Bible Explanation?

Question

What's the difference between the old testament and the new testament? I just began reading the bible. I'm on about chapter 11 of Genesis. Can someone please explain to me about the bible? I don't understand why there are different sections such as Corinthians, and several other names. I'm really interested in reading the Bible and I will but I just want to get a summary of it.

Answer 1

The Bible is a big book consisting of many individual books, which though varying greatly, yet form a unity.

The Bible is God's Word, but He chose people to produce it, such as Moses, Jeremiah, and Isaiah in the Old Testament; and Matthew, Mark and John in the New Testament; among many others.

God inspired the writers, by the Holy Spirit. He led them so that everything which was written was His infallible Word. It wasn’t as if on a fine day Matthew thought , "I’m going to write the Gospel of Matthew". The Holy Spirit led him to write.

On the other hand God didn’t use Matthew as a dictating machine. This is very clear when you look at each Bible writer’s vocabulary and style. Each wrote in his own manner. But God made sure that they all used His own words.

That is inspiration. It is not very easy to understand or explain. You must simply believe it – as God says:

"Because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God." (2 Peter 1:21)

This what God Himself says. You must accept it. You must submit to the Authority of the Bible. Because the Word of God has Authority.

The Bible has authority and this is a matter of faith. How does this affect you? In the first place, it means that you must submit to it. The Bible must always have the final say. Everything which it promises and demands must become the standard for your life. In the Bible God makes known what He is to us, and what He wants from us.

In the second place, that you believe the Bible on its own Authority. Nothing outside of the Bible indicates that it is God’s Word. Only the Bible itself does so. As for example in 2 Peter 1:21.

Only the Bible can recommend itself. And you must believe that this recommendation is true.

If you have ever read the Bible, you will understand that we cannot write down everything which it contains on a few pages. But it is possible to briefly summarize its contents.

In the old Testament the Lord tells us about His Creation and Man’s subsequent disobedience. Then immediately there is God’s promise of a Saviour. Man continually sets himself against God, and eventually He sends the Great Flood. Despite mankind’s continual rebellion God makes a covenant with Abraham. From Abraham stems the nation of Israel – God’s people. God promises Abraham, and in him his descendants, that the Saviour of the world will come from his seed.

Then comes the history of Israel, by way of whose royal family – King David’s line – the Lord would bring the Saviour; however, not through any merit of the royal family or of the people Israel.

By means of His prophets, like Isaiah and Jeremiah, the Lord time and again calls His people to return to Him. But they do not listen, and as a result the people are exiled from the land of Canaan and into captivity in Babylon. All because of their sins.

But God remembers His promise and brings the people back to Canaan. The break between God and His people is repaired. God’s plan of salvation goes on.

In the Old testament there is a waiting for the coming of the Saviour.

In the New Testament God fulfills His promise: the Saviour is born – He who will save the people from their sins. God’s Son becomes man and through His intercession all those who believe in Him are reconciled to God.

The four Gospels tell us how Christ came to earth, and of His life, death, resurrection and ascension.

Acts tells how Christ, from Heaven, continues His work on earth, through His apostles. His gospel (or: good news) spread throughout the whole world – as it did in Australia.

The epistles (or: letters) of the apostles give further insight about God’s saving work in Christ and His will for the congregations addressed, like the Romans and the Philippians.

But is doesn’t end there. In the New Testament there is also a waiting for the Saviour; for His Second Coming – on the clouds. Everyone will see Him. Then there will be a new heaven and a new earth, in which everything will be perfect. No sin anymore, no war, no other disasters. There will be perfect and eternal joy. God will take the believers, His children, to Himself. But woe to those who despise Him. (Revelations)

We believe that the Bible is perfect. That means that the Bible is complete. God has ordained that what is contained in the Bible is sufficient for man.
This doesn’t mean that there aren’t any questions. But is does mean that we have sufficient information to honour and serve God as we should.

Therefore we may not add anything to the Bible. But neither may we take anything away. God gave us the Bible in its present form. If God did that, how can we take it upon ourselves to exchange a bit here and a bit more there?

We should accept the Bible thankfully.

God is perfect, and so are His works. God is truth, and could truth bring forth lies?

Therefore we may and we must believe that the Bible, and the Bible alone, is the Word of God.

Now you may say, "Okay, but what about the contradictions. I’ve heard that in some places the Bible even says the exact opposite of what is says somewhere else! How can this be?"

God is perfect and thus His work, including the Bible, is also perfect. God never, ever makes mistakes. Therefore there cannot be any contradiction, true contradictions, in the Bible. The Bible says of itself: "there are some things in them which are hard to understand…" (2 Peter 3:16). There may seem to be contradictions. But they are caused by the limitations of Man’s understanding – as a result of sin, we don’t see the unity anymore! Besides, God is not a man – how could we hope to understand Him?

If, after all our searching in the Bible, we still can’t reach a conclusion, we should bow our head in prayer and ask God for His help.

Faith….again and again it is required. Not as an easy way out of problems. But as a gracious gift from God.

Now you will understand why many people criticize the contents of the Bible. They are people who do not believe. And then their criticism carries no weight – all they have is excuses.

But there is also another form of criticism: Bible criticism. It is important that you know of this. Bible criticism is something we have already touched on. It is leaving parts of the Bible out, replacing parts – on dubious grounds. Bible criticism is putting forward your own suggestions, on your own authority. In this way, men create their own Bible. They believe one part and leave it in, then reject another part and scrap it. What’s left isn’t the Bible at all!

As we have already stated, the Bible is perfect and doesn’t need to be added to or taken away from. Stronger still, God specifically forbids it!

The Bible is divided into two parts, the Old and the new Testament. The former is largely written in Hebrew, the latter in Greek. Every English Bible is therefore a translation of the original text.

Bible translators must make use of the documents available. But the many manuscripts preserved differ from each other. Before the printing press was invented, men had to copy everything by hand, and through the ages, some mistakes crept in. Copyists weren’t inspired of course. Usually the meaning did not suffer, so the mistakes weren’t serious.
Translator must choose from the various manuscripts. While we can be sure that the translators worked very carefully, small differences would have to occur. This is why some translations are better than others.

There may be some reason to criticize a translation, but God has made sure that we can read His Word in our language today.

Answer 2

A good summary / survey of the Bible is difficult to achieve. The Bible is comprised of 2 testaments, 66 different books, 1189 chapters, 31173 verses, and 773692 words. The different books of the Bible cover different topics and were addressed to different audiences. The books of the Bible were written by approximately 40 different men over a period of approximately 1500 years. A summary / survey of the entire Bible is therefore a major undertaking.

At the same time, the Holy Spirit was the "inspiring" author of the Bible. God "breathed out" His Word and used the prophets and apostles to write His Word down (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:21). Further, all those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ have the Holy Spirit indwelling them (Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 12:13). The Holy Spirit desires to help us to understand the Bible (1 Corinthians 2:10-16).

Answer 3

Well, you see, the Bible isn't just one book. It's a collection of books, more like a library. Just as a library has several different books that fall under different genres and categories, written by different authors at different times, so also with the Bible. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus...1 Corinthians, etc. are names of the different books in the Bible.

Everything in the Old Testament was written before Jesus was born. All of the books in the New Testament were written after Jesus by Christians. A "testament" is kind of like a covenant or a divine arrangement between God and man. Since Jesus instituted a new covenant, the books that were written after Jesus are said to be part of the "new testament" and the others that came before are part of the "old testament."

Answer 4

The Old Testament talks about a time before the Messiah, the New Testament talks about the time just before, during, and after the coming of the Messiah. Jesus was the Messiah, and the Old Testament points towards him, and the New Testament reveals him. There was an old 'covenant' that God set up with those living in the Old Testament. There is a new 'covenant' that Jesus brought to the earth that is valid to this day.

By the way, I encourage you to do these things:
1) Yes, read the entire Bible.

2) I would rather you start in the New Testament. It's the current covenant that we have now with God.

3) Use certain things to aid you in understanding certain things. Commentary is available for those people who really want to know indepth explanations on what is written.

4) I want to give you this site to hear one of those explanations from one source:
http://twft.com/?page=C2000
That's Pastor Chuck (Smith) from California. He's pretty good at it.

5) If you have any questions that you want answered personally, let me help. I'd like to do that for you. You don't have to believe anything that I say. I am only offering you one point of view. Maybe that will help you formulate your own opinion on Biblical things.

Thanks. ( :

Answer 5

There are different books in the Bible..and more often than not the names of the books are just the names of the people who wrote them. But some, like Chorinthians for example, were written to certain people (in this case the people of Corinth).

The difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament is basically that the Old Testament was written before Christ and the New Testament was written after he was born. There are other differences too, but that's the main one.

Answer 6

The Old Testament was written mostly in Hebrew and contains history, prophecy, poetry and laws given to the Jews.
There are 39 different little books in the OT.
The New Testament (mainly written in Greek) contains 27 books and/or letters.
Its mostly about Jesus.
Since christian groups had been set-up throughout the Mediterranean, various men wrote letters to them and some ended-up as part of the Bible.
Why 2 testaments?
Jesus arrival was a turning point.
The OT is still quite valuable, although there is no obligation for christians to follow Jewish law.
I hope you show endurance when you get to Leviticus.

Answer 7

The (Christian) Bible is a grouping of ancient books that is considered holy by the Christian faith. Almost each book has a different writer, and some have multiple writers. The (Christian) Bible is made up two subgroups, the "Old Testament" and the "New Testament".

The "Old Testament" is the Hebrew Bible, considered holy by the Jewish faith. The title "Old Testament" is used by Christians to refer to the first testament from God to the Jews. The title "New Testament" is used by Christians to refer to the second testament, from Jesus, and the themes are quite different.

The first five books of the "Old Testament" are referred to as the Torah, or Penteteuch, by Jews. The rest of the books of the "Old Testament" are referred to as the Tanakh.

For a great place to read and find critical commentary on the Bible, check out: http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/

Answer 8

The Old Testament happened before Jesus died for us. The old testament is a testament or history of what happened. We can see how God is a loving God, how He means what He says. The New Testament is what we live by now that Jesus has came and died for our sins. The first 4 chapters are Matthew, Mark Luke and John. These men wrote these chapters through God, giving their own account as to what happened when Jesus walked the earth and was crucified. Corinthians was written by Paul through God. It was a letter to the Corinthians or the people of Corinth.

The more you study and the more you learn you will be amazed. Pray before you read and ask God to help you understand and to come into your heart. I am glad you are interested in the Bible. There are alot of study guides to help too.
God Bless you!

Answer 9

The Bible is a group of books written by men inspired by God over thousands of years.
The Old Testament is made up of the books written before the atonement of Jesus.
The New Testament are books written after the atonement.
Books such as Corinthians are letters to the churchs of that day.

Answer 10

There are probably some people in your neighborhood right now who are waiting to knock on your door and explain the Bible to you. It might be worthwhile to let them in.

The Bible is God's message of salvation to mankind. Basically, in the "Old Testament" or Hebrew Scriptures, that salvation was explained through God's interaction with Abraham and his descendants, with the promise of a coming Savior.

In the "New Testament" or Christian Greek Scriptures, the fulfillment of that promise is detailed and the Savior is identified, the Lord Jesus Christ. The books like Corinthians are letters written by the apostles of Jesus Christ to strengthen the churches or congregations of the early Christians.

The value of the Bible, and Bible study, is emphasized in another letter, titled 2 Timothy, chapter 3 and verses 16 and 17:

"All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching the truth, rebuking error, correcting faults, and giving instruction for right living, so that the person who serves God may be fully qualified and equipped to do every kind of good deed." (Good News Bible)

Answer 11

Before you start reading you should check out the six foundations for effective Bible study are:

1. Know what the Bible says about itself (Psalm 19:7)

2. Know what God intended the Bible to do for you (Genesis 1:1)
3. Know that the Bible stands above all human opinions (John 10:4, 5)
4. Know that the Bible deals in facts (Colossians 2:8)
5. Know the correct methods of Bible study (2 Tim 2:15)
6. Know how to use Bible helps and commentaries (1 Tim 2:2)

This should help you in your quest.