Difference between revisions of "Bible"

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(This one was actually my fault, I forgot that the Council of Trent was brought forth by the Protestant Reformation and not vice versa)
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{{quote | text={{web_verse|2 Timothy|3|16}}  [[2 Timothy 3:16]]}}
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{{quote | text={{Bible verse|2 Timothy|3|16|lang=WEB}}  [[2 Timothy 3:16]]}}
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{{Infobox_Contents |  
 
{{Infobox_Contents |  
 
   topic_name = Bible
 
   topic_name = Bible
 
[[Image:Biblewithlight.jpg|thumb|center|An open Bible.]] |
 
[[Image:Biblewithlight.jpg|thumb|center|An open Bible.]] |
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   subtopics = [[Books of the Bible Index]], [[Old Testament]], [[New Testament]], [[Apocrypha]]
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   subtopics = [[Books of the Bible]] - [[Old Testament]], [[New Testament]]
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* [[Ancient Languages Index]] - [[Biblical Hebrew|Hebrew]], [[Aramaic]], [[Koine Greek|Greek]]
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* [[Ancient Texts Index]] - [[Apocrypha]]
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* [[Translating the Bible]]
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* [[Interpreting the Bible]] - [[Hermeneutics]]
 
* [[Bible Commentary Index]] - [[Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible|Matthew Henry Commentary]]
 
* [[Bible Commentary Index]] - [[Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible|Matthew Henry Commentary]]
 
* [[Bible Terms Index]], [[Bible Dictionaries Index]] - [[Easton's Bible Dictionary|Easton's]]
 
* [[Bible Terms Index]], [[Bible Dictionaries Index]] - [[Easton's Bible Dictionary|Easton's]]
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* [[Hebrew]], [[Aramaic]], [[Koine Greek]]
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* [[Timeline of Biblical History]] - [[Historical accuracy of the Bible]]
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* [[Formation and translation of the Bible]], [[Distribution of the Bible]]
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* [[Characters of the Bible]], [[Biblical Places Index]] |
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* [[Timeline of Biblical History]], [[Historical accuracy of the Bible]], [[Biblical criticism]]
 
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* [[Biblical inerrancy]], [[Sola Scriptura]]
 
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* [[Characters of the Bible]]
 
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* [[Bible scientific foreknowledge]]
 
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* [[The Bible in 50 words]] |
 
 
   opinion_pieces = {{short_opinions}}
 
   opinion_pieces = {{short_opinions}}
 
* [[Bible (EBD)|Easton's Bible Dictionary entry on the Bible]]
 
* [[Bible (EBD)|Easton's Bible Dictionary entry on the Bible]]
 
* [[Scripture (EBD)|Easton's Bible Dictionary entry on Scripture]] |
 
* [[Scripture (EBD)|Easton's Bible Dictionary entry on Scripture]] |
 
}}
 
}}
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{{Ebd box}}
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{{bible}}
  
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{{dictionary}}
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The '''Bible''' is the collection of documents acknowledged by Christians to be inspired by God. The Protestant Bible contains 66 books (Catholic and Orthodox contain 73, while the Ethiopian Orthodox Bible recognizes the most books: 81 in total) and is divided into the [[Old Testament]] and the [[New Testament]]. It tells of the story of the [[creation]] of the universe and [[man]] by [[God]], the rebellion of man against God and his rescue plan for humanity through his Son, [[Jesus Christ]].
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''Synopsis:'' The Bible is the collection of documents acknowledged by Christians to be inspired by God. The Protestant Bible contains 66 books (Catholic and Orthodox contain 73) and is divided into the [[Old Testament]] and the [[New Testament]]. It tells of the story of the [[creation]] of the universe and [[man]] by [[God]], the rebellion of man against God and his rescue plan for humanity through his Son, [[Jesus Christ]].
 
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==Main article==
 
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{{bible}}
 
  
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The word Bible comes from the Greek word for book.  
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The word Bible comes from the Greek word for book, [[biblion]].  
  
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===[[Old Testament]]===
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===[[Books of the Bible]]===
  
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Three sections make up the Old Testament - The Books of the Law, History and Poetry, and the Books of the Prophets. The Old Testament is a Christian term for the original Hebrew Bible which is known as the Tanak (which is an acronym for what the OT contains Law, Prophets, and Writings). The Old Testament sets the stage for what happens in the New Testament it provides the rules, the nature of God, the promise of GOD which are fulfilled further in the New Testament.
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The Bible is divided up into two main sections - the [[Old Testament]] and the [[New Testament]]. Before 1804, practically all protestant Bibles were divided into three main section - with the additional section being between the Old and New testament: the [[Apocrypha]]. By the mid 1820s, a vast majority of protestant Bibles did not include the apocrypha due to controversies surrounding them as well as to make a Bible cheaper to produce.
  
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====[[Books of the Law]]====
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====[[Old Testament]]====
  
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The first 5 books of the Bible [[Genesis]], [[Exodus]], [[Leviticus]], [[Numbers]], [[Deuteronomy]]. These five books tell us of [[Creation]], [[the Fall]], the emergence of the children of [[Israel]] and the legal codes that God gave them.  
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The Old Testament tells the story of ancient Israel and God's intervention in their history. There are three main sections that make up the Old Testament - The Books of the Law, History and Poetry, and the Books of the Prophets. The books of the Law tell the very early story of the history of Israel and lay out the covenant or agreement between God and his people with their laws for living. The books of history and poetry continue the story of the people of Israel starting with their invasion into Canaan and ending with their kingdom splitting into two and being conquered and exiled. The books of the prophets describe some of the visions and words of the prophets who continually called the people to account for their abandonment of God.
  
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Three law codes that are relevant to Christians are the [[Ten Commandments]], Shema (Love the LORD your God with all your heart), and Love thy neighbour.
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====[[New Testament]]====
  
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====Prophets====
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The New Testament tells the story of Jesus and the early church. The New Testament contains different categories as well including the [[Gospels]] which describe the birth, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus, and the book of Acts which tells the story of the formation of the early church. The New Testament also contains a number of letters or [[epistles]] to various early Christian communities. It finishes with the Book of Revelation which is apocalyptic prophecy that paints a picture of the final victory of Christ, calling on his followers to persevere despite persecution.
  
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The Prophets take up a large body of space. They range from the [[Book of Isaiah]] and the [[Book of Jeremiah]] who are classified as the major prophets to [[Book of Hosea|Hosea]], [[Book of Joel|Joel]], and [[Book of Jonah|Jonah]] who are minor prophets. Prophets were divinely appointed spokesman for God. The [[Hebrew]] word for prophet 'nabi' means spokesman. They preached about the corruption of Israel, God's judgement and His future restoration. One vital cornerstone that has bearing for us would be the coming of the [[Messiah]]. This is mentioned in [[Isaiah 53]] in the major prophets and last chapters of Zechariah in the minor.
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====Extra-Biblical texts - [[Apocrypha]]====
  
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====History and poetry====
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A number of books are not considered to be part of the Bible by Protestant Christians, but are by other denominations - these books are referred to as [[Apocrypha|apocryphal literature]]. Although not considered canon by Protestants, generally they are not regarded as [[Heresy|heretical]] either (although there are exceptions). The reasons some of the apocryphal books were omitted from the original Hebrew Bible used by the Jews, was due to their original language not using the Hebrew Script (as Hebrew and Aramaic does). The [[Books of the Maccabees]] was written in Greek so it was regarded as divinely inspired but not scripture.
  
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Writings range from the historical such as [[Book of Joshua|Joshua]], the Samuels, Chronicles, or Kings to poetry such as [[Song of Solomon]], or [[Psalms]] and wisdom such as [[Book of Job|Job]], [[Ecclesiastes]], and [[Proverbs]]. They describe the nature of God such as [[Psalm 23]], the wisdom of God and man's reaction such as in [[Job]], or the History of Israel and God's involvement such as establishing [[King David]] and his legacy which led to [[Jesus Christ]] his most famous descendant of all.  
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Protestants generally point to the fact that [[Jesus Christ]] did not approve of the 46 canonical books used in the Old Testament, neither did He ever quote from the additional 7 apocryphal books. Catholic and Orthodox Christians place less value on Scripture and instead Tradition which is why this fact doesn't seemingly bother either of those Christian branches.
  
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===[[New Testament]]===
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====Formation of the Bible / [[Biblical Canon]]====
  
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The New Testament contains different categories as well.
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Though the Early Church used the Old Testament, the apostles did not otherwise leave a defined set of new scriptures; instead the New Testament developed over time. All New Testament scripture was wrote during the first century AD. By the fourth century the books included by today's Protestants in the [[Bible]] were roughly agreed upon and officially in 382 AD, the [[Council of Rome]] was held which canonized the Bible as having 66 total books: 39 in the Old Testament (which the Jews agreed upon in the 4th century BC), and 27 in the New Testament.
  
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====Gospel====
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The dispute over the Old Testament would wage on for over a millennia and the Catholic Church agreed at the end of the [[Council of Trent]] in 1563 that the Old Testament would be comprised of 46 books with some books being added onto. The books officially added included the following: [[Book of Tobit|Tobit]], [[Book of Judith|Judith]], [[First book of Maccabees|1 Maccabees]], [[Second book of Maccabees|2 Maccabees]], [[Wisdom of Solomon|Wisdom]], [[Book of Sirach|Sirach]], and [[Book of Baruch|Baruch]]; and the books altered are [[Book of Esther|Esther]] ([[Additions to Esther|additions]]) and [[Book of Daniel|Daniel]] ([[Additions to Daniel|additions]]). The controversial decision at Trent was brought upon due to the [[Protestant Reformation]], which created [[Protestantism]]. All branches of Protestantism don't recognize the decision that was made during the Council of Trent.
  
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[[Gospel]] is the Old English word god-spiel (good speak) the original [[Greek]] word was [[Evangel]]. Gospel means Good News. The Good News was that [[Jesus]] had arrived and was the Messiah that would fulfill the Old Testament, as Jesus himself declared of his death and resurrection, "As written in the Law, Prophets, and Psalms." There are Four Gospels - [[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]], [[Gospel of Mark|Mark]], [[Gospel of Luke|Luke]], and [[Gospel of John|John]]. Mark is the oldest Gospel and the most barebones of all the Gospels, he wrote in AD 60 and served as a secretary for Peter. After Peter's death he wrote the first account of Jesus' life and times. Matthew was written towards a Jewish audience, he constantly emphasised how Jesus fulfilled the prophecies laid out in the Old Testament and was therefore the Messiah. Luke is the only non-Jewish author in the Bible. He wrote for a [[Gentile]] audience. Luke tended to use historical context of his day such as the Census and who was in charge in [[Rome]] and [[Palestine]] during Jesus' day to back up his claims that Jesus was the Saviour. Because Matthew, Mark, and Luke contain similar stories and sayings they are known as the [[Synoptic Gospels]] (Gk for to-be-seen-together). John is slightly different. It contains Jesus' I AM statements in which [[Jesus]] testifies that He is the Saviour. These four books tell the story of Jesus and show why He came to Earth. To die on the Cross and to rise again so that our sins were taken away and we would be made right with GOD.
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===[[Translating the Bible]]===
  
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====[[Epistles]]====
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The original languages of the various books of the Bible were [[Biblical Hebrew|Hebrew]] (for Old Testament books) and [[Koine Greek]] (for New Testament books). A small amount of the [[book of Daniel]] was originally written in [[Aramaic]].
  
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Epistles are letters to Christian communities. The major letter writers in the Early Church were Paul, Peter, James, John, and Jude. Peter and Paul were the major missionaries in their day and they wrote letters to the communities they preached to. Paul wrote towards Gentile communities such as Corinth, Ephesus, and Rome. He would talk about Jesus Christ, how Christians should act, and advise them on certain issues such as eating meat, dealing with others, and how to behave in worship. Peter and James also wrote likewise.
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In the first few centuries after Christ the Bible was translated into a few other ancient languages (for example [[Latin]]) but it wasn't until the Protestant [[Reformation]] that widespread translation of the Bible into many languages (such as German and English) really began to occur.
  
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====History====
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In recent years there has been lots of activity in translating the Bible into many of the minor languages of the world.
  
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This is seen in the [[Book of Acts]]. Acts was written by Luke and it tells of the persecutions, the work of Peter and Paul, and provides us with a great historical context of Mediterannean culture in the 1st century. It too shows God's hand in the founding of the Early Church with the Holy Spirit coming down upon the 12 disciples and gives us our mission that all peoples must hear the Gospel.
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===[[Interpreting the Bible]]===
  
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====Prophecy====
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Interpretation of the Bible is a complex issue. How a person interprets is dependant partly upon that person's presuppositions about the Bible. If a person comes to the Bible with the view that it is simply an ancient text full of mythology then his interpretation will be vastly different from someone who views the Bible as God's revelation.
  
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Prophecy is a thread constant in the Gospels and the Epistles, but it also has it's own separate book in the form of [[Book of Revelation|Revelation]]. Revelation gives us a symbolic understanding of the Last Days with vivid descriptions of the End Times. It is advised that one read this book carefully and with [[prayer]]. The main message in Revelation is that [[Jesus|Jesus Christ]] is coming back for us and that is what we must look forward to.  
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Biblical '''[[Hermeneutics]]''' is the technical term for the study of interpreting and understanding the Bible and applying it to today's context. It is closely related to '''[[exegesis]]''' which is the study of understanding what the Biblical author's meant and what their audience would have understood.  
  
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===[[Apocrypha]]===
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Some Christians hold a literalistic or inerrant view of the Bible. [[Biblical inerrancy]] is the view that the Bible, as the inspired Word of God, is without error and is accurate in all aspects, including in aspects of history and science. [[Biblical infallibility]] on the other hand is the view that the Bible is free from errors on issues of faith and practice, but minor contradictions in history or science can be overlooked as insignificant to its spiritual purpose.
  
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A number of books are not considered to be part of the Bible by Protestant Christians, but are by other denominations - these books are referred to as [[Apocrphya|apocryphal literature]]. Below is a list of the apocryphal books
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Protestant Christians generally hold to [[Sola Scriptura]] which is the teaching that the Bible is the final authority on matters of faith and that it alone gives sufficient information for all matters of faith. This stands in contrast to Orthodox and Catholic Christianity which accept tradition as playing an equally important role in matters of faith.
  
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{{apocrypha_list}}
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==Bible Commentaries==
  
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===Formation of the Bible===
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* [[Matthew Henry's Concise Bible Commentary]]
  
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===Translation of the Bible===
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==Bible Dictionaries==
  
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===Sola Scriptura===
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* [[Easton's Bible Dictionary]]
  
 
==Quotes==
 
==Quotes==
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: Bible reading is an education in itself.   
 
: Bible reading is an education in itself.   
  
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: ''Thomas Huxley''
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''Thomas Huxley''
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The Bible has been the Magna Carta of the poor and oppressed. The human race is not in a position to dispense with It.   
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: The Bible has been the Magna Carta of the poor and oppressed. The human race is not in a position to dispense with It.   
  
 
''[[2 Timothy 3:16]]''
 
''[[2 Timothy 3:16]]''
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: {{web_verse|2 Timothy|3|16}}
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: {{Bible verse|2 Timothy|3|16|lang=WEB}}
  
 
==Links==
 
==Links==
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* [http://www.biblegateway.com Bible Gateway]
 
* [http://www.biblegateway.com Bible Gateway]
 
* [http://www.ccel.org/wwsb/ CCEL - World Wide Study Bible]
 
* [http://www.ccel.org/wwsb/ CCEL - World Wide Study Bible]
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* [http://bible.crosswalk.com/ Crosswalk.com]
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* [http://biblestudytools.com/ BibleStudyTools.com]
 
* [http://www.bible.org/ Bible.org]
 
* [http://www.bible.org/ Bible.org]
 
* [http://www.e-sword.net/ E-Sword Bible Software]  
 
* [http://www.e-sword.net/ E-Sword Bible Software]  
 
* [http://bibledatabase.com/ Bible Database]
 
* [http://bibledatabase.com/ Bible Database]
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===Bible Study Links===
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* [http://www.ccel.org/wwsb/ The World wide Study Bible]
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* [http://biblestudytools.com/ BibleStudyTools.com]
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* [http://www.bible.org/ Trust worthy Bible Study Tools]
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* [http://www.e-sword.net/ Free Bible Software] "Without payment you have received; without payment you are to give." (Mat 10:8 ISV)
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* [http://bibledatabase.com/ FREE Bibles and Bible Study Software Downloads]
  
 
{{returnto}} [[Christianity]]
 
{{returnto}} [[Christianity]]
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[[Category:Bible]]

Latest revision as of 04:14, 10 December 2023

Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, 2 Timothy 3:16
Bible
An open Bible.
RELATED TOPICS
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Z


List of Books of the Bible

Old Testament

New Testament

The Bible is the collection of documents acknowledged by Christians to be inspired by God. The Protestant Bible contains 66 books (Catholic and Orthodox contain 73, while the Ethiopian Orthodox Bible recognizes the most books: 81 in total) and is divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament. It tells of the story of the creation of the universe and man by God, the rebellion of man against God and his rescue plan for humanity through his Son, Jesus Christ.

The word Bible comes from the Greek word for book, biblion.

Books of the Bible

The Bible is divided up into two main sections - the Old Testament and the New Testament. Before 1804, practically all protestant Bibles were divided into three main section - with the additional section being between the Old and New testament: the Apocrypha. By the mid 1820s, a vast majority of protestant Bibles did not include the apocrypha due to controversies surrounding them as well as to make a Bible cheaper to produce.

Old Testament

The Old Testament tells the story of ancient Israel and God's intervention in their history. There are three main sections that make up the Old Testament - The Books of the Law, History and Poetry, and the Books of the Prophets. The books of the Law tell the very early story of the history of Israel and lay out the covenant or agreement between God and his people with their laws for living. The books of history and poetry continue the story of the people of Israel starting with their invasion into Canaan and ending with their kingdom splitting into two and being conquered and exiled. The books of the prophets describe some of the visions and words of the prophets who continually called the people to account for their abandonment of God.

New Testament

The New Testament tells the story of Jesus and the early church. The New Testament contains different categories as well including the Gospels which describe the birth, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus, and the book of Acts which tells the story of the formation of the early church. The New Testament also contains a number of letters or epistles to various early Christian communities. It finishes with the Book of Revelation which is apocalyptic prophecy that paints a picture of the final victory of Christ, calling on his followers to persevere despite persecution.

Extra-Biblical texts - Apocrypha

A number of books are not considered to be part of the Bible by Protestant Christians, but are by other denominations - these books are referred to as apocryphal literature. Although not considered canon by Protestants, generally they are not regarded as heretical either (although there are exceptions). The reasons some of the apocryphal books were omitted from the original Hebrew Bible used by the Jews, was due to their original language not using the Hebrew Script (as Hebrew and Aramaic does). The Books of the Maccabees was written in Greek so it was regarded as divinely inspired but not scripture.

Protestants generally point to the fact that Jesus Christ did not approve of the 46 canonical books used in the Old Testament, neither did He ever quote from the additional 7 apocryphal books. Catholic and Orthodox Christians place less value on Scripture and instead Tradition which is why this fact doesn't seemingly bother either of those Christian branches.

Formation of the Bible / Biblical Canon

Though the Early Church used the Old Testament, the apostles did not otherwise leave a defined set of new scriptures; instead the New Testament developed over time. All New Testament scripture was wrote during the first century AD. By the fourth century the books included by today's Protestants in the Bible were roughly agreed upon and officially in 382 AD, the Council of Rome was held which canonized the Bible as having 66 total books: 39 in the Old Testament (which the Jews agreed upon in the 4th century BC), and 27 in the New Testament.

The dispute over the Old Testament would wage on for over a millennia and the Catholic Church agreed at the end of the Council of Trent in 1563 that the Old Testament would be comprised of 46 books with some books being added onto. The books officially added included the following: Tobit, Judith, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach, and Baruch; and the books altered are Esther (additions) and Daniel (additions). The controversial decision at Trent was brought upon due to the Protestant Reformation, which created Protestantism. All branches of Protestantism don't recognize the decision that was made during the Council of Trent.

Translating the Bible

The original languages of the various books of the Bible were Hebrew (for Old Testament books) and Koine Greek (for New Testament books). A small amount of the book of Daniel was originally written in Aramaic.

In the first few centuries after Christ the Bible was translated into a few other ancient languages (for example Latin) but it wasn't until the Protestant Reformation that widespread translation of the Bible into many languages (such as German and English) really began to occur.

In recent years there has been lots of activity in translating the Bible into many of the minor languages of the world.

Interpreting the Bible

Interpretation of the Bible is a complex issue. How a person interprets is dependant partly upon that person's presuppositions about the Bible. If a person comes to the Bible with the view that it is simply an ancient text full of mythology then his interpretation will be vastly different from someone who views the Bible as God's revelation.

Biblical Hermeneutics is the technical term for the study of interpreting and understanding the Bible and applying it to today's context. It is closely related to exegesis which is the study of understanding what the Biblical author's meant and what their audience would have understood.

Some Christians hold a literalistic or inerrant view of the Bible. Biblical inerrancy is the view that the Bible, as the inspired Word of God, is without error and is accurate in all aspects, including in aspects of history and science. Biblical infallibility on the other hand is the view that the Bible is free from errors on issues of faith and practice, but minor contradictions in history or science can be overlooked as insignificant to its spiritual purpose.

Protestant Christians generally hold to Sola Scriptura which is the teaching that the Bible is the final authority on matters of faith and that it alone gives sufficient information for all matters of faith. This stands in contrast to Orthodox and Catholic Christianity which accept tradition as playing an equally important role in matters of faith.

Bible Commentaries

Bible Dictionaries

Quotes

Abraham Lincoln

I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this book.

Patrick Henry

The Bible is worth all other books which have ever been printed.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

The Bible and the Church have been the greatest stumbling blocks in the way of women's emancipation.

Charles H. Spurgeon

Defend the Bible? I would just as soon defend a roaring lion.

Isaac Newton

There are more sure marks of authenticity in the Bible than in any profane history.

Isaac Asimov

Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.

Immanuel Kant

The existence of the Bible, as a book for the people, is the greatest benefit which the human race has ever experienced. Every attempt to belittle it is a crime against humanity.

Goethe'

Let mental culture go on advancing, let the natural sciences progress in ever greater extent and depth, and the human mind widen itself as much as it desires, beyond the elevation and moral culture of Christianity, as it shines forth in the gospels, it will not go.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in your reading have been like the blast of triumph out of Shakespeare, Seneca, Moses, John and Paul.

Lord Tennyson

Bible reading is an education in itself.

Thomas Huxley

The Bible has been the Magna Carta of the poor and oppressed. The human race is not in a position to dispense with It.

2 Timothy 3:16

Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness,

Links

Bible Study Links


Return to Christianity

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