How We Got Our Bible

How We Got Our Bible

The Old Testament

The Old Testament was written over a period of one thousand years, from approximately 1400 to 400 B.C. The first five books of the Old Testament, sometimes called the books of the law, or the Law of Moses, were written mainly by MOSES in about 1400 B.C. The last Old Testament book was written by the prophet Malachi in about 400 B.C.

The Old Testament Scriptures were carefully hand copied by Jewish scribes and thus passed on from generation to generation. Each time a scribe made a new copy of Scripture, he destroyed the old copy. For this reason the most ancient copies of the Old Testament are no longer in existence. Indeed, the earliest copy of the entire Old Testament that exists today was copied in the 10th century A.D.

However, in 1947 some very ancient leather scrolls were discovered in Israel by a shepherd boy. He found them in some caves eight miles south of the city of Jericho near the Dead Sea, and so they have become known as the Dead Sea scrolls. The scrolls contain sections from almost every book of the Old Testament. The Dead Sea scrolls were copied sometime during the first and second centuries B.C. Except for tiny differences in spelling and style, they are exactly the same as the existing Old Testament copies from the 10th century. This proves that the Jewish scribes carried out their copying with great care and accuracy. Thus we can have full confidence that the more recent copies of the Old Testament (from which our modern Bibles are taken) are completely accurate copies of the original writings of the Old Testament authors. This is very important, because, as we shall see below, the original writers were inspired directly by God in a special way to write what God wanted them to write. Thus we can be assured that the copies of what they wrote have been faithfully and accurately passed down to us through the centuries.

Most of the Old Testament manuscripts were written in the Hebrew language, the ancient language of the Jews. However, in the time of Christ, Hebrew was not spoken by the ordinary people; it was used mainly by the Jewish priests and religious scholars. The common language of the Middle East in Christ’s time was Aramaic, the language which Christ Himself spoke. Aramaic is related to Hebrew in much the same way that modern Indian languages are related to Sanskrit.

However, there was another major language in use during Christ’s time; that is, the Greek language. Greek was spoken throughout the entire Mediterranean region and was known by most of the educated people. Because so few people understood Hebrew, the Old Testament was translated into Greek in about 200 B.C. When the New Testament writers quoted from the Old Testament Scriptures, they usually used this Greek translation rather than the original Hebrew.

The Old Testament contains thirty-nine books written by many different authors. For a discussion of the contents of these books, see General Article: Summary of the Old Testament.

The New Testament

The New Testament was written in the Greek language, beginning about twenty years after Christ’s death. Christ’s last command to His disciples was that they should be His witnesses to the whole world (Acts 1:8). Therefore, starting on the day of PENTECOST, the disciples began to tell others about Christ’s life and teachings. For the first twenty years after Christ’s death, the disciples, or APOSTLES, taught mainly by word of mouth. But as the apostles got older, it became apparent that a written record of their teaching would be needed in order to insure its accurate transmission down through the future generations. Therefore, some of the apostles and their close associates began to write down an account of Christ’s life. The Apostle Peter worked with Mark to write Mark’s Gospel (see Mark: Introduction). The Apostle Matthew wrote the Gospel of Matthew, and the Apostle John wrote the Gospel of John. Luke, a close associate of the Apostle Paul, wrote the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts, the story of the early church.

In addition to writing an account of Christ’s life, it also became necessary for the apostles to write down a fuller explanation of the reason for Christ’s coming to earth, and to correct some errors and false teaching that had begun to arise in the new churches. So they began to write letters to the new churches that they had established. The Apostle Paul wrote thirteen such letters, beginning with his letter to the Galatians written in about 50 A.D. (see Galatians: Introduction). Some scholars believe that the earliest New Testament book to be written was the letter of James, the brother of Jesus (see James: Introduction).

The last book of the New Testament to be written was Revelation, written by the Apostle John in about 90-95 A.D. Thus the entire New Testament was completed between 50 A.D. and 100 A.D.

Most of the original writings of the New Testament authors were written on a kind of paper made from a plant called papyrus.¹ This papyrus was not durable like our modern paper, and it did not last. As a result, the papyrus scrolls on which the New Testament authors actually wrote have been lost, and as is the case with the Old Testament, all that remains today are copies of the original writings.

For the first three centuries after Christ, the New Testament was carefully and accurately copied by scribes onto papyrus scrolls. In the early 1900s, some of these ancient papyrus copies of the New Testament were discovered in Egypt buried in sand. Still others were found preserved in protective containers. The oldest of these copies was made in 135 A.D., and contains part of John’s Gospel. The next earliest scrolls were copied in about 200 A.D., and contain large parts of the New Testament. These ancient scrolls are now preserved in museums.

Another kind of “paper” that was used in Bible times was parchment, which was made from the specially treated skin of goats or sheep. Parchment was more expensive than papyrus. It is possible that a few of the New Testament books were first written on parchment, but if so, they have not been preserved. The oldest copy of the complete New Testament was made in the 4th century and was written on parchment. This oldest copy was found in the mid-1800s stored in a monastery near Mount Sinai in Egypt. In addition to this oldest copy, there are another 270 copies of the Greek New Testament still in existence that were written on parchment between the 4th and 9th centuries.

From the 9th century up to the 15th century, numerous additional copies of the Greek New Testament were made, over 2700 of which have been preserved to the present time. Then in 1456 A.D., the printing press was invented by a German named Johann Gutenburg, and the first book was printed—the Bible. After that, books didn’t need to be copied by hand; they could be published quickly and cheaply and in large numbers by means of printing presses. Translations of the Bible into different languages could now be widely distributed to the common people. Today the Bible or parts of it have been translated into over 1200 different languages of the world. There is no other book in world history that has been translated into so many languages or read by so many people.

These hundreds and thousands of ancient manuscripts which have been preserved to the present time prove that the Bible has been handed down to us from the original Greek manuscripts with great accuracy. Although we know that individual scribes made an occasional error in copying, when all the manuscripts are studied together it can be determined in almost every case what the original writers actually wrote. No other ancient book has so many early copies still in existence. This is why we can be confident that our modern Bibles are accurate translations of the words that God first gave to the original writers of the Bible.

There is another important reason why we can trust the accuracy of our Bibles today. That is because God has said that He will preserve His word to all generations (Psalm 119:89,152,160). We can have full confidence that God has not allowed His word to be lost or to be changed in any significant way.

The New Testament Canon

From the beginning there was general agreement about what books should be included in the New Testament canon.² By 200 A.D. the New Testament contained essentially the same books that we have in our present Bibles. However, there was disagreement over several books, and this disagreement persisted until the 4th century. In particular, some Christians questioned whether Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Jude, and Revelation should be included in the New Testament. In addition to that, there were other non-biblical writings written by Christian leaders at the turn of the first century, which some people thought should be included in the canon but others thought should not be. By the end of the 4th century, however, all these disagreements had been resolved, and the worldwide church unanimously accepted the present New Testament canon and made it official. Since then, there has been no disagreement on any part of the New Testament canon.

The decision as to which books should be included in the New Testament was based on four factors. First, a book had to have been written either by an apostle or the close associate of an apostle. Second, the contents of the book had to be of high spirituality and to be in agreement with the teaching of the Old Testament and the apostles. Third, the book had to be accepted by the great majority of the churches. Fourth, the book had to be clearly inspired by God. In determining what books to include, the early church was guided by the Holy Spirit. It wasn’t a matter of men deciding on their own what books they wanted in their Bible. Rather, it was a matter of men being shown by the Holy Spirit what books were indeed God’s word.

Why Is the Bible Different from All Other Books?

The Bible is different from other books because the writers of the Bible were directly inspired in a special way by God Himself. God’s Holy Spirit guided the writers of the Bible to write what God wanted them to write (see 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21 and comments). The Bible is not only the words of men; it is the word of God Himself.

However, God used men to write His word. God didn’t dictate each word. The writers of the Bible, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, used their own minds to write. Their individual personalities and character can be seen through their writings. Just as Jesus Himself was both God and man together, so the Bible is both God’s word and man’s word together. It was written by men who knew God’s mind in a special way. God revealed His mind to them, and they wrote according to what God revealed to them. It is true that other Christian writers have been inspired by the Holy Spirit in a general way and have written books pleasing to God; but they have not had the same special knowledge of God’s mind that the Bible writers had. For this reason, then, the Bible is different from all other books: it is the only revealed and authoritative word of God.

Because the Bible is God’s word, it is totally true. It is without error. Some have at times thought they found an error in the Bible, but later have discovered it was they who were in error, not the Bible. Time and again, historical and archeological discoveries have confirmed the truth of the biblical writings. The Bible is historically and scientifically trustworthy in every regard.

When we say that the Bible is “without error,” we mean that the original manuscripts were without error. Those original manuscripts were later copied by scribes many times down through the centuries; and in the course of their copying, a few small scribal errors did occur. However, none of these scribal errors affects the essential meaning of the text.

Concerning the historical and scientific trustworthiness of the Bible, we need to keep two things in mind. First, in the Old Testament there is much poetic and figurative language, which is not meant to be taken literally. Second, by its very nature, man’s historical and scientific knowledge is always incomplete. We are always learning new things about God’s universe and about God’s unfolding purposes in history. What we can rely on, however, is that the biblical writers wrote according to the knowledge God gave them at the time and that what they wrote was without error.

However, it is not enough to read the Bible in the same way we would read a history or science book. It is not enough to read the Bible only with our minds. We must also read the Bible with our spirits, or else we will miss the deep spiritual truths of the Bible. When we read the Bible, we must humble ourselves and open our minds to receive God’s truth. We must pray for spiritual understanding. When we do this in faith, then the Bible will come alive for us and will change our lives.

It is the Holy Spirit who makes the Bible “alive” and powerful in the heart of the reader (2 Corinthians 3:6). Those who have the Holy Spirit living within them know in their own experience that the Bible is the true and living word of God. From the Bible they can know with certainty who God is and who Christ is. They also know from the Bible what God has done. The Old Testament is the record of God’s reaching out to men and of men’s disobedience and sin. The Old Testament shows clearly that men are sinners in need of a Savior. The New Testament reveals a God who loved men so much that He Himself came to earth in the likeness of a man, Jesus Christ, to suffer and die in order to save men from their sins and give them eternal life.

It is hoped that as the reader studies this commentary, he will let God speak to him through the Scriptures. It is not enough only to understand the Bible; we must also live by it.

¹ Papyrus is a tall water plant native to Egypt. Thin slices of the stalk of this plant were laid together, and then another layer was crossed on top of the first layer. Papyrus was the main kind of “paper” in use up until the 3rd century A.D.

² The New Testament canon is the list of officially authorized Scriptures that has been accepted by all Christian churches.