Module 2: The Bible

Objectives: At the end of the module, students would have:

1) defined the Bible, stated its purpose & importance;
2) classified the Bible according to its literary genre, identified the description of
each book and the writers;
3) traced the translations of the original Bible to different languages.

Your Word
is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path,
I have taken an oath and confirmed it that I will follow
your righteous laws.
(Psalm 119:105-106)
Module 2.1 – Meaning, Purpose and Importance of the Bible
What is the Bible?
Known as the Good Book, as if it were a single volume, the Bible is a collection
or library of many small books written over a period of more than a thousand years. The Hebrew
Bible, known to Christians as the Old Testament (OT), is largely a record of the Hebrew deity’s
dealings with the chosen people, Israel. It contains legal material/law (5), narrative/history (12),
poetry (5), major prophecy (5), and minor prophecy (12). The Old Testament has a total of 39
books. The New Testament (NT) consists of four (4) narratives of Jesus’ life (Gospels), one (1)
theological/historical account of the early Church (Acts), thirteen (13) Pauline letters, eight (8)
general letters, and one (1) apocalypse (revelation of future history). Most Protestant Bibles
contain 66 books (39 from the Old and 27 from the New Testament). Roman Catholics, most
Eastern churches, and some Protestants, however, include a number of additions to the Old
Testament list, and these extra books are known as the Apocrypha (Harris,1).

What does the word “Bible” mean?

The word Bible comes from the Greek ta biblia, that means ‘the books.’ When this
word was taken over into Latin, it became singular, the Bible. The word bible means “little
books.” It is derived from the Greek term biblion, the diminutive form of byblos, which means
“papyrus” or “book.” That usage in turn comes from the ancient Phoenician city of Byblos,
where the papyrus plant was cut and dried in strips for use as writing paper. The manuscript
material thus produced was called after the place of its manufacture, Byblos (Ibid.).
The Bible is more than a book, it is a library. In it, you will find a number of works,
collected together in two large groupings, the Old Testament and the New Testament. The word
“testament” here does not mean what we might take it to mean in modern English: it is the same
word as the Latin testamentum, which translates the Hebrew word meaning “covenant”. A
covenant is a sacred agreement between God and His people (John Mark Terry). So the Bible is
the collection of books which tells us about the covenant, the agreement, which God made with
Israel through Abraham (the old covenant) and which He fulfilled in Jesus (the new covenant)
(Charpienter, How to Read the Old Testament, 5).
The Bible is often called Scripture, the Scriptures, or Holy Scripture. The word
“Scriptures” means “sacred or divine writings.” That is important, and means at least two things.
First, the Word of God set down in writing – so there can be a Word of God which is not written.
Furthermore, it is the Writings, which are the Word of God for us, and not the events or the
words spoken before they were composed (Terry, 10).
As a record of culture, the Bible is now being supplemented by an older source of
information – material objects left behind by ancient cultures. Archaeologists discover and
interpret these “material remains” of man’s past. The material remains of earlier cultures usually
have been covered as later generations have lived on the same site; therefore, the layers nearer
the surface represent the more recent cultures and the deeper layers represent older cultures. The
layers must be excavated carefully, and detailed records of objects found in each layer must be
made for subsequent interpretation.
The material remains include all tangible things, such as writings on stone, metal,
clay, parchment, and papyrus, and unwritten documents, such as fortifications, buildings,
sculptures, household vessels, tools, weapons, and personal ornaments. Archeological
discoveries of the past 50 years have added tremendously to our understanding of the Israelite
culture and the influence of surrounding neighbors. This new information has added greatly to
our understanding of the Old and New Testaments (Charpienter, 5).

The Purpose of the Bible

The purpose of the Bible is clearly emphasized in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is
God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so
that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

1. The Bible is useful for teaching (pagtudlo)God’s truth. God’s Word is the supreme
and final source and standard of truth (Psalm 119:160). It conveys to us God’s wisdom
concerning the questions of human existence (John 17:17). It is God’s instruction manual on how
to live for best results.
2. The Bible is useful for rebuking (pagsabdong) our sins. The Bible has the power to
expose sin in our lives and to convince us that we are wrong. Proverbs 19:3 says, “The
foolishness of man ruins his way, and his heart rages against the Lord.” If you are not using the
Bible to confront your sin, then you are not growing in righteousness as God intends you to do.
3. The Bible is useful for correction. The Word does not just point us where we are
wrong and leave us there. It also tells us how to get right with God, with others, and with
ourselves. It also restores us to the proper path of God’s ways.
4. The Bible is useful for training in righteousness. Training implies a process where
God teaches us how to deal with all of life. Just as parents work with their children over the years
to train them in various ways to do good. So God through His Word trains us in all areas of life
so that we know what pleases Him.

Importance of the Study of the Bible

To Christians, the Bible is the most important book that has ever written. It is the unique
and divinely inspired record of God’s redemptive revelation of Himself and His will. The
following are some reasons why we need to study the Bible.
1. It explains man’s origin and the purpose of his existence as a rational being.
2. It gives guidance to the daily lives of Christians.
3. It points out condemned man to the Redeemer and sorrowing man to the only Comforter
who can meet his needs.
4. It is a book of knowledge – it reveals the nature of God and his redemptive purpose.
(Viertel, 2-4)

Module 2.2. – Literary Classification, Brief Descriptions of each Book and the Writers
 OLD TESTAMENT

Law/Pentateuch Books = 5
Genesis – means “the beginning.” It tells about the creation of the world and mankind.
Exodus – means “the going out.” It is the book of deliverance and the birth of the nation.
Leviticus – the book of ritual or the guidebook of the priests.
Numbers – the book of wanderings.
Deuteronomy – means “second law” book

Historical Books = 12
Joshua – the conqueror of Canaan. It tells about the conquest of Canaan.
Judges – the book of deliverance
Ruth – exemplifies true friendship
I & II Samuel – the book of the founding of the kingdom of Israel
I & II Kings – the book of the divided kingdom of Israel
I & II Chronicles – tells of the history of Judah
Ezra – the drastic reformer. It tells about Judaism after the exile.
Nehemiah – the practical man of affairs, the builder.
Esther – a historical romance written to explain the origins of the Jewish feast of Purim.

Poetical Books = 5
Job – the book of the ways of God
Psalms – the Hebrew handbook of personal religion.
Proverbs – concise sayings. It conveys truth about social, spiritual and moral life of man.
Ecclesiastes – words of the preacher (Solomon)
Song of Songs – songs of the wise

Major Prophets/Prophecy = 5
Isaiah – the prophet of holiness, statesman, the prophet of world mission. It emphasizes holiness.
Jeremiah – the crying prophet, the prophet of the inwardness of religion
Lamentation – the book of lament or sorrow
Ezekiel – the prophet of reconstruction or the prophet of remaking the nation
Daniel – the book for hard times

Minor Prophets/Prophecy = 12
Hosea – the prophet of love. It portrays the allegorical love of God to His people.
Joel – the prophet of the day of Yahweh
Amos – the prophet of righteousness
Obadiah – the prophet of the resentment against Edom
Jonah – the prophet of God’s universal love
Micah – the prophet of the poor
Nahum – the prophet who prophesied against Nineveh
Habakkuk – tells about Babylon as God’s agent in punishing Judah’s sins, but in the end
Babylon will be ruined because of her pride
Zephaniah – the prophet of the restoration of Jerusalem
Haggai – the prophet of the rebuilding of the temple of Jerusalem
Zechariah – the prophet of the restoration of Jerusalem
Malachi – the prophet of revival

NEW TESTAMENT
Gospels = 4
Matthew – the most influential gospel
Mark – the earliest written gospel
Luke – the most beautiful and best written gospel
John – the best loved gospel, the spiritual gospel

History = 1
Acts – the historical book

Pauline Letters/Epistles = 13
Romans – tells of man’s need of redemption, new life in Christ and Christian conduct
I & II Corinthians – tells of the Corinthian church
Galatians – the “Magna Charta of Christian Liberty”
Ephesians – tells of Jesus Christ as the clue to all history
Philippians – tells of the Christ-centered life.
Colossians – tells of the Cosmic Christ
I & II Thessalonians – first and second book of the NT to be written down
I & II Timothy – Pastoral letters
Titus – Pastoral letters
Philemon – fairly wealthy man won to Christianity by Paul

General Letters = 8
Hebrews – tells about the priesthood of Christ
James – tells about the practical rules for Christian life
I Peter – the epistle of hope
II Peter – last NT book to be written. Tells about the knowledge on Jesus Christ
I John –the epistle of life
II John – shortest book in the NT
III John – known as the “Johannine Philemon”
Jude –tells about complete loyalty to the Christian faith
Revelation – known as the “apocalypse” – means unveiling of the last days, the end time
Writers of the Bible

Writers of the Old Testament. Through the centuries, God spoke through many
individuals. Their messages were brought together to become our Old Testament. Many of the
people who spoke the words of God did not record their own messages. Other people recognized
the importance of the messages and preserved them - sometimes after the messages had been
passed orally from one generation to another (Lea, 22).

It is not known who wrote most of the Bible. The OT authors did not labor for personal
recognition but to convey their sense of Israel’s god and his purpose for the world. OT
authorship was typically anonymous, although later traditions assigned important books to
eminent figures of the past. In the last several centuries B.C.E. (before the common era), Moses
was regarded as the author of the Bible’s first five books, the Pentateuch, although most modern
scholars believe that these books assumed their present form long after Moses’ day. Most of the
narrative books – Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles – are the work of nameless
priests, scribes, and archivists. None make direct statements about their origin or compilers.
Scholars believe that the great prophets - Amos, Isaiah, Micah, and others – delivered their
messages orally and that their words were collected and written down by later disciples whose
names are unknown (Harris, 1).

It cannot be ascertained how most of the books of the OT were put into written form. It is
assumed that Isaiah’s disciples preserved his messages (Isa. 8:1). It is known that Jeremiah
dictated many of his messages to his scribe, Baruch. Baruch possibly recorded other messages of
Jeremiah which were not dictated. Jeremiah 36 describes how the first scroll of Jeremiah came to
be written. God told Jeremiah to dictate to Baruch all the words he had preached for a number of
years. Baruch faithfully recorded the words which were then taken to noblemen in Jerusalem.
When King Jehoiakim read the words, he cut them into pieces with his knife and tossed them
into the fire. After Jehoiakim destroyed the first scroll, God told Jeremiah to dictate a second
scroll. Baruch faithfully recorded these words as well.

Writers of the New Testament. The same anonymity prevails in the NT. While late
second-century Church traditions attributed various Gospels and letters to prominent early
disciples and apostles, most of the texts make no claims of authorship. The conspicuous
exceptions are Paul’s letters, written between (about) 50 and 62 C.E. (of the common era) to
newly founded Christian churches in such cities as Corinth, Thessalonica, Philippi, and Rome.
Although the author of Luke-Acts may have been a Gentile (non-Jew), all other Bible writers
were Jewish, members of the Israelite nation (Harris).

At least nine people served as writers of various books of the New Testament. Eight of
the writers generally are identified (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, James, Peter, Jude ).The
authorship of Hebrews is uncertain. Some have suggested Paul as the writer of Hebrews, but
most modern New Testament scholars do not favor Paul as the writer of Hebrews. Paul authored
thirteen books (13); John wrote five (5); Luke and Peter each produced two (2), and Matthew,
Mark, James, Jude, and the author of Hebrews penned one (1) each (Lea, 21).

In this way, or in a variation of this way, other biblical books may have been put into
written form. We do know that God worked to preserve the wonderful messages for His people.
We can give thanks to those people who repeated the words they heard, to those who recorded
these messages, and to those scribes who through the centuries tediously preserved the message
of God.

Module 2.3. Bible Translations and the Languages Used

The Old Testament

The Old Testament was not written originally in English. Almost all the Old Testament
was written in classical Hebrew. However, some sections were written in Aramaic, a language
related to Hebrew and popularly used in the Old Testament period and during the ministry of
Jesus. Aramaic (Syrian) was the Semitic tongue spoken by the Israelites. It was also a dialect
closely related to Hebrew and probably also the language spoken by Jesus. The oldest
complete copies of the Hebrew Bible (9 th and 10th centuries) were largely the work of
masoretes, medieval Jewish scribes who added vowel symbols to the consonantal Hebrew
script. The Masoretic Text (MT) is the standard form of the Hebrew Bible today (Harris, 5-6).

The OT was translated into Greek in Alexandria, from about the 3rd century BC
onwards. According to legend, 70 scribes working independently all arrived at exactly the same
translation. It indicates that a translation of this kind must have been inspired by God. As a
result, the translation is known as the Septuagint (Greek for seventy: the usual abbreviation is
LXX). There were other ancient Greek translations by Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion
(Harris, 6).

The New Testament

The New Testament was written entirely in Greek, in the common language spoken at
that time. This Greek, which is not the same as classical Greek, is called koine (Greek for
common, i.e. language). Other ancient translations or versions include the translations into
Syriac, Coptic and Latin. The Latin version known as the Vulgate (editio vulgata or popular
version) is the work of St Jerome (end of the 4th and beginning of the 5th century of our era).

TRACING THE TRANSLATIONS OF THE BIBLE FROM ITS ORIGINAL

LANGUAGE
 BIBLE DESCRIPTION

HEBREW BIBLE Language where the OT was first written

(original)

Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, translated

SEPTUAGINT (LXX) by 70 scholars in just 70 days
(Greek) Greek - language where the NT was first written

Latin translation of the Bible, translated by

VULGATE St. Jerome
Latin

German Bible translated by Martin Luther from

GERMAN BIBLE the Hebrew/Greek language, first European Bible
German version

translated by John Wycliffe (from Latin to

ENGLISH BIBLE English
translated by William Tyndale (directly
from the original language- Hebrew/Greek)

HILIGAYNON BIBLE translated by Eric Lund and Braulio Manikan

Note:
Other translations of the Bible: Tagalog, Ilokano, Bikol, Cebuano, Pangasinan, Pampango
For easy reading and location of the words, the Bible was divided into chapters and verses.
Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, divided the Bible into chapters (AD1226)
Robert Estienne, a French printer in Geneva, divided the chapter into verses (AD 1551)