In the Beginning was Information

14 Aspects of Information as Foundin the Bible14.1 God as Sender – Man as RecipientThe five aspects of information, statistics, syntax, semantics, pragmatics,and apobetics, were discussed in Chapter 4, and it was statedthat all five are indispensable for both the sender and the recipient.It is highly instructive to view the Bible in this way.Sender: In Figure 27 God is shown as the Source or Sender ofbiblical information. His Word is available to us today in completed(Revelation 22:18) and written form (eg. Exodus 17:14, Ezekiel37:16, 1 Corinthians 9:10, and Revelation 1:11), after He has spokento us in many different ways (Hebrews 1:1-2). The following listindicates the wide spectrum of methods God used to speak to us:1. audibly (Exodus 19:19, Matthew 3:17),2. in his own handwriting (Exodus 31:18),3. through angels (Luke 2:10-12, Hebrews 2:2),4. through prophets (Jeremiah 1:5, Hebrews 1:1),5. through dreams (Daniel 2, Matthew 1:20),6. through visions (Ezekiel 1:1),7. through apostles (Acts 1:2),8. through inspiration (2 Timothy 3:16),9. through revelation (Galatians 1:12, Ephesians 3:3, Revelation 1:1),10. through Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Hebrews 1:2).God mostly used and uses people as bearers of information, but Hewas and is the actual Sender, while we fulfil the function of recipient.All views about the origin of the Bible based on purely humansources, miss the real point, even if these are couched in highlytheological terms. This question about who the sender is becomesthe touchstone for belief and unbelief, and thus for life and death.For Spurgeon the question of who the sender is also asserts itselfin its power [S10]: “Our own words are mere paper darts comparedto the heavy artillery of God’s Word.” Although the Bible speaksabout heavenly, spiritual and divine matters, it is encoded in141