What are the Divisions of the Sixty-Six Books of the Bible?

The Bible is divided into two major divisions: The Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament consists of thirty-nine books and the New Testament is made up of twenty-seven books, a total of sixty-six books all together.

Both testaments, or covenants (old and new) are divided by a grouping of the various books into different kinds of literature, time frames of history, poetry and wisdom literature, prophecy and so forth. So, lets’ begin with the Old Testament division or grouping of books . . .

Old Testament

The Old Testament was written over roughly a thousand-year period and is divided into five sections:

The Pentateuch

Pentateuch is a Greek word that  literally means “five books” or “five scrolls”. It refers to the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus. Continue reading “What are the Divisions of the Sixty-Six Books of the Bible?”

How did the Bible Come Together?

Who decided which 66 books would go into the Bible? Well, the short answer is God did. And, why 66 books? Why not 65 or 67? Again, it was God who determined the number of books that would make up the Bible. You see, the Bible is a Divine Book, not human.

  • It is Divinely Inspired–II Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is inspired by God.”
  • It is of Divine Origin–II Peter 1:20-21 “No prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”
  • It Has and Will Stand the Test of Time–Isaiah 40:8 “The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of God stands forever.”

In the same way God inspired men to write His Word, He also chose to use human instrumentality to gather the sixty-six books into one book that we call the Bible. The gathering of the sixty-six books that were considered to be inspired and authoritative did not come all at once. It was a result of Continue reading “How did the Bible Come Together?”

How Did we Get our Bible?

The Bible that you hold in your hand is an amazing book.It is a book that has been preserved and unchanged through the centuries. Forty different authors from different walks of life, different vocations, different social standings and from different geographical areas were the human instruments God used to write the Bible. Their lives covered a span of  over  1400 years and most did not know each other. Yet the stories and prophesies they wrote had one unifying thread running throughout, from the first verse of Genesis to the Amen of Revelation. It is the story of a loving Father who seeks the redemption of a fallen and lost mankind by sending His Son as the one and only way of salvation.

Moses was likely the first human author of the Bible. But the stories he wrote and recorded in the Book of Genesis were events that happened long Continue reading “How Did we Get our Bible?”

Did God Write the Bible?

 

Is the Bible a human book or is it a Divinely inspired book?  Admittedly, the Bible was written by human authors, 40 of them over a time period of 1500 years. But according to Scripture, these human authors were all led and inspired by God as to the subject matter that they wrote. Scripture is explicit about this . . .

  • II Peter 1: 20-21 “But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

  • II Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”

Continue reading “Did God Write the Bible?”

What Does God Think of Abortion?

When I heard about the law recently passed in New York State allowing late term abortions up to the point of birth, I was both appalled and grief-stricken. New York Governor Cuomo celebrated the passing of the bill and said, “it is a victory for all New Yorkers.”

But I wonder what God thinks about it? Is the continuing and increasing abortion rights propagated by some lawmakers a victory for mankind or is it an abomination in the eyes of God?

Some who approve of abortion, even up to the time of birth argue that life does not begin until the baby takes it’s first breath. Before that, it is simply a fetus; not a living being. They propose therefore, that “Human life begins when the baby starts breathing.”

But, what does God say about the beginning of life? From Scripture it appears that life begins at the moment of conception.

  • “Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, and the One who formed you from the womb, ‘I, the LORD, am the maker of all things, stretching out the heavens by Myself, and spreading out the earth all alone . . .'” (Isaiah 44:24, NASV).

  • “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works and that my soul knows well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed, and in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them” (Psalm 139:13-16, NKJV).

  • “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5, NIV).

  • But when He who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through His grace . . .” (Galatians 1:15, RSV).

  • “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit…[saying] ‘As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy'” (Luke 1:41, 44, NIV).

  • Know that the LORD Himself is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture” (Psalm 100:3, NASV). 

                       *Scriptures copied from Focus on the Family Website

If, indeed life does begin at the moment of conception, as the Bible indicates and science supports as well, then that embryo conceived in the womb of the mother is a living being. Accordingly then, the aborting of that embryo or fetus would result in the killing of an innocent human life.

 According to American Life League, there are 2,899 abortions performed in the US every day. That means that there are 12o abortions every hour; one performed in the United States every 30 seconds.

For these who honor the sanctity of human life and uphold the rights of the unborn, these are horrifying and heart-breaking statistics. If so for us, I wonder how it must be for God who is the Father and creator of all life?

We get an answer to that question from the way God reacted to the pagan nations in the Old Testament that practiced child sacrifice. In the eyes of God it was an abdominal and sinful practice, one for which He judged those nations. (Leviticus 18:21, 24-30, 20:2-5; II Kings 16:3; II Chronicles 28:3, 33:2)

God hates murder. One of the Ten Commandments says, “Thou shalt not murder.” Abortion is murder. It is the snatching of an innocent living being who has no voice of its own from the womb and casts aside to die.

My heart goes out to the mothers who have been victimized in the whole premise of these unholy practices by our culture.  We are accountable as a society for failing them also.  

*Artist Duane Bryers