The Holy Bible - An Introduction

The Bible is the all-time best seller in any language. Get to know this book of books and start your journey of discovery.

Philip P. Eapen | May 1, 2010

In this article:

• Get Your Own Copy
• Versions of the Bible
• Is The Bible God’s Word?

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The Bible is a library of sixty-six books written over a period of over a 1000 years by men who were inspired by God. The first section consisting of thirty-nine books were written prior to the birth of Christ and are collectively known as The Hebrew Bible. The Jews regarded these books as their holy scriptures. To this collection of divinely inspired writings were added twenty-seven books written after the birth of Christ, in the first century AD. This latter set of books is known as the New Testament.

Get your own copy

The easiest way to access a Bible is to install a Bible app on your mobile device. The YouVersion Bible app is a popular choice. There are other apps such the Olive Tree app and the Logos Bible Study app or even the Bible.is audio Bible app.

Although there are online electronic copies of the Bible that may be accessed using a computer or a mobile device, it is certainly useful to acquire a hard copy of the Bible if you can afford it. Of course, Bibles don’t come cheap. However, you may be able to find a good discount at a local Christian bookshop during, for instance, the Christmas season. Good leather-bound volumes may be available at a throwaway price because of an unnoticeable manufacturing defect.

Stick to one version and to a single edition for your regular reading so that you will be able to memorize Bible verses and develop a ‘photographic memory’ of the pages. To ensure that your copy lasts a very long time, make a good investment and get a good, leather-bound edition with a reasonably large print. You could also buy a cheaper hardbound Bible and get it leather-bound.

Versions of the Bible

There are several Bible versions (translations) available today in the English language. Even a single English translation may get published in two different ways to address different grammar and spelling preferences of the British and the American people! For a beginner, all these versions can be a little confusing.

Why do we have various versions? It’s because different preferences when it comes to the style and usage of language. At a deeper level, the philosophy of the translators of these version differ. Some translators prefer a very strict word-for-word translation. Others prefer meaning-for-meaning translation. They capture the meaning of a word or phrase and express it in today’s idiom. Some go even further and take their liberty to produce a paraphrased edition.

For instance, compare how the various English versions render Proverbs 6:6 (that is, the book of Proverbs, chapter 6, verse 6):

The Young's Literal Version is useful to those who want to know what exactly the Hebrew or Greek text of the Bible says, without making any allowance for English grammar rules or usage. Bibles such as the King James Version (KJV), the New King James Version (NKJV), and New American Standard Bible (NASB) attempt to be as faithful to the text in the original language without breaking the rules of English language.

While these version are significant, we must admit that versions as the New International Version and the New Living Translation put the text into contemporary idiom. They also use dynamic equivalence. That is, they try to convey the same idea without sticking to the exact words used by the original text. That's why a lot of Christians find these Bibles easier to understand. But at times, these versions might chose between two possible ways of translating a phrase or a verse. In this, they might go wrong. Which is why we must use the more literal translations such as NASB, NJKV, or the Revised Version for any serious study

The Living Bible and The Message are paraphrases of the Bible. They not only render idea for idea, but also choose contemporary street language to convey those ideas.

Is The Bible God’s Word?

• Jesus regarded the books of the Bible to be the inspired Word of God that should govern our beliefs and actions. Jesus cited from all sections of the Hebrew Bible—the Law, the Psalms and the Prophets. He referred to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible as the “Word of God.” (Mark 7:13)
• The apostles, too, affirmed the divine origin of the scriptures. The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God.” He was referring to the Old Testament. The apostles and writers of the New Testament books made extensive references to hundreds of passages in the Hebrew Bible.
• Similarly, the apostle Peter says, “No prophecy was ever produced the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along the Holy Spirit.” The prophets who wrote down their prophecies claimed to have heard from God. Self-attestation, alongside other evidence, is valuable!
• The apostle Peter testified that the writings of St Paul were on par with the Hebrew Scriptures (2 Peter 3:16). The early Church recognized the Gospels and epistles as the Word of God.
• The prophecies in the Bible accurately predicted events and even the names of people who were yet to be born. Minute details about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ were predicted as early as 700 years before His birth! Numerous prophecies about the nation of Israel were fulfilled. These include predictions about the destruction of their land and holy city Jerusalem in AD 70.
• The Bible alone upholds the highest standards of morality and holiness. The gold standard of morality—The Ten Commandments and related moral teachings—form the bedrock of all legal systems in the world. The Bible makes no concessions to excuse the sinful behaviour of either men or women. Such teachings could not have originated in a human mind. Which human will risk condemnation to eternal hellfire by prescribing a stringent moral code as the standard against which he should be held accountable?
• The Bible is not a work of fiction. Whatever information you find in its pages is grounded in history. The Bible is not a textbook of science. But whatever it says about the universe around us and about our own origin has never been disproved. Numerous scholars have tried to identify mistakes and apparent contradictions in the Bible. No book in history has been subjected to so much scrutiny as the Bible. Yet, it continues to thrive and exert its positive influence on generation after generation.
• Millions of Christians worldwide experience the power of the Bible in their lives because God’s power is actively at work to prove His word. This is why the Bible is not a dead book. It is alive and animated by God’s power. Click the triangular PLAY button on the audio player below this paragraph to hear the testimony of a man who was healed of an incurable throat condition even as he read the Bible aloud! He was a preacher who was not able to preach because of his disease. He was so dejected once that he put a gun to his head to kill himself. Soon after that, a church invited him to preach. He started speaking in an almost inaudible, difficult-to-comprehend manner, until he read Psalm 103 verse 5. Listen to his 20-minute testimony to hear what happened to his voice!

Now, it is for you to read and discover for yourself that the Bible indeed is God’s holy Word. Read it prayerfully and allow God to speak to you.

“Stop being hateful! Quit trying to fool people, and start being sincere. Don’t be jealous or say cruel things about others. Be like newborn babies who are thirsty for the pure spiritual milk that will help you grow and be saved.” The ‘pure spiritual milk’ St Peter refers to is the Holy Bible. A Christian needs to feed on this vital milk to grow spiritually. The Bible is also like a mirror that shows us our faults. The more we read it, the more we get purified if we take deliberate steps to cleanse our life from all known sins.

We feed on the holy Scriptures by either reading it ourselves or by listening to it. In the ancient times, not everyone could afford to own a copy of all the sacred scrolls. Even today, people who belong to oral cultures find it easier to listen than to read. Further down this web page, you will find links to audio versions of the Bible. Whether you read or listen to the Scriptures, it is vital to develop a daily habit of reading the Bible systematically.

Why should we read the Bible systematically and regularly? It is to help us think about it through the day and night. If it goes out of sight, it goes out of mind! If the word of God will rule our thoughts, we will be careful to obey God constantly. God told Joshua, a newly appointed leader of His people,

“Yes, keep this book of the Torah on your lips, and meditate on it day and night, so that you will take care to act according to everything written in it. Then your undertakings will prosper, and you will succeed.” Joshua 1:8 CJB

The Bible has books of history, poetry, prophecy, letters, and a special kind of books called the Gospels. If you are new to the Bible, you could start reading from the beginning—Genesis, the book of beginnings. Or, you could start reading one of the four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke or John—in the New Testament. You could also browse through the book of Proverbs, a collection of wise sayings that require no prior knowledge of any other biblical book. Or, you could go through the Psalms, a collection of 150 sacred hymns, prayers, and songs of adoration and use those as your own prayers.

Christians who are serious about reading the Bible usually read the Bible cover to cover every year. Some manage to read the Good Book twice or even thrice. While some prefer to read the Bible, using a Bible Reading Plan that follows the order of the books, those who are aware of the chronology of the events tend to follow the chronological order of the books. Therefore, they may read the book of Job soon after they read the creation account in Genesis.

Similarly, they may read the letter to the Thessalonian church before they read the letter to the Romans because the former was written before the latter. There are others who prefer to have a ‘balanced diet’ by including portions from the Hebrew Bible, the Psalms or Proverbs and from the New Testament in their daily reading menu. The book of Proverbs has 31 chapters, and it makes an excellent reading every day of the month. The Navigators Book-at-a-time Bible Reading Plan encourages readers to read through each book of the Bible.

If you are comfortable with the YouVersion Bible App or other electronic versions of the Bible, please note that these apps provide a wide variety of reading plans with reminders and helpful statistics about your reading habit.