CHRISTIAN LIVING EDUCATION 11

MODULE 5

FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN FAITH AND LIFE

The Books of the Bible

Content Standards Performance Standards

The learner will be able to know and The learner will actualize in daily life the
understand the catholic understanding teachings of the Bible by loving God and
of the Bible. They will also appreciate others. And how they can emulate the
the significance of the Bible in our daily values and characteristics of all the
lives. And able to identify the Books in authors in the Bible.
the Bible.

COMPETENCIES
Doctrine: Moral: Worship:
- The learners are - Have - The learners are able
able to discover fun learning the to show respect and
the organization veracity of the reverence to the Bible
and content of Bible through a Bible
the books of the enthronement and
Bible and its bible sharing.
divisions of Law,
History, and
Poetry.

The Books of the Bible

THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE
At this point in our study of the Bible, we turn from the Scriptures as a whole to look
briefly at the inspired books of the Old and New Testaments. Our purpose here is to
provide some framework for what follows, namely a study of the master themes of the
Bible.i 

THE OLD TESTAMENTii 

We have already seen that what the Catholic Church calls the Old Testament contains
more books than are recognized either among the
Jews or the Protestants. The Catholic Church
believes, and has so defined, that there are forty-five
inspired books in the Old Covenant.

Different scholars classify these books in different

ways. In general, however, the classification is either
chronological or logical; that is, following the sequence of their original writing, or
according to the character of the contents of the inspired writings. Our doctrinal analysis
will be according to logical categories, namely the Pentateuch, Historical Books,
Wisdom Books, and the Prophets. 

1. During the period from the beginning of the

history of the Jewish people to the close of Mosaic
legislation and the entrance of the Israelites into
Palestine, about 1400 B.C., we have 

--The origin of the Pentateuch, namely:

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and

Deuteronomy. 

2. From the time the Jews entered the Promised

Land to their separation into the two kingdoms of
Judah and Samaria, about 920 B.C., sacred
poetry especially flourished. Thus, we
have; Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel, Psalms,
Job, Song of Songs, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes. 
3. The final period of Old Testament writing extended from the end of the Captivity to
the coming of Christ. During this time, we have the Books of:

--Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah Esther, Tobit Judith, Maccabees, Haggai

(Aggaeus), Zechariah, Malachi, Sirach or Ecclesiasticus and Wisdom.

4. From the separation of the two kingdoms to the end of the Babylonian captivity,
commonly dated 536 B.C., inspired prophecy flourished in Israel. During this time the
works of the four major prophets (Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel) and most of
the minor prophets wrote their books.

We can draw an important conclusion from

the historical sequence of the Old
Testament. It shows that the Bible began
with the origin of the Chosen People, and
that God’s revelation was only gradual. It spanned about two thousand years, from the
twentieth to the first century before Christ. As a result, we find a remarkable
development in biblical Old Testament revelation. Relatively obscure truths become
more clear, general injunctions become more specific, predictions of the Messiah
become more detailed. All of this is part of God’s providential plan to prepare His
People for the coming of the Savior. 

THE NEW TESTAMENT iii

The books of the New Testament are
commonly divided into three groups: historical,
didactic or instructional, and prophetic. The
historical group covers the four Gospels and
the Acts of the Apostles; the didactic are the
Epistles written by the Apostles; and there is
only one prophetic book, the Apocalypse of St.
John. 

THE GOSPELSiv 
The Gospel is, therefore, the news of the Redemption and the Redeemer, which the
Apostles were commissioned by Christ to
proclaim to the whole world.  Since all of
Christ’s teaching was oral, the word “Gospel”
originally meant oral instruction. Since the
Apostles were agreed on what the message
of Christ contains, people at first knew of only
one Gospel. When some of the apostolic preaching came to be written down, the faithful
began to speak of “Gospels.” Yet all the while it was assumed there was only one
Gospel that underlies all the inspired expressions of the one message. Among the four
written versions, the first three closely resemble one another, while the fourth
complements them. Moreover, like the written Gospels, the other books of the New
Testament are also based on an established oral tradition of Christ’s teaching about
human salvation. The familiar arrangement of the Synoptic Gospels, with Matthew
always first, then Mark and Luke, and finally John, is formed in all the ancient
translations and in every list of the canonical Scriptures. It was assumed that Matthew’s
Gospel was written first and John’s last. 

ACTS OF THE APOSTLESv 

Although the author of the Acts of the Apostles does not identify himself by name,
tradition has consistently held it was St. Luke, the disciple of St. Paul. This is so true
that the Acts could well be considered
Luke’s second Gospel. There are three
distinguishing parts in the Acts. The
first part (Chapters 1-7) deals with the
early history of the Church, beginning
with Christ’s Ascension and Pentecost,
and going on to her propagation among
the Jews. Most of the events here described took place in Jerusalem. The second part
(Chapters 8-12) treats of the Church’s extension beyond the Jews to the Gentiles. The
center of gravity also shifts from Jerusalem to Antioch. But in both these sections, St.
Peter is the principal figure. The third part, which is also the longest (Chapters 13-28)
explains in detail how the Church spread among the Gentiles. St. Paul also becomes
the chief personage and the center of activity becomes Rome.  

LETTERS OF ST. PAULvi 

The letters of St. Paul were an integral part of his missionary
zeal. The faithful read these letters at public worship of the
Christian communities, and collections of them were made at an early date. The first
evidence of such a collection is the statement of Peter, when he told the people, “Think
of Our Lord’s patience as your opportunity to be saved; our brother Paul, who is so dear
to us, told you this when he wrote to you with the wisdom that is his special gift” (II Peter
3:15). 

THE CATHOLIC EPISTLESvii 

The seven letters of the New Testament by the Apostles Peter, James, John and Jude
have been known from the earliest times as the Catholic Epistles. The best explanation
of why they are called “Catholic” is the one given by Lusebius of Caesarea (265-340
A.D.). They are Catholic because they have been “recognized by the universal Church”
(History of the Church, III, 3). Their sequence in the Bible is the one found in most of the
early manuscripts. 

THE APOCALYPSEviii 
This book of revelation (apokalupsis = disclosure) gives us a prophetic insight regarding
the future of the Church on earth, the struggles for
and against Christ to the end of the world, the first
victory of the faithful, and the glories of heaven in
the world to come. 

How Old and New Testament are related?ix

The relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament reflects both the
continuity and discontinuity between the Christian and Israelite faiths. Christians believe
God had one plan for salvation that was revealed first to the Israelites and then to all
peoples through Jesus Christ. The New Testament and Old Testament, then, tell one
ongoing story of salvation. At the same time, the authors of the New Testament were
proposing something radically new: Jesus’ fulfillment of the Israelites’ hope in God’s
promises.
For the New Testament writers, the Old Testament was holy scripture. To tell the
story of Jesus, those authors relied largely on the vocabulary and methods of reading
scripture that already existed in the Jewish world. According to one scholarly estimate,
the New Testament has more than 4,000
references to the Old Testament; thus the
books of the Old Testament have been
important for Christians and remain, in the
words of the Second Vatican Council’s Dei
Verbum (Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation), “permanently valuable” because
they were “written under divine inspiration.” Many of these references are “according to
the scriptures” and “fulfill what scripture said.” Christ’s birth, for
example, “took place to fulfill what the Lord said through the
prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son’”
(Matt. 1:22-23). He said his last words on the cross “(in order to
fulfill the scripture), ‘I am thirsty’” (John 19:28). The key word
here is “fulfill.” The New Testament authors, while valuing the
Old Testament as revelation, saw Jesus to be the fulfillment of
that revelation. For them God’s plan of salvation unfolded with
the Israelites, then was added to and redefined by Christ. That
meant the New Testament writers read the events of the Old Testament as looking
forward to Christ as the Messiah of his people. For example: In the opening of Genesis,
God spoke a divine word to create the world, so in the opening of the Gospel of John,
God, in the Word of God, re-created and renewed the world.

Fulfillment, however, does not mean prediction. While the first Christians saw in
the Old Testament the anticipation of what happened in Christ, that does not mean the
writers of the Old Testament were literally looking ahead into the mists of time and
seeing the coming of Jesus. What they were expecting was the final fulfillment of the
promises God had made to them, but when Jesus appeared most Israelites did not think
he was that fulfillment. The writers of the New Testament, however, believed in both the
coming of the Messiah and Christ being that Messiah.
REFERENCES
i
Catholic Understanding of the Bible. (2010)
ii
Deuterocanonical Books of Catholic.
iii
https://bit.ly/3gjiG9z
iv
Catholic Understanding of The Synoptic Gospels. (2010)
v
https://bit.ly/3gjteFM
vi
The Catholic Perspective on Paul: Paul and the Origins of Catholic Christianity (2010)
vii
Catholic Encyclopedia (1907-1912)
viii
https://bit.ly/31BHyFx
ix
DOGMATIC CONSTITUTION ON DIVINE REVELATION DEI VERBUM SOLEMNLY PROMULGATED BY HIS HOLINESS POPE
PAUL VI ON NOVEMBER 18, 1965