DIVISIONS OF THE BIBLE
In rightly dividing the Bible, we discover at once that there
are two grand divisions, the Old Testament and the New
Testament.
It is surprising how many people do not know even this primary fact.
But there it stands out very plainly before any student of the Bible.
There are subdivisions in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Lord Himself tells us what the divisions of the Old Testament are, and we should be careful to learn just exactly what these divisions are, for if we fail at this point, we shall be hopelessly confused in our understanding of the Scriptures.
Old Testament Divisions Stated by Jesus
Read Luke 24:44: "And he said unto them, These are the words which / spake unto you, while / was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the LA W of Moses, and in the PROPHETS. and in the PSALMS, concerning me. " Thus, the Lord very clearly divides the Old Testament into the Law of Moses, and the Prophets, and the Psalms, just three divisions. There are not four or five, nor six or seven divisions, as many writers on the subject teach, but there are only three, the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms.
When we read the books that have been written on this
subject, we find all of them, without exception, ignore this
statement of the Lord and they tell us that the Old Testament is divided into the Historical Books, the Moral Law, the Ceremonial Law, the Poetical Books, the Major Prophets, the Minor Prophets, and the Psalms, completely ignoring what the Master Teacher says. We should not insult the Lord by ignoring His teaching on the subject. There are three divisions, the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms, if our Lord, the Master Teacher, knew what He was talking about. We recognize these three divisions, and for the best reasons refuses to recognize any other divisions.
New Testament Divisions
The New Testament falls naturally into three divisions, but
we have no inspired statement that says so as we have for the Old Testament. The New Testament divisions are HISTORY, DOCTRINE, and PROPHECY. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and the Acts are History. The epistles are Doctrine, and the book of Revelation is Prophecy. In the history division is some prophecy, but in the main, it is history. In the doctrine division there is some history and prophecy, but in the main, it is doctrine. In the Revelation is some history and doctrine, but in the main, it is prophecy. I will not insist that these divisions must be observed because there is no inspired statement that forces us to it, but we will suggest that the New Testament naturally falls into three divisions. This observation is made because we should, above all things, be scriptural in our methods of Bible study.
