The Greatest Bible Mistake!

The greatest mistake Bible publishers and teachers have made is separating the Bible into the old testament, consisting of 39 books, and the new testament, consisting of 27 books.

However, the old testament is not 39 books of the Bible, but it is the way the Jewish people related to God under the law of Moses.

The new testament is not 27 books of the Bible, but it is the way all people are able to relate to God through the grace of Jesus.

The old testament law of Moses was established in Exodus 24:8 when animals were sacrificed.

The old testament was in effect when Jesus was born and while he lived.

During this time, God's forgiveness was continual under the animal sacrificial system of the law of Moses.

Additionally, forgiveness was conditional based upon one person forgiving another person.

Jesus himself observed the law of Moses (he did not sacrifice animals for forgiveness because he was without sin) and taught others to do the same.

He taught about continual forgiveness, such as in the Lord's Prayer and his parable about forgiving 70 x 7.

This was all done under the old testament of law and is recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

However when Jesus died on the cross, the old testament law ended and the new testament of grace began.

Forgiveness was now complete through the one-time sacrifice of Jesus for all sins, for all people, and for all time.

This forgiveness is received by faith (Acts 26:18; 13:38-39).

Historically, the transition from law to grace began to take place as recorded in Acts.

The full transition happened when Jesus revealed to Paul the fullness of God's grace (Acts 26:15-28; 20:24; Galatians 1:11-12; Ephesians 1:1-6).

As long as Bible publishers and teachers continue to promote the old and new testaments as books of the Bible, people will continually misunderstand what the old and new testaments are.

Furthermore, they will continue to misunderstand and misapply the Bible.

Rather than inaccurately categorizing the Bible into a set of 39 books and 27 books, Bible publishers need to group all the books together as 66 books.

Also, Bible publishers and teachers need to stop referring to the old and new testaments as books of the Bible.

The first 39 books of the Bible are the Jewish (Hebrew) Scriptures, recording the origins of the earth and humanity, as well as explaining the origins of the nations and the history of the nation of Israel.

The prophets of the Jewish Scriptures foretell of a Messiah/Christ to come from the nation of Israel who will save the nations of the world.

This Messiah would be a Savior-King (Christ) who would be born in Bethlehem.

We know the Messiah as Jesus.

The final 27 books of the Bible record the birth, life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus.

Many of these books, as well as some of the books of the Jewish prophets, foretell of Jesus returning to establish justice and righteousness on earth.

Together, the 66 books of the Bible tell one story...the story of God restoring the earth to its original condition and his plan to reconcile the people of the world to himself through Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:18-21).

The history of God working out this story is recorded in the Bible.

The Bible is the collection of 66 historical books and letters written that record this story.

This story includes the old testament of law and the new testament of grace.

The old testament is the old way the Jewish people related to God based upon law.

It was in effect until Jesus died on the cross.

The new testament is the new way all people are able to relate to God based upon the grace of Jesus when he died for our sins (Hebrews 2:9).

We enter into this grace-based, new testament relationship with God when we place our faith in Jesus for salvation.

Read more about God’s story of grace in Brad’s book: The Story of God’s Grace