Introduction to The Bible

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Introduction to The Bible

• The English word Bible comes from the Greek ta
  biblia which means The Books
• The bible is divided into two basic sections

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The Old Testament

• 39 books in Jewish and Protestant editions
• 46 books in Catholic editions
• Written over a period of about 800-900 years by
  various authors

3
The New Testament

• A collection of accounts and writings that
  tell the story and the significance of Jesus
  life, teachings, death, and resurrection
• And tell the story doctrines (beliefs
  practices) of the church.

4
The Old Testament

• Torah or Pentateuch Five Scrolls
• Genesis,
• Exodus,
• Leviticus,
• Numbers,
• Deuteronomy

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History

• Israel living and working out Gods word and
  promises that came primarily through Abraham,
  Moses and David.

6
Wisdom Literature

• All have a historical context
• Is the voice of reflection and experience.
• Includes persuasion, praise, lament, confession,
  suffering
• Connect Gods order, his commands to the people
  and
• the absurdity of going against the grain of his
  creation and created order.

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Prophets

• Major Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel,
  Daniel
• Minor Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah,
  Micah,Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai,
  Zechariah, Malachi

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Prophets- Prophecy

• Gods means of communicating to his people
• Prophecy has purpose and calls for action
• Most often God is speaking through the prophet to
  his/her contemporaries promising and/or warning.

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• Usually prophecy is about the immediate future
  involves political, economic, social and military
  sins, evils.
• Gift of prophecy is speaking for God, bringing
  Gods character and will to bear.

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The New Testament

• The Gospels Good News!
• Each of the four gospels show Jesus in a
  different light
• The gospels are not biographical
• Written to share with people the message about
  and of Jesus.

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Acts

• The account of the Spirit empowered and led
  movement of Jesus Christ.
• Second book in a series of two
• The primary account of how the message about
  Jesus expanded from a local context to a world
  wide movement.

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The Letters or Epistles

• Written to a particular group or person
• Often the letter is to respond to a
  question/problem
• Intent is to assist the reader in integrating
  eternal principle(s) or belief(s) into practical
  living.

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The Non-Canonical Collections

• Catholics refer to them as Deutero-canonical
• Protestants refer to them as the Apocrypha

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Objective Interpretation?

• We are socially skewed
• We are individually skewed
• We are ecclesiastically skewed

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Interpreting the Bible

• Need to Understand the Then There and the
  Here Now
• From a particular culture with a particular
  language.
• Use of Various Genres

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Ask the Questions

• What was the Bible saying through God's human
  servant to the first hearers or readers of that
  message?
• How should we apply the passage now?
• Should the message/passage be applied to today?

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Concluding Thoughts

• The Bible has had the most profound influence on
  modern religious thought
• It is the most complete history of the ancient
  past that we possess.
• (Reading the Old Testament, Boadt p.11)

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• For Jews, Christians Moslems, all or part of
  the Bible contains a source and record of Gods
  self-communication to the world therefore has
  essential and absolute importance.

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The Challenges of Interpretation

• Exegesis analyze the biblical text and context.
• Hermeneutics Principles of interpretation that
  guide exegesis.
• Eisegesis Imposing our own ideas on Scripture
  rather than on its meaning.
• Avoid Proof-texting

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Avoiding Eisegesis Proof-texting

• Study become knowledgeable of the entire Bible.
• Recognize genres and contexts
• Look for the eternal and the historical
  particulars in a text
• Respect all scripture
• Use scripture to interpret scripture
• Seek truth
• Pray