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I. The subject of the Bible
А. The subject of the Old Testament
B. The subject of the New Testament
II. The central thought of the Bible
А. The central thought of the Old Testament — leading man to Christ for redemption
B. The central thought of the New Testament — in Christ the church being redeemed and built up
III. Subdivisions according to the structure of the Bible
А. The Old Testament:
1. The Pentateuch
2. History
3. Psalms
4. The books of the prophets
а. The books of the prophets before the captivity
b. The books of the prophets during the captivity
c. The books of the prophets after the captivity
d. The New Testament
5. Subdivision according to spiritual experience
а. The Old Testament
b. The New Testament
6. Subdivisions of the Old Testament according to the Jews or the rabbis
а. The law of Moses
b. The prophets: divided into the former prophets and the latter prophets
c. The other books
7. Subdivision of the Old Testament by the Lord Jesus
[If we want to know any book, we have to grasp its subject and central thought. In addition, we need a proper analysis of its structure and a clear understanding of its sections. The Bible has its own subject, its central thought, and its sections. Although there are sixty-six books in the Bible, it has its subject and central thought; there are also distinctive sections within its structure. If we want to know the Bible, we must clearly understand these three things.]
[The subject of the Bible is contained in only four sentences: God planned and created, Satan rebelled and damaged, man fell and was lost, and Christ redeemed and built. Within this subject, there are four persons: the first is God, the second is Satan, the third is man, and the fourth is Christ. The whole Bible speaks almost exclusively of these four persons. For each of these four persons, we have two verbs. God planned and created. He planned in eternity past and created in time. Satan rebelled and damaged. God had His plan and created according to His plan, but Satan rebelled against God and damaged God’s creation. All Satan did was to rebel and damage. These two verbs can include all of Satan’s work in the universe. Man fell and was lost. Man fell, and as a result, was lost from God’s hands and from being used by God. The story of man in the whole Bible can be summed up by these two verbs: man fell and was lost. Christ redeemed and built. In the past, when Christians spoke about Christ, they only spoke of redemption; the matter of building has always been overlooked or missed. But we must not forget that our Lord not only said that the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost, but He also said that Peter was a stone, and that He would build His church upon this rock. On the one hand, the Gospel of John says that Christ “came that they may have life.” On the other hand, it also says that though man may “destroy this temple,” Christ will “raise it up” in three days. Whether it be the Lord’s accomplishment of redemption, or the Lord Jesus’ coming to be life to man, the result is for the building up of the church. For this reason, we must not see redemption only; we must see the building also.
At the beginning of the Bible, we see gold, bdellium, and precious stones, which are materials for building. At the end of the Bible, we see a completed building, built with gold, pearl, and precious stones. This indicates that God will eventually have a building, which is built up as a result of the redemption accomplished by His Son as the Lamb. Hence, when we speak of Christ, we should not merely see Him as the redeeming One, but we must also see Him as the building One. He came to redeem and He came also to build. The reason God created everything including man is to have a building in the universe.
We should remember these four persons very well, together with the two verbs associated with each. If we do this, we will understand the subject of the Bible. God created everything including man according to His plan. Satan was proud and rebelled against God; he maliciously damaged God’s creation and caused man to fall and to be lost. Christ came to redeem man and to build him up as His glorious church and His mystical Body so that God can obtain a corporate vessel for His expression. This is the subject of the whole Bible. Now, let us see the subjects of the Old and New Testaments separately.]
[The subject of the Old Testament is that God created, Satan damaged, man fell, and God promised the coming of Christ for redemption. Although there are thirty-nine books in the Old Testament, it mainly shows us that God created the universe, Satan came in to damage God’s creation, man fell, and God promised the coming of Christ for the accomplishment of redemption. Hence, the Christ in the Old Testament was only a hope for man, because He was only promised by God to the fallen man as a Redeemer.]
[The subject of the New Testament is Christ coming to redeem sinners and to build up the church according to God’s plan. In the Old Testament, we see how God created, Satan damaged, man fell, and God promised the coming of Christ to redeem man according to God’s plan and promise. In the New Testament, we see how Christ redeemed the lost sinners according to God’s plan and promise and how He builds up His glorious church as His mystical Body for God to have a corporate vessel to express Himself. When we put the subjects of the Old and New Testaments together, we have the subject of the whole Bible as presented earlier.]
[In Christianity there are many books of Bible exposition. Most of them say that the central thought of the Bible is Christ. But today, according to the light we have received through His mercy, we feel it is insufficient merely to say that Christ is the central thought of the Bible. We should remember the words the apostle Paul spoke: “This mystery is great, but I speak with regard to Christ and the church” (Eph. 5:32). Hence, we must say that the central thought of the Bible is Christ and the church. The Bible not only reveals Christ Himself; it also reveals the bride and the Body of Christ, which is the church.
No doubt the whole Bible shows us Christ. But at the same time, it also shows us that Christ needs a church, in the same way that a man needs a wife. From the very beginning, the Bible reveals this in a type — that it was not good for Adam to live alone. We know from the New Testament that this typifies the fact that Christ needs a bride. Therefore, at the beginning of the Bible, not only does it reveal to us the one Adam, but it also reveals to us how Eve was produced from Adam to become his bride and how they two became one. There was Adam, and there was Eve. The apostle said that this is a great mystery, but that he was speaking with regard to Christ and the church. In the Bible one cannot just see Christ without seeing the church. Many talk about Isaac and forget about Rebecca. But there was Isaac and there was Rebecca. In the Bible there is the story of God contacting man through Christ, but there is also man occupying a very important position. The central characters in the Bible are not only God in Christ, but also man as the bride of God in Christ. The universal couple is God and man. In the universe God is the only male, and man is the counterpart of God. If man is without God, he is like a widow. If God is without man, He is like a bachelor. In the universe there has to be the matching of God with man.
For this reason, the first scene presented to us in the Old Testament is the story of a man seeking for a wife. This man typifies Christ, and Christ is the embodiment of God. This wife typifies the church, and the church is a group of men saved by God out of mankind to be built up by Him. Throughout the Old Testament, God was all the time standing in the position of a husband toward His people. God treated the Israelites as His wife. Later on, the Lord Jesus came. John, the forerunner of the Lord Jesus, not only proclaimed Him as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, but also testified that He who has the bride is the Bridegroom. Not only does John introduce the Lord Jesus as the redeeming Lamb, but he also introduces Him as the Bridegroom who has the bride. Then in the Epistles, the apostle Paul says, “I betrothed you (the saved ones) to one Husband, to present a pure virgin to Christ.” He also says that the church is to Christ as Eve is to Adam. In Revelation, at the end of the whole Bible, there is a proclamation that the marriage of the Lamb is come. When the New Jerusalem appears, it is said to be prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. That is the union of God and man. All the redeemed people and the Redeemer become one as the mystery of the universe, which is Christ and the church.
Therefore, the central character of the whole Bible is this mysterious couple. God and man become one in the same way that a man and a woman become one flesh. Man and woman becoming one flesh is a type of God and man becoming one. Christ is God becoming one with man, and the church is man becoming one with God. God comes in His Son Christ in order that He would become one with man. Man is built up inHis Son as His church, in order that he would become one with God. This oneness, this mysterious union, is Christ and the church, and is also the union of God and man. This is the central thought of the Bible.
We can speak of the central thought of the Bible another way. Christ is the living word of God, and the Bible is the written word of God. Christ is the living word, and the Bible is the written word. Christ is the content of the Bible, and the Bible is the explanation of Christ. If we take away Christ from the Bible, the Bible will become an empty book, like an empty vessel without its content. At the same time, no one can know Christ well without knowing the Bible, because the Bible is the explanation of Christ. Only when one reads the explanation in the Bible can he understand and know what Christ is. The Bible tells us that everything of Christ is put into the church and expressed through the church. Hence, the central thought of the Bible is Christ and the church. It is insufficient to know Christ only; we have to know the church as well. The Bible shows us that the universal central character has both a head and a body. The Head is Christ and the Body is the church. Hence, Christ and the church are the central thought of the Bible.]
[The Old Testament leads man to Christ that man would be redeemed by Him.]
[The New Testament shows us how the church is redeemed and built up in Christ.]
[There are many ways to subdivide the Bible into sections. We have selected four of the more important ways for our consideration.]
[These are the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These five were written by Moses and therefore are known generally as the Pentateuch of Moses.]
[After the Pentateuch are the books of history. There are twelve books from Joshua to Esther: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.]
[There are six books, all in the style of poems. Five books — Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs — are related. Lamentations is also added because it is in the style of poetry rather than prose. In some translated versions, one cannot identify these six books as poems, but in the original, these are clearly in poetic forms, with couplets and matching phrases. They are not at all in the style of prose.]
[This is the last part of the Old Testament. It can be divided into three categories chronologically.]
[There are a total of eleven books. If arranged in chronological order according to the time they were written, the earliest one is probably Obadiah, second is Joel, third is Jonah, fourth is Amos, fifth is Hosea, sixth is Isaiah, seventh is Micah, eighth is Nahum, ninth is Zephaniah, tenth is Jeremiah, and the eleventh is Habakkuk. Jeremiah was a little earlier than Habakkuk, but Jeremiah was extended into the captivity period. Jeremiah began as a prophet before the captivity and ended as one in the captivity. This is why some Bible expositors consider him as a prophet before the captivity while others consider him as one during the captivity. We suggest considering him as one before the captivity because he spent most of his time as a prophet before the captivity.]
[There are a total of two books, which are Daniel and Ezekiel. Daniel and Ezekiel were both prophets during the captivity.]
[There are a total of three books. The first is Haggai, then Zechariah, and the last one is Malachi.]
[By dividing the prophets according to the time of captivity, there are these three categories of books of the prophets. The earliest prophet, Obadiah, lived at about 800 B.C., close to 900 B.C. The last prophet, Malachi, lived at about 390 B.C., close to 400 B.C. Isaiah lived at about 760 B.C. If we also consider Lamentations a book of the prophets, there are seventeen books of the prophets from Isaiah to Malachi. If we take out Lamentations, we have sixteen books.
Some have grouped the longer books of the prophets as major prophets, and the shorter books of the prophets as the minor prophets. In that case, there are four books among the major prophets, which are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. The remaining twelve books are all the minor prophets.]
[1. The four Gospels: There are four books of the Gospel. They are the first four books of the New Testament.
2. The Acts of the Apostles: There is only one book of Acts.
3. The Epistles: There are twenty-one books, from Romans to Jude.
4. The book of Prophecy: There is only one book, Revelation.
The four Gospels, Acts, the twenty-one Epistles, plus the last book of prophecy, add up to twenty-seven books. An easy way to memorize the number of books of the Bible is to remember that 3 times 9 equals 27, that is, 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New.]
[This is the best way to subdivide the Bible and is the way we recommend. There are three categories in the Old Testament and three categories in the New. The nature of the three categories in both Testaments is the same.]
[1. History: From Genesis to Esther there are seventeen books on history. It begins from God’s creation of the universe and continues until the Israelites were returned from captivity to rebuild the temple and the holy city. This is the history and journey of God’s people before Him; it is everything that they have passed through before God.
2. Experience: There are the five books of poetry: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs. There may be some history records in these books, but they are not on history. There are also some prophecies in them, but their main emphasis is not prophecy. These five books emphasize the spiritual experiences of God’s saints before Him. If there were only the history in the preceding category without the experience that followed, we could only see the historical facts without understanding the inward condition under those circumstances. These five books of poetry in the Bible precisely describe the inward condition of the chosen people before God under various circumstances and experiences. When we read these five books of poetry, we can find out the spiritual experiences of these people before God.
3. Prophecy: From Isaiah to Malachi there are seventeen books. There are seventeen books of history at the beginning, and seventeen books of prophecy at the end, with five books of experience in the middle, making up a total of thirty-nine books.]
[1. History: The four Gospels plus the Acts are five books on history. The four Gospels cover the experiences of the Lord Jesus on earth together with the experiences of His disciples in following Him. The Acts shows us how the disciples testified for the Lord everywhere they went. These five books are all on historical facts.
2. Experience: These are the twenty-one Epistles from Romans to Jude. These twenty-one books speak of the Christian experiences. The Gospels and Acts show us what Christ and the Christians encountered. They show us their activities, their moves, and their works. The twenty-one Epistles explain to us the inward spiritual experiences of Christians.
3. Prophecy: There is only one book, the book of Revelation.
Whether it is the Old Testament or the New Testament, they both begin with the history, then proceed to tell of the experiences, and end with the prophecies. For the individual Christians, the order is the same. First, we have our history before the Lord. Next, we develop some spiritual experiences during the course of the history, and then there is the hope and the anticipation for the future. The Old Testament recounted much history and many spiritual experiences; then at the end, it spoke of the saints being filled with hope and anticipation of the coming of Christ. The New Testament is written the same way. There are many facts and experiences, and then at the end, there is an expectation and a hope, which is the return of the Lord Jesus. No Christian can avoid these three steps. There are the history, the experiences, and the expectation.]
[The Old Testament was originally in the hands of the Jews. Some teachers among them were authoritative Bible expositors. The Jews called them rabbis. The word rabbi means teacher. In the ancient time, the subdivision of the Old Testament among the rabbis was like what the Lord Jesus said in Luke 24:44. In other words, the Lord’s word in Luke 24:44 was based on the subdivision of the Old Testament into three categories by the rabbis.]
[These refer to the Pentateuch. Sometimes the Jews abbreviated the Pentateuch as Moses. When the Jews mention Moses, sometimes they are not referring to the person Moses, but to the five books of the Law written by him. These five books are sometimes simply called the Law. When the Jews refer to the Law, they mean the Pentateuch. Therefore, among the Christians and the Jews, there are five different ways of referring to the first five books of the Old Testament. They are referred to as the Pentateuch of Moses, as the Pentateuch, as the Law of Moses, as the Law, and as Moses.]
[1. The Former Prophets: There are four books. The first one is Joshua. The Jews treat the book of Joshua as one of the books of the prophets, instead of as history as we see it. The second book is Judges, which is also treated as a book of the prophets. The third book is Samuel. First and 2 Samuel were one book in the original Hebrew Bible. There was no distinction of 1 and 2 and it was called the book of Samuel. The fourth book is Kings. First and 2 Kings were also one book in the Hebrew Old Testament, having no distinction between 1 and 2 either.
Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles were divided up into first and second books in the Septuagint when the Old Testament was translated, because these books were too long and it was not convenient to roll them up into one sheepskin. In the original Hebrew Old Testament, these books were together as entire books without the distinctions of first and second books.
The Jewish rabbis call these four books, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, the Former Prophets.
2. The Latter Prophets: There are also four books, which are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the minor prophets. The minor prophets mentioned here include the twelve books which the Jewish rabbis take as one.
Historically, the order of the minor prophets is not always the same. Sometimes they place this one at the front, and sometimes they place another one at the front. The usual order is as follows: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. This is the usual order of these twelve books. Sometimes the order is changed slightly. The Jewish rabbis treat the books after the Pentateuch generally as the books of the prophets, with the four books of the earlier period and four books of the later period totalling eight altogether.]
[These include Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah, 1 and 2 Chronicles, totalling eleven books. The Jews consider Ezra and Nehemiah as one book and 1 and 2 Chronicles as one book. These eleven books plus the eight books of the prophets add up to nineteen books. With the five books of the Law of Moses, there are altogether twenty-four books. The ancient church fathers combined these into twenty-two books to match the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. This is why during the first, second, and third centuries they were called the twenty-two books of the Old Testament. Josephus, who was the most authoritative historian among the Jews, also called these the twenty-two books of the Old Testament when he spoke of it.]
[Our Lord Jesus also had a way of subdividing the Old Testament. This is mentioned in Luke 24:44. This way is very similar to that of the Jewish rabbis; there is not much difference between the two. He also divided it into three categories:
