What is Bibliology?: The Bible as Your Home Base for Studying Theology → A More Beautiful Life Collective

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Today is part 2 of our series on Building Your Foundations. Today, we are talking about the doctrine of Bibliology. As we’ll see, the Bible should be the foundation for all other aspects of theology. You need to know why the Bible is our source of truth and what this practically means for our lives. This post will talk about both of those points today.

S2E15 – What You Need to Know about the Christian Creeds – A More Beautiful Life Collective Podcast

In this episode, we are talking about the high-church confessional documents and why you should engage with them. No matter what denomination you belong to, these confessional texts – like Christian creeds, confessions of faith, catechisms, and liturgies – have been incredibly influential in the history of the Church. We need to wrestle with what they say and determine how it fits in with our own personal statement of faith. Today, we are going to talk about why you should read these texts, and then, turn our focus to the Christian creeds in particular. Read more on the blog: https://amorebeautifullifecollective.com/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-christian-creeds/ Get a PDF copy of the Christian Creeds here: https://a-more-beautiful-life-collective.kit.com/d080819cc1 Get the Doctrine and Theology Cheat Sheet Here: https://a-more-beautiful-life-collective.ck.page/bd897d28d0 Get a list of the names of God here: https://a-more-beautiful-life-collective.ck.page/43d2d5cf6b Get a copy of our personal statement of faith creation guide here: https://amorebeautifullifecollective.com/product/we-believe-your-personal-statement-of-faith-workbook-pdf-download/ Get “Building Our Foundations: 10 Week Study” here: https://amorebeautifullifecollective.com/product/building-our-foundations-11-week-systematic-theology-book-bible-study/ Visit our Shop to get a copy of any of the resources mentioned in this episode: I’m your host, Cayce Fletcher, and you can learn a little bit more about me here. While you’re here, would you consider leaving a comment, rating, or review? You can find our podcast, A More Beautiful Life Collective Podcast, wherever you listen to podcasts. Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or watch on YouTube. Subscribe to the blog for access to our latest content and some freebies. I love creating and sharing resources with you. You can find all of our resources at A More Beautiful Life Collective Shop. Keep creating a life you love, and cultivating your heart for God.

Welcome to Season 2 Episode 2 of A More Beautiful Life Collective Podcast! Today, we are continuing our series on 10 core doctrines of theology. In the last episode of this series, we covered Theology Proper, or the study of God himself. Today, we are going to talk about Bibliology or the study of the Bible.

Whenever you study systematic theology, one interesting thing to note is how the authors of a study order the different doctrines that you study. Every author is trying to logically systematize a study of theology, but the order of theology really casts light on the importance the author has for that particular doctrine.

Some authors placed Bibliology first in their list, while others put Theology Proper. I think it’s so important to start with a right understanding of who God is before we look at scripture. When we study scripture, we have to study through the lens of the Bible being a book about God. Any other reading will lead to messed-up interpretations.

The next topic on the list for most authors would be the study of the Bible. Why? Because all of our theology should be informed by what the Bible says. So, we need to make sure we understand what the Bible is.

That’s why today, we are focusing on the study of the Bible.

What is the Bible?

Facts about the Bible:

The Bible was written in three languages, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. The Vulgate is the Latin translation of the complete canon of the Bible.
The Bible was written by more than 40 traditional contributors (in reality, there were many more).
All Christian Bible canons contain the same 66 “core” books, with Orthodox and Catholic Bibles containing more. The Canonization of the Bible occurred in the 300s AD. They used the criteria of orthodoxy, apostolicity, and universality to determine the books.
Books not deemed part of the first Canon were gathered together in a second canon called deuterocanonical (aka ‘second canon’) texts and included books in the Apocrypha.
Chapters and verses were added in the 1200s AD. Testament comes from the Latin ‘Testamentum.’ which means Covenant.

When we talk about the Bible, we are talking about a collection of books written over thousands of years. This collection of stories, laws, songs, proverbs, and letters makes up the foundation for our knowledge of who God is and how he interacts with humanity.

Every other part of theology gets its information from the Bible. The Bible is our evidence. It’s what we turn to in order to figure out what we believe. This is why you need to know what you believe about Bibliology.

Why do we trust the Bible over the other religious texts that make up the foundations for other world religions? There are three main reasons or facts about the Bible that make it trustworthy.

As 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

The Bible is:

God-breathed
Infallible and Inerrant
Self-sufficient

These three points are the basis for Bibliology.

(Importantly, these are beliefs about the Bible. I’m not going to argue for the credibility of the Bible in this post on the theology of the Bible. You can research Bible apologetics for more information on that topic.)

Bibliology #1: The Bible is God-breathed.

The Bible is written by more than 40 contributors over a long period of time. How could the authors write a cohesive book? Through the inspiration of God. When we say the Bible is inspired by God, we mean the Bible and the words of God. It is true to the intent, purpose, and words of God.

The more academic way of saying this is Verbal Plenary Inspiration. Verbal Plenary Inspiration means that every word is “God-breathed”, or inspired by God. Plenary refers to the fact that every part of scripture is equally authoritative and of divine origin. The basis for our Bibliology is that the Bible is the very word of God.

As we know, the Bible has been translated from the original Hebrew and Greek into several other languages over 2,000 years. Within the last 100 years or so, translations of the Bible have multiplied exponentially as translators return to the original Greek and try to parse out the most accurate wording for each verse.

Both Hebrew and Greek are expressive languages, and as with any word in English, Hebrew and Greek words paint pictures in the mind and can be difficult to pin down with one specific word in a different language.

When scripture is God-breathed, it means that despite multiple authorship and the current translation landscape scripture still stays true to what God intended. In other words, God miraculously orchestrated the writing and creation of the Bible to be what it is today through the Holy Spirit. When we read the words of the Bible, we are not reading the words of man but of God.

Bibliology #2: The Bible is infallible and inerrant.

If the Bible is God-breathed, it only logically follows that it is true, infallible, and inerrant. God cannot lie, and that can be seen in the following verses:

Titus 1:2: “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began”
Hebrews 6:18: “That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us”
Numbers 23:19: “God is not a man, that he should lie”

If scripture is God-breathed – being the very words of God, it cannot contain falsehood. It must be true.

The two terms that are most used to describe this is the infallibility and inerrancy of scripture. This is crucial for our understanding of Bibliology. The inerrancy of scripture refers to what we’ve already mentioned: Scripture cannot contain errors or affirm untruths. The infallibility of scripture refers to the fact that Scripture cannot possibly fail. There is no possibility of it containing errors. It is incapable of erring.

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Bibliology #3: The Bible is self-sufficient.

Lastly, the Bible is self-sufficient. What does this mean? It’s helpful to discuss the sufficiency of scripture using the following terms: Sola Scriptura, Prima Scriptura, and Nuda Scriptura. These three terms all mean something slightly different in the context of Bibliology.

Sola Scriptura is one of the 5 Solas of reformation doctrine popularized after Luther’s 95 Theses. Sola Scriptura means scripture alone should be the basis of our theology. It is the sole infallible source of doctrine and the place where we should go if we want to test the teachings of others. This is in contrast to Prima Scriptura which states the Bible is above all other ‘divine’ teaching. The Catholic church held to Prima Scriptura which still recognizes the teachings of the Catholic church leaders.

Interestingly, the last term, Nuda Scriptura – or Bare Scripture – draws an important distinction for the Bible’s role in determining doctrines.

As Dr. Lawson Murray says,

“In considering the last question, it’s helpful to know that Protestant reformers made a distinction between the principles of “sola Scriptura” (Scripture alone) and “nuda Scriptura” (bare Scripture). “Sola Scriptura” has to do with the sufficiency of Scripture as the Christian’s supreme authority in all spiritual matters. “Nuda Scriptura” is the idea that the Bible is the Christian’s only theological authority in all spiritual matters. The best transliteration for “nuda Scriptura” today is “solo Scriptura” (just me and my Bible).

The distinction between “sola Scriptura” and “solo Scriptura” is important. The two are not the same and shouldn’t be equated. The emphasis in “sola Scriptura” is on theology being ultimately subject to the Scriptures. The emphasis in “solo Scriptura” is narrower. It gives prominence to personal interpretation removed from the Church.”

When we discuss the self-sufficiency of scripture, we recognize that scripture is all that we need for determining doctrines. Every doctrine that we discuss here should be developed by going back to the Bible and figuring out what it says about the topic.

Is the Bible our only revelation from God?

When we consider Sola Scriptura, we have to ask ourselves the question: What types of revelation do we actually receive from God?

The term Sola Scriptura makes it seem like we don’t receive any other revelation from God except what has been given in the Bible. That the Bible is the only revelation from God. But, we read in the Bible that is not the case.

What is a revelation? We’re not talking about the last book of the Bible. Instead, revelation just means a word, idea, or concept that is revealed to us in some way. Obviously, the Bible is a revelation from God if it is God’s ‘God-breathed’ words. It is an example of a special revelation of God.

There are four types of revelations from God:

General Revelation: Revelation given to the whole world
- Immediate General Revelation: Our conscience
- Mediate General Revelation: Creation or ‘Acts of God’
Natural Revelation: The truth of God seen in his created works
Supernatural Revelation: Truth from God as communicated through special divine intervention
Special Revelation: Truth given to a specific person or group of people through miraculous means.

R.C. Sproul once said, “I believe firmly that all of the truth is God’s truth, and I believe that God has not only given revelation in sacred Scripture but also, the sacred Scripture itself tells us that God reveals Himself in nature—which we call natural revelation. And, I once asked a seminary class of mine that was a conservative group, I said, “How many of you believe that God’s revelation in Scripture is infallible?” And they all raised their hand. And I said, “And how many of you believe that God’s revelation in nature is infallible?” and nobody raised their hand. It’s the same God who’s giving the revelation.”

We don’t turn to nature for specific doctrine or moral guidance – nature is broken and the truth seen there may not be truth at all. (As seen in the recent documentaries trying to show the ‘rightness’ of LGBTQ+ lifestyles based on the lifestyles of animals.) But, we can receive certain inspiration and revelation from nature. Sola Scriptura means that any revelation we receive is tested against scripture to make sure it is true.

How do we study the Bible? AKA Hermeneutics

If the Bible is the very word of God, it only makes sense that we devote our time to studying it. We have to know scripture extremely well to be able to discern what is good and right doctrine. First, we have to set aside time each day to study the Bible. It’s helpful to have a quiet time where you are away from (most) distractions and spend time reading, learning, and praying. I like to do this first thing in the morning before life gets busy. Reading your Bible, praying, and journaling are helpful Spiritual Disciplines that can grow your faith. You can check out our spiritual disciplines bundle in the shop.

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Once you sit down with a pen, notebook, and Bible, what do you do? How should you study the Bible? It’s best to sit down and read a text with a literal interpretation (or Hermeneutic). You want to understand what the Bible is actually talking about before you try to layer on other meanings. To help you do this, you can get a Bible reading plan that keeps you accountable for working through a certain portion of scripture each day.

Once you’ve read through a passage, you may also try to read your Bible using a moral hermeneutic. Most devotionals generally will try to pull a moral out of a passage for you.

There are many different types of Bible reading plans and guides – maybe I’ll do a post about it someday. But, a quick Google search should help you get started.

As we’ve read, scripture alone should be the guiding force in your quiet time. Don’t rely so much on commentaries, devotionals, podcasts, apps, and self-help books to jumpstart your study. But, after reading through a text, you may want to go consult some of these resources for a deeper understanding.

My Faith Statement:

The Bible is the God-breathed, inerrant, infallible sole source of truth. We should look to the Bible for our doctrine as well as the directions for how to live out our days.

Now you try: What is your personal statement of faith about Bibliology?

Answer the following questions to help get you started:

Do you believe the Bible is inspired by God? How did that work? Do you believe the canonization and translation efforts of others are also inspired by God?
Do you believe it is possible for the Bible to contain errors? How does this affect your understanding of truths garnered from the Bible?
To what do you turn to learn about doctrine? Do you base your understanding of scripture on others as well as the Bible or scripture alone? What do you think should be the basis of doctrine?

I’d love to hear your statement of faith. Comment below or email me to let me know! Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts. Until next time, keep creating a life you love and cultivating your heart for God.

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