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Bible Insights 101
Why Study the Bible?
Studying the Bible is essential for spiritual growth, understanding God’s will and deepening one’s faith. It provides guidance, wisdom, and moral direction, helping us navigate life’s challenges. It is full of drama, poetry, song, prayer, and offers an historical and cultural context for one’s faith journey. Regularly studying the Bible encourages reflection, deepens faith and builds a personal relationship with God.
Who Wrote the Bible?
The short answer is nobody knows. The majority of scholars believe that most of the books of the Bible are the works of multiple authors that have been edited to produce the works known today. The early Church Fathers agreed that the scriptures were inspired or dictated by God. But within the Books of the Bible are a plethora of contradictions, repetitions and idiosyncrasies, which lead scholars to believe that the stories and laws it contains were communicated orally through prose and poetry.
ABOUT
Bible Insights is a blog written by me, Fran, with the goal of exploring scripture. I want to share my thoughts about passages from the Bible with you in hopes it’ll spark conversation, and offer up new perspectives on understanding our Lord.
THE HISTORY
The teachings of the Bible go back thousands of years. The lessons, stories found in this incredible text, have shaped the western world.
THE PRESENT
The Bible is still relevant to our lives today. This can be hard for some to understand, but when its teachings are properly framed in contemporary understandings the lessons become clear.
THE FUTURE
God has a plan for all of our lives. Some of us are meant to be leaders, some visionaries, and some yet still are meant to do our best as common folk. We each have a role to play. Let’s discover these roles, together.
RECENT BIBLE INSIGHTS
Bible Insight’s core teachings come in a blog format. The most recent posts can be accessed below.
For God So Loved the World
John 3:16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. This verse is probably one of the most recognized verses in the New Testament. It was spoken by Jesus to a Pharisee,...
Jesus the Outlier
Matthew 12:46-50 46 While he was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers were standing outside, wanting to speak to him. 47 Someone told him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to...
What, Me Worry?
We don’t worry. Neither should you.
NEAT BIBLE FACTS
66
Books in the Bible
7.5
Billion copies printed
2.4
Billion Christians world wide
WHAT IS THE BIBLE?
The word Bible comes from Koine Greek (τὰ βιβλία, tà biblía) which means “The Book.” It is a collection of religious texts considered sacred by many religions such as Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, Islam, the Baha’i Faith, and other Abrahamic religions. It was originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Koine Greek. The religious texts were compiled by different religious communities into various official collections.
The Bible is not a single book; it is a collection of books whose complex development is not completely understood. The oldest books began as songs and stories orally transmitted from generation to generation. Scholars of the twenty-first century are only in the beginning stages of exploring “the interface between writing, performance, memorization, and the aural dimension” of the texts. The Bible was written and compiled by many people, who many scholars say are mostly unknown, from a variety of disparate cultures and backgrounds.
WHAT IS THE OLD TESTAMENT?
The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Bible and is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh. The Tanakh is a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and Aramaic writings by the Israelites.
The Old Testament consists of many distinct books by various authors produced over a period of centuries. Christians traditionally divide the Old Testament into four sections: the first five books or Pentateuch (which corresponds to the Jewish Torah); the history books telling the history of the Israelites, from their conquest of Canaan to their defeat and exile in Babylon; the poetic and “Wisdom books” dealing with questions of good and evil in the world; and the books of the biblical prophets, warning of the consequences of turning away from God.
WHAT IS THE NEW TESTAMENT?
During the rise of Christianity in the first century CE, new scriptures were written in Koine Greek. Christians eventually called these new scriptures the “New Testament.” The New Testament (NT) has been preserved in more manuscripts than any other ancient work. Most early Christian copyists were not trained scribes. Many copies of the gospels and Paul’s letters were made by individual Christians over a relatively short period of time very soon after the originals were written. There is evidence in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) that Christian documents were in circulation before the end of the first century. Paul’s letters were circulated during his lifetime, and his death is thought to have occurred before 68 C.E. during Nero’s reign. Early Christians transported these writings around the Empire, translating them into Old Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopic, and Latin, and other languages.
WHY ARE THERE SO MANY TRANSLATIONS OF THE BIBLE?
Bookstore shelves are bursting with different versions of the Bible, including the King James Version (KJV), the New King James Version (NKJV), the Revised Standard Version (RSV), the Holman Christian Standard Bible, the English Standard Version (ESV), the New Living Translation (NLT), the New International Version (NIV) and The Message (translated by Eugene Peterson.)
Generally, translations are done to meet the practical needs of the readers. One of those needs is the constant evolution of languages. As languages change over time, the original texts become more difficult to understand. New translations are needed to make the Bible accessible to a wider audience. As more archeological discoveries are made, newly revealed ancient manuscripts can render contemporary translations inaccurate or obsolete. As scholars study the newfound texts, more information about the ancient world and customs comes to light, deepening the understanding of the times in which the texts were written.