The Bible

 

The Bible is a book. Most people in the world have heard of it. In fact, it is probably the most well known and widely read book in history. It’s not just any book though. It has had an impact on the world unlike any other. For nonbelievers, it might be an interesting philosophical text that has had an unbelievable impact on humanity both for good or bad depending on who was wielding it. For believers, it is the Word of God and serves as the basis for our faith. Every verse of every book was given to us by God to benefit us in some way.
 
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness - 2 Timothy 3:16
 
Actually, calling the Bible a book is a bit of an oversimplification. The Bible used by most Protestants is actually a collection of different texts and books, 66 in all. Those books are divided into two testaments, the old and the new. Most people know these facts, but does everyone know that the Bible was not always what it is now? To be more accurate, there wasn’t always a Bible as we know it. Early on when Christianity was first forming, there were far more than 66 texts floating around and different groups of people that all thought of themselves as Christians or followers of Christ accepted different books. So how did what we know as the Bible come to be?
 
The Old Testament is relatively easy to understand. The Old Testament is the same as the Tanakh, which is also referred to as the Hebrew Bible. Of course there are some minor differences. After all the Bible has many different translations and versions whereas the Tanakh has been more controlled. The differences between the Old Testament and Tanakh are usually relegated to punctuation and some differences in word use. Depending on the exact version of the Bible you use, some other more significant differences exist such as the presence of some additional books like Maccabees The shared scriptures between Judaism and Christianity are the obvious result of the fact that Christianity as a Faith grew from Judaism. Now, we understand that the faiths have diverged. Most religious Jews believe humanity is still waiting on the Messiah, whereas Christians believe that the Messiah came in the form of Jesus Christ. Christ’s coming led to an entirely new set of books that Christians hold as sacred. Those books, of course, make up the New Testament, but the Old Testament still holds importance. That importance is demonstrated in the fact that the books in the New Testament frequently reference the books of the Old Testament, which also gives the Bible as a singular text a sense of continuity. Hal Seed points out in his essay (link below):
 
These Jewish believers already had Scripture. Around Palestine the Jewish Scripture is exactly what Protestants today call the Old Testament. Jesus referred to these books when he spoke of the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms (Luke 24:44).
The origins of the New Testament books are a little trickier to nail down. Most of the books in the New Testament were, at some point, widely known amongst Christians, but they weren’t always held together in a collection as they are now.  Early on in the Faith's history, it took time for them to be acknowledged and spread, so not all Christians even had access to the various books and letters. As a result, other versions of a “New Testament” were proposed. Some of the alternatives did not include some of the books we recognize, included additional books, or included different versions of the books we all know now. Even when the modern New Testament was coming to be more generally accepted by all the true followers of Jesus, some who believed in Jesus still gave credence to books that are not included in our New Testament. As a result, Christianity was broken into several different sects such as the people who followed Marcion or Montanus or the groups that adopted the Gnostic texts. 
 
We think the Body of Christ is divided today with all the many denominations, but things may have been worse when Christianity was young and still considered a cult that followed Jesus. There might be more different groups now, but the differences in many cases are relatively small. Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians all use the same Bible for example. Earlier in Christianity's history, the difference in beliefs were often more drastic.  Many people in the past who considered themselves followers of Christ believed as we do that Yahweh is the supreme being and that Jesus is the Son of God. However, back then some who believed in Jesus believed some things that were wildly different from what we believe. For example, Marcion and his followers believed that Yahweh was actually an evil god called the Demiurge. Some also believed that Jesus was just a special prophet or even that he was an extradimensional being created by another god. The truth is that those people believed in Jesus, but he simply wasn’t the same Jesus. Not everyone who claimed to follow Christ was an actual Christian.
 
It all sounds a bit crazy, so how did we come to have the book we now know as the Bible? From Seed’s paper:
 
In 367, Athanasius, the bishop of Alexandria, wrote an Easter letter that contained all twenty-seven books of our present New Testament. In 393 the Synod of Hippo affirmed our current New Testament, and in 397 the Council of Carthage published the same list.
 
The 27 books of the Council’s New Testament are the same as what we recognize today. The Council’s version was consistent with other lists published by other reputable figures in the early church. More importantly, the Council used a set of criteria to determine which books made the cut (from Seed’s paper):
  1. Was the book written by a prophet of God?
  2. Was the writer confirmed by acts of God?
  3. Does the message tell the truth about God?  
  4. Did it come with the power of God?  
  5. Was it accepted by God’s people? 
 Criterion 5 is particularly notable as many of the books that were selected were also among the most popular books amongst Believers. Despite the sometimes complicated origin of our Bible, the scriptures have lasted for centuries. For us as believers, this should not be a surprise. After all, we don’t believe that what the prophets wrote in the Bible was from their own minds. Peter tells us otherwise.
For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. - 2 Peter 1:21
 
As with all things in Christianity, accepting that the Bible is truly the Word of God is a matter of faith. Likewise, we must also have faith that the Bible becoming what it is today also happened through inspiration from God. Frankly, given how early on Christians were seen as nothing more than cultists, it is a miracle that the Bible and the Faith as a whole have lasted to the present time. But, creating miracles is what God does. We can see that in the most basic and fundamental aspects of what we believe. So just keep God’s wisdom and divine planning in mind when you read the Bible and do your best to remember what an amazing privilege you have.
 
 
Chris Lawyer
Image Courtesy of crosswalk.com 
 
Reference:
 

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