A Resume of the Bible

Is the Bible relevant today? Allen B. Stringfellow, author of "Through the Bible in One Year", says, "No christians education is complete, nor can they live a complete and effective christian life, until they have a "grasp" of the Bible. Even some "agnostics" believe that no ones education is complete until they have studied this book.

Let us declare from the start that this book contains the "Word of God". Now, what does that mean to us?

  1. Human beings were "led of the Spirit", to write these books.
  2. They were not dictated.
  3. They reflect the writers background, up-bringing and training.
  4. They, in their original form, were without error.
  5. They, in any form or translation, will accomplish that for which they were sent.

I like this description of the Bible:

"Although nature manifests God so as to leave man inexcusable, it is not sufficient to give full knowledge of God and His will which is necessary for salvation. Therefore, it pleased the Lord at sundry times and in divers manners to reveal Himself and to declare His will for the church, all of which, was given by inspiration of God".

Paul says in II Tim. 3:16-17:

"All scripture is inspired of God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness, that the man of God might be complete and equipped for ever good work".

In II Peter we read in Ch. 1:20-21:

"First of all you must understand that no scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, because it never came by the impulse of man but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God".

Paul tells us in I Tim. 3:16, what the central theme of the Bible is:

"Great indeed is the mystery of our religion; He was manifested in the flesh (birth), vindicated in the spirit (resurrected), seen by Angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world and taken up into Glory (ascension)".

This is what it means when we say, "the Bible contains the Word of God".

There are two extreme views of the Bible.

  1. God dictated the Bible and somehow it became the King James version of the Bible. Those who believe this will not use any other version.
  2. The men who wrote the Bible were "led in spirit" not "led by the Spirit". Therefore, like everything that man writes, it is subject to error.

The Old Testament contains 39 books. It covers a period of approximately 4,000 years. It was handed down by word of mouth and kept by memory for approximately 3,000 years. The language of the Old Testament was Hebrew, one of the Semitic languages. It is related to Arabic. It contains 22 consonants but no vowels. It has no punctuation. It varied over the years covered by the Bible due to the influence of other languages. With the coming of the Christian Era, Aramaic supplanted Hebrew as the language of the Jewish people. The Old Testament was a covenant of Law.

The New Testament contains 27 books. It covers a period of approximately 100 years. The New Testament was written in Greek. The originals are not in existances today. All English translations were made from copies of the originals. The New Testament is a covenant of Grace.

The best and easiest way to remember the Old Testament is 5 - 12 - 5 - 5 - 12.

The best and easiest way to remember the New Testament is 5 - 9 - 5 - 7 - 1.

The purpose and main thrust of our study will be to reveal how God was and is to redeem mankind through His Son, Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of the world.


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