Have you ever looked at the table of contents in your Bible and just thought, now why in the world is it ordered like that? Many people think that since Genesis is creation and Revelation is the end, then the Bible must be laid out chronologically, but I’m afraid that you couldn’t be more wrong. The books of the Bible are not chronological and at sometimes the chapters in a book don’t tell the story chronologically. The books of the Bible are primarily organized by the content or type of book.
The Old Testament has three sections:
- Historical: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I & II Samuel, I & II Kings, I & II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther
- Poetic: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes
- Prophetic: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
The New Testament also has three sections:
- Historical: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Acts
- Epistles: Romans, I & II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I & II Thessalonians, I & II Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, I & II Peter, I & II & III John, Jude
- Prophetic: Revelation
Some people like to separate the four Gospels and Acts, but they are all historical and Jesus has got a line in all five. Of course you also have the apocryphal books that are added in the Catholic Bible and Eastern Orthodox Bibles. There are some new fancy Bibles out there that are laid out chronologically.
While we are at it, why is it called “Bible” anyway? What does that mean? The word Bible is the English translation of the Greek word Biblia which means “books”. So anticlimactically “the Bible” just simply means “the Book”. Referring to it as “the Bible” probably didn’t come around until Wickliffe translated the first one into English. However calling it “the Bible” just in other languages can be traced back to the fifth century.
So in conclusion, are we saying that God needs better organizational skills and more creative naming techniques? I’m not saying that, are you……sinner