02- What is The Bible

In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God, Amen

Lesson No. 2

What is The Bible

References:

Notes For Servants:

Objectives:

General: To learn the parts of the Bible      

Specific:       

Instructions:

Bible Verse:

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” (Ps 119:105)

Lesson:

WHAT IS THE BIBLE?

God speaks to us through His Holy WORD, in the Bible.  The Bible is the source for our knowledge of God. It contains the ways by which God has revealed Himself, His actions and His commandments to man. The promises of God have been recorded in the Bible in various themes and styles.  The men of God, filled with the Holy spirit, expressed God’s word in different ways of expression.

The books of the Bible, the Old Testament and the New Testament, were written over a long period of time. The Bible tells us how God created man in His own image and in his likeness.  But man disobeyed God and sinned before Him.

God did not abandon man, but cared for him; and for his return to the way of God. The Bible covers several thousand years of history.  God gave His laws and sent his prophets to lead humanity towards salvation.  The Old Testament prepared the way for God’s fulfillment of His promises.  In the New Testament, the promises of God for salvation have been fulfilled in Our Lord Jesus Christ.

LOOK AT YOUR BIBLE:

It contains the Old Testament and the New Testament.  Both the Old and the New Testament are made up of many books.  But “The Holy Bible” is still one book.  It is all unified in God’s salvation for man. The Old Testament books prepare the way for the Coming of Our Saviour Jesus Christ and the New Testament shows us the fulfillment of God’s promise and leads us to the salvation through Christ.

THE OLD TESTAMENT:

We read different styles and themes: History, wisdom, laws, prophecies, poetry and prose. Every writer of these books expressed God’s revelation to him in his style and in his own way of expression.

The first five books of the Old Testament are called PENTATEUCH (or Torah).  The book of Genesis starts with following “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”  The Genesis  means  beginning.  The second book “EXODUS” means (going out).   It tells the story of Moses and his people, and how they went out of Egypt. The other three books are Leviticus. Numbers and Deuteronomy. These are laws and rules for the life of the people~ forms of worship, relationships between people. etc.

The next set of books tell the story of the Hebrew people as they were ruled by their Judges and Kings, you may remember the names of Joshua, Samuel, King Saul, King David and King Solomon.  (Find their stories in your Bible).

Other books of the Old Testament include prayer, songs and wisdom. One of these books that we use most often in the Church is the book of Psalms.  The  last 17 books of the Old Testament are the writings of the prophets or stories about them.  The prophets prepare  the world for the coming of Our Saviour Jesus Christ.

THE NEW TESTAMENT:

The New Testament is the second part of the Bible.  The first four books are called the Gospels, their titles tell us the writer of the book.  The Gospels tell us how God sent His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ,  to be born from the Virgin Mary, to live on the earth, to teach us the new way of life, to die for our salvation on the Cross, to rise from the dead. The Book of Acts tells us how Jesus ascended into Heaven after telling his Apostles to go to all the world and teach them the Christian way of life. It also tells us how the Apostles received the gift of the Holy Spirit and how they preached the Gospel to the whole world and established the Christian Church.

The New Testament also contains letters or Epistles written by the Apostles to persons and to the Churches that they founded during their travels. Fourteen Epistles were written by the Apostle Paul and Seven by other Apostles. These letters contain spiritual teaching of how to live in the way of Christ.

The last book of the New Testament is called the Book of Revelation or Apocalypse. It describes a vision that St. John, one of the twelve disciples had seen, about the end of the world and the second coming of Jesus Christ.

THE APOCRYPHA:

The Apocryphal books were written after the time of Ezra and they were never recognized as Scripture by some of the Jew but they had their importance and they were honoured and dignified by others. The early Church Fathers (St. Augustine) received them and declared. them a part of the Holy Scripture according to the Church traditions and Councils.

The Books in the Apocrypha are listed below:

1. Tobit (A historical story)
2. Judith (A historical story)
3. The Wisdom (Wise sayings and proverbs)
4. Wisdom of Joshua the Son of Sirach
5. I and II Maccabees (The history of the Jews in the time of the Maccabees)

Conclusion: