The First Bible was the Jewish Bible, this means that it was a Bible without the New Testament.
When the Apostle Paul wrote: All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness in 2 Timothy 3:16, he wrote this about the Old Testament because there was not a New Testament when he wrote this statement. So Paul, the herald of the salvation by grace only by faith in Jesus Christ, believed that all the Old Testament is inspired by God and fully valid after Jesus Christ died in the cross and have resurrected, therefore the Old Testament continued to be valid. The important point is that the salvation comes from the faith in Jesus' sacrifice and the obedience to God's law is not a mean to get saved, but a lifestyle of holiness.
When the Apostle Paul wrote: All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness in 2 Timothy 3:16, he wrote this about the Old Testament because there was not a New Testament when he wrote this statement. So Paul, the herald of the salvation by grace only by faith in Jesus Christ, believed that all the Old Testament is inspired by God and fully valid after Jesus Christ died in the cross and have resurrected, therefore the Old Testament continued to be valid. The important point is that the salvation comes from the faith in Jesus' sacrifice and the obedience to God's law is not a mean to get saved, but a lifestyle of holiness.
Today's day there is a general belief that Christianity just needs to follow the New Testament and that the Old Testament is only for Jews, that also the New Testament have invalidated the Old Testament. This is not true.
Jesus, Simon Peter, James, Paul and the other apostles (all Jews) had only the Old Testament to preach the Gospel! The first community of followers of Jesus, known as The Way, had only the Old Testament as Holy Scriptures.
If this is the first time that you see Christians were not called Christians, but they were called as the Way, here are some references for you: Acts 19:9; 19:23; Acts 22:4; Acts 24:14; Acts 24:22.
Jesus, Simon Peter, James, Paul and the other apostles (all Jews) had only the Old Testament to preach the Gospel! The first community of followers of Jesus, known as The Way, had only the Old Testament as Holy Scriptures.
If this is the first time that you see Christians were not called Christians, but they were called as the Way, here are some references for you: Acts 19:9; 19:23; Acts 22:4; Acts 24:14; Acts 24:22.
The Way was one of the four groups of the Judaism: the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes and the Way. Today's day we call the last group Messianic Jews.
When you hear pastors preaching about Saul persecuting the Church, actually they are speaking about one of the leaders of the Pharisees Jews who persecuted the Messianic Jews and it was an intense internal fight among Jews. There was not a gentile Christian Church in that period.
The Hebrew Bible, that today Christians know as the Old Testament, is divided by the Jews in three sections: The Torah (The Law of Moses, that are the first five Books of Moses also called Pentateuch or simply The Law), the Nevi'im (that are all the books of the prophets) and the Ketuvim (all the remaining books).
These three sections, Torah, Nevi'im and Ketuvim have a Jewish acronym: TaNaKh.
So, when a Jew speaks about the Torah, is referring to the first five books, and when he wants to refer to all the Old Testament, he calls it TaNaKh.
Even that we Christians have called it Old Testament for centuries, I think that the proper way to think about it is the Jewish Bible or the First Testament, because calling it old brings the wrong idea of something outdated and no longer valid, that is absolutely false. The Jewish Bible or the first 39 books of the Christian protestant Bible is valid and extremely important to understand the New Testament. If we don't understand the Old Testament is very probable that we will misunderstand the New Testament.
The Jewish version of the Bible has 24 books because Judaism classifies the same books in a different way, but in essence, the 39 books in the Old Testament of the Protestant Bible and the 24 books in the Jewish Bible are the same.
The Catholic Bible includes some extra books in the Old Testament that Jews and Protestant Christians do not consider as inspired books but only records of Jewish history left out of the holy Cannon. This deserves another post in the future.
When you hear pastors preaching about Saul persecuting the Church, actually they are speaking about one of the leaders of the Pharisees Jews who persecuted the Messianic Jews and it was an intense internal fight among Jews. There was not a gentile Christian Church in that period.
The Hebrew Bible, that today Christians know as the Old Testament, is divided by the Jews in three sections: The Torah (The Law of Moses, that are the first five Books of Moses also called Pentateuch or simply The Law), the Nevi'im (that are all the books of the prophets) and the Ketuvim (all the remaining books).
These three sections, Torah, Nevi'im and Ketuvim have a Jewish acronym: TaNaKh.
So, when a Jew speaks about the Torah, is referring to the first five books, and when he wants to refer to all the Old Testament, he calls it TaNaKh.
Even that we Christians have called it Old Testament for centuries, I think that the proper way to think about it is the Jewish Bible or the First Testament, because calling it old brings the wrong idea of something outdated and no longer valid, that is absolutely false. The Jewish Bible or the first 39 books of the Christian protestant Bible is valid and extremely important to understand the New Testament. If we don't understand the Old Testament is very probable that we will misunderstand the New Testament.
The Jewish version of the Bible has 24 books because Judaism classifies the same books in a different way, but in essence, the 39 books in the Old Testament of the Protestant Bible and the 24 books in the Jewish Bible are the same.
Hebrew Bible
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Protestant
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Catholic
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Tanakh
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Old Testament
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Old Testament
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(24 books)
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(39 books)
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(46 books)
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Torah
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Pentateuch or the Five Books of
Moses
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Bereishit
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Genesis
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Genesis
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Shemot
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Exodus
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Exodus
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Vayikra
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Leviticus
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Leviticus
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Bamidbar
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Numbers
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Numbers
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Devarim
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Deuteronomy
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Deuteronomy
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Nevi'im (Prophets)
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Historical books
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Yehoshua
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Joshua
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Joshua (Josue)
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Shofetim
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Judges
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Judges
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Rut (Ruth)
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Ruth
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Ruth
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Shemuel
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1 Samuel
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1 Samuel (1 Kings)
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2 Samuel
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2 Samuel (2 Kings)
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Melakhim
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1 Kings
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1 Kings (3 Kings)
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2 Kings
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2 Kings (4 Kings)
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Divrei Hayamim (Chronicles)
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1 Chronicles
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1 Chronicles (1 Paralipomenon)
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2 Chronicles
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2 Chronicles (2 Paraleipomenon)
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Ezra–Nehemiah
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Ezra
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Ezra (1 Esdras)
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Nehemiah
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Nehemiah (2 Esdras)
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Tobit (Tobias)
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Judith
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Esther
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Esther
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Esther
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1 Maccabees (1 Machabees)
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2 Maccabees (2 Machabees)
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Ketuvim (Writings)
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Wisdom books
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Iyov (Job)
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Job
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Job
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Tehillim (Psalms)
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Psalms
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Psalms
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Mishlei (Proverbs)
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Proverbs
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Proverbs
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Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes)[
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Ecclesiastes
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Ecclesiastes
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Shir Hashirim (Song of Songs)
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Song of Solomon
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Song of Songs (Canticle of Canticles)
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Wisdom
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Sirach (Ecclesiasticus)
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Nevi'im (Latter Prophets)
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Major prophets
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Yeshayahu
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Isaiah
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Isaiah (Isaias)
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Yirmeyahu
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Jeremiah
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Jeremiah (Jeremias)
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Eikhah (Lamentations)
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Lamentations
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Lamentations
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Baruch
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Yekhezqel
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Ezekiel
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Ezekiel (Ezechiel)
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Daniel
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Daniel
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Daniel
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Twelve Minor Prophets
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The Twelve
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Hosea
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Hosea (Osee)
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or
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Joel
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Joel
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Trei Asar
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Amos
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Amos
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Obadiah
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Obadiah (Abdias)
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Jonah
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Jonah (Jonas)
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Micah
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Micah (Michaeas)
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Nahum
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Nahum
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Habakkuk
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Habakkuk (Habacuc)
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Zephaniah
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Zephaniah (Sophonias)
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Haggai
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Haggai (Aggaeus)
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Zechariah
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Zechariah (Zacharias)
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Malachi
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Malachi (Malachias)
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The apostle Paul said that God entrusted to the Jews the responsibility of His Word and if the Jews do not consider these extra books as inspired, the gentile Catholic Church has not authority to declare any other book inspired by God. "The Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God."
Romans 3:2 - NVI.
The Old and the New Testament were written by Jewish people.
In the same way as the Old Testament, the 27 books of the New Testament were also written by Jews. The Jews who wrote the New Testament were Messianic Jews, or Jewish people who identified and accepted Jesus of Nazareth as the Jewish Messiah. The first generations of followers of Jesus were mainly Jews.
Jesus Christ was a faithful Jew, a recognized rabbi and His public life revealed the special characteristic of being the Anointed One, the Messiah, or as we Christians call, The Christ.
Jesus, or Joshua, was the important prophet announced by Moses, the main leader of the Judaism, in Deuteronomy 18:15 "The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him."
So if you love God and you love the Holy Bible, be grateful to the Jewish people and pray for them. Pray for peace in Israel and for a revival of faith among the Jewish nation.
Romans 3:2 - NVI.
The Old and the New Testament were written by Jewish people.
Jesus Christ was a faithful Jew, a recognized rabbi and His public life revealed the special characteristic of being the Anointed One, the Messiah, or as we Christians call, The Christ.
Jesus, or Joshua, was the important prophet announced by Moses, the main leader of the Judaism, in Deuteronomy 18:15 "The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him."
It is very important to be aware of the Jewish roots of our faith. Jesus Christ is not the God of the gentiles (non Jewish people). Jesus Christ is the Messiah sent by God father to the Jewish and the Gentiles for their salvation through faith in Him.
So if you love God and you love the Holy Bible, be grateful to the Jewish people and pray for them. Pray for peace in Israel and for a revival of faith among the Jewish nation.
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