The ability to understand the scriptures premise on proper study of the same. To study it, one must know what the bible contains. Thus, one must know what is meant by scriptures and what is contained in it. In this section, you will be taken through simple steps of understanding the scriptures. Then, the relationship and importance of the same to Christians.
What are the scriptures?
The scriptures are actually books written by people about how Christ would come to save the world from sin and transform them into the children of God.
Luk 24:25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
Luk 24:26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
Luk 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
The people that gave these books were prophets. Therefore, they all spoke as the spirit moved them. Simply, they prophesied about the coming of the savior.
2Pe 1:20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
2Pe 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
The scriptures were scrolls that were documented by the prophets. These scrolls are traditional to some group of people; the Israelis. It is not something found everywhere in the world. At some points, they were engraved stones called cuneiform.
In the old times the writing systems came from the Sumerians before it was passed across. Keenly, there are different forms in which the scriptures were. Of course, this is subjected to the age the prophet is. The scriptures were written by prophets and arranged by people that understood the single goal of why they were written.
Following the invention of William Caxton (an English merchant, diplomat, and writer. He is thought to be the first person to introduce a printing press into England, in 1476, and as a printer was the first English retailer of printed books) of printing, things need to be in a compact place. Therefore, the scattered books were picked and arranged for everyone to have access to. Initially, it was just people that understood Latin that could read and understand the bible. With time, needs arose and now we have different versions in English and other languages.
Summarily, the importance of the scriptures is that they serve as foundations for many other teachings in the bible. Also, they determine the choice of words concerning descriptions of different concepts.
Is genesis to Malachi the scriptures?
Would you know which parts of the Bible are actually considered to be the scriptures? Well, you may have guessed correctly. The sections of the bible that were actually written by "the prophets" are the scriptures. The prophets were what God designed through Moses concerning the selection of the Levites as the prophets in the bible. They served as the spokespersons of God – the oracle of God. This has been in the practices of the people throughout the ages. The writings of Moses, which are the first five books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) serve as the bedrocks for the other writings in the scriptures.
The reason for this is that there are lots of prophets which came with the same message. They needed to understand what had been on ground before them. Even though these writings were not in a single book as it is today, they were in scrolls readily available for rabbinic schools. These writings were in the ages of cuneiforms, originally. These stones were engrafted with speech and hardened in the sun. They are then loaded into it.
Is the entire bible the scriptures?
Generally speaking, from the explanations of the New Testament, it is clear that the grass root of writings of the scriptures is clearly stated in the epistle.
2Ti 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
More importantly, the explanations of the scriptures are the writings of the epistles. This means that there are two parts to the whole discussion: scriptures and their explanations. More importantly, there are two understandings one could get; the entire bible is not scripture, and the bible is entire scripture.
The deal is this, the Bible is not entirely ridden with writings of the prophets. This means that the prophecies are a precedence of what we have today. The prophets are not just giving messages in vacuum. They all had reasons for prophesying. They all talked about what God intended to do later in life. Thus, what God would do is seen as a promise. And this is what is prophesied.
On the other hand, the scripture is totally the bible. This is because, essentially, the New Testament is actually the explanation and fulfilment of what is contained in the scriptures. More concisely, what the prophets wrote are fulfilled in other parts of the bible. So, it is still the words of the prophets that are explained and fulfilled.
It is important to note that some books such as Esther has nothing to do with the writings of prophets nor the explanation of the writings. It is an example of a book written and documented about what is the lineage preservation through which Christ who is the fulfillment of the scriptures should come.
What is the usage of the term scriptures in the bible?
The usage of the term 'scriptures' simply means writings. It is used to explain the group of words that are documented but from different authors. It is more like an anthology of literature works. The themes in the scriptures are filled with futuristic actions of God.
The term "scriptures" is derived from New Testament writings. Epistles refer to the writings of the prophets as the scriptures. Check few texts below:
Rom 1:2 (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,)
Rom 4:3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
In the above verses, it is clear that what had been given by the prophets is found in the scriptures. The term "scriptures" is used to show the foreshadowed promise of God to his people. In other words, the scriptures would mean what will happen in the New Testament. Further, there have been some controversies about the appropriateness of the term Old and New Testaments because of scriptures. The whole idea is that a promise comes before the fulfilment. So, the scriptures contain the promise while the fulfilment happens in the New Testament. Thus, the Old Testament actually is the New.
The overall point here is that the scriptures is a term that used to allude the writings of the prophets in the bible. It also shows the voice of God in the ages of the fathers. They are scriptures because they are scripts documented from speeches of prophets in the bible.
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