THE YOUTH AND THE BASICS OF

THE BIBLE

THE BIBLE

• “Bible” from Greek “biblia” meaning books.

• It is a collection of 73 books, written by numerous authors who were inspired by God to write.

• The books were written over a period between 1000 BC & 100 AD.

LIST OF BOOKS IN THE BIBLE

CANON- The word "canon" means "standard" or "rule."

• It is the list of authoritative and inspired Scriptures.

• Different religions have different canons.

OLD TESTAMENT

•2 TYPES OF “OLD TESTAMENT”-

• JEWISH SCRIPTURE

•SEPTUAGINT LXX

• The Hebrew canon contains 24 books, one for each of the scrolls on which these works were written in ancient times.

• The Hebrew Bible is organized into three main sections: called the Tanakh

• The Torah, or “Teaching,” also called the Pentateuch or the “Five Books of Moses”;

• The Neviʾim, or Prophets;

• The Ketuvim, or Writings.

• The Torah –

•Genesis

• Exodus

• Leviticus

•Numbers

•Deuteronomy.

• The Neviʾim-

• Former Prophets—Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings

• The Latter Prophets—

• Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and together in one book known as “The Book of the Twelve”, the 12 Minor Prophets

• Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.

• The Ketuvim-

Psalms,

Proverbs,

Job,

Song of Songs,

Ruth,

Lamentations,

Ecclesiastes,

Esther,

Daniel,

Ezra-Nehemiah, and

Chronicles.

• Originally the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, language of the Israelites.

• Later it was translated into Aramaic, then Greek.

• Greek translation done by the Jewish community living in Alexandria, Egypt, around 250 BC. There were 70 (72) translators.

• In the process, 7 more books, considered to be inspired too, were added to the original 39 books of the Hebrew text.

• Tobit, Judith, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Wisdom of Soloman, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) & Baruch.

• This Greekk translation of the Hebrew Scripture with the added 7 books is called the Septuagint (Gk septuaginta = 70)

• Jesus & His disciples spoke Aramaic & Greek. They would be familiar with both the Hebrew Text (39) & the Septuagint (46)

• Eg. Isaiah 7:14

• The original Hebrew has “and a young woman shall conceive (Heb. Almah)

• The Septuagint has: “and a virgin shall conceive” (Gk. Parthenos) used in Matthew.

THE CATHOLIC CANON

• THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ACCEPTED BOTH THE HEBREW i.e. 36 BOOKS AND SEPTUANGINT i.e. 46 BOOKS AS ITS OLD TESTAMENT CANON

• Catholics ACCEPTED 27 BOOKS AS NEW TESTAMENT CANON.

PROTESTANT CANON

• Martin Luther decided that since the Jews

rejected the Greek Septuagint he too

rejected the Septuagint.

• He translated the Bible into German &

placed the 7 additional books separately at

the end of the OT under “Apocrypha”

(hidden writing).

• He did not regard them as scripture but as “useful & good reading”

• Other Protestant Churches that came into being later, all adopted Luther’s decision. Thus Protestant bibles have only 39 books in the OT

HOW THE BIBLE CAME TO BE WRITTEN

• ORAL TRADITION- words communicated by

word of mouth

• WRITTEN WORDS- words put down in

writing.

• REVELATION- It is the gradual, progressive

unfolding of God’s plan of salvation to

humankind.

INSPIRATION

• Inspiration is the supernatural influence of the

Holy Spirit on the sacred writers, moving and

impelling them to write in such a manner that

they firstly rightly understood, then willed

faithfully to write down, and finally expressed in

apt words and with infallible truth all the things,

and those only, which He ordered.

• The Bible is a co-authored book.

a. God is the primary author;

b. Men of God were the secondary authors.

c. The result is that one and the same set of words are both God’s and man’s.

• The Means of Inspiration

• 1. Men of God

Heb. 1:1.--“God who at various times and in different ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets.”

Zech. 7:12.--“They made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets.”

• 2 Peter 1:21.—“For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”

• 2 Tim. 3:16 “Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness.”

WHAT INSPIRATION IS NOT

• GOD DIDN’T LITERALLY PEN DOWN THE

WORDS OF SCRIPTURE

• HE DIDN’T DICTATE THE WORDS

VERBATIM

• THE BIBLE DIDN’T FALL FROM HEAVEN

The Bible is 100% Human and 100% God

• 1. It was written by human beings (about 40 of them).

• 2. It was written in human languages (Hebrew & Greek).

• 3. It has human literary styles (poetry, prose & history)

Example of literary style

• Anthropomorphism--"God repented

of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not." (Jonah 3:10)

But God does not repent:

“The strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent.” (1 Sam. 15:29)

• 5. It reflects different human thought patterns (logical, practical, a memory lapse).

• 6. It reveals human emotions (weeping, rejoicing, and anger).

• 7. It has specific human interests (medical, herdsman, shepherd, and nature).

• 8. It expresses human culture (kissing, foot washing, veils, and reclining at meals).

• 9. It utilizes other written human sources (eg. Book of the “Wars of the Lord”—Num. 21:14, Enuma Elish)

• 10. It reflects human limitations (matter, space, & time).

INERRANCY OF THE BIBLE

• The truth of the Bible is that “Scripture teach firmly, faithfully, and without error, that truth which God wanted put into the writings for the sake of our salvation.”

•“Scriptures” constitute a written record of God’s communication with human beings. It must not necessarily equated with the “Word of God” as such.

•HOLD ON A MINUTE……

LET ME EXPLAIN

• The WORD OF GOD is what God Himself has uttered and which is nothing else but the truth.

• The Scriptures is the Word of God written by human beings. It contains the truth of the Word God but also errors resulting from human failures such as spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, inaccurate data, etc.

• Such mistakes are not that of God but humans.

compare….

“Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athaliah, a granddaughter of King Omri of Israel. (2Ki 8:26 NRS)

“Ahaziah was forty-two years old when he began to reign; he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athaliah, a granddaughter of Omri.” (2Ch 22:2 NRS)

• Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horses, which he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. (2Ch 9:25 NRS)

• Solomon also had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. (1Ki 4:26 NRS)

• The Bible says: Paul's companions "heard" the voice (Acts 9:7),

• but also that they did not "hear" the voice (Acts 22:9).

• The Context: They heard the sound, but did not hear (i.e., understand) the meaning.

• So in talking of the truth of the Bible we are not just interested in the truth of certain happenings but the truth of the meaning of these happenings.

• The question is not just what exactly happened or how they happened, but why the stories of the various events have been written and kept and what message God wants to convey to us.