2 Timothy
3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for
teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man
of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Thus, the Bible is
meant to be understood. However, there is a common thought among society is
that the Bible is too difficult to understand. On the other hand, some people
say, “I would read the Bible if only I could comprehend what it is saying.” Or
“I have tried to read the Bible yet it didn’t make any sense at all.” Maybe you
have shared some of this sediment. It is for this reason that I am beginning a
new section within our newsletters. Once a person is able to comprehend for
themselves the truths contained in God’s Word, their lives begin to become transformed
for “it is the power of God” (Rom. 1:16).
The most
basic principle in understanding the Bible pertains to its literary divisions. The
Bible was written from an ancient Eastern mindset which tends to think
topically rather than chronologically as we do here the modern Western world.
Therefore, if a person would begin reading the Bible starting which Matthew and
go through John, it would appear that Jesus was born, lived, died, and was
raised from the dead four times. However, that is clearly not the case!
Before we
consider the literary divisions of the Bible we must first ask the basic
question, what determines if a writing is actually Scripture? First, content: does
it contradict the clear teaching of the rest of the Bible? Second, authorship: is
the author a prophet, apostle or a close associate of a prophet or an apostle? In
order for someone to have been a prophet, 100% of their predictions had to have
been perfectly accurate. In order for a person to have been an apostle, they
had to have been a follower of Jesus from the time of His baptism through His
ascension. Third, universal acceptance: the assembly of believers living during
the Old Testament (OT) time frame (Jews) universally accepted only the Hebrew OT
(Genesis through Malachi), and the early church universally accepted only
Matthew through Revelation as the New Testament (NT) writings. Therefore, based
on this criteria, the Bible
consists of 66 books, written over a 1,600 year time frame by over 40 different
earthly authors.
The
first literary division is the OT. When we look throughout the OT, we find a
unity, which all in some way or another, points to Someone—Jesus, who was going
to come to earth to reunite mankind to God and take the penalty which sin
demands (Rom. 6:23). The second literary division is the NT. Throughout the NT,
we find two primary messages. First, we learn about the fulfillment of the OT
prophecies: that Someone—Jesus, did in fact come. During this time, He lived a
perfect life, was crucified (paying the penalty of sin) and rose the grave thus
enabling the promise of eternal life to be extended to everyone who will accept
the gift as Scripture teaches. Thus through His actions, He proved that He was
the Someone predicted throughout the OT based on the fulfilled prophecies. Second,
the NT teaches about how Someone—Jesus, is going to come back again.
Old
Testament—39 total books
|
New
Testament—27 total books
|
||
5
|
Books of Law
(Genesis through Deuteronomy)
|
4
|
Books of Jesus’
Biography (Matthew through John)
|
12
|
Books of History
(Joshua through Nehemiah)
|
1
|
Book of history
(Acts)
|
5
|
Books of Poetry
(Job through Song of Solomon)
|
14
|
Letters of Paul
(Romans through Hebrews)
|
5
|
Books of Major
Prophets (Isaiah through Daniel)
|
7
|
Letters from
Others (James, 1 & 2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude)
|
12
|
Books of Minor
Prophets (Hosea through Malachi)
|
1
|
Book of Prophecy
(Revelation)
|
Certain
churches add a third literary division to their Bibles known as the Apocrypha.
The Apocrypha is a collection of extra books which are found in the Greek Translation of the OT known as the
Septuagint (LXX). Yet the OT was originally written in Hebrew. The Apocrypha
does contain some helpful historical information both for seeing the
fulfillment of some OT prophecies and for understanding some of the background
for the NT.
However, as one
examines the evidence the conclusion can easily be made that the Apocrypha
should not be accepted as part of the Bible for the following reasons. First, the
Apocrypha itself does not claim to be the inspired Word of God. Second, the NT
writers who quoted from the LXX never quoted from the Apocrypha. Third, the
Apocrypha was written during the 400 year period of silence between the time of
Malachi and Matthew. This was a time when there were no prophets and the
Apocrypha itself admits this (1 Maccabees 4:46; 9:27; 14:41). If there were no
prophets during this time, then Scripture could not have been written during
this time either. Fourth, some of the contents of the Apocrypha contradict the
clear teaching of the rest of the Bible: purgatory (see 2 Cor. 5:6-8),
almsgiving for the forgiveness of sins, the command to use magic, etc. Fifth,
Jesus Himself did not recognize the Apocrypha. In Luke 24:44, Jesus affirmed
“the Law of Moses” (Genesis through Deuteronomy), “the Prophets” (Isaiah
through Malachi), and the Psalms. In the Hebrew OT, “the Psalms” was the first
book and a representative of what is known as “the Writings.” The Writings
include Joshua through Song of Solomon.
May these words
help you to understand God’s Word, and may they guide you to the peace, joy,
love, purpose, strength, encouragement, comfort, hope, and eternal life which
are found throughout the pages of the Bible!
In His service,
Matt
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