How was the Bible formed?

Follow Along with the Message

Understanding how we got the Bible is almost as important as knowing what’s in it. The backstory sheds light on the story

This is more of a history lesson than a typical sermon- taking time to grow our understanding on historical aspects of Christendom.

How was the Bible formed?

66 books of the (Protestant) Bible that we consider to be the Canon of Scripture.

Canon means “rule” or “rule of measurement”.

But other ancient books exist:

1. Apocryphal (hidden)
2. Deutero-Canonical (a second canon)

These books were influential throughout the first 1500 years of church history.
1/2 Esdra, Tobit, Judith, the Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, the Letter of Jeremiah, the Prayer of
Azariah, and the Song of the Three Young Men, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, the Prayer of Manasseh, and 1 and 2 Maccabees.

Why aren’t they “canonical”? Are these apocrypha books inspired? Do they belong in the canon?

Inspired books contain only true information, spiritually and historically.

“Pseudepigrapha” which means they were written by someone who put an apostles name on it.

Inspired books are life-giving and spiritually profitable.

Apocrypha are interesting, but not life-giving.

How was the Canon developed or determined?

Inspiration of the bible: defined as that direct influence of God on the writers of the Bible by which, while they did not cease to be
themselves, they were so moved, guarded, and guided by the Holy Spirit that their resulting productions constitute the written Word
of God (BEB)

• Transmission - how the text was handed down to us.
• Canonization - which texts are authoritative for faith and doctrine?

Canonicity of the bible - refers to the normative or authoritative books inspired by God for inclusion in Holy Scripture. Canonicity is
determined by God (see Bible, Evidence for) God gives the divine authority to a book and men receive of God.

Its authority is established by God and merely discovered by God’s people

The Authority Relationship Between Church and Canon

Incorrect View:

1. The church is the determiner of the canon.
2. The church is mother of the canon.
3. The church is magistrate of the canon.
4. The church is regulator of the canon.
5. The church is judge of the canon
6. The church is master canon.

Biblical View:

1. The church is discoverer of the canon
2. The church is witness of the canon.
3. The church is child of the canon. The church is servant of the canon.
4. The church is minister of the canon.
5. The church is recognizer of the canon

Old Testament Canon

John 5:39 NIV- “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me,”

Matthew 5:17 NIV- “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

Luke 24:44-46 NIV- He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,

New Testament Canon

1. Did an Apostle or a colleague write it?
2. Is the book orthodox?
3. Is the book relevant to church life?
4. Is the book widespread and longstanding usage?

A crucial distinction

“the process of canonization did not grant biblical books their authority. Rather, books that were recognized as authoritative were admitted to the canon.” Klein, Blomberg, Hubbard - Introduction to Biblical Interpretation

When was the Canon officially recognized?

Following Eusebius, Athanasius gives us our precise twenty-seven book New Testament in his Festal Letter (AD 367). Additionally, regional church Synods at Hippo (AD 393) and Carthage (AD 397) both affirm the twenty-seven book New Testament canon.

Again, belief in the resurrection was alive and well in Jerusalem immediately, not eventually. The theme of resurrection with the Corinthian church was causing some confusion.

1 Corinthians 15:1-7 NIV- Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,

The Bible did not create Christianity.

Christianity is the result of an event that created a movement that produced texts that were collected, protected, and bound into a book.

If there had been no resurrection, there would be no Bible, because the story of Jesus would not have been worth telling.

The story of the Bible reminds us that the most important question is not, “Are we at peace with everything in the Bible?” but rather, “Have we found peace with God who so loved the world that he gave his Son for us?”

The Canonization Timeline of the Christian Bible

Early Development
c. 1400–400 B.C. Books of the Hebrew Old Testament written
c. 250–200 B.C. The Septuagint, a popular Greek translation of the Old Testament, produced
A.D. 45–85? Books of the Greek New Testament written
90 and 118 Councils of Jamnia give final affirmation to the Old Testament canon (39 books)
140-150 Marcion’s heretical “New Testament” incites orthodox Christians to establish a NT
canon
303-306 Diocletian’s persecution includes confiscating and destroying New Testament
Scriptures
c. 305-310 Lucian of Antioch’s Greek New Testament text; becomes a foundation for later
Bibles
367 Athanasius’s Festal Letter lists complete New Testament canon (27 books) for the first time
397 Council of Carthage establishes orthodox New Testament canon (27 books)
c. 400 Jerome translates the Bible into Latin; this “Vulgate” becomes standard of medieval
church
English Versions From Latin
c. 650 Caedmon, a monk, puts Bible books into verse
c. 735 >Historian Bede translates the Gospels
871-899 King Alfred the Great translates the Psalms and 10 Commandments
950 The 7th-century Lindisfarne Gospels receive English translation
955-1020 Aelfric translates various Bible books
c. 1300 Invention of eyeglasses aids copying
c. 1325 Both Richard Rolle and William Shoreham translate psalms into metrical verse
1380-1382 John Wycliffe and associates make first translation of the whole Bible into English
1388 John Purvey revises Wycliffe Bible
1455 Gutenberg’s Latin Bible—first from press
English Versions From Greek
1516 Erasmus’s Greek New Testament, forerunner to the Textus Receptus used by KJV
translators
1525 William Tyndale makes the first translation of the New Testament from Greek into English
1536 Tyndale strangled and burned
1537 Miles Coverdale’s Bible completes Tyndale’s work on the Old Testament
1538 Great Bible, assembled by John Rogers, the first English Bible authorized for public use
1560 Geneva Bible—the work of William Whittingham, a Protestant English exile in Geneva
1568 Bishop’s Bible—a revision of the Great Bible
1582 Rheims New Testament published
1607-1611 King James Version, the “Authorized Version,” is made
Timeline provided by Dr. Philip W. Comfort is visiting professor of New Testament at Wheaton
College and author of The Quest for the Original Text of the New Testament (Baker, 1992).