Scriptures
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary [1]
Jews of New Testament times had a collection of sacred writings (now known as the Old Testament) which they referred to as the Scriptures. That is, they believed these writings originated with God and, although written by ordinary people, carried with them the absolute authority of God ( Matthew 21:42; Matthew 22:29; Luke 4:21; Luke 24:27; John 5:39; John 10:35; Acts 8:32; Romans 1:2; Romans 4:3; 2 Timothy 3:15-16; see Inspiration ). During the time of the early church, Christians recognized the writings of Jesus’ apostles and other leading Christians also as Scripture, and therefore as having equal authority with the Old Testament writings ( 1 Corinthians 14:37; 1 Timothy 5:18; 2 Peter 3:16; see Canon ).
Unity of the Scriptures
It is possible to become a Christian through only a very small portion of the Scriptures, but to grow as a Christian requires much more. If Christians want to know more about the character of God and the kind of life that God requires of his people, they will need all God’s Word, both Old Testament and New (see Interpretation ).
A better translation of the word ‘testament’ is ‘covenant’. (For the biblical meaning of this word see Covenant .) The Old and New Testaments are the books of the old and new covenants. The Old Testament shows how, under the old covenant, God chose the nation Israel as his people, and prepared it to be the channel through which he would provide a saviour for the world. The New Testament shows that this saviour, Jesus Christ, fulfilled the old covenant, then established a new covenant, by which people of all nations become God’s people through faith.
There is, therefore, an underlying unity to the Scriptures. The Bible is one unbroken story that shows how human beings have rebelled against God, and how God in his grace has provided them with a way of salvation. Readers can understand the New Testament properly only if they understand the Old; and when they understand the New Testament, the Old will have more meaning. (Concerning the New Testament writers’ use of Old Testament passages see Quotations .)
Sixty-six books make up the Bible. These were written over a period of perhaps 1400 years by a total of about forty writers. The writers were people of different nationalities, languages, occupations and temperaments, yet there is complete harmony within the Bible. Jesus considered the Bible of his time a unity and referred to it in the singular as ‘the Scripture’ ( John 10:35). (Concerning the preparation of books and manuscripts in ancient times see Manuscripts ; Writing .)
Divisions of the Scriptures
Jews divided their Scriptures (our Old Testament) into three parts, which they called the Law, the Prophets and the Writings. Often they referred to the Writings as the Psalms, since Psalms was the largest, and possibly the first, book in the Writings ( Luke 24:44). They often referred to the Scriptures in general simply as the Law ( John 10:34; 1 Corinthians 14:21) or the Law and the Prophets ( Matthew 7:12; Matthew 22:40; Luke 16:16).
The Law consisted of the first five books of the Bible, commonly called the books of Moses ( Mark 12:26; Acts 15:21; see Pentateuch ). The Prophets consisted of the Former Prophets (Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings) and the Latter Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the twelve so-called Minor Prophets) (see Prophecy ). The Writings consisted of Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah and Chronicles. This arrangement of books is indicated by Jesus’ reference to the first and last martyrs mentioned in the Hebrew Bible ( Matthew 23:35; cf. Genesis 4:8; 2 Chronicles 24:20-21). (For a book-by-book summary of the Bible’s contents see Bible .)
Although there were no fixed divisions in the New Testament, the books may be conveniently grouped into three categories: the narrative books (the Four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles), the letters (of Paul and of others), and the book of Revelation.
Names given to the books of the Bible are not part of the inspired writings, but have either established themselves by tradition or been given by translators. The names of some Old Testament books in the Christian Bible differ from those in the Hebrew Bible.
The order in which the books are arranged, whether in the Old Testament or the New, is simply the result of established practice and carries no divine authority. Also, the original writings were not divided into the chapters and verses that we are familiar with today. The chapter divisions were made in the thirteenth century AD, and the verse divisions in the sixteenth century.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary [2]
(See Bible ; Canon; Inspiration; Old Testament; New Testament ) Appropriated in the Bible to the sacred writings ( 2 Kings 22:13; Psalms 40:7; 2 Timothy 3:15-16, "the Scripture of truth"; Daniel 10:21; Ezra 6:18). Meetings for worship and hearing the word of the Lord are noticed in Ezekiel 8:1; Ezekiel 14:1; Ezekiel 14:4; Ezekiel 33:31; and even earlier, Isaiah 1:12-15. Especially after the return from Babylon Ezra held such meetings, when the restored exiles yearned for a return to the law. Now the Jews read the Pentateuch once in every year, divided into 54 Parashas or "sections": and parts only of the "prophets", Haphtaroth) , shorter lessons read by a single individual, whereas the Parasha is distributed among seven readers. Of the Hagiographa , the five Megilloth ("scrolls") are read on five annual fasts or feasts, not on the sabbath.
"It is written" is the formula appropriated to holy writ. 2 Chronicles 30:5; 2 Chronicles 30:18, Kakathuwb ("As It Is Written") ; Greek Grafee , Gegraptai , Ta Hiera Grammata ( Matthew 4:4; Matthew 4:6; Matthew 21:13; Matthew 26:24). The Hebrew, however, substituted Mikra , "what is read," for Kethubim , which is applied to one division of Scripture, the Hagiographa ( Nehemiah 8:8). Grafee in New Testament is never used of a secular writing. 2 Timothy 3:15-16, "all Scripture ( Pasa Grafee ; Every Portion Of "The Holy Scripture") is God-inspired (Not Only The Old Testament, In Which Timothy Was Taught When A Child, Compare Romans 16:26 , But The New Testament According As Its Books Were Written By Inspired Men, And Recognized By Men Having "Discerning Of Spirits", 1 Corinthians 12:10 ; 1 Corinthians 14:37 ) , and (Therefore) profitable," etc.
The position of the "Greek adjectives", Theopneustos Kai Ofelimos , inseparably connected, forbids making one a predicate the other an epithet, "every Scripture given by inspiration of God is also profitable," as Eilicott translated In 2 Peter 1:20-21, explain "no prophecy of Scripture proves to be ( Ginetai ) of private (An Individual Writer'S Uninspired) interpretation," i.e. solution, and so origination. "Private" is explained "by the will of man," in contrast to "moved by the Holy Spirit," not in contrast to the universal church's interpretation, as Rome teaches.
Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary [3]
By Scriptures are specially and particularly meant the holy Scriptures, which are able to make us wise unto salvation, through the faith which is in Christ Jesus. In the strict sense of the word, Scriptures no doubt mean writings, generally speaking, for all writings are Scriptures; but long use hath long fixed to the term the Holy Scriptures, and them only, including the two books of the Old and New Testament. The Apocrypha is no more implied in the term Scriptures than any other uninspired writings of fallible men. But the blessed Book of God, comprized as it is in the two sacred canons of the Old and New Testament, form the Holy Scriptures, concerning which, as the Lord Jesus saith of the breasts of his spouse, they are like two young roes that are twins. ( Song of Song of Solomon 4:5)
And it is most blessed to see what a beautiful harmony there is between them. Doth the Old Testament shadow forth by type and figure the person work, character, and relation of the Lord Jesus Christ? And what is the New Testament record but the sum and substance of the same? Doth the Old Testament relate the prophecies, hold forth the promises, and insist upon the doctrines, which were to be revealed openly, and completed in the person of Jesus? And is not Jesus, in the testimony given of him in the New Testament, the spirit of prophecy, the yea and amen of all the promises, and the pardon and remission of sins, the glorious doctrine in his blood and righteousness fully proclaimed and confirmed to his church and people? In short, the former prefigured, and the latter realized, the immense event of salvation, and all in Christ. Nothing do we find predicted of Jesus in the Old Testament but what the New brought forth the accomplishment of; and nothing that we hear of or meet with concerning the person and glory of Christ in the New Testament, but what the Old had foretold. So that when reading the one fulfilled in the other, we may say; in language similar to what the disciples did after Jesus was glorified—"These things they understood not at the first but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things, were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him." ( John 12:16)
Such then is the meaning of the word Scriptures. And it is the most blessed of all employments to be everlastingly studying those precious oracles of divine truth, which the Lord Jesus so strongly enjoined in relation to the Old Testament, and which all his believing people find more refreshing than their necessary food, both in the Old and New. "Search the Scriptures, (said that dear Lord) for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me." ( John 5:38) "Thy words were found, (said one of the prophets) and I did eat them, and they were unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart." ( Jeremiah 15:16) "Oh, how I love thy law (said another) it is my meditation all the day! The law of thy mouth is dearer unto me than thousands of gold and silver." ( Psalms 119:97; Psa 119:72)
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [4]
This dialect is vernacular to the Uzbek and Turkish tribes of Turkestan and Central Asia, and a version of any part of the Scriptures into it is of a very recent date. In 1879 the Reverend James Bassett had completed a translation of the gospel of Matthew, with the assistance of a mirza from Meshed. After a careful revision made at Teheran, the translator carried his version through the press in London. A new and revised edition of this gospel was again printed at Tiflis, and most of the vowel points, which were so numerous in the first edition, were omitted. (B.P.)
