Lesson 1
THE BASICS OF THE BOOK
1. THE HISTORY - How we received what we called in our Christian Bible in its
present form is a fascinating and enlightening and even miraculous story. However,
that subject is not the intent of this series of lessons. For our purposes we will hit
only some of the highlights of its history.
2. THE LAYOUT- Over a period of approximately 1700 years and through the hand of
over 40 authors we have received a document containing 66 books divided into two
main sections—the Old Testament and the New Testament.
A. Old Testament – is comprised of 39 books written in the Hebrew language
and is sometimes divided into four main sections.
1. The Torah or the Pentateuch. These are the first 5 books of the
Bible—Genesis (Covers approx.. 2300 years of history), Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy (approx. 200 years) . These
books contain:
a. The writings of Moses. They are referred to throughout the
scripture as Moses, The Law.
b. The historical account of creation,
c. The fall of mankind,
d. The flood of Noah’s day
e. God’s call and covenant that He made with Abraham.
f. The early history of Abraham’s descendants that would
eventually be referred to as the children of Abraham’s
grandson Israel (Jacob).
g. Subjugation of the Children of Israel in Egypt
h. State sponsored genocide of Hebrew offspring.
i. The Exodus from Egyptian slavery and the wonderings of the
children of Israel.
j. The giving of the 10 commandments and the Levitical Law.
k. The establishing of a priesthood, the Tabernacle and a
religious system that would come to be known as Judaism.
2. The Historical Writings – Include twelve books: Joshua, Judges, Ruth,
1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah,
Esther. These books contain:
a. The conquest of the Promised Land of Canaan.
b. The struggle of the people to possess the land.
c. The establishing of Judges to govern.
d. The request of the people for a king and God granting that
request.
e. The unified Kingdom under Saul, David and Solomon.
f. The dividing Kingdom: Israel and Judah.
g. The foreign conquest of the land and exile to Babylon.
h. The return to the land and rebuilding of Temple.
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3. The Books of Wisdom or Poetry – Include 5 books: Job, Psalms,
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. These books contain:
a. Chronologically the oldest book, Job.
b. Psalms is a collection of Poetry written to be put to music.
Several authors including David.
c. The writings Solomon’s—Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of
Solomon.
4. Prophets—Include 17 books. Divided into two sections: Major
Prophets—Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel. Minor
Prophets – Hosea, Amos, Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum,
Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. These prophets
prophesied of future events that included the conquest and exile of
the Jews of their day as well as their future return and
reconstruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. They also prophesied
the coming of Jesus the Messiah and deliverer of Israel and the
Savior of the world. As well as salvation being extended to the
Gentile nations.
B. The New Testament – is comprised of 27 books written in Koine Greek and
Aramaic languages and is divided into three sections
1. The Gospels and Acts – This section includes four different authors’
historical account of the birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension
of Jesus Chris the Son of God. And in the case of the author Luke, he
chronicles the birth and first three decades of the church in the Acts
of the Apostles.
2. The Epistles – Three sections:
a. The Pauline Epistles -- Romans, First Corinthians and Second
Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians,
First Thessalonians, Second Thessalonians, First Timothy,
Second Timothy, Titus, and Philemon.
b. Letter to the Hebrews – Unknown authorship but widely
attributed to the Apostle Paul.
c. General epistles-- James, First Peter, Second Peter, First John,
Second John, Third John, and Jude
3. The Revelation – Written by John the Apostle and is usually thought
of as the revelation of the eschatology of the church. Or the
revelation of last things or of the last days before the judgement of
the earth. My view has evolved somewhat in recent days.
3. THE AUTHORS – The Apostle Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3:16 (NIV), “All scripture is
God breathed…” Saint Thomas Aquinas stated, "The author of Holy Scripture is
God". The Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) says that the authority of the
Bible rests, “wholly upon God, the Author thereof; and therefore it is to be received,
because it is the Word of God".
God has dignified mankind by inviting him to become the agency though
which He releases His voice in the earth. Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Micah, and
Zephaniah all declared, “The word of the Lord that came to…”.
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There is much speculation as to exactly who was used by God to put pen to
paper and write the content of the Bible. Proving who these wonderful
people were is not our purpose, but what is our purpose is to give honor to
the writers as well as the God who inspired them. What a miraculous
endeavor and what courage it has inspired over the years to preserve this
compilation of over 40 authors that had one message about God’s great love
for mankind.
4. THE TIMEFRAME – The book of Job is widely regarded as the oldest book in the
Bible dated at somewhere around the mid-1600 B.C. puts the timeframe roughly
from that time until just before the end of the first century A.D.
5. THE PURPOSE – The full scope and purpose of the Bible is beyond our finite ability
to comprehend. However, there are clues as to the divine purpose for it. We will
seek to focus on these four aspects of the purpose of the Bible:
A. To encounter the Author – One intent of the Scriptures is encounter Jesus,
the Son of God.
John 5:39 NKJV
"You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and
these are they which testify of Me.”
We see in Jesus the express image of God (See Hebrews 1:3). All that has
ever been written in Scripture about the nature of God is seen in Jesus. There is
goodness and severity (See Romans 11:22). Grace and truth (See John 1:17).
Mercy not sacrifice (See Matthew 9:13). Shepherd (Psalm 23; Joh 10:11,14).
Healer and deliverer (Matthew 8:17, Acts 10:38). Full of joy (Psalm 45:7).
Through the scriptural accounts of Jesus we can see, if we look intently
enough, the personality of Jesus which is the expressed image of the personality of
God. I love what John Eldredge writes in Beautiful Outlaw: Experiencing the Playful,
Disruptive, Extravagant Personality of Jesus,
“Reading the Gospels without the personality of Jesus is like watching
television with the sound turned off. You get a very dry, two-dimensional person
doing strange, undecipherable things.” (page 13)
Jesus is sometimes irreverent. Like when He called the Canaanite woman a
dog (See Matthew 15). Or the day He said, unless you eat my flesh and drink my
blood you can have nothing to do with me (See John 6). He will sometimes offend
your mind to expose your heart. The Canaanite woman’s heart came through loud
and clear. So did many who turned back from following him
He is sometimes playful. Like when He appeared to the two disciples on the
road to Emmaus. He disguised himself so they couldn’t recognize Him. The just
vanished. Then when they went back to Jerusalem to tell the others, He walked
through the walls and said, Howdy! Hilarious! Wonder how many times He’s done
that since. Maybe with you?
Don’t miss an encounter with Jesus because a hyper-religious view can’t
recognize His multi-faceted personality and nature.
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B. To experience His love.
John 3:16-17
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the
world through Him might be saved.”
C. Receive Eternal Life. God’s desire to never be separated from His creation.
He gave the Scriptures to reveal His desire to be eternally connected to
them.
1 John 5:13
“These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God,
that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to
believe in the name of the Son of God.”
D. Discover Our Purpose – The nature of art is that others may partake of the
creative nature of the artist. The paintings of Van Gogh, the stories of
Shakespeare, the music of Beethoven. Their works are expressions,
extensions of who they are. The same is true about each of us. We are God’s
masterpiece. From your very conception He created you with a purpose.
That purpose is a unique expression of the Master Creator. The Bible holds
the key that unlocks the mystery of your individual purpose. Through the
Bible and our interaction with the Author we can discover all that He has
created us be and to do in this life!
Ephesians 2:10
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we
can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Group Questions:
Read Acts 10:9-16, 28. Deuteronomy 14:3.
Was it lawful to eat the animals in the vision?
What problems did Peter face with this new revelation?
Can you think of another situation in the NT like this?
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