Yesterday in my freshman Old Testament Survey Class, we were discussing the Wisdom literature: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon. For those who do not know, the Jewish Old Testament is called the Tanakh:  the  Hebrew word {tanakh] is an acronym that combines the three major divisions of the Old Testament.  These are the Torah (the books of Moses), the Neviim (the prophets), and the Ketuvim (the writings or the literature).

I love teaching freshmen because everything to them is new: their eyes are as big as saucers; their minds absorbing what I say like sponges.  I cannot tell if their minds will grasp what we talked about; I cannot say if what we talked about will be stored in their memories, but I can see that they are straining to grasp it and that’s good enough for me.

We were talking about the theme of the book of Proverbs: wisdom.  I pointed out to them that wisdom in the Proverbs was personified (it was portrayed as having human characteristics).  I asked them why they think the author did that (I presumed that they thought about that). At that point, I thought I heard the whirring of the hard drives in their head searching and loading a possible answer. Unfortunately, their hard drives got hung up.  So I said, it is because wisdom is not a thing, wisdom is a person.  Then I pointed them to 1 Corinthians 1:24: Jesus Christ, the Wisdom of God.

I continued through to Chapter 8 of Proverbs and I showed them why we Baptists believe that Wisdom in Proverbs 8 is none other than Jesus Christ.  In Chapter 8 lies the most breathtaking description of the eternality of Jesus Christ, the Eternal Wisdom of God.

While I was wrapping up the discussion of the wisdom literature, I asked them why the book of Proverbs was included in the Bible. I told them that there must have been so many other ancient literary writings; I asked them why none of those other literary works were included in the Scriptures.

Sometimes the freshness of the freshman mind can astound a teacher.  One of them said, only these literary works were inspired by God.  I probed further: what do we mean by “inspired?”  They answered, “breathed-out by the mouth of God”  meaning it was a direct revelation from the mouth of God to the ear of the writer.  So I asked them, that Bible you are holding right now is it inspired?

Here the class consensus was broken in three: those who thought that their King James Version Bible was inspired; those who thought that their King James Bible was not inspired; and those who had no thought at all. So I dropped a bombshell on them:  only the original Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament were inspired.  What we have are copies of copies. Our King James Version is a mere copy of a copy.

They were shocked to their Baptist bones, naturally.  They looked like they were drowning.  I made their discomfiture more acute.  I said, our Bibles are not even in Hebrew, they are in English.  They are a translation, a version.  How can we be sure that what we are holding is the true Word of God? What makes you believe that this computerized print out on an onion-skin page of paper is the Word of God?

Before they died of anaphylactic shock, I gave them the answer: because the Word of God is not a thing.  The Word of God is a person.  The Word of God is alive; the Word of God is powerful; the Word of God changes lives because it is a person.

In the beginning was the Word; and the Word was with God; and the Word was God, the same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.  In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not…. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

The word of God is the expression and breath of God.  It is God himself:  Jesus Christ is God himself. My Bible can be a mere computer-printed copy of a 16^th century English translation of the original inspired Word of God, but the words on the page are not the Word of God, the Word of God is Jesus Christ himself and each time I read the words on the page, I hear Jesus Christ.  He said that he would be with me always.  He sent his Holy Spirit, his personal representative to guide me into all truth.  His personal representative, the Holy Spirit, abides with me forever: he comforts me; he teaches me things and brings the teachings to my remembrance.

This is my assurance that my faith is not lost in translation or lost in a version, or removed in time and space from the truth.  The Bible I read may be just words on a page, but the Holy Spirit who indwells me makes sure that the words on the page come alive.  When I read the Bible, I see Jesus Christ; I hear Jesus Christ; it transports me and it is as though I am walking the shores of Galilee with him, just one of the many who flocked to hear him.

This is why I believe the Bible: the Bible is the Word of God and the Word of God is Jesus Christ.  He is the Eternal Word of God. Thus when the Bible declares “heaven and earth shall pass away but my word shall not pass away”  the Bible speaks not of words of a page in a book which can be burned, the Bible speaks of Jesus Christ himself, the Eternal Word of God.  When the Bible declares: “the Word of God liveth and abideth forever” it speaks not of letters and ink marks on a page, it speaks of Jesus Christ, the Eternal Word of God.

More importantly, when the Bible declares: “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed”  the Bible speaks of a continuing and abiding relationship with Jesus Christ.  Our faithfulness to the Word of God is faithfulness to Jesus Christ himself.  Our obedience and submission to the Word of God is obedience and submission to Jesus Christ himself.  Our love for the Word of God is love for Jesus Christ himself.