GET READY
Does your family have a family history? Is it written down in a book or scrapbook? Or is it a collection of old letters and photographs? Or is it the stories that an older member of your family recounts to the younger members of the family?
The Scriptures
The Bible is an old book. Most scholars agree that parts of the Old Testament were written as early as 1200 BCE. The Bible itself talks about the existence of a physical “Book of the Law” in 630 BCE during the reign of King Josiah: The high priest Hilkiah said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord,” [2 Kings 22:8]. A couple of centuries later (in 444 BCE) Ezra, the high priest, read “The Book of the Law of Moses” to all the Israelites who returned from Babylon
[Neh 8:1-8].
Torah
Tradition says that Moses wrote the first five books of the Old Testament – called the “Torah” (Hebrew: “teachings”) or referred to as the “Pentateuch” (Greek: “five books”). However, some modern scholars believe they were written by an unknown scribe sometime during the early part of the Israelite kingdom around 900 BCE (we will discuss this in more detail in the introduction to each book).
The Torah includes the creation of the world, the early history of humanity, the early history of the Hebrews and their exodus from Egypt and travel to Palestine, and the Jewish “Law.”
Initially the writings were not bound into a single book, but were maintained as a set of scrolls (and remember, these scrolls did not have paragraph or verse or chapter breaks). Scholars generally agree that the five books were accepted as authoritative at least by the rebuilding of the temple in 444 BCE.
Historical Books
The next several books in the Old Testament continue the history of the Israelite people and the development and eventual disappearance of their kingdom. Joshua may be one of the earliest books to be written, probably by a secretary or aide to the Israelite commander. Judges, Ruth, Samuel, Kings and Chronicles were probably written some time after the events each describes, though specific authors are not known. Ezra and Nehemiah were written either by the person or an assistant. The historical books may have been edited into their current versions by a scribe or committee of scribes to preserve the Israelite history during the Babylonian exile (around 550 BCE).
Writings
The next books in the order of our current Old Testament are a collection of poetry, wisdom and fiction or legend. Poetry includes Psalms, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon. Proverbs is the wisdom entry; and Esther and Job are the fiction/legends. The events in Esther take place during the Jewish exile and may be historical. Job is a fictionalized account of a discussion about good and evil which many scholars believe to be the oldest writing in the Bible.
Prophets
The writings of the prophets are grouped into “major” and “minor” categories, based on the extent of the writing, not necessarily the subject matter. A prophet is someone who spoke God’s word to the people; sometimes this involved predicting future events. All the prophets spoke and wrote during the period of the divided kingdom, from 931 to 538 BCE. During this period the Jewish kings led the people into idol worship (with a very few exceptional kings who tried to follow the law) which gave the prophets plenty to talk about. Scholars generally accept that the prophet (or an assistant) wrote the book ascribed to him.
Septuagint
When the Jews returned from Babylon in the sixth century they began using Aramaic, a dialect of ancient Hebrew, as their primary language. In addition, Alexander the Great conquered all of the Persian Empire, including Palestine, by 326 BCE, making Greek the primary language of government and commerce. This created a situation in which the Jews could no longer read and understand their scriptures. One of Alexander’s successors, Ptolemy in Alexandria, Egypt, wanted to be able to read “the books of the law,” so he convened a group of Jewish scholars to translate them into Greek. The tradition is that there were six scholars from each Jewish tribe, so the group – and the translation – became known as the “Septuagint” (70 in Greek – it is often abbreviated LXX, which is 70 in Roman numerals). The translation began with the Pentateuch and then moved to the prophets and other writings over a period of several years, beginning around 250 BCE. As noted earlier, the Septuagint includes a number of writings (the Apocrypha) that are not accepted by Jewish or Protestant authorities.
The Septuagint became the accepted version of the Jewish scriptures throughout the Greek – and then Roman – world. It is the version Jesus and the Apostles and other early Christian writers would have used; and it was the basis for Jerome’s translation of the Old Testament into Latin. Modern Jewish scholars prefer an older version of the original Hebrew called the Masoretic Text.
The Christian Scriptures
The development of the New Testament parallels that of the Old Testament: various people recorded what they knew about Jesus or wrote letters about Jesus and Christian beliefs; eventually some of these writings were acknowledged as authoritative for helping other people know about Jesus and become his followers.
Gospels and Acts
Peter told the story of Jesus to the Jews at Pentecost as soon as fifty days after his resurrection and other Apostles told what they knew about Jesus equally soon. But Mark did not write the story down until approximately thirty years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Matthew’s Gospel followed shortly after and Luke wrote his two-part story of Jesus’ life and ministry and the early church around 70 CE. John wrote last and no doubt had the benefit of the three synoptic Gospels when he put his story on paper near the end of the first century.
Letters
All of the letters in the New Testament were written during the first century. As the Apostles spread the “Good News” about Jesus and salvation and started communities of believers throughout the eastern Mediterranean region, Jews and others spread false information and different interpretations of the Gospel. Paul and the other leaders wrote letters to confront this false teaching and encourage believers to follow the truth about Jesus and his ministry. While Paul wrote letters to specific churches or individuals, the other writers (James, Peter, John, Jude and the author of Hebrews) wrote letters to the general church about specific subjects or problems. The letters were usually hand carried to the various churches and read aloud and then copied before being passed on to the next group. In this way individual churches developed a collection of letters that were accepted as good teaching.
Revelation
John wrote the last book of the New Testament while he was in exile on an island off the coast of Asia Minor – probably around 95 CE. By this time the Roman emperors were worshipped as Gods and Christians were severely persecuted for refusing to join such worship. John’s work circulated in the region to strengthen those who were already Jesus’ followers by describing God’s eventual and complete triumph over the forces of evil (primarily the Roman Empire in John’s time).
Development of the New Testament
The various writings about Jesus and his teaching circulated among the churches in the eastern Mediterranean region during the last half of the first century. But they were separate letters or scrolls; they were not collected into one group or book. As the church grew other – newer – leaders began referring to some of the letters in their writings.
- Clement of Rome wrote in 95 indicating his knowledge of Matthew and Luke, plus Hebrews, Romans, Corinthians and Ephesians.
- Polycarp wrote around 110 about the practice of circulating the letters and reading them as part of the service in churches.
- Ignatius wrote seven letters (around 115) to churches in Asia
Minor (modern Turkey) that were paraphrases of the Gospels. - A writing called “The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles,” (around 120) included some passages from Matthew.
- Justin Martyr (100-165), an early Christian teacher used material from Matthew and referred to Romans, Galatians, Colossians and Thessalonians, among others. He also refers to “Memoirs of the Apostles” being read in churches along with the Old Testament prophets – the earliest indication that New Testament writings had equivalent authority with the Jewish scriptures.
The term, “New Testament,” first appeared in a letter by an unknown writer in 193.
By the end of the second century the list of writings accepted by many church leaders was taking shape. The Muratorian Fragment, written between 170 and 200, includes four Gospels (Luke and John are named but the names of the other two are missing from the fragment), and Paul’s letters, plus the Apocalypse (Revelation), 1 and 2 John, and Jude (Hebrews, 1 and 2 Peter, James and 3 John are not listed). Origen and Eusebius, church leaders at the time, wrote expressing concerns about the letters of James and Peter and the last of John’s letters.
A church council in Nicaea in 325 came to informal agreement on the books of the New Testament as the books we include today. Athanasius, the bishop of Alexandria, Egypt, listed the books in his Easter letter of 367. The Council of Carthage in 397 formally affirmed the canon of the New Testament – thereby validating the practice of the church for the previous two hundred years.
By the end of the fourth century the Bible included the books that we read today. But we would not have been able to read them unless we knew Koine (“common”) Greek. Almost a thousand years would pass before there was an English translation of the full Bible.