“Bible” comes from the Greek ta biblia which means “the books.” We regard the Bible as a single book. In fact, it is a library of books which were written over a period of approximately 1500 years. The Bible, “The Book,” is about God revealing Himself to His people, the Jewish people first, then revealing Himself to all people in His Son, Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us about how God acts in human history, and it teaches us about God. It contains religious history. God is the author of the Bible. So, the Bible is not only about God, it is also by Him. The languages in which the books of the Bible were written were Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. Most of the Old Testament books were written in Hebrew. Parts of Daniel, Ezra, Jeremiah, Esther and probably Tobit and Judith were written in Aramaic (the language spoken by Jesus, which was related to Hebrew and popular in Palestine during His time). The Book of Wisdom, 2nd Maccabees and all the books of the New Testament were written in Greek. Some say Matthew had a shorter Gospel in Aramaic, but it no longer exists.
The Bible is divided into the Old Testament (containing 46 books), and the New Testament (containing 27 books). The word “Testament” means “covenant” or “agreement”. The Old Testament or Old Covenant, involves the family bond between God and the Israelites wherein He would be their God, and they would be His people (Exodus 24:1-8). Moses said, “… ‘This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.’” (Exodus 24:8). The old covenant was sealed with the blood of animals and an oath. The New Testament or New Covenant involves the fulfillment of the old covenant by a new covenant with God. “… I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” (Jeremiah 31:33). Jesus said, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.” (Luke 22:20). The new covenant was sealed with the Blood of Jesus Christ and the oath of our baptism.
The Old Testament was put together by the Hebrews and the New Testament was collected and preserved by members of the Catholic Christian Faith after the time of Christ.
The word “Gospel” means “Good News.” It means the good news of salvation proclaimed by Christ and the Church, and given to us in written form by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. There are no original manuscripts of any books of the Bible in existence today. The oldest copy is the Book of Isaiah, which is in Hebrew, and dates from about 100 B.C. It was found in a cave near Jericho in 1947, and is part of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The oldest New Testament manuscripts we have date from approximately A.D. 350.
The contents of the Bible developed in three stages:
Oral Stage - Stories handed down through the generations by word of mouth (almost all of the Book of Genesis is from oral accounts, or what we call tradition). The more important stories were memorized and told on special occasions.
Writing Stage - As time went on, people began to write things down. Writing was difficult, and very few people could read. For hundreds of years both oral tradition and the written word existed side by side. Some parts of the Bible were written to meet a particular need of the community, Jewish or Christian. Not all Oral Traditions were written down.
Editing Stage - Material was chosen which best represented the religious traditions of the people. The oral and written accounts could have differed slightly, so editing was done to bring unity between the two. The contents of the Bible came from this last stage. These three stages of development existed for the most part simultaneously, though the Oral Stage came first and the Editing Stage came last.
Symbols for spoken words were developed probably about 6000 years ago. About 2500 B.C. the Egyptians developed papyrus, on which they inscribed their symbols. They joined several of these together and rolled them on a rod to make something like a scroll. About A.D. 105, the Chinese invented paper, but it was not introduced into the Western world until about A.D. 700. It was more than 700 years later (A.D. 1450) that Johann Gutenberg invented printing.
The Bible was written by many different human authors over a period of 1500 years. These human authors were inspired by God, that is, God breathed ideas into them which He wanted expressed, and they expressed these ideas in their own way. It was not their intention to write a book that would be entered into “The Bible,” as we know it. The whole thrust was to preserve the traditions of how God dealt with His people.
Since the Bible is not one book, but a library of books, there are many different kinds of writing in these books, e.g., prose, proverbs, parables, prophesy, prayers, poetry, (narrative hymns), legends, legal documents, letters, sermons, songs, stories, etc. This is called Literary Form.
In order to be able to understand a passage of the Bible one must be aware of:
In what form it was written, e.g., prose, poetry, history, etc. (Literary Form)
Why it was written.
When it was written.
What is the whole book about?
What is the meaning of each word?
How does it fit in with other parts of the Bible on the same subject?
The Old Testament is organized under three major headings:
The Law - this is the first in importance and consists of the first five books.
The Prophets - this consists of the preaching attributed to the prophets and their writings and the Books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings.
The Writings - this consists of the remainder of the Old Testament.
The Bible is God’s gift to us. The Bible is God’s love letter to His people. It was written over many centuries and contains different kinds of writing. We all need help to interpret what is being said in the different books. The Catholic Church offers that help.
