Lesson No. 1

Unit I Chapter 1 The Holy Bible Lesson No. 1 Introduction

As I explained in the prologue, the first topic we will examine in this treatise is about the Holy Bible, as it is the primary source of the Christian faith, and it provides us with a certain and broader knowledge about God and his purposes for humanity. The first aspects to consider will be largely based on the study of bibliology, which consists of a general analysis of the book, in its historical and technical aspects.

Humanity obtained its first knowledge about God through oral tradition, of which Hebrew patriarchs were faithful exponents.

Some archaeological discoveries have shown that writing existed from antiquity; however, according to the most recent data, around 1460 B.C. Moses, the great legislator of the Hebrew people, initiated the Sacred Writings of the Holy Bible.

From then on, the knowledge humanity has about God has been acquired through the Holy Bible. It has therefore been defined that the Bible is the primary source of theology.

It is undeniable that there are other sources of theology, which also provide us with some knowledge about God. Among them are nature, religion, and personal experience. However, these have been considered only as secondary sources, since they do not provide a complete knowledge of his personality.

Through nature, it can be deduced that being God its Creator, he must, without a doubt, be an infinitely powerful, intelligent, and benevolent Being.

Likewise, from religion and personal experience, very important conclusions can be drawn concerning the existence of God and his multiple activities. But the most important thing is that the Holy Bible confirms those conclusions of ours and complements the totality of the knowledge we need about his divine personality. Not by conclusions based on our own reasoning, but on the divinely inspired Scripture.

That is why I have understood it to be of great importance that the first aspect of our consideration in this study of the Bible should be about divine inspiration in its sacred writings, followed by other foundations such as its character of eternal permanence, some of its purposes, and how to understand the revealed truths in its divine legacy. These and the theme of the Christian faith will be the matters to address in this first chapter, in addition to the definition, etymology, and concept of the Holy Bible, which will precede the other topics.

Bibliology

Definition, etymology, and concept of the Holy Bible. Above all, I want to clarify to the students that none of the concepts and definitions presented in this treatise are of an absolute nature. There are others, presented by different theological tendencies, but they all revolve around the same truth expressed by the others.

Definition: The Bible is a literary treatise about how God related to humans at different times and places. These characteristics turn the Sacred Book into a self-revelation of God to humanity.

Etymology: The term Bible comes from the Greek word "βιβλίον" (biblión: ["book, scroll, writing"]).1 Expressed in plural it means ["a set of books"].

Concept: The Bible is, therefore, a collection of sixty-six short books written by different authors under different titles. Its content has three main characteristics: history, didactics, and prophecy.

Historical content: This comprises two main stages, of which the first serves as a preamble to the second. This first historical section includes a brief account of the creation of the universe and its cosmological order. It contains the origin of man, animals, and plants, a brief historical summary of the descendants of the first man, up until the patriarch Abram, and includes the story of the Universal Flood. It serves the purpose of revealing to humanity the existence of God as the Creator of life and man himself, as well as the entire universe and the laws that govern it. It highlights the relationship between God and the human being and his divine purpose for them, as well as their fatal fall or moral failure, known as original sin. The account also reflects several symbolic outlines of a redemption plan for humanity, in order to restore their optional right to eternal life as members of the Kingdom of God.

The second stage or historical section begins with God's calling and choosing of Abram when he was sixty-five years old. (Genesis chapter 12: verse 14). It continues with the history of his descendants, known as the Hebrew people, the chosen people of God. The account spans from around 1875 to 430 B.C. From the patriarch Abraham to the prophecies of Malachi, concluding with a detailed historical account of the origin and development of Jesus Christ's ministry. It includes the history of the Church until the end of the first century.

This historical account lays the foundations of God's redemption plan for humanity. For this, it required the intervention of several fundamental factors, which constituted three great promises of God to Abraham, who was chosen as the precursor of such an excellent divine plan.

The first promise involves multiplying his offspring to make it a great nation. This nation would reveal to the rest of humanity the existence of the true God, through a life rendered in unconditional obedience to his divine will, along with the great miracles and wonders that the Supreme Creator would perform among them. The second promise is that all families of the earth would be blessed through his seed. This is because from his descendants would come the Redeemer of humanity, also known as the Messiah. The third promise is that his descendants would possess the land of the Canaanites, later known as Palestine, where God had destined him to live as a pilgrim for the rest of his life. This is because that nation would be located at a strategic geographic point linking the crossing of travelers from three continents: Europe, Asia, and Africa. Here, knowledge about God could be more widely disseminated and his subsequent messianic message of salvation and eternal life, which initially would have its symbolic foundation in the religious practices of that people. Everything related to this historical section was intentionally directed towards the exact fulfillment of these three promises of God to Abraham. This includes their pilgrimages and those of his first descendants in the lands of Canaan; the slavery of his heirs in Egypt; the liberation under the leadership of Moses; the march of conquest toward Canaan; the different manifestations of God during the journey; the institution of the Jewish religion; the wars of conquest; the taking and possession of the promised land; the establishment of their kingdom; the different stages of reign, internal and external conflicts, their wars, victories and defeats; the religious apostasy; the emergence and proclamation of prophets; the captivity of the Hebrew people in Babylon, their liberation and restoration once more to their nation; religious restoration; reconstruction of the temple, the city, and its walls. After a period of historical silence, of about four hundred years, it continues with the detailed account of the birth of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, and Divine Redeemer, who offered himself in atoning sacrifice to redeem humanity from its sinful condition. The account emphasizes his birth, ministry, crucifixion and death, resurrection, and ascension to heaven, followed by the history of the Church until around thirty years after these last events, and concludes with the apocalyptic revelation of John the apostle, around 90 A.D.

Dr. Harold L. Willmington,30 author of the Auxiliar Bíblico Portavoz, describes the historical content in twelve periods, known as: 1the creation stage, 2the patriarchal stage, 3the exodus stage, 4the conquest stage, 5the judges' stage, 6the united kingdom stage, 7the divided kingdom stage, 8the captivity stage, 9the return stage, 10the Gospels stage, corresponding according to my own paraphrase, to the account of Christ's birth, his ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension to heaven. Followed by 11the primitive Church stage, in its first phase, corresponding to the account in the book of Acts. Finally, it relates 12the epistles stage, corresponding to the second phase of the Church, in which the apostles' letters appear and concludes with the book of Revelation.

Didactic content: This ranges from the moral teachings contained in the laws, prophecies, and poetic books, to those of Lord Jesus Christ and the apostles of the Church after Him. It greatly accentuates the moral and religious norms that lead humanity to submit to the redemption plan for salvation and eternal life in glory.

Prophetic content: This ranges from the dissertations of the first prophets to the predictions of our Lord Jesus Christ, concluding with the apocalyptic revelation of the last book of the New Testament. I must also specify that the Bible is qualified as Holy (Holy Bible), to highlight the nature of its literary nature, as it contains the word of God written; and as He is holy, so is his word. Therefore, its teachings constantly call us to a life of holiness (freedom from sin), as declared in the Scriptures in Romans chapter 6: verse 22.51

The Bible is also called the Word of God and the Holy Scriptures. While the Hebrew Version, which contains only the Old Testament, is not called the Bible, but "תַּנַךְ" (Tanaj), whose writings are classified into three major divisions known as: the law, the prophets, and the Writings, which includes the Psalms and others.

Categories of biblical teachings: The teachings or doctrines of the Holy Bible are divided into three main categories:

First: Essential for the salvation of the soul; these are so simple and clear that even the most simple can understand them. Nonetheless, these teachings provide a sufficiently broad knowledge about God and a well-defined exposition of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Second: Deep studies; these require diligent, detailed, and complex study of all Scripture contents or any topic covered within them.

Third: Divine mysteries; these encompass some portions of the Sacred Writings whose understanding is beyond human comprehension. The most known exegesis attributes it to God's secret things, according to Deuteronomy chapter 29: verse 29.51

Original languages: The Holy Bible was originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew and partly in Aramaic; and the New Testament was written in Greek. Later, translations were made into Latin, German, Spanish, and hundreds of languages and dialects.

Authors and places of drafting: According to scholars there were more than thirty, about forty authors. Their writings were carried out in Arabia, Palestine, Babylon, Asia Minor, Macedonia, Greece, and Italy, possibly in Egypt and the island of Patmos. Although most of these were produced in Palestine.

Divisions of the Bible: The Bible is internally divided into two main portions known as the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament contains 39 books and comprises the sacred history narrative of the period defined before Jesus Christ. Within it are three large recognized literary structures: historical books, prophetic books, and poetic books. The New Testament has 27 books and comprises the sacred narrative beginning with Jesus Christ. Within it are recorded four main literary portions known as: The Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, the Apostolic Epistles, and the book of Revelation.

Besides this division and the compartmentalization by books, the Bible is also divided into chapters and verses. According to historical data, our current chapter division must have begun in the 11th century by Lanfranc, advisor to William the Conqueror. In the early 13th century, this process was developed and carried out in Paris by Stephen Langton, a professor at the Sorbonne, who became Archbishop of Canterbury.

The current use of verse numbering for the entire Bible was popularized by Robert Estienne. In 1551 he published the Greek New Testament and four years later published the complete Bible in Latin. In both cases, the verse numbers did not appear in the biblical text, but in the margins. In 1565 Theodore de Beza had the verse numbers placed inside the text itself.

I want to bring to the student's knowledge that the Bible also contains characteristics of Hebrew poetry in almost all the Old Testament books. For that, see at the end of this treatise the theme entitled: Reflections of Biblical Poetry.