Untitled
close
Podcast Episode

The Bible Had Editors?

How can a collection of ancient manuscripts written by numerous people over thousands of years tell one unified story? In this episode, Tim, Jon, and Carissa dive into how the Bible was written and how such a diverse collection of authors, literary styles, and themes can form one divinely inspired, unified story.

Episode 3
59m
Sep 27, 2021
Play Episode
Show Notes
Episodes

QUOTE

We don’t encounter the Hebrew Bible in the form of what Moses was writing in the wilderness or what Isaiah or Jeremiah were originally writing. What we have is a highly polished, interconnected museum exhibit created by a set of hands at the very end of the process, which created a polish or a glaze over the whole thing to make it unified. … It helps to think of these editors as also filled with the Spirit. It’s not just the original authors, but it’s the authors and editors that shaped the story later too that are part of this Spirit-filled community [that wrote the Bible].

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • The Bible is unified literature. Although the Bible has many authors, literary styles, and themes, it tells one story about God’s plan to rescue humanity and make them his partners in ruling the world.
  • The writers of the Hebrew Bible weren’t just the named leaders we usually think of (Moses, Isaiah, etc.). They were a community of scribes and prophets who saw themselves as part of the ongoing effort to compile God’s words to his people.
  • The themes presented in the earliest chapters of Genesis set the pace for the rest of the Old Testament collection—every story after the opening narratives riffs on the same themes, repeating them and adapting them to emphasize different elements.

Unified Literature

In part one (00:00 - 13:30), Tim, Jon, and Carissa recap the series so far and discuss how the paradigm through which we view the Bible—that the Bible is one unified story that leads to Jesus—is composed of seven axioms (or attributes).

In the last episode, we talked about the first of these axioms: the Bible as both human and divine. The second element we’ll explore is the Bible as unified literature. This means that although the Bible has many authors, literary styles, and themes, it tells one story about God’s plan to rescue humanity and make them his partners in ruling the world.

The Bible itself features two collections (Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and New Testament), each with their own unifying characteristics, under the banner of one governing narrative that spans both collections.

Many Styles Telling One Story

In part two (13:30 - 22:00), Tim, Jon, and Carissa discuss the literary structure of the Bible, focusing on the unity of the Hebrew Bible specifically.

Because the literary styles within the Bible are, at face value, so diverse, the more we understand both the organization and the origins of the Bible, the more we can truly grasp the unified nature of the Bible’s storyline. The Bible is more than an anthology (a collection of literary works unified only by their inclusion in the same volume), it’s one story composed of interwoven narrative threads.

The Hebrew Bible is a collection of scrolls more than 1,000 years in the making, bringing together literature from many periods of ancient Israelite history and culture. The scrolls include what Jews call the TaNaK, the Torah, Nevi’im, and Ketuvim. (For more information on the structure of the Hebrew Bible, check out our How to Read the Bible series.)

A Community of Authors

In part three (22:00 - 36:00), the team explores the process by which scribes compiled the final form of the Hebrew Bible.

In the 300-200s B.C.E., as Israelites returned to their land from exile in Babylon, they brought with them the texts that would become the Hebrew canon. In the process of completing the Hebrew Bible, the Jewish people did far more than create a complex work of literature—they created something that informed their national culture and identity (and, in large measure, still does).

The writers of the Hebrew Bible weren’t just the named leaders we usually think of (Moses, Isaiah, etc.). The disciples and students of these leaders continued to work on unifying God’s words to his people. The New Testament writers were people formed by this same culture, and they had studied the Hebrew Bible from childhood. So while the style of the New Testament writings is different, it all riffs on the same themes as the Hebrew Bible.

Tim shares an illustration he adapted from Julius Steinberg and Timothy Stone in their book, The Shape of the Writings. The Hebrew Bible is like a grove of aspen trees. They are from the same root ball, genetically identical and interconnected on a deep level, but they sprout in various places and at different sizes and rates.

Our understanding of divine inspiration must be defined by the way it’s talked about in the Bible itself. It was authored by a community of scribes and prophets who saw themselves as part of the ongoing effort to compile God’s words to his people.

Other Ancient Jewish Literature

In part four (36:00 - 45:40), Tim, Jon, and Carissa discuss the prolific nature of the Jewish people at the period of history when the Hebrew Bible was being compiled (known as the Second Temple period). Israelite authors wrote other literary works that never ended up in the canon of Scripture even though they traced many of the same themes from the Hebrew Bible. These works became what we call the Deuterocanon or the Apocrypha.

Although Jesus and the New Testament writers considered only the TaNaK to be divinely inspired, they clearly valued the contributions of the Deuterocanon. For instance, Jesus’ famous lines in Matthew 11:28 are his adaptation of similar ideas from an apocryphal book called The Wisdom of Ben Sira, but he doesn’t attribute divine inspiration to this work. However, Jude notoriously quotes from the book of Enoch in a way that implies that Enoch was part of the scriptural canon in his community.

Because the biblical authors valued these extra-biblical books to varying degrees, we should consider their value in shedding light on the history and culture of which the biblical authors were a part.

The Storyline of the Hebrew Bible

In part five (45:40 - end), Tim, Jon, and Carissa conclude by talking about the unifying literary themes of the Hebrew Bible.

The themes presented in the earliest chapters of Genesis set the pace for the rest of the Old Testament collection—every story after the opening narratives riffs on the same themes, repeating them and adapting them to make different points.

The Hebrew Bible traces the story of humanity as God’s image-bearing partners who corrupt their true vocation to rule the world with God and share in eternal life. Their corruption results in a kind of de-creation, to which God responds by raising up a chosen one: the promised seed of Eve who will bring vindication and victory for a restored humanity, but at the cost of his own life. Over and over again, Israel fails in their calling to be that seed, which leads to their exile. But just as frequently, God proves his eternal loyalty to his promises and his people.

Knowing that this is the storyline of the Hebrew Bible can help us to “read sympathetically,” as Carissa calls it. This means to read with an eye toward the authors’ intended meaning and an awareness that we should be able to identify the threads of this overarching story in every individual story.

Referenced Resources

  • The Shape of the Writings (Siphrut: Literature and Theology of the Hebrew Scriptures), Julius Steinberg and Timothy J. Stone
  • The Journey from Texts to Translations: The Origin and Development of the Bible, Paul D. Wegner
  • Lee Martin McDonald’s collected works
  • Dominion and Dynasty: A Theology of the Hebrew Bible, Stephen G. Dempster
  • The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative, Christopher J. H. Wright
  • Interested in more? Check out Tim’s library here.

Show Music

  • “Defender (Instrumental)” by TENTS
  • “Aftersome” by Toonorth

Show produced by Cooper Peltz, Dan Gummel, and Zach McKinley. Show notes by Lindsey Ponder.

Powered and distributed by Simplecast.

Scripture References
Luke 24:44
Matthew 11:28-30

14 Episodes

Episode 14
Applying the Paradigm
How do we apply the biblical paradigm to our own Bible reading? It starts with reading the Bible in movements—the thematic patterns in which the biblical authors organized their ideas long before chapters and verse numbers were printed. In this episode, Tim, Jon, and Carissa introduce us to biblical movements and walk through how to identify and trace biblical themes on our own.
58m • Dec 20, 2021
Untitled
close
Episode 13
Is the Bible Trustworthy?
How do we teach the Bible to our children? How can a book written by humans be divinely authoritative? Is the Bible historically accurate? In this episode, Tim, Jon, and Carissa wrap up the Paradigm series by responding to your questions!
1hr 9m • Dec 13, 2021
Untitled
close
Episode 12
How (Not) To Read the Bible
What do we do with the passages in the Bible that are really difficult? Violence, slavery, the treatment of women—what the Bible has to say about these topics has, at times, been misinterpreted and misused. Join Tim, Jon, Carissa, and special guest Dan Kimball as they discuss his book, *How (Not) to Read the Bible*, and explore how any topic in the Bible looks different when we see it as part of a unified story.
57m • Dec 6, 2021
Untitled
close
Episode 11
The Last Pillar: Communal Literature
Are there ways to read the Bible other than a private quiet time? For most of Church history, followers of Jesus read the Bible out loud in groups and passed along its message verbally. In this episode, Tim, Jon, and Carissa talk about what it means for the Bible to be communal literature and how knowing that might just change the way we experience it today.
1hr 3m • Nov 29, 2021
Untitled
close
Episode 10
What the Bible’s Authors Took for Granted
Have you ever figured out halfway through a conversation that you and another person were on totally different pages? Reading the Bible can feel like this at times. We’re all products of our cultures, families, and environments, and it affects how we understand others. In this episode, Tim, Jon, and Carissa prepare us for a cross-cultural conversation with the Bible by discussing the cultural values of the biblical authors.
1hr 11m • Nov 22, 2021
Untitled
close
Episode 9
The Bible Wasn’t Written in English
What makes the biblical languages so important? Because the Bible was written in another time and culture, we need to honor its ancient historical context and original languages as we read and study it. In this week’s podcast episode, Tim, Jon, and Carissa explore why an awareness of the Bible’s culture—and our own—can help us be better interpreters of the Bible.
59m • Nov 15, 2021
Untitled
close
Episode 8
Wisdom for Life’s Complexity
How can we know we are making the “right” choice in situations the Bible doesn’t address? In this episode, Tim, Jon, and Carissa talk about the Bible as wisdom literature designed to reveal God’s wisdom to humanity—even for complex circumstances it doesn’t explicitly address.
1hr 2m • Nov 8, 2021
Untitled
close
Episode 7
Inspiration, Quiet Time, and Slaying Your Giants
How were the books of the Bible selected? What should we do if we have a hard time reading the Bible? How does the Bible apply to daily life? In this episode, Tim, Jon, and Carissa respond to your questions from the Paradigm series so far. Thanks to our audience for all your incredible questions!
1hr 19m • Nov 1, 2021
Untitled
close
Episode 6
Literature for a Lifetime
What’s the ideal way to study the Bible? Is it 20 minutes of reading every morning or larger blocks of time throughout the week? In this episode, join Tim, Jon, and Carissa as they discuss what it means for the Bible to be ancient Jewish meditation literature. The biblical authors intended for it to be understood over the course of a lifetime of rereading, not in one sitting.
56m • Oct 18, 2021
Untitled
close
Episode 5
Who Is the Bible About?
Is the story of the Bible about humans or God? Because the Bible is about the Messiah—the God who became human—it’s about both God and humans. In this episode, Tim, Jon, and Carissa discuss how the story of the Bible and all of its main themes come to their fulfiillment in Jesus, making it a redemption story for all of us.
56m • Oct 11, 2021
Untitled
close
Episode 4
How the New Testament Came To Be
At first glance, the New Testament can seem wildly different from the Old Testament—but is it? Jesus saw himself as the fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures and the climax of the story that began thousands of years before his birth. In this episode, join Tim, Jon, and Carissa as they explore the unity of the New Testament and the intricate yet consistent storyline of the Bible.
53m • Oct 4, 2021
Untitled
close
Episode 3
The Bible Had Editors?
How can a collection of ancient manuscripts written by numerous people over thousands of years tell one unified story? In this episode, Tim, Jon, and Carissa dive into how the Bible was written and how such a diverse collection of authors, literary styles, and themes can form one divinely inspired, unified story.
59m • Sep 27, 2021
Untitled
close
Episode 2
Who Wrote the Bible?
How does God work in the world and communicate with humanity? In this episode, Tim and Jon explore God’s relationship with his creation and the relationship between the Bible’s divine and human origins. They also discuss how God uses human words to communicate his divine word.
53m • Sep 20, 2021
Untitled
close
Episode 1
How Do You Read the Bible?
Have you ever read the Bible and felt like you're not "getting it"? In this episode, Tim and Jon take a look at the (often unhelpful) paradigms through which we interact with Scripture. They explore how seeing the Bible as a unified story that leads to Jesus not only gives the Bible space to do what it was created to do, but frees us to be transformed by the story it’s telling.
1hr 5m • Sep 13, 2021
Untitled
close
For advanced bible reading tools:
Login  or  Join
Which language would you like?