Translations

Our Bible as we have it now is written in English, but the Old Testament and the Apocrypha were first written in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek.  Later they were put into Latin by St Jerome and then, about 400 years ago, they were translated into English.  In the Prayer Book you will notice that the headings of the Psalms and Canticles are still in Latin.  So we still speak of the Magnificat, which is a Latin word meaning ‘magnifies’.

The Word of God

Many other writers wrote accounts of Our Lord and several bishops wrote letters to different Christian congregations, but the Church chose the writings of the New Testament from them all and added these to the Books of the Old Testament and the Apocrypha as being the Word of God.  And because the Bible is the Word of God, we should always treat it and speak of it with reverence and honour.

SUMMARY

1. The Bible contains different books written by different people.  The Old Testament and the Apocrypha tell how God prepared the Jews for the coming of Jesus and contain history, poetry, speeches, laws and wise sayings.  They were first written in Hebrew.

2. The New Testament, which was first written in Greek, contains four Gospels or Lives of Our Lord, a history of the early years of the Church, several letters and a book of visions.  The Church chose all of these from many others.

3. The two Testaments and the Apocrypha together form the Bible and are the Word of God, and for this reason we should always treat it and speak of it with reverence and honour.