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The Bible is the Christian holy book. The word “bible” comes from the Latin and Greek words for “book,” (biblia and biblos, respectively.)

But it is really a ‘book of books.’ The Bible is a collection of sixty-six different writings, from different authors, writing at various times.

The Bible consists of two main parts:

• The Old Testament
• The New Testament

The Old Testament describes the creation of the world and the protection of the nation of Israel. God promised to use Israel to bless the entire world (Genesis 12:2-3).

Once Israel was established as a nation, God raised up a family within that nation through whom the blessing would come: the family of David (Psalm 89:3-4).

Then, from the family of David was promised one man who would bring the promised blessing (Isaiah 11:1).

The New Testament describes the coming of that promised man. His name was Jesus, and he fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament as he:

• Lived a perfect life

• Died to become the Saviour

• Rose from the dead

Around forty different authors contributed to the Bible, which was written over a period of 1600 years.

Those who wrote the Bible lived at various times. The writers served under different governments and lived within contrasting cultures and systems of philosophy.

The Bible writers came from all levels of society. Some were business people or traders; others were shepherds, fishers, farmers, some were educated, and some were not.

There are many repeated themes that display unity within the Bible, but only four that flow continuously from Genesis to Revelation.

These themes are:

• �Ҵǻ�’s revelation
• Sin and its consequences
• God rewarding faith and obedience
• Jesus Christ.

The Bible contains a wide variety of literary styles because the authors came from different backgrounds.

When studying the Bible, it is important to recognise what genre a book is to gain a head start in working out the meaning.

There are seven main genres:

1. Narrative

These books tell the story of what happened according to the purposes of the author.

Sometimes there are spiritual lessons from events, and sometimes we are just gaining the background of the history of �Ҵǻ�’s people.

• Exodus is an extensive, epic narrative of the Israelites leaving slavery in Egypt and entering the Promised Land.
• Ruth focuses on the story of one family.
• Acts tells the spectacular events of the first generation of Christians, as they were led and inspired by the Holy Spirit.

2. Poetry

This genre is all of Psalms and sections of other books. The power of poetry comes from using vivid symbolic language, for example, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.” (Psalm 42 v 1, NIV)

The Psalms and other poetic sections of the Bible communicate ideas, but they especially express emotion. They show life in its fullness.

3. Wisdom

These books are collections of wise sayings which were meant to shape the moral and ethical lives of their readers.

The wisdom genre spans both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. Examples of books in this genre include Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes and James in the New Testament.

4. Prophecy

The four major prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and the twelve minor prophets: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, are all records of �Ҵǻ�’s word to his covenant / promised people.

He is warning them and strengthening them during periods of noticeable spiritual and countrywide danger.

These books should be read as a challenge from God to the original audiences. Today people can gain spiritual lessons from them about the character of God and the condition of the people he addressed.

5. Gospels

This genre should be read as faith documents, announcing a world-changing event centred around Jesus.

There are four gospels in the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

6. Epistles (Letters)

The letters of the New Testament were communications to specific individuals or groups for specific and varied purposes.

The epistles genre are “prompted” texts. Therefore, the circumstances that led to them need to be understood so that their teachings are not taken out of context.

The apostle Paul wrote 1 Corinthians due to problems the church in Corinth were experiencing and to answer a list of questions they had for him.

The letters to Timothy were to encourage and guide a younger church leader in a challenging dilemma.

7. Apocalypse

Like other prophecies, this genre proclaims urgent messages to the original audiences. The messages were often ones of warning and comfort.

The book of Revelation and parts of the book of Daniel are in this genre.

During the thousand years of composition, the entire Old Testament was written in Hebrew.

Hebrew is part of a group of languages known as the Semitic languages which were spoken throughout Mesopotamia, located today mainly in Iraq.

Some chapters in the prophecies of Ezra and Daniel and one verse in Jeremiah were written in a language called Aramaic.

This language became extremely popular in the ancient world and led to other languages being banished.

Aramaic became the common language spoken in Israel in Jesus’ time and is the language he would have spoken.

Greek was the language of scholarship during the years of the arranging the New Testament from 50 to 100 AD although some Aramaic words were used by the Gospel writers.

Between 300 BC and 200BC the Old Testament was translated from Hebrew into Greek and was known as the Septuagint. Eventually the Septuagint became widely accepted and was used in many synagogues.