As students of the Word of God, we receive many disparaging remarks about our precious Holy Bible. I can’t tell you how many times individuals have approached me, telling me how man alone wrote the Bible and use the fact that there are countless extraneous books left out to fit an agenda of modern Christianity. The Gospel of Judas, Thomas, Mary Magdalene, Jehoiakim, or whatever person is the flavor of the week in scholarly circles, are constantly brought up as being withheld from apocrypha. Academically, the argument against many of these works can be found in Gnosticism from the mid to late second century, Saint Jerome, or any other historical points. However, one place from which we never seem to argue is that of God’s involvement in dispersion of His Word. All too often, God is taken out of the Biblical equation altogether.
2 Peter 1:21 says, “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.” So, according to His own Word, God is responsible for telling His men what to write. If this is the case, why isn’t God brought up in more Biblical authorship debates? I think many times we humans think on a solely physical plane and can sometimes forget about God’s point of view. Arguing from the perspective that God has decided what books should stay and go in His own Word, might seem like a counterproductive argument against atheistic sentiments. This perspective is not counterproductive because atheists and agnostics argue from purely naturalistic and humanistic positions. Why can’t we as children of the ultimate spiritual Force in the universe argue from spiritual perspectives? Let’s stop taking God out of the equation.
If it’s the word of a deity intent on edifying his precious creations, why would it need explanation?
Very true, the Word already explains itself.
Seth, Sadly, we have allowed the skeptics to set the agenda when it comes to Biblical Studies. You correctly point out that they exclusively apply naturalistic standards to the study of Scripture. Therefore, where we find commonalities among the Synoptics, we conclude that there must have been borrowing of the material.
Evangelicals have countered, perhaps wrongly, that these are the result of a shared communal oral tradition and not borrowing.
Perhaps your solution might be best and argue from a “spiritual perspective” – simply that God provided the commonalities.