The Bible: How Did We Get It?
Introduction:
I know that everyone of us is different. We are of different ages, we come from different backgrounds and cultures, and our spiritual experiences are probably different too.
I was born and raised in a pastor’s home. My Moms dad was also a pastor, as was her grandfather (my great grandfather). My dad was a good preacher and teacher so I would guess that my bible knowledge was probably a little greater than kids that didn’t have a pastor for a dad, and certainly more than kids who never went to church. However, I found there were some things I never knew until I became a pastor myself.
Transition:
What I want to share with you as simply and briefly as possible is the basics of how we got the Bible in the format that you hold in your hand.
You hear frequently the phrase, “This is God’s Word.” “God wrote the Bible.” If that is true, and I believe it is, then how did He do it? There are many languages. Did God write it in English? I doubt it. There were many other languages before there was English. Sad to say, there are some who stand in such strong defense of the King James Version of the Bible that they give the impression that when God wrote the Bible, He wrote it in the King James Version. Without being disrespectful, – nonsense, not even close. I have to admit that I was adult before I really understood what I am about to share with you, and for a short time it shook me up because no one ever really explained what is meant when we say things like, “You are holding God’s Holy Word in your hand.”
To begin we find that according to 2 Timothy 3:16. NIV – “All Scripture is God-breathed [Inspired] and is useful [profitable] for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
But how did this happen. We begin to seem more as we look at 2 Peter 1:21b. NIV – “but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
Is There More Than One Bible?
When I ask this question, one would normally expect that I am asking a religious question, but I’m not.
First, let’s understand what the word “bible” means. When we hear the word “bible” we normally think of the “Holy Bible.” However, the word “bible”, according to Webster’s Dictionary simply means “a collection of writings.” He goes on to further define “bible” as: 1) the sacred book of Christianity; Old Testament and New Testament…2) the sacred book of Judaism; Old Testament…4) any book regarded as authoritative or official.”
We see then, that a bible is any collection of writings that are regarded as authoritative or official with regard to the subject that is being written about.
So, when someone publishes a book with the title, “The Fisherman’s Bible,” or “The Hunter’s Bible,” they are not being disrespectful. And now that you have heard the definition of the word “bible” you can see why it is actually necessary for our bibles to have the word “Holy” in front of it. When we see the phrase “Holy Bible” we know which bible or what type of bible is being talked about.
How Did We Get Our Bible
One answer that would seem strange, but actually correct is, it came to us in pieces or parts. Let me explain.
The Bible you hold in your hands, your personal Bible contains 66 books which was written by over 40 authors, covering a period of 1,500 years and over 40 generations.
There are two major divisions; the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament was written primarily in the Hebrew language while the New Testament was written primarily in the Greek language. After the Greek language had gained so much acceptance, the Old Testament was translated from Hebrew to Greek and was called the Septuagint. This translation was made at Alexandria for Greek-speaking Jews. This version was finished about the beginning of the Christian era and became the Bible of the early Christian Church and is the oldest of all translations. It was made by seventy translators, hence the name “Septuagint which means 70.
As we have seen, the books of the Bible were written over several centuries. The first books to be written were the Books of the Law, Moses, Pentateuch or Torah, and when Christ and the Apostles used the word “Scriptures”, it was these first five books of the Bible they were most frequently referring to. The other sections of the Old Testament they would refer to was the Prophets and the Psalms. On several occasions all three where used, “The Scriptures, Psalms and Prophets.”
Luke 24:44-47 “He said to them. ‘This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then He opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.
There were many other writings during the various periods of the Bible, so how do we know what was really God speaking/writing, God inspired and what wasn’t. The answer is “The Cannon.”
What Is The Cannon?
“Cannon” is the Greek word signifying a “straight rod, or rule.” When used figuratively it means “that by which anything is tested as a rule” – such as a test or rule of logic. It is used in Gal. 6:16, Phil. 3:16, and 2 Cor. 10:13, and 16 as a “measure of excellence.” It was first applied to the Scriptures in the 4th. century A.D. From the time of Origen it has been applied to the books of the Bible which are regarded as having divine authority. We speak, therefore, of “The Canon of Scripture.” Un-canonical or non-canonical books are those that are not in the Canon. The books of the Apocrypha belong to this class because all the evidence points to the fact that they were not inspired, do not have divine authority, and are not a part of the Scriptures as a “rule of faith.” In matters of religion and ethics the Bible is the standard, the rule or canon by which these are judged.
Basically, there is a standard by which Godly men could determine which books were inspired by God and which ones weren’t. That bothered me for a while because that didn’t match this almost mysterious image I had of how God wrote the Bible, but the more I understand other religions such as the Mormon, Jehovah Witness or Islamic faiths, the more I appreciate the fact that there was and is a standard by which things can be judged rather than just the testimony of a wide-eyed person claiming to have heard from God. Isn’t that just like God? He still tells us to judge things, prophecies, etc. This standard wasn’t a recent thing developed. It has stood the test of time and still does today.
Translations: - The History Of The English Bible
The Wyclif Bible (A.D. 1380-1384) John Wyclif.
Tyndale’s Translation (A.D. 1525 William Tyndale) This translation was accomplished with great timing. About 50 years before his birth, Johannes Guttenberg had started printing his famed 42-line Bible in Mainz, Germany. These two massive folio volumes, which were to come from his press before August 15, 1456, were to be the forerunners of a steady stream of Scriptures issuing from the presses of the world. Gutenberg’s invention of printing from metal movable type was to have a tremendous impact on the mass distribution of the Bible.
The Coverdale Bible (A.D. 1535) Myles Coverdale gave the people of England the first complete Bible printed in English. It was in circulation a year before William Tyndale’s death.
The Great Bible (A.D. 1539) Although two Bibles were now available in English – Many people disliked the marginal notes so much that there were demands on King Henry 8th for a Bible free from interpretations.
The Geneva Bible (A.D. 1560) Geneva, Switzerland, became a natural mecca for Bible scholars and others fleeing from Mary’s violent persecution. It was also natural that this city of theologian John Calvin and New Testament scholar Theodore Meza should produce a version of the Bible destined to hold first place in the hearts of Englishmen for more than 80 years. It was finally superseded by the King James Version in 1644, 33 years after that version appeared
The King James Version (A.D. 1611) This version was the most commonly used version until around 1970-1990 when other versions grained great popularity.
The Revised Version (A.D. 1881-1885) Expressed need for a revision of the King James Version became more vocal from the mid-nineteenth century for the following reasons;
- Ready access to a treasury of early manuscripts and versions not available to the King James scholars;
- The emergence, since 1611, of the science of textual criticism, which teaches the value of these documents and the best of methods of dealing with them;
- Better acquaintance of scholars with languages of the Bible and consequently better ability to distinguish between fine shades of meaning;
- And the natural growth of the language in 250 years, by which process many words in the King James Version became obsolete and some changed their meaning completely.
- The text was more accurate than the King James Version (especially in translation of Greek verbs) but the RV never replaced the KJV. The American scholars agreed to wait 14 years before publishing their version, with renderings on which they could not agree with the English scholars.
The American Standard Version (1901) Major changes in this edition included a new paragraph arrangement and short page headings, in addition to verbal alterations. More obsolete words and expressions were eliminated. Lord or God became Jehovah; Holy Ghost became Holy Spirit; charity was translated love. This version, although it does not have the beauty of the King James, has maintained popularity in America. It is the main version used within brackets by the New Analytical Bible to clarify the King James text in more than 5,000 places.
