What Christadelphians Believe about
The Bible
"Come now, let us reason together, saith the LORD"
Isaiah1:18
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:"
2 Tim 3:16
The Bible is not one book, but a collection of 66. It begins with the five books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy. As well as the law of Moses, these books contain history. Beginning with Creation and the Flood they go on to tell the history of the Jewish people from the time of Abraham to Moses' death, several hundred years later, just as the Jews were about to enter the land of Israel. More books of history follow. Some beautiful books of poetry and then prophecy conclude the first section of the Bible, known as the " Old Testament".
The New Testament begins with four books, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John which give four different biographies of Jesus Christ. They describe his ministry, death and resurrection. Matthew and Luke also give details of his birth. The fifth book of the New Testament is "The Acts of the Apostles", which begins with Christ's ascension into Heaven and then goes on to describe the history of the early Church, concentrating on the missionary work of Paul. The next 21 books are letters which were written by the Apostles about Christ's teaching. Some of the letters were written to individuals, others were written to groups of believers. The final book of the New Testament is "Revelation", the only book of prophecy in the New Testament. The final three chapters are of particular note, describing judgement and earth under Christ's reign.
Old intertwined with New
Despite the fact that followers of Christ are not bound by the Law of Moses there can be little doubt that the Old Testament is just as important as the New. In John 5:47 Christ says "If ye believe not [Moses'] writings, how shall ye believe my words?" Christ is linked with the prophet Jonah (in Matthew 12:40, for example) and even with the first man, Adam (1 Corinthians 15:22). If you take the story of Christ as true then you must accept the stories of Jonah and Adam.
Paul, the author of much of the New Testament, believed "all things written in the law and in the prophets" - an New Testament term for the Old Testament. (Acts 24:14). The Jews in Berea "searched the scriptures daily" when they learned about Christ (Acts 17:11). In 2 Peter 3:2 we are told to be "mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets". Timothy, a friend of Paul's, was familiar with the Old Testament from his childhood (2 Tim 3:15).
Bible Inspiration
The Bible is without error. Consider "God ... spake in time past ... by the prophets" (Heb 1:1) and "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.". It is apparent from these quotes that the Bible, if it is true, is the word of God. God would not have lied to his holy men, so it would seem that the Bible is perfect. Of course, some people think that there are errors in the Bible.
Another very powerful piece of evidence that the Bible is error free is the way that Christ and the Apostles considered the Old Testament. They never treated any passage as though it was something to be partly believed.
The Bible Says What it Means
With some qualifications we can say that the Bible always says what it means. Consider this prophecy, from Micah 5:2: "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel". According to Matthew 2:6 this was fulfilled by Christ being born in Bethlem. For another example compare Zechariah 9:9 and Matthew 21:1-4. These passages clearly show that when the Bible says something it says it plainly. (The exception to this is where highly figurative language is used in prophecy, such as Revelation or Daniel. The metaphors, however, are always explained.) In light of this, consider this verse from Acts 1:"this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." (verse 11). What else could this mean other than Christ will literally return to earth one day?
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