A. P. Lopukhina.

Entity.

The concept of the Bible.

With the word "Bible" we associate the idea of one large book containing the entire Holy Scriptures of both the Old and New Testaments. But, in essence, it is not one book, but a whole collection of sacred books, strictly defined by the Church, written at different times, in different places and with different purposes, and belonging either to the divinely inspired (canonical books) or only to God-enlightened men (non-canonical books).

Such composition and origin of the Bible is revealed from the history of the term "Bible" itself. It is taken from the Greek from the word βίβλος, which means "book", and is used in the plural form τά βιβλία from the unities, the diminutive is τό βιβλίον, meaning "a small book", "a book". Therefore τά βιβλία literally means a whole series or collection of such small books. In view of this, St. John Chrysostom interprets this word as one collective concept: "The Bible," he says, "are many books that form one single one."

This collective designation of Holy Scripture by one collective name undoubtedly existed already in the Old Testament period. Thus, in its original Greek form, τά βιβλία is found in the first book of Maccabees (1 Maccabees XII:9 [18]), and the corresponding Hebrew translation is given in the prophet Daniel (Dan IX:2 [19]), where the works of Holy Scripture are designated by the term "Hassefarim" (Hebrew ???), which means "books", or more precisely, certain certain books, since they are accompanied by a certain term – "ha" (???). [1]

In the period of New Testament history, at least at first, we do not yet find the word "Bible", but we encounter a number of its synonyms, of which the following are the most used: "Scripture" (ή γραφή Luke IV:21 [20]; John XX:9 [21]; Acts XIII:32 [22] (???); Galatians III:22 [23]), "Scriptures" (αί γραφαί — Matthew XXI:42 [24]; Luke XXIV:32 [25]; John V:39 [26]; 2 Peter III:16 [27]), "Holy Scriptures" (γραφαί αγίαι; — Romans I:2 [28]), "Holy Scriptures" (τά ίερά γράμματα — 2 Timothy III:15 [29]).

But already among the Apostolic Fathers, along with the titles of the Holy Scriptures just enumerated, the term τά βιβλία began to be encountered [2] However, it came into general use only from the time of the famous collector and interpreter of the Holy Scriptures, Origen (3rd century) and especially St. John Chrysostom (4th century).

From the Greek authors, this collective designation of the Holy Scriptures passed on to the Latin writers, and the plural form of the neuter gender τά βιβλία finally received here the meaning of the singular feminine gender biblia. This last name, in its Latin form, passed to us in Russia, probably due to the fact that our first collectors of the Slavonic Bible were, among other things, under the influence of the Latin Vulgate.

The main feature that distinguishes the Holy Scriptures of the "Bible" from other literary works, which gives them higher power and indisputable authority, is their divine inspiration. By it is meant that supernatural, divine illumination which, without destroying or suppressing the natural powers of man, raised them to the highest perfection, protected them from errors, communicated revelations, in a word, guided the whole course of their work, thanks to which the latter was not a simple product of man, but as if it were the work of God himself. According to the testimony of the holy Apostle Peter, "prophecy was never uttered by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke it, being moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter I:21). The Apostle Paul even uses the word "inspired" and precisely in the application to the Holy Scriptures, when he says that "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God" (θεόπνευστος: 2 Tim. III:16 [30]). All this is beautifully revealed by the Fathers of the Church. Thus, St. John Chrysostom says that "all the Scriptures are written not by slaves, but by the Lord of all, God"; and in the words of St. Gregory the Great, "the Lord speaks to us in the language of the holy prophets and apostles."

But this "inspiration" of the Holy Scriptures and their authors did not extend to the destruction of their personal, natural characteristics: that is why in the content of the sacred books, especially in their presentation, style, language, character of images and expressions, we observe significant differences between the individual books of the Holy Scriptures, depending on the individual, psychological and peculiar literatures of the characteristics of their authors.

Another very important feature of the sacred books of the Bible, which determines the varying degrees of their authority, is the canonical character of some books and the non-canonical nature of others. In order to clarify the origin of this difference, it is necessary to touch upon the history of the formation of the Bible itself. We have already had occasion to note that the Bible included sacred books written in different epochs and by various authors. To this it must now be added that along with the genuine, divinely inspired books, there appeared in different epochs non-authentic or non-divinely inspired books, which, however, their authors tried to give the appearance of authentic and divinely inspired. Especially many such works appeared in the first centuries of Christianity, on the basis of Ebionitism and Gnosticism, such as the "First Gospel of James," "the Gospel of Thomas," "the Apocalypse of the Apostle Peter," "the Apocalypse of Paul," and others. Such guidance was given to all the faithful by the Church of Christ herself – this pillar and foundation of the truth – in her teaching on the so-called canon.