Rich Nelson Bible Study, Commentary, Faith

1. What is the Bible anyway?

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What is the primary mental image you have of the Bible? Is it a big book or small? Is it open or closed? Is it on a shelf in a book case, or on a desk or table? Is it hardbound, or paperback, or maybe leather (or is it on your tablet reader or smartphone)?

What is the Bible anyway?

There are quite a few ways to answer this question: a book, a collection of books, God’s word, the story of the Jewish people, the story of Christ, God’s laws for people, the source of Christian faith, God’s message to humans, principles of righteous living, the story of our relationship to God the Father.

And each of these answers – as well as all the answers together – would be correct!

So let’s take half a step back and start with the book.

The word, “Bible,” comes from the name of a seaport on the coast of the eastern Mediterranean Sea: Byblos. In addition to trade the people in this town made a crude type of paper (called “papyrus”) by splitting and pounding out reeds (the Greek word is “byblos”) that grew around the town. After the start of the church, the collection of sacred writings was called “ta Biblia” or “the Books” in Greek. When Latin became the language of the church it was “biblia,” (still plural). By the time it came to English it was singular: “Bible.”

So, yes; it is a collection of books – some very short and others quite long – bound as a single book.

The words for the Word

The writers of the books in the Bible used a variety of terms for God’s word. In the Old Testament . . .

  • He read all the words of the law, blessings and curses, according to all that is written in the book of the law, [Joshua 8:34].
  • The king (Josiah) went up to the house of the Lord and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenantthat had been found in the house of the Lord, [2 Kings 23:2].
  • They told the scribe Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had given to Israel, [Nehemiah 8:2].
  • Their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on this law they meditate day and night, [Psalm 1:2].
  • I will praise you with an upright heart when I learn of your
    righteous ordinances    , [Psalm 119:7].
  • But I am to tell you what is inscribed in the book of truth, [Daniel 10:21].

And in the New Testament . . .

  • Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets, [Matthew 5:17].
  • He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing, [Luke 4:20-21].
  • He said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it?” [Luke 11:28].
  • You search the scriptures because you think that in them you will have eternal life . . if you believed Moses you would believe me, for he wrote about me, [John 5:39, 46].
  • These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you – that everything written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled, [Luke 24:44].
  • The gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, [Romans 1:2].

The organization of the Bible

Understanding how the Bible is organized is one of those building blocks to understanding the message of the Bible. So we will start with the two major parts: the Old Testament and the New Testament.

In modern English “testament” usually means “will” – a legal document that conveys property after a person dies. But the original Hebrew word also means “covenant” or “promise.” In fact one of those quotes above calls the Old (or “former”) Testament the “Book of the Covenant.” So the first part of our Bible is the “Former Covenant” between God and his people; the second part is the “New Covenant” or “promise” between God and his people.

Old Testament

As we saw above, Jewish people do not call their Bible the “Old Testament.” The two most common names are “The Law and the Prophets” or “Scriptures.” And the most common description is “books that can be read in the synagogue.”

The Old Testament (since we do need some way to refer to it separately) was written over a period of one thousand years – from approximately 1200 BCE to 200 BCE. Almost all of it was written in Hebrew, a very old language that does not use written vowels, punctuation or paragraphs. And to keep things very interesting, Hebrew is read from right to left (the reverse of what you are doing right now). The parts that are not Hebrew are written in Aramaic, which is a related dialect used after the Israelites returned from exile (and which had replaced Hebrew by Jesus’ time).

The 39 books of the Old Testament fall into four categories: Law, history, prophets and writings.

  • Law: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy (this group is also called Torah, which means “law,” or Pentatuch).
  • History: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles.
  • Major Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah (including Lamentations), Ezekiel, Daniel.
  • Minor Prophets: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.
  • Writings: Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth,
    Ecclesiastes, Esther, Ezra/Nehemiah.

Josephus was a Jewish historian writing at the end of the first century. He referred to 22 books “comprising the record of all time and justly accredited as divine.” His list included:

  • 5 books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy).
  • 13 books of prophets from Moses to Artaxerxes (Joshua, Judges/ Ruth; Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra/Nehemiah, Ester, Job, Isaiah, Jeremiah/Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Minor Prophets.
  • 4 books of “hymns to God and maxims of conduct” for people (Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs).

Several early Christian writers (Eusebius, Melito of Sardis, Origen) also used Josephus’ description for the Old Testament. A council of Jewish rabbis formalized the Old Testament canon (“official list”) at the 39 books we use in 90 CE.

New Testament

The early church did not call its sacred writings the “New Testament” until sometime in the second century. Tertullian was the first to equate the authority of the New Testament with the Old Testament in 220. And it was not until 325 that the church Council of Nicaea announced informal agreement on the 27 books that would be included. The Council of Carthage formalized the list in 397.

All New Testament books were originally written – between 50 and 100 CE – in the common dialect of Greek (which was the common language of the Roman Empire at the time).

The New Testament has three types of writings: Gospels and Acts (which are stories of Jesus’ life and ministry on Earth and the beginnings of the Christian church), letters, and apocalyptic.

  • Gospels/Acts: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts of the Apostles.
  • Letters: Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, 1-2 Thessalonians, 1-2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1-2 Peter, 1-2-3 John, Jude.
  • Apocalyptic: Revelation.

Matthew, Mark and Luke are often called the “synoptic” Gospels, since they provide a narrative or synopsis of Jesus’ life and ministry. John’s Gospel is a more personal story with much more detail about Jesus’ explaining his ministry and purpose on Earth.

Of the letters (also called “Epistles”), Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Thessalonians are from Paul to specific churches. Paul also wrote Timothy, Titus and Philemon to specific individuals. James, Peter, John and Jude are letters by those Apostles to the general church. Hebrews also is a general letter specifically to Jewish Christians; the author is unknown.

Apocrypha

There is another group of writings called the “Apocrypha” (the Greek word means “disputed” or “hidden”): Esdras, Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, Ep. Jeremiah and Maccabees. These books were written during the silent period between the last of the Old Testament prophets (520 BCE) and the time of Jesus. Some are historical, some are teaching, some are legends.

These books were translated from Hebrew and Aramaic to Greek and included in the Septuagint Bible (details in the next lesson). When Jerome translated the Bible from Greek to Latin in the fourth century he included them as a section between the Old and New Testaments. The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches accept these books as part of the Bible, Protestant churches do not.

A Chronology of the Bible

The Bible also is a history of the Jewish people and the early Christian church; however, anchoring the events of the Old Testament in history is at best an estimate, because the Israelite system of dating events differed from the other major empires (Sumerian, Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian). Here are some approximate historical periods (with major Biblical figures):

  • 2200-1800 BCE: Patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob.
  • 1836-1406 BCE: Egyptian Slavery and Exodus – Moses.
  • 1406-1050 BCE: Conquest of Palestine and rule of Judges.
  • 1050-931 BCE: United Kingdom – Saul, David, Solomon.
  • 931-586 BCE: Divided kingdoms of Israel/Judah – Prophets.
  • 586-538 BCE: Babylonian Captivity – Daniel.
  • 538-64 BCE: Return to Jerusalem – Ezra, Nehemiah.
  • 64 BCE – 300 CE: Roman Empire – Jesus.
  • 30-100 CE: Growth of the Church – Acts of the Apostles.