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Who decided which books to include in the Bible?
I grew up believing the Bible could be trusted. I had my own copy called Good news for modern man. It contained the New Testament with line drawing illustrations.
As soon as I came of age I began to read the entire Bible, including the Old Testament. I don’t always like what the Old Testament says, but I keep reading and studying it because Jesus did.
Who wrote the Bible?
As a child, I thought the Bible was written by one person. But as I began to study it, I learned that there were many people who contributed letters, poetry, stories, and prophetic texts.
These were originally written on scrolls of parchment, papyrus, or leather, as opposed to being contained in “books” as we think of them today.
In 2013, I took a trip to Israel and visited the Qumran Caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. They discovered thousands of parchment and papyrus scrolls, written from the third century BC. to the first century of the Common Era.
This was a great find as the rolls could be up to 30 feet long and then wound on both ends. Because they date so close to the time of Christ, they are considered honest Bible records.
The people who wrote these roles included laymen, scholars, prophets, and historians. The Gospels themselves were written by a tax collector (Matthew), a scribe (Mark), a doctor (Luke) and a fisherman (John).
The scrolls compiled into what we know today as “the Christian Bible” were written on three separate continents, in three different languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek) over a period of about 1,500-1,600 years.
What books were included in the Bible?
Scrolls (or books) that were collected and considered valid became known as “canonicals”.
The Old Testament was already accepted as a fixed canon when Jesus was born (AD 0). Jesus, himself, knew these scriptures and even quoted from them. Christians did not have to make up their own canon of Old Testament books, but used the same scriptures that the Jew accepted as the Word of God.
Christians regarded Jesus’ teachings and actions as authoritative and accepted them in the New Testament as recorded by His apostles and disciples. All the documents were written in the first century and are considered reliable testimonies.
Who decided which books to include in the Bible?
The books went through centuries of theological debate and discussion by early church leaders to decide which books to include.
But only in 367 AD. — based on the consensus of a large group of religious authorities — the bishop of Alexandria named the books that are today accepted by Christians as the authoritative canon. And from 382–397 AD, various church councils recognized them as the New Testament.
The early Christians used a code that was different from the scroll. It was made of papyrus leaves or animal skins and written on both sides. They began to look more like books than scrolls as they could order the books in a bound volume. The original manuscripts had no chapters or verses and these were added later for ease of reading and reference.
What criteria were used to include a book in the Bible?
There were many books that did not make it into the Bible because they did not meet the criteria used by the early church leaders. The three criteria were:
- Writing
Is it believed to have been written by an apostle or someone close to them? - Ancient times
The books were written between 33 AD. and 100 AD, known as the Apostolic Age? - Orthodoxy
How well did the doctrine conform to what the apostles taught orally or wrote when they were still alive?
In 1450, the first printed Bible, known as The Gutenberg Bible, contained the Latin version of the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament.
In 1611 the King James Bible was published.
In 2023, I can read my Bible on my smartphone.
Given the history, authors and criteria I believe the Bible can be trusted. It is the Word of God and I believe that God Himself inspired its writing.
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