Jesus said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away but
my words shall never pass away." (Mark 13:31)
The Bible is a collection of books divided in two main parts,
the "Old Testament" and the "New Testament". The "Old" deals
with the history, laws, poetry, and wisdom of the Jewish people.
It was compiled over a period of about 1,100 years and painstakingly
preserved by Jewish scribes and scholars. The second or "New
Testament" treats the life of Jesus and His teachings and those of
His inspired first followers. Its books and letters were
written over the short space of fifty years following Jesus'
crucifixion and resurrection.Christians believe that both of
these were all directly inspired by God.
WHO WROTE THESE BOOKS? Peter said of the Old
Testament, "no prophecy ever came by the will of man, but holy men
of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter
1:21). God said of Jesus, "This is my beloved Son ... hear
Him." (Mathew 17:5). Three quarters of the authors of the New
Testament books were witnesses of Jesus' resurrection.
Do we have the original manuscripts of these books? Of
course not! As anyone knows, books and letters wear out,
especially when passed from hand to hand as these were. Copies
had to be made. Are these copies accurate? Certainly,
given the care and dedication of the Jewish scribes and early
Christians.
In the case of the Old Testament there are external writings that
confirm the number and order of the books. The Dead Sea
Scrolls, dated from 100-200 years before Christ, and pre-Christian
translations to other languages confirm that the Jewish scriptures
as we have them now existed in Jesus' time.
We have manuscripts and fragments of as well as quotations from
the New Testament (over 20,000 in total). Some of these date
as early as 150 A.D., within fifty years of the close of the New
Testament times. Most of these manuscripts were discovered
from 1850-1950 and shed new light on the original Greek text.
The point has been made that the entire text of the New Testament
could be totally reconstructed from the quotations within Christian
sermons and essays dating from the years 100-300 A.D.
WHY SO MANY VERSIONS? These are often not "versions"
but different "translations" trying to make the Word of God,
written in ancient languages, clearer to the reader. The "King
James" translation of 1611 uses antiquated English - "fats" for
"vats", "divers" for "diverse", "victuals" for "food." From
1881 onward there are many translations into "everyday" modern
English for the ease of the reader.
WHAT ABOUT THE SO CALLED "LOST BOOKS"? Television
programs have sensationalized this topic in the last several years.
Suffice it to say, they are not "Lost." They do exist - but
neither the Jews nor Christian Bible scholars recognize them as
authentic. Jesus and His disciples never quoted from these
books. Most are historically inaccurate or contrary to the
Word of God. For this reason they are called Apocryphal or
"Not Accepted."
We can be very sure that the Bible as we have it
today is truly "The Word of God." |
