# How did the Bible come to be?



## LadyCalvinist (Mar 22, 2014)

I talked to a young friend of mine yesterday, who is not a Christian, and she said that she was interested in how the Bible came to be. I think she means the manuscripts and the history behind it. Can anyone recommend a book on this topic. I have the New Evidence that Demands a Verdict but I don't think that is exactly what she wants.


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## Goodcheer68 (Mar 22, 2014)

I would recommend Canon Revisited by Michael J. Kruger (Professor of NT studies). He also has a website at michaeljkruger.com where you can check out his resources (Videos/articles, etc).


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## Jash Comstock (Mar 22, 2014)

Goodcheer68 said:


> I would recommend Canon Revisited by Michael J. Kruger (Professor of NT studies). He also has a website at michaeljkruger.com where you can check out his resources (Videos/articles, etc).



+1


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## Free Christian (Mar 23, 2014)

Originally, though probably not the answer sought after, 2 Peter 1 v 21.


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## Jerusalem Blade (Mar 26, 2014)

Hello Diane,

Well, there’s a short answer, and a long one. The short answer is, God spoke to His creatures, humankind, to give them understanding of Himself, _them_selves, the world He created, and the destinies humans would go to, depending on their trusting and obeying Him or not. (His commandments were actually the laws of love and of life, and neither grievous, arbitrary, nor “kill-joy”.)

Much of what He spoke He said through His prophets, and later, in the New Testament era, through His Son Jesus Christ and Jesus’ apostles and NT writers. As the apostle Peter put it, “holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Pet 1:21). 

These writings were collected, the OT ones first, and deemed the authoritative standard – or “canon” – by men appointed and guided by God, and the NT writings were recognized as “canon” by the NT church, on the basis of their authorization by the apostles.

Benjamin B. Warfield put it like this, “in every case the principle on which a book was accepted, or doubts against it laid aside, was the historical tradition of apostolicity.” (_The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible_, p 415)

R. Laird Harris in his, _Inspiration and Canonicity of the Bible_, wrote, “...the church...for three centuries was testing the evidences concerning the New Testament books and was within fifty years in full agreement on all but a handful of them. The remainder were accepted as the evidence was circulated and recognized. No church decree made them Bible books”. (p 287)

Zooming out for a moment to look at the big picture: God, having used men under His divine inspiration to record those words of His He wanted given to men, He then providentially preserved them up through the ages, so that we in the 21[SUP]st[/SUP] century have a book we can hold in our hands – our Holy Bible – and say of it, this is God’s word preserved intact for us.

This is the short version. The longer version entails the same processes but in greater detail: how the OT Scriptures were written, recorded, and preserved, and likewise for the NT. It can be quite involved, as some of the history of transmission, particularly of the NT text, is missing, and we supply it as best we can, with different folks interpreting the extant data according to their presuppositions. I am of the school that holds the Masoretic Hebrew Scriptures and the Textus Receptus Greek are the best original language editions, and the Authorized Version (King James) is a faithful translation of these into English. Re this latter, despite its language being occasionally difficult and archaic, it is of highest value because of its accuracy. There are disputes over this, but I defend it. For this longer version in book form I would recommend, _Crowned With Glory: The Bible from Ancient Text to Authorized Version_, by Dr. Thomas Holland, though your young friend would likely only be interested in the short version for now.

I hope this helps. A sound comprehension of this is very important to our having a stable faith in our God. Please feel free to ask further questions – I would be glad to try and answer them.


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