FAQs About the Bible

1. What is the Bible?
2. Why is the Bible divided into an Old Testament and a New Testament?
3. When was the Bible written?
4. Who wrote the Bible?
5. In what language was the Bible first written?
6. What types of literature are in the Bible?
7. How were the books of the Bible chosen?
8. Why are there so many English versions of the Bible?

1. What is the Bible?

The word “Bible” comes from the Greek ta biblia, meaning “the little books.” This phrase is not used in the Bible itself, yet it is an appropriate description since the Bible really is a small library of 66 books. In the Christian tradition the Bible is commonly divided into two sections, the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is also referred to as the Hebrew Bible.

The Old Testament tells the story of God’s creation of the world, humanity’s fall into sin and God’s subsequent dealings with his chosen people, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob known as the Israelites (later called the Jews). The New Testament tells the story of the coming of Jesus Christ (“Christ” means “anointed one” or “Messiah”) and his announcement of the coming of the kingdom of God. The New Testament also tells the story of the rise and spread of the early Christian church.

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2. Why is the Bible divided into an Old Testament and a New Testament?

This division of the Bible is essentially centered around the life and story of Jesus. The Old Testament focuses on the history of Israel and God’s intention to restore Israel (and the world) to peace and well-being. The Old Testament refers variously to a future son of King David who will rule on his throne forever, a “servant of the Lord” who will accomplish God’s purposes and a future “Prophet” who will accurately teach the ways of God. The New Testament signals the arrival of a new era in God’s dealings with Israel and focuses on the proclamation of Jesus as the fulfillment of Israel’s messianic hopes.

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3. When was the Bible written?

The earliest stories of the Old Testament were most likely handed down in oral tradition at first (this is also true of the stories of Jesus in the New Testament). The exact dates when all the books of the Bible were written is not known, although the dates of certain books, particularly in the New Testament, can be closely approximated. Roughly speaking, the Bible was written during the period from 1400 B.C.E to 100 C.E.

On a side note, it was not until the Middle Ages that bookmaking technology had advanced enough to allow all of the Bible’s books to be physically bound into a single volume. In its earlier forms, the Bible was made up of separate scrolls or smaller books. The chapter and verse numbers are not original but were added to the text at a later date to help in locating particular passages.

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4. Who wrote the Bible?

The books of the Bible were written over a long time span by many authors. Many of the Bible’s books are not attributed to any single author, so we do not know for certain who wrote them.

According to tradition, Moses wrote the first five books of the Old Testament (also known as the Torah). Many of the Psalms were written by King David. King Solomon was famous for his wisdom and thus some of the wisdom books are attributed to him. The prophetic books in the Old Testament are all associated with particular Hebrew prophets.

The New Testament was written by some of Jesus’ earliest followers, including the apostles John, Peter, Paul and James.

The Bible itself claims that the Scriptures were inspired by the Spirit of God. The Apostle Paul wrote to his co-worker Timothy, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). And the book of 2 Peter states: “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:20-21).

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5. In what language was the Bible first written?

Almost all of the Old Testament books were written in Hebrew. However, parts of the books of Daniel and Ezra were written in Aramaic. The New Testament books were written in Koine Greek, the common language of the street and marketplace in the first century (as opposed to Classical Greek, the more formal language of philosophy and legal matters).

By the time the New Testament was written, however, there was already a translation of the Old Testament into Greek. This translation is called the Septuagint, from the Greek word for “seventy.” Tradition has it that 72 scholars completed the translation in 72 days. Sometimes the Septuagint is abbreviated as LXX.

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6. What types of literature are in the Bible?

The Bible encompasses a wide variety of different types of literature. The primary type is narrative history, but it also includes large sections of poetry and prophecy, as well as letters, legal codes and a distinctive type of literature known as apocalyptic. (A clear example of apocalyptic literature is the book of Revelation in the New Testament. It is characterized by highly symbolic language, powerful imagery and prophecies of a coming age when evil will be defeated and God will rule.)

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7. How were the books of the Bible chosen?

The list of books in the Bible is known as the canon, which comes from the Greek word for “rule” or “standard.” Since the 4th century C.E., Christians have recognized 39 Old Testament books and 27 New Testament books as the authoritative canon of the Bible.* The Christian recognition of the Old Testament canon matched the set of books endorsed by the Jews in the Hebrew Bible. The New Testament canon was chosen, following debate on a few of the books, as early church leaders realized that these books, in their teaching and substance, traced their origin to the earliest apostles (those who were eyewitnesses of Jesus and the first leaders of the Christian movement).

* It should be noted that some Christian traditions vary slightly in their estimation of which books should be included in the Christian canon. One set of books, called the Apocrypha, were written between the time of the Old and New Testaments. These books are not included in the Protestant canon, but are accorded “deuterocanonical” (or “second canon”) status by the Roman Catholic Church. Various branches of the Orthodox tradition also treat some books differently.

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8. Why are there so many English versions of the Bible?

In 1382 John Wycliffe translated the first complete English Bible. Since then there have been ongoing efforts to make the Bible understandable to English speaking audiences. The famous King James Version was completed in 1611 and has had a profound effect on English language and literature. Today there are English versions that range from the very literal (such as the New American Standard Version first released in 1960) to much more free-flowing paraphrases (like The Message published in 1993).

Currently, the most widely used English translation in the world is the New International Version (NIV), released by International Bible Society in 1978. Unless otherwise noted, Bible quotations used in onedeepwell.com are taken from the NIV.

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