Is the Bible True?

04_Is the Bible true?

Here are 9 pieces of evidence that prove it is. 

A few years ago, I worked with a guy who said to me, “the Bible was just a book full of allegorical stories, like old fairy tales to tell young children, and that none of it could be proven.” I tried to reason with him and share more about the authenticity of the Bible, but he just flat out refused to listen. Do you ever wonder if any of it actually happened and if it can be trusted? If you are like my coworker, for the next 30 minutes put your biases aside, have an open mind, and explore that with me.

Over the last two episodes of the Grafted Podcast, we have talked about where the Bible came from, and how to choose a good translation of the bible to study. After listening to those two episodes, my friend and church planter Michael Coppock pointed out that there are some theories, that people believe, that says that the Bible is not the true authoritative Word of God. That brings up the question, “How do we know the Bible is true?” That is what we are going to talk about on this episode: Is the Bible true? 

If you were to start digging in on this topic, you would find many different theologians who have written books upon books proving that the Bible is the authoritative word of God. The problem with most of these books is that they are written by theologians for theologians. They use terminology that the majority of us wouldn’t be able to understand unless we have degrees in theology. Which in our case isn’t helpful. There is, however, one book that I found incredibly helpful for us normal people to read and understand. Global University’s “Christian Life Series” by Missionary L. Jeter Walker is this book. Most of this episode is derived from this book. Lesson 6, titled Your Bible, specifically talks about 9 clues that help prove the Bible is true. I’ll put a link to this lesson in the description. http://www.globalreach.org/english/images/L2120ENE08_L06.pdf

Walker uses a 9 letter word as an acronym to give evidence that the Bible is true. That acronym is the word E•V•I•D•E•N•C•E•S. 

Now, as I mentioned earlier, there has been so much research done on this topic I am unable to go into full detail about each part. Because of this, I am going to try and give a good synopsis of the topic to stay within the time parameters for this episode. So here are the 9 evidences. 

1. E = Effects of Scripture

The effects of scripture are miracles. In his book “Systematic Theology,” Wayne Grudem says, “when miracles occur, they give evidence that God is truly at work and so serve to advance the Gospel.” In other words, miracles help to authenticate the message of the Bible. When miracles happen, God used them to bear witness about himself as he sparks people’s interest with awe and wonder. This could be through some sort of physical healing, deliverance from addiction, answers to prayers, or many other miraculous things that God does to transform lives. These miracles are the Effects of Scripture, and they prove that God is alive and active, making his word true and authentic.

2. V = Variety and Unity

In episode 2: Where did the bible come from, we looked at how God used 40 men over 1500 years to write the Bible. God used everyone from Kings to peasants, from politicians to religious leaders to record his word. The law was written by Moses 1500 years before Christ, and Revelation was written about 100 years after Jesus’ birth by John. The thing that unites each writer is that each one wrote about the relationship between God and humanity as they were inspired by the Holy Spirit. Charles Chandler wrote, “‘The Old Testament prepares you for the New, and the New explains the Old.’ ‘Jesus is the subject and is basically the red line, the crimson line of blood, that runs throughout all of its books. He’s really the message of the entire Bible—not just the New Testament.’” Each writer carried out the same theme and harmony that is found throughout the entirety of the Bible. This is evidence that each writer, who wrote hundreds of years apart from each other, received their inspiration from God. 

3. I = Inerrancy

The inerrancy of Scripture means that the Bible in the original manuscripts does not confirm anything that opposes fact. The Bible is free from mistakes. It is an accurate historical record of events, people, places, genealogies, social customs, and many other things. If you look at your text books from school, as we learn more about any given subject, the text books change to reflect that research. But when we look at the Bible, it does not change. The writers were exposed to all kinds of mistaken beliefs, but God kept them from writing about them in the Bible. The writers also never contradicted each other. The Bible was written to show the facts in an impartial and accurate way. We see this by reading the records of people who were righteous along with people who failed and sinned. The inerrancy of the Bible is known because it does not try to hide anything. 

4. D = Discoveries

Many of the Bible’s historical accounts have been proven true through archaeological discoveries. In his article “10 Crucial Archaelogical Discoveries related to the Bible,” John Currid talks about some of these findings. He includes the Rosetta Stone which is used to decipher ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics; the dead sea scrolls that contain over 800 Hebrew writings including 190 biblical scrolls; The Epic of Gilgamesh contains the story of Noah. These are just 3 of the 10 listed in his article, and there are still many others archaeological discoveries that prove the authenticity of the Bible. These discoveries help give the skeptic plenty of evidence that God’s word is true and worth taking a look at. 

5. E = Excellence in Scripture

Excellence in Scripture is referring to the teachings found in the Bible. The bible is a book that Children can read and understand, while at the same time theologians cannot fully unpack its truth. We can read it many times from cover to cover, and each time we read it find something new. God uses his word to continually speak to his people. If we really think about it, many of the laws we have today are based off of the Laws that God gave Moses like do not steal, dont murder, etc. On top of that the Bible is so excellently written that even university scholars have recognized it because of its example of what good literature should have in it. Because of its excellence, it is the most high-caliber book ever produced, which leads us to believe that its ideas and theories are from God. 

6. N = Name of Author

While there were 40 individual writers of the Bible, God is the author. Each writer was inspired by God to write and record the Bible into human words. There are many different verses through out scripture that name God as the author. Here are three of many examples:

Deut 18:18 “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.”

Jeremiah 1:19 “Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, ‘Behold, I have put my words in your mouth’”

Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

Even though these words are spoken in ordinary language, the authority and truthfulness still show that they are completely God’s word’s.

7. C = Completion of Prophecy

The ancient Jews were very carful when it came to prophecy. Moses set an extremely high bar for anyone who was considered to be a prophet. Deuteronomy 18:22 (NLT) “If the prophet speaks in the Lord’s name but his prediction does not happen or come true, you will know that the Lord did not give that message. That prophet has spoken without my authority and need not be feared.” Moses knew that prophecy was evidence that God was at work in the prophet, and gave him insight to something that only God knew about. Many of the prophecies were warnings of punishment but were also promises for those who changed their ways like with what happened when God sent Jonah to Ninava. (give the reference…)

God used prophets to tell about many things that were going to happen. For example Jeremiah said that Babylon would rule over Judah for 70 years in Jer. 25:11-12, and it was fulfilled approximately 50 years later. He also said that the Jews will survive the Babylonian Rule and would return home in Jer. 32:36-37, and it was fulfilled in 536 BC. There are many more prophecies from the Old Testament, which all of them came true. In the New Testament, there were over 300 Old Testament prophecies that were fulfilled through Jesus Christ. The prophecies that are found in the Bible reaveal that it was the inspired word of God. This was because they were all true, and they always pointed people towards a relationship with God. 

8. E = Elimination of Alternatives

WhWt are the Alternatives to God insparation? The writers could be writting of their own thoughts and ideas, or it could be inspired by Satan. We know that the writters where not writting thier own thoughts because they pointed out thier own sin, thier own unholiness, and their own shortfalls as they shared what God asks of us. If a man in his own right was going to write something to change the mind of the masses it is human nature that it would be for his own benifit or to make him look better, not to better others while also showing the weakness in himself. 

These men were not inspired by Satan because they combated agains evil and condemned Satan. They even predicted Satan’s future failure and punishment. Without the inspiration of God, the writers could not have acurately forseen and predicted the fulfillment of prophecy. There are many Alternative (different) thoughts about how the writers came up with what they put in the bible. But, when we logically examine scripture, looking at the lives of the authors and how the message of all the authors was the same, these alternative possibilities can be eliminated. This leads us to the conclusion that God inspired these men to write and record what they did. 

9. S = Survival

For most books, time is the worst enemy. Over time books become outdated, warn out, the pages turn yellow and ink starts to fade, fewer people read it, and eventually it disappears. But, this is not so with the Bible. The oldest parts of the bible are over 3500 years old, and the newest are 1900 years old. The fact that the bible is this old shows that God cares for both his word and his people. There is no book in the history of earth that has been copied, translated, and printed more than the Bible. There have been some, like world leaders, who have tried to destroy every Bible that they could, put bible readers to death, and attacked the bible mercilessly. Even with all that, the Bible has stood the test of time, and is read more now than ever. It has even made its way to being the all time best selling book in the world. The Bible has outlived every enemy who has come against it. The Apostle Peter wrote in his first letter chapter 1 verse 24-25a for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25but the word of the Lord remains forever.” With everything that has come against God’s word, this verse has proved its self true time and time again. 

There you have it… Nine evidences that prove that the Bible is the authoritative and true word of God. 

God inspired the writers of the Bible to give a good picture of God’s holiness and love towards us, to show our rebellion against him, and for us to see his amazing plan to rescue us from our own sin and death inorder to restore us to eternal life with Him. If we allow it to, the Bible will transform our lifes, and we will be way better off for it.

I hope that this episode has helped you see that the Bible is a very special book that can be trusted. Because it can be trusted, we should read and follow what it says.

The Insiders Guide to Choosing a Bible

Did you know that there are over 900 different translations of the Bible!? That is a crazy amount of translating. But not every translation is created equal. Which begs the question, “Which Bible translation should I use to read and study from?” That’s what we are covering on Episode 03 of the Grafted Podcast…The Insiders Guide to Choosing a Bible.

Have you ever gone to the store, and on your list it says you need more cereal? As you walk down the cereal aisle there hundreds of boxes with all kinds of cereal. There’s the old people’s cereal that has bran and shredded oats, there’s kids cereal that is loaded with chocolate and marshmallows, and then there are all kinds of toaster pastries filled with gooey goodness. Now you have a decision to make. How are you going to choose which one to get?

Believe it or not, choosing a Bible is a lot like choosing a cereal. It can be a little overwhelming. There are just as many if not more options to choose from, and it isn’t as simple as you might think. You could go to your local bookstore, head over to the Christian section, and buy a bible. While there is only one Protestant Bible, there are many different translations that are on the shelf. And not all of those translations are created equally. In this episode, we are going to talk about how to choose a bible to read and study from?

Why do we need a Bible?

As Christians, it’s extremely important for us to continually learn about God, grow in our faith, and act on what we believe. This happens as we spend time with other believers, in prayer, and by studying God’s Word. In studying God’s Word, we need to have our own Bible to study. Through reading God’s Word we learn and understand who God is, about his law, and His purpose for our lives. If we read and study the Bible properly, it isn’t just another obscure book, it brings purpose and meaning into our lives. The problem isn’t just with us understanding it, in reality, the problem lies with how we obey what God says and we put His word into practice. We’ve all heard the saying, “you are what you eat.” Well, it’s the same as what we put in our minds. If we read and study God’s word, it becomes part of who we are and what we believe. Our goal in studying the bible is first to grow closer to God, and second to allow it to change our lives from the inside out. Studying the Bible is how we hear God’s Word for us. 

Marketing

The first thing we have to do is get past the marketing. Just like with cereal brands, there is a ton of money spent on marketing and selling Bibles. With so many different options on the table, both seasoned and new believers often wonder which Bible translation is the best to buy. They come in every shape, size, and variety you can possibly imagine. There is everything from serious intensive Bibles for studying to trendy editions for culturally relevant issues and themes. There are endless options that Bible publishers add-in which really can make choosing a bible difficult. These add-ins are things like commentaries, maps, graphs, concordances, devotionals, bible reading plans, journaling areas, and all kinds of other things. All of which are marketing tactics to make you want to buy one Bible over another. They are not part of the translation of the original text. That’s why we have to look past the marketing and format of a Bible, to learn what translation is being used. Now, these extra add-ons are not bad things. In fact, some of them are extremely beneficial. But when choosing a Bible, this must be the last thing we look at. So we will circle around to this later.

Why So Many Translations?

According to the American Bible Society, “There are so many different versions of the English Bible that no one can give an exact number.” Why? The answer is simple, languages change. Translations are essential for people who don’t read the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek languages that the Bible was written in. If people are going to be able to understand what God is saying through his word they need to be able to read it in their lanaguage. There are two parts to this. 

The Scale

First: on Episode 02 of the Grafted Podcast, we talked about where the bible came from, and who decided what would be in it. We know that God is the author of all scripture, but he used humans over 1500 years and three different languages. These three languages don’t translate perfectly into English. So translators must make a few decisions on whether they want to convey the exact words or the central idea of the original text. Some translations are literal word-for-word translations, others are thought-for-thought translations, and there are a variety of mixtures between the two. There is even a category of “Freestyle” or paraphrase translations. These different translation philosophies created the “Bible Translation Continuum” that we will talk about in a minute. 

Revised Translations

We can see the second part pretty easily if we look at texting over the past two decades. When texting first became a thing, we used the T9 keyboard using the number keys on our phone to text every word. Then we started abbreviating certain sayings like “Laugh out Loud,” to LOL and today with a full keyboard that we don’t really use much we send emoji and gifs. It’s the same with the English language. The way English was, the words, punctuation, grammar, and idioms of 1611 when the King James Version was published were way different from today’s English. Therefore when the language becomes outdated and difficult to understand, it needs to be revised or updated for the modern everyday speech. Older words need to be replaced with newer ones. The goal in creating revised versions was not to change the meaning of the Bible, but instead to use modern language to convey the exact same meaning that was in the original languages. 

Science of Translation

When it comes to translating the Bible there is actually a science that is behind it. Translators must look at two different areas: Textural and Linguistic. 

When they look at the textural side they are looking at the character, quality, and age of the manuscripts, as well as at the different kinds of issues and errors that happened as the bible was copied. For example, the King James Bible was translated from the Septuagint or the Greek Bible. The problem with this comes with the Old Testament, which was originally written in Hebrew. When the reformation happened it was noticed that there were a few problems that happened in translating from Greek to English. These problems were solved when translators translated from Hebrew to English. Another issue is that the manuscripts were copied by hand many times. And just like playing the telephone game, there were differences and issues that showed up. This is why it is important for translators to use the oldest known manuscripts in the original language instead of newer translations like the Septuagint or Vulgate. 

On the linguistic side, they look at the verbal and grammatical parts of the original languages and how to transfer those words and ideas from one language into another. In their book “How to Read the Bible for all its worth,” Gordon Fee and Douglas Stewart say, “the best theory of translation is the one that remains as faithful as possible to both the original and receptor languages, but when something has to ‘give,’ it should be in the favor of the receptor language — without losing the meaning of the original language.”

Bible Translation Continuum

Each translation of the bible has differences in its purpose and writing style. There are different translations created to reach people with a variety of literary backgrounds and tastes. For example, the New Living Translation is simpler to understand than in the New American Standard Bible which is more complex. There are some Bibles like the New International Version that are found somewhere in between. This is where the Bible Translation Continuum comes in.

The Bible Translation Continuum is a tool to see where a translation is at on a formal or a functional scale. This tool is also known as the Formal or Functional equivalent and historical distance scale.

The Bible…Where does it come from?

Ahh, the Bible. It’s by far the most sold book of all time and is illegal in 52 countries. Some people call it our Instruction manual. After all, the word Bible is the acronym for basic instructions before leaving earth. If it’s our Instruction manual for life, we need to know where it came from and who decided on what should go in it? 

As Christians, we believe that the Bible is the infallible and all authoritative Word of God. If this is true, then we should at least know a little bit about where God’s Word comes from. We need to look into how it was decided which books went into the Bible we read today, and why other books were left out. This is what we are going to try and cover in today’s episode. 

Before we get started I want to make a little disclaimer. While I did a fair amount of research on this topic, this is one that has been debated for centuries, has been the cause of fights within the church, and part of a major church split a few hundred years ago. There are people today who have devoted their entire lives to studying the History of the Bible, and have earned many doctoral degrees from various religious and educational institutions. My goal today is to give an informative overview of the way I understand things to have happened. 

Let’s jump into Episode 2 of the Grafted Podcast. Where did the Bible come from? 

Both Divine and Human

It is said that the Bible is both Divine and Human. 

It is divine because it is God’s message to humans that gives eternal relevance to every culture and throughout every age. God chose to speak His eternal truths through particular circumstances within the events of human history. It is human because God chose to speak through human words that needed to be recorded throughout history. This makes the Bible a historical book. It is because of these two facts, that today we must both listen to and obey the words of the Bible.

I know, it’s way easier said than done. Right?

I believe that because God chose to speak throughout real human history, these same words will speak again and again not only to us today but also in the future. Just like they have throughout the history of God’s people. 

It took over 1,500 years and approximately 40 different authors whom God inspired to expressed and recorded the 66 books of the Protestant Bible we have today. 

Through each of the 40 writers, God used just about every form of communication there is. He used everything from narrative history to laws of all kinds, and from poetry and proverbs to apocalypse. There is literally something for everyone to enjoy reading. 

Something I find interesting is God didn’t use people that would normally be thought of to write these books. He used everyone from Kings to peasants, and from politicians to religious leaders to record His word. Each writer came from a different place, with various styles of writing, interests, and backgrounds. The thing that unites each writer is that each one wrote about the relationship between God and humanity as they were inspired by the Holy Spirit. 

We use the term “Inspired,” to define the process in which God directed people to produce his message/word. This comes from 2 Timothy 3:16 that says, “All scripture is God-breathed (or inspired)…” and from 2 Peter 1:21 “For prophecy never has its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” 

These 66 books are divided into two testaments. The word testament means treaty, pact or covenant. And these two testaments are based on the covenants God has made with mankind. We know these as the Old Testament and the New Testament. 

Old Testament 

Let's look at the Old Testament first. It consists of 39 individual books that were written between 1445 B.C. and 400 B.C. Jews refer to the Old Testament as the Tanak. Tanak is actually an acronym for the three-part division of the Jewish Bible: Ta for Torah which is the first five books, Na for Nebi’im or the prophets, and Kh is for the Ketubim known as the Writings. This collection covers the history of God’s relationship with humanity from the Creation to the coming of Jesus. These three parts, together,  reveals God’s plan for humanity and was a temporary covenant until Jesus would come to establish the permanent covenant. It even contains over 300 of prophecies that are fulfilled through Jesus in the New Testament

God chose the Jews (also known as Hebrews or Israelites) to receive his truths, write them, and teach them to others. These stories and writing cover the history of God’s relationship with humanity from creation and prophecies of the coming messiah, to the coming of Jesus who would establish the new and permanent covenant. 

The Old Testament was written in Hebrew because it was the language of the Jews. That is with the exception of the Book of Daniel, and two passages in Ezra that were written in Aramaic. I believe this was because these were written during the time of the Babylonian rule. 

The first 11 chapters of Genesis were passed down orally for thousands of years. Everything from God creating the earth to the flood of Noah, even through to the exile of the Israelites from Egypt, these stories were passed down orally from generation to generation. Until Moses came along. God inspired Moses to start recording his teachings, laws, and instructions known as the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible). This happened between 1445 to 1405 B.C.. 

The second major division of the Bible is the Nevi’im or Prophets. Prophets in the bible are literally spokesmen for God. These books are divided into Former Prophets (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings), and the Latter Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the 12 minor prophets: Hosea, Joel, Amos Obadiah, Jonah, Micha, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi). I’ll spare you the reading of these lists. 

The third major division is the Ketuvim or writings. This part includes homilies, poems, prayers, proverbs and psalms. The Jewish bible consists of Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Ester, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah and 1 & 2 Chronicles.  

The Old Testament of the Christian Bible includes the full text of the Jewish Bible. The difference is in the arrangement of the books. Instead of three major parts, the Christian Old Testament has five: the Pentateuch which is the first five books, the historical books from Joshua to Esther, poetry that includes Job, Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes; The Major Prophets (Isaiah through Daniel); and finally the Minor Prophets (Hosea to Malachi). 

The Jewish Bible was completed by the year 400 B.C. (Before Christ), and was fairly well established as authoritative scripture. From 200 to 100 B.C. the Greek translation of the Jewish Bible was made. This translation is known as the Septuagint. It was made at the request of King Ptolemy so that it could be included in the Library of Alexandria.

At the same time the Septuagint was being translated, there were other Jewish theological works written in Greek as well. Many of these writings/books were read, circulated, and highly respected among Jewish synagogues, but they were never accepted by the Jews as equal to the authoritative books within the Tanak. They were similar to modern-day commentaries. These books were known as the Apocryphal books. Some of these books were written in Green and even made their way into the Septuagint. We will talk more about this debacle in a few minutes. 

New Testament

This brings us to the New Testament. The new testament is made from a collection of 27 books. These writings were originally written in Greek. Which was the most commonly known language of that day. Nine different authors wrote these books between about 45 and 96 after Christ. This testament shares the conditions of the New Covenant between God and anyone who accepts his son, Jesus Christ, as Lord, God, and Savior. The New Testament is broken into 4 parts: the Gospels, Acts, the Epistles, and Revelation. 

The Gospels are the first four books of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. they tell the story of Jesus’ life and also include many of his teachings. “These books stand side by side because at one and the same time they record the facts about Jesus, recall the teachings of Jesus, and bear witness to Jesus. 

After the Gospels is the book of Acts. Also known as the “Acts of the Apostles.” The author is Luke, who also wrote the Gospel of Luke. He wrote Acts as a continuation to his first book. It was written to record the history of the early church and to describe what Jesus continued to do and teach — through his followers — after he returned to heaven. Acts shows how God's power and purpose work through human endeavors. 

The third part of the New Testament is the Epistles. Epistles are letters that were written by Paul, James, Peter, John and Jude. These letters account for 21 books of the New Testament. All of which were written in the first century to address specific situations. These situations were from behavioral or doctrinal issues that needed correcting, or to clarify a misunderstanding.

Finally, the last part of the New Testament is Revelation. Revelation is written by John and is a combination of apocalypse, prophecy and letters. This book looks forward to the time when God will finally judge the evil in the world. John was inspired to write this book based on dreams and visions that he expressed through cryptic and symbolic meanings. As Christians, we believe that Revelation is a prophecy about what God is going to do in the future. 

During the first and second centuries after Christ, there were quite a few different writings and letters that popped up. Some were circulated around Christian Churches. Over time, it was found that some of these writings were fake and written by third-party separatist movements. These Heretical groups threatened good relationships within the church. Paul speaks about heretics who stir up quarreling and dissension within the church in 1 Corinthians 11:18-19, Galatians 5:19-21, and in Titus 3:9-11. Peter talks about the false prophets who have denied the true teachings about Christ in 2 Peter chapter 2. Ignatius, an early church leader in the second century, wrote about these false writings referring to them as Gnosticism. Another early church leader, Irenaeus, sought to correct these false writings through writing a multivolume book called Against Heresies.

Eventually, it became apparent that there was a need to have a defined list of inspired scriptures. Many people think that the bible was assembled in 325 A.D. during the Council of Nicea. This idea comes from Dan Brown's book, “The Da Vinci Code.” In reality, it was a much longer process. Scholars have evidence that different church leaders and theologians made arguments for which books belong in the canon of scripture. This evidence is found through letters, church history, and theological disclosure. 

Early church leaders and theologians ended up creating three lists: Recognized books, disputed books, and false or heretical books. The books that make it into the Recognized list are what made it into the Bible. But how was it decided which books made the list? There had to be a set of criteria that was made and based on specific questions. This criterion was found through a list of questions: (1) Who was the author? Was it written by an apostle, by Paul, or by someone close to them? (2) How old was the text? The older writings took priority over newer ones. (3) Was it orthodox? Meaning did the text agree with older writings from the Apostles and did it align with known Christian teachings. (4) Did the text contradict other recognized writings? If it was truly from God, it wouldn’t contradict other texts, because God does not lie or contradict himself. (5) Did the writing come with the power to change lives? If it couldn’t change lives then it was apparent that God was not behind its message. (6) Was the writing followed or confirmed by miracles of God? True and false prophets were separated by performing miracles. 

Because of the criteria, the Bishop of Alexandria (Athanasius), provided a list of the 27 New Testament books by 367 A.D.

The List is complete. 

It wasn’t until the 4th century that the church recognized the full canon of scripture. It was then that Bishop Augustine wrote that only 66 books, 39 Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament, were considered canonical and were able to be used in Church. It was then that the books and writings that didn’t make it in the list of Recognized writings were thrown out. Today these books that were thrown out are known as the Gnostic Gospels. 

Latin eventually became the major language of theology in the 4th century. There was a need for the bible to be translated again. This task fell on Jerome of Stridon when Pope Damasus commissioned this new translation to be made. Jerome took the 66 books Augustine approved, along with the fifteen books of the Apocrypha, and translated them into Latin. The 15 extra books of the Apocrypha were left in because Jewish Rabbis through they were helpful. They were considered to be similar to modern-day study notes or commentary. Especially about historical information from the 400-year gap between the Old and New Testaments. Jerome clearly noted that the Apocryphal books were not to be viewed as authoritative scripture. Over time, these notes dropped out causing some new Christians to assume that these books were part of the accepted bible. This Latin bible became known as the Vulgate. 

The Canon of Scripture was set… Kind of. 

While the main editing of the bible ended in Augustine's day, the debate about which books legitimately belonged in scripture remained. This debate lasted into the 16th century. Along with Luther's Ninety-five Theses, this was part of what caused the largest church split in the history of the church. This split was known as the Protestant Reformation. The Protestant movement sought to return to more biblical beliefs, which caused scripture to once again be translated.  This time the translations were into the modern languages of Europe (English, German, French, and some others). These translations were directed by serious regard for Hebrew and Greek, because they were the original languages scripture was written in. Because of this, the Vulgate was ignored, and only the original manuscripts were used. 

During the translation process, it was noticed that the Apocryphal books were not in the original Hebrew manuscripts. The translators found that the Jews never accepted them as scripture, it never claimed to be inspired. In fact, the book of Maccabees chapter 9 verse 27 actually denies being inspired. Jesus even implies in Matthew 23:35 that the historical scripture of the old testament was concluded when Zechariah died which was around 400 B.C. Due to these findings, the translators and theologians decided to reject the Apocrypha, and the decision was made that it would be included in the appendix or be left out altogether. This made the new bible which includes the 66 books of the Protestant Bible we have today. 

In response to the Protestant Reformation and this new Protestant Bible, the Catholic Church had to get its ducks in a row. So Pope Paul III called a meeting in 1545 known as the Council of Trent. Not only was the Catholic thought and practice clarified, they took a stand against their new protestant opponents. It was here that Pope Paul III and the Catholic leadership declared that the Latin Vulgate was the official Bible of the “True Church.” This Bible included the apocryphal books as part of the authoritative scripture. This gives the Catholic Bible 73 books, 7 of which are from the Apocrypha. 

Today, there are actually three versions of the Bible. The 81 books, Ethiopian Orthodox Bible; the Catholic Bible with its 73 books; and finally the Protestant Bible containing only Augustines 66 approved books. You may be asking, why is there an Ethiopian Orthodox Bible and why is it different from the Catholic Bible? That is a really good question for someone else to do a podcast about. For me, I agree with the theories of the scholars and theologians of the Reformation, who went back to the original manuscripts to have more biblical foundations in their belief system. I also agree with the Jewish Rabbis that said the Apocryphal books are not authoritative or inspired, but they are helpful in providing information about what was believed and undertook between the 400-year gap of Zechariah and Jesus.

There we have it… the Bible. Not a single person or the church created it. It didn’t come to us in a bolt of lightning, and there was no single date that we can say that it was written. Instead, God inspired men, through the Holy Spirit, to record his eternal truths and His plan for humanity throughout historical events. It is through the church and many councils, who gradually accepted the lists of recognized books based on experience, evidence through scholarly research, and mutual agreement that we have the Bible today. The fact that each author and their books build off of the previous books keeping the same message for over 1500 years and the fact that the writings that the bible is made of have been preserved for over a millennium is a miracle in itself. These same words, known as God’s Word, that spoke to Jews and the early Christian Church are still speaking to us today and will continue to change lives in the future. Based on the way the Bible was created and preserved, we all have good reason to consider reading and obeying what God speaks to us through his word… the Holy Bible.