Gentlemen, This Is A Football

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By C. Austin Tucker | January 19, 2011 | Category Introduction To The Bible

Many years ago, football coach Vince Lombardi had a unique way of beginning the first meeting of each season. He would walk to the front of the room with football in hand and say, “Gentlemen, this is a football.” Of course, the coach wasn’t telling them anything they didn’t know.  What he did was communicate that they would start with the basics before proceeding to the more complex. He would not assume that these athletes knew what a football was.  Some of the players were rookies, some were seasoned pros; nevertheless, he would start at the beginning.

In this introductory series, we will follow the great coach’s example. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a Bible.  

The word Bible comes from the Greek word Biblos, which simply means book.  It consists of 66 individual books written over a period of sixteen centuries by approximately thirty-five authors. Nevertheless, it tells one story and presents one consistent message. While the order of the books is loosely chronological, they are primarily arranged by literary type or author.

Its 66 Books are divided into two sections known as the Old and New Testaments.  Testament would be better translated covenant, which is a contract or agreement between two parties.  A covenant initiated by God always involved a promise from God to man. Thus the divisions of the Bible are more accurately called the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.

In the Old Testament God introduced himself to a group of people, took them as his own, and made them a great nation.  He led them, taught them, and guided them, giving them glimpses of what was to come.  In the New Testament, we are introduced to the mysterious person we’ve heard so much about in the Old Testament, Jesus Christ. The rest of the New Testament details the birth of the church and follows his apostles as they spread the good news throughout the world.

The Old Testament makes promises that the New Testament fulfills. The Old Testament points to Christ, the New Testament reveals him. The Old Testament is about a people (the nation of Israel), the New Testament is about a person (Jesus Christ).

In part two, we will delve into the contents of the Old Testament.  Until then, happy reading!

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