The Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible or collection of books, accepted by the Christian Church as uniquely inspired by God, and therefore, authoritative, providing guidelines for belief and behavior. The Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible contains two major sections known as the Old Testament and the New Testament. As for the Catholic Christian, the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, consists of 72 or 73 books: that is, 45 or 46 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Tobit, Judith, Esther, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus/Sirach, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah. Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, [Old Testament] Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, The Acts Of The Apostles, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, Revelation. [New Testament]

As for the Non Catholic Christian, the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible consists of 66 books (most of them): that is, 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs/Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, [Old Testament] Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, The Acts Of The Apostles, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, Revelation. [New Testament]

The books of the Old Testament were written over a period of 1,000 years in the Hebrew language, except for a few selected passages, which were written in Aramaic. The Old Testament tells of the preparation that was made for the Lord Jesus Christ coming.

The New Testament was written over a period of 100 years. The original language in which it was written was Greek, This portion of the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible tells of Christ's coming, His life, His teachings, His person, His work and ministry, and the growth of the early Church.

The English word testament normally refers to a person's will, the document which bequeaths property to those who will inherit it after the owner's death. But the meaning of testament from both the Hebrew and the Greek languages is "settlement," "treaty," or "covenant." Of these three English words, "Covenant" best captures the meaning of the word testament. Thus, the two collections that make up the old covenant and the books of the new covenant.

The old covenant is the covenant sealed at Mount Sinai in the days of Moses. By this covenant, the living and true God, who had delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, promised to bless them as His special people. There were also to worship Him alone as their God and to accept His law as their rule for life. - Ex. 19:3-6, 24:3-8 -

The new covenant was announced by the Lord Jesus Christ as He spoke to His disciples in the upper room in Jerusalem the night before His death. When Jesus gave them bread to eat and a cup of wine to drink. Jesus declared the institution of the Holy Eucharist/Holy Communion/Holy Mass.

Then Jesus took some bread, and when he had given thanks, broke it and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body which will be given for you; do this as a memorial of me.' He did the same with the cup after supper, and said, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood which will be poured out for you.' - Luke 22:19-20 -

And as they were eating Jesus took some bread, and when he had said the blessing he broke it and gave it to them. 'Take it,' he said 'this is my body.' Then he took a cup, and when he had returned thanks he gave it to them, and all drank from it, and he said to them, 'This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, which is to poured out for many. I tell you solemnly, I shall not drink any more wine until the day I drink the new wine in the kingdom of God.' - Mark 14:22-25 - Matt. 26:26-29 -

For this what I (Saint Paul) received from the Lord, and in turn passed on to you: that on the same night that he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread, and thanked God for it and broke it, and he said, 'This is my body, which is for you; do this as a memorial of me.' In the same way he took the cup after supper, and said, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Whenever you drink it, do this as a memorial of me.' Until the Lord comes, therefore, every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are proclaiming his death, and so anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will be behaving unworthily towards the body and blood of the Lord. - 1 Cor. 11: 23-27 -

Between the times of Moses and Jesus, the prophet Jeremiah foresaw a day when God would make a new covenant with His people. Under this new covenant, God would inscribe His laws on the hearts of people rather than on tablets of stone.- Jer. 31:31-34 - In the New Testament, this new covenant of which prophet Jeremiah is identified with the covenant inaugurated by the Lord Jesus Christ.

We have seen that he has been given a ministry of a far higher order, and to the same degree it is a better covenant of which he is the mediator, founded on better promises. If that first covenant had been without a fault, there would have been no need for a second one to replace it. And in fact, God does find fault with them; he says:

See, the days are coming - it is the Lord who speaks -
when I will establish a new covenant
with the House of Israel and the House of Judah,
but not a covenant like the one I made with their ancestors
on the day I took them by the hand
to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
They abandoned that covenant of mine,
and so I on my side deserted them. It is the Lord who speaks.
No, this is the covenant I will make
with the House of Israel
when those days arrive - it is the Lord who speaks.

I will put my laws into their minds
and write them on their hearts.
Then I will be their God
and they shall be my people.
There will be no further need for neighbor to try to teach neighbor,
or brother to say to brother,
'Learn to know the Lord.'
No, they will all know me,
the least no less than the greatest,
since I will forgive their iniquities
and never call their sins to mind.

By speaking of a new covenant, he implies that the first one is already old. Now anything old only gets more antiquated until in the end it disappears. - Heb. 8:6-13 -

While these two covenants, the old and the new, launched great spiritual movements. Christians believe these movements are actually two phases of one great act through which God has revealed His will to His people and called for their positive response. The second covenant is the fulfillment of what was promised in the first.

In the form in which it has been handed down among the Jewish people, the Old Testament, or Hebrew Scripture/Bible, contains three divisions: the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. The Law consists of the book of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; this section of the Old Testament is also known as the "Pentateuch.' The Prophets fall into two subdivisions: the former prophets and the latter prophets. The rest of the books are gathered, together in the Writings.

The arrangement of the Old Testament with which readers today are most familiar has been inherited from the pre-Christian Greek translation of the Old Testament (the Septuagint) - an arrangement which was also followed by the latter Latin Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible (the Vulgate). This arrangement has four divisions: the Pentateuch, the historical books, prophecy, and poetry.

Whereas, the New Testament opens with five narrative books - that is, the four Gospels, and the Acts Of The Apostles. The Gospels deal with the Lord Jesus Christ birth, life, teachings, work, ministry, passion, death, resurrection, and the ascension in the Book of "The Acts Of The Apostles." The Book of Acts continues the phenomenon and the development of the early Church across the next 30 over years. The Book of the Acts Of The Apostles serves as a sequel to the Gospels in general; originally it was written as a sequel to the Gospel of Luke in particular.

Twenty one letters, or epistles, follow the historical narratives. Thirteen of these letters bear the name of the apostle Paul as writer, while the remaining eight are the work of other apostles or of authors associated with apostles. The last book in the New Testament, the Revelation of John, portrays through visions and symbolic language the accomplishment of God's purpose in the world and the ultimate triumph of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The authority of the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible is implied by its title, "the Word of God." It is the written record of the Word of God which came to prophets, apostles, and which "became flesh" in Jesus Christ. Christians believe Jesus Christ was the Word of God. Through Jesus Christ, God communicated the perfect revelation of Himself to mankind. The Old Testament was the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible that Jesus used and quote, especially to the Pharisees, and Sadducees. When Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane and led away to His execution, He submitted with the words: "Now all this happened to fulfill the prophecies in scripture." - Matt. 26:56 - Jesus saw His mission in the world as a fulfillment of the predictions of the Old Testament.

The New Testament presents the record of Jesus' birth, life, teachings, work, ministry, passion, death, resurrection and the ascension; a narrative of the beginning of the Christian Church with the coming of the Holy Spirit; and the story of the extension of the Gospel and the planting of His Church during the following generation. It also contains the written teachings of Jesus' apostles and other early Christians who applied the principles, and practices of the Lord Jesus Christ doctrines and redemptive work to their lives.

According to the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, God has made Himself known in a variety of ways. "The heavens declare the glory of God." - Ps. 19:1 - For since the creation of the world God invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead. But while God is revealed in His creation and through the inner voice of man's conscience, the other means by which He has made Himself known is through the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible.

Indeed, God has revealed Himself through His mighty acts and in the words of His messengers, or spokesperson. Either of these ways is incomplete without the other. In the Old Testament record, none of the mighty acts of God is emphasized more than the "Exodus" God's deliverance of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. As He delivered His people, God repeatedly identified Himself as their redeemer God: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods except Me." - Ex. 20:2-3 -

If they had been delivered with no explanation, the nation of Israel would have learned little about the God who redeemed His people. The Israelites might have guessed that in such events as the plagues of Egypt and the parting of the waters of the Red Sea, some supernatural power was at work on their behalf. But they would not have known the nature of this power or God's purpose for them as a people.

God communicated with His people, the nation of Israel, through Moses, to whom He had already made Himself known in the vision of the burning bush. God instructed Moses to tell his fellow Israelites what has been revealed to him. This was no impersonal force at work, but the God of their ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In fulfillment of His promises to them, God was acting now on behalf of their descendants.

In communicating with His people, God revealed both His identity and His purpose. His purpose was to make the Israelites a nation dedicated to His service alone. This message, conveyed to the Israelites through Moses, would have been ineffective if God had not delivered them personally. On the other hand, God deliverance would have been meaningless without the message. Together both constituted the Word of God to the Israelites - the saving message of the God who both speaks and acts.

This pattern of God's mighty acts and the prophetic word interacting with each other continues throughout the course of scriptural/biblical history. The Babylonian Captivity is a good example of this process. A succession of prophets warned the people that if they continue sinning against God, and did not correct their sinful ways, Captivity would come on them as judgment. But even during the years of the Captivity the prophets continued to speak, encouraging the captives and promising that God would deliver them from their plight.

The prophets were God's primary spokesperson to the people of Israel in the Old Testament times. But they were not His only messengers. Priests and sages, or wise men, were other agents through whom God's will was made known. The teachings of many of these messengers are preserved in the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible.

In addition to God's revelation of Himself through the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, God's Word also records the response of those to whom the revelation was given. Too often the response was unbelief and disobedience. But at other times, people responded in faith and love, and obedience. In the book of Psalms, especially, proclaim the grateful response of men and women who experienced the grace and righteousness of God. These faithful people sometimes voiced their appreciation in words addressed directly to God. At other times they reported to others what God had come to mean to them.

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -