Module

Lesson 4
1 College of Education | Religious Education Department
Notre Dame of Marbel University

THE BIBLE
Religious Education 111| Salvation History

LEARNING OUTCOMES
Learning Outcomes

At the end of the session, the

students can:

D - present correctly their understanding

on the basic concepts of the Bible through
a chart;

M- cite concrete ways how to develop the

love for the word of God through a
#statement (hashtag statement;

W- express one’s gratitude and faith in

God’s salvific plan through reflective
writing.

BTI:
Domain 3:
Diversity of Learners
3.2.1 Implement teaching strategies that
are responsive to the learner’s linguistic,
cultural, socio-economic and religious
backgrounds.

CapSoul of the Session:

“I believe the Bible is the best gift God has
ever given to man. All the good from the
savior of the world is communicated to
us through this book.”
- Abraham Lincoln-

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NTRODUCTION

This module will Specifically, it will will serve as a refresher or

primarily focus on the basic dwell on the meaning, review for some and maybe
or fundamental matters historical development, for others, a good starting
that we need to know authorship, languages used, point to appreciate, reflect
about the so called, “The Canon of the Bible, and eventually live out the
Book of Life” or “The Best interpretation, its division, Word of God.
Love Story of All Times”- and a brief description of
THE BIBLE. each important part of the
Bible. Hence, this module

ACTIVITY
Bible Scanning:

This activity is a good start in familiarizing yourself with the content of the Bible. Get your own Bible and
using the table below, list down all the books in the Old and New Testaments with its corresponding number of
chapter/s. Write your answers on the table provided. Use separate paper if necessary.

Old Testament Books No. of Chapters New Testament Books No. of Chapters
What
you
have
done
gives
us a
picture
of the
books
of the
Bible.
Let us
look further into the important details of the Bible.
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ACQUISITION OF NEW KNOWLEDGE

THE BIBLE
I- Etymology and Meaning
The word Bible comes from the Greek word, “ta biblia”; it is a
plural noun which means, ‘the books’. When translated into Latin, it
becomes singular, the Bible. The Bible is more than a book; it’s a
library. In it you will find a number of very different works, collected
together in two large groupings, the Old Testament and the New
Testament (usually abbreviated as OT and NT). The Bible is often
called scripture, the scriptures, or Holy Scripture.
The word ‘Testament’ here does not mean what we might
take it to mean in modern English:
it is the same word as the Latin
testamentum, which translates the
Hebrew word meaning covenant.
So the Bible is the collection of
books which tells us about the
covenant, the agreement, which
God made with Israel through
Moses (the old covenant) and which
he fulfilled in Jesus (the new
covenant).
II- Historical Development of the
Bible
 The Sacred scriptures, collected in the Bible, are the
inspired record of how God dealt with His people, and how they responded to, remembered, and
interpreted that experience.
 The Scriptures arose as the expression of the people’s experience of God, and as a response to
their needs. Collectively, the scriptures form “The Book of the People of God, for the People of God”
– the book of the Church.
 The Bible was written by persons from the People of God, for the people of God, about the God-
experience of the People of God” (NCDP, 131).
 The Scriptures, then, are never to be separated from the people of God whose life and
history(Tradition) formed the context of their writing and development as best shown in the three
formation of the Gospels.

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  Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture are bound closely together, flowing out from the same divine
well spring, moving towards the same goal and making up a single sacred deposit of the Word of
God (DV,9,10).
 Tradition can be taken either as the process by which divine revelation, coming from Jesus Christ
through the apostles, is communicated and unfolded in the community of the Church, or as the
content of the revelation so communicated. Thus, the living Tradition of the Church, which includes
the inspired Word of God in the Sacred Scripture, is the channel through which God’s self-revelation
comes to us.
 As Sacred Scripture grew from Tradition, so it is interpreted by Tradition – the life, worship, and
teaching of the Church.
 Tradition depends on Scripture as its normative record of Christian origins and identity, while
Scripture requires the living Tradition of the Church to bring its Scriptural message to the fresh
challenges and changing contexts confronting Christians in every age.

Languages Used in the Bible

 The whole of the Old Testament is written in Hebrew (there are just a few passages in Aramaic).
 Like Arabic, these two languages are written with consonants only; the reader has to add the vowels
according to the way in which he understands the text.
 Beginning in the seventh century of our era, Jewish scholars known as “Massoretes’ fixed the
meaning of a text by adding vowels in the form of little points above and below the consonants.
 This is why the Hebrew text is sometimes called the ‘Massoretic text’.
 The Old Testament was translated into Greek in Alexandria, from about the third century BC
onwards. According to legend, seventy scribes working independently all arrived at exactly the
same translation. The significance of this legend is important. It indicates that a translation of this
kind must have been inspired by God. As a result, the translation is known as the Septuagint (Greek
for seventy: the usual abbreviations is LXX). There were other ancient Greek translations, by Aquila,
Symmachus and Theodotion.
 The New Testament was written entirely in Greek, which is the common language spoken at that
time. This Greek, which is not the same as classical Greek, is called koine (Greek for common, i.e.
language).
 Bible scholars translated the New Testament text in Greek into Latin, known as Vulgate.

Books, Chapters and Verses

 The First part of the Bible, the Old Testament, is common to both Jews and Christians, but with
some differences. The Jews, followed by Protestants, recognize only the books written in
Hebrew, forty of them; Catholics also recognize six books written in Greek. Protestants call these
latter books ‘apocryphal’; Catholics call them deutero-canonical’, that is, books which entered the
canon, or rule of faith, at a secondary stage. So the Christian ‘library’ – the Bible – contains either
sixty-seven or seventy-three books.
 The New Testament, which is identical for all Christians, is consists of twenty-seven books. The
books of the New Testament are arranged in the same way in all Christian Bibles. The books of
the Old Testament are arranged in two different ways. The Jewish Bible contains three parts: the
Law or Torah (which we call the Pentateuch); the Prophets or Nebiim, divided into two groups,
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 the former prophets (which we wrongly call the ‘historical’ books) and the latter prophets
(Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the twelve others); and lastly the Writings or Kethubim.
 By taking the first letter of each of these Hebrew titles (Torah, Nebiim, Kethubim), The Jews
formed the word TANAK, which is their name for the Bible. This is the arrangement you will find
in the Jerusalem Bible, which adds at the end those books which are not recognized by Catholics.
Most Bibles have adopted an order inspired by the Greek Bible, which arranges the books in four
parts; the Pentateuch, the historical books, the prophetic books and the wisdom books.
 To make it easy to find one’s way around the Bible, Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury,
had the idea of dividing each book into numbered chapters: this was done in 1226. During a
carriage journey from Lyons to Paris in 1551, the printer Robert Estienne numbered almost every
phrase of these chapters: hence our modern division into verses. The division into chapters and
verses does not always match the meaning of the text; you don’t have to take account of it to
understand the meaning. However, it is very practical, because all Bibles have adopted it. So to
indicate the passage in the Bible, it is enough to give the reference, i.e. to indicate the book, the
chapter and the verse (ex. Gen. 2:4).

Division and Brief Description of the Books of the Bible

According to our Christian belief the coming of Christ is the most important event of all of
human history. This event divides the Bible in two major parts: the Old Testament and the New
Testament. The Old Testament describes everything God said and did before the coming of Christ. The
New Testament tells us of Christ, his life and mission, and of the life of the early Christian community.

I- THE OLD TESTAMENT

The Old Testament is divided in four major parts. When you open your Bible you will find the list of the
different books contained in it.
1. THE PENTATEUCH. The Pentateuch consists of the first five books of the Bible. It expresses the will
of God with regard to His people. It contains the story of creation and of the formation of the
people of God. It also gives a number of rules of conduct for the people of God.
2. THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. After the people of God entered the Promised Land, they had to start
building their own nation. The historical books tell us this story, depicting all the difficulties and
hardships they have experienced, and also their successes and achievements. The historical books
introduce to us the different leaders this nation has known throughout its long history. Further, we
learn from this books that unfaithfulness to God can lead to the destruction of the nation.
3. THE WISDOM BOOKS. These books abound with simple sayings full of wisdom. Though they were written many
centuries ago they still are words to live by, even for people of today .
The wisdom books also contain beautiful prayers, called psalms. They praise the greatness and
goodness of God. They express people’s gratitude and love for God. They also speak of people’s
fears and anxieties, and of their need to put their trust in God’s power.
4. THE PROPHETIC BOOKS
The prophets appear when the nation becomes very weak and falls into the hands of foreign
nations. The prophets scold the people because of their sins and unfaithfulness to God. They warn
the people that God will punish them if they do not change.
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 But we also meet many prophets who console the people in their sufferings. They assure the
people of God’s unchanging goodness and remind the people of God’s promise to send a Savior.

II- THE NEW TESTAMENT

The New Testament tells us how the promises God made in the Old Testament have been fulfilled in
Jesus Christ. It brings us the Good News from God.
1. THE GOSPELS. The Gospels tell us about the life, the words and deeds of Jesus. They relate the
story of Jesus’ death and resurrection. They give a faith account of the people who lived with
Jesus. The Gospels conclude with the mission Jesus has given to all believers to bring His Good
News to the whole world.
2. THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. The Acts of the Apostles are the continuation of the Gospels. In it we
read how the first Christian community lived and worked spreading the Good News.
3. THE APOSTOLIC LETTERS. This section of the New Testament contains the letters some apostles
wrote to Christian communities to give information and instructions concerning Christian faith and
practices.
4. THE BOOK OF REVELATION. This is the last book of the Bible. It gives us John’s vision of the
second coming of Christ and the completion of the Kingdom of God.

Canon of the Bible

A canon includes the official list of books or writings that make up the Bible, “measured” by a
Church or Religious group and recognized to contain the Divine Revelation.
The canon becomes like the constitution of the nation – an expression of the basic principles
by which a religious community understands itself. The Jewish canon, later used by the Protestants,
contains only thirty – nine books, all written in Hebrew or Aramaic languages. For the Catholic Bible,
the canon contains forty – six books, seven beyond the thirty – nine in Hebrew.
The difference of seven books between the two canons stems from the fact that the Greek
translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, had more books in it than were generally accepted
in Palestine by the Hebrew and Aramaic speaking Jews.
These extra seven books, are all written in Greek, although we know that at least one, Sirach,
was originally in Hebrew. These works are called “deuterocanonical” (i.e. a “second canon” of the
inspired books besides the Hebrew ones) to indicate that the Jews do not accept them into the
canon. For Christians at the time of Christ and in the early Church, the common book of the
Scriptures was not the Hebrew Bible at all but the Septuagint Greek Bible. It had much wider use in
the Roman world because most Jews lived far from Palestine in Greek cities, and because most
Christians were Greek – speaking Gentiles and not Jews at all.

 Thus, the Greek Bible, although mostly a translation of the Hebrew books, had almost as exalted a
status as the Hebrew itself did. Sometimes scholars even speak of an “Alexandrian canon” of forty –
six books that was parallel and equivalent to the “Palestinian canon” of only thirty – nine books.
Because of disputes, the Church found it necessary to make a definitive list, a “canon” of the books
which have been truly inspired by God and thus have God for their author (CCC,120).

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  The Canon of the Scripture is divided into the books written before Jesus’ life (the Old Testament) and
those written after (the New Testament).
 Guided by the Holy Spirit, the Church determined the inspired and normative New Testament books
in terms of their apostolic origin, coherence with Gospel message, and constant use in the Church’s
liturgy.
 After a long development, the Church finally accepted as inspired, sacred, and canonical, the 46
books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament that we find our Catholic Bible
(CFC,88 p27).

THE CANON OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

(39 books in Hebrews/Protestant Bibles; 46 in Catholic Bibles)

PENTATEUCH: GENESIS
(“TORAH”) EXODUS
LEVITICUS
NUMBERS
DEUTERONOMY
HISTORICAL BOOKS:
“Deuteronomic JOSHUA
History” JUDGES
1 & 2 SAMUEL In Greek Bible = 1 & 2 Kings
1 & 2 KINGS In Greek Bible = 3 & 4 Kings

“Chronicler’s 1 & 2 CHRONICLES In Greek Bible = “Paralipomenon”

History” EZRA
NEHEMIAH

RUTH
ESTHER
LAMENTATIONS
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 JUDITH Only included in the Greek
Apocrypha/ TOBIT Septuagint and part of the
Deuterocanon* BARUCH Catholic Bible
1 & 2 MACCABEES

WISDOM WRITINGS: JOB

PSALMS

PROVERBS
ECCLESIASTES =”Qoheleth”
SONG OF SONGS =”Canticle of Canticles”

Apocrypha/ ECCLESIASTICUS =”Sirach” or “Jesus ben Sira"

Deuterocanon* WISDOM OF SOLOMON

PROPHETS:
Major Prophets: ISAIAH
JEREMIAH
EZEKIEL
(DANIEL) In Hebrew, Daniel is not a prophet

Minor Prophets: HOSEA NAHUM

(“The Twelve”) JOEL HABAKKUK
AMOS ZEPHANIAH
OBADIAH HAGGAI
JONAH ZECHARIAH
MICAH MALACHI

*Books that are underlined are found only in Catholic Bibles

Authorship of the Bible

 The books of the Bible have a double authorship. God is the main or the principal author of each
and all books of the Bible since they were inspired by Him (2Tim. 3:16).
 The human authors were merely His instruments. The action of God in the human authors by which
He caused and helped them to write what He wanted them to write is called “inspiration.”(2Tim.
3:16)
 Because the Bible is inspired by God and has God for its principal author, the Bible does not only
contain the Word of God; it is the written Word of God in human words.
 No other books, therefore, is equal in dignity to the Bible. The Church respects and reveres it a
“THE BOOK.”
Interpretation of the Bible

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  St. Paul tells us that “all Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching – for reproof,
correction, and training in holiness so that the man of God may be fully competent and equipped for
every good work” (2Tim 3:16-17).
 “The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God has been entrusted to the living
teaching office of the Church alone” (DV, 10).

 Four Factors play a significant part in interpreting Scripture:

 The inspired human author’s intention – this involves some basic idea of the social, economic, and
religious conditions of the authors in their particular historical situations (DV, 12; CCC, 110).
 The text itself – we have to look at its literary form (e.g., historical narratives, prophetic
oracles, poems or parables) which the author is using (DV, 12).
- the text must be viewed within the unity of the whole Bible (CCC,112).
- both Old and New Testaments are read by Christians in the light of the
Risen Crucified Christ.
- something of the history of the text’s interpretations, especially its use
in the Church’s Liturgy, can be very helpful.
 The readers/hearers of the text – every Filipino Catholic wants to know what the
scripture means “to me/us.”
- we recognize that the Bible brings its own culture meaning and framework of attitude that
help form, reform and transform us, the readers, into the image
of Christ.
- any authentic interpretation of the text for the Christian community today must be in
continuity and harmonize with this tradition of meaning that has grown out of the text’s
impact on Christian communities through the ages (DV, 21; CCC, 131-33).

 The common horizon – connecting the original community context of the text with our Christian
community reading it today.
- which first unites all the books of the Bible into a basic unity, and second, links together the
context of the Scriptural text and its tradition with our present reading context today.
- this horizon is the new and eternal covenant god has established with us in His Incarnate Son,
Jesus Christ.
 In interpreting the Scripture, we seek the truth that God wishes to communicate to us today.
 In this we are guided by the living teaching office of the Church which “exercises its authorit in the
name of Jesus Christ, not as superior to the Word of God, but as its servant” (DV, 10).
 Thus we see that “in the supremely wise arrangement of God, Sacred Tradition, Sacred
Scripture and the Teaching Office (Magisterium) of the Church are so connected and
associated that one of them cannot stand without the others. . . that in working together,
each in its own way under the action of the one Holy Spirit, they all contribute effectively to
our salvation” (DV, 10).

APPLICATION
1. Present your learnings about this topic by filling out the table below:

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 Meaning Divisions or Major Languages Factors in
Parts Interpreting the Bible
(Old Testament and
New Testament
Books)

How does this knowledge deepen your relationship with God?

2. Cite a concrete way on how to develop your love for the Word of God by coming up with a
#statement (hashtag statement).

ASSESSMENT

The Bible is one of the ways of God’s self-manifestation or revelation, as an expression of

gratitude and faith to God, write a reflection paper about your personal experience of God’s
revelation.

References:

Bacani, Bp. Teodoro Jr., DD. The Bible for the Filipinos. Salesiana Publishers, Inc. Pasay Rd., Pasong
Tamo, Makati, Metro Manila

Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines. (1997). “Catechism for Filipino Catholics (CFC)”.
Episcopal commission on Catechesis and Catholic education, CBCP Building, 470 Gen. Luna St.
1002 Intramuros, Manila, Philippines

Charpentier, Ettienne (Copyright 1985). How to Read the Old Testament? Claretian Publication,
Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines

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Colla, Fr. Luc, CICM (1984). The Love Story of God and His People. Publisher’s Press.
The New American Bible

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