(Ed. note:The incident described below by one of our readers took place in the spring of 1971.
We think it illustrates the fact that God understands and is willing to help us with problems
peculiar to modern life.)

The engine of my car began to "miss" while driving home from the midweek meeting. The next
morning I had a babysitting engagement, so I drove to the home where I was to work. The car
got worse as I drove along. After the mother returned home, I told her of the trouble I was
having with the car. She recommended a mechanic in a certain place about twenty miles from her
home. She asked me if I wanted her to drive along behind me in case the car stopped completely.
I thanked her, but said it would be too much for her to bundle her three children into the car and
drive all the way there and back.

Now, I always ask God to take me safely to my destination whenever I drive the car. This time,
of course, I made special mention in my prayer of the car trouble and asked God to get me to the
repair shop without trouble. The car continued to "miss" and "jump" all down the highway, but
finally I arrived at the repair shop.

The mechanic drove the car into the garage. He lifted the hood of the car and picked up the
distributor cap. There was nothing holding it on! A large piece had broken off.

"How did you get this car here?" the mechanic asked.

"I drove it about twenty miles in order to get here," I replied.

"No car could run with a distributor cap like this," he said. "It was a miracle if you came twenty
miles in this car."

No doubt it was a miracle. God performs miracles every day – we just need the faith to see them.

Early Manuscripts

While we often hear and speak of the "original manuscripts" of the Bible, it is a remarkable fact
that there is not one original manuscript_either of the Old or New Testament_ now in existence,
so far as is known. In some cases, when these precious documents became old, they were
reverently buried by the Jews, who used reliable copies in their stead; others have been lost during
the wars and persecutions by which God’s ancient people have been recurringly oppressed.

But while the actual original documents have all been lost, there is, happily, no need for alarm as
to the basis of our faith. There are in existence today many thousands of Hebrew and Greek
manuscripts which have been copied from earlier manuscripts by Jewish scribes from time to time.
These are the documents generally referred to when the "originals" are now spoken of. These
existing manuscripts may be divided into the following classes:

1. Hebrew manuscripts of the Old Testament which date back to the eighth century, A.D.

2. Greek manuscripts of the Old Testament (known as the Septuagint), translated from the Hebrew
about 277 B.C., which date back to the fourth century, A.D.

3. Greek manuscripts of the New Testament which date back to the fourth century, A.D.

In making copies of Hebrew manuscripts which are the precious heritage of the Church today, the
Jewish scribes exercised the greatest possible care, even to the point of superstition_counting, not
only the words, but every letter, noting how many times each particular letter occurred, and
destroying at once the sheet on which a mistake was detected in their anxiety to avoid the
introduction of the least error into the sacred Scriptures which they prized so highly and held in
such reverence.

The highest authorities assure us that in spite of the countless number of times the Scriptures have
been copied through the centuries, the variations of any importance introduced by copyists into
the Greek documents of the New Testament amount to less than one thousandth of the entire text,
and the Hebrew documents of the Old Testament show even less variation!

Since there are, in the good providence of God, so many ancient manuscripts available, a mistake
in one is, as a rule, detected by the accumulated evidence of the correct reading of the same
passage in many of the other documents. So it may be safely said that with the possession of these
thousands of manuscripts, we are practically able to arrive at the exact words of the Scriptures as
they originally came from God through His prophets and apostles.

Translations of the Bible

The following is a concise chronology of the more important translations of the Holy Scriptures
made from the aforementioned "original manuscripts." Second Century, A.D. The Latin Vulgate

Version.

This was a Latin translation made from the Septuagint version of the Old Testament and the
original Greek of the New. This appears to have been England’s first Bible, having been brought
to that then pagan land by early Christian missionaries. In the fourth century, this version was
revised by Jerome who had access to ancient Hebrew manuscripts of the Old Testament.

1250 A.D. Division into Chapters.

A certain man named Cardinal Hugo was the first to divide the Bible into chapters. He did this
while preparing a concordance for the Vulgate. The divisions, while very convenient for
reference, are sometimes far from happily arranged. However, they have been followed in every
future translation to the present day.

1382 A.D. First English Bible.

The first translation of the whole Bible into the English language was made by John Wycliffe. It
was made from the Latin Vulgate and took him about 22 years to complete.

1450 A.D. Division of the Old Testament into Verses.

A learned Italian Jew named Mordecai Nathan published a concordance of the Hebrew Bible, and
for convenience, added verses to the chapters arranged by Hugo two centuries earlier. This
arrangement of verses remains to the present day.

1525 A.D. First Printed English Testament.

Following the invention of the printing press in Europe by Gutenberg about 1450, William
Tyndale published the first printed New Testament in English. He translated much of the Bible
out of the Hebrew and Greek rather than the Vulgate.

1551 A.D. Division of the New Testament into Verses.

Robert Stephens published a Greek New Testament in which he divided the chapters into verses.
Nine years later an edition of the English Bible was prepared in Geneva, Switzerland by reformers
who had fled from England during the persecutions under Queen Mary. This was the first whole
Bible which was divided into verses.

1611 A.D. The "Authorized Version" or "King James Version."

This is a translation based on the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts. It was commissioned by King
James 1 and prepared, in five years of careful labor, by some fifty Church of England and Puritan
scholars. It has been revised several times since then, so that a modern copy of the Authorized
Version is quite changed from the original 1611 edition. In this version, the marginal references
from one passage to another, so useful to Bible students, were adopted.

1881 A.D. The New Translation by John Nelson Darby.

God was pleased to enable this man of God to translate His Holy Word most faithfully from the
best Hebrew and Greek sources into English, French, and German. This translation is unexcelled
in its close adherence to the most authoritative manuscripts, many of which were unknown to the
King James translators. It is remarkably superior to the King James Version in many respects,
including its much narrower and consistent selection of English words to express the same Greek
or Hebrew word. To the serious Bible student who desires an English translation which most
accurately renders the inspired Word of God, this translation by J. N. Darby is highly
recommended.

(Adapted by the editor from the following sources:All About the Bible, and Forty-four
Translations of the English Bible.)

(Ed. note:The following are some brief excerpts from a 269 page book of the same title by
Samuel Ridout. It is obviously impossible to begin to do justice to such a large subject in the few
pages we have available in this magazine. The reader who is concerned about starting a more
regular, thorough, systematic study of the Bible is urged to obtain a copy of this book and read
it in its entirety.)

Preliminary Remarks

To many, an exposition on such a subject as "How to Study the Bible" may seem needless, and
an intrusion into what must ever be, left to the individual alone as guided by the Spirit of God.
Others, already diligent workers in this field, will find, perhaps, little to help; but it is hoped that
large numbers of the Lord’s people who have a longing to become better acquainted with the
contents of His Word may find useful suggestions in the following pages.

A few preliminary remarks may not be amiss.

First. No method of Bible study, however useful in itself, can do away with the absolute necessity
for repentance and new birth. The natural mind is "alienated from the life of God" (Eph. 4:18),
and no amount of education, even in the word of truth itself, can change the character of that
which is "enmity against God" (Rom. 8:7). Without doubt, the rise and growth of higher criticism
may largely be due to the handling of the Scriptures by unconverted men in a coldly intellectual
manner. Likewise, much of the mixture in established churches is probably due to the
indiscriminate participation, by converted and unconverted alike, in truths which can only really
be spiritually learned.

Second. No method of Bible study, even for the children of God, can be substituted for the
inestimable blessedness and guidance of the Holy Spirit in the believer. "He will guide you into
all truth" (John 16:13) is a promise not only for the apostles but for all believers. The Spirit is an
enlightener of the minds of the saints, leading them into that which is needed for their upbuilding
on their most holy faith.

The most complete and logical methods of Bible study, pursued in the most diligent manner, with
approved helps of every variety, are all worthless apart from the special and controlling guidance
of Him who delights to take of the things of Christ and to show them unto us. How precious a
privilege it is to have the Author of the perfect and infinite Word of God present with us, to point
out its manifold beauties and perfections, to give us the key to its arrangement, and to lead us on
step by step in a knowledge of the vast plan contained in it. And not only this, but we have this
divine Person dwelling in us! Our hearts through grace are capable of appreciating what He makes
known, and of assimilating the truths of those deep things which the Spirit searches, and of
carrying them out in obedient lives.

Third. In line with what has already been said, it is well to remember that all our study of the
Bible must be in a reverent spirit in which all self-sufficiency and dependence upon carnal wisdom

are refused, and we realize that if we are to know anything aright it must be from God alone. "The
Word of God and prayer" are put together as the sanctifying power in the enjoyment of all the
natural gifts of God (1 Tim. 4:5). Thus the Scripture will always, if rightly apprehended, reveal
our ignorance and shortcomings to us, leading us to a spirit of prayer; and in like manner our very
ignorance of God’s Word will turn us to Him who is so ready to fulfill His Word:"If any of you
lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall
be given him" (James 1:5).

Daily Bible Reading

First of all in importance we place the daily, regular reading of the Scriptures from Genesis to
Revelation, repeatedly and throughout life. No words of ours can express too strongly the absolute
importance of having the mind and heart thoroughly saturated with the knowledge of the letter of
Scripture from beginning to end. Nothing in the way of Bible knowledge can take the place of this.
It is the broad foundation upon which the superstructure of subsequent detail must rest; and if this
foundation is not broad and deep, the superstructure, no matter how high and intricate, will lack
in stability.

Let us be very simple and explicit. In every Christian home there should be the reading of the
Word of God and prayer at least once a day. No matter how strenuous the life and busy, let
nothing rob the family of this simple and most precious privilege. Let some hour be selected in
the morning or evening when the family can be gathered for a few minutes and a chapter read
carefully and attentively. The time consumed in this way is well spent and will in itself help to
keep fresh in our mind, from early childhood, the great outstanding facts and truths of the precious
Word of God. It is probably better to begin with the Gospels and to go through the New
Testament, and then to take up the Old Testament.

In addition to the family reading, we speak next of the private reading by each one of at least a
chapter every day. Here, too, it is well to follow the order suggested above and begin with the
New Testament, and having finished that, to go to the Old. If but one chapter a day can be read,
the entire Scriptures will have been gone over in the course of three years.

Regularity and system are most important here. One can carefully study the duties and
responsibilities of the day and devote a certain time to this reading. We are creatures of habit, and
when once it is a settled fact that our daily chapter or two is to be read, little difficulty will be
found in carrying out the plan.

On days in which a little more time is available, it is useful occasionally to try rapid survey
reading, as we may call it. This is the practice of reading a whole book through at a sitting. For
instance, the Gospel of Mark can be read as we would an article in a magazine, and in as short
a time. In this way we get a good general idea of the contents of the book which might be missed
through reading a chapter at a time. This is of much value as an introduction to the study of any
book:we first read it through at a sitting, and then take it up more in detail, a chapter or a few
verses at a time.

Let it be settled before God, of course not in a legal way, but in the liberty of true love, that we
must and shall read our Bibles regularly and systematically. Let us give this the first place_if
possible, a few minutes in the morning when the mind is fresh, and it will probably help in giving
tone to the mental system for the entire day.

Prayer in Connection with Bible Study

Let us look a little more in detail at the subject of prayer in connection with Bible study. Our
studies are to be conducted in a prayerful way, and here we cannot be too simple. Whenever we
open our Bibles, whether for reading our daily chapter or for any particular course of study, there
should be a sense of incompetence and self-distrust. We should realize our special tendency to
having our own thoughts instead of having a mind open to the thoughts of God. We should
therefore be as specific as possible in our prayers.

If we have only five minutes for our study, let us ask the Lord to fix our attention on what is
before us. If some difficult point meets us at the very outset, let us ask Him to explain it to us.
And so on, throughout the period of our Bible study, let prayer be mingled with our study. We
will be astonished and delighted to find how often we will receive direct answers to the simplest
kinds of requests.

Of course, we shall not always at once get our answer. If we did, it would make us careless and
we would lose that sense of reverence which must ever become us. Doubtless there will often be
exercises and a sense of failure, but let us not be discouraged; only "continue in prayer, and watch
in the same with thanksgiving" (Col. 4:2). This will keep our study from being formal or merely
intellectual. We will find our very prayers becoming more intelligent and direct; and if we really
have desires, we will find them granted far oftener than we had thought possible.

Notebooks on Bible Study

It is always well to read and study pen in hand. Lord Bacon said:"Reading maketh a full man;
writing, an exact man." The practice of putting down the results of our reading and study is most
important. The writer, in his own experience, has found it useful to have a small notebook which
can be conveniently carried in the pocket so that notes can be jotted down on every occasion of
gleaning in the field of divine truth. These may be disconnected thoughts, outlines of verses or of
chapters, or questions which occur to us_hundreds of matters which will escape our memories
if we let them go, but which are fastened definitely by being thus recorded.

If we use the notebook as freely as has been suggested, we would probably fill a small-sized one
every two or three months. These should be numbered and kept for further reference. (It might
be of interest to the reader to mention that it was the practice of the late J. N. Darby to fill such
notebooks, and from these, after his death, seven volumes of "Notes and Comments on Scripture"
were published.)

Final Remarks

We know God through His Word, not merely intellectually, but as born, cleansed, and nourished
by that Word. We know Christ in this way also; and thus, in a special and real way, the written
Word is the mind of the living, the divine Word. May something of that longing which filled the
heart of the apostle possess us also. As we press forward to see our Lord on high, may we also
seek Him in His Word, forgetting our past attainments which are behind, reaching forth to those
that are before, and pressing forward ever for the prize which, while it is on high, awaits our
reverent, diligent, persistent search in the precious Word of God. Not that we shall ever be
satisfied this side of heaven. Indeed, God’s Word is so perfect that we can never grasp all its
fulness here, but we shall go on to know Him and the power of His resurrection, yea, and the
fellowship of His sufferings too, in that measure in which His Word fills mind and heart and
possesses and controls our lives.

Courage, then, dear fellow Christian, in this noble work! The few minutes you are putting on
some little study morning by morning may seem a trifle; but, oh, the knowledge of Christ is not
a trifle; the knowledge of the Word of God is not a trifle. Let us then be diligent, simple,
obedient, and hopeful, and continue in this precious work!

FRAGMENT
"How sweet are Thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" (Psalm
119:103.)

Though the word "inspiration" occurs in the Bible but once in reference to the Scriptures, yet the
one statement in which it is found is important and full of deep meaning:"Every Scripture is
divinely inspired [literally, ‘God-breathed’], and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be complete, fully fitted to
every good work" (2 Tim. 3:16,17 JND). This places all Scripture on one basis as to inspiration,
whether it be historical, doctrinal, or prophetic. We learn by this passage that not simply the
persons who wrote were inspired, but the writings themselves are divinely inspired (see 2 Peter
1:21).

All writings are composed of words, and if these writings are inspired, the words are inspired.
This is what is commonly called "verbal inspiration." Other passages speak of the importance of
words:Peter said, "To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life" (John 6:68), and
we find those words in the Gospels. When it was a question of Gentiles being brought into
blessing without being circumcised, James in his address appealed to the words of the prophets
(Acts 15:15). Paul in writing to the Corinthian saints said, "Which things also we speak, not in
the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth" (1 Cor. 2:13). The
Holy Spirit taught Paul what words to use. The whole of Scripture forms the Word of God, and
both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament we read of "the words of God" (1 Chron.
25:5; Ezra 9:4; Psalm 107:11; John 3:34 and 8:47; Rev. 17:17). Neither must His word be added
to, or taken from (Deut. 4:2 and 12:32; Rev. 22:18,19).

The above passages should carry conviction to simple souls that every Scripture is God-inspired.
As nothing less than this is worthy of God, so nothing less than this would meet the need of man.
Amid the many uncertain things around him he needs words upon which his faith can be based,
and in the inspired Scriptures he has them. The Lord Jesus said, "The words that 1 speak unto
you, they are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63). He had the words of eternal life; and, through
the grace of God, many a soul has found them to be such, and has no more doubt of the complete
inspiration of Scripture than of the existence of God Himself.

It may be noted that Scripture records the sayings of wicked men, and of Satan himself. It need
scarcely be said that it is not the sayings but the records of them that are inspired. Paul also, when
writing on the question of marriage, makes a distinction between what he wrote as his judgment,
and what he wrote as commandments of the Lord. "1 speak this by permission," he says; and
again, "1 give my judgment" (1 Cor. 7:6,10,12,25). He was inspired to record his spiritual
judgment and to point out that it was not a command.

Some have a difficulty as to what has been called the human element in inspiration. If the words
of Scripture are inspired, it has been asked, how is it that the style of the writer is so manifest?
John’s style, for instance, is clearly distinguishable from that of Paul. The simple answer is that
it is as if one used, so to speak, different kinds of pens to write with. God made the mind of man
as well as his body, and was surely able to use the mind of each of the writers He employed, and
yet cause him to write exactly what He wished. God took possession of the mind of man to declare
His own purposes with regard to man.

Further, it has been asserted that the doctrine of verbal inspiration is valueless, because of
diversities in the Greek manuscripts, which in some places prevent any one from determining what
are the words God caused to be written. But this does not in any way touch the question of
inspiration, which is that the words written were inspired by God. Whether we have an absolutely
correct copy is quite another question. The variations in the Greek manuscripts do not affect any
one of the fundamental doctrines of Christianity, and only in a few places are the words doubtful.

Nothing can exceed the importance of having true thoughts of the inspiration of Scripture. As no
human author would allow his secretary to write what he did not mean, so surely what is called
the Word of God is God’s own production, though given through the instrumentality of man.
Though there were many writers, separated by thousands of years, there is a divine unity in the
whole, showing plainly that one and only one could have been its Author. That One can only have
been He who is now revealed to the Christian as his Father as well as his God.

(From Morrish’s New and Concise Bible Dictionary)

FRAGMENT
"Thy Word is true from the beginning:and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for
ever" (Psalm 119:160).

I have a profound, unfeigned(I believe divinely-given) faith in the Bible. I have, through grace,
been by it converted, enlightened, quickened, saved. I have received the knowledge of GOD by
it, to adore His perfections; and of JESUS, the Saviour, joy, strength, and comfort of my soul.
Many have been indebted to others as the means of their being brought to God_to ministers of
that gospel which the Bible contains, or to friends who delight in it. This was not my case. That
work, which is ever God’s, was wrought in me by means of the written Word. He who knows
what the value of Jesus is will know what the Bible will be to such a one. If I have, alas! failed
in thirty years’ arduous and varied life and labor, I have never found the Word to fail me. If it has
not failed for the poor and needy circumstances of time through which we feebly pass, I am
assured it never will for eternity. "The Word of the Lord endure for ever" (1 Peter 1:25). As it
reaches down even to my low estate, it reaches up to’ God’s height, because it is from God. As
Jesus came from God and went to God, so does the Book that divinely reveals Him come from-
and elevate to Him. Where the Word has been received, it has brought the soul to God, for He
has revealed Himself in it. Its positive proofs are all in itself:the sun provides its own light.

1 avow, in the fullest, clearest, and most distinct manner here, my deep, divinely-taught
conviction of the inspiration of the Scriptures. While of course allowing, if need be, for defect in
the translation and the like, when 1 read the Bible, 1 read it as having absolute authority for my
soul as God’s Word. There is no higher privilege than to have communications direct from God
Himself.

My joy, my comfort, my food, my strength, for nearly thirty years have been the Scriptures
received implicitly as the Word of God. 1 do not doubt that the grace of the Holy Spirit is needed
to make the Word profitable and to give it real authority to our souls because of what we are; but
that does not change what it is in itself. To be true when it is received, it must have been true
before.

And here I will add that although it requires the grace of God and the work of the Holy Spirit to
give it quickening power, yet divine truth, God’s Word, has a hold on the natural conscience from
which it cannot escape. The light detects the wrongdoer though he may hate it. And so the Word
of God is adapted to man though he be hostile to it_adapted in grace (blessed be God!) as well
as in truth. This is exactly what shows the wickedness of man’s will in rejecting it. And it has
power thus in the conscience, even if the will be unchanged. This may increase the dislike of it,
but it is disliked because conscience feels it cannot deny the truth. Men resist it, because it is true.
Did it not reach their conscience, they would not need to take so much pains to get rid of and
disprove it. Men do not arm themselves against straws, but against a sword whose keen edge is
felt and feared.

Reader, it speaks of grace as well as truth. It speaks of God’s grace and love, who gave His only-
begotten Son that sinners like you and me might be with Him and know Him, deeply and
intimately_truly know Him and enjoy Him now and forever. Thus the conscience, perfectly
purged, may have joy in His presence, without a cloud, without a reproach, without fear. The
Word will tell you the truth concerning yourself; but it will also tell you the truth of a God of

love, while unfolding the wisdom of His counsels.

Let me add to my reader that by far the best means of assuring himself of the truth and authority
of the Word is to read the Word itself.