What Does the
Word "Bible" Mean?
The word "Bible" means "The Book of Books". It came to be known by the title Bible in both the English and French, but for two different reasons. The English called the Scriptures the Bible because papyrus paper, which was used to make books in ancient times, was produced at Byblyos, Phoenicia. The French, on the other hand, named the collection of writings the Bible because of their word for book, biblio. The Bible, therefore, is aptly and universally titled the Book of books.
The Infallible Word of God
The word Scripture, which the Bible uses when talking about itself, means "sacred writings". The Bible, therefore, is often and quite rightly referred to as the Holy Scriptures, or holy and divinely inspired word of God. The Bible is the infallible Word of God. This means it can not be wrong and is always perfect. It is also immutable, which means it is constant, incorruptible, unchanging, and everlasting. There is no other book like the Bible in all the world, nor will there ever be. There is the Bible and there are all the other books ever written. The Bible, though written by numerous servants of God, was written by the finger of God himself. Just as His finger wrote the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai and gave them to Moses, so God wrote every word in the Bible. All true Christians believe the Bible is the Sacred and Holy Writing of God given to aid man in his salvation and relationship with the Creator.
The Most Published and
Most Read Book in the World
The Bible is far and away the most published book in the history of man and became the first book ever printed on a printing press when Johann Gutenberg published the Mesorhine Bible in A. Today it is published on every continent, in every language and dialect, and is distributed by huge organizations such as the American Bible Society and the Gideon Bible Society. The oldest known manuscript of any book of the Bible is of the book of Isaiah, dating back to the first century A.D. which was found in Qumran, Jordan in 1947. It is part of the archeological find known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The Bible has also been paraphrased, or loosely translated into vernacular language, which is not a strict translation and should be read with that in mind.
66 Books of the Bible -
39 Old Testament Books
27 New Testament Books
There are 66 books of the Bible, each book being broken down into chapters and verses for ease of understanding and reference.
The Bible is subdivided into two parts; the Old and the New Testament or, the law and the prophets before Christ and the law of liberty after Christ.
The Old Testament
There are 39 books of the Old Testament which are divided into three main divisions 1.) The law (Torah as the Jews call it) which are the five books of Moses at the beginning of the Bible;
2.) The historical books and writings (Joshua, Judges, I Samuel, I Kings, etc. and the Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomon etc.)
3.)The prophets, which are the four major prophets - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel and the 12 so-called minor prophets which end the Old Testament.
The Old Testament was added to over the centuries as God inspired his servants to record the sacred writings. The text was meticulously copied by Hebrew scribes preserving its integrity through the centuries.
The New Testament
By A.D. 150 the New Testament cannon had been established, but it was not formally accepted and recognized until the councils of Laodicea and Carthage in the second half of the fourth century. (363 and 397 A.D. respectively). The New Testament has 27 books and can be seen in the light of four categories:
1.) 4 Gospels (the ministry of Jesus on earth)
2.) The historical book of Acts of the Apostles
3.) 21 epistles (or letters) written to seven churches, various believers and special households of faith. These letters were written by the Apostles Paul, Peter, John, Jude, and James, the brother of Jesus
4.) Revelation, the only purely prophetic book of the New Testament.
The Bible is written in Hebrew (in the O.T.) and Greek (in the N.T.). A small portion is written in Aramaic (a related Semitic dialect, which after the captivity of the Jews in 600 B.C. replaced Hebrew as the common language of the Jews) The small part in Aramaic is Dan.2.4 - 7.28; Ezra 4.8 - 6.18; 7.12-26; and Jere. 10.11.
The use of common Greek, which was the universal and common language of the world at the time, in the New Testament shows that after the coming of Jesus the Gospel was opened to the whole world and to every man without restriction.
The Bible is not organized in a strict chronological order which can make it hard to get a sense of the order of man's history as seen from God's point of view. But God's plan of redemption, which has always had a beginning and an end, is revealed in His Word. God is the great architect, He does nothing by the seat of His pants; He has a plan. But to understand this plan we have to be willing to dig into His Word and ask Him to personally show us what it is all about. Just as Jesus taught His disciples in parables so the Bible is laid out in such a way that we must go to Him to get the meaning and have it put in perspective and order. (There is a story about one of the great antichrist figures of all time named Alexander the Great who solved the riddle and prophecy of something called the Gordian Knot. The Gordian Knot was a huge rope tied together in the most intricate fashion so that no man could untie it. A prophecy had said that a man would come along who would solve the riddle and go on to rule the world. Many had tried before but of course none could even begin to solve its riddle. Alexander, after his father's death in Greece came to the Gordian Knot and promptly took out his legendary sword and with one slash cut the knot apart. Alexander went on to fulfill the prophecy but died at the age of 33 for his trouble. The point is that many people try to handle the Word of God in the same manner. They cut into it and try to solve its riddles. But God will unravel the word for us. The Scriptures say of themselves that they are a sword sharper than any sword, able to pierce and divide asunder the soul from the spirit. We must not take the Word of God into our own hands and handle it the way the antichrist figure of Alexander the Great handled the Gordian Knot; we must let God unravel the Word for us through His Spirit, the Holy Ghost.
One final word: The Bible is not the Trinity. The Bible is not a person, it is about the persons of God, His oneness in three persons. The Trinity is not the Father, the Son, and the Holy Bible. The Trinity is the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. You have to know God to understand the Holy Scriptures. Then the Bible will truly become "The Book of Books" for you.
Onward to a few of the outstanding things
the Bible says about itself
A Few Things The Bible Says About Itself
"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 perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."
(2 Tim 3.16)
"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."
(Heb. 4.12)
"But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
(1 John 2.5)
"We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
"Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
"For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."
(2 Peter 1.19-21)
"...even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
"That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
"That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish."
(Eph. 5.25-27)
"How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
"And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
"But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?
"So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
"But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world."
(Rom. 10.14-18)
"I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
"I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
"They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
"Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth."
(John 17.14-17)