Updated 10.09.2010 ES
The purpose of the Bible and some facts about it
The purpose of the bible is to show us the way to salvation. The bible is given and inspired of God himself.
2. Tim.3.16-17: All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be well-fitted and adequately equipped for all good work.
How was the bible inspired?
The spirit of the Lord was working through his servants to write down the word of God.
Inspired in speaking:
David: 2 Sam 23.2: “The Spirit of the Lord has spoken through me and his word is on my tongue.”
Jesaja: Acts 28.25: “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet.”
Jeremia: Jer.1:9: “Look, I lay my word in your mouth.”
Inspired in writing:
Moses: Exodus 17:14: “Write it down in a book”. Exodus 19:6-7,24:4, 34:2....
Jeremia: Jer. 30:2 “Write down all the words which I have spoken to you in a book.”
Isaiah: Is. 30:8 “Go and write it on tablet for them and inscribe it on a scroll”
The authors and books of the bible:
66 books and 40 different authors
Old Testament contains 39 books. It was written in the period about 1500 -400 before Christ by at least thirty different authors. The five books of Moses are believable the oldest ones and Malaki the youngest
1. Historic books: Genesis –Ester -17 books
2. Poetic books: Job- Song of Solomon - 5 books
3. Prophetic books: Isaiah- Malaki - 17 books
Authors with different backgrounds:
Moses: grew up in the house of Pharaoh
Daniel: important position in the empire of Babylon
David: shepherd
Ezra: educated in the scripture
Amos: shepherd
Habakkuk: farmer
The Old Testament.
is mainly written in Hebrew language but some small parts are written in Aramaic(Ezra 4:8-6:18; 7:12-26, Jeremia 10:11, Daniel 2:4-7:28).
Until 1488, when the first Hebrew bible appeared in print in Soncino, Italy, every copy was handwritten.
Until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the earliest Hebrew manuscripts extant dated back to about year 900.In these scrolls of Qumran community ( written down between 300 and 125 before Christ) which was dispersed shortly before destruction of Jerusalem in year 70, EVERY Old Testament book EXCEPT Esther is represented. Evidence from different resent discoveries has confirmed the viewpoint that the Hebrew text preserved by the Masoretes was handed down without serious changes from the last century B.C. ...Masoretes were scholars that carefully through the centuries transmitted the text of the bible into new copies.
Already between 285 and 246 before Christ a Greek version of the Old Testament began to circulate in Egypt!
Later on we know that NT also was written in Greek (first in Greek!) and NT was getting a part of the Scriptures accepted by Christians as Canon (Holy Scriptures)
New Testament
27 books: Written down in the period 45-90 after Christ. The oldest books are the letters of Paul. Was written in the period 45-64 after Christ
1. History: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Acts
2. Teaching: 13 letters of Paul and seven other letters.
3. Prophesy: Revelation
The New Testament was written in Greek.
We have all good reasons for believing in the bible!
Also scientifically
1. The documents of the New Testament is enormous
A, 5000 handwritten documents in Greek
B, 3000 very old copies of translations and versions
C, The apostolic fathers (95-200 after Christ.); there are about 86000 different quotations.
2. The documents we have is very close in time to the original.
A, The Chester Beatty-papyrus from 150 after Christ have large parts of NT
B, Codex Sinaiticus, from 350 after Christ has the entire NT
C, Bodmer-papyrus from 200 after Christ contains parts of Luke, John, Acts, 1- 2.Pet, Jacob
D, The fragment of Ryland, from 120 after Christ contains John 18:31-33, 37-38.
E, The scrolls from the rocks by the Dead Sea, confirms that OT is genially written down, contains almost all the books of the Old Testament. Were written about 300-125 before Christ
3. The enormous number of documents ought to increase the possibility for faults, but this is not right, because the number of documents also increase the possibility for correcting differences. The fact is also that the differences is not about historic facts nor matter of faith or moral questions.
(“Purpose of the bible and some facts about it” is taken out from a booklet of Ulf Ekman)
