Q: How did the Bible come to be
composed of the books it currently contains?
Is there a verse within the Bible that specifies which writings should
be included?
When a person first looks at the
table of contents in their Bible, it might initially appear that the Bible is a
single book with several sections, but it was actually written by numerous
authors over the course of around 1500 years.
Even after the last book of the Bible had been completed, the Bible was
not available at first in a single printed volume, as we are accustomed to
finding it, but normally on scrolls containing only one of the Bible’s books. Because of this history, many people find
themselves with questions regarding why our Bibles contain the writings they do.
The Bible began with the first five
books written by Moses during the time when the Israelites were freed from
Egypt. These books included the early
history of the world, beginning with the flood and ending with the rescue of
the Israelites from Egypt and their 40 years traveling to the Promised Land. These five books were called the
“Pentateuch,” the “Torah,” or “The Law.”
During the years between Moses’ death
and the birth of Jesus, authors continued to write down the history of
Israel. At the same time, men called prophets
began to deliver messages from God to His people. These messages were written down by the
prophet himself, or by another person who heard him speak, and were also
included as part of the Old Testament.
Additionally, books such as Proverbs and Psalms, which was the Old
Testament hymn book, were recorded and passed down. Together, these collected writings became
known as the “Scriptures” during the time of Jesus, and their content was
agreed upon among the Rabbis of Israel at the time. Hebrew Bibles used by Jewish Rabbis today
still include the same books.
During the life of Jesus, He
participated in the services held at the synagogues, read from these books, and
quoted frequently from them as he preached and debated throughout Israel. On several occasions recorded in the Gospels,
Jesus refers positively to “The Scriptures” without noting reservations as to
their content. On other occasions, He
refers to “The Law and the Prophets” and once to “The Law, the Prophets, and
the Psalms” (Luke 24:44) which are even more specific endorsements of the Old
Testament as a whole.
When it comes to the New Testament, there
is no declaration within the Bible regarding which books it contains. As a result, misconceptions have been
widespread, especially fueled in recent years by novels and movies about the
subject. Many imagine that there must
have been a meeting at some point in ancient history where pastors and
theologians gathered to vote whether each of the many supposedly Christian
books and letters circulating in the ancient world at the time were “in” or
“out,” resulting in the New Testament we know today.
The first account on which this
imagined scenario is misleading is that, while there was a council during the
fifth century after Jesus’ birth regarding the contents of the New Testament,
there was not widespread debate regarding the contents of the New Testament
leading up to this council. As early as
the middle of the second century following Jesus’ birth, there was widespread
consensus regarding which books were suitable as sources for Christian doctrine
and for public reading in worship and which were not.
Secondly, the early church did not
make decisions based on majority vote, but by unanimous consensus, therefore
they confirmed the contents of the New Testament based on careful study and
agreement on two fronts: whether a given
book was actually written by an Apostle of Jesus and whether it had received
broad acceptance as authentic among the churches.
Lastly, this council did not meet for
the purpose of ruling on the contents of the New Testament. Rather, it met to recognize the already
existing consensus regarding its contents and to confirm the inauthenticity of a
few new forgeries which had arisen during their time.
This ancient consensus on the books
contained in the Bible has consistently been acknowledged by Lutheran,
Protestant, and Orthodox churches worldwide until the last few decades when
conspiracy theorists have proposed alternative explanations. In spite of the fact that the Bible itself
contains no list of its accepted books, the Bible we know today can be
recognized with certainty as the authentic collection of Prophetic and
Apostolic writings concerning Jesus.
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