Bite-Size Bible Answers: A Lot of Truth in a Little Book

By Ron Rhodes

Bible scholar, popular author, and creator of the Reasoning from the Scriptures series (more than 180,000 sold) Ron Rhodes presents the Bite-Size Bible series—concise and easy-to-understand tools for Christians and other seekers who want the essential information about God and His Word without technical language.

In Bite-Size Bible Answers, Rhodes’ accurate research, helpful Scripture references, and succinct responses provide reliable answers to the most common questions about the Bible, God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, humankind, sin, salvation, angels, demons, the prophetic future, the afterlife, and more:

• How can we know the manuscripts of the Old and New Testaments trustworthy?
• How can Jesus be God’s only begotten Son and God at the same time?
• How can we reconcile man’s free will and God’s sovereignty?

This little book of big truths is sized right to pass along to share how God’s Word ultimately is a light that guides, an encourager of souls, and an anchor that keeps us steady when trials, obstacles, or questions arise.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Harvest House Publishers
• Release date: Aug 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9780736941174

Ron Rhodes

Ron Rhodes (ThD, Dallas Theological Seminary) is the president of Reasoning from the Scriptures Ministries. He is the author of eighteen books, including two Silver Medallion Award winners. He is heard nationwide on radio.

Book preview

RON RHODES

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

Except where noted, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

Verses marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Verses marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Emphasis in Scripture quotations has been added by the author.

Cover photo © and design by Dugan Design Group, Bloomington, Minnesota

BITE-SIZE BIBLE™ ANSWERS

Copyright © 2011 by Ron Rhodes

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

ISBN 978-0-7369-3730-6 (Trade)

ISBN 978-0-7369-4117-4 (eBook)

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 / BP-SK / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To all who seek to be doers of the Word

and not just hearers of the Word

Acknowledgments

I want to give a heartfelt thanks to the team at Harvest House Publishers for their continued commitment to excellence in Christian publishing. I also want to thank my wife, Kerri, and my children, David and Kylie, for their continual support and encouragement while I wrote this book. Without them my work of ministry would truly be an impossible task. They are treasured gifts from the Lord.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Bite-Size Bible Answers

Part 1: The Bible as the Word of God

1. The Inspiration of Scripture

2. The Reliability of Scripture

3. The Canon of Scripture

4. Interpreting Scripture

Part 2: Common Questions About the Bible

5. The Old Testament

6. The New Testament

Part 3: God

7. The Triune God

8. Errors About the Doctrine of God

9. God the Holy Spirit

Part 4: Jesus Christ

10. The Incarnation of Jesus Christ

11. Is Jesus Lesser than the Father?

12. The Deity of Christ

13. Christ in the Old Testament

14. The Resurrection

Part 5: Humankind and Sin

15. The Origins of Humankind

16. Man Related to God

17. The Sin Problem

Part 6: Salvation

18. The Gospel of Salvation

19. Eternal Security

20. God’s Part, Man’s Part

21. The Role of Baptism

22. The Church: The Community of the Redeemed

Part 7: Angels and Demons

23. Angels Among Us

24. The Devil and His Fallen Angels

Part 8: The Future

25. The Prophetic Future

26. The Wonder of Heaven

27. The Judgment of Humankind

Let Us Not Forget…

Bibliography

Subject Index

Scripture Index

Other Great Harvest House Books by Ron Rhodes

Bite-Size Bible Answers

Good things come in small packages.

I'm not sure who first coined this phrase, but I think there is some truth to it. This book is a small book, a bite-size book. But it is brimming with helpful Bible answers. My goal has been to produce a book that is convenient (small enough to put in a briefcase or a purse) and low-cost, yet loaded with helpful information you can really use. The book provides concise, reliable answers to common questions about the Bible, God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, humankind, sin, salvation, angels, demons, the prophetic future, the afterlife, and more. I pray that you find this book to be more than a bite-size blessing!

As you read the book, be sure to look up some of the Scripture references I cite. You will increasingly discover, as I have through the years, that the Word of God is a light that guides us (Psalm 119:105), an encourager of our souls (verses 25,37,40,50), and an anchor that keeps us steady (see Hebrews 6:19).

Ron Rhodes

Frisco, Texas, 2010

Part 1

The Bible as the Word of God

1

The Inspiration of Scripture

What do we mean when we say the Bible is inspired?

The New Testament Greek word for the process of inspiration literally means God-breathed (see 2 Timothy 3:16). Scripture is breathed out by God—it originates from Him—so it is true and inerrant.

When we say the Bible is inspired, we mean that God superintended the human authors so that they composed and recorded His revelation without error, but they used their own individual personalities and even their own unique writing styles. In other words, the Holy Spirit permitted the authors to exercise their own personalities and literary talents even though they wrote under His control and guidance. The result is a perfect and errorless recording of the exact message God desired to give to humankind. This definition of inspiration applies only to the original documents or autographs. (An autograph is a manuscript in the author’s handwriting.)

To what extent were the biblical writers controlled by the Holy Spirit as they wrote?

In Peter’s second letter, he provides a key insight regarding the human–divine interchange in the process of inspiration. He writes, Prophecy [or Scripture] never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21).

The phrase carried along in this verse literally means forcefully borne along, like a strong wind carries a ship at sea (Acts 27:17). Even though human beings were used in the process of writing down God’s Word, they were all literally borne along by the Holy Spirit. God’s message did not originate with the wills of the human authors. He did not permit the will of sinful human beings to misdirect or erroneously record His message. Rather, God revealed His word, and His spokesmen recorded it.

Were the New Testament writers aware that their writings were inspired by God and therefore authoritative?

Yes. In 1 Corinthians 2:13 the apostle Paul (who wrote about half of the books in the New Testament) said he spoke not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit. Later, Paul affirmed, What I am writing to you is the Lord’s command (14:37). He also referred to his message not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God (1 Thessalonians 2:13).

Doesn’t each Bible writer’s own bias make the Bible less reliable?

Passionately believing in something does not necessarily force someone to distort history when giving an account of it. In modern times, some of the most reliable reports of the Holocaust were written by Jews who were passionately committed to making sure such genocide never happened again.

The New Testament is not made up of fairy tales. It is based on eyewitness testimony (2 Peter 1:16).

Why does the Bible include four Gospels that have apparent contradictions?

The Gospels may appear to have contradictions, but the apparent contradictions are not genuine. The Gospel accounts do have differences because they are written from different points of view, but they have no actual contradictions.

As we saw earlier, only the original autographs of Scripture are inspired and inerrant. Certainly the copies we have of the original autographs are extremely accurate. But conservative theologians have been very careful to say that the Scriptures, in their original autographs and properly interpreted, are wholly true in everything they teach.

Let’s also note that if all four Gospels were exactly the same, critics would accuse the writers of collusion. The fact that the Gospels have differences shows there was no collusion. Rather, we have four different but equally inspired accounts of the same events.

Here’s some practical advice: Don’t assume that a partial Gospel account is a faulty account. In Matthew 27:5, for example, we are told that Judas hanged himself. In Acts 1:18, we are told that Judas burst open and all his intestines gushed out. These are both partial accounts. Taken together, we get the full picture. Judas hanged himself, and sometime later the rope loosened (or broke) and he fell to the rocks below.

Does science disprove the miracles of the Bible?

Science depends upon observation and replication. Miracles, such as the Incarnation and the resurrection, are unprecedented events. No one can replicate these events in a laboratory. Therefore, science simply cannot be the judge and jury as to whether these events occurred.

The scientific method is useful for studying natural events but not supernatural ones. Just as football stars are speaking outside their field of expertise when they appear on television to tell you what razor you should buy, so scientists are speaking outside their field when they address theological issues like miracles or the resurrection.

We have many good reasons to believe the biblical miracles actually happened. For example, very little time elapsed between Jesus’ miraculous public ministry and the publication of the Gospels. Miracle legends could never develop that fast. Also, when the Gospels were written, many eyewitnesses to Jesus’ miracles were still alive and would have refuted any untrue miracle accounts (see 1 Corinthians 15:6).

Also, consider the noble character of the men who witnessed these miracles (Peter, James, and John, for example). Such men were not prone to misrepresentation,