How to start reading the Bible
Outline of hyperlinks:
- What’s in the Bible?
- Bible stats: How many words are in the Bible?
- How did we get the Bible?
- Where should a beginner start reading the Bible?
- What is the best way to read the Bible?
- What is the correct way to read the Bible?
- Sidebar: Bible poetry
- Sidebar: Answering the question, “Do you believe the Bible?”
- Where should a beginner start reading the Bible
- Bible stats: How many words are in the Bible? [with graphic]
- Bible stats
- How many chapters in the Bible (book by book)
- How many verses in the Bible
- How long does it take to read the Bible
- How much of the Bible is the New Testament
- More stats…info graphics
- Bible stats
- What’s in the Bible, a short overview
- Graphic of The Bible Library
- Graphic of Bible history timeline
- How did we get the Bible?
- How we got the Old Testament
- How we got the New Testament
I’d like to introduce you to the Bible,
a library of books
I’m going to pretend you’re a relative of mine whom I love dearly. But he’s not into spiritual stuff. He’s a science guy.
Still, he tolerates me, and he respects the faith of his wife, though I think he equates it with a hobby. She goes to church like he goes hunting.
Well, let’s say the Angel Gabriel appears to him one night on TV, interrupting a Kansas City Chief’s football game.
Gabriel says, “Fella, fear not. It’s halftime, so you you won’t miss anything. I have a message to you from God. This deer season, keep your long guns in the safe. Grab a Bible and get acquainted with the story of your wife. It’s her story and the story of all Christian people trying to follow the teachings of Jesus. Don’t argue with me. I can do more than interrupt halftime. The Chiefs are going win with a 56-yard field goal in the last 30 seconds. Peace to you.”
I don’t know for certain it would take that much to motivate him to read some of the Bible. All he might really need is getting washed ashore on a deserted island with a football, a Bible, and a bottle of rum.
I’m going to assume you and my most beloved relative are both on board with some curiosity about:
- what’s in the Bible
- how in the dickens it got there
- why on earth anyone should believe it.
It’s good to be a skeptic. It’s healthy. Especially when it comes to the Bible, a collection of writings that some folks come close to worshiping instead of merely reading. The Bible is a collection of ancient writings. It’s not a god.
What is the correct way to read the Bible?
People read the Bible the wrong way all the time.
The most common way to do that is to grab a single verse or even a whole chapter and read it out of context. Often that involves taking words intended for someone else and applying them to ourselves.
But the Bible isn’t always about us.
Getting it wrong: personal example
Here’s a personal example of taking the Bible out of context. I was paraphrasing Psalm 91 when I got word that doctors were going to try to wean my little brother off the ventilator. He had COVID-19. My brother’s wife had been reading that chapter as a promise from the Bible that God would heal her husband.
A few lines might help you see why she latched onto that song someone wrote perhaps 3,000 years ago.
“I look to the LORD and tell him,
‘You are my safe house and my storm shelter.
You are my God, and I trust you with all that I am.‘
A thousand may die near you.
Ten thousand may fall at your side.
But you remain safe and untouchable…
I will give you a good, long life
So you’ll see what it’s like to be saved by God.“
My brother died after about a month on the vent. A torturous end.
I had to deal with the clash between my family’s tragedy and the Bible’s hopeful words, which many Christians say came from God himself.
How are those promising lyrics honest to God and relevant to me as I prepared to call my mother and tell her that I’m the last of her four sons?
Though I can find the words inspiring, they weren’t written for me. A songwriter long ago was saying thank you to God. And the writer did it with poetry.
Once we recognize that, we can find meaning and comfort in the writer’s symbols, in the context of Christianity today, after the death and resurrection of Jesus.
“I will give you a good, long life”? What life is longer than eternal life?
“You’ll see what it’s like to be saved by God?” The Christian’s great hope is that God saves us from death and rescues us for the life to come.
A little poetic sidebar
Bible poetry doesn’t rhyme
But it doubles up on reason
Hebrew poetry doesn’t rhyme like many English poems do. Not as far as scholars say they are able to tell.
Instead, the Hebrew words often repeat themselves.
The first line will say something. The next line will say it again another way, maybe almost identically, maybe contrasting, or sometimes simply adding to the idea.
“The LORD is my shepherd.
There’s nothing more I need.
He lets me rest in green meadows.
He leads me beside calm waters” (Psalm 23:1-2).
Scholars call the poetic technique “parallelism.”
I’d like to introduce you to the Bible,
a library of books
I’m going to pretend you’re a relative of mine whom I love dearly. But he’s not into spiritual stuff. He’s a science guy.
Still, he tolerates me, and he respects the faith of his wife, though I think he equates it with a hobby. She goes to church like he goes hunting.
Well, let’s say the Angel Gabriel appears to him one night on TV, interrupting a Kansas City Chief’s football game.
Gabriel says, “Fella, fear not. It’s halftime, so you you won’t miss anything. I have a message to you from God. This deer season, keep your long guns in the safe. Grab a Bible and get acquainted with the story of your wife. It’s her story and the story of all Christian people trying to follow the teachings of Jesus. Don’t argue with me. I can do more than interrupt halftime. The Chiefs are going win with a 56-yard field goal in the last 30 seconds. Peace to you.”
Continue reading
I don’t know for certain it would take that much to motivate him to read some of the Bible. All he might really need is getting washed ashore on a deserted island with a football, a Bible, and a bottle of rum.
I’m going to assume you and my most beloved relative are both on board with some curiosity about:
- what’s in the Bible
- how in the dickens it got there
- why on earth anyone should believe it.
It’s good to be a skeptic. It’s healthy. Especially when it comes to the Bible, a collection of writings that some folks come close to worshiping instead of merely reading. The Bible is a collection of ancient writings. It’s not a god.
What is the correct way to read the Bible?
People read the Bible the wrong way all the time.
The most common way to do that is to grab a single verse or even a whole chapter and read it out of context. Often that involves taking words intended for someone else and applying them to ourselves.
But the Bible isn’t always about us.
Getting it wrong: personal example
Here’s a personal example of taking the Bible out of context. I was paraphrasing Psalm 91 when I got word that doctors were going to try to wean my little brother off the ventilator. He had COVID-19. My brother’s wife had been reading that chapter as a promise from the Bible that God would heal her husband.
A few lines might help you see why she latched onto that song someone wrote perhaps 3,000 years ago.
“I look to the LORD and tell him,
‘You are my safe house and my storm shelter.
You are my God, and I trust you with all that I am.‘
A thousand may die near you.
Ten thousand may fall at your side.
But you remain safe and untouchable…
I will give you a good, long life
So you’ll see what it’s like to be saved by God.“
My brother died after about a month on the vent. A torturous end.
I had to deal with the clash between my family’s tragedy and the Bible’s hopeful words, which many Christians say came from God himself.
How are those promising lyrics honest to God and relevant to me as I prepared to call my mother and tell her that I’m the last of her four sons?
Though I can find the words inspiring, they weren’t written for me. A songwriter long ago was saying thank you to God. And the writer did it with poetry.
Once we recognize that, we can find meaning and comfort in the writer’s symbols, in the context of Christianity today, after the death and resurrection of Jesus.
“I will give you a good, long life”? What life is longer than eternal life?
“You’ll see what it’s like to be saved by God?” The Christian’s great hope is that God saves us from death and rescues us for the life to come.
A little poetic sidebar
Bible poetry doesn’t rhyme
But it doubles up on reason
Hebrew poetry doesn’t rhyme like many English poems do. Not as far as scholars say they are able to tell.
Instead, the Hebrew words often repeat themselves.
The first line will say something. The next line will say it again another way, maybe almost identically, maybe contrasting, or sometimes simply adding to the idea.
“The LORD is my shepherd.
There’s nothing more I need.
He lets me rest in green meadows.
He leads me beside calm waters” (Psalm 23:1-2).
Scholars call the poetic technique “parallelism.”
t
I’d like to introduce you to the Bible,
a library of books
I’m going to pretend you’re a relative of mine whom I love dearly. But he’s not into spiritual stuff. He’s a science guy.
Still, he tolerates me, and he respects the faith of his wife, though I think he equates it with a hobby. She goes to church like he goes hunting.
Well, let’s say the Angel Gabriel appears to him one night on TV, interrupting a Kansas City Chief’s football game.
Gabriel says, “Fella, fear not. It’s halftime, so you you won’t miss anything. I have a message to you from God. This deer season, keep your long guns in the safe. Grab a Bible and get acquainted with the story of your wife. It’s her story and the story of all Christian people trying to follow the teachings of Jesus. Don’t argue with me. I can do more than interrupt halftime. The Chiefs are going win with a 56-yard field goal in the last 30 seconds. Peace to you.”
Continue reading
I don’t know for certain it would take that much to motivate him to read some of the Bible. All he might really need is getting washed ashore on a deserted island with a football, a Bible, and a bottle of rum.
I’m going to assume you and my most beloved relative are both on board with some curiosity about:
- what’s in the Bible
- how in the dickens it got there
- why on earth anyone should believe it.
It’s good to be a skeptic. It’s healthy. Especially when it comes to the Bible, a collection of writings that some folks come close to worshiping instead of merely reading. The Bible is a collection of ancient writings. It’s not a god.
What is the correct way to read the Bible?
People read the Bible the wrong way all the time.
The most common way to do that is to grab a single verse or even a whole chapter and read it out of context. Often that involves taking words intended for someone else and applying them to ourselves.
But the Bible isn’t always about us.
Getting it wrong: personal example
Here’s a personal example of taking the Bible out of context. I was paraphrasing Psalm 91 when I got word that doctors were going to try to wean my little brother off the ventilator. He had COVID-19. My brother’s wife had been reading that chapter as a promise from the Bible that God would heal her husband.
A few lines might help you see why she latched onto that song someone wrote perhaps 3,000 years ago.
“I look to the LORD and tell him,
‘You are my safe house and my storm shelter.
You are my God, and I trust you with all that I am.‘
A thousand may die near you.
Ten thousand may fall at your side.
But you remain safe and untouchable…
I will give you a good, long life
So you’ll see what it’s like to be saved by God.“
My brother died after about a month on the vent. A torturous end.
I had to deal with the clash between my family’s tragedy and the Bible’s hopeful words, which many Christians say came from God himself.
How are those promising lyrics honest to God and relevant to me as I prepared to call my mother and tell her that I’m the last of her four sons?
Though I can find the words inspiring, they weren’t written for me. A songwriter long ago was saying thank you to God. And the writer did it with poetry.
Once we recognize that, we can find meaning and comfort in the writer’s symbols, in the context of Christianity today, after the death and resurrection of Jesus.
“I will give you a good, long life”? What life is longer than eternal life?
“You’ll see what it’s like to be saved by God?” The Christian’s great hope is that God saves us from death and rescues us for the life to come.
A little poetic sidebar
Bible poetry doesn’t rhyme
But it doubles up on reason
Hebrew poetry doesn’t rhyme like many English poems do. Not as far as scholars say they are able to tell.
Instead, the Hebrew words often repeat themselves.
The first line will say something. The next line will say it again another way, maybe almost identically, maybe contrasting, or sometimes simply adding to the idea.
“The LORD is my shepherd.
There’s nothing more I need.
He lets me rest in green meadows.
He leads me beside calm waters” (Psalm 23:1-2).
Scholars call the poetic technique “parallelism.”
What to say when someone asks,
“Do you believe the Bible?”
If you’re a Bible newcomer, you could answer, “I don’t know, I haven’t read it all.”
My favorite answer is a question. Jesus often answered questions by asking a question.
I might ask the person, “Do you believe the Library of Congress?”
Or a Brit could ask, “Do you believe the British Library?””
Or a French guy or gal could ask, “Croyez-vous à la Centre Pompidou?”
The Bible is a library, too.
Most Christians would likely say that the Bible contains some reliable history. Archaeology and other discoveries confirm some stories in the Bible and names of people.
The name and job title of Pilate, Roman governor who ordered the execution of Jesus, showed up chiseled in stone at the Israeli city of Caesarea. Rome turned that seaside town into their regional HQ.
But the Bible also contains poems and songs and parables, many of which are not intended to be taken literally. Most prophecies are written as poetry, too.
So, some of what the Bible writers said is symbolic, metaphorical, or hyperbole— not intended for us to take it literally or as history.
“Do you believe the Bible?” is the wrong question, some Christians argue.
We shouldn’t believe everything in a library. Not everything is intended to be believed as fact.
Is the Bible inerrant (error-free)?
A lot of Christians say the Bible is inerrant.
Many others say they’ve read the Bible carefully, and it’s loaded with obvious mistakes. That includes some of the math in the book of Numbers, in the census reports that Moses ordered.
Maybe the Bible was error-free in the original copies. But many Christians say they doubt it, based both imperfect human nature and on the way God seemed to work his inspiration. He often seemed to let prophets deliver his messages in their own words, just as preachers do today.
That would explain the dramatically different writing styles. The Gospel of Mark, the story of Jesus, is short and choppy. Job, the story of a man who lost family, herds, and home, is long and majestic—some of the most eloquent literature in the Bible.
Still, other Christians say God can write in more than one style.
Can we trust the Bible in our hands?
It seems a waste of time to debate whether the Bible was ever infallible, some say, because all we have are fallible copies today. They are not the originals. Or the second generation. Or the third. Only God would know how many generations we’re removed from the originals.
We do have an old copy of the entire Book of Isaiah, found in the famous Dead Sea Scrolls and dated to the 100s BC. But even that is 500 years after the time when Isaiah lived.
In the New Testament, the oldest copy of anything discovered so far is a tiny piece of the Gospel of John, from the late AD 125, roughly 100 years after Jesus. There are many other fragments from the AD 200s of John and most other New Testament books.
So, what we’re counting on is the accuracy of scribes, writers, and editors copying worn-out scrolls, generation after generation.
Then we relied on printers to get it right.
Now we’re depending on scholars and Bible paraphrasers to interpret the ancient documents correctly, or to at least admit to us when they’re guessing. And they do have to guess at times when words show up that have never appeared before or since…or when the words don’t make sense.
Poetry in the books attributed to prophets is famous for confusing readers.
What they said may have made sense 2,600 years ago, but we’re clueless today about some of the phrases.
Yet when we compare ancient Hebrew manuscripts of the Old Testament and Greek copies of the New Testament spanning centuries, there’s very little deviation. Occasional extra verses or chapters. But the core message is solid.
Where should a beginner start reading the Bible?
Not Lamentations.
Some newcomers are so curious and eager to start reading the Bible that they jump right in, with little idea about where they’re headed. May God be with them if they’re depressed and they think the book of Lamentations will console them.
Other newcomers are skeptical about the Bible but intrigued and ready to discover why there are more Christians in the world than people of any other faith…more than two-and-a-half billion.
Still others simply can’t understand why the Bible is a bestseller and why so many people believe stories goat herders told their children around campfires 3,000 years ago. So, they start reading. Google “goat herders in the Bible.”
Here’s the first tip for Bible newcomers wondering where to begin:
Before you dive in and start reading
Don’t dive in and start reading.
At least don’t try reading the Bible from front cover to back, like it’s a novel. It’s not.
It’s a library of books.
If you start reading the first book in the Bible’s library—Genesis—you’ll find it interesting enough: Creation, Noah and the Flood, Abraham and Sons, who became the founding fathers of the Jewish nation. That’s one of the finest places to start. But think twice before you read straight through the rest of the Bible after that.
The third book is Leviticus, all you’d never want to know about how to sacrifice animals to God. That’s how some readers react to the book.
If Leviticus doesn’t derail you, the next switch might: Numbers.
The name says it. Census. Counting families and tribes by name. Yet, there are some captivating stories in there, too. One has a talking donkey, ridden by a man who complains the donkey “made me look like a jackass” (Numbers 22:29).
You might want to read those two books someday. But not today. Not if you’re a Bible newcomer dipping your toe in the holy water for the first time.
What Bible book should you read first?
Some Bible study leaders give newcomers a list of recommended Bible books to read first.
They pick the books they want you to read and tell you when it’s time to move to the next book. The schedule looks an itinerary for a Bible bus tour.
We suggest you consider the scenic route instead. Get out of the bus, walk around, snap a few pictures, take a few notes, and pick a direction.
Pick a book that sounds interesting
Take a quick look at our overview of Bible books (66 Books in 66 Minutes). You’re going to find something that piques your curiosity. Give it a shot. If it doesn’t hold your attention, feel free to jump somewhere else…you’re scouting the Bible for the first time. It’s okay to jump around before settling down to read one of the books from first chapter to last.
Hosea might seem interesting, for example. The prophet says God told him to marry a hooker. Yessir. But when you get past the first couple of chapters, his prophecies of doom for the Jewish nation can get confusing. Even to scholars.
Even the Bible bus tour would skip that stop.
Jesus is a big attraction
Perhaps most first-time Bible readers go to the books about Jesus.
You can read his story in any one of the four books about him: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
The books are tagged as Gospels, an old word that means “Good News.” Jesus preached the “good news about the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 4:23).
Each Gospel approaches Jesus from different angle. Look at the overview of Bible books [link to 66 Books] and consider which one seems most interesting to you.
- Matthew includes the sermon of Jesus that summarizes all his main ideas in one presentation: the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew chapters 5-7.
- Luke reads like a physician wrote it. Early church writers said Luke was a physician who became an associate of apostle Paul, a traveling preacher. This is the only Bible book that tells us the story of Jesus’ birth, which you’d expect of a doctor. Luke also reports a lot of Jesus’ healing miracles.
- Mark is the shortest and most action-packed story of Jesus. It’s like a bullet list of one Jesus story after another and one healing miracle after another.
- John is the most cerebral of the four. Not much for miracles. Lots of Jesus’ teachings, with deep and layered meanings.
Other popular books for newcomers
Revelation’s end of the world. Some people are curious about end times, so they go to Revelation. We don’t recommend that because the book is so explosively metaphorical that the symbolism can knock a newcomer senseless. It’s tough enough when you know the backstory. Bible scholars still debate what the symbols meant to the first readers.
Many say that the writer was mainly talking about how God was going to punish the vicious Roman Empire, which by that time had destroyed Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple. But if you enjoy Roman history and mysteries, Revelation might grab you by the collar.
One tip about Revelation. When you read the word “Babylon,” don’t think of Babylon. That empire had died 500 years before some man named John wrote Revelation. Many scholars say we should read “Rome” into the word. Jews during the time of the Roman Empire used “Babylon” as a code word to talk about the Romans. The Romans earned that nickname when they leveled Jerusalem and destroyed the Jewish Temple in AD 70. Babylon had done the same thing in 586 BC.
Ephesians, a happy, practical book. Ephesians is one of the happiest and most practical books in the Bible. It’s not really a book. It’s a letter. Paul wrote it to a church in one of the biggest cities in the Roman Empire: Ephesus, on Turkey’s west coast. Paul didn’t usually stay anywhere more than a few days or weeks. But he stayed at Ephesus three years. His letter to the people reflects that. It sounds like words of advice from a loving father.
Song of Songs if you’re on your honeymoon. If you’re feeling romantic, read the Casual English Bible’s paraphrase of the Song of Songs, sometimes called the Song of Solomon. You can’t not enjoy it unless you’re a Puritan bosom.
Heads up, you’ll come away wondering what this Song is doing in the Holy Bible…just as some scholars have wondered for 2,000 years. It doesn’t mention God, but it’s big on touchy feely love. And there’s a lot of touching and feeling going on.
Man in Love:
“Sugar Lips, my bride,
I taste honey and sweet milk under your tongue…
you are my own personal garden of delight…”
Woman in Love:
“This garden is open for business.
Lover, have I got some fruit for you” (Song of Songs 4:11-12; 16).
See what we mean? This book will make you smile. But it also has one of the Bible’s most beautiful expressions of romantic love:
“Keep me close, like a necklace always near your heart,
Like a ring always near your touch.
Love outmuscles death,
It outlasts the grave.
Love is a flash fire,
Exploding in flames.
The fire of that love will never die.
Floods can’t quench it.
Rivers can’t wash it away.
Money can’t buy it” (Song of Songs 8:6-7).
On the other hand, money bought Delilah, Samson’s ex-girlfriend. She sold him out to the Philistines for a reward of what sounds like her weight in silver. That story’s in the book of Judges, chapter 16, verse 5.
History books. Which brings up one last consideration. If you love history, consider reading some of the books of history, such as Judges. The books are full of engaging stories.
If you’re curious about the oldest stories in the Bible—God creating the world, then flooding the world—jump to Genesis, first book in the Bible.
We’ve put together some Bible snippets to brief you on the Bible books, and to help you make your own decision about what to read first.
Scroll and dip and dive when you’re ready.
[Link to 66 books in 66 minutes]
How many words, verses, chapters, and books are in the Bible?
When someone drops a printed Bible on your lap, first thing you notice is the size. Printed Bibles are thick, usually with a lot of small print.
Let’s say they tossed you a naked Bible—no footnotes, sidebars, or maps. You’re staring into roughly 800,000 words.
No big deal for avid readers. That’s:
- Gone with the Wind (418,053)
- Moby Dick (206,052)
- The Grapes of Wrath (169,481).
But if you’re a Bible newcomer, you don’t want a naked Bible.
You want a Bible fully dressed—one that will answer at least some of the questions you’ll have along the way.
A well-dressed Bible weighs more than double a naked Bible. So, with a fully dressed Bible you’ll need to add a little more reading, for a total of two million words:
- Les Miserables (530,982)
- War and Peace (561,304)
- To Kill a Mockingbird (100,388).
Or you could read the entire Harry Potter series (1,084,170) twice, like many middle schoolers did.
Bible stats
| 66 | How many books in the Bible? |
| 31,102 | How many verses in the Bible |
| 800,000 | How many words? (varies among Bible translations) |
| 1,189 | How many chapters? |
MINOR PROPHETS:
GOSPELS
HISTORY
LETTERS
PROPHECY
How many chapters in each Bible book?
Old Testament: 929 chapters
LAW: 187 chapters
| 50 | Genesis |
| 40 | Exodus |
| 27 | Leviticus |
| 36 | Numbers |
| 34 | Deuteronomy |
HISTORY: 249 chapters
| 24 | Joshua |
| 21 | Judges |
| 4 | Ruth |
| 31 | 1 Samuel |
| 24 | 2 Samuel |
| 22 | 1 Kings |
| 25 | 2 Kings |
| 29 | 1 Chronicles |
| 36 | 2 Chronicles |
| 10 | Ezra |
| 13 | Nehemiah |
| 10 | Esther |
POETRY:
| 42 | Job |
| 150 | Psalms |
| 31 | Proverbs |
| 12 | Ecclesiastes |
| 8 | Song of Songs |
MAJOR PROPHETS: 183
| 66 | Isaiah |
| 52 | Jeremiah |
| 5 | Lamentations |
| 48 | Ezekiel |
| 12 | Daniel |
MINOR PROPHETS: 67
| 14 | Hosea |
| 3 | Joel |
| 9 | Amos |
| 1 | Oabadiah |
| 4 | Jonah |
| 7 | Micah |
| 3 | Nahum |
| 3 | Habakkuk |
| 3 | Zephaniah |
| 2 | Haggai |
| 14 | Zephaniah |
| 4 | Malachi |
NEW TESTAMENT: 260 chapters
GOSPELS: 89 chapters
| 28 | Matthew |
| 16 | Mark |
| 24 | Luke |
| 21 | John |
HISTORY: 28 chapters
| 28 | Acts of the Apostles |
LETTERS BY PAUL TO CHURCHES: 73 chapters
| 16 | Romans |
| 16 | 1 Corinthians |
| 13 | 2 Corinthians |
| 6 | Galatians |
| 6 | Ephesians |
| 4 | Philippians |
| 4 | Colossians |
| 5 | 1 Thessalonians |
| 3 | 2 Thessalonians |
LETTERS BY PAUL TO INDIVIDUALS: 14 chapters
| 6 | 1 Timothy |
| 4 | 2 Timothy |
| 3 | Titus |
| 1 | Philemon |
GENERAL LETTERS TO THE CHURCH: 34 chapters
| 13 | Hebrews |
| 5 | James |
| 5 | 1 Peter |
| 3 | 2 Peter |
| 5 | 1 John |
| 1 | 2 John |
| 1 | 3 John |
| 1 | Jude |
PROPHECY: 1 chapter
| 22 | Revelation |
new block for text
How long does it take to read the Bible?
66 hours – at rate of 200 words per minute (wpm), slower than the average of 250 wpm.
One hour a day, two months. Done.
30 minutes a day, four months. Done.
Read it while watching a TV show about some veterinarian in rubber boots trudging through muck on farms, then you might as well make some popcorn, too. Done in.
Fun fact: Only about a third of adult Christians say they have read all the Bible. Also, The Casual English Bible® isn’t convinced that a third of adult Christians have ever heard of the Bible book of Habakkuk.
And it contains the statement of faith that led the Apostle Paul to write something that convinced a Catholic monk named Martin Luther to break away from the church in protest, launching the Protestant movement. (See Habakkuk 2:4 and Romans 1:17).
1/3 How much of the Bible is the New Testament? 600,000 words in Old Testament 200,000 words in New Testament
Where did the Bible come from?
When you crack open a Bible and start flipping through it, you realize there are two main sections, the Old Testament and the New Testament. Each of those sections contains a collection of standalone books. And the book are divided into chapter and verses.
The earliest writings to earn a place of sacred respect among Jews were the stories and teachings traditionally credited to Moses. There are no bylines, just a long tradition recognizing Moses as the source of the first five books in the Bible, known as “The Law,” the section with itemized Jews rules to live by.
Some Christians prefer calling it the First Testament. They argue that “Old” Testament suggests it’s obsolete and irrelevant. It’s not. This is the Bible Jesus used. Some of his most famous quotes come from the Old Testament.
This is the Bible the Apostle Paul was talking about when he said,
“All of scripture is God’s way of talking to us. It’s good for us to use scripture when we’re teaching people, or when we need to correct them, help them, or give them advice about how to live and how to nurture spiritual integrity. Scripture helps give God’s people what they need, so they can do the good work they’ll be doing” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
How we got the Old Testament
How we got the Old Testament is, to a great extent, a mystery.
Some of the oldest stories come from sources dating back to the time of Moses, roughly 1400 BC and even to the time of Abraham, roughly 2000 BC. The Hebrew language—which writers used for the Old Testament—didn’t even exist until around 1000 BC, the time of King David.
Scholars theorize that those ancient ancestors of today’s Jewish people passed the stories and teachings along by word of mouth. But when King David finally, for the first time in history, secured the boundaries of Israel, leaders started thinking about their legacy. So they started writing the story of their nation.
Jews didn’t sit down one day and decide to compile all these stories and teachings into a sacred Jewish Bible of 39 different books. That process took centuries. And it’s unclear when the Jews settled on what writings to include. Some scholars guess that the Jews finally settled on the books sometime after A.D. 70. That’s when the Roman empire crushed a Jewish revolt and destroying the temple and much of Jerusalem. That killed the Jewish sacrificial system. Jewish law limited sacrifices to the temple. No temple, no sacrifices.
After that, they worshiped by meeting together to read their Bible and pray.
Law
Genesis: stories of Creation, Noah and the Flood, and the founders of the Jewish nation: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Exodus: Moses leads Israelite ancestors of Jews to freedom from slavery in Egypt.
Leviticus: Laws about how to worship God with sacrifices and obedience to his rules.
Numbers: Israelites disobey God one too many times, and he sentences them to 40 years in the badlands.
Deuteronomy: The disobedient generation of Israelites die. Moses will die, too. But first he teaches the laws to the new generation.
Prophecy
As the centuries rolled on, Jews continued passing along their stories and teachings. They added songs, poems, parables, fresh stories, and wisdom one-liners, that would fit in a fortune cookie. Prophets came along with messages from God in visions and dreams.
How did we get the New Testament?
Old Testament prophets predicted there was coming a time when God would tear up his agreement with the Jewish people and start over.
“The Lord said: The time will surely come when I will make a new agreement with the people of Israel and Judah. It will be different from the agreement I made with their ancestors when I led them out of Egypt. Although I was their God, they broke that agreement.
Here is the new agreement that I, the Lord, will make with the people of Israel
I will write my laws
on their hearts and minds.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people” (Jeremiah 31:31-33).
Many Jews seemed to believe that this radical change would take place when God sent a Messiah, a champion King much like King David. They expected him to chase off the Romans who were occupying their homeland, and restore Israel’s freedom and sovereignty.
When Jesus came, with his power to heal and his fresh and more compassionate way of understanding Jewish teachings, crowds began to believe he was that Messiah.
It would surprise them. The Bible teaches that Jesus was the Messiah, but his kingdom was not of this world. Instead, Jesus came to repair people for his kingdom in life after death.
He taught that God’s spirit can live within us as part of who we are. He told his followers:
“I’m going to ask the Father to send you another Spiritual Guide who will be with you all the time. The Father will do this. You’ll have this Spirit to teach you the truth…He will live inside you as part of you” (John 14:16-17).
Jesus ministered perhaps only three years, starting in about A.D. 27. Many believed in him because of his teachings and his miracles. But it wasn’t until his death and resurrection that his disciples finally realized he did not intend to become a King like David.
Fearless, they began teaching people what Jesus had taught them. Most of them died as martyrs because of it, according to early Christian writers.
No one sat down to write the New Testament. Instead, writers decided to compile the stories and teachings of Jesus so they would not be forgotten when the Jesus generation of people died. In church leaders like Peter and Paul wrote letters to churches throughout the Roman Empire, teaching them about how to live the Christian life.
Those letters were cherished by the churches, copied and circulated to churches everywhere. In time those writings grew to become revered. People recognize them as inspired by God.
The Roman empire opposed Christianity at first and slaughtered many Christians in the Coliseum and arenas throughout the empire. But in the early 300s Emperor Constantine had some kind of spiritual experience. He adopted Christianity as the religion of the Empire.
Christians became organized and church leaders met periodically to talk about the Christian movement. They sometimes hotly debated what writings should be considered authoritative and inspired.
Church councils came to agree that the writings they would accept as authentic work:
those written by apostles or their close associates
widely recognized among churches as messages from God
in line with traditional Christian teachings.
They agreed on the 27 books that make up the library of the New Testament.
Eastertime in AD 367 was the first time those 27 books showed up in any kind of a list, as far as historians are able to discover. A Bishop named Athanasius included them in a letter he sent to church leaders.
A majority of church leaders and later councils agreed, though some church leaders debated the matter and wanted to include other writings.
in change everything. The agreement, or covenant, he made with his people would give way to a new covenant.
began accumulating a variety of Writings of the prophets came next. worked their way in
But whether it’s First or Old, The Old Testament was the Bible Jesus used. It’s still the Jewish Bible today
Personal tips on how to start reading the Bible
For solid info on:
- How we got the Bible
- The Bible in a sentence
- Why read the Bible
- How to start reading the Bible
…there may be more books on those topics than there were bedbugs in Paul’s camelhair tent.
But doggone it, I’ve been writing books about the Bible for some 45 years. And now I’m paraphrasing it. So, I’m not going to research what others are saying. They already said it. I don’t need to say it again.
I just need to say it better. So, I’ll try.
Call me Grandpa Steve the Bible Guy
Whatever it takes lets assume the two of you are interested
