I was brought up to follow Christ

Understanding the Bible

"Behind and beneath the Bible, above and beyond the Bible, is the God of the Bible."

The Bible is God's written revelation of His will to men.

It's central theme is salvation through Jesus Christ.

The Bible contains 66 books, written by 40 authors, covering a period of approximately 1600 years.

The Old Testament was written mostly in Hebrew ( a few short passages in Aramaic ). About 100 years before the Christian Era the entire Old Testament was translated into Greek.

The New Testament was written in the Greek language. Remember our English Bible is a translation from these original languages.

The word "Bible" comes from the Greek word "biblos."

The word "testament" means "covenant," or agreement. The Old Testament is the covenant God made with man about his salvation before Christ came. The New Testament is the agreement God made with man about his salvation after Christ came.

In the Old Testament we find the covenant of law. In the New Testament we find the covenant of grace which came through Jesus Christ. One led into the other ( Galatians 3:17-25 ).

The Old commences what the New completes.

The Old gathers around Sinai,

The New around Calvary.

The Old is associated with Moses,

The New with Christ ( John 1:17 )

The authors were kings and princes, poets and philosophers, prophets and statesmen. Some were learned in all the arts of the times and others were unschooled fishermen. Other books soon are out of date but this Book spans the centuries.