The Bible is actually a collection of 66 “books,” with history, law, poetry, letters, and various other forms of literature. These “books” were written over a period of about 1600 years (c. 1500 B.C. to c. 100 A.D.), by approximately 40 different authors. The authors were in several different countries as they wrote (including three continents), and included kings, statesmen, farmers, fishermen, a tent maker, a doctor, priests, and some whom we don’t know what their profession was. But yet, even with all this diversity (DEI?), the Bible “flows” together as a united whole. It came from one mind—God—and thus the unity is explained in only that way. Get forty priests together today and they won’t agree on virtually anything.
Why are there 66 books in the Bible? How was that decided? Well, believers are confident that God, in His providence, directed the process, but that is a non-provable proposition; it is simply a matter of faith, and everyone—even atheists—have “faith” in something. We can’t “scientifically” or “historically” prove everything (e.g., where did life come from?). How we got the Bible is a question I may consider in a future article, but it is important to realize that the 66 books were not “chosen” by “priests” or some kind of church “council.” They were recognized, by God’s people, from almost the time they were written, as being God’s word. Peter compared Paul’s writings to “the rest of the Scriptures” (II Peter 3:16). In other words, Peter recognized Paul’s letters as being God’s word, he didn’t indiscriminately make that determination. The writers of the Bible knew, when they wrote, that they were writing Scripture, and the faithful, almost immediately, recognized it as such as well.
A quick outline of the Bible books:
Old Testament (39 books):
1. Seventeen books of history (Genesis-Esther)
--The Law of Moses (Torah), five books, Genesis through Deuteronomy
--Twelve books of history, from about 1400 B.C. to the mid-5th century B.C. (Joshua-Esther)
2. Five books of poetry (Job-Song of Solomon)
3. 17 books of “prophecy,” from Isaiah to Malachi.
--Five so-called “major prophets” (Isaiah through Daniel), and 12 so-called “minor prophets” (Hosea through Malachi). These men certainly did make some “predictions,” but basically they were just God’s “preachers” calling the people to faith in God.
New Testament (27 books):
1. Four “gospels”, short biographies of Jesus (Matthew-John)
2. One book of church history (Acts), from approximately 30 A.D. to 64 A.D.
3. 21 “letters”, Romans to Jude
4. One “prophecy” (Revelation)
In my next article, I will begin telling the real “story” of the Bible, a general historical survey of God’s plan of redemption as revealed in the text.
One final thought: as we have increasingly seen in recent years, the Left is wrong about just about everything they believe and teach (climate change, Covid, the nature of humanity, Darwinism—check it out—, economic laws, etc.), and they are wrong about the Bible. Do NOT listen to the Leftist “skeptics” when they pontificate about the Bible. They have an agenda—to reject God and put themselves on His throne—and destroying the Bible through pseudo-science and pseudo-history is one way they are doing that. More on this in subsequent articles in this series.