What Is the Bible?

When you open the Bible for the first time, or even the hundredth time, one of the most important questions you can ask is simply this: What am I reading? That question deserves a careful, honest answer, because the Bible is unlike any other book you will ever hold in your hands. It is not a single volume written by one person in one place at one time. It is a collection of 66 books, composed over many centuries, by many different writers, in several different languages, addressing audiences separated by thousands of years and thousands of miles. And yet, running through every one of those books is a single divine purpose. Understanding what the Bible is will shape how you read it, how you study it, and how much you receive from it.

The most important thing to say about the Bible is that it comes from God. The apostle Paul wrote to a young minister named Timothy and said plainly: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16, KJV). The word translated "inspiration" carries the idea of God breathing out. Scripture did not originate in the minds of men. It originated with God, and He gave it through human writers. The apostle Peter confirms this: "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" (2 Peter 1:20-21, KJV). The writers were real people, with real personalities, real concerns, and real audiences. God did not erase their humanity. He worked through it. But the source of what they wrote was divine, not merely personal.

This means that when you read the Bible, you are not simply reading the opinions of ancient people about God. You are reading what God has caused to be written down for your benefit. That is an extraordinary claim, and it is the claim the Bible makes about itself. Receiving it is not a small thing. It is the foundation of everything else in this course.

Human writers used many different forms to communicate what God gave them. Some wrote history, recording events that happened to real people in real places. Some wrote prophecy, declaring what God was saying to His people and what He intended to do. Some wrote poetry and songs, expressing worship, grief, wonder, and longing. Some wrote accounts of Jesus' life, recording what He said and did while He walked among us. Some wrote letters to churches and individuals, addressing specific situations with specific instruction. The physician Luke explained his own method at the opening of his Gospel: "It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed" (Luke 1:1-4, KJV). Luke was a careful, thoughtful writer with a clear purpose. His humanity is visible on every page, and so is the divine purpose behind his work.

One important caution is worth stating early. The Bible records the words of many different people, including people who were wrong, disobedient, or outright wicked. When Job's friends give him bad counsel, their words are recorded faithfully. When a king speaks foolishly, the record does not hide it. When Satan speaks in the garden, his words are preserved. The presence of a statement in the Bible does not mean God approved of what the speaker said. What God inspired was the accurate record. Reading carefully means paying attention to who is speaking, in what situation, and whether God affirms or corrects what is being said.

The 66 books of the Bible are the foundation of this entire course. You will not be asked to memorize all of them at once. You will meet them gradually, the way you come to know people over time. But it helps to understand from the beginning that each book is its own unit. A biblical book has its own writer, its own audience, its own occasion, and its own purpose. The Bible as a whole is the complete collection of those books, held together by one overarching divine story. Learning to distinguish between a single book and the Bible as a whole will make you a much more careful reader.

When you open a printed Bible, you will notice things that are not part of the original inspired text. Book headings, chapter numbers, verse numbers, maps, cross-references, and editorial notes were all added later by publishers, scholars, and translators to help readers navigate. They are useful tools. But they are not Scripture. A chapter break does not always signal the end of a thought. A verse number does not always mark a complete sentence. Learning to see these tools for what they are, helpful aids rather than inspired divisions, will serve you well.

At the center of all Scripture stands a person. John opens his Gospel with a declaration that reaches back before creation: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1, KJV). A few verses later he says: "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" (John 1:14, KJV). Jesus Christ is the living Word of God. And the written Word of God testifies to Him. Jesus Himself said: "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me" (John 5:39, KJV). On the road to Emmaus, after His resurrection, Jesus walked with two disciples who did not yet recognize Him, and "beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself" (Luke 24:27, KJV). The writer of Hebrews applies the words of a psalm directly to Christ, quoting Him as saying: "Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God" (Hebrews 10:7, KJV). From beginning to end, the Scriptures are moving toward and testifying about Jesus Christ.

This does not mean that every passage should immediately be forced into a statement about Jesus without first understanding what it meant in its own setting. Good reading always allows a passage to speak in its context first. But as you grow in your knowledge of the whole Bible, you will increasingly see how the story, the promises, the sacrifices, the priesthood, the prophecies, and the covenants all find their meaning and fulfillment in Him.

Why do Christians read and study the Bible? The simplest answer is this: to know God and His Son. Jesus prayed: "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3, KJV). The Bible is the primary means God has given us for that knowledge. We read to learn His will, to receive correction when we have gone wrong, and to grow in obedience. Paul reminded Timothy that the inspired Scriptures make the believer "throughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Timothy 3:17, KJV). There is no area of life that Scripture does not touch and instruct.

Reading and studying are two related but distinct activities. Reading gives you familiarity with a book's flow, its characters, its movement, its tone. Study slows you down to investigate a question, examine a word, trace a theme, or understand a difficult passage. Both belong in the life of a believer. Neither replaces the other. And both require something that no technique can substitute for: a receptive heart and dependence on the Holy Ghost, who is the same Spirit who moved the original writers and who illuminates the text for every honest reader.