UNIT 2: BIRTH OF CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM►

UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO RELIGIOUS SCRIPTURES

  • UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO RELIGIOUS SCRIPTURES

    Key Unit Competence:  Describe the structure of the sacred books and 
    highlight their importance in spiritual growth 
    and worship.
    Introductory Activity
    Latifah, John and Christian are students in a one of teacher training 
    colleges in Rwanda. They often attend the school library to read different 
    books in order to supplement their information and knowledge. Latifah 
    and Christian are used to read scientific, literary and the Holy Scriptures. 
    John also does the same but he never read the Holy scriptures. He always 
    blames his classmates about wasting of time in reading the Holy sciptures. 
    By the end of term Latifah and Christian receive their school reports with 
    good marks but John gets failure in behaviour.
    1. Do you think Latifah and Christian performed well in discipline and 
    John failed?
    2. How do Holy Scriptures influence the behaviour of Latifafh and 
    Christian?
    3. Why are some writings called Holy Scriptures?
    4. The Holy Scriptures are said to be Word of God,do you think God 
    took materials and wrote it Himself? Explain.
    5. What do you think is based on to structure or to group the biblical 
    books? 
    6. What is the importance of Holy Scriptures at home, at school and 
    in life in general 
    1.1. Holy Scriptures concepts
    1.1. Learning activities: 
    1. Basing on your personal experience and using various resources, 
    research on the meaning of Holy Scriptures and give some 
    examples.
    2. What do you think was the process of their writing?
    3. Discuss their importance to individual, school community and 
    society in general. introduce their friends when together they meet 
    new people.
    Religious texts or Holy Scriptures are those sacred and central to the teachings 
    of almost every given religion. They are significant as these almost every 
    given religion. They are significant as these texts convey spiritual truth, 
    establish a connection with the divine, foster communal identity, and provide 
    the promotion of mystical experiences and spiritual practices.

    1.1.1. Bible
    Etymologically the word Bible comes from plural Greek “ta biblia” that means 
    books or a collection of books, a library. Its singular “to biblion” gives name 
    Bible. The Bible is then a collection of books of Word of God consists of the 
    Old and New Testament. Bible is therefore a compilation of books considered 
    as one book.
    1.1.2. Testament
    The term Testament came from Latin “testamentum” meaning Alliance or 
    covenant: it is defined as treaty for mutual advantages: the following are 
    examples of the covenant found in the Bible:
    • Abraham formed an alliance with Canaanite princes (Genesis 14:13)
    • Abraham formed alliance with Abimelech (Genesis 21:22-23)
    • The patriarchs concluded a covenant of alliance by blood of some 
    sacrificial animal except birds (Genesis 15:10)
    • The Sinaitic Covenant or Mosaic Covenant refers to the Biblical 
    Testament between God and His chosen people, Israelites (Exodus 
    19-20): the sign of that Testament became the Decalogue or Ten 
    Commandments of God.
    • Jesus Christ concluded the New and eternal Alliance and with the pillars 
    of the Church (Matthew 26:26; Luke 22:14-19): the sign of that Alliance 
    has been the Holy Meal, Holy Sacrifice known also as the Eucharist.

    Main parts of the Bible

    The Old Testament

    The Old Testament or Old Covenant is formed of all books about the 
    relationship between God and His chosen people, Israel. It is about preparation 
    of Human Salvation: creation of all, the fall of man, the call of Abraham, and 
    liberation of Abraham’s descendants from Egyptian slavery, conclusion of 
    the Alliance at Sinai Mount, giving the Promised Land etc. Christians give 
    the name Old Testament to differentiate it from the new one established by 
    Jesus Christ. The Old Testament into the Catholic Bible consists of 46 books 

    while the Old Testament for Protestant Bible consists of 39 books.

    The New Testament

    The New Testament is about 27 books that talks about the fulfilment of human 
    salvation through Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The books of the 

    New Testament are mainly written in Greek language. 

    Divine revelation means that God made Himself known to man. The Bible 
    as Word of God, His creation and the incarnation of Verb constitute the 
    three main means by which God revealed Himself. By incarnation God 
    made Himself a man; God took flesh like us except sin. In Jesus Christ the 
    revelation reached its accomplishment and by His Death the Salvation was 
    fulfilled (John 19:30). Jesus Christ is the True word of God. By Him God is 
    revealed and accessible as it is declared into the Bible “I am the way, the 

    truth and the Life (John 14:6)

    1.1.4. Inspiration of the Bible

    The Bible is an inspired book because it is formed of the books that were 
    written under inspiration of the Holy Spirit so, it has God its Author. As the 
    Holy Scriptures testify, the authors were free to use their own faculties but 
    God acted in them “All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, 
    reproving, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God 
    may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17). If 
    the Bible has God as its author, it cannot contain the errors. This is called 

    inerrancy of the Bible.

    1.1.5. Authorship of the Bible

    The authorship of the bible refers to its origin and its writing then to whom 
    the Bible is belonging. The Bible is a proper word of God written by sacred 
    authors called by God. They wrote history between God and people and 
    divine mean of education: story of creation and fall of man (Genesis 1-3); 
    laws and norms of life (Exodus 20-23); divine callings; men’s reactions like 
    praises, thanksgivings, interrogations; preparation and accomplishment of 

    human Salvation.

    Into the Bible God speaks to man. He renewed and communicated His plan 
    of salvation when He firstly called Abraham. He concluded promises with 
    him (Genesis 12:1-5; 15:1-21). To save all humanity God then chose Israel 
    and both sides expressed their relationship in term of Alliance (Exodus 24: 

    1-8).

    1.1.6. Canonicity of the Bible

    The concept canonicity comes from Hebrew word “Ganeh” and a Greek word 
    Kanon meaning, rod or reed that was used to measure, rule or standards 
    of measurement. Canon refers to the list of the books included in the Bible 
    officially accepted as inspired by God. Hence, canonicity is a legal Church 
    confirmation of a list of books as inspired books. The Church recognizes 
    that the books that were inspired are satisfactory and approved to be the 
    guide of Religious teaching. Origen (185-253) an early Christian scholar of 
    Alexandria and a theologian used the term Canon to denote the rule of faith, 

    standards which are used to measure or to evaluate. 

    The Old Testament knew two main canons:

    The first Canon: it is called Hebrew Canon, Protocanonical (prime) or 
    Jamnia canon (area in South Tel-Aviv. It was confirmed by Doctor of Laws 
    in 70 AC after destruction of Jerusalem. These books were translated in 
    Greek in Alexandria with additional books in Greek as original texts. These 
    translated books make the canon of Alexandria or Septuagint because 70 
    scientific translators separately finished translating them at the same time. 
    This translation was made for Jews in Diaspora who used Greek in that time. 
    This Old Testament of Hebrew canon considered 39 books while the Greek 

    Canon contains 46 books as inspired.

    • Jesus bore witness to the Old Testament: Jesus bore witness to these 
    three divisions of the Old Testament. “These are my words which I 
    spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written 
    about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must 
    be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44). Jesus mentions Psalms because it was the 

    first and largest book of the writings.

    • Jesus testified to the extent of the Old Testament canon. When arguing 
    with the religious leaders Jesus said, “Upon you may fall the guilt of 
    all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel 
    to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered 
    between the temple and the altar” (Matthew 23:35). Abel was the first 
    to be murdered and Zechariah was the last to be martyred in the Old 
    Testament order. Abel was slain by his brother Cain and Zechariah was 
    stoned in the house of God while prophesying. Genesis was the first in 

    chronological order and Chronicles the last.

    • Jesus testified to the sacredness of Old Testament. He said, “Do not 
    think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to 
    abolish but to fulfil. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass 
    away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all 
    is accomplished” (Matthew 5:17-18). Speaking to the disciples after 
    His Resurrection He began “With Moses and with all the prophets, He 
    explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures. 
    He said to them, ‘These are my words which I spoke to you while I was 
    still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of 
    Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then He 

    opened their minds to understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:27, 44-45).

    Deuterocanonical (2nd canon) or Apocrypha books

    The Deuterocanonical books of the Bible are books considered by 
    the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodoxy to be canonical parts of 
    the Christian Old Testamwent but are not present in the Hebrew Bible. The 
    word deuterocanonical comes from the Greek meaning ‹belonging to the 
    second canon›. These books are the following: Tobit, Judith, 1st Maccabees, 

    2nd Maccabees, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) and Baruch.

    Note: These books make difference and bring about 2 versions of the Bibles:

    a. Bible with 66 Books: These are mostly protestant Bibles who follow 
    only the Hebrew Canon. They recognize 39 books of Old Testament 
    and 27 books of the New Testament. They consider the 7 books as 
    Apocrypha books or non-inspired books hence do not include them 

    in their list book books in the Bible. 

    b. Bible with 73 books: This is followed by Catholics and Orthodox. 
    They followed the Greek Canon. They considered the 7 books as 

    deuterocanonical books and consider them as inspired by God. 

    Both catholic and some Protestant Churches established the common Bible 
    known as Ecumenical Translation of the Bible (ETB) containing both Proto-

    canonical and Deuterocanonical.

    a) Meaning and redaction

    The literally meaning of the Quran is “the recitation”. It refers then to the Word 
    of God to be recited. It is the sacred book for Muslim believed as a revelation 
    from God (Allah). Muslims believe that the Quran was orally revealed to 
    Muhammad through the archangel Gabriel (Jibril) from 610AC up to 632 
    the year of his death. These words were Allah’s words of wisdom, truth, 
    and commandments to His creation. The Quran (which means recitation) 
    was revealed in the Arabic dialect used by the Quraish tribe of Mecca of 
    that time. This dialect became the formal Arabic of the Islamic nations due 
    to the distribution of Quranic scriptures throughout the Islamic empire. In 
    the Arabic, the Quran is poetic in style with rhymes, meter, and shifts in line 

    lengths.

    The Quran deals mainly with what and how Allah wants mankind to believe 
    and do in Man’s moral struggle. Its primary theme is that of complete 

    submission to the will of Allah. Other teachings of Quran include;

    • there is only one sovereign God (3:191; 5:73; 112:1-4).
    • there will be an end of the world and judgment day (:30; 35:33-37).
    • those who do not submit themselves to Allah will go to hell (2:24; 3:12).
    • that those whose good deeds exceed their bad will obtain paradise 
    (3:135; 7:8-9; 21:47).
    • social and ethical behavior for Islamic society.

    The Quran was not written by Muhammad by his disciples. The main 
    message of the Quran is the Oneness of God, God is unique: Allah. The 
    Quran is a book with content without mystery. The Islamic theology restricts 
    only what intelligent can grasp: God is one, Omnipotent, bounty etc. the 
    Quran talks about Jesus not as Son of God but as Prophet and about Mary 

    as mother of Jesus.

    • Short History of Qur’an Writing 

    In the year 610 (believed to be the 26th of Ramadan), while in a cave on Mt. 
    Hirah, which is now called Mount Jabal Nur, Muhammad said that the angel 
    Gabriel appeared to him and commanded him to recite (96:1-19). From 
    that point on, Muhammad claimed to have received revelations up to the 
    time of his death (23 years later in 632). In these encounters with the angel 
    Gabriel, sometimes Muhammad would see the angel, other times he would 
    only hear him, and at others, he only heard the sound of a bell through which 

    the words of the angel came.

    Since Muhammad could not read or write, his companions wrote down what 
    he said. These recitations were copied onto a variety of materials: papyrus, 
    flat stones, palm leaves, shoulder blades and ribs of animals, pieces of 
    leather and wooden boards. Additionally, these sayings were also being 
    memorized by Mohammad’s followers. In fact, to this day, great emphasis is 
    placed upon memorizing the entire Qur’an, and there are many thousands 

    of Muslims who have committed it to memory.

    Apparently, there was no attempt made to collect all of the sayings given by 
    Muhammad during his lifetime. After all, Mohammad was continuing to give 
    ‘recitations’ on a somewhat regular basis. But, after he died in 632, AbuBakr, 
    Muhammad’s father in law, became the caliph (religious leader of the 
    Muslims); and there was a small effort to collect the fragments of Qur’anic 
    sayings into a commonplace.   But, it wasn’t until the fourth leader of Islam, 
    Caliph Uthman, that the whole Qur’an was finally assembled, approved, and 

    disseminated throughout the Muslim world.

    The Quran also contains many biblical figures (Abraham, David, Moses, and Jesus) 
    as well as non-biblical figures. However, some of the accounts of biblical characters 

    are different from the Bible.

    b) Structure/subdivisions of the Quran

    • General structure

    The Quran is divided into 114 Chapters called “Sῡrah” and Suwar in plural 

    which are subdivided into Verses “ᾱyah” in prular “ᾱyᾱt”.

    The Quran is also divided into 30 equal sections, called juz’ or ajizain plural.
    The divisions of the juz do not fall evenly along chapter lines. These divisions 
    allow a speed reading of the Quran over a month’s period and reading a 

    fairly equal quantity each day. 

    • Subdivision into Quarters

    The Quran can be divided into 4 quarters based on the themes. Each quarter 

    begins with the words “Alhamdulillah” (All praises are for Allah):

    • The first quarter: This part mainly discusses the concept of Allah being 

    the Sole and Only Creator of everything

    • The second quarter: The central theme of this part is that Allah is the 
    Only One Who is responsible for caring and nurturing everything after 

    creating it.

    • The third quarter: This part revolves around the discussion that Allah 
    has complete power to control and administer the affairs of the universe 
    as He pleases. It emphasises that He is the Supreme Sovereign and 

    none can be partner to Him.

    • The fourth quarter: This part mainly discusses the fact that Allah shall 
    be the Master and Supreme Judge on the Day of Judgment and no 

    intercessor can overrule His decree.

    While all these themes have been discussed in great detail in the 
    respective parts of the Quran, they are all summarized in Surah Fatiha.
    “Alhamdulillah” makes mention of the first part. It includes Allah’s name, 
    which tells us that He is the Creator of everything. This is so because the 

    mention of Allah’s name compels one to acknowledge this fact.

    • Subdivison according to Juz’ (also known as Para or Siparah)

    The Quran can be divided into 30 parts, of almost each length, each part is 

    called Juz’. That means each Juz’ is 1/30ths of the Quran.

    1.1.8 Torah

    The word Torah literally means “instruction”, meaning some sort of guidance 
    in life. Though Torah is a part of the Bible, it was used by Jews as guidance 
    to live and offering sacrifice. But when Jews say “Torah,” they’re most likely 
    speaking of the Five Books of Moses, the foundation of all Jewish instruction 
    and guidance. We also call it the Chumash, from the Hebrew chamesh, 
    which means five. Often, when people talk about “a Torah,” they are referring 
    to a parchment scroll version of the Five Books of Moses that is kept in the 

    ark of the synagogue and taken out to be read during service. 

    The Torah also commands the elders to «keep the Children of Israel away 
    from impurity. Some authors also consider Tenah and Talmud as Holy 

    Scriptures of Jewish Religion. 

    The following is the summary of Holy Scriptures of some major Religions in 

    the world:

    1.1. Application activity: 

    1. What are sacred books scriptures for Christianity and Islam.

    2. Explain these terms: Testament, authorship and Canonicity.

    3. Explain to your colleague what apocrypha books are.

    4. Using various resources the difference and the similarity between 

    Qur’an and the Bible .

    5. What should be your attitudes about to the Holy Scriptures? and 

    their role in every day life.

    1.2. Relationship between the New and Old Testament

    1.2. Learning activitiy :

    From this biblical text “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or 
    the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 

    5:17). Discuss the links between the two Testaments of the Bible.

    On the day of His Resurrection Jesus Himself reminded His disciples the 
    accomplishment of the Old Testament into the new one: He said to them 
    “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that 
    everything written about me in the Law of Moses and in the prophets and 
    Psalms must be fulfilled”. Then He opened their mind to understand the 
    Scriptures. And He said to them, “Thus it is written that the Messiah would 
    suffer and rise from the dead on the third day” (Luke 24:44-46)
    The Church becomes New Israel. The sign of the Old Alliance is the Ten 
    Commandments of God given at Sinai Mount Ex 20:1-17 while the sign of 
    the New Alliance becomes the holy Sacrifice: offering body and blood of 

    Jesus Christ.

    Jesus summarizes the commandments in love, and we are no longer 
    slaves of laws (Romans 6-8). Christ became the concluding mean of God’s 
    revelation (John1:18). In Jesus God proved his deepest love (John3:16). The 
    New Testament develops the process within human salvation reached its 
    fulfilment: conception of Saviour, birth, growth, teachings, miracles, suffering 
    death and resurrection. So the Old Testament became a preparation that 

    was accomplished into the New Testament.

    1.2. Application activity: 

    1. Find out, Explain the sign of Alliance between God and His people.

    2. Explain the invention of the sign of the New Alliance between 

    Christ and his Church.

    3. Prove the link between the Old and New Testament

    4. How did God proved His deepest love for humanity?

    5. Is the Old Testament important christians. Justify.

    1.3. Structure of the Bible

    1.3. Learning activitiy: 

    With your previous readings, information, what you heard from the previous 
    lessons and the holy assembly you attendded, research on two biblical 
    books for each group below: Historical books; Pentateuch; Prophetic 

    books; Gospel; Letters; Poetic and Wisdom books.

    1.3.1. Formation and structure of the Old Testament

    a) Formation

    Before they were written, some contents of the Old Testament were orally 
    transmitted: they are from Genesis to the books of Samuel where we find 

    history of the Patriarchs, Moses, Judges, Kings, Elisha and Elijah.

    In 11th-10th centuries, two schools of scribes wrote Pentateuch. Those 
    schools are Yahwistic Tradition in Juda and Elohistic tradition in Israel. 
    After the deportation to Babylon (-587-538) the scribes present the book of 

    Jonah, Job, Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) to increase hope of people. 

    In 2nd century BC the persecution against Jews gave birth to spiritual 

    resistance: book of Daniel and Judith

    The Hebrew Bible (Only Old Testament) consists of 3 main parts:

    • Torah: 5 books of Law of Moses that occupies the first place in Jewish 

    life

    • Nevi’im that means Prophets: book of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and 

    Kings

    • Ketuvim that means other writings: Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles

    b) Structure of the Old Testament

    The structure of the Old Testament varies according to the centuries. All 
    editions present first the five books of law called “Pentateuch”.
    In the 13th century after Christ, the Catholics structured the Bible into three 

    collections:

    • Historical books with two sub-collections: Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, 
    Leviticus, Number and Deuteronomy). Others (Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 
    Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Tobit, Judith, Esther, and 

    Maccabees.

    • Didactic books: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Qohelet (Ecclesiastes), Song 

    of Songs, Wisdom and Sirach (Ecclesiasticus).

    • Prophetic books with two sub collections: Major Prophets (Isaiah, 
    Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel) and Minor prophets (Hosea, Joel, Amos, 
    Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, 

    Zechariah, and Malachi.

    Currently, the Bible consists of four collections with 73 books for Catholic 

    Bible and 66 books for Protestant Bible:

    Torah or Pentateuch: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers Deuteronomy.

    Historical books: Joshua, judges, Ruth, 1st Samuel, 2nd Samuel, 1st 
    Kings, 2nd Kings, 1stChronicles, 2nd Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Tobit, 
    Judith, Esther, 1st Maccabees, 2nd Maccabees. Thefollowing books are not 
    found into Old Testament for protestant Bible: Tobit, Judith, 1st Maccabees, 

    2nd Maccabees.

    Poetic and wisdom books: Job, psalms, proverb, Ecclesiastes, song of 
    Songs, Wisdom, Sirach. The books of Wisdom and Sirach are not found into 

    Old Testament for Protestant Church.

    Prophetic books: 3 Major Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel)

    15 books as minor Prophets (Lamentations of Jeremiah, Baruch, Daniel, 
    Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonas, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, 
    Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. The book of Prophet Baruchi does not appear 

    into Old Testament for Protestant church.

    Seven books are not accepted by Protestants because for them their origin 
    is hidden and their message is not clear: this is the origin of their name 
    “Apocrypha books”. These are: Tobit, Judith, 1st Maccabees, 2nd Maccabees, 
    Wisdom, Sirach and Baruch. But the Ecumenical Bible (common Bible for 

    Protestants Orthodox and Roman Catholics) contains all 73 books.

    1.3.2. Structure of the New Testament

    The books of the New Testament are structured in four collections below: 

    a. Gospel: Good News formed by 4 books that account the fulfilment 
    of Salvation: they are Gospel according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and 
    John. The contents of three first gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) 

    look almost the same reason why they are called Synoptic Gospel.

    b. Acts of Apostles: 1 book written by Luke to testify the birth of the 

    Church (Pentecost) and the expansion of Good news.

    c. Epistles or letters: 21 letters or epistles:

    • 13 letters of Paul including:

    • Oldest letters: the 1st and the 2nd to Thessalonians written in 50 AC

    • Big letters: the 1st and the 2nd to Corinthians, letter to Galatians, to 

    Philippians and to Romans written between 56-60AC

    • Letters of captivity: letter to Colossians, to Ephesians and to Philemon 

    written between 61-63 AC

    • Pastoral letters: the 1st and the 2nd letter to Timothy, letter to Titus 

    written in70 AD

    • 1 letter to Hebrews probably written by Paul’s disciple.

    • 7 Universal letters including: 2 letters of Peter, 3 letters of John, 1 

    letter of Jude and 1 letter of James. 

    The main message of letters has been to create unity of believers, call to leave 
    idols, encouragement to faith, peaceful life and respect between leaders and 

    believers call to sharing, to work, to be aware of wrong teachings, etc.

    d. Apocalypse: 1 book written by John Apostle. It is also called “book 
    of Revelation” aiming at strengthening Faith and hope of Christians 
    exposed to kings and emperors’ harassment.

    1.3. Application activity: 

    1. Talk about the collections of books into the Old Testament and the 

    New Testament.

    2. Specify the Author for each book: Apocalypse, Acts of Apostles.

    3. Identify 7 books found in Catholic Bible that are not found in 

    Protestant Bible.

    4. What lessons you get from the book of Job and Daniel.

    1.4. Importance of Holy Scriptures in the lives of the 

    believer

    1.4. Learning activitiy :

    Read the passage below and respond to the question that follows it:

    Every book is bought by its importance. For example the books of Biology 
    help learners to get enough information about body functions. The books 
    of history recount the past. The books of Geography describe the earth. 
    The Bible and the Quran are the most read books in the world. If you 
    agree with the passage above how do you see one another important at 
    your school, at home or to the society in general?

    We are social and religious being formed by visible body and invisible 
    soul. The Holy Scriptures then affect many of human fields:

    Social and didactic importance of Holy Scriptures

    • They highlight the guidelines for social relationship: solidarity, kindness 
    and sharing (Luke10:25-37), empathy (Romans 2:15, Matthew 7:12), 
    peaceful life (Isaiah 32:17; 57:21; Matthew 5:9), tolerance and anger 
    control (Ephsians4:26-27), fellowship (Mark12:31), social justice 

    (Prophet Amos) etc.

    • They are books for teachers and students

    • They are used by witnesses to affirm that they tell the truth (justice)

    • They are used by leaders to take oaths of offices for commitment

    • They orient political leaders (Romans 23:1; Exodus 9:16)

    • They comfort soul in the society (Proverbs 3:5-6; Matthew 5:4)

    • They make inner-peace into people (Philippians 4:70

    • They are sources of moralities and values: observe commandments of God, 
    discipline, obedience, hardworking, courage, forgiveness, unity, control 
    of language, etc. (Jeremiah 30:11; Deuteronomy8:5;1Corinthians11:32; 
    Proverbs 6:23; Luke11:28; 2Thessalonicians 3;8-10; Galatians 3:26, 

    Exodus 14:13, Matthew 5:7, Romans 3:4)

     Spiritual importance of Holy Scriptures

    As the holy Scriptures were written under the guidance of God’s Spirit they 

    mainly contain the spiritual and religious content: 

    • They are essential for spiritual growth: prayer in order to win devil 
    (Psalms141:5), call for repentance (Joel 2:12-27), it highlights the fruits 
    of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), New heart and new spirit (Ezekiel 

    36:26)

    • They comfort soul of sick people (John33:16) and height hope for 

    eternal life 

    • They call people to be role model (Matthew 5:13)

    • They are used in religious ceremonies

    1.4. Application activity: 

    Discuss the importance of the Holy Scriptures to individual, a family, 

    Church and to the society in general.

    1.5. End unit assessment

    1. Refering to the Bible, make the following concepts clear : 

    testament, revelation and canonicity.

    2. Relate the main parts of the Bible.

    3. Describe the sacred book for Muslims and its message.

    4. Explain the apocrypha books.

    5. Classify the Paulinic letters and highlight their general importance

    6. How are the Holy Scriptures important to lives of people in general?

    UNIT 2: BIRTH OF CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM►