Reading the Bible is an important part of daily spiritual growth. Learn more about this gift from God in this slide presentation by Brett Opalinski, senior pastor at Christ Church, Fort Lauderdale and Pompano Beach.
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The Bible: An Introduction
Brett Opalinski
Christ Church UM
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Religion of the Book
Judaism and Christianity are
religions of a book.
Judaism was the first of
Western Civilization.
Other religions, put more
emphasis on ritual ceremonies
and sacrifices.
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Bible Basics
Hebrew Bible (Old Testament)
and the New Testament.
Library/Collection of Books (66
not counting the Apocrypha)
Different authors, settings,
places.
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Basic Parts of the Hebrew Bible
Torah: Books of the Law
Prophets
Poems
Wisdom
History
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New Testament: Basic Information
27 Books.
Written in Greek.
Between the Years 50-120 CE
(Earliest I Thessalonians)
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Types of Writings in the New
Testament
Letters
Gospels
History
Sermons
Apocalyptic Literature
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Basic Dates for Early Christianity
6-4 BCE – Birth of Jesus
10 CE – Birth of Paul
29 CE – Death and
Resurrection of Jesus
31-33 CE – Paul’s
Transformation
50-60 CE – Letter’s of Paul
64 CE – Death of Paul and
Peter
65-70 – Gospel of Mark written
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What Scriptures did Early Christians
Use
Hebrew Scriptures (Old
Testament)
Jesus’ words and teachings.
Paul’s Letters
Gospels
Later Writings
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There Were Many Early Christian
Writings
Gospels
Acts/Histories
Revelations
Which ones should be used?
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Athanasius: Bishop of Alexandria
367 CE – Letter to his
Churches in Egypt.
Instructed them to use the 27
books that made up the New
Testament.
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Council of Carthage – 394 CE
Finalized the List of Books that
we use today in Western
Christianity.
Eastern Christians still used: I
Clement, Barnabas, Shepherd
of Hermas. Omitted
Revelation.
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Criteria for Which Books Were
Selected
Rule of Faith: Consistent with
basic teaching of the Apostles.
Apostolic Authorship.
Accepted and Used by Many
Churches.
No agreement over which was
the most important.
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What About the Apocrypha
Books that are from the Hebrew
tradition, but not part of the Old
Testament. Valued and used
by Early Christians.
Baruch, Tobit, Psalm 151, 1-4
Maccabees, Wisdom of
Solomon, Letter of Jeremiah.
Some Bibles include these
today!
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Manuscripts
We do not have the original
copies of the books.
There are over 5,500
manuscripts, fragments or
papyri.
Copying was done by hand, not
by printing presses.
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How Do We Get Our Bibles Today
Scholars work with Manuscripts
and Fragments to determine
what the originals may have
looked like.
Put together into a common
Greek version. (Hebrew for
OT).
Different translations from that.
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Final Thoughts
Translations: Common English
Bible or New Revised Standard
Version (NRSV).
Don’t just read the Bible, study
it!
If you would like to know more,
email me at:
bopalinski@echristchurch.org