The Origin of The Bible

The Bible is the written Word of God. He inspired the words in the Bible and used approximately 40 different men to write down His words. These men wrote over a period of 1500 years. The perfect agreement of these writers is one proof that they were all guided by a single author. That author was God.

Some of the writers wrote down exactly what God said, "Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day."- Jeremiah 36:2. While others wrote what they experienced or what God revealed to them concerning the future, "Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;" Revelation 1:19.

However, all of the writers wrote under God's inspiration, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."- II Timothy 3:16-17. The Scriptures are to be used to teach doctrine, to reprove and correct from evil, and to teach righteousness. They will help you live right and equip you to work for God.

The Bible is divided into two major sections called the Old Testament and the New Testament. The word "testament" means covenant. A covenant is an agreement. The Old Testament records God's original covenant or agreement with man. The New Testament records the new covenant made by God through His Son, Jesus Christ. What was the subject of these two agreements? They both concerned restoring a sinful man to a right relationship with God.

God made a law that sin can only be forgiven through the shedding of blood, under God's agreement in the Old Testament, blood sacrifices of animals were made by man to obtain forgiveness for sin. This was a symbol of the blood sacrifice Jesus Christ would provide under the new agreement with God. Through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, a final blood sacrifice for sin was made. "But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance." -Hebrews 9:11-15

Both testaments are the Word of God and we must study both in order to understand God's message. The terms "old" and "new" testaments are used to distinguish between God's agreement with man before and after the death of Jesus Christ. We do not disregard the Old Testament simply because it is called "old." The Bible is further divided into 66 books. The Old Testament has 39 books. The New Testament contains 27 books. Each book is divided into chapters and verses. Although the content of each book is the Word of God, the division into chapters and verses was made by man in order to make it easy to locate specific passages. It would be very difficult to find a passage if the books were all one long paragraph. 

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