The origin of Bible - The Bible is God’s Word in written form. God is the one who inspired the writing of the Bible. He used about 40 different men to write the Bible. It took the men over 1500 years to write the Bible.
God is therefore the author of the Bible.
Still talking about the origin of Bible, this was what God told Jeremiah in Jeremiah 36:2…
“Get a scroll and write on it everything that I have told you about Israel and Judah and all the nations. Write everything that I have told you from the time I first spoke to you, when Josiah was king, up to the present.” - Good News Bible
And in John Revelation 1:19 the Lord Jesus said to Apostle John…
“Write, then, the things you see, both the things that are now and the things that will happen afterward.” Good News Bible
The Bible itself gives the answer to this question. It says…
God therefore uses the teachings in the Bible to teach us the truth, to rebuke us when we do wrong, correct our faults, and how to live the kind of life He wants us to live.
16. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching the truth, rebuking error, correcting faults, and giving instruction for right living,
17. so that the person who serves God may be fully qualified and equipped to do every kind of good deed – 2 Timothy 3:16-17 Good News Bible
God therefore uses the teachings in the Bible to teach us the truth, to rebuke us when we do wrong, correct our faults, and show us how to live the kind of life He wants us to live.
The word Testament means covenant and “covenant” means agreement. This means that God made two agreements with human beings.
The first agreement God made with human beings is written in the Old Testament. The New Testament is a record of the second agreement He made with human beings. God made the new agreement through His Son who is Jesus Christ.
God made these two agreements in order to bring back sinful man to be in right relationship with God.
Both Old and New Testaments are God’s Word. We must therefore study the two testaments. They are God’s messages to us. It is wrong for us to disregard the Old Testament by saying that it is “old”.
Apart from the two main divisions of the Bible – Old and New Testaments, the Bible is further divided into 66 books.
While the Old Testament has 39 books, the New Testament comprises of 27 books.
The Origin of Bible: Old Testament Divisions
The Old Testament is divided into four main groups namely:
This is how these four main groups are sub-divided…
The books of the Law are five. They are…
The books of the Law contain information of how God created the world and human beings. They also contain the history of man and how God raised the people of Israel so that He can reveal Himself to the nations of this world.
The books are twelve. They are…
1. Joshua 7. 2nd Kings
2. Judges 8. 1st Chronicles
3. Ruth 9. 2nd Chronicles
4. 1st Samuel 10. Ezra
5. 2nd Samuel 11. Nehemiah
6. 1st Kings 12. Esther
The books of Poetry are five and they are…
5. Song of Solomon
People of Israel use the contents of these books to worship God.
The books of the prophecy are 17 and they are made up of two groups. The groups are...
Major Prophets: Minor Prophets:
1. Isaiah 1. Hosea
2. Jeremiah 2. Joel
3. Lamentations 3. Amos
4. Ezekiel 4. Obadiah
5. Daniel 5. Jonah
Note:The division of the books of the prophets into Major and Minor Prophets does not mean that the Major Prophets are more important than the Minor Prophets.
The title (Major and Minor) are simply used because the books of the Major Prophets are longer than those written by the Minor Prophets.
Many of the prophecies in these books have been fulfilled and the rest are on their way coming to fulfillment.
The New Testament is also divided into four main groups. The groups are…
• The Gospels
They are made up of these four books…
The books of the Gospels talk about how Jesus was born, His life on earth, how He died and about His resurrection.
When you study the books of the Gospels, they will lead you to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
The Book of History
There is only one book of History in the New Testament. The name of the book is Acts.
The book of Acts talks about how the church began. It also talks about how the church worked hard to fulfill the commission Christ Jesus gave her. That commission is to spread the Gospel (Good News) to every where in the world.
The New Testament has 21 letters. These are the names of the letters...
1. Romans 12. Titus
2. 1st Corinthians 13. Philemon
3. 2nd Corinthians 14. Hebrews
4. Galatians 15. James
5. Ephesians 16. 1ˢᵗ Peter
6. Philippians 17. 2ⁿᵈ Peter
7. Colossians 18. 1ˢᵗ John
8. 1st Thessalonians 19. 2ⁿᵈ John
9. 2nd Thessalonians 20. 3ʳᵈ John
10. 1st Timothy 21. Jude
11. 2nd Timothy
The letters in the New Testament are addressed to believers all over the world. The writers of the letters wrote them so we would know how to live the kind Christian life that God approves. The letters are also to help us do what the Lord Jesus commanded us to do.
There is only one book of prophecy in New Testament. The name of the book is Revelation.
The book of Revelation tells us about the final victory Jesus Christ and His people will win against the kingdom of the devil.
We should therefore continue to live approved by God until when Christ comes back.
The book of Revelation summarizes its message by saying in chapter 2, verse 10…
“Don't be afraid of anything you are about to suffer. Listen! The Devil will put you to the test by having some of you thrown into prison, and your troubles will last ten days. Be faithful to me, even if it means death, and I will give you life as your prize of victory.” - Good News Bible
Finally, having seen above that the Bible originated from God, it is important you keep very close to Him in order to positively and profitably apply His Word to your life. This site - JustOpenTheBook.com - is one of the websites that would help you develop a closer relationship with God.