We’ve recently published some books to help people better understand the Bible. They are the structures of the scriptures: the big picture, a middle view, and a detailed look at each verse. This series on Biblical structure helps readers build a scope of God’s Word.
Here are a composite preface and introduction from the series so you can see the why and how of these books. Other books will be published as we complete the research on these treasures of scripture.
Preface
I’ve always loved seeing God’s design. It is obvious in the creation. Hemoglobin [in human blood] and chlorophyll [in plants] have the exact same chemical structure—a porphyrin ring with iron in the center of hemoglobin [iron is red] and magnesium in the center of chlorophyll [magnesium is green]. Plant respiration provides the oxygen we need, while we supply the carbon dioxide that plants need. The human body is wonderfully and awesomely made. So are the bodies in the heavens. The twelve constellations that pass through the sun have a perfect structure that make known the coming Messiah. Isn’t it amazing to see the water cycle of rain, rivers, and oceans. How about the perfect structure of a salt crystal, held together by electronic bonds that we cannot see? These structures are seen on a macro and a micro level. Compare planets orbiting our sun and electrons orbiting a nucleus.
The same is true for the scriptures. God designed them with a perfect structure as He worked in holy men and women to speak and write down His will. You see this on a macro level as we look at all the books of the Bible, or how the gospels work together. You also see it on a micro level as we look at each verse and word.
These books are a guide to how the scriptures are structured. Forty years ago, I made a commitment to my heavenly Father that I would do my best to understand how He structured His word. I have searched and thought on God’s word in order to keep this promise.
My prayer is that these books fill you with awe and thanksgiving to our heavenly Father as you see the detailed truths of the Bible. May they serve you as you learn, teach, and live the scriptures. Jesus described the kingdom of God as a treasure hidden in a field. The Psalmist said we rejoice at God’s word as when we find great treasure. Let us search the scriptures, in all their intricate and perfect structure, and find the great treasures of God’s kingdom available in Christ.
Introduction
These volumes on Old Testament and New Testament structures show the godly arrangement of the Bible. They include an overall structure, sectional structure, and verse-by-verse structure. This gives the Bible student a greater scope, and illustrates how individual scriptures relate in their given context. These books on structure are designed as working texts to enhance a believer’s quality time in going to the scriptures to discover Christ.
It has been almost exactly two centuries since Thomas Boys published his Tacita Sacra, and about a century since E. W. Bullinger published The Companion Bible. I note both of these Biblical scholars in “Principles of Biblical Structure” at the end of this blog. I am indebted to their pioneering work in this field.
This series on Biblical structure is designed to present the scriptures in a format that allows the Bible reader to see larger concepts, major sections, and specific details of the text. God desires us to understand His heart for us.
Psalms 33:1:
The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
God’s Word will stand forever. Our loving Father is Spirit [John 4:24] and invisible. Yet, He made Himself known through His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ [John 1:18]. The closer we look at God’s creation, like our bodies, the more detail and beauty we see. The same is true when we examine the scriptures. “The law of the Lord is perfect” “and in keeping of them there is great reward.” May the words of our mouths and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable to our heavenly Father, for He alone is our strength and Redeemer [Psalms 19:7,11,14].
For those interested, here is a brief explanation of the
Principles of Biblical Structure:
I was first introduced to the works of E. W. Bullinger nearly 50 years ago. He was a remarkable Biblical student and pioneered such studies as Biblical astronomy, Biblical figures of speech, and Biblical numerology. One area he initiated which he hoped would be further studied was Biblical structure. In How to Enjoy the Bible [1910], Bullinger said that the Reformation was not fully completed. He then noted: “The same may be said of the Law of Correspondence in the Structure of the Word of God, so wonderfully discovered and developed; and yet, needing today almost to be rediscovered, and certainly to be developed in its application to the whole Word of truth.”
Bullinger learned from Thomas Boys and his work A Key to the Book of Psalms [1825]. Boys wrote: “Preceding writers having pointed out a peculiarity in the composition of the Scriptures prevailing in some shorter passages, I discovered reasons for concluding that the same peculiarity extended to larger portions, and even whole epistles.” Boys later published his Tacita Sacra, in which he explained the two basic structures in the scriptures: alternation, and introversion.
How to Enjoy the Bible includes a canon, or rule: The scope of a passage may best be discovered by its structure. Bullinger gives a brief history of Biblical structure, which includes those noting metric structures in the Old Testament [Josephus, Philo, Origen, Eusebius, Jerome, and Isidore]; poetic structures [Bishop Lowth]; parallel lines of scripture [Abravanel in the 1400s and Azariah de Rossi in the 1500s]; and Boys. Bullinger later took Biblical structure to a new level of study in The Companion Bible [published in six parts between 1909 and 1922]. This work gives Biblical structures to most of the Bible. In this work, I have not used Bullinger’s structures, but approached the scriptures with a fresh perspective.
How to Enjoy the Bible also includes a section on “The Principles Governing the Structure of Scripture.” This shows that Biblical truths are either cognate [gradational] where the same idea is set forth progressively; antithetic [opposite] where terms or subjects are set in contrast; synthetic [constructive], where terms or subjects are constructed to correspond in a similar way [equivalent or opposite]; and introverted, where terms correspond from the “outside to the middle.”
This series on Biblical structure uses those same principles: cognate, antithetic, synthetic, and introverted. I have looked at individual Greek words, as well as main concepts, to see the logical and orderly arrangement of the truths that God is setting forth. There may be other ways to structure the scriptures, but I have set forth this series to show one possible approach. These are study tools to use and develop. May God our Father bless you richly through our Lord Jesus Christ.
