Interestingly, the Jewish people chosen by God to write the Bible were from every spectrum of that society. Some were fishermen, and others included priests, kings, shepherds, farmers, tent-makers, doctors, fruit pickers, tax collectors and several were the half-brothers of Jesus. Amazing, if not miraculous, is the production of a book that has a single cohesive theme that concerns God’s love of humanity and the extreme measures He took to reconcile us to himself through the sacrifice of Christ.
While Moses was the author who contributed most to the books of the OT, the Apostle Paul wrote most of the NT. Jesus never penned a word of the Bible. As mentioned the oldest books were written around 1500 BC by Moses. His works are the foundation for the Jewish and Christian religions. The last book of the Bible is the book of Revelation written around 68 or 69 AD.
The OT was accepted as it is today by the Jews 2000 years ago. What the Jews accepted as inspired is considered Canon or “the standard” for divine authority. The NT was Canonized around 375 AD. It was never translated into any common languages of the world until the first English translation in 1382 AD by John Wycliffe. Wycliffe had an interesting life and led a movement against Catholicism. His interest in translating the Bible into English was a deliberate attempt to get the book into the hands of the common man. Because of his many rebellious acts against the church at that time, after his death, his body was exhumed from the grave and burned. His ashes tossed into the River Swift at the command of Pope Martin V.
The destruction of the temple by the Roman army at the “End of the Age”.
It was not until 1454 AD, when Johannes Gutenberg developed the printing press, that the Bible was made in quantity and at a reasonable cost. Incidentally, the Bible was the first book to be printed by this method.
Three almost complete ancient compilations of the Bible have survived the ages. The Codex Vaticanus is a nearly complete 4th-century copy of the Bible but it includes many of the apocryphal books written during the inter-testament period (400 BC to the birth of Christ). These were not part of the Septuagint, the Bible that the Jews recognized as scripture during the life of Christ. Over 15000 portions of manuscripts and parchment fragments from the NT writings exist. Some date as far back as the second century. No original manuscripts, those written by the authors themselves like the Apostles Paul and Peter, exist anywhere in the world. What we have as the Bible today has been copied over and over again for nearly 3500 years.
Many versions of the modern Bible exist. Some are better than others as scholastic attempts at translating the book have improved over the centuries with archaeological finds of ancient manuscripts written during biblical times. The word-use in these other ancient books and letters, though unrelated to the Bible, have helped to clarify the meaning of words and this has improved the modern translations. However, many versions are a deliberate distortion by modern editors who have a bias against certain teachings or beliefs contrary to the original intent of the authors of the Bible. Choosing a good Bible to study from includes finding one that is a “Study Bible”. A Study Bible is a Bible with many aids like maps, drawings, footnotes, even a dictionary and cross-references. Not all of these extra details are accurate and many are biased to one perspective or another. In time, a good student with a willing and honest heart will begin to see where some of these biases crop up.
Your word is a lamp to my path.
In the next lesson, we will look at how the book is put together. It is not compiled in a chronological manner. Rather, 5 major categories were used to sort the books of the OT. This was to simplify the book for different kinds of study. The NT is composed of 4 types of writings; the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the letters and the book of Revelation. However, knowing the chronology of all these books helps greatly for beginners wanting to know more about the book, God’s personality and our purpose in life. Lesson two will address some of these nuances and may help you to understand how to read and understand the Bible.
Dan
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