NATURE OF THE BIBLE

1. What kind of a reality is the bible? Is it truly Gods word in a literal sense?
- Yes. The internal evidences are those things within the Bible that testify of its divine origin. One of
the first internal evidences that the Bible is truly Gods Word is seen in its unity. Even though it is
really sixty-six individual books, written on three continents, in three different languages, over a
period of approximately 1500 years, by more than 40 authors who came from many walks of life,
the Bible remains one unified book from beginning to end without contradiction. This unity is
unique from all other books and is evidence of the divine origin of the words which God moved
men to record.
Another of the internal evidences that indicates the Bible is truly Gods Word is the prophecies
contained within its pages. The Bible contains hundreds of detailed prophecies relating to the future
of individual nations including Israel, certain cities, and mankind. Other prophecies concern the
coming of One who would be the Messiah, the Savior of all who would believe in Him. Unlike the
prophecies found in other religious books or those by men such as Nostradamus, biblical prophecies
are extremely detailed. There are over three hundred prophecies concerning Jesus Christ in the Old
Testament. Not only was it foretold where He would be born and His lineage, but also how He would
die and that He would rise again. There simply is no logical way to explain the fulfilled prophecies in
the Bible other than by divine origin. There is no other religious book with the extent or type of
predictive prophecy that the Bible contains.

A third internal evidence of the divine origin of the Bible is its unique authority and power. While this
evidence is more subjective than the first two, it is no less a powerful testimony of the divine origin of
the Bible. The Bibles authority is unlike any other book ever written. This authority and power are
best seen in the way countless lives have been transformed by the supernatural power of Gods
Word. Drug addicts have been cured by it, homosexuals set free by it, derelicts and deadbeats
transformed by it, hardened criminals reformed by it, sinners rebuked by it, and hate turned to love by
it. The Bible does possess a dynamic and transforming power that is only possible because it is truly
Gods Word.

2. How did the bible get its name? Can we find the word Bible in the Old and New Testament?
When did the use of the word Bible start?
- The Bible gets its name from a Greek word meaning "books" biblos . The word "Bible" does not
occur in the Holy Scriptures.
3. What does it mean when we say that the bible is a means of Divine Revelation? Is the bible the
only source of divine revelation?
- Divine Revelation comes down to us by two means: through Holy Scripture, written down under
divine inspiration, and through Tradition, handed down orally from Apostolic times. We read the
Bible with great respect, for it is the Word of God.
We treat Tradition with as great reverence, for God speaks through Tradition as well. It is wrong
to believe the Bible alone without Tradition. That is like believing the Word of God written in the
morning and denying it spoken in the afternoon.
- God has often revealed Himself to men through means beyond the ordinary course of nature.
This is supernatural, or Divine Revelation, as opposed to the natural revelation of Himself that
God makes in the external world, and the revelation He makes through our natural reason and
conscience.
Some revealed truths are beyond the power of the human understanding; we could never, by our
own abilities, have known such truths if God had not revealed them. For instance, could we by
ourselves have known about the Blessed Trinity, had God not revealed it?
4. What does it mean when we say that the bible is a library of books?
- Fr. Robert Barron is famous for the insight that the Bible is not a Book, it is a library of many
books from different periods and using different genres.
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5. What is the purpose of the bible?
- The purpose of the Bible is to reveal the whole counsel of God to man, both what we are to
believe concerning God and what God requires of us. It is the revelation of God in its abiding
covenantal form. In it we find God and His will and glory; our relationship to Him laid out and
established in terms of creation, fall and redemption, faith and life. It all centers an the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the scarlet thread of redemption runs through it from beginning to end. It's purpose is
to bring Salvation to men, to re-establish their relationship to God, and to accomplish this purpose
it has to reveal God to man, reveal man's heart and need, establish the covenant of redemption in
Jesus Christ, and nurture the soul as the Holy Spirit makes it the Word of life.

6. Why is the bible so controversial until now?