THE HOLY BIBLE - Overview

 "THE HOLY BIBLE" - (A brief overview about this wonder book, the best seller ever published ).

by SM

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Introduction to Bible & Its compilation:-

The name Bible is derived from koine Greek biblía, "the books", which is a collection of the inspired books & writings  from God  sacred to  Christians & useful for all mankind to be saved. 

The Bible is a compilation of books by almost 40 different inspired  Christian  writers ( mostly Jewish Convert, some Greek convert), lived at different times period (approx. 1200 BC.-165 BC.- OT & 1 AD NT.), believed to be collectively the revelations of God for mankind. 

These books include divinely inspired- historical accounts, commandments, promises of God, rule of godly living, hymns, prayers, proverbs ,parables,  epistles (letters), poetry, and prophecies etc. 

The Bibles Original written languages are Hebrew & Aramaic (OT) & Greek (NT).There are 1,189 Chapters, ( 929 in OT & 260 in NT).Total 66 books universally accepted as inspired, (39 OT & 27 NT).

These books went through detail scrutiny, critical analysis, comparison, textual & historical verification ,authors authenticity , ensuring   of its  theological, inspirational & doctrinal compliance, they were included in the Bible as inspired book , called as  "Canon " (recognized as genuine, original, inspired, authorized WORD of GOD) , several Church leaders personal collections & compilations of all recognized inspired writings from different localities were considered , debated and read extensively and compared and studied pray fully  and sought Gods guidance , councils after councils  were called to unanimously approve/disapprove, reject/add & finally come out with inspired "Canons"  conformed by all in The Council of Carthage in 397 AD , the 27 books of New Testament which we have even at present in the Holy Bible .

The Old Testament was already available as Hebrew Bible (24 books) during Church age which is 39 books ( rearranged ) as we have in Holy Bible at present  , which was read by Jesus publicly in synagogue, from which New Testament has 300 plus direct quote . When Septuagint ,the Greek translation of Hebrew Bible was done  apocrypha books were added which originated from 1st - 3rd century most of it authorship is uncertain , Josephus rejected them as whole as uninspired , the early Church fathers did not vouch for it, and was considered as uninspired and was not part of scripture , but even the  Latin translation "Vulgate"   carried the same trend of Septuagint to include apocrypha books which continued to be part of these translation and later canonized by Roman Catholic in the Council of Trent ,1546 AD when Protestant movement became strong and reformers completely rejected apocrypha book as inspired , some do  suggest these books as only good for reading not as God's inspired Word. Now  most of the genuine Churches rejected apocrypha books and Protestant's  have same books as Scripture in Old Testament which Hebrew Bible had earlier , the 39 books, which is the  canonized books and are considered as the true representation of God's word and His will.

There are two major sections in Bible -The Old Testament & The New Testament .

The Hebrew Bible translated in Greek is 'Septuagint' the Christian calls it  'Old Testament' which protestant exclude apocrypha books . 

The Christian New Testament is a collection of writings by early Christians, believed to be mostly Jewish disciples of Christ (some being Greek converts), written in first-century in koine Greek

The Bible's importance differ among Christian groups. Roman Catholics, Anglicans Church, Methodists and Eastern Orthodox Christians stress the harmony and importance of both the Bible plus apocrypha, sacred tradition , while many Protestant churches focus on the idea of sola scriptura, ( inspired canonized books as scripture alone). This concept rose during the Reformation, and many denominations today support  the use of the Bible as the only infallible source of Christian teaching. Others advocate the concept of prima scriptura (canonized books as first or above all).

The Bible is the holy scripture of the Christians ,believed to contain revelation & inspired record concerning the history of the Earth from its earliest creation to the spread of Christianity in the first century A.D. The Bible has a profound influence on human moral living,  character building & deliverance from many evil practices, transformed life of sinners , hope to hopeless, way to wondering soul, eternal joy & peace to millions souls, has helped in eradicating social evil,  superstition, man made traditions, false hope & giving the assurance to the believer of the existence of The all Powerful Sovereign Divine Creator & a loving , caring, saving , forgiving, restoring sustaining God who is directly involved in the  Universe affairs & developments & culmination of the events.

Bible also has shaped the literature and history in the world on many fronts. The Gutenberg Printing press in Germany is where the first Bible was printed, it sells approximately 100 million copies annually & is  the best seller of all times.

Overview of The Old Testament:-

The Old Testament is the first section of the Bible having 39 commonly accepted inspired books by all (in addition some have various apocrypha books added as mentioned earlier), The "OT" covers the creation of Earth through Noah and the flood, Moses and more, finishing with the Jews being expelled to Babylon & the Prophesy about promised Messiah. The Bible’s Old Testament is very similar to the Hebrew Bible, which has origins in the ancient religion of Judaism.(though the books order and grouping varies).Hezekiah during the reign of Judah in the 8th century B.C. start collecting books that historians believe what would become the Old Testament that began to take form, the result of royal scribes recording royal history and heroic legends. During the reign of Josiah in the 6th century B.C., the books of Deuteronomy and Judges were compiled and added. The final form of the Hebrew Bible developed over the next 200 years when Judah was destroyed  by the expanding Persian Empire. The earliest compilation, containing the first five books of the Bible called the Torah (meaning "law", "instruction", or "teaching") or Pentateuch ("five books"),was accepted as Jewish canon by the fifth century BC. A second collection of narrative histories and prophesies, called the Nevi'im ("prophets"), was canonized in the third century B.C.  A third collection called the Ketuvim ("writings"), containing psalms, proverbs, and narrative histories, was canonized sometime between the second century B.C. These three collections were written mostly in Hebrew, with some parts in Aramaic, and together form the Hebrew Bible or "TaNaKh"(a portmanteau of "Torah", "Nevi'im", and "Ketuvim"). (Which in Jesus day called "The Scripture" & was taught & read publicly in synagogues of Jews).After the conquest by Alexander the Great, the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek in the 3rd century B.C. known as the Septuagint, this Greek translation was initiated at the request of King Ptolemy of Egypt to be included in the library of Alexandria. The Septuagint was the version of the Bible used by early Christians in Rome with reservation on the  apocrypha   .The Book of Daniel was included in the Septuagint at the last moment, the text  claims to have been written sometime around 586 B.C.

Overview of The New Testament:-

The New Testament  narrates  life of Jesus Christ and the early days of Christianity during apostles time, most notably Peter &  Paul’s ministry of Gospel to Jews & gentile world. NT has collection of  27 inspired books, all originally written in Greek during the time Roman Empire dominion & Greek was the most spoken language in that region .

The New Testament has major 4 section , first the  record of  Jesus birth, life, His teachings, His death, burial, resurrection & ascension called as the 'Gospels' & secondly 'the historical books' the acts of apostles which Luke the physician the strong follower of Christ and a traveling companion of Paul the apostle wrote. thirdly 'the epistles '(letters) to various Churches & individuals & forth and lastly 'the Prophetic book' ,The Revelation , all these were written by various apostles or their close companions as they were inspired to write to  encourage, teach, correct, warn, rebuke, testify the truth of the Gospel & for inspiring Christian to have  hope of eternal life in Christ Jesus & to live a life on earth as foreigners and strangers  & to be bold in times of persecutions and threat from the authorities , non believers & even unseen evil force.

In The NT books , the earliest of it is the book of James approx.50. AD. and last of all is the epistles of John (1-2-3, '90-95 '.AD.) written by the most long lived apostle of Jesus Christ John. Apostle Paul’s & other  letters were distributed by churches & were copied manually by hand  , before they were canonized as the Scripture - There were several copies of these inspired writings compiled together individually and locally by Church leaders, which we see reference in many writings of  Apostolic Church Fathers , some 22 books , many 27 boos were already considered as inspired Word of God, as Scripture,(as some accuse Christians of having Bible in 4th -5th Century is not correct, as we see in many Church Fathers of 2nd & 3rd Century already made reference to these 27 Books on NT as Scripture ).  Since the persecution of Christians were at rampant and many original writings of the apostles were hunted for several years and were destroyed, but some copies were preserved with divine intervention to carry the truth of the Gospel, which in later days the new Roman Emperor  Constantine , a new convert to Christianity ordered Eusebius to compile and copy 50 bibles for the Churches of Constantinople, which was the same books of New Testament that we have now the 27 books which was latter  Canonized and closed for  the rule of Christian faith which we have today as the Holy Bible. Several powerful rulers, empire, kingdom, influential people in history, other religious group attempted to eradicate Christianity from the face of the earth , but the more they  persecuted Christians , the more they grew and today we see almost in every nation and country we have The Bible & Christianity prevailing and changing the life of masses.

The gospel is the details description of  Jesus life & teaching on earth & his  accomplished story & how He rose from the dead and seated at the right has of majesty as Lord & Christ ,  as The King of Kings. In the  beginning of Church history oral teachings & preaching of Gospel was done by apostles once  the pouring of the Holy Spirit as promised in OT Scripture came down which Jesus confirmed the promise to be fulfilled very soon, The Acts of Apostles is the historical events of  how the Holy Spirit came as promised on the 120 disciples of Jesus Christ & how they witnessed the testimony of  Lord Jesus Christ & His resurrection & the apostles like Peter & later Paul how God used them to propagate the Gospel of Jesus Christ & establish Churches among the  Jewish, Greek & Gentiles world. 

The written gospel surfaced few decades after Jesus was risen when  Luke was inspired to record systematic events from Jesus birth till His ascension which was  first written Gospel approx. in 63 AD and then followed Mark, Matthew & lastly the  Gospel according to John to be written by John approx. in 85 AD . (The dating of first written Gospel is contested, some historian says it was Mark first then  and Mathew ,Luke & John followed, but i think  its Luke who was the first one attempted and  was inspired to systematically record the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Book of Revelation

The Book of Revelation is the final book of the Bible, an example of apocalyptic literature that predicts a final celestial war through prophecy. Authorship is ascribed to John, the beloved apostle of Jesus Christ. According to the text, it was written around 95 A.D. on an Patmos  island off the coast of Turkey. 

Biblical Canon

Surviving documents from the 4th century show that different councils within the church released lists of 1st-2nd century writings  to guide how various Christian texts should be treated. The earliest known attempt to create a canon in the same respect as the New Testament was in 2nd century in Rome by Marcion, a Turkish businessman and church leader. Marcion’s work focused on the Gospel of Luke and the letters of Paul. Disapproving of the effort, the Roman church expelled Marcion because he taught & want to establish heretic teaching though these selective books. Second-century Syrian writer Tatian attempted to create a canon by weaving the four gospels together as the Diatessaron. The Muratorian Canon, which is believed to date to 200 A.D., is the earliest compilation of canonical texts resembling the New Testament. 

Bible though official Canonization done in latter 4th & 5th Century , the inspired, recognized , 27 books of NT was already used by Churches and Church leaders and considered as part of Scripture, which we can trace back in their (Apostolic Fathers) writings , so to say by critics that bible was not there until 5th century is malicious accusation , far from historical truth and reality , the oral teachings of 12 Apostles of Jesus Christ which 1st Century Churches had  were later written down either by themselves or their close associates , which was part of early Church until  4th & 5h century it was officially canonized in through various Counsels .Already before officially canonized , this inspired 27 books were declared as scripture and taught by Apostolic Church Fathers , who were direct disciples of 12 Apostles or were their associates , and scripture was considered as closed and final to prevent any heresies.

It was not until the 5th century that all the different Christian churches came to a basic agreement on Biblical closed Canon. The books that eventually were considered canon reflect the times they were embraced as much the times of the events they portray. During the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, books not originally written in Hebrew but Greek, such as Judith and Maccabees, were excluded from the Old Testament. These are known the Apocrypha and are still included in the Catholic Bible.

We Christian should have basic & accurate information about The Book, The Holy Bible, its history & how it has come to us as we have it with several different versions to be safeguarded from the enemies attempt to marginalize and demonize the Holy Scripture , Which truly is The God's Word which has changed millions of lives and is continue changing many until the promised day of the Lord is awaited anytime.   Maranatha ... Peace and Grace be abundant to all in Christ Jesus name who loves His Holy Word in the Holy Bible.

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(note this article is compiled after going through various source and details study on the subject, if anyone want to use as it is welcome but if misused is violating's copyright terms, any correction or improvement in presentation or content is welcomes )

in Prayer yours servant in Christ "SM"

email me if anybody want to contact me : sajjmm@gmail.com

Thanks for your time in reading , keep following my blog, God willing will issue critical  teachings , a non denominational approach as clear as possible from the  the Holy Bible.(Sola Scriptura)