Divisions of the Old and New Testaments (All Nations Leadership Institute)

From Walking Through the Word 1 (#Module_2)
All Nations Leadership Institute
4501 West 127th Street
Alsip, IL 60803
www.allnationsleadershipinstitute.org

1. Image: internetmonk.com
Organization of the Bible Part 2
Divisions:
Testaments
OLD & NEW

2. POINTS
THE KEY
Have confidence in the authority of the biblical
canon as God’s inspired message
You better can understand THE BIG STORY by
knowing the old and new testament divisions.
When you have familiarity with Scripture’s
divisions, you become more comfortable
reading, studying and applying it.

3. Let’s talk about the
canon&divisions

4. The biblical canon is God’s

5. Primary
Features
Biblical
Canon

6. Inspired by God
Accepted as Scripture
1
2
3
Divine Authority

7. “Itis a mistake to say that the church
determines, forms, or judges the canon. Rather,
God determines the canon” (Bernard, 2005. p.
23).

8. The 39 Old & 27 New Testament books
form the biblical canon.
Inspired Authoritative Accepted

9. “The Bible tells one Big Story. The Old
Testament introduces the Hero ─
Yahweh. The New Testament tells how
Yahweh became a man. Not two
stories. One; God is the Hero in both
Testaments”(Norris, 2010, p. 8).
THE BIG STORY

10. Learning about the Bible’s groups
(or divisions)

11. Groups
(Or Divisions)
Withineach testament

12. The New
Testament
has 27 books
The Old
Testament
has 39 books.
The New
Testament divides
into 4 groups, too.
The 4 NT groups
are Gospels (4
books), History (1)
Letters (21) &
Prophecy (1).
The 4 OT groups are
Law (5 books),
History (12), Poetry
(5) & Prophecy (17).
The OT
divides
into
4 groups.

13. Books of
LAW
PROPHECY
HISTORY
POETRY
OLD TESTAMENT (4):

14. Did you know?
The New Testament did not exist at the
formation of the early church, rather the
Apostles relied on their knowledge of the Old
Testament and first-hand, eye witness accounts
of Jesus’ teaching as they taught and preached
under the anointing of His Spirit.

15. LAW (Also, the Torah or Pentateuch)
God reveals Himself as the Creator, a loving
and patient Father, Provider and just Judge
Who wants to bless His creation (Root, 1998, p. 20)
Contains categories of corporate blessings for
covenant faithfulness and curses for
disobedience (Fee & Stuart, 2003, p. 187)
Provides the setting in which God gave the
Hebrews His redemptive plan and divine law
(Coogan, 2009; Halley, 2000; Root, 1998)

16. L
A
W
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy

17. HISTORY
Relates a connected history of Israel from
Moses’ death to its restoration after Babylonian
captivity
Tells the effects of following God’s law and
disobeying it
Deals primarily with the Hebrews, from whom
the Christ would come; and records
preparation for the coming Messiah
(Root, 1998)

18. H
I
S
T
O
R
Y
Joshua
Judges
1 & 2 Samuel
1 & 2 Kings
1 & 2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther

19. POETRY(Also, Wisdom)
The writing spanned from Abraham through the
Old Testament’s end
Highlights godly choices—Fee & Stuart say that
within the inspired biblical wisdom, good choices
are godly choices (2003, p. 288).
Was a medium prophets used to give their
message because of its appeal. One can read,
for example, of the coming Messiah in the royal
psalms(Johnson, 2005; Root, 1998)

20. P
O
E
T
R
Y
Job
Psalms
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Solomon

21. PROPHECY
Prophets were covenant enforcement mediators
who delivered God's word. Theirinspired
message would be anexamplefor generations.
Prophecy existsas two elements: Forthtellingand
foretelling.Forthtelling: Prophets addressed the
issues, people and nationsof their day.
Foretelling: Prophets delivered God's will for the
future regarding Israel,nations and the 1
st
& 2
nd
comings of the Messiah.

22. P
R
O
P
H
E
C
Y
MAJOR
Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel
MINOR
Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah,
Jonah, Micah, Nahum,
Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai,
Zechariah, Malachi

23. What
do you
think?

24. Books of
GOSPEL
PROPHECY
HISTORY
LETTERS
NEW TESTAMENT (4):

25. Did you know?
Marcion, in AD 140, dismissed the Old
Testament and books that favored Jewish
readers like Matthew, Mark, Acts and
Hebrews.
“This nudged the church into thinking
about forming a New Testament” (Shelley, 2008,
p. 64)for anauthoritative list of inspired
writings (churchhistory101.com).

26. GOSPELS
Gives thegood news of salvation through the
teachings of Jesus and stories about Him (Fee &
Stuart, 2003, p. 127)
Providesthe “testimony of Jesus Christ, the
Son of God (God manifested in flesh) from four
perspectives: Matthew (Jesus, the King of
Israel), Mark (Jesus, the Servant), Luke (Jesus,
the Man) and John (Jesus, the Almighty God)”
(Cox, 2013)

27. G
O
S
P
E
L
S
Matthew
Mark
Luke
John

28. HISTORY
Containing the Book of Acts, it records the early
church’s history, tells how people become
Christians, chronicles the early missionary
movement from Jerusalem to Rome and the way
the Church grew upon the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit under the New Covenant
Bridges the gospels with the letters in the New
Testament canon (Shelley, 2008; Tenney, 2005; Root,
1998)

29. H
I
S
T
O
R
Y
Acts

30. LETTERS (Also, the Epistles)
Gives Paul’s and other writers’ correspondence
to churches and/or individuals for teaching and
counsel
Provides clarity and encouragement for
application of the Gospel message
(Tenney, 2009; Root, 1998)

31. L
E
T
T
E
R
S
Romans,
1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians,
Ephesians, Philippians,
Colossians,
1 & 2 Thessalonians,
1 & 2 Timothy, Titus,
Philemon, Hebrews, James,
1 & 2 Peter,
1,2 & 3 John, Jude

32. PROPHECY
Contains both prophetic and apocalyptic
message
Records the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Shows conflict between good and evil, as well as
the final victory of Christ and His people
(Coogan, 2009; Root, 1998)

33. P
R
O
P
H
E
C
Y
Revelation

34. What
do you
think?

35. SUM
UP!
The biblical
canon is inspired,
authoritative and
accepted
The group (or division) from each testament gives you
a road map around the Bible
All groups within each
testament fill in the roads
that lead to understanding
the fullness of Scripture

36. “The scriptures are not merely catalogues
of beliefs, although they certainly include
such lists, propositions, and assertions.
Rather, the scriptures are inspired by
God─withinspiration usually connected to
the Holy Spirit─forspecific purposes
related to Christian practices, life, and,
ultimately, salvation” (Amos Yong, 2008, p.
40).

37. References
•Bernard, D. (2000). God’s infallible Word. Florissant, MO: Word Aflame
Press.
•Bernard, D. (2005). Understanding God’s Word. Florissant, MO: Word
Aflame Press.
•Coogan, M. (2009). A brief introduction to the Old Testament. New York,
NY: Oxford University Press.
•Cox, D. (2013). The gospels. Cited on February 21, 2014, from
http://www.slideshare.net/drjparon/the-gospels-anli
•Duvall, J. S. & Hays, J. D. (2005). Grasping God’s Word. Grand Rapids,
MI: Zondervan.
•Eichenberger, J. (2011). Training for service: A Basic Overview for every
Christian. Cincinnati, OH: Standard Publishing.
•Fee, G. & Stuart, D. (2003). How to read the Bible for all its worth. Grand
Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

38. References (Cont’d)
•Green, J. (2007). Seized by truth: Reading the Bible as Scripture.
Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.
•Halley, H. (2000). Halley’s Bible handbook. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan
Norris, D. (2010). Big ideas. Florissant, MO: Apostolic Teaching
Resources
•Root, O. (1998). Survey of the Bible: Training for service student book.
Cincinnati, OH: Standard Publishing.
•Pfeiffer, C. F., Vos, H. & Rea, J. (Eds.). (2005). Wycliffe Bible dictionary.
Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishing.
•Shelley, B. (2008). Church history in plain language(3rd ed). Nashville,
TN: Thomas Nelson.
•Williams, D.H. (2014). How the New Testament canon was formed. Cited
on February 22, 2014, from http://www.churchhistory101.com/new-
testament-canon.php
•Yong, A. (2008).)Hospitality & the other. Mary Knoll, NY: Orbis Books.
Images from Bing.com

39. LAW GOSPELS HISTORY
HISTORY LETTERS
LETTERS
LETTERS PROPHECY
POETRYMAJOR PROPHETS
MINOR PROPHETS
Image:
Mardel.com
Walking Through the Word
Online Supplemental Resources
All Nations Leadership Institute
4501 W. 127
th
St.
Alsip, IL 60803
www.allnationsleadershipinstitute.org