The Standard Text

Since the first edition came off of Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press nearly seven billion Bibles have been printed. “The Bible is the best-selling book of the year, every year,” according to The New Yorker Magazine with estimated annual sales of around 25 million copies.

According to Guinness the whole Bible had been translated into 349 languages; 2123 languages have at least one book of the Bible in that language, which means that at least some of the Bible is available in the languages spoken by over 90 percent of the human family.

If you travel in the United States, you are likely to find a copy of the Bible in your hotel room—placed there by Gideons International; but, as their name suggests, they are working around the world. Since 1908 “Gideons have placed or distributed more than 1.7 billion complete Bibles and New Testaments in more than 190 countries around the world . . . so far.”

Not so long ago it was common to find a copy of the family Bible on the coffee table in the living room of many homes. While it may not be displayed as prominently these days, there are not many homes in the U.S. that don’t have at least one copy—even if it’s just one of those they took from the hotel on their last vacation.

Many people carry a copy of the Bible with them every day. Others make sure they have their copy with them when they head to church on Sunday. If they happen to forget their personal copy, they can usually find a stack of Bibles somewhere in their classroom and nearly always count on finding one next to the hymnal in the pew racks.

With all these copies of the Bible available, you might be surprised to learn that more than 60 percent of Americans can't name either half of the Ten Commandments or the four Gospels of the New Testament. When the Barna Group conducted a survey to explore biblical literacy a few years ago, they found “none of the four generations were particularly likely to say they aspired to read the Bible more as a means of improving their spiritual lives.”

John Wesley would be very sad to learn this. He proclaimed the centrality of scripture for doctrine and for holy living. It was the basic authority for the Christian life. Where its truths are clear there was no alternative but obedience if one desired to be a faithful Christian. The way to learn its truths is to read it—not just own it.