Bible Survey
Bibleway Christian Life Centre

A Panoramic View of the Bible
(panoramic means overall)

A. The Bible is ONE book.
B. The Bible contains 66 books.
C. The Bible has ONE author.
D. The Bible has at least 44 writers.
E. The Bible tells ONE story.
F. The Bible contains many stories.
G. The theme of the Bible is Christ.
H. The story the Bible tells is the story of God saving man through Christ.

The Divisions of the Bible

A. The Bible has TWO major divisions

a) The Old Testament (39 books)
b) The New Testament (27 books)

B. The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew.
C. The New Testament was originally written in Greek.

Old Testament Divisions

A. The Law (Torah) – Genesis to Deuteronomy: 5 books
B. The Historical books – Joshua to Esther: 12 books
C. The Poetic books Job – Song of Solomon: 5 books
D. The Prophetic books – Isaiah to Malachi (known as The Prophets): 17 books

New Testament Divisions

A. The Gospels – biographic: 4 books
B. The Acts of the Apostles – historic: 1 book
C. The Epistles – letters to Christian churches: 21 books
D. The Revelation – prophetic: 1 book

Other Important Facts

A. The time period the Bible covers is from the beginning to the end of time.
B. The Bible progressively unfolds truth.
C. The Bible has a perfect harmony of doctrine.
D. The Bible is the Inspired Word of God (Jn. 17:17, 12:48, Rev. 20:12-15, 22:18-19, 2 Pet. 1:19-21, 2 Tim. 3:16)

Practical Application of the Lesson

Knowing about the Bible will do you no good at all unless you regularly feed upon its marvelous light. This can only be done by daily Bible reading. How much of the Bible you read daily will depend very much on how much of a reader you are. However, we recommend that you read not less than one chapter a day. It is important that you start your reading with the Gospels, so that you may develop a better picture of your Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Below, is a list of the many wonderful and exciting stories of the Bible and where they can be found in your Bible. Try your best to read at least one of these stories per week as well.

1. Garden of Eden (Gen. 2,3)
2. Cain and Abel (Gen. 4)
3. Noah’s Ark (Gen. 6-8)
4. The Destruction of Sodom (Gen. 18)
5. Isaac on the altar (Gen. 22)
6. The story of Joseph (Gen. 37,39,47)
7. The babe in a Basket (Ex. 2)
8. Crossing the Red Sea (Ex. 14)
9. The two spies (Jos. 2)
10. The fall of Jericho (Jos. 6)
11. The taking of Ai (Jos. 7,8)
12. Gideon the judge (Jud. 6,7)
13. The story of Samson (Jud. 13-16)
14. Ruth the Moabitess (Ruth)
15. The boy Samuel (1 Sam. 1-3)
16. Jonathan & armor-bearer (1 Sam 14)
17. David & the giant (1 Sam. 17)
18. Disobedient prophet (1 King 13)
19. Elijah (1 King 17:19:21, 2 Kings 1,2)
20. Elisha (1 Kings 19:21, 2 Kings 2-8)
21. The Jewish maid (2 Kings 5)
22. The wicked mother (1 Kings 2)
23. Queen Esther (Esther)
24. A temperance band (Jer. 35)
25. President Daniel (Dan. 1-7)
26. The lions’ den (Dan. 6)
27. The birth of Jesus (Matt 2,Lk. 2)
28. Jesus tempted (Matt. 4)
29. Through the roof (Mk. 2)
30. A girl raised from the dead (Mk. 5)
31. Jesus walking on the sea (Matt. 14)
32. John the Baptist beheaded (Mk. 6)
33. The Good Samaritan (Lk. 10)
34. The prodigal son (Lk. 15)
35. The rich man and Lazarus (Lk. 16)
36. Jesus at a wedding (Jn. 2)
37. A woman at the well (Jn. 4)
38. A blind man given sight (Jn. 9)
39. A dead man brought to life (Jn. 11)
40. Last days of Christ (Matt. 26-27)
41. Resurrection of Jesus (Jn. 20)
42. Death from a lie (Acts 5)
43. Conversion of Saul (Acts 9)
44. Conversion of Cornelius (Acts 10)
45. Delivered from prison (Acts 12)
46. A jail converted (Acts 16)
47. Paul’s shipwreck (Acts 27,28)
48. Heaven (Rev. 21,22)

Bible Survey

1. How many books does the Bible contain? _________________
2. Approximately how many people wrote the Bible? ________________
3. What is the theme of the Bible? ______________________
4. What are the 2 major divisions of the Bible?

a) The____________Testament
b) and the____________Testament

5. How many books are there in the Old Testament? ________________________
6. In what language was the New Testament originally written? _____________________
7. How many books are there in the New Testament? ___________________
8. In what language was the Old Testament originally written? _______________________
9. Into how many sections is the Old Testament divided up? ________________________
10. Please name the 4 divisions of the New Testament. ______________________________
11. Does the Bible in any way contradict itself? ________________________

This article ‘Bible Survey’ was excerpted from Milk of the Word: Discipleship Manual by Bibleway Christian Life Centre. 1993. It may be used for study & research purposes only.

This article may not be written by an Apostolic author, but it contains many excellent principles and concepts that can be adapted to most churches. As the old saying goes ‘Eat the meat. Throw away the bones.’