Concerning the unusual style of Scriptures,
Baxter pointed out the following:
There are five areas in which the style of the Scriptures is impressive:
- The brevity of entire books.
- The brevity of Bible incidents.
- The omissions of the Scriptures.
- The impartiality of the Scriptures.
- The calmness of the Scriptures.1
This reference from 1971 now is only available as a used book.
Therefore, I will summarize Baxter's thoughts.
THE BREVITY OF ENTIRE BOOKS
Considering the material they cover, the books in the Bible are
very brief. The first 2500 years of recorded human history is
summarized in Genesis. One issue of almost any magazine will
give more information than what is contained in Genesis. The
Gospels are brief accounts of Christ's life among us. No published
autobiography or biography today would be so brief. The author of
the Bible is unique.
THE BREVITY OF BIBLE INCIDENTS
Information is very compact in the Bible. Major events, such as
Christ's birth, baptism, and transfiguration are covered in only a few
verses. Christ's appearances after his resurrection from the dead
are very brief, and no single gospel describes more than 4 of at least
10 of these. The conversion of Paul and especially the death of
James the brother of John (Acts 12:2) are both brief. Compare the
extremely short phrase concerning Christ's crucifixion (Matt 27:35) to
such movies as Mel Gibson's film,
The Passion of Christ.
The author of the Bible is unique.
THE OMISSIONS OF SCRIPTURES
The Gospels are very brief. For example, neither Mark nor John
mention anything about the first 30 years in Jesus' life. John
told of only 20 days in Jesus' life. All the Gospels tell of only
34 days in His life. Other ancient literature is not so brief.
Acts is centered around events in the lives of Peter and Paul, but not
the other apostles. It in interesting that there is no physical
description of Jesus in the Gospels. Clearly the Biblical writers
were writing under restraint. However, what was written is
sufficient for our faith (John 20:30-31; 21:25). The author of the
Bible is unique.
THE IMPARTIALITY OF SCRIPTURES
This is a dramatic difference between the Bible and other ancient books
of biographical nature. Those others exalted their heroes and
never said anything negative about them. However, the Bible
describes both the virtues and the sins of the heroes and heroines.
For example, Abraham lied about Sarah, Sarah lied about laughing, David
committed adultery and murder. James and John wanted to call down
fire from heaven on a Samaritan village that didn't welcome Christ and
his apostles, and they also requested positions of authority over the
other apostles. Peter denied Christ three times. The
impartiality of the Scriptures is obvious, and its marked difference in
this regard from other ancient sources is striking. The author of
the Bible is unique.
THE CALMNESS OF SCRIPTURES
Whether the Gospel writers were describing something of awe or joy or
sadness, their language was calm. There is no colorful language or
excessive description. Christ's death and resurrection and
ascension are all described in the same calm manner. This is
striking, and we must admit that there is a vast difference between the
Bible and other ancient or modern books. The author of the Bible
is unique.
CONCLUSION
The dramatic difference in style between the Bible and other ancient or
modern books is outstanding. This can only be explained by a
radically different kind of author, a kind of author inspired by the
Holy Spirit.
