06.02. The Names of the Bible

Chapter 1 The Names of the Bible The Bible received its name from the Greek word “Biblos,” which means book, and is divided into the New and Old Testaments. “Testament” means covenant or agreement, and is a term descriptive of the relation existing between God and his people under different dispensations. See Hebrews 8:6-13 for a Scriptural use of this word. In the earlier times among the Jews the Old Testament was divided into three parts, the whole being known as “The Law, The Prophets and The Holy Writings.” The last division was sometimes called “The Psalms.” See, for example, Luke 24:44. The history of this threefold division is not known positively, but it is thought to mark three stages in the origin of the books or in the process of collecting them. By “The Law” was meant the first five books of Moses; by “The Psalms,” or “Holy Writings,” was meant the following named books, which are here given in the order appearing in our Bibles: Ruth, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Lamentations, Daniel; by “The Prophets” was meant all the other books of the Old Testament both historical and prophetical. This last-named division was sometimes subdivided again into the “Former” and “Latter” prophets. By the “Former” prophets was meant the historical books, such as Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings; and by the “Latter” was meant the prophetical books distinctively. The Bible is sometimes called “The Canon,” from a Greek word which means a “rod” or “rule.” The word is used to distinguish the accepted books of the Bible from the Apocryphal, which will be spoken of again. The Bible is “The Canon” in the sense that it is the rod or rule by which to determine what is to be believed by the people of God and the standard for them to practice. For its Scriptural use see 2 Corinthians 10:13-16; Galatians 6:16.

It should be understood, however, that the canonization of a book does not mean that the Jewish nation in the one case or the Christian church in the other gave to that book its authority; but rather that its authority being already established on other and sufficient grounds, it was in consequence recognized as properly belonging to the Canon and so declared to be. Jewish scholars in the one case and Christian scholars in the other thus formed the Canon under divine guidance, after careful inquiry and investigation concerning what books were of inspired origin and what were not so inspired. Just how this inquiry and investigation were carried on will appear more clearly as our studies proceed.

After these preliminary statements we are now in a position to ask and answer the question, how the Bible or the Canon, as we now have it, came to be handed down to us? In other words, we are now to trace the history of the Bible along the stream of time as nearly as possible to its source.