In my last post, I talked about Jesus. The basis of information regarding him comes from the Bible. The Bible is the best-selling book of all time and likely sits on many bookshelves worldwide. The question is, how many people read it? Of those who do read it, how many understand how it was assembled? Although this post is aimed at those who don’t know much about the Bible, I also think that those who do read it could learn a little something from this post.
First of all, the Bible is a collection of sixty-six books. These books were written by about forty different authors over the course of approximately 2000 years. Oral tradition existed roughly 1000 years prior. That’s a long time and a lot of info!
Let’s look at how the Bible was put together. It is divided into two parts: The Old Testament (OT), and the New Testament (NT). Some folks refer to these as the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.
Let’s begin by discussing the OT scriptures. These were written in the Hebrew and Aramaic languages. Originally, they were oral traditions handed from generation to generation as was the way of all cultures at that time. Eventually, we see stone tablets appear which is how Moses received the Ten Commandments. Ultimately, they ended up with scrolls that were likely made of papyrus. Throughout the Bible, God tells his people to “write things down.” Scribes who recorded information are found throughout the scriptures. Kings had written records of their reign. The information was delivered across a kingdom using written scrolls that were delivered by runners. This would require multiple copies of the same text to be made and widely distributed.
The OT has been meticulously hand-copied thousands of times. There are textual variants BUT they usually concern numbers. For example, there was a discrepancy over the number of years King Saul reigned. Considering its age and the number of times it’s been copied, it is extremely accurate from copy to copy.
How Was It Put Together?
No one knows for sure how the OT was assembled as there are no know documents that outlined the procedure. It was likely a long process that took place over hundreds of years. Oral tradition moved to written tradition and finally the scriptures had to be collected. There are still books that are mentioned in the scriptures that remain unaccounted for. In the book of Numbers (21:14), The Book of Wars of the Lord is referenced and yet no one has found those writings. Likewise, the book of Jasher, mentioned in Joshua 10:13 and 2 Samuel: 1:18, has not been found. There have been recent publications of Jasher but the authenticity seems to be a bit muddy.
The New Testament
The New Testament was written in Koine (Common) Greek and is the account of Jesus along with letters, teachings, and the book of Revelation. These books were put together using 5800 manuscripts. It’s not known exactly when the books were written, but it is believed that the last book written was the book of Revelation in 95 A.D.
What we now know as the New Testament was being passed around as early as the 150s A.D. Historical writers note that the Gospel (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) were bound as one. It is also widely accepted that the letters of Paul (along with six other books) were bound together as one text and in circulation by 100 A.D. which means 19 of the 27 books in the NT were already in use. Eventually, the other eight were added.
How Did We Get Our Modern Bible?
That is a very quick overview of how scriptures were put together. Honestly, you can spend quite a bit of time researching that. The English translated Bible as we know it started with an Englishman named John Wycliffe in 1380. But in 1408 Parliament passed the “Constitutions of Oxford” which forbid any reading or translations of scriptures into English without the permission of “ecclesiastical authorities.” In those days, men and women were burned for teaching their kids the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments in English.
Fast forward to the 1500s and along comes William Tyndale, another Englishmen who translated the Bible into English. Tyndale realized that priests didn’t know what the scriptures said, so he asked Bishop Tunstall for permission to translate them into English. He was not allowed, so he skipped town and went to Europe to do the translating and printing. He then smuggled 6000 copies back into England where the bishop tried everything to snuff them out. Eventually, Tyndale was caught and tried for heresy. His heresy was in part for believing that God offered mercy, and faith alone justifies. He was strangled and burned at the stake in 1536. Tyndale’s last prayer was that God would open the eyes of King Henry VIII. Three years later the king required every parish church in England to make an English version available for everyone.
From a purely historical view, the existence of Jesus is not debated.
Biblical Archeology
Dr. Nelson Glueck (pronounced Glick), a Jewish man, spent over forty years excavating Israel using the Bible as his guide. He dug up 1500 sites and found the ancient cities of Edom, Moab, and Ammon all of which are in the Bible. He also identified the site of King Solomon’s mines. Dr. Glueck stated:
“No archeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference. Scores of archeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in the Bible. And, by the same token, proper evaluation of Biblical descriptions has often led to amazing discoveries.”
Did you catch what he said? Correctly evaluating Bible descriptions led to amazing discoveries. He used the Bible as a roadmap and began digging in those areas. He discovered that it was where the Bible said it was. In 1952 he explored the Negev desert and found that it was at one time inhabited during the lives of Abraham and the kings of Judah.
Scientists And The Bible
Did you know that some of the greatest scientific minds were Christians? Newton, Kepler, and Joule all held strong beliefs in God. Much like Dr. Glueck, the scriptures were their guide. Sir William Herschel an astronomer who discovered Uranus, planetary moons, and infrared radiation in sunlight, also studied and mapped stars.
He stated:
“All human discoveries seem to be made only for the purpose of confirming more and more Truths contained in the Sacred Scriptures.”
Science In The Bible
The Bible talks about what we call science. One example comes from the prophet Isaiah who writes, “He sits enthroned above the circle of the Earth…” (Isaiah 40:22) – meaning the earth is round. Historically, the ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras is credited with this theory while Aristotle is believed to have proved it. Pythagoras lived around 500 B.C., Aristotle lived in the 300s B.C. while Isaiah lived in the 8th century B.C. In other words, he wrote it about three hundred years before the Greeks thought of it.
God In More Modern Times
My favorite quote concerning the truth of the scriptures comes from a man named Chuck Colson. Chuck was an attorney and counsel to President Nixon in the ‘70s. Colson was part of the Watergate scandal and ended up spending seven months in prison for the obstruction of justice. By his admission, Colson said he was ruthless and got things done for the president. While in prison he met God and said the following:
“I know the resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Everyone was beaten, tortured, stoned and put in prison. They would not have endured that if it weren’t true. Watergate embroiled 12 of the most powerful men in the world-and they couldn’t keep a lie for three weeks. You’re telling me 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years? Absolutely impossible.”
All that being said, the hang-up for people is whether or not God exists and if so, is Jesus the Son of God who loves all, heals, and gives everlasting life to those who believe? How much of an impact could this one man make? Even if you don’t believe anything from my last sentence, ask yourself why we mark time as B.C. (Before Christ) and A.D. (anno domini – “in the year of our Lord”). Yes, I do realize that in the past few years that has been changed to BCE – Before the Christian era and then to Before the Common Era, as well as ACE – After the Common Era. But that has only been for the last twenty-five or so years. Jesus’ life on earth made such an impact that the marking of time was changed.
The purpose of giving you a little Bible background is to help you understand the book that I am going to use to present the Jesus of the Bible. Obviously, I didn’t even scratch the surface of it but I just wanted to give a very basic understanding of how it came to be. There are historical facts that prove the existence of many of those characters, and since I’m going to use that book I thought it would be helpful for you.
Fact or Fiction Challenge
Instead of listening to a bunch of people tell you who Jesus is and what he did while he walked the earth, I challenge you to read it for yourself. If you have read the scriptures and made your choice that’s one thing, but if you’ve made your decision by listening to other people’s opinions – well, that’s another. How do you know they are right? Where did they get their information from? Do they have scripture to back up their claim? If so, has it been taken out of context or “cherry-picked” to prove their position? I’ll give you a hint – it doesn’t contradict itself. If you haven’t read it for yourself, you have no clue what is written or if anyone is giving you correct information. Before you tell me that the Bible is “too hard” to read and understand, I’m gonna stop you right there! It’s not too hard. Yes, there will be a lot of things you simply don’t get at first but it is not too hard to read. There are several versions to choose from. By versions I mean the English that is used in America today. Language changes over time and I’m pretty sure the last time anyone “Smote thy fair wench,” was during a Shakespeare play. No one talks like that anymore and although the King James Bible is still a popular version there are many others written in the vernacular. We’ll take a look at that next time, but in the meantime consider taking the challenge!
