- The second of 54 columns of text in the complete scroll of the Old Testament prophet Isaiah found in caves overlooking the Dead Sea. Hidden away more than two thousand years ago, the parchment scroll is amazingly well preserved and its text clearly readable (see http//:dss.collections.imj.org.il).
The Bible an introduction
The Bible is still the world's best seller in English, but sadly it seems to be read less and less, so ...
Find your Bible and look at it as if you had never seen it before. Somewhere on the cover you will find the title "HOLY BIBLE". Both words are so familiar we hardly think about their meaning. 'Bible' is related to the Greek word 'biblios’.
It is found in the English word 'bibliography' which simply means a list of books – usually books related to a particular subject. 'Bible' just means "books, collection of books or library".
The word 'Holy' means "consecrated, sacred; morally and spiritually perfect; belonging to, commissioned by or devoted to God" (Concise Oxford Dictionary). This is also used (because of its derivation) to mean 'special' or 'set apart for a special purpose'. The title of the book we are looking at really means that it is a special library or collection of books – commissioned by God, set apart for a particular purpose. One of the aims of this magazine is to demonstrate why the Bible is special and what makes it special.
A library of books
Open your Bible and look at the index at the front. You will see a list of the titles of all the separate books which make up
The whole library.
They are divided into two groups: 39 in the first group called the Old Testament and 27 in the second group called the New Testament. The books of the Old Testament were all written before the time of Christ and the New Testament after the time of Christ in the first century AD. Practically all of the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew whereas most of the New Testament was written in Greek. The whole of the Bible had to be translated so that we can read it in a language we understand, whether that be English, Russian, Chinese or any other language.
As you turn the pages of the Bible you will find the books are of different lengths and many of them have strange names – Genesis, Deuteronomy, Habakkuk and Malachi for example in the Old Testament – Colossians, Thessalonians and Philemon in the New Testament.
Genesis means "the beginning" and the opening words of the book are "In the beginning ...". Exodus is linked to our word 'exit' and means 'the way out'. The book tells us about the way in which the
Israelites were brought out of Egypt and what happened to them afterwards. Other titles of books are named after prophets, teachers, leaders or others who wrote them. Malachi and Habakkuk are the names of prophets as are Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. You can usually tell why the book is so called by looking at its opening verses.
In the New Testament the titles of the first four books are the names
of the writers of the accounts of the life, work and teaching of Jesus – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Some of the books are letters named after their writers e.g. Peter,
James and Jude. Others are named after the groups of Christians
to whom they were written.
For example, Colossians is a letter written to Christians at Colosse by
the Apostle Paul. Philippians is the name of the letter by the same writer to Christians at Philippi.
The Book of Revelation is different. It is an account of the visions that were given to the Apostle John at the end of his life when he was in exile on the Island of Patmos. It begins:
"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants – things which must shortly take place. And he sent and signified it by his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, and to all things that he saw."
Already something special
If we study the various books of the Bible carefully, we find that about 40 different people were involved as writers. They wrote while living in different countries – Mesopotamia (now Iraq), Greece, Egypt, Italy and
of course, Israel. The books were also written over a long period of time – about 1,500 years.
The Bible then, in a very real sense, is not just one book, but a library of
books. The fact that we have all these separate writings bound
together in one volume makes it different and rather special.
For ease of reference the books of the Bible can be grouped as follows:
Old Testament (OT)
The Law:
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These first five books are sometimes called 'The Pentateuch', which means the 'five' books. They are also known as 'The Books of Moses' and in the Jewish Scriptures they are called 'The Torah'.
Historical Books:
Joshua, Judges, Ruth, the First and Second Books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles, together with Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther. These books describe the history of Israel from the death of Moses to the establishment of a kingdom under Saul, David and Solomon; then its division into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Both kingdoms were eventually conquered and the people taken into exile to Assyria and Babylon. People from the southern kingdom were allowed to return as described in the books called by the names of two of the returning exiles, Ezra and Nehemiah.
Poetic Books:'
Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon. There are 150 Psalms which are divided into five sections or 'mini books'.
The Prophets:
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah,
Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk,
Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. The opening verses of these books will usually say when
Malachi. The opening verses of these books will usually say when the prophets gave their message.
- Fragment of John's gospel written in Greek on papyrus, the oldest known New Testament manuscript (about 150 AD).
Timelines of the Bible from Abraham to Jesus in two pages:
From BC 2100 to BC 1000
From BC 1000 to 300 AD
New Testament (NT)
The Gospels:
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The Gospel writers tell us about the birth of Jesus, his
ministry and teaching, his crucifixion and resurrection.
History:
The Acts of the Apostles describes the spread of Christianity in the first century AD including
the journeys of the Apostle Paul.
Letters to groups of people:
Romans, First and Second Letters to the Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians,
First and Second Letters to the Thessalonians. These were written by Paul to the newly formed first century churches.
Letters to individuals:
To Timothy (two letters), Titus and Philemon.
Hebrews:
Written particularly to the Jewish converts to Christianity.
Other letters:
James, First and Second Letters of Peter, First, Second and Third Letters of John
and the letter of Jude. The writers' names form the titles of these books.
Revelation:
A last message from Jesus Christ to the churches in the
Roman province of Asia (now part of Turkey); prophetic visions seen
by the Apostle John during his exile on the Island of Patmos.
The massive power and authority of the Roman Empire forms the backdrop to the entire New Testament record.
- Rome and the Roman Empire
- Photograph from GFDL via Wikimedia
What claims the Bible makes?
As we look at the books of the Old and New Testaments, we find many verses where the writers claim to be writing the words of God. Here are some examples from the book of Jeremiah:
"The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah ..."
"Hear the word which the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the LORD: “Do not learn the way of the Gentiles ... "
The books of the prophets provide many examples of the same claim. These claims are confirmed in the New Testament.
When Jesus was preaching, he often backed up his argument by appealing to the authority of the Jewish Scriptures (the Old Testament). "Have you never read..." he said on many occasions.
And again:
"Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? For God commanded, saying, "Honour your father and your mother" "
Jesus is quoting here from the book of Exodus (one of the books of Moses) which, he says, is the Word of God. He quotes from the Psalms and the Prophets in the same way.
When talking to his disciples after the resurrection, Jesus explained to them that what had happened to him – his arrest, his suffering, crucifixion, death and resurrection – were all part of the Divine plan.
"And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself"
The Old Testament books claim to be the Word of God and Jesus referred to them and quoted from them as God's Word.
The Testimony of the Apostle Paul
Paul reminded the young man Timothy that from childhood he had been brought up to know the Jewish Scriptures. They would tell him about:
- Doctrine the word means 'teaching', so this meant that the Scriptures would tell him what he should believe.
- Reproof they would tell him they would tell him when he was choosing the wrong path.
- Correction he could learn how to put himself right again;
- Instruction in Righteousness the Scriptures would tell him how to live his life in a way that would please God.
Paul said to Timothy that the reason the Scriptures are able to do this is because they are inspired by God:
"... from childhood you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work."
What does inspiration mean?
The word 'inspiration' means that God breathed His message into the writers and they wrote His words, as Peter tells us:
"... no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."
The phrase 'carried along' is very strong in the original Greek from which the New Testament is translated. The Greek means 'carried irresistibly along'. The writers were literally compelled to write what they did. The prophet Jeremiah is a good example of this. Because of his unpopular message, he was arrested, put in the stocks and on one occasion imprisoned in a water cistern. As a result, he made up his mind that if this was how he was going to be treated, if this was what would happen as a result of his preaching, then he would stop and not speak any more in God's name.
Instead, he wrote:
"... if I say, “I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot."
- Photograph from Robert Adrian Hillman/Dreamstime.com
Jeremiah was unable to stop himself speaking the divinely inspired message. That is what Peter meant when he wrote:
"Holy men of God spoke as they were moved" (NKJV),
'carried along' (NIV), 'impelled' (NEB) 'by the Holy Spirit'.
The verses and the claims we have looked at apply to the Old Testament and we have concentrated on this part of the Bible because many Christians accept the New Testament as originating from God but will question the inspiration of the Old Testament. The Bible itself does not distinguish between the Old and New Testaments in this way.
Peter says that although Paul wrote many things that are hard to understand, his writings have the same authority as the Old Testament. In Peter's second letter, he referred to Paul's teaching about salvation and the suffering and patience of Christ. He commented that Paul wrote with God-given wisdom:
"He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures ..."
Peter speaks of Paul's writing as having the same authority as 'the other Scriptures'. In other words, they are also part of God's Word. Paul himself wrote to the Christians at Thessalonica:
"... we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe."
- 1 Thessalonians 2. 13 NIV
Based on the "Light on The Bible" special issue in 4 parts:
- Introduction, the claim of the Bible
- How the Bible was written? The English translations
- Can we trust the Bible, the evidence of archaeology and prophesy
- Reading the Bible for yourself
Next article (part 2) is How the Bible was Written?
Author Many people were involved in writing and checking this article
Country UK
Source Light on a New World special edition: "Light on The Bible"
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