The authenticity of the Bible has been called into question in a variety of ways since it was first assembled. Because of its claim to be the Word of God, the Bible has been scrutinized far more than any other piece of literature in existence. In order to determine the authenticity of the Bible's claim, it is necessary to examine the following areas: how the Bible was written and assembled, the accuracy of its historical contents, the accuracy of its prophecies, and its spiritual impact in the lives of those who read it.
Where Did The Bible Come From?
The Christian Bible is divided into two sections, the Old Testament and the New Testament. Furthermore, both Testaments are divided into different books, the books are divided into chapters, and the chapters are divided into verses. The Bible has 66 books total, 39 in the Old Testament, 27 in the New Testament. (The Catholic Bible also includes an additional 7 books called the Apocrypha). The Bible contains 1,189 chapters and 31,102 verses. The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew with small parts in Aramaic, while the New Testament was written in Greek.
When discussing the assembly of the Bible, the word 'canon' is often used. Canon is used to describe the books that qualified to become part of Scripture. While there is no historical document that tells us what the early church used as specific criteria for the canon, Norman Geisler and William Nix offer an educated guess with the following five principles:
"1. Is it authoritative- did it come from the hand of God? (Does this book come with a divine "thus saith the Lord"?)
2. Is it prophetic- was it written by a man of God?
3. Is it authentic? [The fathers had the policy of "if in doubt, throw it out." This enhanced the "validity of their discernment of canonical books."]
4. Is it dynamic- did it come with the life-transforming power of God?
5. Was it received, collected, read, and used- was it accepted by the people of God?"*1*
Although the early church used the Old Testament and what would become the New Testament, the canons of the two Testaments were assembled separately. The Christian Old Testament is the same as the Jewish canon of scripture, although the division and order of the books is slightly different (the Jewish canon contains either twenty-two or twenty-four books, depending on their division).
Establishing a firm date of canonization is difficult in the case of both the Old and New Testaments. The Jewish canon was largely in place by the time of Jesus, although there was no official list of accepted books. The Scripture was divided into three parts: The Law (also called the Torah or Pentateuch) which consisted of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy; the Prophets which included Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the book of Minor Prophets (included as one book for Jewish Scripture, but containing Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi); and the Psalms and other writings, consisting of Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles.
There existed many other books that were read by Jews at the time, but none of them were considered as containing the same Divine quality of the books above, including the books that eventually came to be known as the Apocrypha. The New Testament bears witness to this as it contains "about 263 direct quotations from, and about 370 allusions to, passages in the Old Testament, yet amongst all these there is not a single reference, either by Christ or His apostles, to the apocryphal writings." *2*
Josephus, a principle historical source for the time has this to say about the scriptures of the Jews: "For we have not an innumerable multitude of books among us, disagreeing from and contradicting one another [as the Greeks have], but only twenty-two books, which contain the records of all the past times; which are justly believed to be divine…how firmly we have given credit to those books of our own nation, is evident by what we do; for during so many ages as have already passed, no one has been so bold as either to add anything to them, to take anything from them, or to make any change in them; but it becomes natural to all Jews, immediately and from their very birth, to esteem those books to contain divine doctrines, and to persist in them, and, if occasion be, willingly to die for them…" *3*
After the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D., Scripture became even more important in the Jewish faith and identity. Because Judaism lacked a central place of worship and authority, a member of the Sanhedrin (which was the ruling council for Jewish religious affairs), Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai, obtained permission to reestablish the Sanhedrin and a rabbinic academy in the city of Jabneh (also called Jamnia). It is said that an official Judaic cannon was at least discussed here, and certainly various books were debated, though there is no evidence of an authoritative list having been produced. However, the Jewish canon was, for all practical purposes, already solidified. Sidney Collett states in his book, All About the Bible, that, "while it is quite impossible to fix any exact date, yet it seems clear the canon of the Old Testament was generally recognized as settled somewhere between the days of Ezra and Christ. According to Dr. Jacob's Bible Chronology, Ezra arranged all the books of the Old Testament in order about 457 B.C. (excepting Nehemiah and Malachi, whose prophecies were written later). Josephus and other heathen historians witness to this fact. As, however, the whole of the Old Testament was translated into Greek more than two centuries B.C. (see Septuagint), the canon must have been settled before then."*4*
Meanwhile, the first century also saw the writing of the books that would compose the New Testament. The early church already recognized the books that make up the Old Testament as Scripture, but certain writings of the apostles also began to circulate through the churches and gained the same authority and importance as the writings of the Old Testament. Like the books of the Old Testament, the books that eventually found their way into the New Testament were recognized as being canonical before there was an official canon because of their widespread use and acceptance. One of the major tests of canonicity for the New Testament books was whether they had either apostolic authorship or apostolic approval.
The New Testament canon gradually solidified over the first few centuries after Christ. There were debates over certain books, to be sure, and there were books that did not qualify as canonical, but the shape of the New Testament in those early years was much the same as what we see today. Bruce L Shelley, in his book, Church History in Plain Language, writes, "The first complete list of books, as we have them today, came in an Easter letter written in 367 by Bishop Athanasius from Alexandria. Shortly thereafter councils in North Africa at Hippo (393) and at Carthage (397) published the same list. In one sense, of course, Christians created the canon. Their decision concerning the books were a part of history. In another sense, however, they were only recognizing those writings that had made their authority felt in the churches." *5*How does understanding how the Bible was assembled contribute to verifying its authenticity? Consider the length of time between the writing of Genesis and the writing of Revelation. The time span is roughly 1600 years and involved approximately forty different authors, from all walks of life. Some books were written by kings, some by prophets, some by doctors, some by fishermen, and others by scholars. What other book in the history of mankind shares the history and characteristics of the Bible and yet remains so cohesive in content and message? It is only through the direction of the Holy Spirit that so many disparate elements could come together.
Bibliography
1. Geisler, Norman L. and William E. Nix. A General Introduction to the Bible. Chicago, Moody Press, 1968. P. 141. Quoted by McDowell, Josh. Evidence that Demands a Verdict: Historical Evidences for the Christian Faith, Vol 1. San Bernardino, CA, Here's Life Publishers Inc., 1979. P. 29.
2. Collett, Sidney. All About the Bible. London, Fleming H. Revell Company. P. 50
3. Josephus. Flavius Josephus Against Apion. Book I, Section 8.
4. Collett, Sidney. P. 57.
5. Shelley, Bruce L. Church History in Plain Language. Dallas, Word Publishing, 1982. P. 66.
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