A return to the faith of our ancestors is accompanied by filling gaps in knowledge of the basic terms and provisions of our Orthodox faith. How is the bible different from the gospel? This question took me by surprise and I didn't know the right answer. The Gospel is often sold as a separate booklet, and in comparison with the Bible it looks modest. But if you open the first pages of the Gospel, it becomes clear: there we're talking about about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Let's look at the difference between the old and new testaments that make up the bible.

What is the Old Testament about? In the book of Genesis we read about God’s creation of the universe; then the book tells about the life of the Jewish people during the time of Egyptian slavery, wandering through the desert and receiving the Ten Commandments by the people. It is these 10 commandments that constitute the essence of the old (old) covenant of God with the people of Israel.

The Bible was written over one and a half millennia by different authors. The main languages ​​of writing are Hebrew and Aramaic. How was the text of the Bible written? It is believed that all the texts of the holy scriptures were inspired by God. That is, a person only wrote down what he felt in his heart and thoughts under the guidance of God.

The Old Testament can be perceived as an artistic biography and as a divinely inspired teaching, a testimony to the miracles and power of God.

Centuries pass before us in the description of biblical stories, we read the words of wisdom of Solomon and the psalms of David, full of internal contradiction. The messages of the prophets evoke horror and despair, and the endless wars of the Jews for the Promised Land lead to confusion.

But all this already belongs to the past, since after Jesus Christ a new covenant was concluded. This is a covenant of love and trust between God and the peoples of the earth. This covenant reveals new story humanity, full of joyful hopes and gratitude for the miraculous salvation from punishment for sins.

New Testament and Gospel

The New Testament is a collection of 27 books that tell about the times of the life of Jesus Christ. It includes 4 gospels, 21 epistles of the apostles, the acts of the apostles and the Apocalypse. But the central event of the New Testament is precisely the gospel - the good news of salvation.

The Gospel is translated from Greek as gospel. It brings the good news of the savior of the world to the peoples of the earth. These are the 4 messages of the evangelists:

  • Luke;
  • Matthew;
  • Brand;
  • John.

The gospels describe the life of Jesus Christ, his ministry, death on the cross and resurrection. Further in the New Testament we find 27 letters of the apostles (disciples of Jesus). The New Testament also describes the acts of the apostles, for which Christ himself blessed them.

The Acts of the Apostles describes the events associated with the birth of the Church of Christ. Authorship is attributed to Saint Luke. This is a detailed chronological description of all the actions to create the church, and the acts also indicate the exact geographical coordinates of the movement of the apostles.

The letters of the apostles contain answers to practical questions on the organization of the life of the Christian community, the rules of behavior of Christians and the interpretation of the teachings of Christ. The first Christians were Jews, so they did not understand the difference between the old and new covenants of God with people.

The main message of the gospel is the gospel of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which brings salvation to the whole world.

The Book of the Apocalypse records the visions of the holy Apostle John, which God revealed to him. It shows the main fragments of the end of times, the Last Judgment of sinners. God showed people that his son Christ would administer judgment. This is the most mystical of all the pages of the New Testament, since all information is encrypted in symbols. For a long time, the church fathers were afraid to include the Revelation of John into the canon precisely because of the symbolism of the visions.

The New Testament, unlike the Old Testament, was written in ancient Greek. The evangelists who wrote the 4 gospels lived in the 1st century of the new chronology. The gospel texts date back to around 41 AD.

To accurately answer the question of what is the difference between the Bible and the gospel, you need to turn to the contents of these books. Christians believe that the gospel is an integral part of the bible and tells about the life of Jesus Christ and his disciples. But the Jews do not recognize the new covenant; for them it is still valid old testament with God blessing. The Old Testament in Hebrew is called the Torah (Pentateuch).

What is the difference between the Bible and the Gospel in Orthodoxy:

  • the gospel is an integral part of the bible and is included in the New Testament;
  • the gospel was written much later than the texts of the bible;
  • the bible tells about the creation of the earth and the first man, the gospel tells about the savior of the world Jesus Christ;
  • authors biblical stories are not known, the gospel was written by 4 evangelists.

Different interpretations and understandings of the Gospel texts led to a split between Christians and the formation of many denominations. Therefore, it is necessary to read and interpret the Gospel under the guidance of the church fathers, so as not to fall away from the faith.

Simply knowing what the gospel and the bible are does not give a person anything. These are not literary texts and are not historical description lives of people of the past. The Bible is a guide to action, the beginning of a change in life and worldview, a path to salvation about eternal doom and darkness.

For our readers: what is the bible and the gospel? With detailed description from various sources.

Bible- this book, which became the basis of several world religions, such as Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Scripture passages have been translated into 2,062 languages, representing 95 percent of the world's languages, with the entire text available in 337 languages.

The Bible has influenced the lifestyle and worldview of people from all over the world. And it doesn’t matter whether you believe in God or not, but as an educated person, you should know what the book is, on the texts of which the laws of morality and philanthropy are based.

The word Bible itself is translated from ancient Greek as “books” and is a collection of texts by different authors written in different languages and in different time with the assistance of God's Spirit and by His inspiration. These works formed the basis of the dogma of many religions and are mostly considered canonical. Read more:

Word " gospel" means "evangelism." The Gospel texts describe the life of Jesus Christ on earth, His deeds and teachings, His crucifixion and resurrection. The Gospel is part of the Bible, or rather the New Testament.

Structure

The Bible consists of the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament includes 50 scriptures, of which only 38 Orthodox Church recognizes as divinely inspired, that is, canonical. Among the twenty-seven books of the New Testament are four Gospels, 21 Apostolic Epistles and the Acts of the Apostles.

The Gospel consists of four canonical texts, with the Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke being called synoptic, and the fourth Gospel of John was written somewhat later and is fundamentally different from the others, but there is an assumption that it was based on an even more ancient text.

Writing language

The Bible was written by different people over more than 1600 years, and, therefore, it combines texts in different languages. The Old Testament is predominantly written in Hebrew, but there are also writings in Aramaic. The New Testament was written primarily in ancient Greek.

The Gospel is written in Greek. However, one should not confuse that Greek not only with modern language, but also with the one on which the best works of antiquity were written. This language was close to the ancient Attic dialect and was called the “Koine dialect.”

Time of writing

In fact, today it is difficult to determine not only the decade, but also the century of writing of the Holy Books.

Thus, the earliest manuscripts of the Gospel date back to the second or third centuries AD, but there is evidence that the evangelists, whose names appear under the texts, lived in the first century. There is no evidence that the manuscripts were written at this time, except for a few quotations in texts dating from the late first to early second centuries.

With the Bible the question is simpler. It is believed that the Old Testament was written in the period from 1513 BC to 443 BC, and the New Testament from 41 AD to 98 AD. Thus, to write this great book it took not just one year or a decade, but more than one and a half thousand years.

A believer, without hesitation, will answer that “The Bible is the word of God.” It turns out that the author is the Lord God himself. Then where does the Bible include, say, the Wisdom of Solomon or the Book of Job? It turns out there is more than one author? The Bible is supposed to have been written simple people: philosophers, farmers, soldiers and shepherds, doctors and even kings. But these people had a special inspiration from God. They did not express their own thoughts, but simply held a pencil in their hands while the Lord moved their hand. And yet, each text has its own writing style, one feels that they belong different people. Undoubtedly, they can be called authors, but still they had God himself as a co-author.

Authorship of the Gospel for a long time no one doubted it. It was believed that the texts were written by four Evangelists, whose names are known to everyone: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. In fact, they cannot be called authors with complete certainty. What is known for certain is that all the actions described in these texts did not take place with the personal testimony of the evangelists. Most likely, this is a collection of so-called “oral literature”, told by people whose names will forever remain a secret. This is not the final point. Research in this area continues, but today many clergy have preferred to tell parishioners that the Gospel was written by unknown authors.

Differences between the Bible and the Gospel

  1. The Gospel is an integral part of the Bible and refers to the texts of the New Testament.
  2. The Bible is an earlier scripture, begun in the 15th century BC and spanning 1600 years.
  3. The Gospel describes only the life of Jesus Christ on earth and His ascension to heaven; the Bible, in addition, tells about the creation of the world, about the participation of the Lord God in the life of the Jews, teaches us to bear responsibility for each of our actions, etc.
  4. The Bible includes texts in different languages. The Gospel is written in ancient Greek.
  5. The authors of the Bible are considered to be divinely inspired ordinary people; the authorship of the Gospel is controversial, although not so long ago it was attributed to the four evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Read more:

ACCORDING TO THE ORTHODOX PRESS

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The return to the faith of our ancestors is accompanied by filling in the gaps in knowledge of the basic terms and provisions of our Orthodox faith. How is the bible different from the gospel? This question took me by surprise and I didn't know the right answer. The Gospel is often sold as a separate booklet, and in comparison with the Bible it looks modest. But if you open the first pages of the gospel, it becomes clear: it talks about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Let's look at the difference between the old and new testaments that make up the bible.

Old Testament

What is the Old Testament about? In the book of Genesis we read about God’s creation of the universe; then the book tells about the life of the Jewish people during the time of Egyptian slavery, wandering through the desert and receiving the Ten Commandments by the people. It is these 10 commandments that constitute the essence of the old (old) covenant of God with the people of Israel.

The Bible was written over one and a half millennia by different authors. The main languages ​​of writing are Hebrew and Aramaic. How was the text of the Bible written? It is believed that all the texts of the holy scriptures were inspired by God. That is, a person only wrote down what he felt in his heart and thoughts under the guidance of God.

The Old Testament can be perceived as an artistic biography and as a divinely inspired teaching, a testimony to the miracles and power of God.

Centuries pass before us in the description of biblical stories, we read the words of wisdom of Solomon and the psalms of David, full of internal contradiction. The messages of the prophets evoke horror and despair, and the endless wars of the Jews for the Promised Land lead to confusion.

But all this already belongs to the past, since after Jesus Christ a new covenant was concluded. This is a covenant of love and trust between God and the peoples of the earth. This covenant opens a new history of mankind, full of joyful hopes and gratitude for miraculous salvation from the punishments for sins.

New Testament and Gospel

The New Testament is a collection of 27 books that tell about the times of the life of Jesus Christ. It includes 4 gospels, 21 epistles of the apostles, the acts of the apostles and the Apocalypse. But the central event of the New Testament is precisely the gospel - the good news of salvation.

The Gospel is translated from Greek as gospel. It brings the good news of the savior of the world to the peoples of the earth. These are the 4 messages of the evangelists:

  • Luke;
  • Matthew;
  • Brand;
  • John.

The gospels describe the life of Jesus Christ, his ministry, death on the cross and resurrection. Further in the New Testament we find 27 letters of the apostles (disciples of Jesus). The New Testament also describes the acts of the apostles, for which Christ himself blessed them.

The Acts of the Apostles describes the events associated with the birth of the Church of Christ. Authorship is attributed to Saint Luke. This is a detailed chronological description of all the actions to create the church, and the acts also indicate the exact geographical coordinates of the movement of the apostles.

The messages of the apostles contain answers to practical questions about the organization of the life of the Christian community, the rules of behavior of Christians and the interpretation of the teachings of Christ. The first Christians were Jews, so they did not understand the difference between the old and new covenants of God with people.

The main message of the gospel is the gospel of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which brings salvation to the whole world.

The Book of the Apocalypse records the visions of the holy Apostle John, which God revealed to him. It shows the main fragments of the end of times, the Last Judgment of sinners. God showed people that his son Jesus Christ would administer judgment. This is the most mystical of all the pages of the New Testament, since all information is encrypted in symbols. For a long time, the church fathers were afraid to include the Revelation of John into the canon precisely because of the symbolism of the visions.

The New Testament, unlike the Old Testament, was written in ancient Greek. The evangelists who wrote the 4 gospels lived in the 1st century of the new chronology. The gospel texts date back to around 41 AD.

To accurately answer the question of what is the difference between the Bible and the gospel, you need to turn to the contents of these books. Christians believe that the gospel is an integral part of the bible and tells about the life of Jesus Christ and his disciples. But the Jews do not recognize the new covenant; the old covenant with God is still in force for them. The Old Testament in Hebrew is called the Torah (Pentateuch).

What is the difference between the Bible and the Gospel in Orthodoxy:

  • the gospel is an integral part of the bible and is included in the New Testament;
  • the gospel was written much later than the texts of the bible;
  • the bible tells about the creation of the earth and the first man, the gospel tells about the savior of the world Jesus Christ;
  • The authors of the biblical stories are unknown; the gospel was written by 4 evangelists.

Different interpretations and understandings of the Gospel texts led to a split between Christians and the formation of many denominations. Therefore, it is necessary to read and interpret the Gospel under the guidance of the church fathers, so as not to fall away from the faith.

Simply knowing what the gospel and the bible are does not give a person anything. These are not literary texts or historical descriptions of the lives of people of the past. The Bible is a guide to action, the beginning of a change in life and worldview, a path to salvation about eternal doom and darkness.

The Bible is one of the oldest monuments of human wisdom. For Christians, this book is the revelation of the Lord, Holy Scripture and the main guide in life. The study of this book is an indispensable condition for the spiritual development of both believers and non-believers. Today the Bible is the most popular book in the world: more than 6 million copies have been published.

In addition to Christians, the sacredness and inspiration of certain biblical texts is recognized by adherents of a number of other religions: Jews, Muslims, Baha'is.

Structure of the Bible. Old and New Testament

As you know, the Bible is not a homogeneous book, but a collection of a number of stories. They reflect the history of the Jewish (God's chosen) people, the work of Jesus Christ, moral teachings and prophecies about the future of humanity.

When we talk about the structure of the Bible, there are two main parts: the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Old Testament- common scripture for Judaism and Christianity. The books of the Old Testament were created between the 13th and 1st centuries BC. The text of these books has come down to us in the form of lists in a number of ancient languages: Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek, Latin.

Old Testament

In Christian doctrine there is the concept of “canon”. Canonical writings are those scriptures that the church has recognized as inspired by God. Depending on the denomination, they are recognized as canonical different quantities texts of the Old Testament. For example, Orthodox Christians recognize 50 scriptures as canonical, Catholics – 45, and Protestants – 39.

In addition to the Christian, there is also a Jewish canon. Jews recognize the Torah (Pentateuch of Moses), Neviim (Prophets) and Ketuvim (Scriptures) as canonical. It is believed that Moses was the first to write down the Torah directly. All three books form the Tanakh - the “Hebrew Bible” and are the basis of the Old Testament.

This section of the Holy Letter talks about the first days of mankind, the Flood and further history Jewish people. The narration “brings” the reader to last days before the birth of the Messiah - Jesus Christ.

There have been discussions among theologians for a very long time about whether Christians need to observe the Law of Moses (i.e., the instructions given by the Old Testament). Most theologians are still of the opinion that Jesus' sacrifice made it unnecessary for us to comply with the requirements of the Pentateuch. A certain part of the researchers came to the opposite. For example, Seventh-day Adventists keep the Sabbath and do not eat pork.

The New Testament plays a much more important role in the lives of Christians.

New Testament- the second part of the Bible. It consists of the four canonical Gospels. The first manuscripts date back to the beginning of the 1st century AD, the latest - to the 4th century.

In addition to the four canonical Gospels (Mark, Luke, Matthew, John), there are a number of apocrypha. They touch upon previously unknown facets of the life of Christ. For example, some of these books describe the youth of Jesus (canonical ones - only childhood and adulthood).

Actually, the New Testament describes the life and deeds of Jesus Christ - the son of God and the Savior. Evangelists describe the miracles performed by the Messiah, his sermons, as well as the finale - martyrdom on the cross, atoning for the sins of mankind.

New Testament

In addition to the Gospels, the New Testament contains the book of the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles and the Revelation of John the Theologian (Apocalypse).

Acts tell about the birth and development of the church after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In essence, this book is a historical chronicle (real personalities are often mentioned) and a geography textbook: territories from Palestine to Western Europe. Its author is considered to be the Apostle Luke.

The second part of the Acts of the Apostles tells the story of Paul's missionary activities and ends with his arrival in Rome. The book also answers a number of theoretical questions, such as circumcision among Christians or observance of the Law of Moses.

Apocalypse- These are the visions recorded by John that the Lord gave him. This book is about the end of the world and Last Judgment– the final point of the existence of this world. Jesus himself will judge humanity. The righteous, resurrected in the flesh, will receive eternal heavenly life with the Lord, and sinners will go into eternal fire.

The Revelation of John the Theologian is the most mystical part of the new testament. The text is filled with occult symbols: the Woman clothed with the sun, the number 666, the horsemen of the Apocalypse. For a certain time, it was precisely because of this that the churches were afraid to include the book in the canon.

What is the Gospel?

As is already known, the Gospel is a description of the life path of Christ.

Why did some of the Gospels become canonical, and others not? The fact is that these four Gospels have practically no contradictions, but simply describe slightly different events. If the writing of a certain book by the apostle is not questioned, then the church does not prohibit familiarization with the apocrypha. But such a Gospel cannot become a moral guide for a Christian.

Gospel

There is an opinion that all the canonical Gospels were written by Christ's disciples (apostles). In fact, this is not so: for example, Mark was a disciple of the Apostle Paul and is one of the seventy equal to the apostles. Many religious dissidents and supporters of “conspiracy theories” believe that churchmen deliberately hid the true teachings of Jesus Christ from people.

In response to such statements, representatives of traditional Christian churches(Catholic, Orthodox, some Protestant) answer that first you need to figure out which text can be considered the Gospel. It was to facilitate the spiritual search of a Christian that a canon was created that protects the soul from heresies and falsifications.

So what's the difference

Considering the above, it is not difficult to determine how the Old Testament, New Testament and Gospel differ. The Old Testament describes events before the birth of Jesus Christ: the creation of man, the Flood, and Moses receiving the law. The New Testament contains a description of the coming of the Messiah and the future of humanity. The Gospel is the main structural unit of the New Testament, directly telling about life path the savior of mankind - Jesus Christ. It is because of Jesus' sacrifice that Christians now do not have to adhere to the laws of the Old Testament: this obligation has been atoned for.

Bible (Holy Scripture)

The Bible is a book that has formed the basis of several world religions, such as Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Scripture passages have been translated into 2,062 languages, representing 95 percent of the world's languages, with the entire text available in 337 languages.

The Bible has influenced the lifestyle and worldview of people from all over the world. And it doesn’t matter whether you believe in God or not, but as an educated person, you should know what the book is, on the texts of which the laws of morality and philanthropy are based.

The word Bible itself is translated from ancient Greek as “books” and is a collection of texts by different authors written in different languages ​​and at different times with the assistance of God’s Spirit and according to His inspiration. These works formed the basis of the dogma of many religions and are considered canonical for the most part.

The word "gospel" means "good news." The Gospel texts describe the life of Jesus Christ on earth, His deeds and teachings, His crucifixion and resurrection. The Gospel is part of the Bible, or rather the New Testament.

Structure

The Bible consists of the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament includes 50 writings, of which only 38 are recognized by the Orthodox Church as inspired by God, that is, canonical.

Among the 27 books of the New Testament are 4 Gospels, 21 Apostolic Epistles and the Acts of the Holy Apostles.

The Gospel consists of four canonical texts, with the Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke being called synoptic, and the fourth Gospel of John was written somewhat later and is fundamentally different from the others, but there is an assumption that it was based on an even more ancient text.

Writing language

The Bible was written by different people over more than 1600 years, and, therefore, it combines texts in different languages. The Old Testament is predominantly written in Hebrew, but there are also writings in Aramaic. The New Testament was written primarily in ancient Greek.

The Gospel is written in Greek. However, one should not confuse that Greek not only with the modern language, but also with the one in which the best works of antiquity were written. This language was close to the ancient Attic dialect and was called the “Koine dialect.”

Time of writing

In fact, today it is difficult to determine not only the decade, but also the century of writing of the Holy Books.

Thus, the earliest manuscripts of the Gospel date back to the second or third centuries AD, but there is evidence that the evangelists, whose names appear under the texts, lived in the first century. There is no evidence that the manuscripts were written at this time, except for a few quotations in texts dating from the late first to early second centuries.

With the Bible the question is simpler. It is believed that the Old Testament was written in the period from 1513 BC to 443 BC, and the New Testament from 41 AD to 98 AD. Thus, to write this great book it took not just one year or a decade, but more than one and a half thousand years.

A believer, without hesitation, will answer that “The Bible is the word of God.” It turns out that the author is the Lord God himself. Then where does the Bible include, say, the Wisdom of Solomon or the Book of Job? It turns out there is more than one author? It is assumed that the Bible was written by ordinary people: philosophers, farmers, soldiers and shepherds, doctors and even kings. But these people had a special inspiration from God. They did not express their own thoughts, but simply held a pencil in their hands while the Lord moved their hand. And yet, each text has its own writing style, it feels like they belong to different people. Undoubtedly, they can be called authors, but still they had God himself as a co-author.

For a long time, no one doubted the authorship of the Gospel. It was believed that the texts were written by four Evangelists, whose names are known to everyone: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. In fact, they cannot be called authors with complete certainty. What is known for certain is that all the actions described in these texts did not take place with the personal testimony of the evangelists. Most likely, this is a collection of so-called “oral literature”, told by people whose names will forever remain a secret. This is not the final point. Research in this area continues, but today many clergy have preferred to tell parishioners that the Gospel was written by unknown authors.

Thus, the following differences between the Bible and the Gospel are highlighted:

The Gospel is an integral part of the Bible and refers to the texts of the New Testament.

The Bible is an earlier scripture, beginning in the 15th century BC and spanning 1600 years.

The Gospel describes only the life of Jesus Christ on earth and His ascension to heaven; the Bible, in addition, tells about the creation of the world, about the participation of the Lord God in the life of the Jews, teaches us to bear responsibility for each of our actions, etc.

The Bible includes texts in different languages. The Gospel is written in ancient Greek.

The gospel is part of the Bible. The Bible is a biography of the peoples from which Christ subsequently emerged. The Gospel is the life story of one person, Christ. The Bible has a complex composition; it is divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament describes the time from the creation of the world to the birth of Christ. The New Testament, the Gospel itself (good news) - from the birth of Christ to the Revelation given by Christ through John (including the Apocalypse) and consists of several books by different authors. The main biographers of the life and deeds of Christ are 4 authors: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. There are others, including the mythical one from Judas, but all of them, except these 4 included in the Bible, were recognized...

21. What is Holy Scripture? The Holy Scriptures are the collection of sacred books that make up the Bible, which were written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit by the prophets (Old Testament) and the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, the holy apostles (New Testament). The Bible is a Greek word that means “books” (). 21.2. What are the Old and New Testaments? The Bible is divided into the Old and New Testaments. The entire time from the creation of the world to the coming of the Savior to earth is called the Old Testament, that is, the ancient (old) agreement or union of God with people, according to which God prepared people to accept the promised Savior. People had to remember the promise (promise) of God, believe and expect the coming of Christ.

The fulfillment of this promise - the coming to earth of the Savior - the Only Begotten Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, is called the New Testament, since Jesus Christ, having appeared on earth, having conquered sin and death, concluded with people new union or an agreement under which everyone can again...

Man coming to Christian faith, first of all, asks the question: what is the Gospel? Part of the Bible or a separate sacred text? In general, questions concerning the Gospel have excited and continue to excite the minds of not only ordinary Christians, but also priests. Let's try to figure out what the Gospel is. This will help avoid future mistakes and misunderstandings of Scripture.

General information

Many sources interpret the Gospel differently and give different answers to the question of what the word Gospel means.

Thus, it is most often indicated that the Gospel is an early Christian scripture telling about the life and deeds of Christ. Conventionally, the Gospels can be divided into canonical and apocryphal. When they talk about the canonical Gospel, they mean that it is recognized by the church and included in the New Testament. His creativity is attributed to the apostles and is not questioned. These scriptures are the basis of Christian worship. There are four in total...

The Bible is a book that has formed the basis of several world religions, such as Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Scripture passages have been translated into 2,062 languages, representing 95 percent of the world's languages, with the entire text available in 337 languages.
The Bible has influenced the lifestyle and worldview of people from all over the world. And it doesn’t matter whether you believe in God or not, but as an educated person, you should know what the book is, on the texts of which the laws of morality and philanthropy are based.
The word Bible itself is translated from ancient Greek as “books” and is a collection of texts by different authors written in different languages ​​and at different times with the assistance of God’s Spirit and according to His inspiration. These works formed the basis of the dogma of many religions and are considered canonical for the most part.
The word "gospel" means "good news." The Gospel texts describe the life of Jesus Christ on earth, His deeds and teachings, His crucifixion and...

Bible, Gospel, Orthodoxy, Church, prejudice

Who collected all its components into one book - the Bible?

A very important and timely question. The history of the Old and New Testaments is different, but there is enough in common between them that allows us to answer the question in one word: Church.

By the time of the Savior, the Jews had developed a set of sacred books (“TaNaKh” - Law, Prophets, Scriptures), which was accepted without change by the Christian Church, which was confirmed at local and ecumenical councils. It includes 50 Old Testament books that you will find today in all publications of the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Church.

However, Jewish rabbis already in the 2nd century after R.H. reduced their canon of sacred books, leaving only the most ancient ones in it. The most striking prophecies about Christ the Savior and many other treasures of spiritual wisdom were excluded. Unfortunately, Protestants, during disputes with Rome, decided to rely on the authority of the rabbis. As a result...

Let's start with the fact that the New Testament is a smaller part of the Bible, but it is the part that is especially revered by Orthodox Christians and selectively by representatives of other religious denominations. The Gospel (more precisely, the Four Gospels) is the first part of the New Testament, which includes the individual Gospels (the names of the whole and parts in this case practically coincide), namely: from Mark, from Matthew, from Luke and from John. While differing in particulars, in small details, they agree on one thing, the main thing: they confirm the fact of earthly ministry, martyrdom and the miraculous resurrection of the Son of God - Jesus Christ. The term “Gospel” itself is translated into Russian as “good news.” The meaning of the New Testament is broader - it is also the book “The Acts of the Apostles”, and the letters of the Apostle Paul, and, finally, the book “The Revelation of John the Theologian, or the Apocalypse”. These books expand and clarify the content of the Gospels. Sometimes the Four Gospels are printed separately...

1. The main, cardinal differences, from the biblical point of view, between religions and the Gospel:

1. In all religions, a person tries to reach God on his own, but not a single seeker can testify: “I have found personal contact with God, there is peace in my heart, my sins are forgiven, I feel that I will live forever.” In the Gospel of Jesus Christ, on the contrary, God Himself addresses us. Like a bridge, He throws the cross over the abyss of sin and gives us salvation. Whoever accepts it can testify: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life... can separate us from the love of God” (Rom. 8:38-39).

2. Prophetic announcements about the Savior in the Old Testament (eg Gen. 3:15; Num. 24:17; Isa. 11:1-2; Isa. 7:14) are fulfilled literally. There is no such fulfillment of the proclaimed prophecies in any religion.

3. God condemned all religions as idolatry and sorcery (1 Cor. 6:9-10; Gal. 5:19-21; Rev. 21:8). Whoever does this is under God's condemnation: “A deceived heart led him...

The Bible is one of the oldest monuments of human wisdom. For Christians, this book is the revelation of the Lord, Holy Scripture and the main guide in life. The study of this book is an indispensable condition for the spiritual development of both believers and non-believers. Today the Bible is the most popular book in the world: more than 6 million copies have been published.

In addition to Christians, the sacredness and inspiration of certain biblical texts is recognized by adherents of a number of other religions: Jews, Muslims, Baha'is.

Structure of the Bible. Old and New Testament

As you know, the Bible is not a homogeneous book, but a collection of a number of stories. They reflect the history of the Jewish (God's chosen) people, the work of Jesus Christ, moral teachings and prophecies about the future of humanity.

When we talk about the structure of the Bible, there are two main parts: the Old Testament and the New Testament.

- common scripture for Judaism and Christianity. The books of the Old Testament were created between the 13th and 1st centuries BC. The text of these books has come down to us in the form of lists in a number of ancient languages: Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek, Latin.

In Christian doctrine there is the concept of “canon”. Canonical writings are those scriptures that the church has recognized as inspired by God. Depending on the denomination, a different number of texts of the Old Testament are recognized as canonical. For example, Orthodox Christians recognize 50 scriptures as canonical, Catholics – 45, and Protestants – 39.

In addition to the Christian, there is also a Jewish canon. Jews recognize the Torah (Pentateuch of Moses), Neviim (Prophets) and Ketuvim (Scriptures) as canonical. It is believed that Moses was the first to write down the Torah directly. All three books form the Tanakh - the “Hebrew Bible” and are the basis of the Old Testament.

This section of the Holy Letter tells about the first days of mankind, the Flood and the subsequent history of the Jewish people. The narrative “brings” the reader to the last days before the birth of the Messiah - Jesus Christ.

There have been discussions among theologians for a very long time about whether Christians need to observe the Law of Moses (i.e., the instructions given by the Old Testament). Most theologians are still of the opinion that Jesus' sacrifice made it unnecessary for us to comply with the requirements of the Pentateuch. A certain part of the researchers came to the opposite. For example, Seventh-day Adventists keep the Sabbath and do not eat pork.

The New Testament plays a much more important role in the lives of Christians.

- the second part of the Bible. It consists of the four canonical Gospels. The first manuscripts date back to the beginning of the 1st century AD, the latest - to the 4th century.

In addition to the four canonical Gospels (Mark, Luke, Matthew, John), there are a number of apocrypha. They touch upon previously unknown facets of the life of Christ. For example, some of these books describe the youth of Jesus (canonical ones - only childhood and adulthood).

Actually, the New Testament describes the life and deeds of Jesus Christ - the son of God and the Savior. Evangelists describe the miracles performed by the Messiah, his sermons, as well as the finale - martyrdom on the cross, which atoned for the sins of mankind.

In addition to the Gospels, the New Testament contains the book of the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles and the Revelation of John the Theologian (Apocalypse).

Acts tell about the birth and development of the church after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In essence, this book is a historical chronicle (real personalities are often mentioned) and a geography textbook: territories from Palestine to Western Europe are described. Its author is considered to be the Apostle Luke.

The second part of the Acts of the Apostles tells the story of Paul's missionary activities and ends with his arrival in Rome. The book also answers a number of theoretical questions, such as circumcision among Christians or observance of the Law of Moses.

Apocalypse- These are the visions recorded by John that the Lord gave him. This book tells about the end of the world and the Last Judgment - the final point of the existence of this world. Jesus himself will judge humanity. The righteous, resurrected in the flesh, will receive eternal heavenly life with the Lord, and sinners will go into eternal fire.

The Revelation of John the Theologian is the most mystical part of the new testament. The text is filled with occult symbols: the Woman clothed with the sun, the number 666, the horsemen of the Apocalypse. For a certain time, it was precisely because of this that the churches were afraid to include the book in the canon.

What is the Gospel?

As is already known, the Gospel is a description of the life path of Christ.

Why did some of the Gospels become canonical, and others not? The fact is that these four Gospels have practically no contradictions, but simply describe slightly different events. If the writing of a certain book by the apostle is not questioned, then the church does not prohibit familiarization with the apocrypha. But such a Gospel cannot become a moral guide for a Christian.


There is an opinion that all the canonical Gospels were written by Christ's disciples (apostles). In fact, this is not so: for example, Mark was a disciple of the Apostle Paul and is one of the seventy equal to the apostles. Many religious dissidents and supporters of “conspiracy theories” believe that churchmen deliberately hid the true teachings of Jesus Christ from people.

In response to such statements, representatives of traditional Christian churches (Catholic, Orthodox, some Protestant) respond that first we need to figure out which text can be considered the Gospel. It was to facilitate the spiritual search of a Christian that a canon was created that protects the soul from heresies and falsifications.

So what's the difference

Considering the above, it is not difficult to determine how the Old Testament, New Testament and Gospel differ. The Old Testament describes events before the birth of Jesus Christ: the creation of man, the Flood, and Moses receiving the law. The New Testament contains a description of the coming of the Messiah and the future of humanity. The Gospel is the main structural unit of the New Testament, directly telling about the life path of the savior of mankind - Jesus Christ. It is because of Jesus' sacrifice that Christians now do not have to adhere to the laws of the Old Testament: this obligation has been atoned for.