Overview Of The 66 Books Of The Bible
This comprehensive overview of each of the 66 books of the Bible, introduces the reader to the structure, beauty, history and insights of the Bible.
It also reveals valid, time-tested and make sense answers to basic questions including:
- Is there a God in a heaven?
- Is there a devil in a hell?
- Are there visiting spirits?
- Is Jesus more than a man?
- Bible: relevant or redundant?
- Destiny: grave or eternal life?
- Are we predestined?
- Good God, bad world: WHY?
The overview helps the reader to go forward in faith, hope and love:
- With peace amid the storms of life
- Having faith, hope and love
- Experiencing loving relationships
An Overview Of The Old Testament & The New Testament
The Old Testament begins with the book of Genesis, which tells the story of how the world was created, and how God anointed his chosen people and taught them how to live. This includes famous stories like those of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, and Noah’s Ark.
After Genesis, the different books of the Old Testament relate the trials of the Israelites as they endure centuries of enslavement or captivity under different empires. There is a general pattern where God sends a prophet to teach the Israelites how to live and to lead them from hardship, but over time they lose faith and find themselves suffering new hardships. The most famous example is Moses leading his people out of slavery in Egypt–the people are impious and must wander the desert for forty years before their descendants can enter the promised land.
Some of the other important episodes from the Old Testament include the rise of King David, the building of the Temple in Jerusalem, and the Babylonian Captivity. The Old Testament also includes various sayings and songs about morality, god, and other esoteric subjects.
The New Testament is concerned with the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, which are the basis for Christianity. His life story is told in the four Gospels . Almost all of the other books are letters written by Saint Paul or other Christian teachers, discussing their beliefs or giving advice.
Disputed Spurious And Downright Heretical
Luther had issues with the book of James, which emphasized the role of “works” alongside faith, so he stuck James and Hebrews in the back of the Bible alongside Jude and Revelation, which he also thought were questionable. Combs says that in Luther’s original Bible, those four books don’t even appear in the table of contents.
Eusebius was a Christian historian writing in the early 300s who provided one of the early lists of which books were considered legit and which were borderline bogus.
Eusebius broke his list down into different categories: recognized, disputed, spurious and heretical. Among the “recognized” were the four gospels , Acts and Paul’s epistles. Under “disputed,” Eusebius included James and Jude the same books Luther didn’t like plus a few others that are now considered canon, like 2 Peter, 2 John and 3 John.
When Eusebius turns to the “spurious” and “heretical” categories, we get a glimpse into just how many other texts were in circulation in the second and third century C.E. Have you ever heard of the Apocalypse of Peter, the Epistle of Barnabas or the Gospel of Thomas? Combs says that there were hundreds of texts similar to those found in the New Testament and Old Testament that didn’t make it into the canon.
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The Prophetic Books Of The Bible
There have been prophets throughout every era of God’s relationship with mankind, but the books of the prophets address the “classical” period of prophecyduring the later years of the divided kingdoms of Judah and Israel, throughout the time of exile, and into the years of Israel’s return from exile. The Prophetic Books were written from the days of Elijah until the time of Malachi . They are further divided by Major and Minor Prophets.
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Why Did It Take So Long
The New Testament was not all neatly printed and bound by the MacedonianPub. Co. at Thessalonica shortly after Pauls death and sent out by thepallet load into all the bookstores and kiosks of the Roman Empire. Here aresix reasons why it took time for the books of the New Testament to be gatheredtogether.
How Many Books Are In The Bible
The current English Bible consists of 66 books with two distinct sections: The Old Testament and the New Testament. The two sections are arranged this way to highlight the birth of Jesus, with the Old Testament sharing the emerging prophecies of the Messiah.
- Blair ParkeWriter
- 202025 Jun
The most read book of all time is the Bible, surpassing favorites such as The Lord of the Rings series, the Harry Potter series, and even classics like The Diary of Anne Frank and To Kill a Mockingbird. It is recorded by Business Insider that the Bible has sold 3.9 billion copies over the last 50 years, while the Harry Potter series has sold 400 million copies.
What is it about the Bible that has made it the book to turn to for the last half-century? It is a book that also has various translations to choose from and even different representations among the Catholic, Jewish, and Protestant faiths. The Book of Hebrews states it best when explaining why the Word of God is something everyone is drawn to:
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart, .
Lets journey through the origins of the Bible, learning as we go of how the Bible has affected not only the lives of countless people but has also become the foundational building blocks for the leading faiths in our world today.
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How We Got The 27 Books Of The New Testament
The selection of the New Testament books isnt as neat and tidy as the Old Testament. There was a lot of confusion and debate in the early church about what was considered inspired by God, what was completely made up, and what was simply something that was written by a Christian, but not directly inspired.
Yet despite all the debate from people who criticize the Bible today, the uncertainty of the New Testament gets cleared up when we understand why Christians debated certain books, and how we ultimately came to a conclusion on the 27 we have today.
But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of ones own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
The greatest requirement for something to be considered inspired by God is the author. We know that all those who truly repent of their sins and ask Christ to save them are given the same Holy Spirit. We also know that we can only speak and understand truth about God because of His work in our lives. However, that doesnt mean that anything we say should be considered inspired by God in the same way, because we are capable of mixing our false understanding with the truth of God.
In addition to a book needing to claim some kind of authorship by an apostle, the 27 books in our New Testament are those that were clearly written in the first century.
Why does this matter?
Books Of The Bible List And Their Meanings And Authors Epistles
These books were written after Jesus died, was raised and went back to heaven.
Christianity as a religion was new and young. Judaism was still the primary religion.
Many people who embraced Christianity experienced confusion as they converted from one belief to the next.
Some got weary and discouraged because of persecution and mistreatment.
These facts shape the names, meanings and authors of the Epistles.
Meaning: This was a letter written to the church located in Rome.
The Apostle Paul
Meaning: These were letters written to the church located in Corinth.
The Apostle Paul
Meaning: This was a letter written to the church located in Galatia.
The Apostle Paul
Meaning: This was a letter written to the church located in Ephesus.
The Apostle Paul
Meaning: This was a letter written to the church located in Phillipi.
The Apostle Paul
Meaning: This was a letter written to the church located in Colossae.
The Apostle Paul
Meaning: This was a letter written to the church located in Thessalonica.
The Apostle Paul
Meaning: These were letter written to Timothy who was a young man, a missionary and a leader in the early church. The aim was to give him leadership advice as well as to encourage him.
The Apostle Paul
NEW TESTAMENT Books of the Bible, authors and meanings
Meaning: This was a letter written to Titus who was a missionary in the early church and a mentee of the Apostle Paul.
The Apostle Paul
The Apostle Paul
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Whats The Difference Between The Hebrew Bible And The Protestant Bible
How the Bible was established to include what it does of stories and parables is part of the canonization process, which is, initially, a Christian communion performed by the Roman Catholic Church to appoint selected deceased members of the church into the determined canon, or list, to be considered a saint in the church.
The same process was applied to determine what books of the Bible would be included, seen as to whether they were inspired by the Spirit or not, to be the authorized Word of God. It comes from the Greek word kanon, which means reed or measurement.
The Hebrew Bible consists of 24 books, believed to be determined by the councils of Jamnia in AD 90 and 118 as the list of books to be part of the Bible. There is still debate over what all the council selected to be canonized of the Bible, as this council has only been mentioned in ancient Hebrew writings and no confirmation has been found that this council existed or what they canonized. It is believed the Hebrew Bible was written between 1200 to 100 BC and has been in its current form since the second century BC.
The Council Of Jamnia
Between A.D. 90 and 100, a group of Jewish scholars met at Jamnia inIsrael to consider matters relating to the Hebrew Scriptures. It has been suggestedthat the canon of the Jewish Scriptures was agreed here the reality isthat there is no contemporary record of the deliberations at Jamnia and ourknowledge is therefore left to the comments of later rabbis. The idea that therewas no clear canon of the Hebrew Scriptures before A.D. 100 is not only inconflict with the testimony of Josephus and others, but has also been seriouslychallenged more recently. It is now generally accepted that Jamnia was not acouncil nor did it pronounce on the Jewish canon rather it was an assemblythat examined and discussed the Hebrew Scriptures. The purpose of Jamnia wasnot to decide which books should be included among the sacred writings, butto examine those that were already accepted.7
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How We Got The 39 Books Of The Old Testament
This one is actually incredibly simple. Our books of the Old Testament are simply what the Jews used throughout history, called the Hebrew Bible. The holy words of God that theyd been protecting and preserving were clearly what God wanted Israel to have because they were His words to them. Because of that, we only use what Gods chosen people have been using before Christ came to Earth.
Although we have the same words as the Hebrew Bible, the two are arranged quite differently.
- The Hebrew Bible has only 24 books in it, compared to our 39 in the Old Testament
- Their Bible has books like Kings, Chronicles, and Samuel, while we break them up into 2 separate books
- Likewise, our 12 minor prophets like Jonah and Habakkuk are all combined into a single book called The Book of Twelve
- Although our first 5 books of the Bible are in the same order, the rest of their books are grouped together in the categories of Former Prophets, Latter Prophets, and Writings
- Ours is grouped into History, Poetry, and Prophecy
Why the difference? It all comes down to tradition and familiarity.
Before Christ, the Jews had been scattered about. Many wanted to read and understand their sacred book, but fewer and fewer could read it in Hebrew, the original language of the Old Testament. It would be like us wanting to read the New Testament in its original Greek we simply dont know the language, and back then few people had the time or resources to learn a new language.
Notes On Biblical Terms
There are a few cases of terms that crop up a lot in the books of the bible, but that get confused in everyday language. We just want to focus in on two the different terms for “God’s chosen people” in the Bible, and how God is identified and named.
The terms “Hebrew,” “Jew,” and “Israelite” are often used interchangeably, but they do mean slightly different things, as addressed in this informative post from Chabad.
The first person identified as a Hebrew is Abraham, and so in a sense the Hebrews are descendants of Abraham. More specifically, the etymology of Hebrew implies an individual who is across or has crossed something, and so it is often used to describe the people of Abraham when not in Israel/Canaan, and when resisting cultural pressures and temptations from outside groups. Joseph is called a Hebrew when in Egypt. Lastly, Hebrew is often used to refer to the Hebrew-speaking Jews of Roman Judaea.
Israelite more specifically refers to descendants of Jacob or Israel, the ancestor of the twelve tribes of Israel who later would be split between the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. It is important to note that Israelite is different from the current national demonym Israeli, indicating a person from the country of Israel.
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Living The 66 Books Of The Bible
In Dr. Jeremiahs first book, Understanding the 66 Books of the Bible, he helped thousands of Bible readers fully comprehend the place and purpose of every book in the Bible. Now, he wants to help you live out the entire breadth and depth of Scripture in his new companion volume Living the 66 Books of the Bible.
You will learn how to put the Word of God into action by identifying each books purpose, theme, challenge, verse, and prayer.
You can be transformed in sixty-six ways! Thats the Lords plan. Nothing can touch this world as deeply as someone living the truths of the Bible out in their livesit could be you!
How Well Do You Know The Bible
This 52-question quiz covers a wide range of topics and pulls from both the Old Testament and the New Testament. These multiple choice questions wont ask you to recall obscure Bible facts. Instead, this quiz will test your biblical literacy: how well you know and understand the Bible.
At the end of the test, youll receive a score and have an opportunity to review any questions you got wrong.
This Bible trivia quiz should take about ten minutes to complete.
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