KBM How We Got The Bible

Today we are going to be looking at “How Got The Bible.” My hope is that in this study we can learn to have a better appreciation for both God and his providence in providing for us that which is his perfect word. To answer this question we are going to look at three separate parts.

First we will look at the mechanics used throughout time in God’s word. Second we will look at the “formation” of the bible and third we will look at why we can “trust” the bible to be God’s word. Also, so that I can get a lot of information in each lesson I will only mention the passages but I do hope you will actually read them to have that in your studies.

With that said let’s look at the different mechanics used by God through man to write his word? Man used several different materials to write God’s word down. We see stone in Exodus 34:1. We find stone covered with plaster in Deuteronomy 27:2-3. Clay tablets were very popular for a while as well (Ezekiel 4:1). The Romans were know to use wood planks and rub wax on them. They could then use them like white boards wherein they could simply wipe the writings off and write something else. The bible also mentions writing on wood (Numbers 17:2-3; Mark 15:26). Gold was a common metal used (Exodus 28:36) as was bronze which the Greek and Roman Empires also used. Also, broken pieces of pottery known as ostracon have been found with N.T. writings on them and one piece that dates back to 1100 BC. had the Hebrew alphabet on it. Papyrus, which was an early form of paper was by far the most common as was later leather and parchment which were both made from animal skins (2 Timothy 4:13). So as you can see here God and man used a variety of different materials to have his word written on.

Now I would like to spend a moment talking about biblical manuscripts. The reality is there are no “Original Bible MSS.” What I mean by that is we have no letters from the apostle Paul or any other biblical author only copies made of the originals. Why would God allow this to take place, to only have copies, because man has a tendency to worship the created rather than the Creator (2 Kings 18:4). The reality is there are well over 25,000 fragments or full copies of the N.T. which doesn’t include the over 36,000 secular writings that quote from the bible. The Old Testament’s best known MSS are the Dead Sea Scrolls which date back some 300 years before Jesus was born of which there are over 900 of them and that is only the Dead Sea Scrolls there are thousands of other copies as well. God not only used a lot of different materials throughout time to write his word down he also providentially allowed many of them to be preserved so mankind would have access to his divine word.