When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments. 2 Timothy 4:13
Last time I invited us to think about the sheer
humanness of the apostle Paul (2 Timothy 4:9-16) – he was no super-apostle, but
a man of flesh and blood. This comes across in various clues, such as the
touching little request to Timothy to bring a cloak that he had left at Troas.
He was feeling the chill! And it’s worth noticing that he also asks Timothy to “bring
my scrolls, especially the parchments”. Even while in prison he wanted to keep
up his study, especially, presumably, of the scriptures.
The Jewish and Christian faiths have always
laid great emphasis on the word of God, whether it’s what we now call the Old
Testament or the New. We are very much “people of the book”.
But the Bible is a big book, or, to be
strictly correct, a big collection of books, and it’s a life-time’s work
to get anything like a firm grip on it. Many “ordinary” Christians (whoever such
a person may be) never get familiar with more than a few favourite passages –
some special psalms, perhaps, or particular passages from the gospels or
letters. That’s in no way a criticism of them; they just don’t have the time
and energy in their hectic lives to do much more.
But this means that they are very dependent on
the deeper and more expert knowledge of trained pastors and teachers. Happy is
that congregation whose leaders take the Bible seriously and who aim to anchor
their teaching fairly and squarely on scripture!
But even then it’s an impossible task:
preaching opportunities on a Sunday are limited, and covering the whole Bible even
with the addition of various mid-week gatherings still leaves much that can
never be covered. So can anything more be done by Christians who want to go
deeper but who have very limited time?
An answer lies in a simple word: books. Paul
obviously treasured his, though we have no clear idea what they consisted of
(remember that, at the time he wrote, the New Testament didn’t exist, for he
and various other people were still busy writing it!), and even though the
mysterious author of Ecclesiastes warns his readers that too much study can be
wearisome, he obviously believed in its value as well (Ecclesiastes 12:12).
We live in a world awash with books and other
forms of written communication, and the good news is that there is a wide range
of Christian books available. It struck me that, especially with Christmas
approaching, it couldn’t be a better time to buy such a book as a gift, or even
perhaps to treat ourselves. The problem is that the range is so wide that we
don’t really know where to start – plus, of course, that we need a little
guidance in order to avoid literature that might not be reliable.
So I thought I would take an unusual step and
simply recommend one particular book which has stood the test of time (first
published in 1973, and now on its fifth edition). It falls fairly and squarely
into the “evangelical” camp, is written by a galaxy of people who are experts
in their fields, is readable for the non-expert, and is beautifully produced,
with coloured maps, charts and diagrams galore, plus an (admittedly very
condensed) commentary on the whole Bible. It can be used both for sustained
study and as a dipping-in book. It’s published by Lion Publishing and is called
“The Lion Handbook to the Bible”. (And no, I’m not on commission from Lion,
just in case you were wondering!)
So if ever you have wondered, say, just how the
Bible actually became the Bible, it would be a perfect gift for yourself
or for a friend. After all, the Bible didn’t come to us floating down from
heaven, like the manna in the wilderness, beautifully bound in leather covers!
No, it’s an assortment of books that was slowly, gradually gathered into one
book over many centuries. As well as being divinely inspired, it was also humanly
written, and we can learn a lot from discovering who these people were, and
what, humanly speaking, motivated them to write.
Why are there four Gospels and not just one?
Why not a compendium of all four? - wouldn’t that be perfectly simple? Who was
“Jude” who wrote that tiny letter near the end of the New Testament? What can
we discover about Amos the herdsman of Tekoa? Or Daniel? Or Habakkuk? Who wrote
1 and 2 Samuel, or Chronicles? What are we to make of “The Song of Songs”? or “Revelation”
(and not “Revelations”, please!).
Just throwing out these random questions makes
me aware that a warning is needed: not all of them have clear-cut, certain
answers! But that’s hardly surprising – we are talking, after all, of documents
that belong to a world long gone, and which are written in languages most of us
can’t read. But that, I think, just adds to the fascination.
A book like The Lion Handbook can only give us
greater clarity regarding the written word of God – and, what ultimately
matters even more, can only lead us closer to its chief figure, the Living
Word of God, Jesus himself.
Happy Christmas!
Father, thank you for your written word
in scripture. Help me to value it as the inspired word of God and to give what
time and attention I can to absorbing its teaching. And thank you for those you
have gifted with the necessary expertise to help explain its origin, its main
characteristics and its message. Help me to gratefully take advantage of their
knowledge, and so to grow in maturity and understanding. Amen.