Historically, unity among humans has been fragile and ephemeral. In
this culture, its very foundations are fracturing and disintegrating
because of the destruction of the family unit. Marriage, divorce
and remarriage is severely injurious to the children, and they struggle
to
learn real love and forgiveness between their natural fathers and mothers and how to
work problems out so the family holds together and becomes even
stronger. Even what is bound by blood cannot survive in some
toxic cultures (Eze 14:14, 20). In the Western culture, unity is a frail and weakly
discerned concept because the understructure is based on individual
rights. What is good for the many is of no consequence if what is
good for the individual seems superior. Unity has been replaced by
"Unity in Diversity," which is no real unity, and cannot persist and
hold true against the avalanche of trouble when it comes upon us.
Courage, faith, persistence, commitment and love are the mortar of true unity.
But the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are united. Our lack
of unity due to selfishness does not adversely effect the unity of God.
Our outcry for selfish rights does not change the unity of God or the
unity of His Word, the Bible. Just as God is One, so His Word is
also One. The following question acutely brings our attention to
this issue:
Could forty different men, writing over a 1500-year period, all agree if
they were not inspired by God?1
This is a substantial question! Liberal scholars will
protest the time period, but clearly the Bible comes from
ancient times, and was finished by 100 AD. Most of the
Biblical writers did not know each other. They didn't have
a chance to sit, talk, reason, and learn from each other. They didn't
have an opportunity to design a theme for the 66 books together.
Rather, they "...spoke from God as they were carried along by
the Holy Spirit." (2 Pet 1:21).
Please consider this: If you were able to assemble 40
different men with different backgrounds and educational levels
from different times in history, would all 40 be able to agree? Surely not! If you were to gather 40
men from the same city living in the same time, would they be
able to agree on anything? Absolutely not, unless you were
in a bar, and the question was whether drinking alcohol is good!
Look at our own Congress in Washington, D.C. Here are
extremely rich, educated, and influential people, but they cannot agree on
anything. How often do you hear of a "unanimous" decision
by our Supreme Court? That must be as rare as whiskers on
a frog. Even our current president flip-flops on his
opinions, and cannot even agree with himself! Therefore, it is completely illogical to think
that 40 different men writing over 1500 years could agree, and
that their writings could be forged into a single document with
a phenomenal sense of unity.
Please realize that we are speaking about the greatest miracle God
ever worked. Forty men, unknown to each other and separated by hundreds
of years, could NEVER agree without the overruling Sovereignty of God.
You simply cannot explain the Bible in the absence of divine
intervention and divine superintending of all things having to do with the
Bible.
Consider the theme of the Bible, which is God's salvation of
sinful people. The need for this is established in the
Garden of Eden in Genesis 1-3, and there we have the first
prophecy about a deliverer:
15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel."Gen 3:15 (NASB)
When God announces His plan to use the "seed" of the woman, we
must realize that this is one of the most remarkable statements
in the Bible. With this "seed" (singular), God would bring
deliverance for the family of man in Christ.
Now this seed promise is the critical "glue" that holds the
whole Bible together, even though it was written over
more than a thousand years. The genealogies tell us the
account. In Genesis 5, the seed promise
goes from Seth to Noah. In Genesis 11:10ff, the seed
promise goes from Shem to Abraham. Through the remainder
of Genesis, the seed line is transferred from Abraham, to Isaac
(Genesis 17:15ff), to Jacob (Genesis 27), and to Judah (Genesis
49:8-12). Then that seed promise came through David (2 Sam
7:11-16) and on to Christ (Matt 1:2-16), who
is the fulfillment of that seed promise. Throughout this
time God protects the seed line, and all of the Old Testament
hangs upon this seed line promise.
Americans hate genealogies, and even Western Christians barely
tolerate reading all these biblical genealogies. However,
we must realize that the genealogies are there for as reason, and that
was to show that God
was working out His own purpose through these people so that in
all things He could accomplish what He had promised.
Why is it all there? We must allow the Bible to speak, for if not,
then the cultural bias will become the dominant voice.
21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for
he
will save his people from their sins." Matt 1:21 (ESV)
10 For
the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." Luke 19:10
(ESV)
15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance,
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the
foremost. 1 Tim 1:15 (ESV)
Thus, whether it is the angel announcing to Joseph the
conception of Jesus in Mary, or Christ's own clear-cut purpose statement
for his own life, or Paul's clear understanding of Christ's mission, the
message is the same: Jesus Christ came to earth to SAVE SINNERS. Now
this was not just a sudden impulse on God's part to do this, but rather
it was God's purposeful planning before the beginning of time:
8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our
Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the
gospel by the power of God,
9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not
because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace,
which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,
10 and which now has been manifested through the
appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and
brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 2 Tim
1:8-10 (ESV)
So it was the eternal plan of God to save sinners through Jesus
Christ, His Son (see also Titus 1:2; Rom 16:25-26; Eph 1:4).
Not only this, but God's eternal plan included the church of
our Lord Jesus (see also Eph 3:20-21):
8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this
grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches
of Christ,
9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the
mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things,
10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God
might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the
heavenly places.
11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has
realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,
12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence
through our faith in him. Eph 3:8-12 (ESV)
Not only was salvation in Christ as well as his His church in the plan of
God before the beginning of time, but so were the teachings that
were given by the apostles:
6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it
is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who
are doomed to pass away.
7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which
God decreed before the ages for our glory. 1 Cor 2:6-7 (ESV)
Now in regard to the apostles' teachings also being planned by God
before the beginning of time, please also read Rom 16:25-26; Eph 3:5;
Col 1:26). Note particularly that these teachings were connected
to the "prophetic writings" (Rom 16:26).
It is so important for us to understand that Christ, Christ's Church,
and teachings of Christ's apostles were all "decreed before the ages for
our glory." This is the plan that God planned. This is the
plan announced by the prophets. This is the plan that God brought
to fruition in Christ. This is the glue that holds the Bible
together. This is the unity of the Bible.
The unity of the Bible is found in the Person who was responsible for
it: God.
