Today, I thought I'd spend a few minutes about the book itself - the bible. Here's a quick bible quiz. See how you did on it - one question.
How many books are there in the bible? (playing the Jeopardy jingle while we wait...)
If you said 66 (think Route 66), you'd be correct. That's 39 books in the Old Testament (or, as it is also known, the Hebrew Bible), and 27 in the New Testament.
Think of the bible as a library, instead of a single story or novel that one might read from cover to cover. That would be very tedious.
I know some of you have read the bible from cover to cover - some more than once. But this is not like a novel, or a history, or any other book that we might think of. Instead, think of it as a library of books - 66 to be exact. Each book or letter has a specific author, in a specific time and context, and each book represents what was going on in the time the author/s wrote it/them. Genesis, the first book of the bible, is actually not the oldest book in the bible. And Revelation is not the most recent. The bible is a collection of writings. I've broken them down below to give you an idea of the kinds of literature contained therein. Some books, like Isaiah (I LOVE Isaiah) were written over generations, but the text was still attributed to the prophet Isaiah.
Here's another little known fact for many of us. The Acts of the Apostles (Acts) is actually the continuation of Luke's gospel. They are both part of his gospel. But Acts brings in the Holy Spirit, and the birth of the church, neither of which the first three writers devoted much, if any, time to. Acts is a continuation of Luke's gospel, the only Gentile writer of the New Testament. It is a history, if you will, of the Holy Spirit working through the early disciples and the church. Read it sometime. It's fabulous!
Most biblical scholars break the bible down into 9 categories, shown above in the little diagram. They are:
THE OLD TESTAMENT
The Law (Torah) - the first 5 books of the bible
History (I love this section!!!)
Poetry (think Psalms, Proberby, Song of Songs, etc.)
Major Prophets
Minor Prophets - ending with Malachi
THE NEW TESTAMENT
The gospels (you know these - Mt. Mk. Luke, John)
Church history (we'll be going through this - Acts - this summer)
The Letters (of St. Paul, and others. Some letters are attributed to Paul but likely written by other writers. Keep in mind there were no copyright laws back then.
Prophesy (The Revelation of St. John)
Some of us may have a favorite bible book, or chapter, or verse. I happen to really love Nehemiah 8 - the story of the coming together again the nation of Israel after having been scattered for generations. I always thought this could be made into a Hollywood movie. Check it out. If you read it carefully, you can almost hear a sort of Pentecost theme about it where people of different nationalities gathered together to hear the Scriptures read once again.
And, what's yours? What's your favorite bible book? Maybe open the bible randomly to a page, and see where God may lead you in your reading. I always suggest this analogy when reading scripture. You know those speed bumps in your community, warning you, and forcing you to slow down. Read the Scriptures with a sort of mental speedbump. Take your time. Ask yourself the following questions:
1. What's going on before the reading you selected? What's the context? War; famine, etc.
2. Who's in the story? God? Jesus? the disciples? Others? Why do you think the writer has included them? They're there for a reason.
3. Where is God in this passage? What is God doing or not doing here?
4. What point do you think the writer might be trying to make in what you're reading?
5. What follows the particular passage you're reading? What happens afterward?
Luther often wrote that the entirety of Scripture points to Christ. The bible is the cradle or the straw - the manger, and Christ is in the center of it all.
For me, an overarching theme of the Holy Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation, is an expression of God's desire for community. For connection with God's people. God creates. Humankind destroys or otherwise messes up. God steadfastly waits, and again comes to humankind for restoration. Again and again, this is an overarching theme in Scripture. Community. God and people. God and creation.
Some resources for you:
www.biblegateway.com - An excellent reference to find a particular word or passage in Scripture. I use this all the time in my reading and sermon preparation. It's great!