What is the Bible?
A. A collection of different types of writings (scriptura)
1. Narrative (story)
a. Historical Example: Acts
b. Semi-historical Example: Ruth
c. Mythical Example: Genesis 1-11
2. Verse (poem or song) Example: Psalms
3. Drama Example: Job
4. Prophetic Visions Example: Ezekiel, Revelation
5. Letters Example: 1 and 2 Corinthians
6. Legal Code Example: Leviticus
7. Sayings Example: Proverbs
8. Many Biblical books are a combination of types (Exodus, Daniel)
B. The oldest book = Parts of Exodus, Job (1400 to 1000 BC)
C. The youngest book = 2 Peter (100 AD)
D. The Christian Bible is divided into two parts:
1. Old Testament (aka Hebrew Scriptures, First Testament)
a. 39 books
b. Written from 1400-100 BC (all before Jesus)
c. Originally written in Hebrew
d. See "The Holy Scriptures"
2. New Testament (aka Greek Scriptures, Second Testament)
a. 27 books
b. Written from 50-100 AD (all after Jesus)
c. Originally written in Greek
d. See "Literary Classification of the New Testament"
E. The strange case of the Apocrypha
About 100 years before Jesus lived, the entire Old Testament was translated into Greek, the most widely used language of the time. This translation was called the Septuagint. During the century before the birth of Christ and the century immediately after Christ, extra Jewish scriptures were written in Greek and these were included in the Septuagint.
The early Christian church used the Septuagint rather than the Hebrew writings. This continued even after the Septuagint was translated into Latin by the Catholic church. During the Protestant Reformation, the Reformers rejected the extra books that had been added after the Hebrew scriptures were finished. These became known as the Apocrypha or Deuterocanonical writings. The Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican churches still recognize the Apocrypha as holy scripture, but the Protestant churches do not, and they are not usually included in our translations…