Hernandez How to Read the Bible and Understand It

A Simple Guide to Help You Understand God's Word Better
1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5439-4363-4
Verlag: BookBaby
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet/DL/kein Kopierschutz

E-Book, Englisch, 222 Seiten

This book is the clearest, most inviting, and readable guide to help you read and understand the Bible. It helps to encourage you to read your Bible regularly with excitement and expectations because now you will learn the basic tools to truly understand what you are reading. This simple-to-use, straightforward 'how-to-book' has been recommended by Bible teachers and pastors from all over the world. •Easy to read •Inviting step-by-step process •A book that every believer needs to have •Avoid misinterpreting verses •Exciting and practical •Describes and defines the how-to interpret the bible •Effective methods to understand the meaning of the biblical text •Historical, Cultural, and Social Context You will learn guidelines and interpretation principles to help you properly understand and interpret the Bible.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Hernandez, Daniel

Leseproben

Before learning how to read and study the Bible, it’s best first to have a general understanding of what the Bible is. Overview
In this chapter, you will learn: A general overview of what the Bible is. A general overview of the Old Testament. A general overview of the New Testament. Chapter Insight
The Bible is unlike any other book. It is the most influential book of all time. It is the world’s bestselling book ever with more than five billion copies sold. It has been translated into more languages than any other book in human history. It’s considered the ultimate source of truth for life. It answers and explains questions such as: why was I created, what’s my purpose in life, the origin of the universe, why is there evil and suffering in this world, what’s life all about, what happens after we die and much more. It is unique and different from any other historical or religious book in the world. The Bible is more than just a bestselling book; it’s a divine love letter from God to humankind, describing His love and redemption toward all humanity. It is truly a love story in every sense. It will show you how to live the Christian life more faithfully and know what God requires of you. It is God’s words to humanity. It is the primary means to know God’s will for our lives. We must understand the proven fact that the Bible is the Word of God and this is the true foundation to understand and interpret the Bible accurately. So, it should be treasured, revered and studied by everyone. “It contains history, narrative, poetry, philosophy, pithy proverbs, prophetic denunciation, instruction and teaching, sermons and exhortations, predictions concerning the future, and grand apocalyptic visions.” 1 The first books of the Old Testament (Genesis – Deuteronomy) were written about 1500 B.C., and the last book of the New Testament (Revelation) was written about the year 90 A.D. The Bible began with a collection of oral stories that were written down about God and his people, the Israelites, and how He gave them a land there in Cana, modern day Israel. Eventually, these written ancient sacred texts were collected together and bound in books. “Jews and Christians often call this collection of sacred texts the ‘Bible,’ a term derived from the Greek word biblia. As most often used, a Bible is a collection of sacred texts.” 2 The Bible is a small library of sixty-six books compiled into one book which we call the Bible. It was written over a sixteen-hundred-year period by forty different authors that collectively tell one unified story. “It has been honored over the ages as a unique book—a book given by God Himself, containing a timeless message for all human beings, everywhere.” 3 Canon of Scripture
1.1 The English word “Canon” comes from the Greek word kanon, meaning “a measuring rod or reed” which refers to a rule or standard. Scripture simply means “a writing.” In a religious context, Scripture means, “sacred writing.” “Writings that are regarded as authoritative for a religious community are known collectively as that group’s canon.” 4 The Canons are books deemed Holy Scripture and regarded as having divine authority. They are an authoritative collection of documents. This Canon was used to measure or became the standard for each book to meet to be a part of the Bible. As a result of the authors of the Bible inspired by God, these books became divinely authoritative. By them being ‘canonized’ didn’t add to their divine authority, they were already divinely authoritative before they attained their canonicity. Scripture being accepted into the canon just affirmed that they were accepted as divinely inspired and authoritative. The Bible does not owe its authority to any individual or church council’s acceptance. It is divinely authoritative because it’s the inspired words of God spoken and written down by men. The Canon is complete, and nothing can or should be added or removed from the complete Canon that believers have today. The Bible in total has sixty-six books. It is separated into two main parts: the Old and the New Testament. The word Testament is an old way of referring to a contract or “covenant.” The first main part is called the “Old Testament” which means “Old Covenant.” That was a covenant God made with the Israelites through Abraham. The second main part is called the “New Testament” meaning “New Covenant.” That is a covenant that God made through Jesus (God the Son), to those who believe in Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. Old Testament
1.2 The Old Testament is the oral words God gave to the Israelites that were written down. These were the Scriptures (Sacred Writings) God gave to the ancient people, Israelites, over the course of many centuries. The Old Testament (Hebrew Scriptures) was a small library of books, out of the history of the people of ancient Israel. The Israelites were first known as Hebrews before the Egyptian exile, then known as the Israelites after the Egyptian exile and known today as the Jewish people, ‘Jews.’ The English Protestant Bible consists of thirty-nine books in the Old Testament which cover about four thousand years of history. The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew with a few parts written in Aramaic (Genesis 31:47; Ezra 4:8-6:18; 7:12-26; Jeremiah 10:11; Daniel 2:4b-7:28). The Jewish Hebrew Bible and the English Protestant Old Testament contain the same material but are separated and arranged in a slightly different way. The arrangement of Old Testament books found in the Protestant Bible derived from the Latin Vulgate translation, which in turn derived from the Greek version of the Old Testament ‘Septuagint.’ Jewish Hebrew Bible
1.3 The Jewish Hebrew Bible began with a collection of writings by Prophets, Scribes, Kings, and Priests. They were compiled into three collections: the law, the prophets, and the writings. Eventually, these three collections were put together into one collection which is known today as the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament. “For the Jews, the word ‘Scripture’ had come to mean the collection of books which they considered to be sacred.” 5 The difference between the Jewish Bible and the Protestant Old Testament is the order of the books. The Jewish Hebrew Bible groups the same writings as the Protestant Bible ‘Old Testament’ but categorizes them in three sections and a slightly different order in some places. 3 Sections of the Hebrew Scriptures
1.4 The name Tanakh reflects a three-part organization of the Hebrew Bible. That is the standard division of the Hebrew Scriptures. First Part
T – ‘Torah’ which means instruction or Law is the Hebrew word for the English word ‘Law’ and the Greek word ‘Pentateuch.’ That consists of the first five books (Genesis – Deuteronomy). Second Part
N – Nevi’im means Prophets. It includes Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and all twelve Minor Prophets (Hosea – Malachi), which are taken together as one book also known as ‘the twelve.’ Third Part
K – Kethuvim means Writings. It includes Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Songs of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, and Chronicles. Septuagint
1.5 The Septuagint is the common term for the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. The “LXX” is the abbreviation of the Roman numeral seventy. In Latin, the number seventy is septuaginta. The title of ‘Septuagint’ was given to these Greek translations of the Jewish Scriptures. A few hundred years before the birth of Jesus, Greek-speaking Jews produced a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures. They first translated the five-books of Moses (Pentateuch), and then eventually translated the rest of them. It had become the authoritative version for many Greek-speaking Jews. The document called the Letter of Aristeas shows the supposed story of the origin of the Septuagint. King Ptolemy 2nd Philadelphus (285 – 247 B.C.) asked his librarian to arrange the Jewish Law to be translated into Greek and added to his royal collection of books. The high priest in Jerusalem, Eleazor, was notified with a letter to help with this request. So, seventy-two Jewish men, six from each of the twelve tribes, who were fluent in both Hebrew and Greek, were selected to go to Alexandria to translate the Jewish Law into Greek between the years 285-150 B.C. It supposedly took them seventy-two days to complete the translation, and with the number of days it took and the number of Jewish scholars (72) it took to translate it, it was given the name ‘Septuagint.’ That would have been the version that the Jews in Palestine read during the time of Jesus....