THE BIBLE - GOD'S WORD TO MAN

The Christian Bible is, without a doubt the bestselling book of all time. It is impossible to know exactly how many copies of the Bible have been sold, but a survey by the Bible Society concluded that around 2.5 billion copies were printed between 1815 and 1975, but more recent estimates put the figure at more than five billion. Guiness Book of World Records concurs with a similar figure of around five billion.

In late April of 2015, Gideons distributed their historic two billionth Scripture. The distribution of the first one billion Bibles and New Testaments spanned 93 years (1908-2001). The second billion was attained in less than fourteen years (2002-2015). Gideons International began distributing free Bibles in 1908. Members of Gideons International currently distribute over 800 million Scriptures annually, and the numbers are growing, especially in places such as Brazil, India and Asia.

The Bible consists of sixty six books, divided into two sections - the Old Testament containing thirty nine books, and the New Testament with twenty seven books.

The Old Testament is divided into further sections:

1. The Pentateuch or the books of Moses, being the first five books,

2. The Historical Books, being Joshua to Esther,

3. The Poetical Books, being Job to Song of Solomon,

4. The Major Prophets - Isaiah to Ezekiel,

5. The Minor Prophets, being the twelve last books in the Old Testament, consisting of Daniel to Malachi.

The New Testament consists of twenty seven books:

1. The Four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,

2. The Book of Acts,

3. Paul's Epistles to the Churches - Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and 1 and 2 Thessalonians,

4. Paul's Pastoral Epistles - 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus,

5. The Letter of Paul to Philemon,

6. The Letter to the Hebrews,

7. James, 

8. 1 & 2 Peter, 

9. 1,2 & 3 John,

10. The Epistle of Jude, and finally

11. The Book of Revelation.

As with all books, by their very nature, the Bible is made up of thousands - hundreds of thousands of words.

A piece of Bible trivia is: that there are 8,674 different Hebrew words in the Bible. There are 5,624 different Greek words and 

12,143 different English words in the King James Bible.

Although there are many English versions of the Bible, with new ones appearing over time, some as scholarly works produced by a collaboration of many Bible academics - and some as modern paraphrases produced by one person, it could be said that, none of the translations from the Hebrew and the Greek are wholly inspired by the Holy Spirit to the last word.

The original texts, however, were wholly inspired by God, word by word. The apostle Paul, in writing to his son in the faith, Timothy, with instructions for ministry, stated: All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. 

2 Timothy 3:16,17

The Bible was penned by around forty different authors, over approximately a 1200 to 1500 year period. The authorship of all the books of the New Testament is clear, apart from the book of Hebrews, which the King James Bible attributed to Paul. He is a strong contender as the author. However, there have been other suggestions, including Apollos and even the suggestion that the author of Hebrews may have been in fact - wait for it - a woman, namely Priscilla, of Priscilla and Aquila fame. Priscilla and Aquila were a married couple mentioned in the Book of Acts, in chapter 18, who travelled with the apostle Paul. He described them as his "fellow workers in Christ Jesus." Romans 16:3

Concerning the inspiration by the Holy Spirit of all the writers of the books of the Bible, the writer to the Hebrews says in chapter 1: God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Hebrews 1:1-3

TO BE CONTINUED