How we got the Bible (Overview)
A. Introduction (Hebrews 1:1-2)
1. Generally the study of "How We Got the Bible" can be summarized into four areas: -
(a) Inspiration - This area deals with what God did, namely, "breathing out" (θεοìπνευστος) the Scriptures(II Timothy 3:16). Inspiration is what gives the Bible its authority.
(b) Canonization - This area deals with how the inspired books of God came to be recognized as Holy Scripture. While inspiration tells us how the Bible received its authority canonization tells us how they came to be accepted by men as authoritative.
(c) Transmission - Transmission deals with how the original autographs of the Bible were copied and whether these copies accurately reflect the original.
(d) Translation - This deals with the translation of the Bible into other languages and whether the Bible in our language accurately reflects what the manuscripts said.
2. Some basic facts about the Bible:
(a) The Bible is a collection of sixty-six books. Over forty different authors in three different languages wrote the books over a period of 1400 years. The word 'Bible' means 'library.'
(b) The sixty-six books of the Bible are separated into two volumes called 'Testaments.' The word 'testament' means 'a covenant' i.e. 'a contract between a greater and a lesser party.' All the books written before the birth of Christ are found in the Old Testament while the New Testament contains the Books written after his death.
(c) The books of the Bible are arranged systematically according to their classification as follows: -
(i) The Classification of the Old Testament: -
- - The Torah: Also called 'The Law', 'The Books of Moses' or 'The Pentateuch.' These are the first five books of the bible i.e. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers & Deuteronomy.
- - The Historical Books: Also called 'The books of history.' These are the next twelve books of the Bible i.e. Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I & II Samuel, I & I Kings, I & II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah & Esther.
- - The Books of Poetry: These are the next five books i.e. Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, & Songs of Songs (Also called Songs of Solomon).
- - The Books of Prophecy: These are the remaining seventeen books in the Old Testament. They are further subdivided according to their size as follows: -
- Major Prophets: These are the first five of the group i.e. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentation, Ezekiel, & Daniel.
- Minor Prophets: These are the remaining twelve books of the Old Testament i.e. Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah & Malachi.
(ii) The Classification of the New Testament: -
- - The Gospels: The word 'gospel' means 'good news'. These are the fist four books of the New Testament i.e. Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John.
- - History: The Acts of the Apostles is the only historical book in the New Testament.
- - The Epistles of Paul: The next thirteen books are letters written by the Apostle Paul to various groups and individuals. These are: Romans, I & II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I & II Thessalonians, I & II Timothy, Titus & Philemon.
- - Other Epistles: There are eight more epistles. These are: Hebrews, James, I & II Peter, I II & III John & Jude.
- - Prophecy: The Revelation is the only book of prophecy in the NT.
3. Note: The classification given above is the most common one used today.
(a) There are other types of classifications. For example the Hebrew classification of the Old Testament initially had only 2 groups - the Torah and the Writings.
(b) The books of the Bible are not arranged in chronological order. For example the book of Job is said to be the oldest book as opposed to the book of Genesis.
(c) The earliest Bibles have no chapter and verse distinctions. Stephen Langton, a professor at the University of Paris, divided the Bible into chapters in 1227. Later, Robert Stephanus, a Paris printer, added verses in 1551 and 1555.
B. How the books were put together to form the Bible
1. The Old Testament
(a) The first recorded instance of God's Word being written down, was when God Himself wrote the Ten Commandments on stone tablets at Mount Sinai. (Exodus 31:18) This occurred around 1500 - 1400 BC.
(b) Throughout the history of Israel, the collection of authoritative words from God grew in size as God spoke through his prophets. (Joshua 24:26; I Samuel 10:25; Jeremiah 30:2) By around 425 BC all the Old Testament books were completed.
(c) Almost all of the Old Testament was written in Hebrew with a few portions written in Aramaic (1 verse in Jeremiah, 6 chapters in Daniel and a few chapters in Ezra).
(d) During the reign of Alexander the Great (331-323 BC), the entire ancient world was forced to learn the language of the Grecian Empire. This language is called 'koine' or 'Common Greek.' When koine became the common tongue of the entire world, the books of the Old Testament were virtually unreadable to the everyday Israelite since he could no longer understand Hebrew.
(e) Approximately fifty years after Alexander the Great died, Ptolemy Philadelphus began to rule over Egypt. During his reign, he ordered that the Hebrew scripture be translated into koine for his royal library as well as for the Jews to be able to follow it. This task was accomplished by the coming together of 72 Hebrew scholars - 6 from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. Their translation was made into seventy sections and so eventually it was referred to as the Septuagint which means 'The Seventy.'
(f) Note: The Septuagint is the Old Testament scripture that was used at the time of Christ. It contains the books of the Old Testament, as we know it. Ancient manuscript copies of both the Septuagint and the Tanakh still exist.
2. The New Testament
(a) All the books of the New Testament were written in the first century AD in koine or common Greek. Koine was spoken by all the authors of that period including the Lord Himself. However other languages were also spoken e.g. Hebrew and Aramaic.
(b) None of the first century Christians ever saw a complete collection of the New Testament books. Most however, may have seen parts of it while some may have possessed copies of whole books which they would have hand copied themselves.
(c) Handwritten copies of scripture are called manuscripts. There are more than 5,300 catalogued manuscripts of parts of the New Testament in existence.
(d) The majority of manuscripts were made of papyrus. Others have been discovered to be made of parchment or even vellum (made of animal skins). Some famous manuscripts have been given names. These include: -
- (i) Papyrus 46 which contains some of Paul's epistles copied around AD200;
- (ii) Papyrus 66 contains the Gospel of John copied around AD200;
- (iii) Codex Sinaiticus contains much of the Bible copied sometime before 350AD; and
- (iv) Codex Vaticanus contains much of the Bible copied sometime in the 4th century.
(e) Up until AD 400 the Bible was not yet compiled into a one-volume book form, as we know it. The Church at that time still used loose koine copies of the Septuagint and the New Testament writings.
(f) Between 382 and 405AD a monk by the name of Jerome translated the scriptures into Latin (using the Hebrew writings (Tenakh) of the Old Testament instead of the Septuagint). His translation became known as the Vulgate and was the first Bible of its kind. However it did not include the New Testament. This Latin Bible was eventually accepted as the official Bible of the church and was used for more than 1,100 years!
(g) In 1514 Erasmus published the first Greek New Testament dedicating it to Pope Leo X to suppress clerical protests. (The Western Church considered the Greek Church as heretical and so it was very suspicious of a Greek translation).
(h) Note: John Wycliff published the first English Bible in the middle of the sixteenth century. He was eventually burned to the stake for it.
Recommended References:
Lightfoot, Neil. How We Got the Bible. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1988.
Geisler, Normal A General Introduction to the Bible. Chicago: Moody, 1986
Online resource: http://www.biblebb.com/files/howbible.htm