The Bible
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The Bible
This is a brief introduction to the Bible – what it
is, how it has been put together and what it can mean for people today. Many
questions deserve much more space to deal with adequately. I hoped that the
following may help those who are starting to think about the Bible to get to
grips with some of the initial issues and questions they may have.
So, what is the Bible?
The Bible is the account of God’s action in the world,
and his purpose with all creation. The writing of the Bible took place over
sixteen centuries and is the work of over forty human authors. It is quite an
amazing collection of 66 books with very different styles, all containing the
message God desired us to have. This compilation of booklets contains an
astonishing variety of literary styles. It provides many stories about the
lives of good and bad people, about battles and journeys, about the life of
Jesus, and about early church activity. It comes to us in narratives and
dialogues, in proverbs and parables, in songs and allegories, in history and
prophecy. The accounts in the Bible were not generally written down as they
occurred. Rather they were told over and over again and handed down through the
years, before eventually being written down. Yet the same themes may be found
throughout the book. Along with the diversity, there is also remarkable unity
throughout. The book sacred to Christians which they consider to be the
inspired word of God: The Bible includes the Old Testament, which contains the
sacred books of the Jews and the New Testament, which begins with the birth of
Jesus. Thirty-nine books of the Old Testament are accepted as part of the Bible
by Christians and Jews alike. Some Christians consider several books of the Old
Testament, such as Judith, I and II Maccabees, and Ecclesiasticus, to be part
of the Bible also, whereas other Christians, and Jews, call these the Old
Testament Apocrypha. Christians are united in their acceptance of the
twenty-seven books of the New Testament; Jews do not consider the writings of
the New Testament inspired. The Bible is also called “the Book”. The Bible is a
compilation of 66 books and letters written by more than 40 authors during a
period of approximately 1,500 years. Its original text was communicated in just
three languages: Hebrew, koine or common Greek, and Aramaic. The Old Testament
was written for the most part in Hebrew, with a small percentage in Aramaic.
The New Testament was written in Greek.
Originally, the Holy Scriptures were written on
scrolls of papyrus and later parchment, until the invention of the codex. A
codex is a handwritten manuscript formatted like a modern book, with pages
bound together at the spine within a hardcover. The English word
"Bible" comes from bíblia in Latin and bíblos in Greek. The term
means book, or books, and may have originated from the ancient Egyptian port of
Byblos (in modern-day Lebanon), where papyrus used for making books and scrolls
was exported to Greece. Other terms for the Bible are the Holy Scriptures, Holy
Writ, Scripture, or the Scriptures, which means "sacred writings."
Beyond its two main sections--the Old and New Testament--the Bible contains
several more divisions: the Pentateuch, the Historical Books, the Poetry and
Wisdom Books, the books of Prophecy, the Gospels, and the Epistles.
Bible Definitions
1. The Inspired Word of God: Christians and Jews have
been called "people of the Book" throughout history. Both Judaism and
Christianity are based on the Bible. A key doctrine of Christianity is the Inerrancy of
Scripture, meaning the Bible in its original, handwritten state is without
error.
2. The Bible itself claims to be the inspired Word of
God, or "God-breathed" (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21). It unfolds as
a divine love story between the Creator God and the object of his love, humankind. In the pages of the Bible, we
learn of God's interaction with humans. We discover his purposes and plans from
the beginning of time and throughout history.
3. A refuge in time of trouble: People in pain, in
suffering, in prison, and in mourning tell how turning to the Bible brought
strength in their desperate hour.
4. A treasury of insight as to who we are: We are not
meaningless robots, but we are magnificent creatures of a God who loves us and
gives us a purpose and a destiny.
5. A sourcebook for everyday living: We find standards
for our conduct, guidelines for knowing right from wrong, and principles to
help us in a confused society where so often “anything goes
6. The sacred book of Christianity: This word
designates the collection of the Scriptures of the Old Testament and New
Testament recognized and in use in the Christian churches.
7. A storehouse of wonderful stories for children and
grownups: Remember Noah and the ark? Joseph’s coat of many colors? Daniel in
the lion’s den? Jonah and the fish? The parables of Jesus? These stories
emphasize the triumphs and failures of ordinary people.
8. The book of Christian Scriptures, regarded as the
depository and authoritative record of God's revelations of Himself and of His
will to the fathers by the prophets, and through His Son to the church of a
later age (Hebrews 1:1 , Hebrews 1,:2 ).
9. The book of the covenant (2 Kings 23:2 ).
10. A guide for living life to the full. It gives us a
road map for the perilous journey of life.
11. A textbook of living word about God and His
creations. Heb. 4:12.
12. The constitution for the whole of humanity.
The Story of Salvation
The central message or theme of the Bible is God's
plan of salvation--his way of providing deliverance from sin and spiritual
death through repentance and faith. In the Old Testament, the concept of
salvation is rooted in Israel's deliverance from Egypt in the book of Exodus.
The New Testament reveals the source of salvation: Jesus Christ. By faith in
Jesus, the promised Messiah, believers are saved from God's judgment of sin and
its consequence, which is eternal death. In the Bible, God reveals himself to
us. We discover his nature and character, his love, his justice, his
forgiveness, and his truth. Many have called the Bible a guidebook for living
the Christian faith. Psalm 119:105 says, "Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path." (NIV)
History of the Bible
On so many levels, the Bible is an extraordinary book,
from its diverse content and literary styles to its miraculous preservation
down through the ages. While the Bible is certainly not the oldest book in
history, it is the only ancient text with existing manuscripts that number in
the thousands. In ancient days, the authors of the Bible recorded its messages
with whatever resources were available at the time. The Scriptures themselves
reveal some of the materials used: engravings in clay, inscriptions on tablets
of stone, ink and papyrus, vellum, parchment, leather, and metals. For a long
period in the history of the Bible, common men and women were forbidden access
to the Scriptures and their life-transforming truths. The first fully copy of
the Bible was completed in the Greek language around A.D. 312. It was called
the Codex Vaticanus, as it was kept in the Vatican library. By 405 A.D., Jerome
had translated both Old and New Testaments into Latin, which the Catholic
church made the official language of the Bible in A.D. 600. It wasn't until the
16th century that the entire Bible was translated into English. Today the Bible
is the best selling book of all time, with billions of copies distributed
throughout the world in more than 2,400 languages.
Purpose
To reveal God to man and His one and only son. Christ
made Him known to us. (John. 1:14&18). To reveal the fact that all have sin
and deserved the full judgement. James. 2:10.
Makeup
The bible is makeup of 66 spiritual books. 39 for the
old testament and 27 for the new testament.
Author and writers
God is the author of the bible, (2peter. 1:20-21) and
over 40 different Holy spirit inspired men of God wrote the books at different
times. On a human level, many different authors wrote or contributed to the
books in the Bible. Many of the books do not explicitly name their author,
although in some cases it is clear. In many other cases, the author is unknown
or is known only from sources outside the Bible. Some of the books are edited
works, collecting together or ordering older material, such as the Psalms which
are attributed to a number of different authors, including King David.
Christians came to recognise the books that now form the New Testament as
authoritative
Duration of writing
The writing of the bible span the duration of 1,500
years, in between that was a 400 years of inter-testimental or silent period, that
is between Malachi and Mathews. Why? Because men had murdered all the prophets
of God, so, He left man to his own devices during this period.
Character
The bible is God breathed (2Tim. 3:16-17).
Usefulness
The bible is useful for DOCTRINE which means Teaching.
For REPROOF which means to make known. For CORRECTION and for INSTRUCTIONS in
righteousness. (2Tim. 3:16-17).
Relevance
No one is more relevant than God. He is the creator of
heaven and the earth, bible is His message to us, living and active. (Heb.
4:12, Ps. 19:7-11).
1. Bible
explains how we got here. (Adam and Eve)
2. Bible
teaches of what God has done to rescue us.
3. Bible
teaches how to please God and fulfilled His purpose for our lives which is to
give us hope.
4. Bible
teaches how we can heal our hearts when we suffer disappointment.
5. The
bible teaches how to experience fulfilment in relationships.
6. The
bible teaches how to receive strength when you are feeling weak.
7. The
bible teaches how a person can live forever through faith in Christ Jesus.
8. The
bible is a living book for all ages.
Application
Sermon on the mount make the case for the unchanging
authority of the bible. (Matt. 5-7).
Why do Christians Treat the Bible as Special?
The consistent witness of Christians over the year is
that reading the Bible can lead to an encounter with the living God and the
transformation of your life. In the Bible, God has revealed who he is and how
we can come to know him. The whole of the Bible is a single account of God’s
creation of the world and human beings, the way that we have spoiled that world
and our relationship with God, and how God has been working to restore that
relationship – it is the record of God working for our salvation.
Reading the Bible can lead to an encounter with God
In other words, the whole Bible is about God, but at
its very centre is Jesus Christ. The whole of the Old Testament looks forward
to and points towards him while the whole of the New Testament flows from him.
It is through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that we can meet
God in a new way and have our lives transformed by his forgiveness, love and
peace.
We need to see the big picture of God's plan, the
whole of the Biblical story, to see how all the pieces of life, as well as all
the parts of the Bible, finally fit together. Using the analogy of trying to
complete a jigsaw puzzle without the picture on the box, Mike Cain puts it like
this: The Christian claim is that God is the one person big enough to see
everything that is going on, and that in the Bible he has given us the picture
on the box that really does make sense of all the pieces of our lives.In the
end, the picture on the box that tells the story of the universe is a picture
of a person – Jesus Christ. He says, "I have come that they may have life,
and have it to the full." He is not promising an easy life where all your
troubles pack up and go and you pass all your exams and you never get ill. He
is claiming to be the one makes sense of life and the one who is the source of
life as it is meant to be, because he is the one who has come to restore us to
the reason we are on this planet: he has come to give us life in a relationship
with the God who made us, life that starts now and lasts forever.
How Can I Start to Read the Bible?
First of all, it is probably best to get a reasonably
up-to-date translation of the Bible, such as the New International Version or
English Standard Version. Some of the language in the King James Version,
although beautiful, can be difficult to understand. Once you have chosen your
Bible, it is probably best not to start at the beginning of the Old Testament
and get bogged down in the genealogies and name lists of Numbers and the laws
of Leviticus. If, as we have suggested, the centre of the Bible is Jesus
Christ, then the best place to start is with one of the Gospels to learn about
his life, death and resurrection – you can then move on to other parts. Read a
whole chapter at a time, more if you can, to see the developing account of
Jesus' life. Ask what it tells you about God, about Jesus and how this fits in
to God's wider plan of salvation. Is there anything that you need to do as a result
of reading this passage?
If you are new to reading the Bible, it would be
really helpful to read it with a Christian friend, or at least ask them if you
can discuss what you've read with them afterwards. If you feel comfortable,
pray beforehand that God will speak to you through what you are reading and
will help you to understand it. If you don't believe in God, then read it
anyway. The centre of the Bible is God's revelation in Jesus Christ, but the
key issue is why Jesus died on the Cross and whether he rose from the dead
afterwards. So if you really want to find out why Christians believe what they
do and how these events relate to the rest of the Bible and to our lives today,
then 'Dig deeper'.
Finally, there are parts of the Bible that can be difficult
to understand, although other parts are crystal clear. Mark Twain once said
(supposedly) "It ain't those parts of the Bible I can't understand that
bother me, it's the parts I do understand. "Questions are important and
it's helpful to dig deeper into the parts of the Bible you find difficult to
accept or difficult to understand. But don't let that stop you from hearing the
parts that speak clearly to you – and responding to them appropriately.
The Canon and the Apocrypha
The word canon means "a rule" or
"standard for measurement." The Canon of Scripture refers to the list
of books that officially measured up to the standard, and, therefore, were
worthy of inclusion. Only the canonical books are considered the "divinely
inspired" authoritative Word of God, and, thus, rightfully belong in the
Bible. Both Jews and early church fathers agreed on 39 divinely inspired books
as comprising the Old Testament Canon of Scripture. Augustine (400 A.D.),
however, included the books of the Apocrypha. A large portion of the Apocrypha
was officially recognized by the Roman Catholic Church as part of the biblical
Canon at the Council of Trent in A.D. 1546. Today, Coptic, Greek, and Russian
Orthodox churches also accept these books. The word Apocrypha means "hidden."
The books of the Apocrypha are not considered authoritative in Judaism and
Protestant Christian churches.
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