What is the Bible?

from the old testament

• Human authors wrote exactly what God wanted them to write, and the result was the perfect and holy Word of God (Psalm 12:6).
• The Bible is God's way of telling us about Himself—His nature, His attributes, and His plans and purposes. The Old Testament begins with His creation of the world and how we, His creation, rejected Him (Genesis 1–3).
• The Old Testament includes books on history (Genesis–Job), poetry (Psalms–Song of Solomon), and prophecy (Isaiah–Malachi).
• The Bible begins with the story of creation. God created the entire cosmos and then placed mankind on the earth. Mankind rebelled, however, choosing to reject God and follow their own desires (Genesis 1–11).
• Knowing this would happen, God already had a plan in place to renew His fellowship with mankind. God created a nation, Israel, starting with a man named Abram (later Abraham). His wife (Sarai, later Sarah) had no children, but God miraculously gave her the ability to conceive, even in her old age. That son, Isaac, had two sons, Jacob and Esau. Jacob had twelve sons, who became the tribes of Israel (their stories are in Genesis 12–50).
• Through a series of events, the Israelites became enslaved in Egypt for four hundred years (Exodus 12:40–41). They multiplied in number, and God miraculously rescued them from Egypt (Exodus 3:7–10; 14:21–31). He then gave them a specific set of laws and brought them into a land He had promised to Abraham (Exodus 20; Deuteronomy 1:8). Israel was to be a light to the nations and point to the one true God (Isaiah 42:6; 49:6). God had promised Abraham that He would bless all the nations of the earth through him, a promise ultimately fulfilled in Abraham’s descendant Jesus, the Messiah (Genesis 12:3; Galatians 3:16). The laws, as well as the narrative, can be found in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
• The book of Joshua talks about how the Israelites conquered the Promised Land.
• The book of Judges talks about how the Israelites fell away from God after going into the Promised Land, and how God provided rescue through various leaders.
• The books of 1 and 2 Samuel talk about Israel's transition into having a king.
• The books of 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles discuss Israel's split into a northern kingdom and southern kingdom, its various kings, and its various failures and some successes in following God.
• The books of the prophets detail warnings from God and His calling back of His people. Some of the prophets address foreign nations.
• The Old Testament also contains wisdom literature and other historical narrative books.
• After many years of ignoring God's law, or trying to follow it but failing, interspersed with glimpses of what life without God's presence would look like in the form of war and punishment, God exiled Israel from their home.
• The books of Ezra and Nehemiah talk about many of the Jews going back to their homeland.
• The Old Testament concludes with the Jews living in Israel under Medo-Persian reign. The Jews had rebuilt the temple and stopped worshipping idols. But the Old Testament concludes with a warning and a promise (Malachi 4). There is no recorded Scripture for the next four hundred years.
• The Old Testament predicted that a Messiah would come to bring true salvation and that God would give people a new heart and write His law on their hearts (Jeremiah 31:33; Ezekiel 36:26–27; see Hebrews 8:10 for New Testament explanation).

from the new testament

• The New Testament affirms that the Bible is "God-breathed" (2 Timothy 3:16) and that human authors wrote exactly what God wanted them to write (2 Peter 1:21).
• It begins with the four gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—which give accounts of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ (Matthew 1:1; Mark 1:1; Luke 1:1–4; John 1:1–14).
• The New Testament continues with letters, or epistles, written by apostles like Paul, explaining how we can receive the benefits of Jesus’s sacrifice to live fulfilling lives and grow closer to God (Romans 6:3–11; Ephesians 2:8–10).
• It concludes with the book of Revelation, a prophetic vision describing how the world will end and what will happen to the people of the world (Revelation 1:1–3; 21:1–4).
• The New Testament tells the story of how God sent His Son, Jesus, to save mankind from our sins (John 3:16).
• Jesus Christ, the perfect Lamb of God, made reconciliation possible through His perfect sacrifice on the cross for sin (John 1:29; 1 Peter 1:18–19).
• While being crucified, Jesus personally took on the weight of sin and the necessary separation from God that it caused, making everyone who accepts His sacrifice by faith children of God, fully forgiven and able to have true and eternal life in God (2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 1:3–14; John 1:12).
• Because Jesus was sinless, and God accepted His sacrifice, He rose from the dead three days later, conquering death for all who choose Him (1 Corinthians 15:3–4; Romans 6:9).
• To explain these things to the rest of the world, God established a more varied ambassador than a single nation—He created the church (Acts).
• As word of Jesus's sacrifice spread, church leaders wrote letters explaining more fully what Jesus had done, what it meant, and how to follow Him (Romans–Jude).
• Finally, God gave one particular Jesus-follower, John, a glimpse of the impact the church would have on the world, the final rejection of Jesus by the world, and God's judgment on the world (Revelation).

implications for today

The Bible reveals who God is by telling the true story of creation, human rebellion, and God’s ongoing plan to redeem and restore His people through covenant and grace. It shows us God’s holiness, justice, mercy, and faithfulness as He interacts with humanity throughout history—from creation to the flood, to the rescue of Israel, and, ultimately, to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Studying the Bible helps us recognize God’s hand in human events and understand His loving purposes for our lives today. It invites us to trust in God’s promises, live in relationship with Him, and participate in His unfolding story of salvation.

The Bible is complete, but the story of God's work in human history continues. Through the Bible, we can learn to recognize how God still interacts with His creation. We can see how current events, such as the re-formation of Israel in 1948, fit into God's stated plan. Most of all, however, we can see the over-arching story of God's love for us and the ultimate expression of that love in the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.