The Bible is split into two parts, the Old and the New Testament:

The Old Testament covers the period from the creation of the earth up until 300 years before Jesus was born. It contains the Books of the Law (also called the "Pentateuch"), Books of History, Books of Wisdom (which includes Psalms), Major Prophets and Minor Prophets.

The New Testament covers the period when Jesus lived and the following first century as the church grew. The New Testament contains the Gospels, Pauline Epistles (so called because they were written by Paul), General Epistles and finally the Apocalyptic Books.

For more information about the individual books please take a look at our Book Summaries.

There is a great overview of how the Bible came about in The Story of the Book.

If you are reading the Bible for the first time probably the best place to start is not at the beginning of the Bible but one of the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke or John). The reason for this is that it will give you a very clear idea of who Jesus was and what he did. After you have read a gospel it's often a good idea to read the book of Acts so you can learn about the first century church, this is after all how we are suppose to be living today.

The most important thing to remember is that the Bible is there to learn from so we can put things into practice in our life and become the people God wants us to be. As you read the Bible ask yourself "How does this apply to my life?" and "How can I put this into practice now?".

If you are unclear about how a passage relates to your life why not ask a member of the HyperCrew who will be more than happy to help.