Hi, my name is Dan and I’d love to share with you why I read the Bible. (This is part four of a four part series: see part 1, part 2, and part 3).
Do you know that the Bible is actually a library of books? It’s written by a whole bunch of different inspired authors over thousands of years. One of these authors, Paul, was a literary genius. He even invented words. One of the words he invented was “theopneustos” [1]. Let me explain what this word means.
Paul called the Bible theopneustos. He invented this word by mashing together two existing words: theo (“God”) + pneustos (“breathed”). The Bible is “God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16).
When someone speaks to you, they breathe. Put your hand in front of your mouth and speak (loudly) for a few seconds. Did you feel your breath on your hand? By calling the Bible “God-breathed,” I think Paul is saying that hearing the words of the Bible is to hear the very voice of God. In the Bible, God is speaking — his breath (or “spirit”) goes out from him to you. Another word for “breath” is “spirit.”
One week after Jesus reportedly rose from the dead, we hear that he appeared to his followers. They wrote down their eyewitness account of this appearance. Their account records Jesus’ words: ‘ “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” ’ (John 20:21–23).
Imagine that! The very Creator and Saviour of the whole cosmos is speaking to us, to you! He breathes his (Holy) Spirit of peace and forgiveness on us through the Bible. This makes me want to listen. This makes me want to learn. This makes me want to obey. This makes me want to love and forgive others.
And that’s one of the reasons why I read the Bible — as I read the words of the Bible, God breathes his Spirit on me.
[1] See 2 Timothy 3:16. By the way, an invented word is called a ‘neologism.’
---
If you’ve never read the Bible, why not give it a try? The Gospel of Mark is a good place to start. If you’ve read the Bible before, but not picked it up for a while, why not try it again? You could try the Letter to the Ephesians. If you’re local to the Sunshine Coast, Immanuel Church would love to help arrange someone to sit down with you to read the Bible — contact us to arrange.
If you already read the Bible regularly, have you given thought as to why you read this book? We’d love to hear why you read the Bible!