The
Bible - Truth Or Myth
The Bible is unique among all
ancient documents. It tells us about the existence of God, who
He is, the history of how He dramatically interacts with mankind,
and His plan for the future of the human race. But, where does
the Bible come from? How did it originate and where are the
original manuscripts? Can it still be trusted? These are just
some of the questions often asked about the Bible.
Bible Basics
The Bible is often thought of as a single book, but it is actually
a collection of many writings by different authors. It is composed
of 66 different books and interestingly the word "Bible"
doesn't even appear in the Bible. The name "Bible"
means that it is a canonized document and has been agreed upon
to contain the 66 books.
The Bible is composed of both the Old and New Testaments. The
original documents have long since disappeared. Before these
original documents were lost or destroyed (probably by age),
they were copied over and over again. A number of these old
copies remain today. Remarkably, there are thousands of copies
to work from. They principally span across the Hebrew, Latin,
Greek and Aramaic languages. By studying these ancient documents
in their native languages, Bible Scholars have agreed upon the
translations we have in our Bible.
The books that make up the Bible have been “canonized”. The
word canon actually pertains to the word "reed" or
"rod" which actually means to measure or measuring
rod. It actually means "measuring standard", or simply
"standard". Therefore, it is the standard of the official
books of the Bible. It wasn't one person's idea or even the
church who decided which books to include in the canon. What
is included is what the early church (dating back to the apostles)
used. Therefore, we conclude that these works are inspired by
God.
What is surprising is the quantity of Bible literature that
has survived. Most of it was written on perishable material.
This large quantity of literature has helped minimize the number
of errors found in the Bible and remarkably, no significant
errors meaning or content have been found.
History of the Bible
The Bible originated in the form of ancient manuscripts.
There are thousands of these manuscripts that still exist. They
can actually be found in many museums such as the British Museum.
Scroll Jar- Courtesy British Museum
Much of the development of the Bible followed technology. The
earliest “Bibles” were scrolls. These consisted of the “books”
that make up the Bible. Before the printing press, copies were
made by carefully hand scribing the documents. The scholars
who did this were known as “scribes”. The printing press was
invented in the 1450s and was put to work to make copies of
Bibles. However, early Bibles were still expensive to print
and were under tight control back then. The King James Version
was published in 1611 and became the most popular standard for
the Bible. Ordinary people were finally able to own a Bible,
but due to their cost, there was typically only one per household.
These Bibles became known as the "family Bible". Bibles
continued to be expensive until better printing presses were
developed in the latter 19th century. By the 20th century, the
cost had dropped that individuals could easily afford there
own personal Bible. Today, the Bible is available in common
book stores and can easily be accessed on the Internet. At no
other point in history has the Bible been so easily accessible.
Unfortunately, compared to the 19th century (on a percentage
basis), our world has become Biblically illiterate.
The Old Testament
The Masoretic Text
The Old Testament is composed of the Hebrew Bible,
which uses the Masoretic Text. With the exception of the Dead
Sea Scrolls, the Masoretic Text is the only existing representation
of the Old Testament in Hebrew. This text comes from the Masorites,
who were the preservers of masorah or "tradition".
They also recorded in written form the traditional vocalization,
enunciation, and punctuation of the text. The text was discovered
in the latter nineteenth century with the discovery of the storeroom
(genizah) of the ancient "Ezra Synagogue" of Fustat
(Old Cairo). Hundreds of thousands of literary fragments were
found.
Masoretic Example
Before the discovery of the genizah fragments,
the oldest Masoretic manuscripts belong to the period around
900 A.D.
Septuagint
The Septuagint is the Greek translation of the
Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and is abbreviated as LXX.
It originated in Alexandria, Egypt between 300 –200 BC. It gets
its name from the 70 Jewish scholars who translated it, hence
the Latin meaning of the word Septuagint – the seventy. At the
time it was translated, Greek was a common language used by
the Jews. It also gave many of the Jews a glimpse at their Bible.
This is also the Bible that Jesus and the Apostles would have
likely used.
The Septuagint contains the 39 books of the Old
Testament canon. It also contains apocryphal books as well.
The term "Apocrypha" refers to the set of ancient
Jewish writings written during the period between the book of
Malachi, and the New Testament. These apocryphal books include
Judith, Tobit, Baruch, Sirach (or Ecclesiasticus), the Wisdom
of Solomon, First and Second Maccabees, the two Books of Esdras,
additions to the Book of Esther, additions to the Book of Daniel,
and the Prayer of Manasseh.
Protestant Christians or Orthodox Jews do not
recognize the Apocryphal books as canon (inspired by God). Although,
these books were part of the Biblical literature at the time
of Jesus and the Apostles. The Roman Catholic Church and the
Orthodox churches include the Apocrypha in their Bible (except
for the books of Esdras and the Prayer of Manasseh).
Samaritan Bible
The Samaritan Bible consists of the first five
books of the Bible (Pentateuch). After the Jews returned from
exile in Babalon, the Samaritans were not permitted to worship
in Jerusalem. Therefore, they built their own temple on Mount
Gerizim, near Shechem. The temple was built somewhere around
300 B.C. They developed there own version of the Pentateuch,
thus preserving the Hebrew Scriptures in this version.
Interestingly, some fragments of it have been found with the
Dead Sea Scrolls. It can now be dated to at least around 60
A.D. The earliest intact manuscripts date back around 1150A.D.
(but probably written earlier than this date).
The Dead Sea Scrolls
Psalms (Tehillim) 11QPs - Courtesy
of the Israel Antiquties Authority
The Dead Sea Scrolls are undoubtedly the greatest
discovery of Biblical manuscripts to date. They were originally
discovered in 1947, just a year before Israel emerged as an
independent nation. The documents were discovered in 11 caves
along the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, hence the name “Dead
Sea Scrolls”. They were discovered in caves near ancient ruins
that are now believed to be Quamran. Quamran is associated with
the Essenes (a Jewish religious sect who flourished from the
2nd century BC to the 1st century AD).
The environment along the Dead Sea is very arid,
which helped preserve the documents. The remains of over 800
separate scrolls were recovered. The scroll remains have produced
tens of thousands of fragments. They are composed of animal
skins, papyrus and even one of copper. They were written with
a carbon-based ink, from right to left, using no punctuation.
The Dead Sea scrolls take us back a thousand years
beyond the previous Messianic documents. Before this discovery,
many had argued that the Bible was erroneous and had been modified
from the ancient documents. Among the finds was a virtually
intact Isaiah scroll, thus authenticating that no modifications
of the original texts exist.
The scrolls consist of every Old Testament book
of the Bible except the book of Esther. In addition, the Dead
Sea Scrolls also include non-biblical literature. These include
commentaries on the Torah and other sources of ancient Jewish
literature.
The New Testament
The New Testament contains the 27 canonized Scriptures
concerning Jesus and the various letters from the Apostles.
But, how did these documents end up in the Bible? Much of this
came from the early Church leaders who were part of the early
Christian churches started by the Apostles. People such as Barnabas,
Hermas, Clement of Rome, Polycarp, Papias, and Ignatius were
among these early Christians. What is important is their ties
to the Apostles and their belief as to who Jesus really is (Who
is Jesus ).
During the early church period doctrinal authority
rested on two sources, the Old Testament (O.T.) and the Apostles.
The Apostles had been personally picked and therefore ordained
by Jesus. Later, after the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus,
Paul was chosen by Jesus to be an Apostle. Although all of the
Apostles were Jewish, Paul was a Jewish Pharisee, which made
him very educated in Judaism. The links between Judaism and
Christianity are extremely important to the foundations of Christianity.
As it began to spread beyond Israel, we see the emergence of
non-Jewish Christians, who played major roles in the early Church.
During the second, third, and fourth centuries
the Church took the initial steps toward establishing the New
Testament Canon. Although the term canon was not used in reference
to the N.T. texts until the fourth century by Athanasius, there
were earlier attempts to list the acceptable books. The Muratorian
Canon listed all the books of the Bible except for 1 John, 1
and 2 Peter, Hebrews, and James around 180 A.D. Irenaeus, as
bishop of Lyon, mentions all of the books except Jude, 2 Peter,
James, Philemon, 2 and 3 John, and Revelation. The Syriac Version
of the Canon, from the third century, leaves out Revelation.
The early Church leaders differed on which books
should be included in Canon. What was important to them was
that these early books were inspired by God. It was actually
during the fourth century that concentrated attempts were made
to establish an authoritative collection of the Canon. In 365,
Athanasius of Alexandria listed the complete twenty-seven books
of the New Testament which he regarded as the "only source
of salvation and of the authentic teaching of the religion of
the Gospel". While Athanasius stands out in the Eastern
Church, Jerome is his counterpart in the West. Jerome wrote
a letter to Paulinus, bishop of Nola in 394 listing just 39
Old Testament. books and our current 27 New Testament books.
It was in 382 that Bishop Damascus had Jerome work on a Latin
text to standardize the Scripture. The resulting Latin Vulgate
was used throughout the Christian world. The Synods of Carthage
in 397 and 418 both confirmed our current twenty-seven books
of the NT. The criteria used for determining the canonicity
of the books included the internal witness of the Holy Spirit
in general, and specifically Apostolic origin or sanction, usage
by the Church, intrinsic content, spiritual and moral effect,
and the attitude of the early church.
Some of the Early Manuscripts
of the Bible
Codex Sinaiticus - Dates from the mid fourth
century and originally included both Old and New Testaments
plus the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas, all
in Greek. Brought out of St. Catherine's Convent on Mount Sinai
in 1859 this codex is currently in the British Museum in London.
Codex Vaticanus - Fourth century
Greek codex of the Old and the New Testaments. The history of
this codex is not known before it appears in a Vatican catalogue
of 1475 although it is of the "Alexandrian" type of
text. The book was jealously guarded by Vatican officials and
was not available to open scholarship until 1889. The original
is still in the Vatican.
Washington Codex - Fifth or perhaps
late fourth century. Includes Deuteronomy, Joshua, the Gospels,
and the letters of Paul. Currently in the Freer Gallery of Art
in Washington DC.
Codex Alexandrinus - Dates from
the first half of the fifth century and originally contained
both Old and New Testaments in Greek. The codex was moved from
Alexandria to Constantinople and in 1627 to Britain. Now in
the British Museum.
Codex Ephraemi - Early fifth
century. A partial Greek copy of the Old and New Testaments
which is currently held in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.
Codex Bezae - late fifth or early
sixth century. A bilingual edition in Greek and Latin of the
Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. In the possession of the
University of Cambridge since 1581.
Partial New Testament Papyri
John Ryland's papyrus; private
collection; from the first half of the second century; parts
of the gospel of John 18:31-33, 37-38.
Papyri manuscripts that have no given names and
are referred to by "P" numbers:
P67 - in Barcelona; c. 200CE;
contains (Mtt 3:9, 3:15, 15:20-22, 15:25-28).
P75 - in the Bodmer Library in Geneva, Switzerland;
c. 200CE; contains most of the gospel of Luke and some of John.
P1 - at the university of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia;
third century; contains (Matthew 1:1-9, 1:12-20, 1;23).
P4 - in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris;
third century; extensive sections of the gospel of Luke.
P45 - in the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin,
Ireland; third century; contains parts of all four canonical
gospels and Acts.
P37 - in the University of Michigan Library
at Ann Arbor; third or fourth century; 33 verses from Matthew
chapter 26.
P25 - in the state museum in Berlin; late fourth
century; parts of Matthew's gospel.
P3 - in the Austrian National Library in Vienna;
sixth or seventh century; Luke 7:36-45, 10:38-42.
Major Milestones of the
Bible
The Pentateuch ~1200 BC
Septuagint ~200 BC
Dead Sea Scrolls ~200 BC - 60 AD
Samaritan Bible ~200 BC
Hexapla ~250 AD
Jerome's Translation (the Latin Vulgate) - 400 AD
Masoretic text ~900 AD
Wycliffe's English Translation - 1382
Tyndele's Translation - 1525
Coverdale's Translation - 1535
The Great Bible - 1539
The Geneva Bible - 1560
The Bishops' - 1568
The King James Version - 1611
The Amercian Standard Version - 1901
Revised Standard Version - 1952
The New Amercian Standard Bible - 1971
The New International Version - 1978
The New King James Version - 1982
Conclusion
We see the Bible's credibility almost constantly
under attack without regard for the great wealth of knowledge
that has been accumulated about it. Many falsely believe that
the Bible is not based on truth but rather myth. Since the Bible
is viewed by many as a myth, it holds no credibility and therefore
is viewed as no longer applicable to our society. It is difficult
to remember that not to long ago places like Nineveh and Babylon
were one once mythical places in the Bible and even the Philistines
were mythical people. We live in a age where we know more about
the Bible than ever before in history. We have hundreds of thousands
of ancient manuscripts and have greatly expanded our knowledge
about the history and languages of the Bible. All of this knowledge
about the Bible has stood as testimony to its authenticity.
It has truly survived the test of time.
Unfortunately, regardless of the amount of evidence
that supports the Bible, there will always be those who refuse
to believe. It takes faith to believe in God and it therefore
takes faith to believe His Word, the Bible. Jesus tells us the
parable of "The Rich man and Lazarus" in Luke 16:19-31.
We see the the rich man who was too busy enjoying the good things
he had been given in his life and had no time for God. On the
other hand, Lazarus had been given bad things but had time for
God. After they died the rich man looked up from Hades and asked
if Lazarus (who is in Heaven) could be sent to warn his still
living family members of the consequences of Hell. The rich
man is told that they wouldn't believe him, even if Lazarus
returned from the dead. The reason we are told, they had God's
written Word (the Bible). With all of its integrity, people
who are unwilling to believe it, would still not believe it,
even if someone came back from the dead to warn them. By the
way, someone did come back from the dead to warn us. And that
person is none other than Jesus.
