The Bible
Text: 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21
The word “Bible” comes from the Greek word biblos for “book” or “record” (Mt. 1:1). It is a compilation of 66 books written by about 40 different authors scattered across many countries during a period of 1,500 years. The story of how this remarkable book came into being with each part fitting perfectly into the others and with each telling the divine message of God’s redemption is truly interesting. A serious inquiry will lead one to conclude it could have only come from God.
The Origin Of The Bible
The Bible is divided into two great divisions known as the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is over three times as long as the New Testament and its writing was completed about 400 years before the birth of Christ. The 39 Old Testament books were written in Hebrew, except for small portions in the Aramaic language. The first five—the Pentateuch—were written primarily by Moses about 1400 years B.C. During the next thousand years the remaining books were penned, and it may have been Ezra the scribe, who brought them all together into a single book (Nehemiah 8:5) about 400 B.C.
The 27 New Testament books were written in Greek by about eight men, several of them apostles of Christ, in the first century A.D. The New Testament covers events occurring in that century, including the life of Christ and the establishment of his church throughout the Roman Empire.
The Writing Of The Bible
Originally the biblical books were hand written on stone, animal skins (parchment) or paper made from the papyrus plant. Printing was not yet invented, so every copy of an original had to be made by hand. Therefor, copies were rare and extremely valuable.
All the original copies of the individual books of the Bible have been lost or destroyed. And yet, according to the manuscript evidence and due to the care of scribes in copying, we have the writings substantially as they were penned.
Ancient Writings
Writing in ancient times was inscribed on a variety of materials. These included stone (Habakkuk 2:2; Isaiah 30:8), gold (Exodus 39:30), clay tablets, papyrus (a kind of paper made from a plant that grew in the marshy areas of Egypt) and animal skins, also known as Vellum or parchment (see 2 Timothy 4:13).
One thing to remember is that the individual “books” of the Old and New Testaments were a lot different than what we recognize as books today. For example, a “book” in Biblical times was more accurately called a “scroll” which was a common form of written communication in those days.
Scrolls were made by sewing or gluing sheets of parchment together and then winding those sheets around a wooden stick. To read the scroll, the reader would simply unroll one end and roll up the other and he or she went along. A really long book (like the 66th chapter of the book of Isaiah) would produce a scroll with a length of 20 feet! The individually paged form of books that we are familiar with today did not come into general use until the second century A.D. and was called a codex.
The Canon of Scripture
The books of the Bible that are officially recognized as Scripture are referred to as the canon (pronounced “cannon”) of Scripture. This word means “rule” or “rod of measurement.” Over time, this term came later to refer to the collection of Biblical books that were recognized as having authority for God.
Over the centuries, 3 widely recognized principles were used to validate those writings which came as a result of divine revelation and inspiration. First, the writing had to have a recognized prophet or apostles as its author (or one associated with them, as in the case of Mark, Luke, Hebrews, James, and Jude). Second, the writing could not disagree with or contradict previous Scripture. Third, the writing had to have the general consensus by the Jewish authorities or the early church’s leadership to be an inspired book.
Christians believe that God’s providence was involved in both the selection and preservation of His revealed Word.
What is Inspiration?
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
The term “inspiration” is taken format he Greek word theopneustos. “Theopneustos” literally means God breathed as we read above. The idea behind the word is that God “breathed out” the Scriptures using the Biblical writers as His agents (2 Peter 1:20-21).
The Biblical idea of inspiration also refers to God’s total oversight, guidance and direction of each Biblical author so that they wrote exactly what He wanted written. Scholars call this plenary inspiration, meaning that the Bible is totally inspired by God in all its parts.
Biblical Accuracy
The Jews were so careful in copying the OT that they used an “error detecting code” process, which is similar to that of modern computers. They would count all of the letters, and document certain letters and words that should be found at specific locations. Any discrepancy in their counting on a copy would alert them to some error, which would have allowed them to find and fix it. Although the OT documents are much older than NT texts, they are extremely reliable because of the Jew’s religious and careful attention to details and accuracy. Even, the New Testament speaks of the Jews’ being God’s custodians of the OT Scriptures (Romans 3:2).
The Dead Sea Scrolls are extremely important because they verify the accuracy of the Jews’ copying process. Even though separated by over 1,000 years, the Dead Sea Scrolls were almost identical to later Hebrew.
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