HowWeGotTheBookII

“Bible” is the name commonly used to designate the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament and the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. These sixty-six books make up one book (Biblos)—the Bible.

When the “holy men of old” were moved by the Holy Spirit they wrote down what they received with:

A pen which was a pointed reed made out of rushes about 6-16” long. The end was cut to a flat, chisel-like shape that enabled them to write with thick and thin strokes.

The ink they used was made from charcoal, gum and water.

The paper was made of papyrus from the papyrus plant, which was beaten after being cut into thin, narrow slices. When dried, the white surface was polished smooth with

a stone.

Sheets of papyrus would then be glued together and wound around a stick. This made a scroll.

The average scroll was around 20-35 feet long. The Guinness record was around 144 feet!

A handwritten copy of scripture is called a manuscript. Keep in mind that because papyrus was perishable, we have few of the original manuscripts of scripture today.

So the way we got our Bible went like this:

First, there was an original copy such as Paul’s letter to the Romans. He wrote it “moved along by the Holy Spirit” with a reed pen on papyrus.

Next, it was rolled around a stick into a scroll.

Then later, copiers took that scroll and, letter by letter, slowly and laboriously copied it.

Then further on, more copiers took those copies and went through the same process.

We know that this was the process God used based on the Bible’s own testimony. For instance, let’s read Ezra 7: 6, 10:

“…this Ezra came up from Babylon. He was a teacher well versed in the Law of Moses, which the LORD, the God of Israel, had given…”

“For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the LORD, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel.”

Ezra was a teacher of the Law of Moses and was teaching Moses’ law at the end of the Babylonian captivity, which was hundreds of years after Moses had died! How did he get Moses’ law? By the faithful work of copyists.

One more example is found in 2 Kings 22: 8-11. Here we read of King Josiah—who lived centuries after Moses—discovering the book of the Law of Moses while the temple of the Lord was being renovated following years of neglect.

When the Word of God was read in his presence he tore his clothes, realizing that God’s wrath was hot against the people for their sins. Josiah’s reforms came as a result of hearing Moses’ law. How did they have it? The process of copying.

How do we know that the original manuscripts were faithfully and accurately copied?

JESUS HAD COMPLETE CONFIDENCE THAT THE OLD TESTAMENT WAS THE FAITHFULLY COPIED AND ACCURATE WORD OF GOD.

"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. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”—Matt. 5:17-18

He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.”—Luke 24:25-27

Other New Testament writers such as Paul and Peter fully believed that the copies they possessed were the very Word of God.

Paul made his view of the Old Testament clear in 2 Timothy, a letter filled with instruction for a younger minister. He wrote that "from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures" (2 Timothy 3:15, emphasis added throughout).

What are the "Holy Scriptures" Paul refers to? At the time this was written, about A.D. 66, there was no "New Testament."

Acts 28 describes Paul's arrival in Rome and the conditions of his confinement there while awaiting trial. He could not leave, but he could receive visitors.

"So when they had appointed him a day, many [of the Jewish leaders in Rome] came to him at his lodging, to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets, from morning till evening" (Acts 28:23-24).

695 separate quotations from the books of the Old Testament are found in the New Testament.

Of the 26 books and letters forming the New Testament, 20 of those books quote the Old Testament.

Only nine of the 39 books of the Old Testament are not quoted in the New Testament.

It’s All About Jesus

The Bible taken as a whole is all about Christ Jesus. When talking to two of His downcast disciples following His resurrection, Christ said:

“You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures. Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?”

“Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”

Note: Jesus said that Moses and all the Prophets, including all the scriptures, in some way or another spoke of Him!

It has been rightly said that the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.

The Old Testament anticipates His coming. The Gospels celebrate His arrival. The Epistles elaborate on how to live in light of His coming. And Revelations anticipates His coming a second time.

The earliest Bibles have no chapter and verse distinctions. The Bible was divided into chapters in the year 1227. Verses were later added in 1551 and 1555.

Time Period of Bible

The time span for the writing of the Bible covers approximately fifteen-hundred years. The O.T. was written in around 1,000 years, with the N.T. taking around 50 years to complete. Keep in mind that there were 400 years of prophetic silence between the Old and New Testaments

Old Testament (1445—400 B. C.)

New Testament (A. D. 50—100)

How the Books in our Bible were decided upon

When we use the phrase “canon of scripture” it means “an officially accepted list of books.”

One commentator says, “When we speak of the canon of scripture, the word ‘canon’ means the list of books contained in scripture, the list of books recognized as worthy to be included in the sacred writings of a worshipping community.”

The significance of canonicity is that, if the Scriptures are indeed inspired by God then a significant question arises: Which books are inspired? Historically, it was important for the people of God to determine which books God had inspired and which ones were recognized as authoritative.

So the question arises, Who or what determined which books were canonical?

First, God determines the Canon.

A book is not inspired because men made it canonical; it is canonical because God inspired it. Thus, canonicity is determined by inspiration—whether it is the product of that which was “breathed out by God.”

The growth and formation of the OT canon

From the beginning, the inspired writings of the Old Testament were collected by the Jews and revered as sacred and divinely authoritative.

For instance, Moses put the Book of the Covenant, including the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:1—23:33), into writing and the people agreed to obey it (Ex. 24:3-8). The Book of the Covenant became part of the Book of Exodus and immediately was accepted as the Word of God.

The Book of Deuteronomy was immediately stored by the Ark in the Tabernacle after Moses wrote it (Deut. 31:24-26). Later it, with the rest of the Law of Moses, was moved to the Temple (2 Kings 22:8).

Joshua added his words and set them up in the sanctuary of the Lord (Josh. 24:26).

Later on, OT books quote earlier OT books as authoritative

The books of Moses, which were immediately recognized as canonical, are cited throughout the Old Testament from Joshua (1:7) to Malachi (4:4).

The events of Joshua are referred to in Judges (1:1, 20-21; 2:8). . 3. The books of Kings cites the life of David as told in the books of Samuel (1 Kings 3:14; 5:7; 8:16; 9:5).

In other words, the OT books refer to each other, support and affirm each other, and flow in a beautiful unity.

Not to mention, Jesus clearly accepted the canonicity of the OT as already discussed. Jesus referred to creation, the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, Jonah, Moses, Abraham, the fall of Satan, the fall of man, and so forth.

Development of the New Testament Canon

Unlike the Old Testament that was written over a thousand year period, the entire New Testament Canon was written within fifty years.

Early on, the church experienced a growing need to decide whether a book should be included in the official NT canon.

1. The early church was interested in collecting those books that were inspired and thus, prophetic. The works written by the apostles and prophets were considered valuable and worthy of preservation.

2. The early church needed to know which books should be read in the churches as the Word of God and which books could be used to determine God’s will for doctrine and living.

3. To defend the faith: “As the Christian movement was confronted with philosophical and religious trends current in the Mediterranean world of its time, the need for an authentic expression and preservation of the foundation of its belief became the basic motivation toward the realization of the New Testament canon. This grew more acute after the demise of the first generation of eyewitnesses” (Andrie B. Du Toit, “Canon,” in The Oxford Companion to the Bible, p. 102).

4. Heretical threats: The early church needed to know exactly which books were canonical because certain heretics were coming up with their own canons.

5. Persecutions: Diocletians’s persecution of Christians from A. D. 303-306 included the confiscating and destroying of New Testament books. This persecution motivated the church to sort through and settle on which books were really Scripture and which books were worth suffering for.

How did the early church decide which books deserved to be in the accepted canon?

Inspiration: As with the Old Testament, canonicity of New Testament writings was based on inspiration. Only those works that had been inspired by God were to be part of the canon. The early church fathers had a policy of “If in doubt, throw it out.”

Apostolic authority: Every New Testament book has apostolic authority since they were written by apostles or close associates of the apostles or Jesus.

1. Matthew — an apostle

2. Mark — a close associate of the apostle Peter

3. Luke — a close associate of Paul

4. John — an apostle

5. Paul — an apostle

6. Peter — an apostle

7. James — a half-brother to Jesus and leader of the church in Jerusalem.

8. Jude — a half-brother to Jesus.

9. The writer of Hebrews — though unknown to us today, was associated with the ministries of the apostles (Hebrews 2:3-4).

Apostolic era: “If a writing was the work of an apostle or someone closely associated with an apostle, it must belong to the apostolic age. Writings of later date, whatever their merit, could not be included among the apostolic or

canonical books” (Bruce, The Canon of Scripture, p. 259)

Orthodoxy: No works could be canon that contradicted the apostolic faith—the faith set forth in the undisputed books.

Universal church recognition: “A work which enjoyed only local recognition was not likely to be acknowledged as part of the canon of the church. On the other hand, a work which was acknowledged by the greater part of the church would probably receive universal recognition sooner or later” (Bruce, p. 261).

The Bible you hold—comprised of 66 books—is inspired and authoritative, the completed canon of the universally accepted divine Word of God.