Introduction: In our series so far, we find that God sends messages to his prophets who share them in several ways. One way is that the prophets write them down. Have you considered what a blessing it is to be able to write things? When I first started teaching a Bible class, all my studying resulted in me asking questions that remained only (if at all) in the minds of the students. That made me decide that if I wrote the questions for others to read, my time spent studying would be more efficiently used. Once the Internet made publishing inexpensive, my questions were shared with tens of thousands of Bible students. Having a written Bible is key to sharing the specific revelations of God. Let’s explore the written word in more detail!
I. Jeremiah’s Scroll
A. Read Jeremiah 36:1-2. What is God’s assignment to Jeremiah? (To write down what God has spoken to him.)
1. What time period is covered by this instruction? (God tells Jeremiah to write down every word that God has spoken to him which were against Israel and Judah (and other nations). These would be words of warning.)
B. Read Jeremiah 36:3. What is God’s goal in this writing? (He wants His people to turn from their evil ways so that He can forgive them.)
C. Read Jeremiah 36:4. What is this? God told Jeremiah to write down the words. Why do we find Baruch writing the words? (I looked at several commentaries and they indicate that Baruch was a scribe. This is a person who is educated and skilled at reading and writing.)
1. Why would Jeremiah need a skilled writer if all Baruch is doing is to (verse 4) write what Jeremiah dictated? (When I began my legal career, my boss told me that he wanted me to dictate my letters. I dictated my letters and even my legal briefs. This taught me that dictation is a skill and people do not speak the same way they write. That makes me think that what ended up being written on the scroll was a joint effort between Jeremiah and Baruch.)
D. Read Jeremiah 36:5-6. What do we now learn was one reason why Jeremiah’s words were reduced to writing? (Jeremiah was banned from the temple.)
1. What lesson do we learn about the advantage of writing? (It goes where the speaker cannot. This is one great advantage of writing.)
2. What other advantages of writing can you think of? (It preserves Jeremiah’s memory of what God said and greatly reduces the danger that the message will be altered as it is repeatedly communicated to others.)
E. Let’s skip ahead to read how Baruch understood his role. Read Jeremiah 36:17-18. How does Baruch understand his role? (He affirms that he wrote what Jeremiah dictated. He says that he wrote “the words” which suggests a lesser role for Baruch than my experience with dictation suggested.)
F. A summary of Jeremiah 36:8-20 is that Baruch does what Jeremiah says. The words cause the king’s officials to fear. So they decide to tell the king. Read Jeremiah 36:21-23. What does the king do with the words of the scroll? (He burned them.)
G. Read Jeremiah 36:27-28. What does this teach us about our writings that advance the knowledge of God? (We need to make copies. Destroying a copy of God’s word does not destroy God’s word.)
H. Read Jeremiah 36:29-31. What will happen to King Jehoiakim who burned the scroll? (He will die. His sons will not inherit his throne. Disaster will come.)
I. Read Jeremiah 36:32. What is the future of Jeremiah’s scroll? (He adds future statements from God. He is writing down God’s words in one place.)
J. Read Jeremiah 37:1. Who is now the king? (Babylon has taken control, Coniah the son of Jehoiakim is not the king. Jehoiakim is dead. The new king is selected by Babylon. God’s predicted disaster has come.)
II. Helpers
A. We just learned that Jeremiah had the scribe Baruch write the words from God. That raises a question about whether the experience of Baruch is an exception? Read Romans 16:22. Did Tertius write Romans? (Read Romans 1:1 and Romans 1:7. Paul says that he is the author of the letter to the Romans.)
1. How do you explain Tertius’s claim? Why is that claim in Paul’s letter? (The natural answer is that Tertius is like Baruch.)
B. Read 1 Corinthians 16:21, Colossians 4:18, and then 2 Thessalonians 3:17. What does this tell us? (Paul did not physically write these letters. But he did “sign off” on them. Paul says that this is his customary way to write and to authenticate his letters. Again, we see that a scribe wrote the letter that now appears in the Bible.)
C. Read 1 Peter 5:12. Who is Silvanus? (When Peter writes that “by” Silvanus he has “written briefly” to those listed in 1 Peter 1:1, we learn that Silvanus fulfilled a role like Baruch and Tertius.)
D. Read 1 Thessalonians 1:1. Is this a letter from all three? (That is what it says.)
1. Notice that one of the three is Silvanus. Is he a scribe who has now been elevated to letter writer status?
E. Read 1 Thessalonians 1:2-5. Who is the “we”, “us”, and “our”? (This must include Silvanus. This letter is a joint project. While Paul is the primary person, this tells us that a helper can independently share words from God.)
F. Read Acts 17:14-15. Who is working with Paul? (Silas and Timothy.)
G. Re-read 1 Thessalonians 1:1. Is it possible that Silas is also called Silvanus? (It is possible that Silvanus is the more formal Latin form and Silas is the shorter familiar form.)
1. What does this teach us? (That the literary helper might in fact independently be God’s messenger.)
III. God’s Organizers
A. Read Luke 1:1-3. How does Luke say that he wrote this book? (Luke writes that he is an organizer. He created “an orderly account.”)
1. What, exactly, is Luke organizing? His thoughts? His memory? (Luke tells us that “eyewitnesses” and ministers have given accounts of Jesus. I understand this to mean that Luke is incorporating in an organized way the written and verbal accounts of others. The John MacArthur commentary reports that about sixty percent of the material in Mark is repeated in Luke.)
B. Read Luke 1:4. Why is Luke organizing and writing down what others have witnessed? (He says that will give us “certainty” about the gospel.)
1. Would that make you more or less certain? Luke does not say that the Holy Spirit told him to do this. He simply says “it seemed good to me” (verse 3) to do this. (In a courtroom several witnesses who agree on what happened give the fact-finder more certainty about the event.)
C. Think about what Luke is saying in Luke 1:1-4. Why does he write that in the introduction? (He wants us to know how he put his letter together.)
1. What would you say if Luke never mentioned that his letter was dependent on the writings and verbal accounts of others?
a. Would you consider that to be a practical failure (you would have less confidence in what he wrote), or would you consider that a moral failure (concealing his dependence on others)?
D. Read 1 Chronicles 29:29-30. Nathan and Gad do not have a book in the Old Testament. Is the writer of Chronicles telling us that he used the writings of other prophets?
E. Read 2 Chronicles 9:29. Again we see a reference to other written histories of Solomon. Is the writer of Chronicles relying on them? (He seems to refer to them as additional material that could be read or that would support his writings.)
1. How should we understand the use of outside sources? Would it be correct to conclude that inspiration attaches to the biblical author’s final use of material, not necessarily to the original source from which that material was drawn?
F. Read 2 Corinthians 4:5-7. Should our focus be on the messenger or on God? (The prophets are earthen vessels. God is our proper focus.)
G. Friend, the great news is that God’s messages have been written so that we can read and follow them. The bad news is that rejecting God’s revealed will always has consequences. Why not, right now, determine to read and follow the inspired writings of the prophets?
IV. Next week: Now Hear This!
Copr. 2026, Bruce N. Cameron, J.D. Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Suggested answers are found within parentheses. If you normally receive this lesson by e-mail, but it is lost one week, you can find it by clicking on this link: http://www.GoBible.org. Pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit as you study.
