St Faith

St Faith's Anglican Church Burwood

Introduction to the Books of the Bible

These notes have been prepared by Dr. Keys Smith, one of St. Faith's parishioners, a Graduate in Arts (Classical Studies) and in Divinity and a former medical missionary. They are designed as a companion to the Bible Lectionary (a list of daily bible readings), which is available on the St. Faith's Website. They may be reproduced without permission for private use; acknowledgment of the St. Faith's Website would be appreciated. Starting with the Gospels, it is hoped to cover progressively all the books of the Bible. As further books are prepared, the notes will be added to the Website. The books are arranged in the traditional order.

Links below will lead you to the discussions available to date.

Introduction to the Gospels
Book of Matthew
Book of Mark
Book of Luke
Book of John
Acts of the Apostles
Letters of Paul
General Letters
Revelation

Use our Lectionary to plan your study of the Bible through the year. Lectionary

If you would like to acknowledge, comment, correct an error or ask a question please send a mail to vicar@stfaiths-burwood.org.au

The Bible

The bible is a collection of books written over a period of at least one thousand years. It contains various types of literature - law codes, history, prophecy, poetry, allegory, legend, wisdom sayings, songs, prayers, speeches, parables, letters, visions and other forms. It is written in ancient languages and there is an enormous cultural gap between the times when the books of the bible were produced and our own age. It is therefore important to use the very best text and translation available, to use all grammatical and linguistic aids and to try to understand the political, social, religious and cultural background of the writers and editors of the times in which they lived. Only in this way can we hope to understand the message of the bible and try to re-apply this message to our own times. It is facile to quote texts out of context - this has often led to bizarre interpretations and has brought the bible into disrepute. Down the centuries various branches of the church have interpreted the bible in particular ways and, although we respect and use the great learning of our ancestors and err if we think we know better than they, each generation must study the bible afresh.

Contents

The bible is divided into two parts, the Hebrew Bible (which Christians refer to as the Old Testament (OT)) and the New Testament (NT). The Hebrew Bible consists of 24 books, 39 books in the English translations because in the Hebrew Bible 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, Ezra-Nehemiah, 1 & 2 Chronicles and the Twelve Minor Prophets are classed as one book each). The books are divided into three groups: the Law (Torah) - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; the Prophets - Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Twelve Minor Prophets; the Writings - Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther, Daniel. Ezra-Nehemiah, Chronicles. The New Testament consists of 27 books: four Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, 21 Letters and an Apocalypse (Books of Revelation).

Beginning in the 3rd century B.C. the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek in Egypt for the Greek-speaking Jews (called the Septuagint). This translation is particularly important because most of the quotations in the NT have been taken from the Septuagint rather than from the Hebrew text and it was the bible of the early Christians. It contained all the books of the Hebrew Bible but, in addition, a number of other works, which, today, we call the Apocrypha. These works are often printed in the English bibles between the two Testaments. The Apocrypha is a selection of a large group of works that were produced just before the Christian era, and, together with the Dead Sea Scrolls, are valuable in helping us to re-create the thought-world of the NT writers. In the early 5th century the biblical scholar, Jerome, completed a Latin translation of the bible (called the Latin Vulgate) and this also included the Apocrypha. In this way the Apocrypha became part of the bible in the Middle Ages and is still included in the official bible of the Roman Catholic Church. The Eastern Orthodox Church also includes the Apocrypha as an official text (with a slightly different list of books). At the Reformation the Protestant Churches rejected the Apocrypha as authoritative and still only recognise the Hebrew text. The Anglican Church takes a middle position; it recognises only the Hebrew text as authoritative, but uses the Apocryphal writings for 'edification'. All the churches recognise the 27 books of the NT.

Recognition

It took some centuries for the books of the OT and NT to be recognised officially, The Torah was recognised by c. B.C. 400, the Prophets by c. B.C. 200, but the Writings were not officially gathered together until the Christian era, c. 200 A.D. The NT books took some time to be recognised. There existed a large number of Christian books written in the first centuries of the church (including Gospels, Acts, Letters and Books of Revelation). From the 2nd century onwards, the church was concerned to sort out this abundant literature and gradually narrowed the field to the present 27 books which were finally accepted by the whole church in the 4th and early 5th century A.D. Some books, e.g. Hebrews 2 Peter, 2 & 3 John and Revelation had a struggle to get into the list and some others were from time to time included but were finally rejected.

Text

The OT is written in the Hebrew language (with some short sections in Aramaic - Genesis.31.47, Jeremiah.10.10-11, Ezra.4.8-6.18, Ezra.7.12-26, Daniel.2.4-7.28) and the NT in Greek (with a few words in Aramaic - Mark.14.72, John.19.13, Mark.5.41, Mark.15.34, Mark.7.34, Mark.14.36. though the last two could be either Aramaic or Hebrew). Hebrew is one of the Canaanite family of Semitic languages, a family that dates from the second millennium B.C.. Hebrew is written from right to left and originally consisted only of consonants. Before the Christian era some consonants were also used as vowels and a full set of vowels was added between the 5th and 10th century A.D., as an aid in the public reading of the Scriptures. Inscriptions in Hebrew date from early in the first millennium B.C. and the language, like all languages, altered with time. After the Exile its vernacular use was gradually displaced by Aramaic. In the 2nd or 3rd centuries A.D. it died out in the vernacular, surviving as a religious, scholarly and literary language until its vernacular use was revived in the 19th century and became in the 20th century the language of the State of Israel. Aramaic, another Semitic language related to Hebrew, was the lingua franca of the Middle East in the first millennium and was the dominant vernacular language in Palestine in the time of Jesus, especially in Galilee, where Jesus was brought up. Aramaic would have been the native language of Jesus although it is likely that he knew some Hebrew.

Greek, the language of the NT, is one of the most enduring languages in the world, having had a continuous history since the second millennium B.C. It is famous for being the language of the great classics of ancient Greece. With the conquests of Alexander the Great in the late 4th century B.C., it spread in a simplified form, called the Koine, throughout the Eastern Mediterranean and became the language of diplomacy and commerce over a wide area, including Palestine. Even in Rome it was in use - St. Paul wrote in Greek when he wrote his Epistle to the Romans. We now have a detailed knowledge of the Koine from the vast number of papyri that have been unearthed in Egypt. Being brought up in a small village in Galilee, it is unlikely that Jesus knew Greek - there is no evidence that he ever used it publicly. When Christianity spread beyond Palestine, Greek was clearly the appropriate language in which to communicate - Paul being brought up in Tarsus in Asia Minor was fluent in Greek, as his Epistles show.

The texts of both the OT and NT have had a complicated history. The original texts do not exist; all we have (until the discovery of printing) are copies made by hand. This accounts for the large number of variations in the copies. It has been the endeavour of scholars to work back from these copies and try to recover as exactly as possible the original texts. Until the 20th century we had to rely on manuscripts for the OT dating from the end of the first millennium A.D. Amongst the Dead Sea Scrolls are copies of almost all the books of the OT, pushing the evidence for the text back a thousand years. It is interesting that the text in the Dead Sea Scrolls is substantially the same as the later texts, showing the great faithfulness with which the OT text has been transmitted. There are over 5000 manuscripts of the NT, dating from the 2nd century onwards and manuscripts are still being discovered in ancient libraries and in archaeological finds. Although there are numerous places in the Scriptures where the text is uncertain, readers can be assured that we have in the modern texts the essential message of the bible - the texts are far better than the texts of any other literature from the ancient world (some of the famous classics only depend on a few manuscripts). Few readers can read the ancient languages and since the early centuries of the church, the bible has been translated into numerous languages. The number of translations of the bible was greatly increased in the 19th and 20th centuries due to the activities of the Bible Societies. The bible or parts of the bible have now been translated into over 1000 languages or dialects. Two of the most famous are Luther's translation of the bible into German (1522) and the King James Bible into English (1611), treasures of German and English literature. Both used the Hebrew and Greek texts then available, inadequate texts by modern standards, and now much more exact texts and translations are available. It is important to notice that all translations are interpretations, which can be clearly seen if the various English translations are compared with each other.

Historical Background

Before B.C.1000 the dates are approximate; after B.C.1000 the dates become increasingly accurate. All dates are B.C. unless otherwise stated. A Bible Atlas is very helpful in studying the bible.

Before 10,000 - Stone Age cultures. Hunters and food-gatherers.

10,000-8,000 - Stock-raising and agricultural villages. Cultivation of cereals and domestication of animals.

3,500-3,000 - Beginning of Mesopatamian and Egyptian civilisations. Beginning of writing. Canaanities in Palestine.

1,900-1,850 - Period of Abraham, the 'father of the nation'. During the following centuries a considerable number of Israelites migrated to the fertile Nile delta in Egypt, probably as the result of famine and poor conditions in Palestine.

1,300-1,250 - Moses and the Exodus

1,250-1000 - Conquest of Palestine. Country settled by twelve tribes, led by heroic figures called 'judges'. Limited cooperation between the tribes, except in times of emergency. The story is given in the books of Joshua and Judges.

1,040-1,010 - Institution of the monarchy. Saul.

1,010-970 - King David

970-931 - King Solomon. Building of the first Temple.

931 -Break-up of a single kingdom into Judah in the south (capital Jerusalem) and Israel in the north (capital Samaria).

Second Millenium-612 - Assyrian Empire (capital Nineveh)

721 - Fall of Samaria by the Assyrians and end of the kingdom of Israel.

612-539 - Babylonian Empire (capital Babylon)

587 - Fall of Jerusalem by the Babylonians and end of the kingdom of Judah. Destruction of the first Temple. Jews sent into exile in Babylon.

587-538 - Exile in Babylon.

539 - Cyrus of Persia conquers Babylon. Beginning of the Persian Empire.

539- 331 - Persian Empire

538 - Cyrus allows the Jews to return to Patestine and some did.

520-515 - Building of the second Temple in Jerusalem.

331 - Alexander the Great conquers Persia. Beginning of Hellenistic Period.

323 - Death of Alexander the Great. Empire divided into three: Ptolomies (capital Alexandria); Seleucids (capital Antioch); Macedonia (conquered by Rome 148). Palestine was under the Ptolomies 323-200 and under the Seleucids 200-63.

168-164 - Maccabean Revolt. Temple purified and Judah nominally independent and ruled by Hasmodian and Herodian dynasties. From 63+ these rulers were puppets under Roman rule.

63 - Rome conquered the East. Roman Empire 63+

37-4 - Herod the Great . Herod commenced the re-building of the second Temple on a grand scale

6 - Approximate birth of Jesus (before the death of Herod)

6 A.D. Palestine ruled by Roman Procurators. Pilate 26-36 A.D.

30 A.D. - Approximate date of Crucifixion, Resurrection and Pentecost.

66-70 A.D.- Jewish Revolt

70 A.D.- Destruction of Jerusalem and the second Temple by the Romans (Temple never rebuilt)

135 - Final destruction of the Jewish State by the Romans Prophets: The dates of some books are uncertain.

11th C. - Samuel

9th C. - Elijah and Elisha

8th C. - Amos, Hosea, Isaiah (Ch. 1-39), Micah

7th C. - Zephaniah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Jeremiah (early ministry)

6th C. - Jeremiah (later ministry), Ezekial, Isaiah (Ch. 40-66)

5th-4th C. - Haggai, Zachariah, Obadiah, Joel, Jonah, Malachi

2nd C. - Daniel 175-164

A Religious Book

For all its variety of forms, the bible is a religious book - we refer to it as 'the sacred Scriptures'. It is not primarily a set of books about law or history or philosophy or moral codes. It is about God and our relationship with him, both individually and as a society. The writers are telling us about their experience of God, the ways God has revealed himself to them, what it has meant in their lives and what it should mean in the lives of their contemporaries. As we read the bible carefully, we will notice differing and confused accounts of events, historical events which cannot be confirmed, even widely different views on what God is like. These are characteristic of any literature produced over such a long period of time by many writers and editors, living under very different circumstances. These features fade into the background if we keep before us the central message of the bible, which found its culmination in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is the standard on which all parts of the bible are judged and we are under no obligation to follow teaching which does not come up to this standard.

The church down the centuries has been unanimous that the bible is 'inspired'. Numerous ways of stating how it is inspired have been proposed and one particular method has never been laid down by the church. Two ways have been prominent, with some intermediary positions.

Some think that the text itself is inspired and therefore is without error. They feel that this gives them clear answers about God and his will for us, especially in times like our own of rapid and disturbing social change. This was the traditional view (with many qualifications) until the 18th century and, although it is held strongly by some Christians, now most Christians have abandoned this position. It makes the writers robots, putting down what God is dictating. Yet each of the writers is quite distinctive, e.g. one could never confuse the writings of St. John with those of St. Paul. As noted above, we do not have the original texts and all the copies have variations. Moreover, most people read the bible in translations which, like all translations, often capture the meaning of the original texts inadequately. The Gospel writers did not consider the text unalterable, because they had no hesitation in altering the text, as comparison of the Gospel accounts shows. In this age of satellites we cannot believe the view of the universe held by the OT and NT writers. There is doubt about some historical events and irreconcilable accounts of the same events. Most important of all, there are differing conceptions of God - we cannot believe in the vengeful, warrior God of some parts of the OT and at the same time believe in the God of love in Jesus Christ and hold both to be true.

If the 'text is without error' theory is rejected, a difficulty for many Christians is how to interpret the words of Jesus; they say 'Surely, the words of Jesus must be true in every particular'? Although we know the essential message of Jesus, we do not know his exact words. As pointed out above, Jesus spoke in Aramaic, our Gospels have translated these words into Greek and most readers have these words re-translated into English (or other modern languages). To add to this, there are variations in the texts due to errors in copying manuscripts. However, a much more fundamental issue is involved. When God out of his love for us came amongst us in Jesus Christ, he came as one of us. Jesus did not just seem to be human (one of the heresies in the early church) but was truly human, as our creeds clearly state. In becoming human he limited himself, taking on the limitations of human life. These limitations included his understanding of historical and scientific matters which were similar to those of his contemporaries. Jesus has the 'words of eternal life' but it does not follow that we must accept his views on historical and scientific matters which were those of the 1st century.

Other Christians believe that the bible is a witness of real people, with their own individuality, insights and prejudices, describing their experiences of God in the language, knowledge and culture of the day. It is because the writers are real people struggling to know God and his will that they are so helpful to us on a similar pilgrim path. This approach means that we are not particularly fussed about minor uncertainty in the texts, or historical events and irreconcilable accounts or passages showing an antiquated view of the universe. We would also expect the writers to have varying conceptions of God, some of them quite inadequate in the light of God in Jesus Christ. Moreover, this is the way God works in history - through people in writing, teaching, preaching, witness and in life.

We often speak of the bible as the 'Word of God'. This is not so - Christ is the 'Word of God' (John.1.1-18) and the bible is the witness to that Word. The bible is of supreme value because it enables us to see God in various ways and, finally, completely in Jesus Christ and as such can never be superseded. Whether we believe in one method of inspiration or another, the Scriptures are the supreme authority for all Christians and a reservoir for prayer, knowledge of God and a way of life.

We are preparing material on each of the books of the Bible. Links below will lead you to the material available to date.

Links to the books