Transcript

Week 1 (Days 001-007): How did we get the Bible?

From The Bible Recap · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 46 min · 8,307 words · 146 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Week 1 (Days 001-007): How did we get the Bible?", an episode of The Bible Recap published January 7, 2026 (46 min, about 8,307 words). It mentions 32 people, works and ideas, including God, Bible, Old Testament, Old Testament, New Testament.

What this episode is about

The discussion explores how the Bible was assembled, emphasizing the distinct processes involved in compiling the Old Testament and the New Testament. Key points include the centuries-long evolution of the Old Testament, focusing on how books were recognized as scripture rather than being arbitrarily chosen, and the need to understand the unique historical contexts for each testament's development.

Key takeaways

  • The Bible's formation was more about recognition than selection – a divine treasure hunt over centuries.
  • Scrolls were expensive, so splitting books was a pragmatic choice, not a theological debate!
  • Jesus quoting every Old Testament book affirmed their validity; He wasn’t cherry-picking, He was backing the whole collection.
  • The New Testament authors ranged from fishermen to Pharisees, bringing diverse views from across the Roman Empire.
  • Luke was the original travel vlogger, documenting the best of antiquity like we capture our Instagram travels today.

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: Old Testament, Old Testament, New Testament, Emma Daughter
  2. – 10:00: Old Testament, Old Testament, New Testament, Roman Empire
  3. – 15:00: Carthage, Council of Carthage
  4. – 20:00: Adam and Eve, Christ, Old Testament, Old Testament
  5. – 25:00: Christ, Old Testament, Old Testament
  6. – 30:00: Facebook, Old Testament, Old Testament
  7. – 35:00: Adam and Eve, New Testament
  8. – 40:00: Christ, Adam and Eve
  9. – 45:00: Old Testament, Old Testament, afterlife, Christ
  10. – 45:33: TBR Deep Dive

Notable quotes from "Week 1 (Days 001-007): How did we get the Bible?"

  • Hey Bible readers, welcome to the Bible recap deep dive. In TBR deep dive, we take one week's content of the Bible recap reading plan and we pull some questions from our recaptain's Facebook group to discuss with our hosts. Let me.
    about TBR Deep Dive · at
  • When it comes to the conversation, it's really important that we separate the Old Testament from the New Testament because it went a little differently for each half. So, let's…
    about Old Testament · at
  • Fisherman, Jesus's halfb brotherther, and they're all writing from all around the Roman Empire, which is really remarkable, too. It's not like they were all in one place.…
    about Roman Empire · at
  • This and we're not doing this to protect against those heresies. And so at the council of Carthage, which was in 397 AD, okay, which is a significant amount of time after all…
    about Carthage · at
  • Help us make sense of why many of them are there. So here's what's happening. Adam and Eve have just sinned. We've got a problem.
    about Adam and Eve · at
  • Preference, yeah, however you want to do it. a lot of people believe this is the first prophecy of the Christ in scripture. the first gospel and we talk about on TBR how I…
    about Christ · at
  • I do I do think that it's possible that he's thinking about some sort of an afterlife, but we don't know what he would with these thoughts. Yeah. So, what's interesting is as I was researching this verse, I came across several.
    about afterlife · at
  • 19:25-27, he powerfully declares, I know that my redeemer lives and at the last he will stand upon the earth. So he probably didn't understand resurrection with as much clarity as we do. But he did seem to cling to God as.
    about redeemer · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Adam and Eve — Person · 5 mentions · first at
  • Dr. Peter Co — Person · 4 mentions
  • Uncle Luke — Person · 3 mentions
  • Clarence David — Person · 2 mentions
  • Emma Daughter — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Questions from our recaptain's Facebook group to discuss with our hosts. Let me introduce you to our host. We have Emma Daughter. How's it going? And Kirsten McCloskkey.
  • Kirsten McCloskkey — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Group to discuss with our hosts. Let me introduce you to our host. We have Emma Daughter. How's it going? And Kirsten McCloskkey.
  • Bobby Gruenwald — Person · 1 mention

Books & papers

  • Bible — Book · 21 mentions
  • Old Testament — Book · 17 mentions · first at
    When it comes to the conversation, it's really important that we separate the Old Testament from the New Testament because it went a little differently for each half. So, let's…
  • Job — Book · 4 mentions

Companies & orgs

  • The Bible Recap (TBR) — Company · 6 mentions
  • TBR Deep Dive — Company · 2 mentions · first at
  • Facebook — Company · 2 mentions · first at
    Take one week's content of the Bible recap reading plan and we pull some questions from our recaptain's Facebook group to discuss with our hosts. Let me introduce you to our…
  • The Bible Recap Deep Dive — Company · 1 mention · first at
    Hey Bible readers, welcome to the Bible recap deep dive. In TBR deep dive, we take one week's content of the Bible recap reading plan and we pull some questions from our recaptain's Facebook.
  • Got Questions — Company · 1 mention · first at
    Second? TLC, pop in whatever. and as a aside before we dig in, the website Got Questions, super helpful. There's some great additional resources there.

Products & tech

Concepts & topics

  • God — Concept · 76 mentions
  • Old Testament — Concept · 17 mentions · first at
  • New Testament — Concept · 8 mentions · first at
    When it comes to the conversation, it's really important that we separate the Old Testament from the New Testament because it went a little differently for each half. So, let's…
  • Satan — Concept · 8 mentions
  • Christ — Concept · 6 mentions · first at
  • Canon of Scripture — Concept · 4 mentions
  • Holiness of God — Concept · 4 mentions
  • Protoevangelium — Concept · 3 mentions
  • Roman Empire — Concept · 2 mentions · first at
  • Council of Carthage — Concept · 2 mentions · first at
    This and we're not doing this to protect against those heresies. And so at the council of Carthage, which was in 397 AD, okay, which is a significant amount of time after all…
  • afterlife — Concept · 2 mentions · first at
  • redeemer — Concept · 2 mentions · first at
  • Artificial Intelligence — Concept · 2 mentions
  • progressive revelation — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Probably less information revealed probably. So, right? And so, that progressive revelation, we're going to continue to see more and more. And even, I think of David referencing being united with his dead son.

Places & events

  • Carthage — Place · 2 mentions · first at
  • Ephesus — Place · 1 mention · first at
    All in one place. They're writing from Rome. They're writing from Jerusalem, from Ephesus. And we even have a Gentile author who wrote on the land and the sea. Looking at you, Luke, I love your epic travel writing skills.

Full transcript with timestamps

Hey Bible readers, welcome to the Bible recap deep dive. In TBR deep dive, we take one week's content of the Bible recap reading plan and we pull some questions from our recaptain's Facebook group to discuss with our hosts. Let me introduce you to our host. We have Emma Daughter. How's it going? And Kirsten McCloskkey.

Hi. And these are the two ladies who are going to be carrying you through this podcast every week. Occasionally, we'll have a guest. Occasionally, it will be me. And I'm so excited to jump into more topics that are going to help us read, understand, and love God's word. And so, without further ado, let's get this year rolling. All right, that sounds good. Okay, so our first question for today is a little bit more of a general question, and I think this is going to be a really fun one to kick us off. So the question is, how was the Bible made? Who decided on the layout? How did they choose? What books would be separated into two books?

Obviously, it's all God's word, but who were the people who laid it all out? This is I agree, Kirsten, such a fun question to start the year off with. But when it comes to the conversation, it's really important that we separate the Old Testament from the New Testament because it it went a little differently for each each half. So, let's start with the Old Testament and then Kirsten, you want to take the New Testament here in a second? TLC, pop in whatever. Uh, and as a aside before we dig in, the website Got Questions, super helpful. There's some great additional resources there.

We love that website. We do. We really do. Uh, but when it comes to the Old Testament, the Old Testament came together over centuries and this was a process that unfolded rather than a bunch of people sitting down at a table and saying, "What books go in? What aren't?" that that's not really how it went for the Old Testament. And the the proper way to talk about this is to ask, how were books recognized as scripture? Recognized is the key word there.

So over generations, the people of God recognized the writings that bore the marks of his voice uh or the signs that showed, hey, this really is God's word. And so they looked at things like, was it written by a prophet or or leader connected to God's people? Did a did it align with truth that had already been revealed? Was it widely used and accepted in the Jewish community of faith? And then by the time of Jesus, what we call the Old Testament was already functioning as the revealed word of God. Nobody was questioning it. Yeah.

And in fact, one of the things that I think is really great and helpful for us looking back at these passages that were recognized as scripture is that Jesus actually quotes from every Old Testament book.

So he sort of verifies the validity of these. And I think it it just gives credence to what was already being accepted in his community prior to all that time.

Yeah, that's so good. I I also think about part of the question was what about the books that were split into two?

Mh. Right. So you could you could think like was Jesus quoting first Samuel or 2 Samuel or to him was it just Samuel you know uh but but those divisions they were not theological divisions they they were likely done because of scroll length scrolls were expensive and something interesting I I found as I studied was that most of the time scribes didn't leave margins like if we're working in a document we can set the margin to be one inch or half an inch. They didn't do that. Paper was expensive. So, they'd write from the very edge to the very edge. And in some cases, they needed to split the books in two because it was it was a better use of paper versus cramming it in a way that became illeible or was more difficult to transport.

And also in the Old Testament, just like they have books that are split like 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel, there are also groupings of books that appear as a collection of books. And so one thing that's important to note when I said earlier that Jesus quotes from every Old Testament book, sometimes if there's a collection of a couple of books, he maybe only quotes from one of those books, but it's certifying, authorizing um authenticity to the collection as a whole. So that's important to note, I think.

Definitely. All right, so let me jump in and we'll talk a little bit about the New Testament. And even before I do that though, I do just want to say that for those of you that maybe have never experienced this conversation before or this is kind of a new concept. I think this is really important to just have kind of a general layout of how how the Bible got put together so that we can really trust and believe that God had his hand over all of this, the writing of it and the fact that we have it with us today. So it's very exciting. Um, okay. So New Testament. So the 27 books of the New Testament were written in a more condensed time period than what you were talking about Emma in the Old Testament. Um, and so basically all of these books and the letters were written sometime between about 50 AD to 90 AD, give or take a few years. So with the New Testament, we've got lots of different authors and we've got people

that are coming from a wide variety of different backgrounds. So, a Pharisee, a fisherman, Jesus's halfb brotherther, and they're all writing from all around the Roman Empire, which is really remarkable, too. It's not like they were all in one place. They're writing from Rome. They're writing from Jerusalem, from Ephesus. And we even have a Gentile author who wrote on the land and the sea. Looking at you, Luke, I love your epic travel writing skills.

That is my favorite. Travel vlogger before there was water. He was the original travel vlogger. Yeah, for sure. For sure. And all of these people were eyewitnesses of Jesus. So they had credibility because of that. I mean give or take the author of Hebrews who we don't know who that was.

Mystery mystery. We all have our thoughts and opinions on that. But um he seems to have been an eyewitness to Jesus based on how accurately he portrays him as the fulfillment of the Old Testament. So yeah, just really that also lends credence to the people and and what they've written.

And that was part of what the church was looking at when they were coming together to to talk about, okay, we're recognizing that these are on the same level as the Old Testament scriptures. And that was part of that kind of authority, that apostolic authority of whether someone had seen Jesus. And so relatively quickly with the New Testament, there was this understanding, like I said, that these new writings should really be recognized as scripture alongside the Old Testament. And so we get a couple places where we can kind of see this clearly in 2 Peter 3:15-16, which was written in about the mid60s.

So we're talking 30 years after Jesus is walking. Not the 1960s, right? Exactly. Just 60s. Good. Got it.

Exactly. And so there Peter is talking about how it's sometimes hard to understand Paul. Yes, Peter, we're with you.

We totally agree. Thank you for validating. Thank you for validating that Peter.

But what what the most important thing is the way Peter revers refers to Paul's letters as being a part of scripture. So he puts it on that same level with the Old Testament. So there was already this recognition that the things that the apostles were writing were as important as the Old Testament.

And then Paul does something similar in 1 Timothy 5:18 when he references scripture and he quotes from Deuteronomy and from Luke. And so Paul, it seems, viewed Luke's gospel as authoritative and scripture. And again, this is also just in the 60s. And so that's 30 years after Jesus's ministry. So we're already getting this understanding of what's authoritative, what's recognized in the church. So it's really cool.

Yeah. And you referenced a couple of books from the New Testament that have numbers before their names like the Old Testament books, but it's a different scenario in the New Testament when we have those numbers because those were letters. And so the numbers indicate the sequence of the letters as opposed to that the scribes didn't have enough space on their parchment. Sometimes there were letters in between.

Yeah. That were not considered scripture. So they're numbered as the letters that were considered scripture in the se sequential order.

And there's even a a letter to the Corinthians that we believe seems to have been lost. That in TBR we refer to it as zero Corinthians because it predates first Corinthians.

That's what I was thinking of actually was the Corinthians. Yeah. Nice. Okay. And so by the 2n century AD, we've got churches that are all around the Roman Empire. So remember, it's not just one place. It's not just in Jerusalem or in Rome. It's all throughout that have copies of many of the letters and the gospels and they're reading them together in their Sunday worship. And so even at this time, they even have people writing commentaries already on the gospels. So clearly they're seeing these these gospels as scripture. And then eventually where we get to the place where the church comes together and says, "Okay, we're going to be really specific about which New Testament writings are going to be labeled as on par and recognized as on par with the Old Testament." The reason for that is because there were heresies popping up.

Heresies. So they had to really just take what was already being used in the churches and be like, "Okay, we're doing this and we're not doing this to protect against those heresies." And so at the council of Carthage, which was in 397 AD, okay, which is a significant amount of time after all the books of the Old Testament or New Testament, excuse me, were written, the church leaders decided that nothing but the canonical books, so the 27 New Testament books were to be read and recognized in the churches as holy scriptures. So that might seem like again a long period of time between when they were written and when we kind of finalized the New Testament.

Yeah, the list, right? The list. But what's important in in that is that the list was already really being finalized in the churches. It was already what they were using. This council of Carthage just put kind of the whole church's stamp of approval on it. The leadership being like, "Okay, this is what we're going to stick to.

Let's all follow this." So, would it would it be fair to say that the list that we know today came about because false books or false writings, if you will, were starting to circulate. And so it became necessary to create a list.

I mean, in some ways, is that fair to say? I think in some ways, yeah. I mean, I would imagine that if it hadn't been the heresies that God would have done something else to bring about kind of just the order and the organization of preserving his word,

but this was the way that it ended up and he preserved it all along. Those books had always been there. It wasn't like they just showed up at 390. Was it 397? Yeah.

Um, I think of it as like the kid who when he gets his driver's permit is driving his parents' car and then he's driving the car all he's driving it, he's in the car, he's nobody else is driving it, he's driving it, but then when he turns 16 they give him the driving permit like it's just made official in this uh way on paper, you know, it's always reality, right?

Uh but it's just put on paper at that point as like here is the official statement saying you can drive a car. Yeah.

Yeah. And that might be an imperfect analogy, but that's kind of how I have viewed the the church's time where they certified that these were the scriptures that would be recognized and read in the churches.

Yep. I think it's also important that we remember God's word wasn't preserve preserved by accident. Like if you think about that example, Terry, that teenage boy who's so excited to get his license, he didn't learn to drive on accident. There were things in his life or even just his parents intentionally teaching him that led to him being able to get that license and it being official.

God preserved his word intentionally. It it was him working through real people throughout actual history

to to carry his word across generations and now even languages. So, I think as we're as we're talking about this, it's really important that we remember that a preserved Bible, a wellpreserved Bible means a trustworthy God.

And and so we don't have to wonder like, have his promises changed? No, they haven't.

Has truth been watered down? No, it it hasn't. The same God who we read this week spoke light into darkness has spoken through his word. It's been well preserved and he's still today speaking to us through it. And and so in a world where where so much shifts and changes,

the preservation of scripture is it's like it's God's gentle reminder. He's like, "Hey, my word is steady.

My my truth stands. My promises endure." So when we open our Bibles, we're hearing from the God who never changes.

And that is such a timely thing for us to hold to because in a world today where everything can be faked, we can watch fake videos of historical figures doing things they never would have done.

Yes. Words coming out of their mouth that look like they're real, might even sound like the voices of dead people and everything. AI can generate an entire false reality for us. Yeah.

And I was having a conversation with Bobby Grunwald recently. He is uh the man who created the Bible app.

Oh, and he said something that Bobby, forgive me if I misquote you in any way. Um but I thought it was so profound and so encouraging. He said in a world where more and more content is going to be less and less trustworthy, people are going to begin to seek out the ancient truths.

That the rise of AI is actually going to catapult people to seek out the truth of scripture.

And people will find that it is trustworthy. People will find that it is consistent. People will find that it is living and active and still speaking to them today. And that is so encouraging to me that this ancient truth that we've built our lives on,

that God who wrote those truths and delivered them to us, he can be trusted when most of the rest of everything else around us can't.

Yeah. Yeah. That's such a good point. Agreed. So when doubt whispers like, "Can I really trust the Bible? Is this is this really is this really true?" We can remember God's faithfulness didn't stop at the last page of Revelation. He is continuing to be faithful today so that we might know him when everything in our world is crazy.

Yes. Yes. And amen. Y All right, let's move on to our next question. So, this question comes from day one. Genesis 3:14-15. And here's the question. What does it mean that the serpent's head would be crushed? So, let me read those verses for us. Genesis 3:14-15 The Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field. On your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." Mhm.

I love this question because I think it's understanding this question is going to help us when we get to those more boring genealogies and passages of the Bible that are a little tricky. They help us make sense of why many of them are there. So

here here's what's happening. Adam and Eve have just sinned. We've got a problem.

And God is speaking at this moment directly to the serpent. And he's telling the serpent, "Hey, there's going to be conflict." But then we get to this key promise in 3:15 that one day the serpent would strike the heel of the woman's offspring. And then some translations instead of bruise they say that the the offspring of of the woman would absolutely crush the serpent's head. Mhm.

So from the very beginning of the Bible, which maybe for some is probably like three pages from your table of contents, uh we we read that this victorious child will crush the enemy

and and now we know that that is pointing to Jesus to Jesus at the cross or on the cross. Satan struck his heel or bruised his heel to speak, which to us maybe seems a little bit like an understatement. Yeah.

But though Jesus was wounded and even killed, his death and resurrection was him crushing the enemy in in victory. And so this verse, many theologians call it the first gospel or protoeangelion. Some people say protoeangelion. I don't know which pronunciation to run with. Uh but but before you get Abraham, before you get Moses, before David,

God was already promising a savior who would come and the whole story of the Old Testament is moving us toward the day when this victorious child would arrive.

Yeah. And the proto evangelon or Evangelion, whatever your whatever your preference, yeah, however you want to do it. Um a lot of people believe this is the first prophecy of the Christ in scripture. um the first gospel and we talk about on TBR how uh I actually think that maybe the first prophecy is Genesis 1:3 where the first words God speaks let there be light

that that is is God speaking that over this darkness that's about to happen over this fall where everything's about to go terribly wrong like hang on light is coming

that it's not just a creation command that it is a promise of the light of the world that is coming in to save the world and I kind of love that idea of the first words of God that are recorded in scripture being a prophecy of the coming Messiah. Um, but either way, one thing that I think is cool about this passage, uh, in Genesis 3 is if you fast forward to Romans, I believe it's Romans 16:20. Um, double check me on that. Paul says, "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet."

And so, there is a crushing on the cross that ultimately Satan is defeated. But then there's this ongoing process that God's people get invited into that we get engaged in this process of crushing Satan under God crushes him under our feet.

Like we get invited into this. I just think that is to be able to participate uh in what Jesus has already accomplished.

Yeah. And to participate in God's ultimate victory of good over evil. Yeah. Which I that's really cool. That's really cool. Yeah. And I think I mean as we look at this in short that's what we're talking about. Emmy, you did such a good job explaining that. But what it is is it's Satan's ultimate defeat.

Even though we're only a few chapters into the Bible at this point and we see sin come in. We see darkness, deception, pride. Like this is not going to go well.

But God plants this in there already that again we get to see it as Jesus on the cross. We know what we know what happens there, but what Adam and Eve knew, they just were looking for then this offspring. Like, who's going to make right what we've made wrong? Um,

so I think that's just an interesting thing that we get to see the ultimate defeat. Like we we read about that, we know what that is. They're just seeing it as this little glimmer of hope after what has just happened in the garden. And so this is an amazing promise from God. God had a plan and it was plan A.

Jesus would come and he would deal with sin and evil. Sin was never going to win and Satan was always going to be defeated. And now it's going to take a little bit of time because again, we're only in Genesis 3. That's right. We got a lot of books to go through.

If you're with us for the first time, we it's going to take a year. So stick with us. If you've already done this, you know you know how it goes. But it's going to take a while. And there's going to be times where maybe even in our own lives, but I'm thinking about in the biblical story where people are like, "Where are you God? Where is this offspring? Where is where is this this good person who is supposed to come and deal with what what happened?" And so, yeah, it can just be encouraging to think about.

Yeah, it's such a good practical reminder for us because as we continue reading through the story of scripture, we're going to hit genealogies. We're going to have to read a bunch of laws, long stretches of history that might make us wonder, hey, is this relevant for me? Or

what does what does this have to do with me? But Genesis 3:15 reminds us that we're reading a story. And this whole story with laws and genealogies and history is heading somewhere. Y

it it's it's God moving history toward Jesus. So every law, every prophecy, every king, a and deliverer is part of that storyline. So when we feel like we're weighted down

or weighed down, I should say, reading the Old Testament, remember, it's not just random texts. It it's tracing the thread of a promise that God made in the garden and kept in Christ. And so it's helpful often to to approach the scriptures through that lens, especially when we feel maybe bored or like it's irrelevant. Hey God, what are you trying to show me about your nature as a promisekeeper?

It's a helpful question that I like that a lot. Yeah, that's awesome. But I think we got to keep going. I could keep talking on that question for a while. Uh but we've got another question that comes from day two.

And the question is, how can God experience regret? Did God really regret making humans? And the verse this question comes from is Genesis 6:6,

which says, "And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart." Mhm. So what what I think is important as we consider this question is that we're really starting from a somber understanding and recognition of the evil that God is seeing and responding to in saying this. So the heading title in in my ESV Bible, probably yours as well if you're reading the ESV is increasing corruption on the earth. So that is the title again that titles in the Bible are not

divinely they're not divinely inspired but they are helping summarize what we are seeing and I think this is a pretty good summary increasing corruption on the earth and the verse right before this one in Genesis 6:5 says the Lord saw that wic the wickedness of man was great in the earth and every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. So every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. That's the situation that we're stepping into.

And so the author using this language of regret which can also be translated as God suffering grief.

So grieving as he surveyed the state of the good world that he created and the evil that has come into it. and not just kind of corruption on the outside, but corruption within the human heart that is continually propelling forward towards more and more and more evil.

And one thing that's important is that this grief isn't because God didn't know that this would happen.

Right. That's wildly important. Yes. Exactly. This this section of the story, I think, is for us to recognize the reality of evil and sin. And the way that evil and sin destroys what God loves, destroys his creation, it destroys us.

And this is a place to see ourselves as recipients of God's grace. And so, just like Noah and his family were saved from the flood, which was God's judgment, we are also saved from sin and the penalty of God's judgment. So, thank you, Jesus, for that.

That's right. Yeah. And and at first, it's when we read this, especially when you just pluck that verse and read it in isolation,

it sounds like God made a mistake. Mhm. But that cannot be the case. Is scripture is so clear that God is perfect in wisdom and doesn't change his mind the way people do. Numbers 23:19, 1st Samuel 15:29. So, I loved that you pointed out, Kirsten, the meaning of that word regret. Uh, in Hebrew it's what? You might be able to help me with the Hebrew pronunciation.

I'm a little rusty. Nam. I sounded so good. I'm gonna go with nam. That even better knows. Uh, it can mean

still could be wrong. I just know the ch often goes I don't even know if I can make that sound. Uh, it can mean to be sorrowful or even move to pity. So, this is not saying that God all of a sudden,

right, realized, oh my goodness, I've done something wrong. It it's not that at all. That's not what's happening. Instead,

it's showing us it it's showing us the depth of his sorrow over sin. Yeah. And so, some scholars explain this uh by using a very big word that I looked up the pronunciation of anthropapathism.

Any wasn't it? Anthropotism. That that was for sure it uh and it's this idea that human emotions are being used to help us explain God's heart because God's heart and emotions are so much greater than ours. So this is the the best attempt to describe in human language what God was feeling. And it's communicating his holy grief over how far humanity had fallen. I I think it's beautiful that we get to see God's emotions because it's easy to view him as a God who uh I think a lot of people when they look at the Old Testament mostly see or perceive from a distance anger,

right? Oh, definitely. And that would be something that they might describe as the primary emotion that they perceive with God in the Old Testament if they haven't paid attention. There's a whole lot more going on in there. But to see his grief, just to see that God can have his heart broken um shows that he really does deeply deeply love. And then I also I think it's so important to just double stamp to double click what you guys have said about this not being cuz he didn't know it was going to happen or that he regretted it like in that sense of regret because there is no such thing as a sovereign perfect outside of time God

having regret in the way we experience like grief. Absolutely. But regret impossible.

Like that would imply that God could be wrong about something. Yeah. You know, like, oh no, I did the wrong thing,

right? And so that's why I think the Hebrew word, however it's pronounced, is so helpful here to the English reader who reads the word regret and is like, what does that mean?

Right? We need to understand it from that perspective of their of their language rather than just what do I think of regret as in the 21st century. Because we think of regret as second guessing yourself like, "Oh, I really wish I hadn't done X, Y, or Z." That's not what's happening here. We're seeing God's personal pain

as he looks at human rebellion. It It's God's pain and human rebellion. Yeah. And his grief is revealing his love. He's not indifferent. He's not detached. Our sin matters to him because he cares so much about us. So I think Genesis 66 reminds us that that sin isn't just breaking the rules. It it's breaking God's heart because he cares for us. So

it it's also here then setting the stage for his mercy because even in the flood, he preserved Noah's family, keeping his promise to bring redemption through the line of the woman, through that victorious child that would one day come.

And it's the whole picture is that redemption has always been the plan. Like that's like we just talked about in the last question and Revelation 13:8 talks about how the cross has always been the plan from before the foundation of the world. That has always been the plan outside of time.

And so that shows us it didn't take God by surprise that it wasn't a one-off. And again, I just love when you were talking about this isn't just breaking the rules. Um, I just I imagined in my a human sort the way I try to like adapt things to modern understanding. I'm imagining like me getting pulled over by a police officer for speeding and him just being like I'm just he's weeping, you know, like right like it's not just breaking the rules. It's it's those rules are there to protect the people that he loves and the things that he loves. things that break God's heart. The rules that God makes are things that protect what he loves.

And so, um, yeah, I think just it shows us how much he loves us. He loves us. Yeah.

Again, we could keep talking about this, but we got to go to the next question. And so, I'm going to keep us moving. This question comes from day four, and it's a a general question from Job that looks like one of the recaptains in the recaptain's Facebook group left. And so, I I think it's a really great question. There's two parts. So the first part, if God is holy and can't be in the presence of sin, how was he able to talk to Satan in the book of Job? And then the second part, how was he able to be in the presence of Adam and Eve and talk with them before he made a sacrifice and clothed them?

Yeah, this is a great question because I I do think a lot of people have this understanding and so it's really good to get some clarity around what we're actually talking about.

And I would even say have this misunderstanding. Yes. Exactly. Yes. But what what is the misunderstanding? Yes. So

first point, yes, God is holy. That is very important to understand. And that's what we're seeing the whole way through as we get started with our Bible reading. God is holy. He's different from creation. He's other. He is perfect.

And so we have to understand that clear distinction. But what is not true is that God can't be in the presence of sin. So that is not true. God is holy and he can be in the presence of sin because how else would he have been able again to do these things like that this person is asking but also visit Moses in the burning bush uh dwelt in the tabernacle with the people of Israel and it would have also been if we fast forward to Jesus a really big problem for Jesus right

yes he lived among the sinners yes exactly so Jesus was fully God and fully man and was surrounded by sin constantly while he was on the earth.

And the whole storyline of what we see in scripture is God pursuing sinners like him just coming to dwell with us, him coming to build relationship with us. He is not running from s. He couldn't even be anywhere on earth. He couldn't even be in heaven. Like heaven was tainted by sin when the angels fell.

And so that is a real problem God would have on his hands if he couldn't be in the presence of sin. Um, and it would be a bigger problem for us because we can't clean ourselves up.

So, if we're to our own devices, we got a real problem. Yep. We need him to clean up our mess.

Yes. Absolutely. And so, I think where sometimes the confusion can come in is that God is trying to be very clear that he is different from his people. He is holy. They are not. And he needs them to understand. It's like he's saying to them, "I'm not like you. I created you. And you, my people, you need to see me as different, as holy, as other than you." And so, that's where we really need to see that distinction. But that distinction doesn't mean that God can't be in the presence of sin. So, we see this with the way that Adam and Eve were meant to depend on God. He's the creator and he's and they are the creature. So, that's where God is establishing that distinction.

Then when sin entered the picture, we see God making it very clear he is holy. The sin is the problem. God is holy. But that doesn't mean that there God can't come in and deal with that obviously which we've just been saying and we and we see. Um, and one thing just kind of I know I'm fast forwarding to the New Testament here with Jesus, but

I think it's I think it can be a really helpful kind of example is that the way that Jesus makes people clean in the Gospels and the way that he heals people, he directly touches them, he comes into contact with them. Um, so I'm thinking of the the bleeding woman in Mark 5. So by touching Jesus, this woman should have technically made Jesus unclean but because she was unclean but Jesus in his holiness, in his purity, in his cleanness, he just makes her totally clean. So that has no effect on him,

which I think is really cool. Sick need the doctor. You know, imagine going to a doctor and him not

he can't go into the room, the exam room. Yeah, it it's it's really interesting because that's it's a common thing for people to say

God can't be in the presence of sin, especially when we're presenting the gospel. People often say that

which is confusing. So I I started thinking, okay, where does this idea come from?

And in Habachok 1, we read that God is too pure to look on evil. And and I think that's probably part of where we we get that saying from. And it it's it's interesting because it's not saying that he's incapable of perceiving evil or knowing that knowing what's going on in the world like how much evil is going on in our world right now at this second.

Uh it it means that he cannot approve of or partner with or overlook it. Right.

It it is it is grieving his heart, but he can't look away because he cares about us.

Yeah. If you can't overlook something, you're looking at it. Yes, you are seeing it. You know, and we we talk about this uh later in TBR when we read Habach. But God definitely looks on their sin. Like he sees it all. He addresses it repeatedly. He tells them to repent. He tells them how he's going to punish it. Like, so this is obviously just a figure of speech here. Like Emma said, like it's it's not saying he doesn't see sin, can't look at sin, can't be in the presence of sin. It's that he can't approve of it. He can't partner with it. He can't overlook it.

Well, and I think too maybe where some of the confusion comes in as well is because sin separates us from God.

Sure. Another thing kind of going back to the the context of Job, Satan appears in God's heavenly court not as an equal but under authority.

God allowed that conversation. God authorized it. He permitted it, but he was never compromised by it. And the same is true in Genesis 3. God comes near to Adam and Eve in judgment and in grace. Yeah. Which

he's looking for them. Yes. And that doesn't mean that his holiness vanishes, right? Like in instead as he draws near, their sin is exposed. And then in his presence, he continues to draw near and he provides covering. So there's consequences for their sin, right? They can't stay in the garden among many other things.

But he doesn't leave them in their sin. He helps them in their sin. Yeah. So God's holiness doesn't mean specifically distance. It it can also mean decisive action because sin can't change his nature, but his nature always always always demands a response to sin, whether that's judgment or mercy or both.

So sometimes I think we believe the lie that the enemy tells us that that our sin is going to keep God so far away that he won't come near until we clean ourselves up or do enough good things. But Genesis and Job remind us that God comes near even in our brokenness. He confronts the sin. Yes. But he also provides the path to restoration.

Yeah. Amen. I remember the first time I heard a pastor say this so succinctly. It was transformative for me. He said, "A rightanding of our sin and God's love creates a relationship with him that draws us to him when we sin, not pushes us from him when we sin." Yeah,

that we understand that he is the place where we find healing. He is the place where we find grace and mercy. And so it I think it changed the way that I respond in my sin instead of going like, "Oh, God's like angry at me and he's going to punish me." Just remembering that in God's great love and mercy and provision, Jesus already paid for that sin. I'm free to repent and walk in freedom and joy and not be burdened down by it and to not like Romans 8, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And so in that space recognizing that Jesus already took the penalty of my sin.

It is paid for. I am clothed in the righteousness of Christ. It is so far beyond my understanding, but it's something I when I accept it and lean into it, it draws me to God with just such praise and gratitude and joy. And so I think if you if you listener, viewer are sitting in a space where you have walked in sin and you are carrying shame and you feel like God is angry with you, but you are in Christ. Jesus took all the father's wrath for you. There is no wrath left for you. Jesus took the full payment for your sin on the cross. You are free to repent and walk in freedom and walk in joy. Go and sin no more.

Yeah. Amen. Amen. Amen. Ladies, we ready for the last question? Yes. Great. This one comes from day seven. Job 14:12. And the question reads, "Did Job know about the resurrection?" In Job 14:12, it sounds like he might. The verse says, "If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my service, I would wait till my renewal should come." So, what's important to point out with this is that Job likely didn't understand resurrection the way that we do. Okay? So, throughout scripture, God teaches his people more and more about resurrection. Um, and even even for us, we know a lot about it, but we don't know all of the ins and outs of this reality. Um, and I'm sure that probably as you're reading, uh, you're going to have more questions about resurrection.

So, we know a lot, but we still have questions. And that's kind of that's kind of where we are sitting. But with Job, he probably maybe understood that there was some sort of life after death. Um, it seems like he's pondering that possibility, considering that possibility. Um, and I think that in thinking about that, so if resurrection was possible, was a reality, then this is making some of the difficulties that he's experiencing more bearable. So this it's definitely seems like it's pointing him to a more hopeful response.

Um, which I think is is also true for us the way that we think about eternity. Again, we might have questions about resurrection. And we might not know all the ins and outs, but eternity with God that that is so hopeful. Resurrection is so hopeful and it does help color the way that we are experiencing all the tough thing tough things that happen with us down here on earth. Um so I I do I do think that it's possible that he's thinking about some sort of an afterlife,

but we don't know what he would with these thoughts. Yeah. So, what's interesting is as as I was researching this verse, I came across several scholars who

noted the verse and then said something like, "At first glance, it seems as though Job is denying the resurrection."

And I thought, "Huh, that's an interesting perspective. I it's not really how I my I thought to approach this question."

But regardless, what's happening here is that Job is describing death from a very limited human perspective. Y I think maybe even the fact that the first part of the verse is a question if a man dies shall he live again could be read as a rhetorical like of course not which we know as modern readers well of course they could Jesus did it Lazarus did it uh but but I I think Kirsten you're exactly right to say Job didn't have the full picture that we have this side of Christ and Old Testament believers had hints of of resurrection hope we see that in Daniel 12, Isaiah 26. But this idea of the resurrection wasn't fully revealed until Jesus's resurrection. I mean, you see that even his disciples,

he died on the cross. They went back to their jobs thinking, "He's dead. He's a goner."

And then when he rose from the grave, everything changed. So, Job seems to be wrestling between this despair, obviously, his current situations, and hope. And maybe there's maybe when I die, there's something to look forward to. Uh later in Job 19:25-27, he powerfully declares, "I know that my redeemer lives and at the last he will stand upon the earth." So

he probably didn't understand resurrection with as much clarity as we do. But he did seem to cling to God as the one who who could possibly vindicate him beyond the grave.

The Old Testament understanding was so limited. And again, we are very early in the reading plan. And many people believe that Job is one of the oldest books written. And so if God progressively reveals things throughout scripture, then we are getting in at a space where there's

probably less information revealed probably. So, right? And so, um, that progressive revelation, we're going to continue to see more and more. And even, you know, I think of David referencing being united with his dead son.

And so, just we'll continue to see more and more of this. And that was not something that was that shows up a lot in the Old Testament. It does show up, but it doesn't show up a lot. There's not a lot of information and the information that's there isn't very clear.

So, hang in there. We're going to we're going to take a long journey of coming to understand more about the resurrection. Um, but I love that this question is planted from the very beginning. We want to know what happens in the afterlife. That Job was even thinking about the afterlife.

Yes. And Job reminds us that faith doesn't mean we have every single doctrine figured out or biblical question perfectly answered. Faith means

yes, faith in Christ for salvation, but it it also means in our day-to-day trusting God with our unanswered questions.

Job didn't know everything about the resurrection, but he held on to God even through his terrible circumstances. Yeah.

And so I think that's the invitation for us to trust that our redeemer knows. He sees us. He cares about us. He has a plan when the details feel incredibly unclear.

Yeah. And we're going to have a lot of questions throughout the year that we don't necessarily get complete answers to. We can talk about this. We can give our responses to these questions. We can give you scripture and scholars quotes and things like our own opinions. And ultimately, uh, I think we're going to continue to learn new things. We're going to learn new stuff all the time. There are notes that I took in the margins of my Bible on my first, second, third, fourth, fifth trips through that I have now marked through because I've learned that the things that I jotted down that I was so delighted about learning were not right. And so, we are we're continuing to learn. And I love that that God

continues to teach us more about himself. Um, scripture says his ways are unsearchable. And that doesn't mean that you can't discover more about him. It just means we'll never plum the depths of him. And so, at the beginning of this year, as we're moving through this, I know the book of Job is hard.

Don't give up. Stay with us in this. Listen to the daily episodes. Watch the daily episodes. Read the book. Uh, watch the weekly episodes. Stay engaged with this. You're going to have questions and this is going to help you think through them better. And some of your questions you might never get answered on this side of eternity. That's okay. The point every day, what we're doing every day is looking for God and his character. That's what we're looking for. What he loves, what he hates, what motivates him to do what he does. And so, I hope something that you heard in our conversations today helped you love God and others more. Thanks for taking a deep dive with us. We'll see you every week on TBR Deep Dive as we continue to read, understand, and love the Bible and the God who wrote it.

Questions about this episode

What is "Week 1 (Days 001-007): How did we get the Bible?" about?

The discussion explores how the Bible was assembled, emphasizing the distinct processes involved in compiling the Old Testament and the New Testament. Key points include the centuries-long evolution of the Old Testament, focusing on how books were recognized as scripture rather than being arbitrarily chosen, and the need to understand the unique historical contexts for each testament's…

What is mentioned in this The Bible Recap episode?

32 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including God, Bible, Old Testament, Old Testament, New Testament, Satan. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Week 1 (Days 001-007): How did we get the Bible?"?

The episode runs 46 min; the transcript is about 8,307 words in 146 timestamped sections.

More from The Bible Recap

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 24, 2026.