What is…
The Holy Bible, the inspired Word of God

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Introduction

The word “bible” is the English form of the Greek word βιβλία transliterated as biblia, meaning “books,” the name which in the 5th century began to be given to the entire collection of sacred books, the “Library of Divine Revelation.” The name “Bible” was adopted by translator and theologian John Wycliffe (Wickliffe), and came gradually into use in our English language.

The Holy Bible consists of 66 different books, composed by many different writers, in 3 different languages, under different circumstances; writers of almost every social rank, statesmen and peasants, kings, herdsmen, fishermen, priests, tax-gatherers, tentmakers; educated and uneducated, Jews and Gentiles; most of them unknown to each other, and writing at various periods during the space of about 1600 years: and yet, after all, it is only one book dealing with only one subject in its numberless aspects and relations, the subject of man’s redemption.

It is divided into the Old Testament, containing 39 books, and the New Testament, containing 27 books.

There is a break of 400 years between the Old Testament and the New. (See APOCRYPHA.)

Old Testament

The names given to the Old Testament in the writings of the New Testament are…

The Old Testament is divided into 3 parts—

  1. The Law (Torah), consisting of the Pentateuch, or five books of Moses.

  2. The Prophets, consisting of…

    1. the former, namely, Joshua, Judges, the Books of Samuel, and the Books of Kings

    2. the latter, namely, the greater prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and the twelve minor prophets.

  3. The Hagiographa, or holy writings, including the rest of the books. These were ranked in 3 divisions:

    1. The Psalms, Proverbs, and Job, distinguished by the Hebrew name, a word formed of the initial letters of these books, emeth, meaning truth.

    2. Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther, called the 5 rolls, as being written for the synagogue use on five separate rolls.

    3. Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and 1 and 2 Chronicles.

Between the Old and the New Testament, no addition was made to the inspired revelation God had already given.

New Testament

The period of New Testament revelation, extending over a century, began with the appearance of John the Baptist.

The New Testament consists of…

  1. the historical books: the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles

  2. the Epistles

  3. the book of prophecy—the Revelation

Chapters

The division of the Bible into chapters and verses is altogether of human invention, designed to facilitate reference to it.

The ancient Jews divided the Old Testament into certain sections for use in the synagogue service, and then at a later period, in the ninth century AD, into verses. Our modern system of chapters for all the books of the Bible was introduced by Cardinal Hugo de Sancto Caro about the middle of the 13th century (he died 1263 AD).

Verses

The system of verses for the New Testament was introduced by the scholar and printer Robert Estienne (aka Robert Stephanus and Robert Stephens), a Protestant (ex-Catholic) in 1551, and generally adopted, although neither Tyndale’s nor Coverdale’s English translation of the Bible has verses. The division is not always wisely made, yet it is very useful. (See VERSIONS OF THE BIBLE.)

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Article Version: July 2, 2024