THE HOLY BIBLE

Audio:  by Fred R. Coulter

The Holy Bible is the Word of God. God directly inspired His chosen servants by the power His Holy Spirit to record the Scriptures for all mankind. The Holy Bible consists of both the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament was written in the Hebrew language and preserved by the Massorites, the Levites who were appointed by Ezra as the official guardians of the Old Testament. The New Testament was written and preserved in the Koine Greek language by the original apostles of Jesus Christ. The apostle John completed the New Testament just before his death, writing the book of Revelation as the final book of the Bible. God has preserved the New Testament text through the Greek-speaking church. Called the Byzantine text, it was the official text of the Greek-speaking church after the days of the apostles, from 312-1453 AD. This text, also known as The Stephens Text of 1550, was used to translate the New Testament into English for the King James Version in 1611.

The Holy Bible contains vital spiritual knowledge revealed by God which man cannot discover for himself. It also records the essential outline of history from the beginning of creation to Abraham, from Abraham to the birth of Jesus Christ, and from the birth of Jesus Christ to the end of the apostolic era in approximately 100 AD. The book of Revelation reveals major events prophesied to take place from the end of the apostolic era to the return of Jesus Christ and the establishment of the kingdom of God.

The Bible is the very foundation of knowledge, imparting understanding of salvation through Jesus Christ and showing mankind how to live God's way of life in both the letter and the spirit of His law. True Christianity is based on the entire Word of God as it applies to the individual Christian and to the church.