Holy Bible – The Word Of God
Have did we receive the Bible? What is the Bible? Who wrote the Bible? How old is the Bible? These questions and many others will be answered in this lesson. If you want to know about math you must study a math book but it you want to know about God you must study the Bible. The word Bible is from the Greek word Biblos meaning “books” or “many books in one.” The Bible is one book which has many books. The Bible is also known as “the Scriptures,” “the Writings,” and “the Word of God.” The word Scriptures means “words of holy writing written by men known as the scribes.” The word inspiration means “God breathed” or “God controlled men to write or speak at His command and will.” God wrote the Bible using men as His pen to write. God is the Author but men are the writers. (Verses: II Timothy 3:16; II Corinthians 3:14; and Hebrews 4:12).
History of the Bible – The Bible is one book containing many books. There are 66 books in the Bible. The Old Testament has 39 books and the New Testament has 27 books. The Old Testament was first written in the Hebrew language with parts of Daniel and Ezra written in the Aramaic language. The New Testament was written in the Greek language. The Hebrew language was the language used by the Jews in the Old Testament days. During the days of Jesus, the most common language was Greek. Many of the New Testament books were written as letters to local churches in different cities. (Examples: City Corinth & Corinthians; City Ephesus & Ephesians …etc.).
Translations/Languages – The Bible has been translated into different languages so the people during that time could understand it. In the years of 100-300 AD, the Bible was translated into several languages.
Greek, Egyptian and Latin were just a few of the languages. The first complete English Bible was translated in 1382 by John Wycliffe. This was a very great accomplishment because the Bible had to be handwritten one word at a time. After the first copy, it required at least one year to make another copy. In August of 1456, the first printing press was invented and the Bible was printed. It required five years to print the first 200 copies of the Bible. In 1611 the King James Bible was printed and made available to many people. In the year 1621, people left England and came to America for religious freedom. The Bible is the number one book seller in the world.
Who Wrote the Bible? – The Bible was written by some forty different men. Among these men were kings, fishermen, farmers, priests, soldiers, prophets, shepherds, statesmen, and even a tax-collector, a tent maker and a doctor. All of the writers were Jewish except Luke who was a Greek. All were inspired by the Holy Spirit of God.
The first writer was Moses, who wrote the first five books in the Old Testament. The last writer was the Apostle John, who wrote the book of Revelation. Moses died 1,500 years before John was born. John never met Moses, but both wrote about the same God. How could this be? All men agreed. How? God told each man what to write in the Bible.
Materials Used – The Bible was first written on clay, bark, wood and stone tablets; sometimes, linen and animal skins were also used. Later, the Bible was written on scrolls. It required many hours and much work to pass the Bible from generation to generation. Many men worked Iong hours to write the Bible. Some died because of their
strong Bible beliefs. Many countries today do not have a Bible.
