributors to the body of Scripture. Yet we find, scattered throughout this sacred Book, monographs, each singularly complete in itself, and each making any other on the same subject unnecessary. While apparently there is no arrangement, yet there is obviously a consummate plan, by

which all needs are met, yet none oversupplied.

It would be impossible to find any great matter on which information and instruction are needed which is not somewhere treated satisfactorily; and, whatever fragmentary teachings may be found scattered through the Word, there is some one place where these isolated precepts are gathered together and combined, and the full truth on any great subject is taught.

The unity of the Bible constitutes, in and of itself, a conclusive proof of its supernatural and superhuman origin. It is difficult even to suppose a case of a similar character. Any such a volume, if compiled at all, would not be homogeneous but heterogeneous, the only unity being that mechanical unity dependent on the binder who puts together in one cover literary productions having no common point of view, plan of treatment, or unity of theme. In this one Book the impossible is actual and real, and the unity is the more remarkable because it is manifold.

This unity is structural; the Bible is built up on a definite plan. In the New Testament the four Gospel narratives are not mere repetitions, but designed to present as many aspects of the life and career of the Lord Jesus Christ; then the book of the Acts immediately follows, showing what He continued to do and to teach by the Holy Spirit in the Church, and how the Pentecostal Baptism prepared the Church for her witnessing career in Judea, Samaria, and then among Romans and Greeks.

The Gospel narratives appear to stand substantially in the order of composition; but manifestly here is a divine design. The gospel according to Matthew, written for the Hebrew mind, must come first, for it links on the Old Testament to the New, and for two reasons: first, because the Hebrew race forms the grand center of Old Testament history; and, second, because the Messiah was of the Jews and the consummate flower of the Jewish genealogical tree. Mark, the companion of Peter, obviously addresses the Latin mind, the Gentiles, particularly Romans, as was fitting, for, in the book of the Acts, Peter was appointed first to open the door of faith to the Romans. Then follows Luke, who, as Paul’s companion, would naturally write also for Gentiles, but especially for Greeks, among whom Paul’s ministry was so largely spent. John’s narrative supplements all the others, and has the most catholic aim and character, and appeals to the human race as such and to believers generally without regard to nationality.

There are five Epistle writers, Paul especially the

Apostle of Faith, Peter, of Hope, John, of Love,

James, of Good Works, and Jude, of Warning

against Apostasy. Thus, without human design,

or intentional cooperation, all the necessary ground

is covered without overlapping.

The unity is diadactic and ethical. There is no

inconsistency in the moral teaching from beginning

to end; or, if at first any is apparent, a further

and more careful examination reveals harmony, as

the two pictures in the stereoscope blend together

when once the proper focus is found by the eye.

The whole Bible consistently teaches, on the basis

of natural religion, with creation as its cornerstone,

an original and universal fatherhood of God and

brotherhood of Man; but that only on the basis of

spiritual redemption, with the new creation as

its cornerstone, is found again the true fatherhood

or brotherhood which sin lost or forfeited. Around

these dual conceptions of man’s natural and spirtual

relations to God and his fellowman, all ethical

teaching of the Bible moves. Part of man’s

relation and duty to his fellowman originates in the

fact that all are “offspring” of God, by nature; but

the higher level, both of obligation and privilege,

is reached only when, born from above, men become

partakers of the divine nature, and children of

God by faith in Christ Jesus. Then is recognized

a new relation to the household of faith and a new motive and reason is felt for doing good unto all men.

This unity is historic. The Bible, however, is not a history of the race, but rather of the kingdom of God. It centers about a chosen family, the family of Abraham, and so a chosen nation — Israel. It follows this people till they become apostate. After this, the historic thread is dropped, and not resumed until it is caught up prophetically in the predicted restoration of Israel. The long interval covering the “Times of the Gentiles” has no proper record in this book, and other nations incidentally appear in the narrative only or mainly as related to this chosen nation, Israel, and the kingdom of God under Messiah.

This unity is prophetic. Here again Israel and the kingdom of God form the central idea. Adam, the original creation king, lost his sceptre in the fall and Satan obtained it by right of conquest. The Second Man, espousing Adam’s cause, overcame his victor, and so regained the lost sceptre; and in Him — the last Adam — the restored kingdom will stand forever and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. All prophecy ultimately relates to this new King, the Divine Head of the Adamic race, and to His kingdom; to His first

coming and its militant period, to His second coming and its triumphant period. Other parties are referred to as the foes of God and His people, such as Nineveh, Egypt, Babylon, Tyre, etc., in former days — the beast, false prophet, Babylon and the dragon, in the latter days.

The unity is mathematic. A numerical system obviously pervades the Bible; and, although its full meaning or final object is not yet disclosed to us or discerned by us, certain conclusions seem safe. For example, the mathematical forms which pervade the Word of God, appear to be the triangle, square and circle, with the corresponding pyramid, cube and sphere. According to the conclusions of those who have most carefully studied the numerical system of Scripture, the numbers which seem to have special significance are, one, as the symbol of unity; two, of contrast or confirmation; three, of the Trinity; four, of the world and space; seven, which as the sum of three and four, is the natural expression of completeness and rest; ten, the sum of the first four numbers, expressive of completeness by successive additions — and hence one of the numbers of time; twelve, the multiple of three and four, expressing the penetration or pervasion of the human by the divine, etc. This may hint the reason why forty so often appears — the multiple of four and

ten — the numbers of time and space; and seventy, a complete time period; and 144,000 — the cube of ten multiplied into the square of twelve. Reverent and humble students of the Bible hesitate to claim peculiar insight into the mystery of Bible numbers; but the uniformity of their use, by various writers, compels the belief that the great Mathematician of the Universe was behind such use. Here alone there opens an almost untrodden field for boundless investigation and possible discovery.

This unity, which we have found to be structural, seems also to be organic, the unity of a living organism, in which there is a pervasive, vitalizing spirit, making all parts living members and organs, all necessary to the whole body and to each other. Of the biblical body of truth, as of the mystical Body of Christ, it is therefore true that no part can: say to another, “I have no need of thee,” and that those members which seem to be feeble, or less, honorable, are equally necessary to the complete: body, and have a God-given honor in supplying what otherwise would be a lack.

In the human body, careful investigation shows that right and left eyes, ears, hands and feet hold a mutually complementary relation, and are meant to work together; so the various books of the Bible sustain a mutual relation. Let anyone compare the opening verses of Genesis, of the Gospel accord-

30 ing to John, and of the first Epistle of John; let him read, side by side, Leviticus and Hebrews; Joshua and the Acts of the Apostles; the Epistles of Paul and of James; Ezekiel, Daniel and the Apocalypse; Judges and Jude; Ruth and Solomon’s Song, Exodus and the two letters to the Corinthians. Let the careful student diligently compare the four Gospel narratives, and examine their points of likeness and unlikeness; and the more diligent his study is, the more will he see that one consummately comprehensive plan pervades this organism in which every member has its ministry, and that not one book could be spared without maiming the Body of the Word.

In an organic body, all parts are necessary to its completeness, though not equally important in their prominence and service. When one part, however small, is gone, there is what is called mayhem, a defective body, and no artificial substitute can make the body complete. Certain parts of the body are called vital parts by way of distinction; other parts may be lost and the body live; but if these are gone, death ensues.

Most important of all, the unity is personal and Messianic. One grand Personage is the Living Sun aibout which all planets and their satellites revolve. For Hini, the Living Word, the Written Word was framed. Like the strange star which Eastern magi saw, the Bible has a special mission as to Christ: it burns with His borrowed Light, it guides all seekers to Him, it rests over Him, it loses in His glory its own lustre, and in Him finds alike its explanation and its end.

Some of the statements hitherto made in brief are subsequently to be expanded and illustrated. It seemed well, however, to group together in this manner the various leading features of the Bible as a book among books; but, thus early in the investigation, candor constrains the confession that, however the Bible may be accounted for, it stands not only without superior, but without equal or rival, as a literary product beyond comparison, towering in solitary grandeur above all other writings of men.

This is the first stage reached in our study. Both in the order of time and merit, this book stands confessedly first, not only prominent, but preeminent. The book of Job is the earliest and the finest of dramatic poems. No devout lyrics can match the Psalms of David, no proverbs equal those of Solomon, no prophetic visions those of Isaiah and Ezekiel, no ethical precepts those of Christ. What biography was ever so short and sublime as that of Enoch: “He walked with God and he was ijiot, for God took him?” Where is such a portrait of love as in i Corinthians xiii, or such exhibition of gratitude for forgiveness as in Luke VII, or such humility as in John xiii? Can all literature furnish two parables equal to those in Luke xv and John xv?

What wonder is it if the believer feels that, even considered as a literary product, this Book is superhuman?