How the Bible Came to be

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How the Bible Came to be

The Bible is a general name given to the literature accepted by the Christian church as revealing God's purposes for the world. The term Bible comes from the Greek word biblion (book). The New Testament uses the phrase "the scriptures" to specify the Old Testament either in part or as a whole. In one New Testament reference, the writings of the apostle Paul are included in that designation (II Pet. 3:16) Paul added the prefix holy when he said that from childhood Timothy knew the "holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Jesus Christ (II Tim. 3:15)."

The designations Old Testament and New Testament to characterize the Bible's two divisions came into use in the late second century (II Cor. 3:14). The word testament means "covenant." The Christian addition to the earlier Hebrew volume contrasts the "new covenant" prophesied by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31f) with the former one (Hebrews 8:13). Christ is the mediator of the new covenant (Hebrews 8:6f; Hebrews 10:9)

Compilation

The Bible is a composite of 66 books, 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. The various writings of the Old Testament appeared at first as separate scrolls in the Hebrew language. It is not known just how and when they were gathered into one volume. By Jesus' time, however, the Old Testament was clearly a completed collection: its threefold division into the Law (of Moses), the Prophets, and the Writings (the Psalms and other books of "wisdom literature") was generally accepted, as is reflected in the words of Luke 24:27, cf. 16:29, and Matthew 5:17, etc.). The ultimate bringing together of the scattered writings that make up the Old Testament took place under the superintendency of God. Christ authenticated it as "the word of God" and as divine scripture which cannot be broken (John 10:35).

The authenticity of the Old Testament text as we now have it can be confirmed from a number of external sources. Beyond that, the Jews were exceedingly meticulous on this score. If a single error was discovered in a manuscript, or some kind of blemish after use in public worship, the manuscript was promptly destroyed and the whole retranscribed. There is reasonable certainty, therefore, that the text of the Old Testament manuscripts that we now have preserves with substantial accuracy the biblical word from Israel's earliest times.

The New Testament stands to the Old Testament in a relationship of promise to fulfillment . The first Christians saw in the former Testament a disclosure of God's dealings with his chosen people, Israel. The Old Testament prophecies and word pictures of the Christ to come were set in the context of God's choice and preservation of Israel until the time should fully come (Gal. 4:4). The Old Testament records what God spoke in times past by the prophets concerning the Messiah (Hebrews 1:1; cf. I Pet. 1:11). The New Testament records God's final word in his Son (Hebrews 1:2), the Word become flesh (John 1:14)

The initial destinations of the various writings that make up our present New Testament were widely scattered. Some, like the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts, were written to single individuals. Most of Paul's letters were addressed to specific Christian communities; some of them, written before the four Gospels, are among the earliest New Testament writings. Of the Gospels--Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John--Mark is thought to be earliest. According to an ancient source, it reflects the preaching of the apostle Peter. Mark's first readers were mainly Greek, so he found it necessary to translate specific Hebrew words, e.g., Boanerges (Mark 3:17), Talitha koum (Mark 5:41), and Abba (Mark 14:36), and to explain Jewish customs (Mark 7:3; Mark 14:12) background. Matthew's audience was mainly Christians of Jewish background. He therefore appealed to the history of Israel and Old Testament prophecy as fulfilled in Christ (e.g., Matthew 4:4-12 cf. Deuteronomy 8:3; cf. Psalms 91:11; cf. Deuteronomy 6:16, etc.)

Matthew traced the genealogy of Jesus to Abraham and David, and left specific Jewish ideas unexplained (e.g., "Son of David," "end of the age"). The third Gospel was written by Luke to give a man named Theophilus an accurate account of the ministry of Jesus "until the day in which he was taken up" (Acts 1:1).

Mark, Matthew, and Luke are called the Synoptic Gospels because, in spite of their differences, when "seen together" (sunopsis) they follow the same general pattern. The fourth Gospel has a more theological and spiritual perspective.

Although all of the New Testament writings had a precise destination they soon became the common property of the scattered Christian communities. Paul's letter to a specific church was passed on for reading in others (cf. Col. 4:16). Copies began to multiply. In the course of time the original writing was either worn out or lost so that no actual autograph now exists. By comparing existing manuscripts--and there are very many--scholars can bring to light with almost a hundred percent certainty what was on the first parchments. One famous manuscript, the Codex Sinaiticus (Alpha), discovered by Tischendorf in 1844, contains the full New Testament in Greek. The Codex Alexandrinus (A), now in the British Museum, has both Testaments in Greek. The Codex Vaticanus (B), in the Vatican Library, contains the Old Testament in Greek and the New Testament as far as Hebrews 9:14. Exactly when the writings were brought together to form the New Testament as we have it today cannot be determined, but it was early. The process was well under way by the end of the first century.

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