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Sections of the BibleIntroductionThe Bible, also referred to asScripture, is God’s Word to us. God’sSpirit worked in more than 40 humanauthors to inspire them to write theBible. The Bible is not one single book,but rather a collection of 66 books thattell one unified story about God, Hisrelentless love for us, and how we canhave a relationship with Him.The 66 books of the Bible areorganized into two main parts: the OldTestament and the New Testament.The Old Testament comprises 39books written before the coming of JesusChrist. These books were written over aperiod of about 1000 years and areorganized into 5 sections: Law, History,Poetry, Major Prophets and MinorProphets.The New Testament comprises 27books written after the coming of JesusChrist. These books were written over amuch shorter period of time - less than100 years. The New Testament books arealso organized into 5 sections: Gospels,History, Letters from Paul, GeneralLetters and Prophecy.www.BibleGamesCentral.comCopyright 2019 Bible Games Central.All rights reserved.Old Testament1. Law2. History3. Poetry4. Major Prophets5. Minor ProphetsNew Testament6. Gospels7. History8. Letters from Paul9. General Letters10. ProphecyScan this QR code for fun, ready-to-playgames for home and church!www.BibleGamesCentral.com/shop/
Sections of the BibleOld Testament1. LawThis first section of the OldTestament, Law, comprises five books:Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, andDeuteronomy. It is also known as thePentateuch which simply means “fivebooks”. These are called the books of theLaw because they contain the laws andinstructions given by God, throughMoses, to the people of Israel.This first section of the OldTestament (and the Bible) begins withthe story of God creating the world andeverything in it. God made humans in Hisown image, to live in His presence andrule over all His creation. However, thefirst humans were not content to liveunder God’s rules. They chose to disobeyGod, resulting in a broken relationshipwith Him.www.BibleGamesCentral.comCopyright 2019 Bible Games Central.All rights reserved.Despite humans’ continual rebellion,God set in motion His plan to redeemthem and restore their relationship withHim. God chose Abraham and promisednot only to make him into a great nation,but also to bless all nations through him.This section includes many famousstories, such as Adam and Eve, Noah andthe Flood, The Call of Abraham, Josephthe Dreamer, The Birth of Moses, TheBurning Bush, The Ten Plagues, TheCrossing of the Red Sea, and The TenCommandments.Scan this QR code for fun, ready-to-playgames for home and church!www.BibleGamesCentral.com/shop/
Sections of the BibleOld Testament2. HistoryThe second section of the OldTestament, History, comprises 12 books:Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1-2 Samuel, 1-2Kings, 1-2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah,and Esther.This section begins with Israel’sconquest of Canaan, the land that Godhad promised to the Israelites throughAbraham. Because God was with theIsraelites, they enjoyed great victoriesover their enemies. They settled down inCanaan but did not completely conquerthe land as commanded by God. Instead,they turned away from God, followed theevil ways of the Canaanites andworshipped their idols. This rebellion andidolatry eventually led to their downfalland exile from the promised land.Nevertheless, God remained faithful toIsrael. After the exile, God allowed asmall remnant of Israelites to return tothe promised land to rebuild the templeand restore the city walls of Jerusalem.This section concludes with a mixture ofhope and disappointment. Afterreturning from exile, the peopleunfortunately continued to live indisobedience and idolatry.www.BibleGamesCentral.comCopyright 2019 Bible Games Central.All rights reserved.Included in this section are stories ofmany good and bad leaders of Israel.Joshua led the Israelites in their conquestof Canaan. After he died, God raisedvarious leaders, called judges, such asDeborah, Gideon, and Samson, to deliverIsrael in times of crisis. When Israelrejected God’s kingship and demanded ahuman king, God gave them King Saul,followed by King David and KingSolomon. After King Solomon died, civilwar broke out and Israel became dividedinto the kingdom of Israel in the northand the kingdom of Judah in the south.All the kings of the Northern Kingdomwere bad, with King Ahab being singledout for doing more to arouse the angerof the Lord than all the kings of Israelbefore him. Judah had its share of badkings as well but also had a few goodones, such as King Josiah, King Hezekiah,and King Jehoshaphat.Scan this QR code for fun, ready-to-playgames for home and church!www.BibleGamesCentral.com/shop/
Sections of the BibleOld Testament3. PoetryThe third section of the OldTestament, Poetry, comprises five books:Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, andSong of Solomon. This section issometimes referred to as the Books ofWisdom. These books are mostly writtenin the form of Hebrew poetry.While the first two sections of the OldTestament (Law and History) areprimarily about God and His relationshipwith the nation of Israel, this thirdsection deals more with God’s personalrelationship with humans as individuals.The books of Poetry speak of issues ofthe heart, portraying the thoughts andemotions of humans experiencingvarious situations in life.www.BibleGamesCentral.comCopyright 2019 Bible Games Central.All rights reserved.The book of Psalms, which makes upmore than half of this section, comprises150 ancient Hebrew worship songs.Included here are songs that express awide spectrum of emotions, such as joy,praise, and thanksgiving, as well assorrow, fear and anger. There are alsowisdom psalms which offer instructionsfor godly living and how to deal with reallife issues, as well as psalms aboutIsrael’s king and Messiah.The other four books in this sectiondeal with why good people sometimessuffer (Job), practical guidelines for dailyliving (Proverbs), the meaning of life(Ecclesiastes) and the joy of romanticlove (Song of Solomon).Scan this QR code for fun, ready-to-playgames for home and church!www.BibleGamesCentral.com/shop/
Sections of the BibleOld Testament4. Major ProphetsThe fourth section of the OldTestament, Major Prophets, comprisesfive books: Isaiah, Jeremiah,Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel.In the section of Old TestamentHistory, we read that after KingSolomon’s death, Israel split into theKingdom of Israel in the north and theKingdom of Judah in the south. Duringthis period, the people persisted in theirrebellion against God. God raisedprophets to deliver His divine messagesto His people and some of thesemessages are recorded in the bookscontained in the Major and MinorProphets sections. God pointed out thesins of His people: they worshipped idols,did injustice, and engaged in evilpractices. He called them to return toHim and to a life of holiness andrighteousness. God warned that hewould send judgment if they continuedin their wickedness and idolatry.However, the people ignored God’smessages, so He allowed both Israel andJudah to fall to foreign nations.www.BibleGamesCentral.comCopyright 2019 Bible Games Central.All rights reserved.After this, God continued to speak tothe people through His prophets. Godexplained that the people of Israel wereliving in exile as punishment for theirdisobedience, but He promised to deliverand restore them. Although thisdeliverance and restoration did takeplace partially through the return of asmall remnant of Israelites to Jerusalem,the prophets point to a much greaterfulfilment through Jesus Christ. Forinstance, Isaiah 9:6-7 speaks about thebirth of Jesus and His second coming.Scan this QR code for fun, ready-to-playgames for home and church!www.BibleGamesCentral.com/shop/
Sections of the BibleOld Testament5. Minor ProphetsThe final section of the OldTestament, Minor Prophets, comprises12 books: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah,Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk,Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, andMalachi.There is generally no differencebetween the Major and Minor Prophetssections of the Bible. The books of theMajor Prophets are simply longer andthe books of the Minor Prophets shorter,but they are all equally important.Each prophet had a differentbackground and style, and each spoke aspecific message at a specific time to aspecific audience. But they were all God’smessengers, sent by God to deliver Hisdivine messages to the people.www.BibleGamesCentral.comCopyright 2019 Bible Games Central.All rights reserved.These books were all written duringthe period stretching from the dividedkingdoms of Israel and Judah, throughthe time of the Babylonian exile, and thereturn to Jerusalem after the exile. Theyshare the common themes of calling outthe sins of the people, calling them torepentance and covenant faithfulness,warning them about God’s judgment,and the promise of God’s deliveranceand restoration.Similar to the Major Prophets, whilethe prophecies of the Minor Prophetsoften found fulfilment in events of thenear future, they also point to a muchgreater future fulfilment through JesusChrist. The last book of the OldTestament (Malachi) closes with acommand to remember the Law ofMoses, and a promise that God’s day ofjudgment was coming.Scan this QR code for fun, ready-to-playgames for home and church!www.BibleGamesCentral.com/shop/
Sections of the BibleNew Testament6. GospelsThe first section of the NewTestament, Gospels, comprises theGospels according to the fourevangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke, andJohn.“Gospel” means “good news” andrefers to the good news of what God hasdone in and through Jesus Christ. In theOld Testament, we read that regardlessof God’s relentless pursuit anddeliverance of His people, they persistedin their rebellion, wickedness, andidolatry. God had promised to makeAbraham into a great nation and ablessing to all nations. But by the end ofthe Old Testament, the remnant ofAbraham’s descendants, who hadreturned to the promised land after theexile, in no way resembled a great nationor a blessing to all nations.www.BibleGamesCentral.comCopyright 2019 Bible Games Central.All rights reserved.The Gospels go on to show how Jesusis the seed of Abraham and the ultimatefulfilment of God’s promise. Jesus is thelong-awaited Messiah, the perfect Son ofGod who came to dwell on Earth inhuman form as a descendant ofAbraham. Jesus took the penalty for allour sins and satisfied God’s judgment bydying on the cross. After his death, hewas resurrected on the third day.Because of what Jesus has done, peopleof all nations who put their faith in Himcan receive forgiveness of sin and arestored relationship with God.Included in the Gospels are storiesabout the life, death and resurrection ofJesus, as well as His ministry, miraclesand teachings. This section ends with theascension of Jesus into heaven. One day,Jesus will return in all His glory to executeGod’s final judgment and establish a newheaven and a new earth.Scan this QR code for fun, ready-to-playgames for home and church!www.BibleGamesCentral.com/shop/
Sections of the BibleNew Testament7. HistoryThe second section of the NewTestament, History, comprises only onebook: Acts.Acts is a sequel to the Gospel of Lukeand continues the story from Jesus’ascension into heaven. Although thebook is also known as "The Acts of theApostles”, this book is really about thework of the Holy Spirit through theapostles and the early Church. A smallgroup of Jesus’ followers were gatheredin Jerusalem on the day of Pentecostwhen the Holy Spirit, as promised byJesus, descended upon them, markingthe beginning of the Christian church.From there, by the power of the HolySpirit, the church grew rapidly, spreadingfrom “Jerusalem, and in all Judea andSamaria, and to the ends of the earth.”(Acts 1:8)www.BibleGamesCentral.comCopyright 2019 Bible Games Central.All rights reserved.The two prominent leaders used bythe Holy Spirit in the book of Acts werethe apostles Peter and Paul. ApostlePeter was the leader among the JewishChristians in Jerusalem, while ApostlePaul was the key missionary to travelacross the Roman empire to bring theGospel to the Gentiles, fulfilling God’spromise to make Abraham a blessing toall nations.Famous stories in this book includethe descent of the Holy Spirit on the dayof Pentecost, the conversion of ApostlePaul, the raising of Tabitha from the deadby Apostle Peter, the Jerusalem Counciland Apostle Paul’s various missionaryjourneys.Scan this QR code for fun, ready-to-playgames for home and church!www.BibleGamesCentral.com/shop/
Sections of the BibleNew Testament8. Letters from PaulThe third section ofthe New Testament,Letters from Paul,comprises 13 books:Romans, 1 and 2Corinthians, Galatians,Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and2 Thessalonians,1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, andPhilemon. These books, which are alsocalled letters or epistles, were all writtenby the Apostle Paul.Together with the eight generalletters in the next section, epistlesaccount for 21 out of 27 books of theNew Testament. Epistles are importantbecause they were written from aperspective after the death, resurrection,and ascension of Jesus, and after theoutpouring of the Holy Spirit onPentecost. While the Gospels focus onthe life and ministry of Jesus, the epistlesdwell more deeply on the significanceand implications of Jesus’ death andresurrection. They help to explain thefulfillment of God's promises recorded inthe Gospels and the Old Testament.www.BibleGamesCentral.comCopyright 2019 Bible Games Central.All rights reserved.The first nine letters in this sectionare addressed to churches and theremaining four to individuals. Four ofPaul’s letters (Ephesians, Philippians,Colossians, and Philemon) are known asprison epistles because they werewritten when Paul was under housearrest in Rome. Three letters (1 and 2Timothy and Titus) are known as pastoralepistles because they were written toTimothy and Titus to guide them in theirpastoral duties as they led theirchurches.Even though Apostle Paul wrotethese letters to specific audiences, andsometimes in response to specific issues,they remain relevant to us today. Forinstance, the book of Romans gives adetailed explanation of the Gospel andhow we ought to respond to it. Otherbooks deal with practical issues such ashow the church should function, spiritualgifts, qualifications of church leaders, therole of women in ministry, and therelationship between law and grace.Scan this QR code for fun, ready-to-playgames for home and church!www.BibleGamesCentral.com/shop/
Sections of the BibleNew Testament9. General LettersThe fourth section of the NewTestament, General Letters, compriseseight books: Hebrews, James, 1 and 2Peter, 1, 2, and 3 John, and Jude. Theseare also known as General or UniversalEpistles.These letters are termed “general”because they were neither written byApostle Paul nor written for a specificaudience. While the letters written byApostle Paul were named after theaddressees, these general letters (exceptfor the book of Hebrews) were namedafter their authors.The writer and recipient of the bookof Hebrews are unknown. It was writtenduring a period of trial, to encourage thebelievers about the superiority of Jesusover the Old Testament system.www.BibleGamesCentral.comCopyright 2019 Bible Games Central.All rights reserved.The book of James exposesdishonorable behavior and remindsreaders that true faith ought to bedemonstrated through actions. 1 Peterwas written to comfort and encouragethose facing persecution, while 2 Peterwarns about falling prey to falseteachers. 1 John teaches that trueChristians ought to obey God’scommands by loving others; 2 Johnwarns against showing hospitality tofalse teachers; and 3 John affirms thesupport of Christian missionaries. Thebook of Jude warns about pretenderswho have infiltrated the church andcontinued to live immoral lives.Scan this QR code for fun, ready-to-playgames for home and church!www.BibleGamesCentral.com/shop/
Sections of the BibleNew Testament10. ProphecyThe final section of the NewTestament, Prophecy, comprises onlyone book: Revelation. This is the lastbook of the Bible.Revelation is written in apocalypticliterary style that is highly symbolic,which makes it distinct from all the otherNew Testament books. The writer, simplyidentified as John, was given a series ofvisions and instructed to “write on ascroll what you see and send it to theseven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna,Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphiaand Laodicea.” (Revelation 1:11)The visions recorded in the book ofRevelation may seem strange, and theletter may be addressed to the sevenchurches. But, together, with the Gospelsand references to the Old Testament,they reveal God’s message that is just asrelevant to us today as it was to them.www.BibleGamesCentral.comCopyright 2019 Bible Games Central.All rights reserved.God knows and judges our thoughtsand our actions. He commends the goodand condemns the bad. He warns us torepent of our sins and makes promisesto those who remain faithful to Him untilthe end.The book of Revelation tells us howGod’s plans for the restoration of thehuman race will finally come into fruition.Jesus has, by His sacrificial death,overcome all evil and paid the ransomfor our sins. He will return one day asKing to pronounce judgment andpunishment over all evil, and to establishthe new heaven and earth. Only truefollowers of Jesus will emerge victoriousand inherit the new heaven and earth.They can look forward to living forever asGod’s children, in God’s presence, in aperfect world without sin and death. Thisis the ultimate fulfilment of God’spromise to Abraham.Scan this QR code for fun, ready-to-playgames for home and church!www.BibleGamesCentral.com/shop/
and the promise of God’s deliverance and restoration. Similar to the Major Prophets, while the prophecies of the Minor Prophets often found fulfilment in events of the near future, they also point to a much greater future fulfilment through Jesus Christ. The last book of the Old Testame
