Sacred Book of Christians.

Holy Bible.—The Christian Bible consists of two collections of small books, one called the Old Testament, the other the New Testament. The Old Testament comprises the Torah, Nebiim, and Cethubim of the Jews. It is divided into 39 books (including the Apocryphal books accepted by the Greek and Roman Catholic churches, about 50). The New Testament is a collection of 27 early Christian writings, which originally appeared in the various churches of Asia, Africa and Europe.

The Bible is but one of many books for which divinity is claimed. Christians deny the divinity of the other books, however, and affirm that they are of human origin—that their book is God’s only revelation to mankind. The orthodox claim respecting its divinity is expressed in the following words:

“Behind the human authors stood the divine Spirit, controlling, guiding, and suggesting every part of their different messages” (Birks).

CHAPTER II.

THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE.

The title Bible, from Ta Biblia, meaning The Book, or more properly The Books, was given to the sacred book of Christians, it is claimed, by Chrysostom in the fifth century.

For a period of one hundred and fifty years the sacred books of the Jews alone constituted the Christian Bible. They consisted of the following three collections of books which form the

Old Testament.

The Law.

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.

The Prophets.

Joshua, Judges, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.

Hagiographa.

Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles.

To the above thirty-nine books of the Old Testament were subsequently added the following twenty-seven books of the

New Testament.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, Revelation.

The books of the Old Testament were called The Scripture, or Scriptures, by early Christians. After the books of the New Testament were recognized as canonical and inspired, the terms Old and New Testaments were employed to distinguish the two divisions. Tertullian, at the beginning of the third century, was the first to use the term New Testament.

The proper arrangement of the books of the Old Testament is in the order named in the foregoing list. Both Jews and Christians, however, have varied the order. The books of the Hagiographa, with the exceptions of Ruth which follows Judges, Lamentations which follows Jeremiah, and Daniel which appears among the Prophets, have been placed between the Earlier and Later Prophets. In later Jewish versions the Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther, called the five rolls, come immediately after the Pentateuch. In the Christian Bibles of the Eastern churches, including the two most noted ancient manuscripts, the Vatican and Alexandrian, the seven Catholic Epistles, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, and Jude, follow Acts and precede the Pauline Epistles.

In the accepted Hebrew the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament formed but twenty-two, corresponding to the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Judges and Ruth formed one book, First and Second Samuel one, First and Second Kings one, First and Second Chronicles one, Ezra and Nehemiah one, Jeremiah and Lamentations one, and the twelve Minor Prophets one.

The books of the Pentateuch (Pente, five; teuchos, volume) now bear the Greek names given them by the Septuagint translators, with the exception of the fourth, Arithmoi, which is called by the English name, Numbers. The Hebrew names for these, as well as many other books of the Old Testament, are the initial words of the books. The name of Genesis, as translated, is “In the Beginning;” Exodus, “These Are the Words;” Leviticus, “And He Called;” Numbers, “And He Spake;” Deuteronomy, “These Are the Words.” Joshua originally belonged to this collection, and to the six books modern scholars have given the name Hexateuch.

About one-half of the books of the Bible, Joshua, Isaiah, Matthew, etc., are named after their alleged authors. A few, like Ruth and Esther, take their names from the leading characters of the books. The Pauline Epistles bear the names of the churches, people, or persons to whom they are addressed. The titles of Judges, Kings, Chronicles, Psalms, Proverbs, and a few others, indicate the subjects of the books.

The division of the books of the Bible into chapters was made in the thirteenth century; the division into verses, in the sixteenth century. These divisions are to a great extent mechanical rather than logical. Paragraphs are frequently divided in the formation of chapters, and sentences in the formation of verses.