Can you summarize the Bible?

Question
Will you briefly summarize the Bible. I want something really concise.
Answer
Well we would be happy too, but in answering such a question one will miss a lot in the answer, as no answer would be complete. Cliff notes on the Bible don't even begin to do its infinite truth total justice.

This understood,

Three Words:

"Jesus is Lord" (see, 1 Cor. 12:3; cf. John 1:14; Rom. 10:9-10; 1 John 1:2; 2:23; 3:23; 4:2, 15; 5:1, 5; 2 John 1:7, etc.).

"God is love" (see 1 John 4:8, 16; cf. 1 John 2:9; 3:1, 10; 4:7, 8).

Statistically:

The Bible is comprised of two testaments (Old & New), sixty-six inspired books, 1189 chapters, 31,173 verses, and 773,692 words. The 66 books of the Bible were written by approximately 40 different men over a period of about 1500 years.

Inspiration:

God the Holy Spirit is the inspiring author of the Bible (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:20-21).

It's Story:

An abbreviated look at the story of the Bible concerns creation, the fall of man, God's redemptive plan spelled out in history, the salvation of God's elect through Christ alone, and re-creation.

Perhaps an abbreviated chiastic literary structure of the entire Bible can better illustrate it's story. A chiasm, or chiastic pattern, is a poetic device; a unique repetition pattern for clarification and / or emphasis:

  • A. Creation (Gen. 1-2)
    • B. The Fall of Mankind (Gen. 3)
      • C. Law & Grace (Gen. - Esth.)
        • D. Suffering & Rejoicing (Job - Song)
          • E. The Redeemer is coming (Isa. - Mal.)
          • E'. The Redeemer has come (Matt. - John)
        • D'. Rejoicing & Suffering (Acts)
      • C'. Law & Grace (Rom. - Rev.)
    • B'. The Redemption of God's Elect (Rev. 13:8; 17:8)
  • A'. Re-creation (Rev. 21-22)

While I hope this helps, IMO, I haven't answered your question. The only real answer lies in the complete text of Scripture alone. God didn't take any shortcuts in His story He gave to us in Scripture and we shouldn't take any shortcuts in studying and understanding the Bible.

Related Topics:

Introductions and Overviews of the Books of the Bible

Answer by Dr. Joseph R. Nally, Jr.

Dr. Joseph R. Nally, Jr., D.D., M.Div. is the Theological Editor at Third Millennium Ministries (Thirdmill).