Aaron - Understanding your Bible in 15 minutes a day

2012 by Daryl Aaron

Published by Bethany House Publishers

11400 Hampshire Avenue South

Bloomington, Minnesota 55438

www.bethanyhouse.com

Bethany House Publishers is a division of

Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan

www.bakerpublishinggroup.com

Ebook edition created 2012

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

ISBN 978-1-4412-7010-8

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Use of italics for emphasis in Scripture quotations is the authors.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Scripture marked niv 1984 is taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. www.zondervan.com

Scripture quotations marked nasb are from the New American Standard Bible, copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org

Scripture quotations marked net are from the NET BIBLE, copyright 2003 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. www.netbible.com. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked kjv are from the King James Version of the Bible.

The internet addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers in this book are accurate at the time of publication. They are provided as a resource. Baker Publishing Group does not endorse them or vouch for their content or permanence.

Cover design by Eric Walljasper

This book is dedicated to my parents,
Ralph and Ruth Aaron, from whom I have received
a precious spiritual heritage, including a love
for the Word of God and the God of the Word,
for which I will be forever grateful.

W hy would anyone want to read the Bible? Its old, its huge, and sometimes its really hard to understand. On the other hand, it makes several amazing and intriguing claims. It claims to be the Word of God (such as in 1 Thessalonians 2:13). It claims to be truth (John 17:17). It claims to be alive and active (Hebrews 4:12); living and enduring (1 Peter 1:23). If these claims are valid, the question should be: Who wouldnt want to read the Bible?

But regardless of these claims, the Bible is still old, big, and challenging, and therefore it is a daunting book to dive into and start reading. It is my hope that the book youre holding will aid you in overcoming some of these obstacles.

We know that most peoples schedules are tight, and we certainly dont want to take away from time you would spend reading the Bible itself. Therefore, weve organized this book into forty short chapters that can easily be read in only fifteen minutes each. Youll be amazed how much you can learn in such a short amount of time! Each chapter answers a single question, such as Who wrote the New Testament? or How is the Old Testament organized? Ive tried to keep the style friendly and light, such as by including Fun Facts along the way.

The chapters cover a broad spectrum of topics designed for everyone from those who have never picked up a Bible to more seasoned readers, looking for an enjoyable refresher. Several of the chapters revolve around the fact that the Bible is historical literature. That means the individual books that make up the Bible were written by a variety of authors a long time ago. They were written for specific people in a specific time and place. Everything we can learn about these people and places will help us understand these books better, so we will discuss issues of authorship, audience, and historical and geographical settings in order to get our bearings.

The Bible is also made up of a variety of types of literatureprose, poetry, and more. We will examine these genres and briefly summarize what can be found in each type of literature or section of the Bible.

We also must not forget that this ancient literature has survived for thousands of years and found its way into our culture and language. How did that happen? We will look at the original languages of the Bible, how those languages were translated into other languages (specifically English), and why certain books made it into the Old and New Testaments and why others did not.

As mentioned above, the Bible can be challenging. But if it really is the Word of God, then we should not expect it to be easy to understand, any more than God himself is easy to understand. But we will survey some basic methods and principles that can be used by any reader in order to better understand the Bible and what it means.

We will also investigate some of the claims mentioned above. Is there good evidence within the Bible as well as outside the Bible that it really is the Word of God, that it really is true and trustworthy, and that it really is dynamic and life-changing? And if it really is life-changing, how can we use it to change our lives for the better? We will be introduced to some ways to get the Word of God into us so that it can do what God wants it to (for example, Bible reading schedules, memorization, and meditation).

I have written this book from an evangelical perspective. That means I am convinced of and committed to basic ideas such as these: The Bible is what it claims to bethe very Word of God, without error, completely true and trustworthy; Jesus Christ is who he claimed to befully and eternally God as well as fully human; Jesus Christ really did die historically and physically, really was resurrected historically and physically, and he really is coming back to earth physically and visibly; and finally, faith in Jesus Christ is the only way for sinners like all of us to be accepted by God and enjoy his presence forever.

Because this is a book about the Bible, I have placed a lot of biblical texts into each chapter. Some of the more important ones are quoted. Unless otherwise noted, these quotations are from the New International Version 2011. For the most part, however, biblical references are simply cited to support or illustrate the points of discussion in each chapter. To gain the greatest benefit from this book, I would encourage you to look up these references, read them, and consider how they support the discussion.

It is my hope that this book will encourage and help you get into the Bookthe Bible, the Word of Godin order to get to know its author, God himself, who, above all things, is worthy to be known.