1.2 Content

New Testament

The Bible, or better the Old Testament, opens with the famous sentence from Genesis "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth". It focuses on Adam and Eve and their first descendants. Later on Abraham comes in the forefront. This friend of God is chosen to be the father of a special people dear to the Lord. These same people are asked to obey to God and to be faithful to Him. The story then goes on to his son Isaac, to his grandson Jacob, to his twelve great-grandsons and their twelve tribes, and then to Moses. Under his leadership, the tribes, having received the Revelation at Mount Sinai and the Law, became united as the holy people of Israel. They lived in their own land, and under Saul, David and Solomom, in a united kingdom. The Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah were finally destroyed by their powerful neighbours. However the people of God did not disappear. On the opposite they conserved their identity under the leadership of their religious authorities. For five hundred years they lived under different masters: Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, Greece, Rome. The last transformation of Abraham's heirs took place with the arrival of Christ when part of the people of God became the community of the Christian Church.

It is generally admitted that the Bible is presenting a good historical record of the time it was written. Of course the authors gave their own vision of the events that took place in their area and time. Sometimes they were wrong or misinformed, but they aimed to report the truth. The purpose of the authors of the Old Testament is to record the events of their time and the message God transmitted to his people. As such the Old Testament is an accurate record of human experience. On the other hand the New Testament tells us how God spoke to his children through His Son.