How We Got

the Bible

© 2008 How We Got The Bible

© 2008 How We Got The Bible
How We Got
The Bible

1.What’s A Canon
This section addresses the sudden cultural interest in how the
biblical canon was formed. What do we do with extra-biblical
texts? Who decided which books became a part of the Bible?
Can we trust their motives?

2.Lost in Translation
This section addresses many common questions about Bible
translations. Why are there so many? Which one is the best?
Have we lost the original meaning of the text? Aren’t Bible
translations full of errors?

3.Can I Trust the Bible?

The final section deals with questions about the reliability of
the Bible. Does the Bible present the beliefs of the original
followers of Jesus? Were the disciples trustworthy?

© 2008 How We Got The Bible

 Part 1
What’s A
Canon?

The word Canon comes from the world qaneh – which is a stick used for
measuring. The word was passed on to Greek as kanon and ultimately to Latin
as canon. Over time, the word came to represent a standard, something
authoritative against which other things are measured. The Bible is The
Canon of Scripture; those documents of the Church which were determined to
be the most authoritative documents of the Christian faith.

© 2008 How We Got The Bible

 Criteria for Canonicity
The criteria used for determining which books were canonical was gathered from the writings of the Church
Fathers who were confronted with the task of defending the integrity of the apostles teaching from the
Gnostic heresies and pseudonymous writings which appeared in the 2nd and 3rd century A.D.

™ Apostolic Authority
™ Antiquity
™ Orthodoxy
™ Catholicity
™ Traditional Use
™ Inspiration

Notes

© 2008 How We Got The Bible

 Evolution of the New Testament Canon

A.D. 100 A.D. 200 A.D. 250 A.D. 300 A.D. 400
The New The New The New The New Testament as
Testament used in Testament used by we know it established
Testament used at the council of
Rome (The Origen by Eusebius Carthage
Muratorian Canon)
Different parts of
The four Gospels The four Gospels The four Gospels The four Gospels
our New Acts Acts Acts Acts
Testament were
written but not
yet collected and Paul’s Letters: Paul’s Letters: Paul’s Letters: Paul’s Letters:
Romans Romans Romans Romans
defined as 1&2 Corinthians 1&2 Corinthians 1&2 Corinthians 1&2 Corinthians
scripture. Early Galatians Galatians Galatians Galatians
Christian writers Ephesians Ephesians Ephesians Ephesians
(for example Philippians Philippians Philippians Philippians
Colossians Colossians Colossians Colossians
Polycarp and 1&2 Thessalonians 1&2 Thessalonians 1&2 Thessalonians 1&2 Thessalonians
Ignatius) quote 1&2 Timothy 1&2 Timothy 1&2 Timothy 1&2 Timothy
from the Gospels Titus Titus Titus Titus
and the letters of Philemon Philemon Philemon Philemon
Paul as well as
other Christian
writings and oral James 1 Peter 1 Peter Hebrews
sources. 1&2 John 1 John 1 John James
Jude Revelation of John Revelation of John 1&2 Peter
Revelation of John (authorship in doubt) 1,2&3 John
The Letters of Revelation of Peter Jude
Paul were Wisdom of Solomon Revelation of John
collected late in
the first century, The Shepherd of Disputed Disputed but well To be excluded
Matthew, Mark Hermas known
and Luke were (For private use Hebrews, James,
collected not public worship) 2 Peter, 2&3 John, James, 2 Peter, the Shepherd of Hermas,
Jude, the Shepherd Jude, 2&3 John, The letter of Barnabas,
together by A.D. of Hermas, The letter Hebrews the Didache and
150 of Barnabas, the the Gospel of the
didache and the Hebrews
Gospel of the The Revelation of Peter
Hebrews The Acts of Peter
Table 1: Canonical Lists

The weight of evidence reveals that that the books that make up our New Testament were known and
accepted by the Church as early as A.D. 100. The four Gospels, the book of Acts, and the letters of Paul
were never in dispute. 1 Peter, 1 John and The Revelation of John were a part of the earliest lists. Some
books like The Shepherd of Hermas, and The Revelation of Peter were well loved by the early Church, but
upon closer scrutiny, were deemed unworthy to be included as scripture. Those books which entered the
canon late, such as 2&3 John, James and Jude did so for various reasons (i.e. they lacked wide distribution,
they were not believed to deal with significant issues, or in some cases their authorship was in dispute. The
final decision at the council of Carthage, was by a representative body of believers from Churches around the
world.

© 2008 How We Got The Bible

Notes

© 2008 How We Got The Bible

 Evolution of the Old Testament Canon

Composition

• Written between 1275-380 B.C.

• Babylonian Exile from 585-538 B.C.

• Ezra and Nehemiah Late 300’s

• Judas Maccabeus 164 B.C.

Canonization

• Book of Jubilees mentions “22 books” - c. 130 B.C.

• NT Quotes - c. A.D.30-90

• Council at Jamnia - c. A.D.90

• Josephus, Contra Apion 1.8 - c. A.D.94

From the death of Moses until Artaxerxes . . . the prophets who followed after Moses
recorded their deeds in thirteen books. The remaining four comprise hymns to God and
rules of ethical conduct for men.(again 22 books).

The numbering of the books in the Hebrew canon differs from that in the Christian Bible because certain
writings were taken as single books.

e.g.
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Ruth & Judges = 1 Book, 1&2 Samuel = 1
Book, 1&2 Kings = 1 Book, 1&2 Chronicles = 1 Book, Lamentations & Jeremiah = 1 Book, Isaiah, 12
Minor Prophets = 1 Book, Daniel, Ezekiel, Ezra & Nehemiah = 1 Book, Esther, Job, Proverbs, Psalms, Song
of Songs, Ecclesiastes.

© 2008 How We Got The Bible

Notes

© 2008 How We Got The Bible

 Part 2
Lost in
Translation

Why are there so many Bible translations? How serious are the differences
between them? Did we lose the meaning of the original text?

© 2008 How We Got The Bible

 Establishing the Text

We have no remaining copies of the original writings found in the Bible. But we have plenty of copies. Two
strategies have been devised to arrive at the content of the original text.

Majority Text Eclectic Text

Asserts that the most accurate reading is the Asserts that the most accurate reading is the
reading which is found in the largest number of reading found in the oldest and most reliable
manuscripts. manuscripts.

The Majority Text strategy was devised by Jerome when he created the Latin Vulgate in 1500. It is the text
behind the King James Translation.

Due to the discovery of older manuscripts and the theories of textual criticism, all Modern Translations use
the Eclectic Text.

A simple chart can show why the Majority Text reading may not be the most accurate. Scribes A, B and C
each produce a copy from a source document. In the first generation of transmission, copy A is Copied 1
time (A1). Copy B is copied 4 Times (B1) and Copy C is not copied. Now let us assume that in the next
generation all copies of A and B are copied 4 times. That means there will be four copies of A2 and 16
copies of B2.

From this it is clear that one cannot simply count the number of manuscripts and go with the majority
reading. If an error exists in copy B, it will exist in all the manuscripts descending from that line. If Texts
from family A and C are in agreement, then we can assume that they more likely represent the source
document.

Source

Copy A Copy B Copy C

Copy A1 Copy B1 Copy B1 Copy B1 Copy B1

© 2008 How We Got The Bible

 Mistakes in the Bible?

Sometimes you will hear people say “the Bible is full of mistakes.” The kinds of mistakes found in Biblical
Texts however are called scribal errors, and they are found in copies of the Bible made before the modern era
of print. They are easily recognizable and scholars correct them using a wide variety of manuscripts to
determine the correct reading.

Scribal errors fall into two categories

Unintentional Mistakes Intentional “Mistakes”

1. Faulty eyesight – careless inspection of 1. To try and make the meaning clearer.
the original
2. To Harmonize Related Passages.
2. From similar pronunciation or incorrect
spelling. 3. To remove difficulties that would be
difficult to explain.
3. From errors of memory or anticipation.
4. To emphasize or safeguard important
4. From incorporating marginal notes teachings.
wrongly taken as corrections.
5. To reflect or promote monastic customs.
5. From wrongly taking marginal notes as
corrective additions.

© 2008 How We Got The Bible

Notes

© 2008 How We Got The Bible

 Communication Theory

Communication Theory states that successful communication requires a certain amount of overlap in the
experience of the sender and receiver.

Sender/Receiver Sender/Receiver

Where there is little or no overlap in experience, communication is difficult or impossible. Translators are
separated from the experience of the authors by culture, language and time. In order to correctly translate
we must bridge these gaps.

Sender Receiver

© 2008 How We Got The Bible

 Do Words Have Meaning?

Modern linguists have come to the conclusion that words do not have inherent meaning outside of their
context. This can cause problems for communication in our own language, let alone for interpreters.

For instance,

• The meaning of words can change over time.

• Words can have more than one meaning.

• Words can even mean the opposite things.

Notes

© 2008 How We Got The Bible

 Translation Theories

There are two major philosophies of translation.

Formal Equivalence Dynamic Equivalence

Attempts to render a word for word translation Attempts to render a thought for thought translation

KJV NLT

NASB NIV *

RSV NRSV *

*These translations attempt to strike a balance between the two theories.

© 2008 How We Got The Bible

Notes

© 2008 How We Got The Bible

 Part 3
Reliability

Around the middle of the 19th Century scholars argued that the most
important books of the New Testament did not exist before the middle of the
2nd Century. This theory originated with F.C. Bauer of the Tübingen School in
Germany and was introduced to the United States through Walters Cassel’s
book Supernatural Religion (published anonymously).

© 2008 How We Got The Bible

 Weight of Evidence from Manuscripts

There is a lot of evidence for the authenticity of the New Testament from manuscripts, far more
than for many similar historical documents. In considering the weight of manuscript evidence you
should consider the number of copies and the proximity to the event or composition.

Caesars Gallic Wars: 58-50 BC

10 good copies

Earliest is 900 years after Caesars day.

142 Volume Roman History of Livy: 59 BC-AD 1

Only 35 books exist today

22 Good Copies

Oldest one dates to the 4th century

14 Volume History of Tacitus: AD 100

4 ½ books survive

16 Volume Annals of Tacitus

10 survive in full 2 in part

The History of Thucydides 460-400 BC

Over 5000 Greek Manuscripts
8 full manuscripts – earliest AD 900
Codex Vaticanus c.AD 350
Papyrus Scraps 1st century
Codex Sinaiticus c.AD 350

Papyrus Fragments

Fragments of an unknown Gospel AD 150

Fragments of codex w. John 28:31-33

Quotes of Church Fathers AD 90-160

Allusions and quotations in their writings

The New Testament in the Apostolic Fathers,

1905 Oxford Historical Society.

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 Archeological Evidence

The Hittite Empire

The Dead Sea Scrolls

Erastus Inscription

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 Philosophical Arguments

Test for Consistency

Test for Credibility

Self Defeating Testimony

Adverse Witnesses

Tests of Divine Revelation

© 2008 How We Got The Bible

Notes

© 2008 How We Got The Bible

 Recommended Reading

Roger Beckwith

The Old Testament Canon of the New Testament Church

F.F. Bruce

The Canon of Scripture

The New Testament Documents Are they Reliable?

John W. Haley

Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible

Walter Kaiser

The Old Testament Documents Are They Reliable Relevant?

George Eldon Ladd

The New Testament and Criticism

Bruce Metzger

The Canon of the New Testament: Its origin, development, and significance.

Frank Morison

Who Moved the Stone

© 2008 How We Got The Bible