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Study Section 3: Terms which Reference the Bible

3.1 Connect.

Do you have a nick name? Sometimes people will call someone else a name that is not their
given name, but a name that describes something about them. For example, I had an uncle
who had red hair and everyone called him “Red!” They called my dad, “BJ” because no one
could pronounce his last name. I call my wife “Gorgeous” because even though she is getting
up there in age, she is still beautiful to me. So nick names often tell us something about the
person to which we are referencing. Well, in the same sense, the Bible has several “nick
names.” These names tell us some characteristic of the Bible. So let’s examine some of the Bible’s
nicknames….

3.2 Objectives.

1. The student should be able to list reference words that are used in place of the word Bible
but describe the same book.

2. The student should be able to explain why the Bible is unique among all the other ancient
books ever written.

3.3 Terms which Reference the Bible

Bible or Biblios

Early books were written on a paper made of papyrus, a reed grown in the Nile River Basin
in Egypt. The reed was harvested and shipped to a Phoenician seaport city called Byblos
(also called Gebal). A Codex(books) was then created by binding pages together, with both
sides of the paper used. Writing material was made from the papyrus plant by cutting the
pith of the plant in one foot strips and setting it in the sun to dry. The strips were then laid in horizontal
rows with rows of vertical strips glued to the horizontal rows in a crisscross fashion similar to the way
plywood is constructed today. The horizontal rows were smoother and became the writing surface. A
book, therefore, became known as byblos. The Latin word, biblia, was a derivative of the original word.
The French translated the word, Bible, which means, “the books.” Eventually, the plural form biblia was
used by Latin-speaking Christians to denote all the books of the Old and New Testaments.

Scripture
Another term used for the Bible is the word, “Scripture,” from the Greek grafh, meaning “a writing.” The
plural is used collectively of the sacred writings as a whole, the Scriptures (i.e., the Old Testament, Matt.
21:42; 26:54; John 5:39; Rom. 15:4). The singular is sometimes used of the sacred writings as a whole
(Rom. 4:3; John 7:42) and sometimes of a specific passage (Mark 12:10; 15:28; Luke 4:21). In the New
Testament this term is used exclusively of the Scripture.

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