The Bible
A young lady in a bookstore: “Do you have a book called ‘The Perfect Husband?’” Sales person: “Miss, the fiction and comics are on the 1st floor!”
But today I want to share about a very special book- the Bible
In Matthew I was reading that “the people living in darkness have seen a great light” and it reminded me of this book the Bible. It has revealed to so many the Light of the world. This book has no comparison, it has changed history, it has changed lives and it has had a profound effect on every aspect in our lives
In Mark 13:31 (NIV) Jesus says31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
In doing so Jesus says that these writings in this bible are not just words, but they are divine words, words that will last forever.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV)16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
So Paul reiterated the fact that the Old Testament writings come from God.
So how did we physically get this Bible, how did it come about and who decided what books to include in this Bible. This is what I want to have a look at today.
Writing was widespread by 3000BC. But the alphabetic system as we know it was developed somewhere between Egypt and Mesopotamia i.e. Syria /Palestine by a Semitic person about 1750BC, with the Old Testament writings as we know it taking place not long afterwards possibly around the time of the Ten Commandments (1445BC)
They wrote on stone, clay tablets, of course papyrus and a very important medium, leather parchment sometimes called vellum. Most of the Dead Sea Scrolls were written on leather. The vast majority of the NT manuscripts that have survived were written on this vellum. The form of books in the early stages were in the form of scrolls e.g. with papyrus, glueing them end to end to form scrolls. The writing was in columns about 3-4ins wide. The Book of Matthew would be in a scroll with a length of about 35ft. At some stage the rolls gave way to a Codex which was the precursor book, in which the sheets were folded in half then stitched. This was important because it could make one book for the 4 Gospels then for the entire Bible. So a move from scrolls to the codex.
With the OT and the divine revelations of Moses and Joshua, these were written down and passed on generation to generation. When others received revelation, it too was written down and passed on. So the OT grew gradually and assembled into a collection until the time of Ezra 400BC when no more was added, and no book was added after Malachi.
The New Testament also grew gradually in a similar manner and written in short pieces. Initially the testimony of the apostles was passed on, not only by what they had written down, but also by eye witness accounts. As the years passed and as the witnesses died off the written word (most of it written on Papyrus) became essential. The books of the New Testament were written in quite a short period of time up to about 100AD.
The canonicity (the definitive books of the bible) was a process and probably initially decided by the “Great Assembly” or great Synagogue or Synod consisting of about 120 scribes, prophets and sages and then eventually the Council of Jamnia in about 100AD played a role, then later in 367AD Athanasius of Alexandria published the 27 books of the NT which was formalised as the canon by the Councils of Hippo and Cartage (397AD).
Right from the beginning they were recognised as authoritative. The New Testament (NT) was written in 3 languages Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. Aramaic was the language of Palestine and Jesus also spoke Aramaic. For example:
Mark 5:41 (NIV)41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”).
Mark 7:34 (NIV)34 He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”).
(Some parts of the OT were also in Aramaic especially parts of Daniel)
Churches exchanged these authoritative writings or texts to share the Gospel
Because the original books of the NT were written on papyrus which with regular use would not last very long, the original copies were soon lost, so many copies were made. The oldest copies, of which there are about 50, date from 2nd to 4th Century (but they are only small parts of the NT). However there are 3 vellum manuscripts with complete or almost complete NT, and almost complete Old Testaments (OT), that date from 300AD to 450AD. These are the three greatest documentary treasures in Christianity. These are the oldest bibles in the world and are called the Vatican, Sinaitic and Alexandrian Codex’s or manuscripts. Our NT translations find their roots in these bibles
The Vatican Codex now kept at the Vatican. Napoleon had carried off this manuscript to Paris as a prize of victory until 1815 when it was returned. It is in Greek and is about 10ins sq. Interestingly it does not include Mark 16:9-20, but the scribe left space for it as though unsure whether to include it or not. Many bibles reflect this today.
The Sinaitic Codex found on Mount Sinai and is now in the UK, is also in Greek and it is estimated that the hides of about 360 animals were employed for making it. It includes in its portfolio the Epistle of Barnabas and part of The Shepherd of Hermas.
The Alexandrian Codex, because it was in Alexandria for several centuries, now in the UK, but has two extra books, 1 Clement and 2 Clement
The Vatican and Sinaitic manuscripts are the textual basis for our New Testament. Thousands of fragments of scripture have been found verifying the accuracy of the copying of these documents.
It became necessary to formalise what was in the NT i.e. the canon of the NT. The word “canon” is derived from the Greek word meaning reed i.e. that’s how we get the word cane, used sometimes as a measuring rod. So it is a list of books in the NT.
In 367AD Athanasius of Alexandria published a list of 27 books of the NT. There was a general consensus that this was it. Several books were rejected in this process including Shepherd of Hermas, Epistle of Barnabas and the Teaching of the Apostles. To be accepted into the canon of the NT, there are three key criteria used by the early church for accepting a book as divinely authoritative. The three standards are
Orthodoxy- ie either OT, Jesus Teachings and Apostle teachings,
Apostolic. The early church required that NT books have apostolic connection, which meant authorship either by an Apostle himself (though often recorded through a scribe), or someone who had intimate connection with an Apostle.
Universal acceptance or church-wide consensus. So Athanasius, and later at the Council of Carthage (397AD) simply ratified a general acceptance which had existed for well over 100 years among the universal church.
Our English Bibles had their roots in Latin. Jerome was a key figure. Born about 345AD in Dalmatia (North of Greece) his parents sent him to Rome at the age of 12 to study Latin and Greek and he later learnt Hebrew. He was a “nominal” Christian at the time. One day he was at Antioch he developed a very severe fever and was near death. In a dream he was brought before “the Judges Judgment seat” and asked what his position was. He replied he was a Christian. The response was “You lie, you are a Ciceronian, not a Christian” He then resolved to devote his life to the study of scripture. He was then tasked to translate the books of the bible into common Latin. Which he did, and it was called the Latin Vulgate or Vulgate (Latin for common).
It has been copied more than any other book in the Christian era and is said to rank 2nd only to the Septuagint
(The Septuagint or LXX, “According to the seventy”, is the translation of the Hebrew OT into Greek done about 200BC. Only fragments exist but the three Codexes’ above contain copies of it)
Getting back to The Vulgate. It is seen as the most important translation ever made. It was the bible of the western world for a thousand years and was the first bible to be translated into the languages of the common people. It was also the first book of importance to be printed in the 1450’s and became the official bible of the Roman Catholic Church, but it is a translation of a translation. In the year 600 Latin was the only language allowed for scripture
It was only in the 1500s the shackles of Latin communication were broken and in 1522 Luther translated the bible into German and 3 years later a man named Tyndale translated the Bible into English. For this he was burnt at the stake
Di and I were talking the other day and Di said you know we call this book the Bible but years ago we called it the HOLY bible. Have we lost that reverence for this book? Deut 8 “man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. ”Just think of what William Tyndale went through just so that we can have a bible translated into English. He had this revelation that scripture was for all, not just the elite and he took the concept of Gal 3:28 literally 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus “In the early 1500’s his translation of the bible into English was seen as a direct challenge to the Roman Catholic Church and he was convicted of heresy and executed by strangulation and body burned at the stake! You could not have an unauthorised English language bible- it was a death sentence- this from the church! Only a few years later the world changed as bible translation was accepted the word of God spread, the reformation started and Tyndale’s vision was realised. Big things happen when God’s word is revealed to us, very big things. So Tyndale brought us the English bible.
I would like to just have a quick look at two very important findings relating to the Hebrew Bible and hence our current bibles. Two Codex’s were found one in about 1840 and the other, a very important one in 1947
On 2 December 1947, four days after the United Nations had decided to partition Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state. Arab mobs, looting and burning and killing, destroyed all the synagogues in Aleppo, Found in the ashes of this synagogue was the prized Aleppo Codex, The most important manuscript of the Hebrew Bible. It was completed sometime in the 10th Century. A quarter of the manuscript had been destroyed. It was smuggled out of Syria to Jerusalem, and the base of a new Hebrew Bible published by Hebrew University
The other important codex is The Leningrad Codex. Came to light in the 1840’s Now the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible, it was written in Cairo about the year 1010. Now housed in St Petersburg
These two codex’s are called the Masoretic Text and used in translations together with the Vatican, Sinaitic and Alexandrian Codex’s to form our current bibles. In addition they confirm the accuracy of the bibles we have today. There may be slight variations but none of significance.
What happened to the older manuscripts of the OT? The Jewish scribes looked upon their copies of the Scriptures with an almost superstitious respect. This led them to give ceremonial burial to any of their texts that were damaged or defective.
In 1947 also the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, discovered accidentally by a wandering Bedouin goat herdsman. In the find were the complete book is Isaiah and fragments of most books of the bible. They were put there by a group of Jews living at a place called Qumran about 150BC- 70AD. Again there is absolute consistency between the ancient texts we have, the Masoretic texts and the Dead Sea Scrolls. In a search of the area 10 other caves were found containing about 200 scrolls or fragments of the Old Testament. In one Cave known as Cave 4, a 2nd Century BC almost complete copy of Exodus was found!
So that’s the history. Let’s now look at some interesting variations of the Bible
1 John 5:7
1 John 5:7 New King James Version (NKJV)7 For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.
Vs
1 John 5:7 New International Version (NIV)7 For there are three that testify:
In 1516 when a Dutch scholar called Erasmus printed the first Greek text, his omission of the words “ the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one” caused a controversy. He insisted he was correct but that if anyone could find a Greek manuscript to support it he would print it. At length someone found a copy and so he honoured his word and printed it. Tyndale used the Greek Text for translation and not the Latin so it is now part of King James. Later translations such as the NIV and ASV have chosen not to include it.
Mark 16:9-20 is a unique situation: Only the Alexandrian manuscript has this in it, not the “unparalleled reliability” of the Vatican or Sinaitic manuscripts. But it is included in the Vulgate and a variety of other manuscripts. We should remember the truthfulness of this is not in question
In conclusion
Right from the very beginning these books in our bible were recognised as the word of God, not as human words. As such the books of the bible revealed such authority that they could not be left out the bible. The Church did not control the books of the bible as much as the books control the direction of the church. And it does so because the word of God does a “work in you who believe”!
1 Thessalonians 2:13 (NIV)13 And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God,…
[ie this is the word of God and it goes on to say…….]
which is indeed at work in you who believe.
35yrs ago almost to the day Di gave me this bible I still use and in it she wrote these words
Isaiah 40:8 (NIV)8 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever.”
Isaiah wrote this about 700BC i.e. 2700yrs ago! The Bible is a very precious book, let’s use it.
Bookseller conducting a market survey asked a woman: “Which book has helped you most in your life?” The woman replied, “My husband’s cheque book!!”
Hopefully now we will have a better answer!