KNOWING THE BIBLE
Read and pray: "Then Jesus said to them: These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which are written about me in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets, and in the Psalms." (Lk 24:44)
B. The New Testament
1. The Gospels
The early churches often read the Gospels and the Old Testament in their gatherings. Therefore, the four Gospels were the first books to be recognized in the New Testament.
2. The Other Books
After the apostles had died, there was some confusion because some people wrote books in the apostles’ names. Then, the leaders of the early churches, the so-called "Church Fathers," gathered all the books written by the apostles and joined them with the Gospels.
Not long after Polycarp was martyred, the New Testament was basically recognized in the same way in all the churches. However, there was still disagreement concerning seven books: Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Jude, and Revelation, as to whether they should be included or not.
Since these books were truly inspired by the Holy Spirit and have authority and spiritual value, after a long period of testing, in a council of leaders of all the churches, the seven books were recognized as part of the New Testament, in the year 397, in Carthage, in North Africa.
The New Testament was recognized as containing the same twenty-seven books that we have today. Therefore, in the year 397, at the Council of Carthage, the whole Bible, including the Old and New Testament, was recognized and confirmed by the people of God.
VI. THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE AND THEIR SEQUENCE
A. The Old Testament
The arrangement we now have of the Old Testament books was not the original sequence of the Hebrew Old Testament. Instead, this was the sequence adopted in the Septuagint.
In 277 B.C., seventy scribes translated the Old Testament into Greek and reorganized the sequence of the books. They were arranged very appropriately, according to the spiritual context, and Bible scholars recognize the sovereignty of God in this arrangement.
The original Hebrew Old Testament was divided into three parts, as spoken by the Lord in Luke 24:44 and 27. These three parts were: the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms.
1. The Law of Moses
The Law of Moses consisted of the Pentateuch of Moses, five books in all.
2. The Prophets
The Prophets were divided into Former Prophets and Latter Prophets. The Former Prophets were composed of four books: Joshua, Judges, Samuel (without distinction of 1st and 2nd books), and Kings (without distinction of 1st and 2nd books), in that order.
The Latter Prophets also consisted of four books: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Minor Prophets. (The twelve remaining prophetic books, excluding Lamentations and Daniel, were combined into a single book called the Minor Prophets.)
3. The Psalms or Other Writings
The Psalms, or other writings, included many books, in a total of eleven: Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah (Ezra and Nehemiah were counted as a single book), and Chronicles (without distinction of 1st and 2nd book).
The five books of the Law of Moses, the eight books of the Prophets, and the eleven books of the Psalms totaled twenty-four books. That was the Jewish Old Testament of that time and its sequence.
At the beginning of the church age, the "Church Fathers" preferred to consider the Old Testament as twenty-two books, to correspond to the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. This division was also confirmed by the historian Josephus.
Some of the names of the Old Testament books were also used for the first time in the Septuagint. Originally, many books had as their name the first word of the book. For example, the original name of Genesis was "The Beginning."
Some made the meaning of the name of the prominent person of that book its title. For example: the original name of the book of Samuel was "Given by God," the meaning of the name "Samuel" (1 Sm 1:20).
The original name of the book of Isaiah was "Salvation of Jehovah," the meaning of the name "Isaiah." After the compilation of the Septuagint, these books were called by the names we use today.
Enjoy more:
Hymn - Study of the Word - "The Function of the Word"
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