02. What is the Bible?

Key Verses / Passage:

All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.                                                                                                   2 Timothy 3:16-17

He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
Luke 24:44

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The whole Bible is all about Jesus. It is God’s words without fault.

Have you ever wondered where English words come from? Our vocabulary is a collection of many languages that have differing meanings and context. The Bible is such a word.

The original term for it was ‘Ta Biblia’in Koine Greek - a language of the time of Jesus - and it simply means “The Books”. The term “Bible” refers to the collection of books containing the sacred writings of the Jews and Christians.

The Bible is a library in one cover consisting of 66 books divided into two parts call testaments. Testament is a legal “solemn declaration” of something the author holds to be true and can be proven. There are 39 books in the Old Testament (OT) and 27 in the New Testament (NT). These books are a collection of writings, or “scriptures”, written by about 40 authors. These writings are inspired by God (God compelling these authors to write what He tells them), over a period of 1,500-1600 years that tell a single story of God reaching out to have a relationship with His creation - humanity.

The Old Testament is everything before Jesus’s birth, so it is Jewish History, Prophets, Poetry, Wisdom and Songs, while the New Testament is everything written concerning and after Jesus’s birth and life.

The Old Testament tells the story of the initial creation and spiralling self-destruction of humanity and how it had lost touch with their creator God. It also reveals a single man, Abraham, who stirs God’s people to come back to God through work of a promised Messiah (Jesus) who would save the world. The New Testament tells the story of Jesus, the promised Messiah. It is a news reel of the actions of Jesus and his disciples, mixed in with lessons on life for all believers for all time. It is important to know that the people described in the New Testament used the OT writings as their sacred texts.

The following illutration shows an overview of the Bible…

Reflection / Questions :

•     Do you have a favourite hobby that you just love to get involved with?
Psalm 1 encourages us to be like that about the Bible.

•     Think about this - God loves you so much that He dictated (inspired) the authors of these books to write a love letter to you... What will be your response?

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Prayer:

Father God, please guide me to read and understand what you have done and said for thousands of years. Thank you that it is recorded for me and that I can be assured that it is true. Lord, help me to grow in love with your words.