Why isn’t the Bible in chronological order?
The books of the Bible are not in chronological order; rather, they are primarily arranged according to type of literature. For example, Genesis through Esther are historical and are grouped together, Job through Song of Solomon form another group of mainly poetry, and Isaiah through Malachi are prophecy, with some historical narrative. Similarly, Matthew through…
What are the Pauline Epistles?
The Pauline Epistles are the 13 letters written by the apostle Paul that are included in the canon of Scripture. The Pauline Epistles are Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. The Pauline Epistles contain much of the doctrine the Christian faith…
What are the minimalist and maximalist approaches to Scripture?
“Minimalism” and “maximalism” are labels applied to viewpoints within Old Testament scholarship. In the context of biblical scholarship, the minimalist represents the liberal viewpoint that suggests a new, progressive approach to Scripture, while the maximalist takes a more conservative, traditional approach. The question at stake is the historicity of the Old Testament: how much of…
When were the Gospels written?
It is important to understand that the dating of the Gospels and other New Testament books is at best an educated guess and at worst foolish speculation. For example, suggested dates for the writing of the Gospel of Matthew range from as early as A.D. 40 to as late as A.D. 140. This wide range…
What are the Major Prophets and Minor Prophets?
Using the terms Major Prophets and Minor Prophets is simply a way to divide the Old Testament prophetic books. There are five Major Prophets: the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel. There are twelve Minor Prophets: the books of Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. The…
What is Aramaic Primacy?
The term Aramaic Primacy is used, informally, to refer to the claim that the New Testament was originally written not in Koine Greek but in a dialect of Aramaic. This theory is more commonly referred to as “Peshitta Primacy,” referring to the ancient Aramaic manuscripts of the Bible, a collection known as the Peshitta. The…
What is a tetramorph?
A tetramorph is a symbolic representation of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John through the imagery of four creatures: Matthew is pictured as a man, Mark as a lion, Luke as an ox, and John as an eagle. This representation is derived from prophetic visions in Ezekiel and Revelation. The word tetramorph comes from a Greek…
Why did God give us four Gospels?
Here are some reasons why God gave four Gospels instead of just one: 1) To give a more complete picture of Christ. While the entire Bible is inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16), He used human authors with different backgrounds and personalities to accomplish His purposes through their writing. Each of the gospel authors had…
Should the Old Testament instead be called the First Testament?
Some propose that the Old Testament would be better referred to as the “First Testament” because old communicates a negative concept while first communicates a positive concept. Is this a good idea? Before delving into that question, let’s briefly review why the two testaments are named as they are. The Bible is divided into two…
Old covenant vs new covenant—what are the differences?
Answer The word testament is another word for covenant, so in one sense the question could be “What is the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament?” The terms Old Testament and New Testament are often used as titles of two halves of the Bible. But the terms books of the Old Testament…