The Bible. Plain and simple—it’s the most important book and the most unique book that’s ever been written. 40 different human writers over 1600 years combine to give us 66 individual books, 1,189 chapters, 31,102 verses, 773,746 words and 3,566,480 letters (these numbers reflect the King James Version of the Bible).
Weighing in at over 6,000,000,000 copies, the Bible is by far the best-selling book of all time. The next best-selling book doesn’t even come close. In fact, the Bible is the only book to ever break the 1,000,000,000 mark. It’s been translated into over 1,200 languages and dialects—that means that right at 90% of the entire world’s population can read a copy of God’s Word in their own native tongue.
Did you know this: if you take the total number of chapters in the Bible and divide by two the very middle chapter is Psalm 118. Interestingly enough, this is the very chapter that says, “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man” (Ps. 118:8). That’s a pretty good verse to be right in the center of the Bible, don’t you think? There’s no doubt about it, the Bible is simply an amazing book!
The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy and said this: “All Scripture is breathed out by God” (II Timothy 3:16a). This verse is incredibly important. It explains for us why the Bible is so amazing—namely, because it has God as its source and inspiration. Some versions of the English Bible translate this verse to say that God “inspired” the Scriptures. The one I have recorded above, however, says that he “breathed them out.” Which is the better translation?
The Greek word that is translated as “inspired” or “breathed out” is the word, theopneustos. This fancy-sounding Greek word is super interesting. Why? Because it’s only used this one time in the entire Bible. And in fact, this occurrence of the word in II Timothy is the first ever recorded in the Greek language. What most scholars take this to mean is that the Apostle Paul invented or coined the word. When trying to explain to Timothy how God gave the biblical writers the words to write down, the Apostle Paul was literally lost for words—so he invented a new one.
The word, although brand new here in II Timothy 3:16, is really just a combination of two words that would have been very familiar to the ancient Greek-speaking world, the first half being a noun which refers to God, and the second half being a verb which means “to blow” or “to breathe.” What a great picture this provides, God breathing His own words into the biblical writers.
When we read the Bible, when we hear it, when we meditate upon it, when we hear sermons preached out of it, what we concern ourselves with is not merely the wisdom of very godly men, though that description definitely fits the biblical writers. Instead, what we must remember is that we are dealing with the very words of God Himself, breathed out by His own Holy Spirit and given to us as a gift to be treasured, believed, and trusted. Let me encourage you to spend time in God’s Word. There’s nothing else like it.
