Bible one book, many writers
The Bible is one big book made up of many smaller books. As such, it shows both unity (’one’) and diversity (’many’). The unity of the Bible flows from its source in God. If God is ultimately responsible for it all, you would expect it to hold together. But the Bible’s unity can be seen on other levels too. One story—of creation, fall and redemption— runs throughout.
The chief actor in it all is God. At every point God is making, and remaking, a people who are uniquely his. And although the struggle between good and evil is intense and continuous, there is never any doubt that the supreme power and final victory belong to God.
It is remarkable how frequently biblical writers refer back to, or take for granted, what has gone before. An example is the way the promise to Abraham — that through his descendants all nations will be blessed — is developed and worked out through the centuries. And it is particularly notable how the closing scenes of the final book, Revelation, hark back to the opening scenes in Genesis.
The recognition of the deep unity of the Bible should not be allowed to flatten out the rich diversity of its different writings. The Bible contains many different voices:
The quiet trust of the ’shepherd’ psalm — and Job’s overpowering confrontation with God;
The clear and confident challenge of Moses on the borders of Canaan — and the preacher’s cool-headed questioning in Ecclesiastes;
Paul’s mighty exposition of justification by faith alone in his letter to the Romans—and the down-to-earth appeal for practical discipleship in the letter of James.
To hold all this wealth of material together in our minds is no easy thing. Certainly the task of wrestling with the rich spectrum of Bible teaching will satisfy the most questing of minds. But the heart of the matter lies in recognizing that these books are directed to the basic and everyday situations of people’s lives. The diversity within the Bible is as rich as life itself.
A helpful picture of biblical unity is that of an orchestra playing a symphony. The orchestra has different instruments, making different sounds, playing different parts. Yet when playing a symphony together they produce a beautiful harmony. And we appreciate the symphony the more if we are aware of the different parts that make it up.
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