Where Did the Bible Come From

Introduction
The cornerstone to the Christian faith is the Word of God, aka the Bible.  The question always arises, “Where did the Bible come from and is it reliable?”  Many assume it has always been with us in the form we have it today.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Let me start by saying, “Yes!  The Bible is reliable and it is internally consistent.  Below is a brief explanation of how the Bible came to be and why I say it is reliable.  All Scriptural quotes contained herein are the New King James Version (NKJV) from Nelson Publishing unless otherwise noted.

Basic Bible Facts

Three Foundational Christian Bibles Today

• There are three basic Christian Bibles today:  The Roman Catholic, The Eastern Orthodox and The Protestant.
• All three contain the 66 Basic Books which consist of 39 Old Testament Books and 27 New Testament Books.  The Catholic and the Orthodox contain additional books commonly referred to as the Apocryphal Books, but while they contain some of the same Apocryphal Books, there are some differences in which of these books are included.

Is the Bible the Inspired Word of God?
So, what are the Scriptures and how do we know that what we have is what God gave us? Let’s start with what the Bible says about Scripture.

What Does the Bible Say About Scripture?

• 2 Timothy 3:16 states “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
• Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

So, again how can we have confidence that the Bible we have today is Scripture and the Word of God?

The Miraculous Bible

• To begin with, consider that Our Holy Bible was written over an approximate 1600-year period of time, by at least 40 different authors, from three different continents, most of whom did not know each other, and it is internally consistent.  We refer to the Bible as one book, but it is really a collection of writings spanning 1600 years, from about 1500 BC to 100 AD.
• On the other hand, it is one book in that it represents the cohesive Word of God to mankind.
• It is important to consider that the mere existence of the Bible as a cohesive Word of God is nothing less than miraculous.
• The Bible is the best-selling book in the world by a large margin.  The Harry Potter series has sold over 500 million copies.  The Qur’an has sold over 800 million copies, but the Bible has sold over 8 Billion copies.

With that being said, let’s examine how we got our Bible.

How Did We Get The Bible?
The formation of the Holy Scriptures can be categorized into four eras as follows:

• Creation to 1500 BC – Oral Tradition
• Moses to Ezra – 1500 BC to 500 BC
• Ezra to John – 500 BC to 100 AD
• John to Today – 100 AD to 2021 AD

Oral Tradition
Creation to 1500 BC – Oral Tradition. The Word of God was passed down orally from Creation until it was written by Moses. Presumably the Word of God was taught by Adam, through his children and down through his generations.

Moses to Ezra – 1500 BC to 500 BC. Moses Writes the Law, Joshua finishes it, Priests Protect it. In about 1446 BC, Moses, by direction of God Almighty, compiled the oral traditions into a written form that is contained in the first 5 books of the Old Testament and delivered them to the Priests for safekeeping. The Priests were from the Tribe of Levi, one of the 12 sons of Jacob/12 Tribes of Israel.

• Exodus 24:4-8 –  And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel.
• Deuteronomy 31:9 explains the process by which the Law was preserved:   9 So Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 And Moses commanded them, saying: “At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of release, at the Feast of Tabernacles, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing.
• The Levites were the house of Levi, one of the 12 sons of Jacob, which God separated as follows in Deuteronomy 10:8-9 8 At that time the Lord separated the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister to Him and to bless in His name, to this day. 9 Therefore Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his brethren; the Lord is his inheritance, just as the Lord your God promised him.
• From 1500 BC until 500 BC, the Old Testament books were written by inspiration of God and were placed with the Levite priests for preservation.

Thus, beginning with the Torah, which was delivered to the Levite priests for safeguarding along with the Ark of the Covenant, the Old Testament Canon was in the sacred custody of the Levite priests.

What is Canon?
Let’s take a minute to explain what Canon means. In its basic form it means the standard by which all else is judged or ruled. So, when we say Canon, we mean the true written Word of God to man.  All other writings and beliefs must be consistent with the Canon to be true.

Ezra to John – 500 BC to 100 AD. The Third relevant time period in the development of the Old Testament canon is Ezra to John.  In 586 BC, Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem.  The Jews were carried off into captivity in Babylon.  Ezra, who was a Levite Priest and a Scribe, was carried away into captivity in Babylon.  Ezra is considered to be the father of Biblical Hebrew.  While in captivity, the Jews lost the ability to read ancient Hebrew, which had changed from the Egyptian based language of Moses and the Phoenician language of King David’s era.  Ezra created modern Biblical Hebrew and translated the Old Testament as we know it, and preserved the Old Testament by training and establishing a school of Scribes.

• Ezra compiled the Old Testament writings which consists of our modern 39 books of the Old Testament, except that the book divisions were 24 rather than 39. Ezra divided the Books into three sections, the Law (Torah), the Prophets (Nevi’im) and the Psalms/Writings (Katuvim).  This is the foundational basis of our modern Old Testament.
• Ezra also developed Biblical Hebrew in its current Block form and hand wrote the entire Old Testament into what we now know as Biblical Hebrew. The modern Tanach is this Old Testament written by Ezra.
• Ezra then created a school of Priestly Scribes to guard and preserve the Tanach. These is the same School of Scribes that Jesus confronted in the Gospels.
• Ezra lived up to the time of Malachi, which is the last book of the Old Testament.  It was written around 400 BC.  The Scribes preserved this Old Testament Canon (Standard) until the time of Jesus.

Apocryphal Books
At this time, I would like to circle back to the Apocryphal Books.  The Apocryphal Books were written between 400 BC and the beginning of the New Testament and although they are non-heretical, the Jewish Scribes established by Ezra never adopted these books as canonical.  In other words they were not considered to be divinely inspired by God as His Word to mankind, but they were considered inspirational.

So how did these books come to be included in the Catholic and Orthodox bibles?

Septuagint (LXX) – During the times of Christ, the Old Testament as set forth by Ezra and the Scribes which contains all of the writings contained in our 39 book Old Testament was translated from Hebrew into Greek by 72 Scholars. The work is known as the Septuagint or LXX (70).  These Scholars included the Apocryphal Books in this work.

Hebrew Scriptures During Life of Jesus – During Jesus’ ministry, the Hebrew Scriptures were still the Scriptures set forth by Ezra that contained the three divisions established by Ezra, The Law, the Prophets and the Writings/Psalms.  The Jews called this the Tanach.

Jesus Declares the Tanach to be Scripture – The final declaration of the Tanach as Scripture came from Jesus himself who referred to the Tanach as the Scriptures in Luke 24 when he appeared to the Disciples after His resurrection and right before His ascension-   44 Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” 45 And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.  46 Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

Jesus Commissions the Apostles to Be His Witnesses, To Make Disciples and to Teach the words of Jesus

1. But Jesus did not stop there.  He went on to commission the writing of the New Testament Scriptures through the 11 Apostles and those associated with the 11 Apostles.  Jesus said, 48 And you are witnesses of these things. 49 Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”
2. Likewise, in John 20, during this same encounter, Jesus said, “21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
3. Likewise, in Matthew 28:18 Jesus said 18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
4. Acts 1: 8 –  8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
5. Thus, Jesus commissioned the Apostles as His witnesses, and in fulfilling this command they wrote our New Testament books often in the form of letters to the churches.

All New Testament books were written either by one of the Apostles or by someone associated with the Apostles.
The New Testament can be divided into the four Gospels, the Epistles and Revelation.  All of the books were written during the 1st century AD and circulated among the churches and the monasteries with the Book of Revelation being written last near the end of the 1st century.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ is the Last Book – In fact, Revelation 22 concludes with the following statement from Jesus:  18 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

Early Church Fathers
Unlike the Old Testament, there was not a school of Scribes to safeguard the New Testament.  So, among the Early Church fathers it was generally accepted that for a writing to be canon, it had to written by or through 1st Century eyewitnesses to the life of Christ.  In other words, by the 11 Apostles or those associated with them.

It has been suggested that even if we did not have manuscripts of 27 New Testament Books, we could reconstruct most if not all of the entire 27 book New Testament through the writings of the early church fathers that quote these scriptures.  So, these 27 books of the New Testament were generally accepted among the Early Church as being Canon  Scripture.

The Councils and Synods
Throughout the fourth century AD, Church Leaders came together in Councils and Church Leaders and the Laity came together in Synods to discuss various affairs of the Church including Canon, doctrines and heresies.

• Third Council of Carthage – In 397 AD a Synod was convened in Carthage in North Africa, which is commonly called the Third Council of Carthage.  At this Synod, the 39 Old Testament Books and the 27 New Testament Books were declared to be Canon and these have been the foundation of our Bibles today.  This Council did also accept some of the Apocryphal Books as well which probably came through the Septuagint, and  is probably why they ended up in the Roman Catholic Bible and the Eastern Orthodox Bible.
• Protestant Rejection of Apocrypha – The Protestant Bible that we have today rejected the Apocryphal Books as Canon because the Jewish Scribes rejected them in the Tanach.
• Roman, Orthodox and Protestant – Thus, today the Roman Catholic Bible and the Eastern Orthodox Bible includes Apocryphal Books and the Protestant Bible does not.
• The Gutenberg Press – Until 1440, the Scriptures were handwritten by Scribes.  In 1440, Johannes Gutenberg invented the modern printing press which revolutionized the production of consistent copies of the Holy Bible for mass distribution and the Bible has sold over 8 Billion copies world wide and has been translated into over 2000 languages.