The Bible

Above is The Gutenberg Bible of 1455, the first printed Bible.

The Bible

Now here’s a big subject!

How big?

66 books

39 in the Old Testament, 27 in the New Testament

1,189 chapters

31,173 verses (this varies slightly from translation to translation)

Over 40 different authors

Covering over 2000 years of history

With all that bigness you might be surprised that the word “Bible” means, “little books.” The Bible is a library of little books. Another surprising thing is that these 66 little books, covering over 2000 years of “holy history,” have many common themes running through them - God’s love, forgiveness, covenant, God’s expectations of us, the Messiah, praise, prayer and justice, just to name a few.

As you probably know, the Bible is divided into two major sections - the Old Testament and the New Testament. The word “testament” is an old term for “covenant,” which is a binding, loving partnership between two parties, in this case, between God and the Jews, and between God and all humanity.

Here are some contrasts between the Testaments:

The Old Testament covers about 1600 years of history: 2000 B.C. - 400 B.C.
The New Testament covers about 95 years of history: 3 B.C. - 90s A.D.
(Jesus was probably born 3-5 B.C. When they first figured it out they made a mistake. So Jesus was born “B.C.,” literally ahead of his time!)

The Old Testament is the story of God and the Jews/Israelites/Hebrews.
The New Testament is the story of Christ and his Church.

The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, the language of the Jews.
The New Testament was written in Greek, the international language of the First Century.

The Old Testament is about a specific people and their land.
The New Testament is about a Gospel for the whole world.

The Old Testament is a partnership with God based on obeying God’s expectations, expressed in Torah, the Laws of God recorded in the first five books of the Bible.

The New Testament is a partnership with God based on faith and grace, expressed to us so clearly in the life, death and resurrection of Christ.

Reading the Bible
If you haven’t read the Bible in a while I wouldn’t suggest trying to read it from cover to cover. You’ll probably quit in Leviticus; trust me. Instead, read some of the more important books (Yes, not all Bible verses are created equal). Perhaps start with one of these: Genesis, the Psalms, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Romans, Ephesians, Philippians, and James.

And read the Bible devotionally. By that I mean, read it until you find something you can pray into your life. Then stop, think about it, then pray about it.

Here’s a thought: The Bible is a love letter from God to humanity.

Prayer: Loving God, thank you for the Bible, which reveals your ways, your will and your heart. Help me to grow in my knowledge of this sacred, holy Book. Amen.


Extra Credit:

There are great Study Bibles out today. My favorites are these:

The Life Application Bible
The NIV Study Bible
The Quest Study Bible


Chapter and Verse:

To make it easier to study, the Bible was divided into present-day chapters by Stephen Langton about 1200. Verses were separated and numbered by Robert Stephanus in 1557.

The longest verse in the Bible contains 81 words. It’s Esther 8:9:

“Then the king's scribes were called at that time, in the third month Sivan, on the twenty-third day of the month; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews, and to the satraps, and the governors and princes of the provinces which are from India to Ethiopia, one hundred twenty-seven provinces, to every province according to its writing, and to every people in their language, and to the Jews in their writing, and in their language."

On the other end of the scale are the two shortest verses in the Bible consisting of only two words:

Job 3:2 - “He said.”

John 11:35 - “Jesus wept.”

The Beatitudes

Jesus spoke the Beatitudes during his most famous message, The Sermon on the Mount. They’re found in Matthew 5 and Luke 6. They describe virtues and experiences that are especially blessed by God. William Barclay puts it this way:

“The greatness of the Beatitudes is that they are not wistful glimpses of some future beauty; they are not even golden promises of some distant glory; they are triumphant shouts of bliss for a permanent joy that nothing in the world can ever take away.”

Let’s take a look:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Thought for the day: The Beatitudes express a present spiritual reality.
Question: Which is your favorite Beatitude, and which one do you struggle to understand?
Prayer Suggestion: Take one of the Beatitudes and meditate upon it, repeating in your mind allowing each word to speak.


Church of the Beatitudes is located near the site where it's believed that Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, just north of the Sea of Galilee.

Extra Credit:

Below are the Beatitudes from “The Message” Translation by Eugene Peterson:

"You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

"You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

"You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.

"You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.

"You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being 'care-full,' you find yourselves cared for.

"You're blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

"You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family.

"You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom.

"Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don't like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.

Atonement

At its core Christianity seeks to answer this question: how can I be reconciled to God?

It’s a legitimate question. How can I as an imperfect, flawed mortal approach the Infinite and Holy One? How can we as spiritual descendants of Adam & Eve, prone like them to rebel against God’s ways, find our way back to Eden and walk again in harmony with God?

Christianity answers this question with the concept of Atonement. The meaning of the word is apparent within itself: “at-one-ment.” How can we be at one with God? How can we be reunited with our Creator? Christianity's answer: through the Atonement found in the life and death of Christ.

I Peter 3:18 - “Christ died for our sins, once and for all, in order to bring us to God.”

In this act of unconditional love, God has swallowed up our sins, and has therefore made us one with our Creator once again. “Christ died for our sins in order to bring us to God.” That’s something we can never totally understand this side of heaven - how God reconciled us by the Cross. But we can let the sacrificial love shown at the Cross do its work and bring us to God.

There’s a theory about the Cross that CS Lewis liked. It’s called the “Moral Influence” theory. Brian McLaren describes it this way:

“The cross demonstrates Jesus’ self-giving, his complete abandonment to God’s will, his complete self-devotion for the sake of the world. Jesus’ death completes the whole message of his life; he makes visible the self-giving love of God. When that sacrificial love touches us, we are changed internally . . . so that we want to stop being selfish, and we want to join God in self-giving, beginning with giving ourselves back to God, and leading us to give ourselves to our neighbors and the world, too. It’s as if Jesus invites us into his self-giving. He gives himself to God, for the sake of the whole world, and he invites us into his devotion, both to God and for the world.” (From The Story We Find Ourselves In, p. 105)

Thought: Christ did what we could not do ourselves - reconcile us to God.
Question: The Cross is the symbol of our faith. What is your understanding of the meaning and mystery of the Cross?
Prayer: Thank You, Loving God, for reuniting us to Yourself, through the life, death and resurrection of Christ. Amen.

“We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. - I John 2:1b-2