{"id":8983,"date":"2007-03-12T15:18:46","date_gmt":"2007-03-12T20:18:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=8983"},"modified":"2019-09-03T15:25:58","modified_gmt":"2019-09-03T20:25:58","slug":"how-did-your-bible-come-into-existence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-did-your-bible-come-into-existence\/","title":{"rendered":"How did your Bible come into existence?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

Could you please tell me how the Bible you currently have originally come into existence? Since we know that some of the apostles did not even start to write until about 50 AD, about 20 years after Christ ascended to heaven, we know with certainty that the apostles went out and established churches without a Bible. By the way, how did they do this without a Bible to define their beliefs for the first several centuries?<\/p>\n

So, when and how did the Bible come into existence? And to go even further, how do you know that the Bible really is the infallible and inspired written Word of God?<\/p>\n

Since you seem to use the Bible to define your doctrines, you must first know its history to make sure it really is what you claim it to be<\/p>\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

One of the things that define modern men is a belief that he is superior in all aspects of those that came before.\u00a0 It is possible for a modern person to know that there was a library in Alexandria and yet maintain a subconscious belief that men at that time period were ignorant and had to be spoon-fed their knowledge in order to maintain what little knowledge that they had.\u00a0 All of this can be held even though there were great philosophers of the time like Socrates, Confucius, and many others that we list as greatest thinkers of all times.\u00a0 I can only imagine the amount of brainpower that it would take to memorize what they memorized and to discover what they discovered.\u00a0 So while they did not learn or teach in the current Western-style, they were still great teachers.<\/p>\n

Into that system of learning, we hear of Apollos.\u00a0 In Acts 18:24-28 we learn, “Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John.\u00a0 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.\u00a0 When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. On arriving, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed. For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.<\/em>”\u00a0 This man is interesting to the topic at hand because the Holy Spirit is not given as the source of his knowledge.\u00a0 He knew the Scriptures and was able to teach others about Jesus through those Scriptures.\u00a0 That is quite a feat.\u00a0 The only Scriptures that he could have had would have been the Old Testament.\u00a0 There are few scholars today that would be able to preach Jesus accurately and convincingly from just the Old Testament.<\/p>\n

What it does show is that it was and is possible to understand who Jesus is from the Old Testament.\u00a0 One essential thing that is not possible to learn from the Old Testament, evidently, was the command of Jesus to be baptized.\u00a0 That is not that hard to remember, so it was easily added by Apollos.<\/p>\n

Now into that time period was also given the gift of prophecy.\u00a0 Prophecy was not meant to last forever, but as is explained in I Corinthians 13:9-10, “For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.<\/em>”\u00a0 The “perfection” here is the fullness of the gospel of Christ.\u00a0 When the gospel of Christ had been fully delivered, the imperfect (i.e., prophesy) disappears.\u00a0 So Paul said that the gift of prophecy would be phased out when the complete word was made known.<\/p>\n

Long before the council at Carthage (circa 378 AD), there were copies floating around of all the various letters and books that would become the recognized Canon.\u00a0 From what I understand, most books were accepted and used in all places since at least 100 AD. The other books, Hebrews, 2 & 3 John, 2 Peter, Jude, James, and Revelation, were more debatable so it is likely that those were not as universally copied.\u00a0 The relative merits of virtually every book had been debated and studied.\u00a0 From the descriptions of the early church writers, there did not seem to be any lack of copies.\u00a0 What possibly was lacking and which the Carthage council helped established was a formal consensus of what should and should not be included.\u00a0 Given human nature for what it normally is, the fact that they reached a conclusion at all is probably a testament to the lack of real contenders.\u00a0 If there was any real disagreement, there would have probably been a schism in the church.\u00a0 There wasn’t any such schism in that time period, so it is probably safe to say that they were pretty much in agreement on what was going to be included even before the council met.<\/p>\n

So, what happened between the last prophet and the wide distribution of copies is hard to say.\u00a0 We have no evidence that there was any time gap.\u00a0 If John lived to around 100 AD as some claim and copies of the gospels and Pauline letters were in circulation at that time, then it would seem that there was no time in which the church was without guidance.\u00a0 There could have been prophets that outlasted John.\u00a0 It is also possible that all the books of the Bible were in wide circulation prior to John’s death.\u00a0 Without evidence to the contrary, I am left to assume that Paul’s prophesy about the end of prophecy in I Corinthians 13 came true.<\/p>\n

That leaves the question about the inspiration of the Scriptures.<\/p>\n

There are large books written that deal with the inspiration of the Scriptures and I would assume that you were not asking for the purpose of me writing a complete book on the subject.\u00a0 Therefore, I will outline a basic answer.\u00a0 The four main reasons that I have for believing the inspiration of the Scriptures are<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. because it says it is the inspired word of God,<\/li>\n
  2. because of the diversity of authors and consistency of the message,<\/li>\n
  3. because no one could do the things claimed and not be from God, and<\/li>\n
  4. because so many men were willing to die based on its testimony.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

      \n
    1. II Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness<\/em>,” and II Peter 3:16, “He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.<\/em>”\u00a0 Peter’s comment that Paul’s writings were part of the “rest of the Scriptures” is very telling.\u00a0 If Paul’s writings were part of the Scriptures, then wouldn’t other works likely to be part of them too?<\/li>\n
    2. The Bible was written by at least 40 men over the course of 1,500 years.\u00a0 Later men were willing to quote the earlier men and treat the earlier writings as authoritative.\u00a0 The early writing predicts events of the later writers that all come true even though some obviously did not expect them to come true in the manner in which they came true.\u00a0 It is hard to get 40 men to agree to write toward the same purpose and not come up with extreme differences in what they saw or heard.\u00a0 Having it done by 40 men over a 1,500-year span is nothing short of extraordinary.<\/li>\n
    3. When you consider the incredible things that are claimed and there are no credible counter-claims, then it is truly remarkable.\u00a0 Jesus rose from the dead.\u00a0 The Scripture even tells that some tried to lie and say that it did not happen (Matthew 28:11-15), but what happened to that testimony?\u00a0 They knew they were on shaky grounds because they would have to admit that they were sleeping on duty — not a good thing to say as a Roman guard.\u00a0 But there were more real miracles– people who were healed of things that are not able to be healed in our day.\u00a0 There were plenty of other writers in that day.\u00a0 Plenty of reason to try to deny that those events happened.\u00a0 Yet, very few writers of the time tried to attack Christianity by denying what had happened.<\/li>\n
    4. Men who knowingly tell lies are not usually willing to insist that their lie is the truth when threatened with a penalty of death by torture.\u00a0 From all indications, all the apostles except John died a horrific death.\u00a0 Yet, none recanted.\u00a0 None had a last-minute, “oh it was all a mistake.”\u00a0 No one wavered.\u00a0 It is possible that some people will hold on to a lie to the very end due to pride or arrogance, but all?\u00a0 In fact, most men would react just the opposite, they would be more willing to claim that the truth was a lie in order to avoid torture.\u00a0 It is a strong testament that none wavered.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Darrell Hamilton<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Question: Could you please tell me how the Bible you currently have originally come into existence? Since we know that some of the apostles did not even start to write until about 50 AD, about 20 years after Christ ascended to heaven, we know with certainty that the apostles went out and established churches without…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[219,130,1599],"class_list":["post-8983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-bible","tag-canon","tag-roman-catholic-church"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9161,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-did-adam-eve-and-the-bible-come-into-existence\/","url_meta":{"origin":8983,"position":0},"title":"When did Adam, Eve, and the Bible come into existence?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 29, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My girlfriend and I were discussing things in the Bible, and we were wondering when did Adam and Eve come into existence, and when did the Bible come into existence? 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And they believe him to be the same Linus mention in II Timothy 4:21.\u00a0 They even have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9495,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-quantum-physics-christian\/","url_meta":{"origin":8983,"position":2},"title":"Is quantum physics Christian?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 21, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is quantum physics Christian? Answer: Quantum mechanics is defined as: A modern physical theory (much developed and refined since Neils Bohr's ground-breaking work in 1913) which deals with the structure and behavior of subatomic particles. The physical theory of the composition and behavior of atoms and subatomic particles; explains\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28593,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-there-be-a-beginning-if-god-always-existed\/","url_meta":{"origin":8983,"position":3},"title":"How can there be a beginning if God always existed?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 22, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If someone asked \"where did God come from or how did he get to be\" then the person asked (if a Christian) would probably say \"He has always been there He still is and will always be.\" Right, so if He has always been there and is eternal then\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52944,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-apostles-and-hermeneutics\/","url_meta":{"origin":8983,"position":4},"title":"The Apostles and Hermeneutics","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Frank Jamerson Some of the articles that I have read lately have confused ridicule with reasoning. They seem to think that if they ridicule commands, examples, and necessary inferences as the basis of authority, they have given a scholarly refutation of pattern authority. One such article concluded: \"It seems\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2568,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-you-prove-there-is-a-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":8983,"position":5},"title":"How do you prove there is a God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 17, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How do you prove that there is a God to a friend who insists that there isn't a God? Can you teach me how? Thanks. 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