How important is the Bible? It’s so vital that people in many countries risk their lives to translate it into their native languages. Often, these are ordinary believers in Jesus who face arrest for translating the words of Scripture into a heart language others can understand.
One female translator from a country hostile to believers in Jesus said, “I must complete this work. I want to see my beloved ones experience salvation in Christ.” And a man who organizes regular citizens to clandestinely translate Scripture explains that the Bible is essential to growing mature believers in local churches: “You can start a church, but . . . [without] the Bible in its heart language, it will typically only last one generation.”
Why are they doing this? Because there’s no other book like the Bible. Its preservation through the centuries is unique. Its authenticity and its representation of the human heart is accurate. It’s “alive and active . . . [and] judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). And “all Scripture is God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16), inspired by Him. And most important, it reveals the source and reality of “salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (v. 15).
Let’s read, cherish, and live by the Scriptures. And as God provides, let’s help those around the world receive it and understand it.
What’s your favorite aspect of the Bible? How can you help others understand it better?
Dear God, thank You for the Scriptures and for the privilege of sharing them with others.
For further study, read The Hard Task of Reading Well.
The inspiration of the Scriptures is an astonishing concept to consider. God, in His matchless wisdom, breathed out the words of the Bible by the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16-17; see Matthew 22:43) while utilizing the personalities, experiences, and even vocabularies of the individual writers. Over a span of about fifteen hundred years, God used forty different writers to produce a book that has a single and clearly coherent message: God’s love and rescue of His lost and broken creation. More specifically, that message focuses on the rescuer, Jesus Himself. The Old Testament points to and prepares the way for Him, and the New Testament explains His person and work. The Bible is so much more than a collection of sixty-six random books of religious history. It’s a cohesive message of redeeming grace, accomplished through Christ.
Discover the full story of the Bible.
