What is the Bible?
Chapter 1
What is the Bible?• Though the bible is made of many
books, the Bible tells ONE story of God’s love for his people and his plan for their salvation.
• Ultimately scripture is a love story!
1
The Bible was Inspired• Was written by inspired human authors
– Inspired - comes from the word meaning “God-Breathed”. God himself guided the authors who wrote the books of the Bible.
– They wrote only what God wanted them to write and no more.
– God used their unique and personal writing styles.
• Eg: poets wrote poetry…etc.2
Memory Verse• All scripture is inspired
by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work. – 2 Tim 3:16-17
3
The Bible is Inerrant• Has God as its main author
• Since it was written under the Holy Spirit scripture is without error.– Inerrant - it does not err; to be without
error.
• Scripture is inerrant because it has God as it’s author
4
The Bible is Inerrant• Unlike other human
books, the bible is free from error.
• Everything contained in Scripture is True
5
The Bible is Historical• Biblical history is written differently than
our history
• The Bible is an historical account of the world from God’s point of view
• The most important characters of this history are those who carried God’s message or furthered God’s plan of our salvation. 6
The Bible is Historical• The history in the Bible is called
“Salvation History” because it is the story of our salvation– Salvation History - the history of how
God’s plan to save us from sin unfolded through the ages.
• Salvation history includes the past and the future; We are part of this history
7
Salvation History• We can look at Salvation history as a
series of “Covenants” made between God and mankind– Each covenant was mediated by a person– The covenant mediator represented all of
humanity
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Salvation History• Covenant: An
agreement that establishes a sacred family bond forever– If one member does
not uphold their end, the other is still bound to the covenant
– Example: Marriage
• Contract: temporary business agreement – If one person does
not uphold their end, the other is not required to uphold their end.
– Example: business agreements
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Salvation History:Mountains and Mediators
• Let’s learn who mediated each covenant
The “Canon” of Scripture
The “Canon”• Canon: the list of inspired books.
• The word canon comes from the Greek word meaning “measuring rod”
• There are 73 books in the “canon”– 46 Old Testament– 27 New Testament
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How do we know which books belong in the Bible?
• In order for a book to be included in the canon it had to be divinely inspired
• Sacred Tradition helped us determine which books were divinely inspired– Remember: Without Tradition, we would
not have Scripture
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How did we know which books were divinely inspired?
• The Holy Spirit guided the Church in writing a list of divinely inspired texts
• Three Criteria used in determining which books to include:
1. Apostolic origin: written by Christ’s apostles (remember OT was already chosen)
2. Agreement with Christ’s teachings
3. Used over time in Liturgy12