Basic Bible Knowledge How to easily access texts in the Bible.

1. BIBLE ACCESS

2. INTRODUCTION
 The Bible is the only book in the world which units all Christian Religions in
the World.
 Many Christians especially protestants use it as the only source of faith
(Sola Scriptura) unlike Catholics who regard it as one of the sources of
faith, in addition to the Sacred Tradition and the Magisterium.
 The Bible is regarded as the Word of God, but What does this mean?

3. THE BIBLE
 The word “Bible” come from the Greek
“τὰ βιβλία (ta biblìa)”, which is a plural of
“βιβλίον (biblìon)”, which means booklet.
 Literally, the Bible can be referred to as
booklets. The greek word “τὰ βιβλία”
which is plural was later used in
ecclesiastical latin in singular as “Biblia”.
 Therefore, from the latin word Biblia, we
derive the word Bible.
 So, the Bible is referred to as a collection
of sacred texts or scriptures.
Theologically, it is referred to as Sacred
scriptures.

4. What is Sacred
Scripture?

5. To understand sacred Scripture, we must first
understand what revelation is.
Revelation come from the word “Reveal”.
Hence Revelation is how God, the creator makes
Himself known to his creatures.
God has made Himself Known to His Creatures
especially Human beings in three different ways;
1. Through the material Universe
2. Through the Natural Moral Law
3. Through public Revelation

6. God Reveals Himself through the Material
Universe
 By use of our reason, we can comprehend the obvious order, beauty and
power of the material world.
 Many times we exclaim, what a beautiful flower! Wow, it’s a good scenery!
 Such comments express an appreciation of the order, power and beauty of
nature and acknowledgement that there must be an all-powerful divine
being responsible for the universe.
 St. Paul affirms this in his letter to the Romans 1:20, “Ever since the
creation of the World, His invisible nature, namely; His eternal power and
deity has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made”.
 So, scripture tells us that creation reveals the creator.

7. God Reveals Himself Through the
Natural Law
 Natural Law is the Original moral sense which enables man to discern by
reason the good and the evil, the truth and the lie.
 The natural law is written and engraved in the heart of each and every
man, because it is human reason that moves us to do good and forbid evil.
 In Romans 2:15, St. Paul calls it the law written in our hearts.
 The demands of natural law, reflect God’s eternal law, that is, what the
creator expects of His Creatures.

8. God Reveals Himself Through Public
Revelation
 God also revealed His will and Nature by communicating to inspired
prophets. In Exodus 3:14, God revealed to Moses that His name was “I
AM”.
 He also directly revealed the moral law when he gave Moses the ten
commandments at Mountain Sinai. (Deuteronomy 5:6-21)
 This type of revelation is what we refer to as deposit of faith, and it binds
everyone.
 Public revelation comes in two forms;
1. Sacred Tradition
2. Sacred scripture

9. Sacred Tradition is divine revelation that was not
written down, but which the church has
faithfully transmitted from the beginning.

10. Sacred scripture is divine public revelation
written down under the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit. Therefore, the Bible is referred to as the
Word of God, because it was inspired by the
Holy Spirit.

11. ACCESS TO THE
SCRIPTURE

12.  Easy Access to sacred Scripture should be
provided for the Christian faithful.
 The church has thus accepted as her own that
the ancient Greek translation of the Old
Testament which is called the “Septuangint
(LXX)” 250-125 BC,
 It also has special respect to the other Eastern
translations and Latin ones, especially the
“Vulgate”.

14. During Vatican II, the church in her effort to
promote accessibility of the word of God permitted
the translation of the Bible into different
languages, basing on the original script. That is
why Today we have the Bible in English and our
local languages.

15.  For one to have easy access of texts in the Bible, he
or she needs to have knowledge of the “Canon of the
Bible”.
 By “Canon of the Bible”, we mean the authoritative
list of the inspired books that make up the Bible.
 This canon was approved at the synod of Rome in AD
382 during the reign of Pope Damascus, and later at
the councils of Hippo in 393AD and Carthage in
397AD.

16. THE CANON OF THE BIBLE

17. The word testament as used in the Bible
refers to a pact or an agreement or a
covenant.
The Old Testament refers to a pact God
made with the Patriarchs and the Jewish
people.
The New Testament refers to the covenant
that God made with all people.

18. The Old Testament Canon
 In 382AD, Pope Damascus wrote a decree
listing 46 books of the Old Testament and 27
books of the New testament as the Canon of
the Bible.
 The 46 books were the only ones used by the
Christians for 16 centuries as the canon for the
Old Testament and were Virtually uncontested.

19.  However, in 1529, Martin Luther during the
protestant reformation, proposed to adopt the canon
used by Rabbinic Judaism of 39 books as the Old
Testament Canon.
 This why you find that
 protestant Bibles have 39 books while Catholic Bibles
have 46 books.
 As a reader, you need to know which Bible you are
using.

20. The Old Testament Canon is Divided
into 4 categories of book;
Books of the law (Pentateuch)
Historical books
Wisdom Books
The Prophets

21. THE CHRISTIAN OLD TESTAMENT
ORTHODOX CATHOLIC PROTESTANT
The Law
Genesis Genesis Genesis
Exodus Exodus Exodus
Leviticus Leviticus Leviticus
Numbers Numbers Numbers
Deuteronomy Deuteronomy Deuteronomy

22. Historical Books
Joshua Joshua Joshua
Judges Judges Judges
Ruth Ruth Ruth
I Samuel I Samuel I Samuel
II Samuel II Samuel II Samuel
I Kings I Kings I Kings
II Kings II Kings II Kings
I Chronicles I Chronicles I Chronicles
II Chronicles II Chronicles II Chronicles
I Esdras (A)
Ezra Ezra Ezra
Nehemiah Nehemiah Nehemiah
Tobit Tobit
Judith Judith
Esther Esther Esther
Maccabees I Maccabees I
Maccabees II Maccabees II
Maccabees III

23. Wisdom Books
Job Job Job
Psalms (151) Psalms (150) Psalms (150)
Proverbs Proverbs Proverbs
Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs Song of Songs Song of Songs
Wisdom Wisdom
Sirach Sirach

24. The Prophets
Isaiah Isaiah Isaiah
Jeremiah Jeremiah Jeremiah
Lamentations Lamentations Lamentations
Baruch Baruch
Letter of Jeremiah
Ezekiel Ezekiel Ezekiel
Daniel Daniel Daniel
Hosea Hosea Hosea
Joel Joel Joel
Amos Amos Amos
Obadiah Obadiah Obadiah
Jonah Jonah Jonah
Micah Micah Micah
Nahum Nahum Nahum
Habakkuk Habakkuk Habakkuk
Zephaniah Zephaniah Zephaniah
Haggai Haggai Haggai
Zechariah Zechariah Zechariah
Malachi Malachi Malachi
49 46 39

25. The New Testament
The canon for the New Testament is the
same for both Catholics and Protestants. It is
comprised of 27 books.
These books are divided into 4 categories;
 the gospels,
 the History of the early Church,
 The Epistles (letters)
 The book of Prophecy.

27. TEXTUAL DIVISION OF THE BIBLE
 Originally, the Bible was not divided into chapters and verses as we know it
today.
 In the 13th Century, Archbishop of Canterbury, Stephen Langton was the
first to divide the Bible into chapters.
 In 1528, Santes Pagninus divided the Old testament chapters into verses.
 In 1551, Robert Etienne divided the New Testament chapters into verses.

28. summary
 In order to access the texts in the Bible easily, you need to do the following;
 Know which type of Bible you are using, whether Protestant or Catholic
 Examples of protestant Bibles include, Good News Bible, King James Bible
 Examples of Catholic Bibles include; Holy Bible (Revised Standard, version), Jerusalem
Bible, New American Bible
 Know the Books in the Bible and in which Canon they fall.
 The Catholic Canon of the Bible consists of 46 books in the Old Testament
 The Protestant Canon of the Bible has 39 books in the Old Testament
 Both Catholic and Protestant canons have 27 books in the New Testament
 Therefore, the Protestant Bible has 66 books while the Catholic Bible has 73 books
 Distinguish a Chapter from a verse
 Verses fall under Chapters

29. conclusion
 I believe that after this class, your love for the Bible has tremendously
increased.
 So, Each one of you should open and read John 15:16, which encourages
us to bear fruit which will last.
 As a Christian, remember to get familiar with your Bible and read at least
one chapter every day.
 When you do this, you will find it easy to access texts in the Bible, since the
Bible will be your daily companion.
 You are now ambassadors of the “Word”

30. Remember to Read your Bible
and pray every day, if you want
to grow.