Bible 101: Overview

What Is the Bible?
66 different books
40+ different authors
Old Testament – The Jewish Bible - Tanach – 39 books
New Testament – Unique to Christianity - 27 books

Divisions of the Old Testament
The Law – Pentateuch – Torah – Books of Moses – first five books, Genesis through
Deuteronomy
The Prophets – Joshua through Malachi, with the exception of…
The Writings – Books of Wisdom, Poetry and History – Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ruth,
Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah,
1&2 Chronicles

Divisions of the New Testament
The Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, John – recount the life of Christ
Early Church History – Acts
Letters of Paul – Romans, 1&2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians,
Colossians, 1&2 Thessalonians, 1&2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon
General or “catholic” Letters – James, 1&2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude
Letter by Unknown Author – Hebrews
Prophecy – Revelation

Oldest Books
The Pentateuch – probably written about 1400 B.C. (about 3400 years ago). Some scholars believe it is the book of Job and date it to about 1500 B.C. by an unknown author.
Newest Books
Writings of John – probably written about 95 A.D. (about 1500 years later than oldest ones, about 1900 years ago for us)

The Apocrypha
These are other books that were in circulation among churches and synagogues but were not universally accepted as being “divinely inspired” scripture. There are 18 apocryphal books for the Old Testament and 18 more for the New Testament. Some bibles include some of these books.

The Bible’s Basic Message
1. God created the universe and put man in it, uniquely created in His image.
2. Man used his free will to disobey God, called “The Fall”.
3. The Fall not only created permanent changes in man, but also in the physical creation.
4. God sent His son, Jesus, to rescue us from the consequences.
5. The rescue operation requires our participation in the form of Faith.
6. We are expecting by Faith to live with God forever in an eternity free from sin and its consequences, and having a body that will no longer be subject to sickness or death.

The Nicene Creed
(basic statement of Christian Faith)

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Jesus’ summary of the Bible
(Matthew 22:37-40)

"'You will love the LORD your God with your whole heart [ your entire inner self] and with your whole soul and with your whole understanding.' [Deut 6:4,5] This is [the] first and great commandment. But a second [one is] similar to it, 'You will love your neighbor as yourself.' [Lev 19:18] On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."