THE BIBLE – THE BOOK
I. GENERAL INFORMATION
The Bible is a fascinating “book” with unprecedented longevity and worldwide circulation. We believe that God has spoken to our world in and through the Bible and we invite you to learn more about this unique collection of “sacred writings”. The term “Bible” is used to name the sixty-six separate documents or “books” which all together constitute the “sacred library” of the Christian faith. The Bible consists of two separate volumes, the Old Testament, composed of 39 books, and the New Testament, composed of 27 books.
THE OLD TESTAMENT
The first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis, the first book of the OT, gives an account of creation and a selective history of the world up until the time of Abraham who lived circa 2000 bc. The remainder of the OT gives an account of Abraham’s descendants the nation of Israel up until about 400 bc. The bulk of the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew, however sometime in the 2nd or 3rd century BC the OT was translated into koine Greek, probably in Alexandria Egypt where there was a large Jewish population. This translation of the OT is known as the Septuagint.
THE NEW TESTAMENT
In the four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles the NT gives a written account of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and a history of the early Apostolic church. In addition to that, a significant percentage of the NT consist of letters written to give instruction in doctrine and living the Christian life. The NT was written in “koine” Greek which was the universal language of the Roman empire during the time of Christ. Archeological findings have uncovered thousands of non-biblical Greek papyri also written in “koine” Greek, which have provided helpful insight into the original manuscripts of the New Testament.
DATE OF WRITING
The entire Bible was written over a period of time consisting of about 1500 years. The first five books of the bible, known as the Pentateuch, are believed to have been written by Moses around 1400 BC, while the last book of the Bible named “The Revelation” is believed to have been written by the Apostle John shortly before 100 AD. The writing of the OT was complete around 400 BC meaning the entire OT was written over a period of about 1000 years. In contrast, the New Testament was started shortly after the death of Jesus, and was finished some time before 100 AD spanning a much shorter period of about 50 to 60 years.
HAS GOD SPOKEN IN THE BIBLE?
As we learn more about the Bible we will keep in mind that our purpose is to discover whether or not we can ascertain if God has spoken to our world in and through its pages. In order to do that we must turn the focus our attention to the New Testament. After surveying some additional background information about the NT we will investigate it even further to find out why it can be embraced as historically reliable. Then, being convinced that the NT is trustworthy we will learn what it tells us about Jesus Christ who is the key to knowing why we can be sure that God has spoken to our world in the Bible!
