Bibleing 101 | Part 1: What Is The Bible?

This series is designed to help people better understand the Bible and how it speaks to us. Read the series Introduction post to learn how this series is designed to help you.

Defining the Bible

What is the Bible? The question seems simple enough, until you try and answer it. Accurately defining the Bible can be quite challenging. Definitions help organize and categorize information in my mind — maybe you’re like that too. Having a good definition of the Bible helps us understand what we should expect from the various passages within it and why all these passages, especially the ‘weird’ and difficult ones, matter.

The Bible is what we call Special Revelation. This is a theological term, and, at its core, it means the Bible provides humanity with revelation about God and His creation that we otherwise could not know. It reveals things to us that we could not observe or conclude on our own without it telling us.

This is an important concept to grasp because it helps us understand that the content within the Bible is presented for a reason. All of it matters. All of it is important. All of it reveals something to us about God and His creation. God speaks to us through all of it.

To help us better understand how this works, we like to understand how the material of the Bible falls into one of the following three categories.

Self Revelation

The Bible is the means by which God has revealed Himself to humanity. Yes, Creation attests to His creative design, but the Bible is where God reveals, introduces and declares Himself to His creation. It is revelation about God that is from God. As a result, it is completely reliable and trustworthy.¹

5 I am the LORD, and there is no other,

besides me there is no God;

I equip you, though you do not know me,

6 that people may know, from the rising of the sun

and from the west, that there is none besides me;

I am the LORD, and there is no other.
Isaiah 45:5-6 ESV

Testimony

Testimony is a formal written or spoken statement that provides evidence or proof of something. See how helpful definitions can be? Throughout the pages of the Bible, God chose to record a series of testimonies as to Who He is, what He is doing, and what He will do. These testimonies provide evidence and proof of Who He is, and these testimonies line up perfectly with Who He revealed Himself to be.

18 For thus says the LORD,

who created the heavens

(he is God!),

who formed the earth and made it

(he established it;

he did not create it empty,

he formed it to be inhabited!):

“I am the LORD, and there is no other.

19 I did not speak in secret,

in a land of darkness;

I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,

‘Seek me in vain.’

I the LORD speak the truth;

I declare what is right.
Isaiah 45:18-19 ESV

A Story

This self revelation and accompanying testimonies are woven together into a harmonious story that spans centuries, cultures and nations. It is designed to draw the hearts of humanity back to their beloved Creator. It is the most captivating story ever told, centered around the most interesting character ever described — God Himself. It is a story preserved and translated into every language so that every human might have access to it.

23 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. 25 And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
Matthew 4:23-25 ESV

Summing it Up

Definitions are helpful because they help us understand concepts with precision. This is incredibly helpful when navigating the Bible. Our confusion, uncertainty, and desperation increase when we don’t have a clear understanding of what the content of the Bible is, why it is there, and how it is supposed to propel us towards maturity in Christ. On the flip side understanding that the Bible is God’s Special Revelation and that it presents its information to us as God’s self-revelation, testimony, and story alleviates stress of Bibleing. Anchoring our engagement in a well-thought-out definition of the Bible gives us stability when engaging with it.