The Bible has been a bestseller for many centuries throughout history. Countless people yearn for his message of hope, salvation and eternal life. This makes it the most important book ever written; Although it is not really a single book, the parts of the bible they are in essence so important and are so closely interrelated that they seem to compose a single text because they have a unity of thought.
The Bible is made up of a total of sixty-six writings, between books and letters; initially arranged in what was believed to be chronological order. The two main parts of the Bible are: Old Testament and New Testament, each of these sections with certain characteristics and specific structure; and also with a defined intentionality.
About Bible Translation
In 1960, the United Bible Societies published a revision of the Spanish Bible known as the Reina-Valera version, which is currently the most widely used Spanish Bible. Born in 1569, after twelve years of intensive work; Casiodoro de Reina translated and published the Bible in Spanish for the first time. Then, in 1602, it was published in a revised form by Cipriano de Valera, who devoted more than twenty years of his life to the revision and improvement of this Bible.
This has been the basic text of the evangelical Christian church for several generations. However, it has gone through considerable changes over the years; although many people think that it has not changed since the golden age of Spanish literature. In fact, a number of minor revisions have been made, of which the 1909 edition was the last and most extensive.
However, the Reina – Valera 1960 translation has an unmistakable flavor of antiquity and is much loved and preferred by millions in Spain and throughout Latin America. Undoubtedly, both Reina and Valera were men of great literary ability, and their translation and revision not only reflect sensitivity to idiomatic style, but also show an exceptional understanding of exegetical problems.
Structure and parts of the Bible.
the old testament
It is the longest part in relation to the New Testament. It is made up of a set of thirty-nine books prior to the coming of Jesus Christ; They contain the same God-inspired material as the Hebrew Bible, though in a different order. Among these books there are all kinds of literary genres. the main ones are revelation, history, social, liturgical and moral legislation, wisdom, poetry, prophecy and the apocalyptic type.
The Bible accepted by the Christian world in general, follows the guidelines of the Bible translated by Martin Luther into German (1534), in which the books called “protocanonical” or the first canon are accepted as inspired, a list of books accepted by the Hebrew world from the end of the first century after Christ.
The Old Testament is divided into 5 sections which are:
Pentateuch
It is also called the Law. They are the first five books whose authorship is attributed to one of the main characters of the Bible, Moses. these books are:
- Genesis
- Exodus
- Levitical
- Numbers
- Deuteronomy
Historical books
As their name indicates, they are the books that contain everything that was the history of the people of Israel from the death of Moses and the crossing of the Jordan River to enter the promised land until the Maccabean rebellion against Hellenism approximately two centuries before the birth of Jesus a period from 1240 a. C. until 173 a. C. approximately 11 centuries of history. The Books that make up this section are:
- Josue
- judges
- Ruth
- 1 and 2 Samuel
- First and Second Kings
- 1 and 2 Chronicles
- Ezra
- nehemiah
- Ester
Poetic Books
Also called poetic and sapiential. They are books whose literary style is characterized almost entirely by the most beautiful literary figures and also by having a content whose shocking practical wisdom overwhelms the overwhelming by its literary value. The Poetic Books are the following:
- job
- psalms
- Proverbs
- Ecclesiastes
- Song of songs
Prophetic Books
This section of the Old Testament groups most of the actions performed by the prophets. It is divided in turn into two large sections; attending mainly to the length of the written documents. In relation to the prophets these sections and the books that compose it are:
1. Major Prophets
- isaiah
- jeremiah
- Wailing
- Ezequiel
- Daniel
2. Minor Prophets
- hosea
- joel
- amos
- Obadiah
- Jonas
- micah
- nahum
- Habakkuk
- Zephaniah
- Haggai
- zacarias
- Malachi
Without the Old Testament we would have very little understanding of the New Testament; just as without the New Testament we would never understand the raison d’être of the old.
The Old Testament reaches its fullness and the fulfillment of its prophecies in the new. And in the person of Jesus Christ, the Word, the son of God made flesh; the promised Messiah that he finally came to plant his tabernacle in the midst of our camp (see John 1:14). To live among us and accompany us on our pilgrimage in this life.
The new Testament
Christianity knows under the common name of New Testament the set of twenty-seven books that contains the second main part of the Bible. Following the Tanaj or Hebrew Bible… The first thing that needs to be clarified is the meaning of the word testament, because currently its interpretation has been limited to the idea of someone who leaves their property to another upon death through a document.
In the scriptures this word adopts the meaning of covenant, which is the main way in which God relates to men. The new covenant is the one that has been made through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus and in his blood. While in ancient times, God established a pact with Israel only through Moses, leaving circumcision as a symbol and establishing a series of rites widely described in various places of the Pentateuch. The New agreement it is done through the cross of Jesus and in his merits.
Jesus himself shed his blood to seal this New Covenant with it so that everyone who accepted it would have access to the promise of eternal life… (John 3:16) Here are his solemn words:
“And taking the cup, and having given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Matthew 26:27-28
Characteristics of the New Covenant
It had already been predicted that God would make a New Covenant with his people, and that he would put in their hearts of flesh and not of stone; training us to receive the benefits of this pact…
“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, in which I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. I will give my law to their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they will they will be by people.” Jeremiah 31:31.
In the letter to the Hebrews this subject is extensively touched on (in the following quotes 7:22; 8:6-13; 9:15-20; 10:16; 12:24; 18:14) and perfectly clarifies the implications of this New Covenant with God.
The parts that make up the New Testament can be divided into four types of writings as follows:
the gospels
They are historical accounts of the earthly ministry of Jesus. There are 4 of them and they are narrated from different perspectives; so that when read in a complementary way they give a significant level of detail of the actions and preaching of Jesus; These books bear the names of their authors and are:
historical book
In this category we find a single book written by Lucas, the same one who was also the third evangelist. This book narrates how the appearance and successive development of the Church of Jesus Christ was after the resurrection of Jesus.
Epistolary or Letters Genre
The third type of writing that makes up the New Testament are the epistles or letters, these in turn acquire an additional classification based on their intention, and can be called: pastoral letters, prison epistles, universal epistles, among others, for the purposes of this article. we will only divide them into two types; The Pauline epistles; written by the apostle Paul, and the universal ones written by the other apostles.
1. Pauline Epistles
- romans
- 1 Corinthians
- 2 Corinthians
- Galatians
- ephesians
- Philippians
- Colossians
- 1 Thessalonians
- 2 Thessalonians
- 1 Timothy
- 2 Timothy
- Titus
- Philemon
2. Universal Epistles
- Hebrews
- Santiago
- 1 Peter
- 2 Peter
- 1 John
- 2 John
- 3 John
- Judas
Prophetic Book – apocalyptic
Although throughout the entire New Testament there are numerous prophecies and texts that speak about the end, for classification purposes only one book deals specifically with the prophetic theme and the events that will happen at the end of time, This is perhaps one of the most intriguing books of all time.
- Apocalypse or Revelation of Jesus Christ
All these are the parts of the 1960 Reina Valera Bible. If you want to learn more about this wonderful book; We invite you to also read: Why do we believe in the Bible as the Word of God?