One Library, One Story
The Bible is a library of sixty-six books. About forty men wrote it over some fifteen hundred years, in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Among them were a prince raised in Pharaoh's house, a shepherd who became a king, a tax collector, a fisherman, a doctor, and a rabbi. That sounds like a recipe for a patchwork. Yet the books fit together like the chapters of one story with one hero.
The reason is the Author. Paul wrote, All scripture is given by inspiration of God (2 Timothy 3:16), and Peter wrote that holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost (2 Peter 1:21). God used real men, with their own personalities and their own times, and He carried them along so that what they wrote is His Word. See The Inspiration of Scripture.
Jesus Is the Key
On the day He rose, Jesus walked with two disciples who did not recognize Him, and He gave them the greatest Bible study ever taught.
“And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.”LUKE 24:27 · KJV
He went through all the scriptures, from Moses to the prophets. Later He told the eleven that everything written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms was written concerning me (Luke 24:44). That is the key to the whole Bible. The books fit together because they are all about Him.
This study is a map of the whole Bible. It shows how the books are arranged, the one story they tell, and how all of it points to Christ. The rest of the Bible Survey takes the sixty-six books one at a time.
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For Deeper Study
- Explore the BookAmazon J. Sidlow BaxterA classic six-volume walk through every book, Genesis to Revelation, by a pastor and Bible teacher. Warm, thorough, and Christ-centered.
- What the Bible Is All AboutAmazon Henrietta C. MearsA beloved one-volume handbook that tells the story of every book and where it fits in the whole.
- Survey of the Old TestamentAmazon Paul N. BenwareA clear survey with charts and outlines, written from a dispensational and premillennial viewpoint.
- According to Plan: The Unfolding Revelation of God in the BibleAmazon Graeme GoldsworthyA Christ-centered overview of how the Bible's story unfolds. Goldsworthy writes from an Anglican, Reformed viewpoint, so we differ with him on Israel and the church, but his focus on Christ at the center is valuable.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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The Canon of Scripture
God determined the sixty-six books of the Bible when He inspired them, and His people recognized them as His Word; no council created the canon.
Open Doctrine