Bible or Not?

There’s a local family radio station that plays a great game with its listeners who call in every morning. The game is called “Bible—or Not?”

The host of the morning show reads a passage to the caller to determine if the passage is from the Bible or some other source. Playing along at home, it occurs to me how often we are unsure if familiar sayings are actually from the Holy Scripture. Test your Bible knowledge and play along with me right now:

Do you know which of the following is Bible or not?

A. “A fool and his money are soon parted.”
B. “The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but to he that endures to the end.”
C. “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

Think about it…

Ready for the answer?

The phrase in answer A. is not from the Bible. It was coined by Thomas Tusser (1524 – 1580), an English poet and farmer. If you did a search and find for “fool” and “money” in the New International Version of the bible, you would come across Proverbs 17:16 which reads, “Of what use is money in the hand of a fool, since he has no desire to get wisdom?” However, the Bible doesn’t quite speak of a parting of the ways between a fool and his dough.

Answer B. turns out to be a popular hybrid of two very different verses. In Ecclesiastes 9:11 (KJV), we find, “I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.” This seems to have been spliced together with Matthew 10:22, which reads, “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.” So the phrase in answer B. is not actually Biblically correct, either.

It may surprise you, but only answer C. is taken directly from the Bible. Acts 20:35 reads, “I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.” And upon reading Acts 20, you will notice that the context of the phrase has little to do with giving gifts or presents (as we normally use it during the Christmas season), but here Paul is speaking about giving of yourself to minister to and support the needs of others.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, it’s time for us to be strong in the Word! Challenge some of the other popular phrases you hear repeated. Look them up yourselves and determine if they’re Biblical, and if they’re being used in the right context.

You just may be surprised to find out what’s Bible—and what’s not!