Customer Reviews

From God To Us:How We Got Our Bible

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Geisler and Nix write what might be considered to be a classic on textual criticism. It is not impossible to read and should be understood by the average layperson who is not frightened of reading. They deal with everything from inspriation, canonicity of both the OT and NT, the major manuscripts, and translations of the Bible. It's probably as good an overall view of textual criticism as there is out there. With no updates since its original 1974 printing, and since the authors are still alive, I would challenge them to update the book for future generations, especially since there have been some new finds and translations made during the past quarter of a century. Updating shouldn't be that hard to do, and they would help preserve a valuable book for the years to come (when they are no longer around). If you have ever had anyone criticize the Bible ("how do we know it's translated correctly?"), this might be a good place to start to get some answers.

"From God to Us" consists of 20 short chapters, the first 5 chapters deal with Inspiration, chapters 6-10 deals with the "Canon", and the concluding chapters deal with various "Manuscript" evidence. From page 7 to the last page are 248 pages of very interesting reading. It is well written, and contains a host of sources within the text. It lacks a final bibliography. While one may not agree with all facets of this book, it is a good read and provides very good source material for small group dicussion.

I am using this in conjunction with a class I'm teaching in my church on the doctrine of the Bible. I appreciate the conservative position, holding to the inerrancy of Scripture. The book is neither difficult to read nor overly simplistic. I agree with a previous reviewer that an update would be nice - it would be helpful to have more on modern translations such as the NIV, etc.

This book is an excellent resource to understand how the 27 writings and letters that are included in Bible got there, and why we can be confident that they are the inspired (God Breathed) Word that we need to use to guide our daily lives, and bring glory to our God. I always accepted that scripture was the Word of God, but now I fully understand how the Bible was assembled over 1500 years and can instruct others with confidence.

No prophecy ever came from the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. 2 Peter 1:21

All scripture is inspired by God and it's profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. 2 Timothy 3:16

The authors of this work chose to quote these two scriptures in their argument that the Bible is inspired by God; God chose what is contained in the Bible; God chose what is excluded from the Bible. God chose human vessels to write the books of the Bible; the author goes to lengths to describe how God use man, his personality and circumstances to convey God's will. I argue it is God who predestined certain individuals to live at a certain time, to face certain circumstances, and witness God's work in their lifetime. It is God who chose certain men to record His word, therefore His will. These works are without error.

Conveyance of information from God to us is the theme of this book. God has used and does used other means to convey information to man. The written word is God's principle means of communication today. The Bible is the measuring rod or plum line for Christians to understand normative belief. This work being reviewed is meant for an English reading audience, so the end of this work is the history and about how the Bible is translated into the English language.

The authors briefly discuss that the original document writing of the Bible but through other means. These autograph or originals are not available. What are available are copies of the originals. Originally photocopy machines did not exist, so the copies were made by hand. Some errors did occur. One reason the originals did not divide words through spacing. Another is lack of chapter and verse separation. The authors argue there relatively few mistakes. Ancient copies are more numerous then any other ancient writings.

It is with this background that translations are created: From the Hebrew and Greek into Latin, Latin into English, or Hebrew and Greek into English. The authors do discuss other translations then English, but the us in the title is to the English speaking population. The authors do use some technical terms in using lower (textual criticism) into getting an accurate English translations. A version is a translation from the original to another language. Wycliffe's translation is not a version because it was translated from Latin into English. Tyndale's translation is a version, because it was translated from the original languages of Greek and Hebrew. This work discusses many other English translations prior to 1973.

This work is an argument how God wrote His book. Orthodox theology argues the Bible is the word of God. Modernism theology argues the Bible contains the word of God. Neo-Orthodoxy argues the Bible becomes the word of God. This work argues the orthodox position that the whole content is inspired by God, therefore true in every detail and as a whole. E.F. Bruce book titled The Canon of Scripture is a more comprehensive work on how the books came together in the formation of the Bible. This book is less detailed about the formation of the individual books of the Bible into the canon. Man did not create the canon, but God did use ordinary means for man to discover the Canon. The authors discuss adequate and inadequate arguments for a writing to be included in the canon. What is an adequate argument that a book is inspired by God? The Bible is God breathed. There is a comprehensive argument that Jesus stated the authority of what is known today as the Old Testament. How the Old Testament writers claimed their works were inspired by God. How New Testament writers called other works now in the New Testament as inspired by God.

This work gives quite a comprehensive argument what it means to inspired by God in the context of scripture as oppose to scripture that man finds inspirational. The Bible is the measuring rod or the rule of Faith prepared by God without error. Other works are faithful attempts to understand God and God's Will for man, but is not meant to part of the measuring rod. The Bible is the authoritative writing (The normative for believers). The Bible is a prophetic writing (The writing comes from a Spokesman from God). The Bible is Holy Scripture (It is from God and treated correspondingly).

This book was recommended by a very learned Pastor who I respect. However, as a layman, I found it almost impossible to unravel what was being taught. I know Norman Geisler is a very knowledgeable man, but for my intellectual level this book was way too difficult. I am saving it on my bookshelf for when I get smarter!!

I highly recommend this book to both religious and non-religious readers. It sets forth very clearly the theological position for the bible as a god-given book, which will serve the interests of the religiously inclined reader. For the atheist or agnostic reader, it similarly well demonstrates the weak logical and historical position of the theologician. After reading historical/ academic works such as "The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture", I found this book to be fascinating - honestly, I couldn't put it down.