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The Holy Bible was produced over a time span of several thousand years. Our earliest copies date back to between around 1400 BC and about 100 years after Jesus Christ. Most of these copies sit in archives and museums in Rome Italy, Moscow Russia, London England and Washington D.C. United States of America. Essentially, century after century men, inspired by God, added to this book, unaware for the most part of one another's writings, or that theirs would be part of a collection that we now call God's Holy Bible and sometimes in the dark as to the meaning of some of their own words or prophesies.
The Bible was originally written by about 40 men in 3 languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek) and on 3 continents as they were led by the Holy Spirit ]. Its literary styles and themes are diverse, but it is all interwoven into a composite and unified whole.
The "original manuscripts" that we have today are not actually the original. The actual original manuscripts, either decayed away thousands of years ago or were destroyed. The manuscripts that we have today are copies of the originals. The Old Testament scribes that copied scripture were very strict in their copying techniques. While the New Testament was copied with very little technique or structure. Even though the New Testament copies may have a few small variations through out, they all maintain the primary intent in each verse.
Canonization means "measured rod". Back in the early church days our church leaders realized that there were too many letters and books being revered as being God's Word. It was determined that only certain books and letters were actually God's Word. So our early church leaders painstakingly weeded out those that weren't and included those that were. As for the Old Testament books, it was pretty easy. They decided that through the strict copying techniques that the Jewish scribes accomplished, then those books would automatically be accepted as Canon. The New Testament, on the other hand, culminated into over a hundred letters and books. These were weeded down by the following requirements:
Apocrypha means hidden or secret. The term is generally applied to a collection of books (from 11 to 16) that appeared between the Old and New Testaments. They have had an unusual history. The Jews of the Dispersion in Egypt had a high regard for these books and included them in the Septuagint Bible (Greek translation), while the Jews in Palestine rejected them in their Hebrew canon.
The Roman Catholic Church at the Council of Trent, A.D. 1546, declared eleven of the books to be canonical, and these appear in their modern Catholic editions of the Scriptures.
Protestants, on the other hand, eventually rejected them from their version of the canon for the following reasons:
Back in the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament time period most of the writings was done on papyrus sheets (paper like material acquired from the pith of the papyrus plant) and rolled up into a scroll. The good thing about papyrus was that it was fairly easy to make which made it cheaper than the more expensive parchment. The major down side, though, was that it did not last very long. Then came parchment, which is specially treated animal skin. Parchment was a lot more durable and lasted many years longer. But it also would decay over time.
Original Manuscripts (early copies):
Through out the years the original manuscripts had to be copied, not only for distribution, but also because of decay. The copying was always done by hand by a select few people that not only knew how to read, but also knew how to write. These were usually referred to as scribes. This copying also took a lot of time. All of this made these scrolls (copies) very expensive. So the big wealthy churches would have the newest copies while the smaller older churches would have the older decaying copies or just small pieces of the newer copies.
For the most part, the world today has numerous pieces of, what we call today, the "early copies" or "original manuscripts" distributed in many different libraries, museums and archives around the world. But, there are three primary manuscripts of the early copies:
A translation is converting the text from one language into another. Translations are very difficult because there will always be words undefined or it will take several words to define a word from one language to the other. You will notice that in later years the authors also used previous copies in their own language to aid in the translation. Below are some of the major translations:
Septuagint (250 B.C.) - A translation of the Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures into Greek.
Syriac (between A.D. 100 & 200) - The whole Bible translated into the Syrian language.
Vulgate (A.D. 400) - The whole Bible translated into Latin by Jerome. Used by the Roman Catholic Church for a 1,000 years.
Masoretic Text (A.D. 500 - 900) - The authorized Hebrew version of the Old Testament developed for Jewish scholars.
Wycliffe (A.D. 1384) - The whole Bible in common English using the Vulgate Bible.
Tyndale (1525) - The whole Bible in common English using the Vulgate Bible and some of the original Greek texts.
Revisions are essentially a re-write of a previous text taking into account changes in the new traditions and vocabulary. You will also notice that some of the authors also referred to the early copies to aid in their revision. Below are some of the major revisions:
Great Bible (1539) - The whole Bible in common English for the Church of England. Prepared by Miles Coverdale using both the Coverdale and the Tyndale Bibles.
Geneva Bible (1560) - The whole Bible in common English made by scholars who fled from England during the persecution by Queen Mary. It was a revision of the Great Bible collated with other English translations.
Bishop's Bible (1568) - The whole Bible in common English authorized by the Arch Bishop of Canterbury. Mainly a revision of the Great Bible with dependency on the Geneva Bible.
Douay Bible (1610) - The whole Bible from the Vulgate Bible (Latin) for the Roman Catholic Church.
King James or Authorized Version (1611) - The whole Bible made by 40 scholars under the authorization of King James 1 of England. The Bishop's Bible was the basis for the translation utilizing the Greek text and other versions for the best rendering.
All newer translations and revisions - By the time the King James Version arrived the Lutherans, Puritans and other denominations were beginning to make their presence known, which meant that there was a demand for Bibles that were not biased toward any particular traditions, but the actual scriptures. So, Bible translations and revisions were/are using more of the early copies in their renderings. And their renderings were/are reflecting a more precise interpretation of the common language spoken.
Studying God's Word produces spiritual growth. It teaches you to recognize right from wrong. It also provides answers to life's biggest questions.
Unfortunately, the secular world looks at the Holy Bible as being more of a mythology or collection of good stories. There are some that only believe that parts of the Bible are true while other parts are not. In other words, to them God is allowing a book revered as being all His when, in their reality, it is not. That makes their god as being somewhat incompetent to provide the full truth.
The entire Holy Bible is the inspired (2 Timothy 3:16) word of God. We can confirm this because it has been around for thousands of years, its content is historically verified, and there are no serious disputes regarding its authenticity. Since God put this book together, then it must be able to edify those during the time of it's writing, edify people today and edify those of the future. Plus, those not too smart are edified as well as those that are extremely smart. In other words, every generation will be able to extract new meaning out of God's Word that previous generations did not understand. To top it off in 1 Peter 1:12 we are told that "... Even angels long to look into these things." Today some of its content may not be fully understood, but there is no dispute as to its origin. To view it from the other end of the spectrum, in satanic rituals it is the only book referred to as from God.
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