The Bible

The Old Testament: Law, Former Prophets, Writings, Major Prophets, Minor Prophets
The New Testament: The Gospels, Church History, Paul's Letters, General Letters

Related Documents: [ Outline of the Bible | History of the Old Testament | Individual Book Outlines | Blank Outline Worksheets ]

The Bible is the set of writings understood by Christians to be God's Word, revealing his nature and his will for mankind. The word "Bible" is simply a transliteration of the Greek "biblion" which means "book", and by capitalizing it, the Bible is understood to be the preeminent book, the revelation of God.

In fact, it is a collection of 66 different manuscripts called "books" which describe the two Covenants between God and man. The Old Testament is the first 39 books, describing the Old Covenant, God's covenant with man through the nation of Israel. It was a covenant which sufficed until the time that Jesus came. Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah (or Christ), revealed the New Covenant which is recorded in the New Testament, the latter 27 books of the Bible. The New Covenant sets aside the Old Covenant and describes the relationship that God desires to have with man, enabled by the work of his Son, Jesus.

The Old Testament

The Old Testament is the set of writings understood to be the Scriptures by the Jews even to this day. These 39 scrolls were written in Hebrew by a variety of authors between the time of Moses (ca. 1400 BC) and the time of the last prophets (ca. 400 BC). When references are made by Jesus to "the Scriptures", he is referring to the Old Testament, because the New Testament had not been written at that time.

The Old Testament is made up of three types of books: the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. The Prophets can be further divided into two groups, the former prophets and the latter prophets. Among the latter prophets, there are the major prophets and the minor prophets.

The Law is the foundation of the entire Old Testament. It describes the origins and the foundation of the nation of Israel and the covenant that God made with Israel. The former prophets record the history of Israel after its establishment as a nation. The Writings comprise a body of poetry, songs, and wisdom. The Major Prophets and the Minor Prophets are the writings of individual prophets, most of whom are identified in the historical texts of the Former Prophets.

The Law

The Law is the first five books of the Old Testament, written by Moses. The Law represents the foundation of the entire Old Testament. The Law is sometimes referred to as the Penteteuch, which means "five books".

The Former Prophets

The Former Prophets record the history of Israel from the initial conquest and settlement in Canaan, the promised land, through nine centuries of judges and kings. They are pretty much in chronological order.

The Writings

The Writings are not chronologically organized. They simply represent important pieces of literature, poetry, and song.

The Major Prophets

The prophets were people who understood clearly the will of God and who were faithful in declaring it to the people and to the kings. They were often persecuted because they warned of God' punishment for sin and the need for repentance. Prophets usually had explicit revelations from God in these matters. Their teachings and lives were recorded by those close to them. These writings make up the Major and Minor prophets.

The Major Prophets are called "major" simply because the books are longer than the Minor Prophets. They are not organized chronologically. Rather, each prophetic book is written about an individual prophet. A study of a prophetic book is greatly enhanced by cross-referencing it with the historical material in 1&2 Kings and 1&2 Chronicles.

The Minor Prophets

There are twelve Minor Prophets who lived and prophecied between 850 BC and 440 BC. Each one was a prophet to either the Northern Kingdom of Israel or the Southern Kingdom of Judah.

The New Testament

The New Testament is collection of 27 scrolls written by the Apostles of Jesus Christ or their close companions. It is this association with the Apostles that gives them their authority, for Jesus promised that the guidance of the church would be directed by revelation through and teaching by the Apostles. These 27 books were written in Greek between 45 AD and 96 AD.

The Gospels

These four parallel accounts of the life of Jesus Christ cover the birth of Christ until his death and resurrection. They are called "Gospels", which means "Good News". The first three Gospels are very similar in places, indicating that they perhaps used common sources or borrowed from and elaborated on each other. They are called the Synoptic Gospels. The book of John is very different from the other three Gospels.

Church History

After Jesus' resurrection and ascension into heaven, Christianity spread quickly around the known world. Only the book of Acts writes about this, beginning with the ascension, and continuing through a series of missionary journeys around the Mediterranean countries of the Roman empire.

Paul's Letters

Paul was a persecutor of the church who became one of the people most active in spreading Christianity. He wrote various letters during his travels and imprisonments to churches and individuals, instructing them on the practical issues of Christian living.

General Letters

The General Letters were not written to a particular group of people in a particular city, but rather to Christians in general. They were written by various authors.