In short, the Bible has two parts, the Old Testament and the New Testament, which are divided into the year of Jesus’ birth. The Old Testament (written before the Lord’s birth) has thirty-nine books, and the New Testament (written after the Lord’s birth) has twenty-seven books, for a total of sixty-six books. In terms of linguistic use, the Old Testament is basically written in Hebrew (and a very small amount of Aramaic), and the New Testament is written in Ancient Greece (technically speaking, called New Testament Greece, which is heavily influenced by Semitic languages). In terms of the writing community, there are 2 to 30 authors in the Old Testament and 10 in the New Testament. It is generally believed that the former was written in more than 1,000 years, while the latter took about 5 or 60 years. On the surface, the Old Testament is mainly about God’s creation of the heavens and the earth, the history of the Hebrews, and the work of the Father in it. The New Testament is an account of the deeds of My Son, Jesus Christ, the development of the church in the early Common Era, the doctrine of Christianity, and revelation about the end times. The Old Testament proclaims God’s plan for the redemption of mankind, and the New Testament records the fulfillment of that plan, which is the coming of Jesus Christ into the world to save sinners. The New Testament and the Old Testament corroborate each other in harmony with each other. The Old Testament is the foundation of the New Covenant, and the New Covenant is the fruit of the Old Testament.
“Covenant” means to contract into a contract. This concept that everyone uses today has its roots in the relationship between ancient Israel and God. God uses the “covenant” to carry out his plan of governing and redeeming mankind, showing his love and faithfulness to mankind. The Old Testament is the basis for New Testament doctrines and events. The Bible is a progressive revelation. If you skip the first half of any good book and try to read it all, you will have a hard time understanding the characters, plot and ending. In the same way, the New Testament can only be fully understood when viewed as a series of events, people, laws, sacrificial systems, covenants, and Old Testament promises. This is why the Old and New Testaments are clearly agreed to be one book.
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