The Structure of the Bible:
The Catholic Christian Bible contains 73* "Books (as opposed to 66 in the
Christian Bible)."
*There are 7 books that are in the Old Testament that have always been part of
the Cannon of Scripture. Protestant reformers removed these books but the
Council of Trent in 1546 declared that they are indeed part of our scriptures.
These books contain stories of God’s working in the lives of heroic individuals.
The Books of the Bible are divided into Chapters.
The Chapters are divided into Verses.
So, if you wanted to locate John 3:16, you would open the Bible to the Book
of John, then turn to Chapter 3, and then look for Verse 16. And there you
would find one of the most popular Bible passages:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever
believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. - John 3:16 (from the
New International Version (NIV) English translation)
An introduction to the Bible:
• Christians believe the Bible is the inspired word of God.
• The Christian Bible is divided into two parts - the Old Testament and the
New Testament.
• The books of the Bible were written by about 40 different people, including
prophets, poets and historians.
• The Old Testament books of the Bible were composed during a period of
time that lasted about 1000 years. That period of time began with Moses and
ended during the time the prophet Malachi lived.
• The New Testament books of the Bible were written sometime from about
50 AD to about 95 AD. Jesus was crucified by the Romans in about 30 AD.
The New Testament contains the "four Gospels," which refers to the
books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Early church history is
contained in The Acts of the Apostles. Also in the New Testament
are "epistles" or "letters" that were written by Peter, Paul, James and
other followers of Jesus. It also contains the book of Revelation.
The Old Testament:
The Pentateuch or Torah.
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
These 5 books were written perhaps as long ago as 3400 years ago, traditionally
they are attributed to Moses. These five books are sometimes called the Law
Books and contain stories of humanity’s origins, the patriarchs, Israel’s escape
from slavery and their journey to the promised land. It contains the social,
moral, and religious guidelines for living in response to God’s love.
The History Books
Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2
Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Ester.
These include the stories of Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land, their growth
as a nation, their exile in a foreign land, and their return from exile to a land
occupied by a foreign government
The Poetry and Wisdom Books
Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs.
These books are sometimes called the books of Writings, or the books of Poetry,
or the books of Wisdom. These books contain ancient hymns of personal
struggles and national pride as well as lessons about suffering, finding meaning
in everyday life, and love.
The Prophetic Books
Jeremiah, Lamentations, Isaiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos,
Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah,
Malachi. Prophets reveal God’s message calling us back to hope, forgiveness
and justice. These books teach us how to treat one another and remain faithful
to God. The references of major and minor prophets refer to the length of the
respective compositions not any prophetic distinction among the writers.
Deuterocanonical Books (Second Canon)
Baruch, Sirach (Ecclesiates), Judith, Tobit, Wisdom, 1 Macabees, 2 Macabees.
These texts are all contained in Catholic Bibles but not Jewish or Protestant.
These books were in the Jewish scriptures at the time of Jesus and He taught
His disciples from them. The Jewish scholars took them out about 250 years
after Jesus Passion because the followers of Jesus, Christians, looked to them to
give evidence of the existence of heaven, life after death. The Protestant
reformers removed them from the Christian scriptures in the 16th century
because the Jews didn’t use them any longer.
The New Testament
The New Testament was originally written in Greek because it was the most
commonly spoken language of the Mediterranean world. It contains the four
Gospels, Act of the Apostles, Epistles, and Book of Revelation.
The Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John
The Gospels were written about 2000 years ago by the followers of Jesus.
Each Gospel is an account of the life, teachings, suffering, death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ written for different audiences. The gospels of
Matthew, Mark, and Luke together are referred to as the synoptic gospels.
"Synoptic" is derived from a Greek word meaning "one eye,' since these gospels
look alike in structure and content.
The Gospel of John differs in structure and contains some stories and sayings
of Jesus that are not found the synoptic gospels
Acts of the Apostles is the book immediately following the Gospel of John. It is
written by Luke as a sequel to his gospel account it describes the faith, growth
and way of life of early Christianity. The story of the Ascension of Jesus into
heaven, the coming of the Holy Spirit to the church at Pentecost, the martyrdom
of St. Stephen and the conversion of St. Paul can all be found in this book.
The Epistles
The Epistles or Letters make up the largest part of the New Testament.
They are divided into two categories: the Pauline Letters and other Apostolic
Letters. All the letters follow the format of letter writing in the ancient world. Each
letter usually begins with a greeting and an identification of the sender and the
recipients. This is followed by a prayer, usually in the form of a thanksgiving. The
body of the letter is an exposition of Christian teaching, usually responding to the
circumstances of the recipients. It may be followed by a discussion of the
author's future travel plans and conclude with practical advice and a farewell.
The Pauline Letters
Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1
& 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon
These were written by St. Paul or one of his disciples; not long after the death
and resurrection of Jesus, between 54 A.D. and 80 A.D. They indicate early
developments of Christian theology and practice.
Apostolic Letters
James, 1 & 2 Peter, Jude
The Apostolic Letters are thought to be addressed, not so much to a particular
community or individual, but to a more universal audience. They were written
by various authors between 65 A.D. and 95 A.D.
John’s letters and the Book of Revelation
1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Revelation.
This book was written by John about 1900 years ago. He was shown visions of
the future by Jesus. This book contains many prophecies about the End Times,
or the Apocalypse. Biblical scholars have concluded that the Gospel of John and
the Letters of John were written by the same author. The letters were probably
composed at the end of the first century.
The last book contained in Christian scripture, Revelation is perhaps the most
misinterpreted and problematic. The book is an example of apocalyptic
literature popular from 200 B.C. to 200 A.D. This literary form included use of
symbolic numbers, colors, animals and cosmic images. All of these devices and
their meaning would have been familiar to the original audience, but have proven
a puzzlement to succeeding generations.
