2. THE BIBLE
• “Bible” from Greek “biblia” meaning
books.
• It is a collection of 73 books,
written by numerous authors who
were inspired by God to write.
• The books were written over a
period between 1000 BC & 100 AD.
3. LIST OF BOOKS IN THE BIBLE
CANON- The word "canon" means
"standard" or "rule."
• It is the list of authoritative and
inspired Scriptures.
• Different religions have different
canons.
5. • The Hebrew canon contains 24 books, one
for each of the scrolls on which these
works were written in ancient times.
• The Hebrew Bible is organized into three
main sections: called the Tanakh
• The Torah, or “Teaching,” also called the
Pentateuch or the “Five Books of Moses”;
• The Neviʾim, or Prophets;
• The Ketuvim, or Writings.
7. • The Neviʾim-
• Former Prophets—Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and
Kings
• The Latter Prophets—
• Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and together in one book
known as “The Book of the Twelve”, the 12 Minor
Prophets
• Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah,
Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah,
Malachi.
9. • Originally the Old Testament was
written in Hebrew, language of the
Israelites.
• Later it was translated into Aramaic,
then Greek.
• Greek translation done by the Jewish
community living in Alexandria, Egypt,
around 250 BC. There were 70 (72)
translators.
10. • In the process, 7 more books, considered
to be inspired too, were added to the
original 39 books of the Hebrew text.
• Tobit, Judith, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees,
Wisdom of Soloman, Sirach
(Ecclesiasticus) & Baruch.
• This Greekk translation of the Hebrew
Scripture with the added 7 books is called
the Septuagint (Gk septuaginta = 70)
11. • Jesus & His disciples spoke Aramaic &
Greek. They would be familiar with
both the Hebrew Text (39) & the
Septuagint (46)
• Eg. Isaiah 7:14
• The original Hebrew has “and a young
woman shall conceive (Heb. Almah)
• The Septuagint has: “and a virgin shall
conceive” (Gk. Parthenos) used in
Matthew.
12. THE CATHOLIC CANON
• THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ACCEPTED
BOTH THE HEBREW i.e. 36 BOOKS AND
SEPTUANGINT i.e. 46 BOOKS AS ITS
OLD TESTAMENT CANON
• Catholics ACCEPTED 27 BOOKS AS
NEW TESTAMENT CANON.
13. PROTESTANT CANON
• Martin Luther decided that since the Jews
rejected the Greek Septuagint he too
rejected the Septuagint.
• He translated the Bible into German &
placed the 7 additional books separately at
the end of the OT under “Apocrypha”
(hidden writing).
14. • He did not regard them as
scripture but as “useful & good
reading”
• Other Protestant Churches that
came into being later, all
adopted Luther’s decision. Thus
Protestant bibles have only 39
books in the OT
15. HOW THE BIBLE CAME TO BE WRITTEN
• ORAL TRADITION- words communicated by
word of mouth
• WRITTEN WORDS- words put down in
writing.
• REVELATION- It is the gradual, progressive
unfolding of God’s plan of salvation to
humankind.
16. INSPIRATION
• Inspiration is the supernatural influence of the
Holy Spirit on the sacred writers, moving and
impelling them to write in such a manner that
they firstly rightly understood, then willed
faithfully to write down, and finally expressed in
apt words and with infallible truth all the things,
and those only, which He ordered.
17. • The Bible is a co-authored book.
a. God is the primary author;
b. Men of God were the
secondary authors.
c. The result is that one and the
same set of words are both God’s
and man’s.
18. • The Means of Inspiration
• 1. Men of God
Heb. 1:1.--“God who at various times and
in different ways spoke in time past to the
fathers by the prophets.”
Zech. 7:12.--“They made their hearts like
flint, refusing to hear the law and the
words which the Lord of hosts had sent by
His Spirit through the former prophets.”
19. • 2 Peter 1:21.—“For prophecy never
came by the will of man, but holy men
of God spoke as they were moved by
the Holy Spirit.”
• 2 Tim. 3:16 “Every scripture inspired of
God is also profitable for teaching, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction
which is in righteousness.”
20. WHAT INSPIRATION IS NOT
• GOD DIDN’T LITERALLY PEN DOWN THE
WORDS OF SCRIPTURE
• HE DIDN’T DICTATE THE WORDS
VERBATIM
• THE BIBLE DIDN’T FALL FROM HEAVEN
21. The Bible is 100% Human and 100% God
• 1. It was written by human beings
(about 40 of them).
• 2. It was written in human languages
(Hebrew & Greek).
• 3. It has human literary styles (poetry,
prose & history)
22. Example of literary style
• Anthropomorphism--"God repented
of the evil, that he had said that he
would do unto them; and he did it not."
(Jonah 3:10)
But God does not repent:
“The strength of Israel will not lie nor
repent: for he is not a man, that he
should repent.” (1 Sam. 15:29)
23. • 5. It reflects different human
thought patterns (logical, practical, a
memory lapse).
• 6. It reveals human emotions
(weeping, rejoicing, and anger).
• 7. It has specific human interests
(medical, herdsman, shepherd, and
nature).
24. • 8. It expresses human culture (kissing,
foot washing, veils, and reclining at
meals).
• 9. It utilizes other written human sources
(eg. Book of the “Wars of the Lord”—
Num. 21:14, Enuma Elish)
• 10. It reflects human limitations (matter,
space, & time).
25. INERRANCY OF THE BIBLE
• The truth of the Bible is that
“Scripture teach firmly, faithfully,
and without error, that truth
which God wanted put into the
writings for the sake of our
salvation.”
26. •“Scriptures” constitute a
written record of God’s
communication with
human beings. It must not
necessarily equated with
the “Word of God” as
such.
28. • The WORD OF GOD is what God Himself has
uttered and which is nothing else but the
truth.
• The Scriptures is the Word of God written
by human beings. It contains the truth of
the Word God but also errors resulting from
human failures such as spelling mistakes,
grammatical errors, inaccurate data, etc.
• Such mistakes are not that of God but
humans.
29. compare….
“Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he
began to reign; he reigned one year in
Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athaliah, a
granddaughter of King Omri of Israel. (2Ki
8:26 NRS)
“Ahaziah was forty-two years old when he
began to reign; he reigned one year in
Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athaliah, a
granddaughter of Omri.” (2Ch 22:2 NRS)
30. • Solomon had four thousand stalls for
horses and chariots, and twelve
thousand horses, which he stationed in
the chariot cities and with the king in
Jerusalem. (2Ch 9:25 NRS)
• Solomon also had forty thousand stalls
of horses for his chariots, and twelve
thousand horsemen. (1Ki 4:26 NRS)
31. • The Bible says: Paul's companions
"heard" the voice (Acts 9:7),
• but also that they did not "hear" the
voice (Acts 22:9).
• The Context: They heard the sound,
but did not hear (i.e., understand) the
meaning.
32. • So in talking of the truth of the Bible we
are not just interested in the truth of
certain happenings but the truth of the
meaning of these happenings.
• The question is not just what exactly
happened or how they happened, but
why the stories of the various events
have been written and kept and what
message God wants to convey to us.
