How do the 66 books of the Bible fit together?
The Bible is not one book but a library — sixty-six writings, produced across centuries by men of wildly different backgrounds, bound into a single volume. That raises two natural questions: what holds such a collection together, and how are its parts arranged?
One Author Behind Many Writers
The strongest evidence that these books belong together is that they agree. Try assembling any other collection of that size and see what happens:
A J PollockHow wonderfully Scripture hangs together. Bind sixty-six books on any subject you like — medicine, astronomy, geology, science — and you bind books that will contradict each other, but in the Bible we have sixty-six books, yet one Book in unity and testimony. The Book is Divinely inspired.
One Theme Across the Whole
The books are not merely consistent. They circle a single Person, each group of them showing Him differently:
A J PollockThe whole of the Scriptures revolve round the Person of the Son of God. It has been put in a striking way as follows. The Pentateuch gives us the figures of Christ; the Psalms, the feelings of Christ; the Prophets, the foretellings of Christ; the Gospels, the facts of Christ; the Epistles, the fruits of Christ; Revelation, final judgments by Christ.
The Old Testament's Three Parts
The 39 books before Matthew fall into groups the Lord Himself named — "the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms" (Luke 24:44). One writer maps those labels onto the books we know:
Walter ScottThe first comprises the books from Genesis to Deuteronomy; the second embraces the historical books from Joshua to Esther, and the more direct prophetic section from Isaiah to Malachi; the third, the remaining five books from Job to Song of Solomon.
The New Testament's Three Parts
The 27 books after Malachi divide just as naturally, and each division does a different job:
Walter ScottFirst, the four Gospels as laying the foundation of Christianity in the revelation of the person and work of the Lord. Second, the Acts, in which are detailed the historical annals of Christianity for about 34 years — marvellous record of primitive missionary enterprise... Third, the Epistles embrace the whole circle of Christian truth and doctrine, and the regulation of Christian life and service.
Is the Printed Order Fixed?
Most readers assume the sequence in their Bible is the only one there has ever been. It is not:
Frederick W GrantA reader simply of the English Bible finds, in these days of printing and uniformity of copies, one invariable order of books, which he naturally supposes, therefore, has been from the beginning... On the other hand, the reader of the Hebrew Bible finds an order different in many respects. The Septuagint has another, although in most respects similar to the English one, which is derived from it.
Commentators differ on how much weight the familiar order carries. Some see God's hand even in the arrangement we inherited:
J T MawsonIt would appear as though there had been divine supervision in regard to the order in which the books of the Bible are placed in our Authorised Version.
Why These Books and Not Others
Some Bibles carry extra writings known as the Apocrypha. Three plain tests are offered for leaving them out:
A J Pollock(1) It is never once quoted in the New Testament, whilst the Old Testament Scriptures are constantly quoted. (2) It apologizes for itself, which the inspired Scriptures never do. (3) The perusal of it makes the reader very conscious that it is far below the lofty standard of the inspired writings.
No Book Is Spare, No Book Is Missing
If God chose the collection, then no book in it is filler and none is ranked below the rest:
C. H. MackintoshEach book of the Bible, each section of the inspired canon, has its own distinct place and object. Each has its own niche assigned to it by its divine Author. We must not entertain, for a moment, the thought of instituting any comparison in point of intrinsic value, interest, and importance. All is divine, and therefore perfect.
The same holds for what God left out. Solomon wrote many songs; we have one of them:
William KellyEven where writers were inspired, God did not preserve all that they wrote, but only that which was essential to the plan and purpose of the Bible... To have had one chapter more than was necessary for the purpose of God would have spoilt the Bible. There is not a word too much. But, on the other hand, there is not a word too little.
Where to Start
Sixty-six books can freeze a new reader. The usual counsel is to begin in one place:
Eugene P. Vedder Jr.Once a person comes to the Lord we tell him to read the Bible. If he asks, 'Where should I start?' a good answer is the Gospel of John. What single Gospel is used more to reach out to the lost? The Gospel of John.
Summary
- One Author. Sixty-six books on any other subject would contradict each other; these agree, which points to one mind behind the many pens.
- One theme. Law, Psalms, Prophets, Gospels, Epistles, Revelation each show the same Person from a different angle.
- One shape. The Old Testament groups as Law, Prophets and Psalms; the New as Gospels, Acts and Epistles — though the printed order of books has varied between the Hebrew, Greek and English Bibles.
- One canon. The Apocrypha fails the tests the inspired books pass: never quoted in the New Testament, and self-excusing in tone.
- One volume, nothing wasted. Every book has its own assigned place, and God preserved exactly what His purpose required — not a word too much, not a word too little.