The Bible (also referred to as the Holy Bible) is God’s Word revealed to mankind and written down by human authors who were inspired by Him.
It is a collection of 66 books written by around 40 different authors over a period of 1,500 years and it is not a random collection of books and stories – it is God’s Story.
All of the books in the Bible fit into the main theme of God’s restoration of the world to His original design through Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 1:9-10 summarises the whole Bible this way “he (God) made known to us the mystery of his will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under (Jesus) Christ.”
The Bible is arranged in two main sections called the Old Testament and the New Testament.
The Old Testament consists of 39 books which are about God’s relationship with the people of Israel and is organised into the following themes
- The Law – 5 books of Genesis to Deuteronomy which are generally attributed to Moses and
contain the Law of Moses
- History – 12 books of Joshua to Esther which commence where the books of the Law end
- Poetry – 5 books of Job to Song of Songs (Song of Solomon) which consist of wisdom
literature, songs and narratives
- Major Prophets – 5 books of Isaiah to Daniel
- Minor Prophets – 12 books of Hosea to Malachi
The New Testament consists of 27 books which are about Jesus and the church that He established and is organised into the following themes
- The Gospels – 4 books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John which have as their theme the life
of Jesus
- History - the book of Acts the theme of which is the history of the early church
- Letters – 21 books of Romans to Jude – which were letters to churches and individuals
written mostly by Paul and several others
- Prophecy – the book of Revelation which has the theme of Jesus Second Coming and
Leadership.
Due to the desire to have the most accurate translation of the Bible from the original languages into English, and to make God more understandable to people over time, there have been many versions of the Bible available. Whilst there are differences between these versions depending on the language usage at the time they were produced and their intended readers they are generally consistent with God’s message of love, hope, salvation and restoration.
The Bible is available in the format of one physical book consisting of both the Old and the New Testament and the New Testament is also available in the format of a separate physical book.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
The format of the Bible that we provide is the New Testament NIV (New International Version).
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