WHAT IS THE BIBLE ABOUT?

The word Bible means "book". The Bible was given this name because it is the Book of God's words to us. The Bible is also sometimes called Scripture, a word meaning "something written". The Bible is like a library of 66 books. But all the books within the Bible talk about the same subject: God's message to us. The Bible tells us about God, show us god's mighty acts in the lives o his people, and describes how people responded to God. From he Bible we learn what God is like and what he expects of us.

HOW THE BIBLE WAS WRITTEN:

It took about 1,500 years for the whole Bible to be written - from Genesis, written at the time of Moses, to Revelations, written by the apostle John about 65 years after Jesus' death. The books of the Bible had many different authors, living at different times and in different places . Yet not one of these writers contradicts another. God guided them so that they wrote in their own words what he wanted them to say. this means that the Bible is a completely dependable and trustworthy book. We can believe everything it says because it comes from God. 

THE OLD TESTAMENT:

The Bible has two major parts - the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is a collection of 39 books. Both Jews and Christians accept these books as Scripture. The Old Testament starts with the creation of the universe and of the human race. Then it continues with the history of God's chosen people - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants, whom God formed into the nation of Israel. In the Old Testament God begins to show his plan for saving people from sin. Through his prophets he promised many times to send the Messiah (Jesus Christ), the saviour of all sinners.

THE NEW TESTAMENT:

The new Testament is made up of 27 books accepted by Christians as scripture. It tells about the coming of the Messiah (Jesus Christ), and about the beginning of the Christian church. It describes the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. it explains why he died, and it teaches us how we can be saved from sin. 

HOW THE BIBLE CAME TO US:

When the books of the Bible were fist written, the only way people could have a copy was for someone to write it out entirely by hand. Men called scribes, who spent their entire day copying the Bible letter by letter, did this work. Because making a bible was a long, tiresome job, few people had their own copy.

The Old Testament was first written in the Hebrew and Aramaic languages. About 250 years before Jesus Christ's birth, it was translated into Greek (this text was called the Septuagint). All o the New Testament was written in Greek. About 350 years after Jesus' death, Jerome, who was a leader in the early church, translated the bible into Latin, the language commonly spoken by many people at that time. Several hundred years later, most people no longer spoke Latin. But even so, Jerome's translation, called the Vulgate, was the official Bible in Western Europe for more than 1,000 years. 

In the late 1300's, John Wycliffe came to believe that it was important for all Christians to read the Bible in their own language. He and his followers were the first to translate the whole Bible into English. but because the printing press had not yet been invented, copies were made by hand and very few were available. About 140 years later, William Tyndale translated the New Testament from Greek to English. at that time the printing press was available, so Tyndale's Bible was the first English Bible printed on a press.

In 1611 the best - known English Bible, the King James Version, was published. This is the Bible that I use and trust in. I will send you a Overview of the whole Bible in the next segment of this study. 

KEEP THE FAITH!!!!

-Bishop T. W. Jackson I, ThM