11/02/25 SS: Fall In Love with The Bible Again

·32 min·3 clips

For almost 1,000 years, from 500 A.D. to Martin Luther, no one really read the Bible—why did people abandon God's Word?

The episode begins with Pastor Stephen Schwanke introducing Isaiah 40:6-8, focusing on the verse 'the word of our God shall stand forever.' He reflects on a church history class that reminded him how the Bible was largely unread for centuries due to its physical form as bulky scrolls and languages like Greek, Hebrew, and Latin that laypeople couldn't understand. Schwanke mentions Martin Luther having to borrow a Bible as a monk and return it, illustrating limited access. He emphasizes the need for revival through loving God's Word. The sermon then explores biblical 'chapter ones' like Genesis 1 and Psalm 1 to show Scripture's foundational role. Schwanke poses a hypothetical question about what advice a preacher would give with only five minutes to live, linking it to Paul and Peter's writings on Scripture's inspiration. He asks rhetorical questions about reading 1,000-year-old books or other religious texts, contrasting them with the Bible's enduring relevance. A key example is George Washington's death from bloodletting in 1799, ignoring Leviticus 17:11's statement that 'the life of the flesh is in the blood,' to argue the Bible's scientific accuracy. Schwanke discusses the French Academy of Science's 1861 claim of 51 errors in Scripture, now discredited. He details early Christian efforts to preserve the Bible during Diocletian's persecution, including hiding in catacombs and secretly copying manuscripts. The Edict of Milan in 313 led to mass production of Scriptures. The story of Voltaire predicting the Bible's obsolescence is contrasted with the Geneva Bible Society buying his house to print Bibles. Schwanke shares the personal account of Gary Mattson and his wife finding salvation after reading a Gideon Bible in a Chicago hotel. He concludes with Robert Dick Wilson, a scholar who learned over 40 ancient languages to defend the Old Testament, weeping while affirming 'Jesus loves me' from the Bible. The episode ends with a prayer for renewed love of Scripture.

As heard by us

A plain defense of Scripture that moves from ancient scrolls to a seminary classroom's simplest confession.

The episode frames the Bible's availability as its central concern, opening from Isaiah 40 and asking why Scripture can be so easily taken for granted now that it is no longer confined to bulky scrolls in Greek and Hebrew.

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Why you'd press play

If the Bible has started to feel overfamiliar, press play for a church-history reminder that moves from old scrolls, unread languages, and Reformation-era access toward the simple landing place: "Jesus loves me, this I know."

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