The Orthodox Faith – The Bible (1)

In English, when we say the word Bible we think of it as a book, a book singular. However, in Greek it is “Ta Biblia”, the Books (plural). Indeed the Bible is a small library of books written by many different people and in many different times and places. The Bible contains books of history, law, poetry, Gospels, letters and so on.

The Bible is divided into two main parts. The Old Testament tells of the creation of the world and the sin of Adam. It tells the story of the Patriarchs and the Exodus. It continues with the history of the Jewish kingdom, of King David and King Solomon. It contains books of prophesy, foretelling the coming of the Messiah. The Book of Psalms forms the basis of the services of the Christian Church. We should remember that the Jews do not call this the Old Testament because they don’t accept the New Testament. For them it is simply The Bible.

The New Testament begins with the four Gospels which tell of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Book of Acts is the history of the early church. It is followed by epistles, or letters, written by St. Paul and others. Finally the New Testament ends with the Book of Revelation which tells us that the Church and individual Christians will suffer greatly in the time of tribulation, but will be saved by the victory of Christ.

We call the Bible “The Word of God” and such it is. However, this does not mean that the Bible fell from heaven. Rather it is the Word of God in human words. God did not dictate the Bible word by word. The Biblical authors were not merely passive instruments that God used. Rather God respected their freedom so the Bible was written by concrete individuals in concrete places and times. This means that the words of the Bible reflect the conditions in which they wrote, as well as their different personalities. Nevertheless, the Bible is truly the Word of God for humanity. That does not mean every particular historical detail in the Bible will correspond to modern ideas about history (or science, for that matter). We believe that the Bible is inspired by God and convey what God wants us to know about Him and what He wants from us.

When we read or hear the bible read we find books attributed to Moses, Isaiah, Matthew, John and many other authors. Critics of Christianity will tell us that modern historical research calls into question the traditional author of any given book. This leads critics to say that this proves the Gospels are wrong, hence Christianity is not true. However, important modern critical research into the Bible is (and the modern, critical approach is, in fact, taught in Orthodox seminaries) it is not the only way to understand the Bible. But instead of worrying about such details, the Church recognizes the books of the Bible as books written for and by the church. Our faith tells us that the Bible is the church’s book, which is inspired. The Bible interpreted and lived by the Church is God’s word for us.

Fr. John

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