An excerpt from Mastered by the Word: A step-by-step guide to understanding and applying the Bible by. Craig Hamilton, which as the title says, is a guide to reading the Bible in everyday language.
Reading the Bible is a huge privilege, not just because people like [Tyndale died so that we can have the opportunity, although that’s part of it, but also because of what the Bible is. Our God is a God who speaks, and he speaks to us in the Bible. What the Bible says, God says. The ultimate author of the Bible is God, though admittedly it’s a bit complicated because every word in the Bible is at least dual-authored.
Paul is, for example, the author of Romans. We can genuinely say that Paul wrote it, because he did. But behind Paul, or maybe underneath or above him, God is the ultimate author of Romans.
The book of Hebrews has many examples of this kind of understanding. In chapter 3 the writer of Hebrews quotes Psalm 95. We don’t know exactly who wrote this psalm, but let’s presume that David was the human author. When the writer to the Hebrews quotes Psalm 95, he starts off, “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says …” (Heb 3:7). Then in chapter 4 he again quotes that psalm, and also Genesis 2. Here’s what he says:For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said,
“As I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter my rest’”,
although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works”. (Heb 4:3–4)
Notice at the end of the quote it says that God somewhere spoke of the seventh day and then the quote is from Genesis 2:2. But Genesis 2 isn’t a direct quote from God. It’s the words of the author of Genesis, probably Moses. Moses wrote it but God said it. This is how the Bible talks about itself.
Back to Romans: Paul was the author, but this doesn’t mean that God therefore isn’t. And God is the author, but not in a way that Paul isn’t. And it’s also not that they each wrote 50%, or it’s an 80–20 split. They are both 100% the authors, and it’s totally right to say both “this is what Paul says” and “this is what God says”.
Reading the Bible is a privilege because what the Bible says, God says. The infinite God of the universe has shared his mind with us! Reading the Bible isn’t just an intellectual exercise, a task to be completed, or a component of ritualistic piety. God wants us to spend time with him, which we do as we hear him speak in his word. He’s given us insight into how the world works, who we are, how we got here, and where it’s all heading.
Mastered by the Word: A step-by-step guide to understanding and applying the Bible by Craig Hamilton, Matthias Media 2024. Available from The Wandering Bookseller $19.99