How We Got Our Bibles Series

2 Timothy 3: 15 – 17

How We Got Our Bibles

15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

I was going to title this message as ‘Who Failed the Bible Test’. However, to make it more palatable I just put down, ‘How We Got Our Bibles.’ It is my hope that as we take a look at these Wonderful Holy Words composed by 40 writers over thousands of years you will come to appreciate how awesome we have God’s Word.

I want you to stop and consider your job. What is it that you do? Are you and Accountant, Doctor, Auto Mechanic, or Housekeeper? Well, they are all important in our way of life. The reason I bring them up is because even a housekeeper needs a manual in which to manage a home? We need manuals to all the appliances and electronic equipment. How about an manual to know about the heater or air conditioner or about the fuse box. Do you see the importance of these reference materials? Well, our Precious Holy Adoni Yahweh, our Father God, did not leave us here on earth to just wander around aimlessly, He gave us a ‘Manual’ to run our lives. Yes, it is the Bible.

Here is a question which I hope you know the answer. How was the bible put together? Or another way of asking, ‘How did the 66 books make it into our Bibles.’ Hey there are a lot of other old writings that we sometimes see on a television special. How come they are not consider important?. The bible passage that we see in the book of 2 Timothy chapter 3 says that 15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.’

Why are the 66 books in our Bible’s listed as being given by our Precious Holy Spirit while all these other books that are in circulation not?

There are 24 books in the Jewish Bible which is called the ‘Tanach’. Here is the listing.

The Five Books of Moses

• Genesis

• Exodus

• Leviticus

• Numbers

• Deuteronomy

The Eight Books of the Prophets

• Joshua

• Judges

• Samuel

• Kings

• Isaiah

• Jeremiah

• Ezekial

• The Twelve (minor prophets)

Hosea

Joel

Amos

Obadia

Yonah

Micah

Nahum

Habakkuk

Zephaniah

Chagai

Zechariah

Malachi

The Eleven Books of the Writings

• Psalms

• Proverbs

• Job

• Song of Songs

• Ruth

• Lamentations

• Ecclesiastes

• Esther

• Daniel

• Ezra/Nehemia

• Chronicles

Take a look now at the books that we have in our Old Testament bibles.

The Old Testament has 39 books total, which consist of...

Pentateuch - 5 books

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy

Historical Books - 12 books

Joshua, Judges, Ruth, First Samuel, Second Samuel, First Kings, Second Kings, First Chronicles, Second Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther.

Poetic books- 5 books

Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon

Prophetic books- 17 books

Major Prophets - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel

Minor Prophets - Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.

The Hebrew bible has 24 books while our New Testament has 39 books. Now, we will compare both and find out that they are both the same. Huh? Yes, you will see. Are you ready? I will list them side by side.

Hebrew Bible Old Testament

. Genesis . Genesis

. Exodus . Exodus

. Leviticus . Leviticus

. Numbers . Numbers

. Deuteronomy . Deuteronomy

. Joshua . Joshua

. Judges . Judges

. Samuel . 1 Samuel

. 2 Samuel

. Kings . 1 Kings

. 2 Kings

. Isaiah . Isaiah

. Jeremiah . Jeremiah

. Ezekiel . Ezekiel

. The 12 minor

Prophets . Hosea

. Joel

. Amos

. Obadiah

` . Jonah

. Micah

. Nahum

. Habakkuk

. Zephaniah

. Haggai

. Zechariah

. Malachi

. Psalms Psalms

. Proverbs . Proverbs

. Job . Job

. Song of Solomon . Song of Songs

. Ruth . Ruth

. Esther . Esther

. Lamentations . Lamentations

. Ecclesiastes . Ecclesiastes

. Daniel . Daniel

. Ezra/Nehemiah . Ezra

. Nehemiah

. Chronicles . 1 Chronicles