The Bible 3/4

TheLegalChristian
Sep 21, 2022
5 min read

The Bible has over 5 billion copies sold worldwide, and is arguably one of the top selling books-in history.

According to this website, there are over 20 million Bibles sold each year, 1.66 million sold each month, 384,615 Bibles sold per week and 54,945 sold every day. Even I was shocked by these figures haha!

So what is the Bible about exactly? What does it contain? Why is it so popular? Does it still have relevance today?

In post 3/4 in my first series, 'Christianity Introduced', I bring you some insight into this profound book. As always, I hope this blesses you!

What is it?

It is a collection of 66 books and writings that emerged out of the history of the people of ancient Israel. They were written by 40 authors, during different time periods, and took around a thousand years to complete.

Various themes which many can relate to today, such as finding one's purpose, fear, loneliness and more are some of the many themes which are mentioned within the Bible. God's plan, will and purpose are also weaved into the collection of books.

"The Bible alone explains the original plan of God, how it was corrupted and how God has provided for man’s restoration through His Son Jesus. The message of faith in God has never changed."- Ward Cushman

Hebrews 4:12 (NLT) - "For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires."

It is split into 2 testaments- the Old and the New Testament. I'll go into more detail below.

The Old Testament (OT):

The OT is the first section of the Bible, and is made up of 39 books. It covers the creation of the world, the famous story of Noah's Ark, David and Goliath, Daniel and the Lion's Den and many more stories. It ends with the Jews being expelled to Babylon.

- The OT is also known as the 'TANAK', with each of the letters symbolising a word. T stands for 'Torah' (The Law), which are the first 5 books of The Bible- Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These also make up Israel's foundational story.

- Next you have the 'Nevi'im'- the Hebrew word for 'prophets'. Books under these tell of the story of Israel from the prophets perspective, and contain poetic books of the prophets themselves. Examples include: Joshua, 1 and 2 Samuel, Ezra and Esther.

- Then you have the 'Ketuvim', the Hebrew word for 'writings'. These books are a series of wisdom, narrative and poetic books. Examples include: Psalm, Proverbs, Daniel and Habakkuk.

Source: Brett Jordan, Pexels

The New Testament (NT):

This is a section of 27 books, detailing the story of Jesus. His birth, life, teachings, death and resurrection are mainly focused on the first 4 books in the NT, which are also known as the 'Good News' or the Gospels. It also focuses on the early days of Christianity, and how it spread throughout different regions. The NT was originally written in Greek.

Source: Philip Wels, Pexels

The Apostle Paul, one of the leaders of the early church wrote over half of the NT. His 'epistles', also known as letters, were distributed throughout the church sometime around 50 A.D. He used to be a heavy persecutor of those who followed Jesus, but then was changed by the power of Jesus, to be used as a person to spread the Gospel and the teachings of Jesus.

The book of Acts details how Christianity spread into different regions and places, and details how the disciples of Jesus bought hope, healing and faith to such communities and people.

The book of Revelation is about the second coming of Jesus and the end times. It mentions the coming events that will occur in the future. It's a very symbolic book and many may not even like reading it. At the end of this all, Jesus will come back to separate those who truly follow Him, from those who don't, and judge the earth (Matthew 25:31-46).

Why do Christians rely on the Bible?

- Jesus trusted in The Word. In Matthew 4:1-11, we see Jesus respond and fight back with the Word of God, when He was being tested by satan. We can also see this in Matthew 19:1-11.

- We believe that it is the inspired Word of God. Because of this, we want to read and know what is says, so we can put what it talks about into practice. If we know and obey The Word, we then know Jesus too (John 1:1, verse 14).

- Its historicity. For example, in 1906, Hugo Winckler was doing some excavation in a Turkish city, and he uncovered 10,000 clay tablets that documented the history of the Hittite nation (mentioned in Joshua 11:3 for example). They also discovered that the area was actually the capital of the former Hittite nation. Avarham Biran discovered a stone of an Israelite King, with the inscription, 'From the House of David' (mentioned in 1 Kings 12:19).

Source: (A Hittite Tablet) The British Museum.org

2 Timothy 3:16 (NLT)- "All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right."

Note:

There has been a lot of debate on what writings and books to include within the Bible. The Roman Catholic church introduced the 'Deutero-canon' books, which are the other second temple writings. Some Orthodox Christians included even more writings from other second temple literature. During the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s, Protestant Christians wanted to go back to the oldest/original writings of the Bible (ie, of the prophets and the apostles), just the Old and the New Testament (also known as the 'Canon', which is what many, including myself, use today.

Does the Bible still have influence today?

Absolutely! To quote the March 2007 edition of Time magazine, the Bible, "has done more to shape literature, history, entertainment, and culture than any book ever written. Its influence on world history is unparalleled, and shows no signs of abating."

The Bible is also still relevant today. It contains ways on how we should love, treat others, sort out dilemmas, prophecies, how the structure of the church should be, instructions on how we should live and more. It also has a lot of influence on history and literature, especially in the Western world too. As well as being relevant today, I and many other believe that it has relevance for the future too-mainly things and events to come.