"Thy
word is truth." John 17:17
The Bible is one Book made up of 66 books. Those 66 books are grouped into two main sections, called Testaments. The first section is called the Old Testament and the second is called the New Testament. The word "testament" means testimony, and the two sections present God's record of dealing with mankind before (Old) and after (New) His Son came to die on the cross.
Beyond the two Testament sections, the Bible is divided into 1,189 Chapters. Basically, every sentence in the Bible is referred to as a "verse," making for a total of 31,101 verses. The purpose of the chapter and verse numbering is to help the reader locate things in the Bible easily and quickly.
God used 40 people to pen down the Scriptures through His inspiration (see 2 Tim 3:16, and 2 Peter 1:21). These authors included Moses (who wrote the first five books of the Old Testament), the prophet Samuel, king David (he wrote most of the Psalms), king Solomon (he wrote several books including the book of Proverbs), as well as Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, James, and Jude.
The Bible was written in the language of the day (Hebrew for the Jews, and later, Greek for the world), and was never kept away from ready access until religious leaders saw it hindering their plans for world domination. Today, every major language has a copy of the word of God in their language because of the dedication of Christians who know that it is the Bible alone that directs a person to Christ, saves their soul from hell, and infallibly instructs them about God!
What follows is a short list of What The Bible
Is:
· It is God's inspired revelation of the origin and destiny of all things.
· It is a record of how God deals with man in the past, present and future.
· It is indestructible. Jesus said, Heaven and earth will pass away, but not God's word (Matthew 24:35).
· It is superior to all philosophy, and religious opinions because it was not given by man's wisdom, but by the Holy Ghost (1 Corinthians 2:13)
· It presents the message of eternal salvation for all who believe in Christ, and eternal damnation for all who reject that Gospel.
What the Bible is not:
· It is NOT a charm or good-luck piece. It works no special wonders just by its mere presence - that would mean that it would not need to be read. But God gave a Book of WORDS to be read and understood, not kept closed, looked at, and prayed to as an idol.
· It is NOT a book of "heavenly utterances" in a supernatural language. It is God's revelation in the most simple human language possible. No one needs a theological degree to read and understand the Bible.
· It is NOT a book of mysteries. From the very beginning of its pages, God sets out to reveal, and explain, and make clear all mysteries that plague the human heart. The Bible is self interpreting, explaining all the mysteries of life, so that no mysteries remain.
· It is NOT a book that says one thing and means another.