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Where did the Bible come from? Discovering the Bible Class 1

3 OpenerOpener Turn to page 3 of your booklet and answer question number 1. Check all the boxes that you believe apply to The Bible...

4 IntroductionIntroduction Over the next eight weeks... ❖ Where did the Bible come from? ❖ Where did the universe come from (Creation)? ❖ Why is there death, sickness, disease, suffering, and crime in the world today (Corruption)? ❖ What evidence is there that the earth was completely covered with water? (Catastrophe)? 4

5 IntroductionIntroduction Over the next eight weeks... ❖ Where did all the races of people all over the earth come from (Confusion)? ❖ Who is this man called Jesus (Christ)? ❖ What makes Jesus different than other prophets and teachers in the past (Cross)? ❖ What is the final destiny of all people? (Consummation)? 5

6 IntroductionIntroduction Lesson Objectives ❖ 1.1State the author of the Bible. ❖ 1.2State the purpose of the Bible. ❖ 1.3Describe the general layout of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. ❖ 1.4Use the Bible to look up references to books, chapters and verses in the Bible. ❖ 1.5State the languages that were used for the original writings of the books of the Bible. 6

7 IntroductionIntroduction Lesson Objectives ❖ 1.6State the number of human writers of the Bible. ❖ 1.7State the number of books in the Bible. ❖ 1.8State the length of time over which the Bible was written. ❖ 1.9Name the important Old Testament and New Testament manuscripts that are used for Bible translation today. ❖ 1.10Describe the process used to preserve the integrity of the Bible’s contents over time. 7

8 We are you in the big Pic? Sunday Service People from all walks of life Discovering the Church Discovering the Church Discovering Community (House Church) Discovering the Bible Discovering the Bible Ministry Knowledge Character Support Ministries Support Ministries You Are Here

9 [2,4] Using your Bible, turn to the Table of Contents. You should notice two main sections of the Bible. What are those sections? Getting into the Bible 9

10 2 Timothy Getting into the Bible Book Chapter:verse => 2 Timothy 1:3

11 [3,4] According to 2 Timothy 3:16, who “inspired” or “breathed out” the Bible? [4,4] Read 2 Peter 1:21. According to this verse, who did men speak from as they wrote down the words in the Bible? Claims the Bible Makes

12 [5,5] As we have seen from these two verses, God is the author of each book of the Bible. The entire Bible is His Story. He wrote it through human writers called prophets. In fact, he used 40 prophets over a time span of 1600 years to write the Bible. Claims the Bible Makes

13 [6,5] Read Romans 3:20 ❖ From this verse, what is the purpose of God’s Word (or Law)? [7,5] Read Galatians 3:24 ❖ According to this verse, what is the purpose of God’s Word (or Law)? [8,5] Read 2 Timothy 3:16-17 ❖ According to these verses, what is the purpose of God’s Word? Purpose of the Bible

14 [9,5] Read Hebrews 4:12 ❖ According to this verse, how is God’s Word different from other books? [10,5] Read Romans 10:17 ❖ From this verse, what comes from hearing (learning) God’s Word? Purpose of the Bible

15 [11,6] The Old Testament can be divided into three main sections...the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings ❖ Law - The laws that God wanted his people in the Old Testament to follow ❖ Prophets - God’s Word to his people to call them to repentance and to promise a hopeful future ❖ Writings - books of History and Poetry that described Jewish life, some prophetic writings of the coming Redeemer, attributes of God Structure of the Bible 15

16 [12,6] The original languages of the Old Testament books were Hebrew and Aramaic. The Old Testament was written from 1500 BC to 400 BC. Structure of the Bible 16

17 [13,6] Fill in the blanks...below: Structure of the Bible 17 History Poetry Law Writings Prophets

18 [14,7] The New Testament also has some natural divisions. These are the books of history, doctrine, and prophecy. ❖ Books of History -- the life of Jesus and the first century church ❖ Books Doctrine - the set of beliefs that are to be adopted and followed by the Church... ❖ Book of Prophecy - God’s Word calling individuals and churches to repentance... Structure of the Bible 18

19 [15,7] The original language of the New Testament was Greek. It was written from AD 44 to AD 95. So, altogether, the whole Bible was written over a time span of 1600 years. Structure of the Bible 19

20 [16,7] Fill in the blanks...below: Structure of the Bible 20 History Doctrine Prophecy

21 [17,7] The Old Testament: ❖ 5 books of the Law (Genesis - Deuteronomy) ❖ 17 books of Writings (History: Joshua - Esther, Poetry: Job - Song of Solomon) ❖ 17 books of Prophecy (Isaiah - Malachi) [18,7] The New Testament: ❖ 5 books of History (Matthew - Acts) ❖ 21 books of Doctrine (Romans - Jude) ❖ 1 book of Prophecy (Revelation) Structure of the Bible 21

22 Discuss the answers to questions on page 8 someone sitting near you. Time: 2 minutes Quick Review

23 [24,8] When was the first book of the Bible was written? [25,8] The two most useful ancient writing surfaces were papyrus and parchment. [26,8] Wherever the use of papyrus and parchment prevailed, for many centuries the form of the book was the roll or scroll. From Originals to Copies 23

24 Pictured here is the 1600-yr-old New Testament codex called the Sinaitic Manuscript. [27,9] The roll form of a book gave way to the codex. This is the Roman term that was used to refer to a book with leaves (similar to our books today). From Originals to Copies 24

25 [28,9] There are two other very important codices that are used to create our modern translations of the New Testament. They are the Vatican (AD 300’s) and the Alexandrian Manuscripts (AD 400’s). From Originals to Copies 25

Dead Sea Scrolls ❖ Dated to 100 BC ❖ Contained a few whole OT books ❖ Contained several hundred OT Fragments (with almost every book of the OT represented) ❖ When compared to the copies from AD 900, no significant difference in the text!!! From Originals to Copies 26

27 [29,10] Read Genesis 1:28. How did God first communicate with man? [30,10] The first person mentioned in the Bible as writing anything is Moses. Coming into Existence: OT 27

28 [31,10] The Old Testament Scriptures grew gradually and came to be assembled into an accepted collection about the time of Ezra around 400 BC. Coming into Existence: OT 28

29 [32,10] The New Testament came into existence gradually also, although the books themselves were written during a much shorter time span, from A.D Coming into Existence: NT 29

30 [33,11] In copying the Old Testament, Jewish scribes followed a very strict rules. These rules were employed around 500 BC. Copies of the Bible

31 [34,11] The earliest copies of New Testament writings were probably made for the local church by some member of the congregation. As the number of Christians grew, it was necessary to have more and more copies for new converts and for translations into other languages. Copies of the Bible

32 [35,11] During the Middle Ages (5th to the 15th Century), scribes working in monasteries were the book producers of all sorts of literary works. By transcribing ancient texts, the scribes illuminated the lamp of knowledge and especially contributed to the preservation of the Scriptures we now have today! Copies of the Bible

33 [36,11] As Christianity spread into areas of people groups of different languages, it became necessary to translate the Bible into other languages. The first translations were into Latin. Translations of the Bible

34 Big names for translating the Bible into English: ❖ John Wycliffe ❖ William Tyndale ❖ King James Translations of the Bible

35 Answer question 37 on page 12 of your booklet, discussing the answers with someone next to you. Quick Review

36 Answer question 38 on page 12 of your booklet. Check all the boxes that you believe apply to The Bible... For next time... ConclusionConclusion

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