3.1 The Law

The first five books of the Bible were together called the Law (torah in Hebrew) by the Jews, and the Pentateuch by others (from two Greek words meaning “five scrolls”). When the Jews called this collection the Law, they meant more than just commands and rules. They understood that this part of Scripture contained foundational teaching and instruction from God by which the rest of the Bible was to be understood. That foundational teaching is outlined briefly in the following summary.

The Bible begins with an account of the creation of all things by God, the rebellion of humanity against God and the effects of that sin in our world. In order to undo the effects of human sin and to bring blessing to all the nations of the world, God called Abraham and his descendants to live in a special relationship with himself. Later, because of that special relationship, God saved his people (the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt under Moses) and taught them (the giving of various commands to Israel so that they might be a “holy nation”). God then led his people towards the land of Canaan, which he had promised would be theirs.

3.2 The Prophets

a. The Former Prophets

While we often refer to these books as historical narratives today, they were called the Former Prophets by the Jews. This is because they do not aim to record just the “bare facts” of Israel’s history. Instead, they present the history of the period from God’s point of view. They also show the importance of prophets—the messengers who spoke God’s word—in the outworking of God’s plan for Israel.

Joshua and Judges describe the conquest of the land of Canaan by Israel, in fulfilment of God’s promises. This history of Israel is continued in 1 and 2 Samuel, which show how God’s rule over his people is to be forever linked to kings descended from David (see especially 2 Samuel 7:12–16). The books of 1 and 2 Kings narrate the building of the temple under Solomon, the rebellion of ten of the tribes of Israel against the kings descended from David and the establishment of a rival kingdom in the north of the country. The judgement of God eventually falls on the northern tribes when they are conquered by the Assyrians in 722 BC and exiled from their land.

Even the southern tribes, who remained loyal to the house of David, end up being exiled to Babylon in various stages from 597 BC because of the continual rebellion of the people and their kings against God and his purposes for them (see especially 2 Kings 24–25). Thus began a long period when the Israelites lived as refugees, with no land of their own, no king and no temple. They began to wonder whether the good purposes of God had been foiled by their own wickedness.

b. The Latter Prophets

The Jews called the next section of the Hebrew Bible the Latter Prophets. The prophets whose teachings are recorded in these books deal with the period immediately before, during and after the captivity of the northern and southern kingdoms. Their first task is to explain the reasons for God’s terrible judgement on Israel and then to reveal God’s plans for the future of his people.

These prophets make it clear that God’s gracious purposes have not failed or been abandoned—despite the appearances to the contrary! God will rescue his people from exile and restore them to the promised land in another act of salvation like the exodus from Egypt. The re-establishment of the people is associated with the sending of a king from the line of David (who later became known as the “Messiah”), who will rule God’s people in perfect righteousness (Isaiah 11:1–16). He will bring peace and salvation by establishing what the Jews came to describe as “the kingdom of God”. This will mean blessing for the whole creation, since God will create “new heavens and a new earth” (Isaiah 65:17–25), restoring the harmony of the Garden of Eden, and drawing men and women from every nation to Israel to share in the benefits of knowing the true and living God (Isaiah 2:1–4). Prophets such as Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, who come after the Babylonian Exile, have the task of encouraging the people to believe that God’s plans are in the process of being fulfilled, although the climax is yet to come.

3.3 The Writings

At first glance, it appears that this concluding section of the Old Testament contains a strange and less closely related collection of books. However, the material falls basically into two categories. Psalms to Lamentations is mostly poetry, and Esther to Chronicles is mostly prose.

The book of Psalms contains a whole range of responses to God in prayer and praise, poetry and song, dating from many different periods of the history of Israel. Its great hope is that God’s Messiah will one day reign over the nations. The Wisdom Literature (Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, some of the Psalms and Song of Solomon) focuses on a wide variety of issues, including suffering and death, friendship, love and marriage, loyalty, and wisdom. Of all the sections of the Old Testament, this part is least tied to the specific culture and historical circumstances of ancient Israel. The Wisdom Literature shows how God’s people should live as human beings as they deal with problems of universal significance for men and women in every age and situation.

The rest of the Writings (mostly prose) deal primarily with the period of the Babylonian exile and beyond. The book of Daniel reveals God’s plans for Israel and the nations after the exile. Ezra and Nehemiah portray something of the situation of a relatively small number of Israelites who were restored to their land and sought to rebuild Jerusalem, waiting for the proper fulfilment of God’s promises. The Hebrew Bible closes with the books of 1 and 2 Chronicles, which retrace the whole history of Israel from the time of David and conclude with the hopeful promise that the Lord will restore his people even after the Babylonian exile.

4. The New Testament

The writers of the New Testament claim that the purposes of God revealed in the Old Testament came to completion in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The New Testament documents can be divided into two main groups: the Gospels and the other apostolic writings.

4.1 The Gospels

The “gospel”, or proclamation of the significance of Jesus’s life, death and resurrection, comes to us in a fourfold form. The witnesses of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John together give us a complete picture of the one who is Son of David, Son of God, Saviour, and Lord of Israel and the nations. With the coming of Jesus, “The time has come … The kingdom of God has come near” (Mark 1:15). The Gospel writers are particularly concerned to show that Jesus’s life at every point fulfils the Old Testament Scriptures.

The focus of each Gospel is on the events surrounding Jesus’s death and resurrection, for it was in these events that Jesus supremely fulfilled God’s purposes. Jesus himself opened the minds of his disciples to understand that it was written in the Old Testament that “the Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:45–47).

4.2 Other apostolic writings

The book of Acts is a companion volume to Luke’s Gospel and shows how the message about Christ and his work was taken by the apostles and other early Christians beyond the borders of Israel to the world at large. Acts forms a helpful bridge to the other apostolic writings because it not only tells us something of the way in which Christianity spread, but it also shows us how the ministry of Jesus was understood and proclaimed from the beginning.

The letters of Paul and the other writers deal with practical and doctrinal problems facing the early churches. They give us further valuable insight into the significance of Jesus’s life, death, resurrection and ascension. Taking their cue from the teaching of Jesus, they show how the promises of the Old Testament have been, or are being, fulfilled. However, they also stress that there is more to come. Once it is clear who Jesus is, then it becomes just as clear that the one who rose from the dead to sit at God’s right hand will return in power and glory to bring this world order to an end and to usher in the judgement of God and the new heavens and the new earth. That day will be a great day of redemption and reunion for his people. The book of Revelation brings the New Testament to a close with a focus on the glorified Jesus. It reveals the implications of his death, resurrection and exaltation for the future. It encourages Christians to keep living for Jesus as they await the great day of his return.

5. What does the Bible claim about itself?

Research

Read Jeremiah 1:1–12 and answer these questions:

1. Why did God call Jeremiah to be a prophet?
2. Why was Jeremiah able to speak with authority?
3. How did Jeremiah know that his words would come true?

Time and time again, we read in the Old Testament of the prophets being addressed by God. They claim to be his spokesmen, especially chosen to reveal his will and purpose (compare Exodus 5:1–3; 19:1–8; 1 Kings 17:1–6). Time and time again, we read of mighty acts of God confirming and fulfilling promises made through the prophets (e.g., Exodus 14:13–31; Joshua 21:43–45). The prophets expect that the Lord’s words in a written form will continue to challenge and encourage his people (Deuteronomy 31:9–13; Jeremiah 36:1–8).

It is important to note that Jesus and his apostles held the view that the Old Testament was inspired by God, or “God-breathed” (Matthew 22:43–44; 2 Timothy 3:16–17). While they acknowledge the role of the human authors, they assert that what was written in the Scriptures was spoken by God (Matthew 22:31–32), since the prophets “spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21). Jesus says that “Scripture cannot be set aside” (John 10:35; cf. Matthew 5:17–18) and regularly uses the Old Testament as his authority in controversy with his opponents (e.g., Matthew 12:3–7; 21:16, 42) or in teaching about himself and his ministry (Luke 24:27, 44–47). Each of the New Testament writers follows Jesus’s example in recognising the divine inspiration and authority of the Old Testament.

Given such a high view of the Old Testament Scriptures, it is significant that Christians soon recognised the same authority in the writings of the New Testament (2 Peter 3:15–16 classifies Paul’s writings along with “the other Scriptures”). The question of why those books came to be added to the books of the Old Testament and recognised as inspired Scripture will be dealt with more fully in a later subject unit, Doctrine 1: Knowledge of God. To give a brief answer now, the apostles themselves were promised by Jesus that the Holy Spirit would guide them to remember all that he had said to them (John 14:25–26) and to understand further the implications of his ministry (John 16:12–15; cf. 2:22; 12:16). The direction and leading of the Holy Spirit must be considered as the key factor in the writing of the New Testament and the collection of those books together with the prophetic scriptures of the Old Testament to form one Bible.