a personal and communal book
The Bible is a love letter from God, but who is the recipient? The Bible speaks to you in a very personal way--with each letter directed to you--for God is a personal God. Yet at the same time it also speaks to His people, His Church. It is also mankind's love story, of how God gathered His people and brought them to his embrace.
past, present and future
The New Testament is hidden in the Old and the Old is fulfilled in the New. Thus, we cannot separate the Old and the New Testament when studying the Bible and applying it to our lives. It is in the whole Bible that God's plan of salvation is laid out. Ignoring any would lead to lack of full understanding.
Moreover, the message contained in Scripture speaks about events in the past, but also directs us towards the future and teaches us how to live in the present to arrive at our journey's destination. It is thus not bound by time--its message is permanent and timeless. It is simply for all eternity, for God is an eternal God.
a book of books
God is the primary author, but he used men--such as Moses, David, Matthew, Paul or John--as instruments. Thus, the Bible is a collection of 73 books written by various human hands inspired by God.
The Old Testament has 46 books. Five for the Pentateuch, 14 for other narrative books, seven for books of wisdom, and 20 for prophetic books. The New Testament has 27 books. It has four Gospels, a history book, 14 Pauline letters, 8 catholic letters and a book on the apocalypse.
Each book is a part of a whole formed through God's guidance--the Old Testament is believed to have been compiled as early as 100 years before the birth of Jesus Christ, and the New Testament was compiled by the Church that Jesus established--the Catholic Church.
a worthy companion
St. Jerome once said, ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of God. But making the decision to study Scripture posts a lot of questions even an eager student has no idea of answering. As the angel of God asked Philip in Acts 8:30, “Do you understand what you are reading?” Phillip replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?”
This is understandable since “no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation (2 Pt 1:20).” We need a guide we can trust--whom God trusts.
Fortunately, as Catholics, we have the Church to guide us inerrantly in our quest to be informed and transformed by God’s Word. We hold on to God’s promise that the Gates of Hell will not prevail against it (Mt 16:18). This is what the Catholic Church means when he speaks of Tradition. It does not speak of man-made traditions, but Traditions also inspired by the Holy Spirit handed down through the authority of the Church to help us grow in our understanding of God. They go side by side (DV 7 and 9) and cannot exist without the other.
from one thing to another
Studying Scripture is not an academic exercise, but an encounter with its Author that could leave us full of awe and praise--of faith, hope and love. Keeping this in mind will help you study God’s Word more effectively.
As a whole, our salvation history can be divided into four major periods that can be discovered through the 12 historical periods of Scripture. These are:
1. Time of Ignorance/Patience // Acts 17:29-30
2. Time of Promise // Acts 7:17
3. Time of Law // Ex 3:14-17
4. Fullness of Time/Last Times // Gal 4:4
We move from the time when we are uncertain how we are going to return to God to a time when God chose a race from which all will be gathered--from a time when God was patient with our wrongdoings to a time when Abraham became our father. Then we move to a time when we are guided by Law, and eventually to the fullness of time when we return fully to God's embrace.
There are basically fourteen historical books that we can utilize to go through the 12 periods of Bible history chronologically--that is, from one event to another. These books help us get a clearer perspective of the other books, seeing them as a part of the big picture.
The periods and their corresponding books/texts are as follows:
1. History of the Early World // Genesis 1-11
2. Patriarchs // Genesis 12-50
3. Israel in Egypt // Exodus
4. Conquest of Canaan // Numbers, Joshua
5. Judges // Judges
6. United Kingdom // 1 & 2 Samuel
7. Divided Kingdom Exile // 1 Kings
8. Exile // 2 Kings
9. Return // Ezra & Nehemiah
10. Maccabean Revolt // 1 Maccabees
11. Jesus the Messiah // Luke
12. Church // Acts
God's family grows
Within these periods, God made six covenants with men that ulitmately show how God's family grew to include all of us as adopted sons and daughters. Understanding these covenants is the key to understanding Scripture--our love story with God. These covenants and their corresponding scope are as follows:
1. Adam // Marriage
2. Noah // Household
3. Abraham // Tribe
4. Moses // Nation
5. David // Kingdom
6. Jesus // Catholic or Universal Church
Now, shake the dust off your Bible and let's start an amazing adventure!
Next in this series...
How do we choose the right version with so many lying around there? How do we know which one fits our needs?
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