Crafted and Inscribed
The Bible is one of the most widely read and influential books in human history. But how did it come to be? Who decided what books were included? And how did the collection we now know as the Bible take shape? Understanding the formation of the Bible reveals a remarkable story of faith, tradition, historical events and human collaboration with the divine God.
Verbal Heritage of Ancient Israel
The story of the Bible begins not with writing, but with storytelling. In ancient times, traditions were passed down orally, often memorized and recited within communities. These stories captured the experiences, laws, genealogies, poetry and teachings of a people seeking to understand their world and their relationship with the divine.
Among the ancient Hebrews, oral transmission was the primary method of preserving God's laws and actions. Events like the Exodus from Egypt, the giving of the Law at Sinai and the stories of patriarchs like Abraham and Moses were remembered and retold long before being written down. This oral tradition was sacred and deeply respected, forming the backbone of what would later become the Old Testament.
Old Testament Origins
Over time, these oral traditions were written down. The process was gradual and spanned many centuries. Scholars generally agree that the earliest written portions of the Hebrew Bible - such as some laws and songs, may have been recorded as early as the 13th or 12th century BC. However, much of the writing occurred between the 10th and 2nd centuries BC.
The Old Testament (or Hebrew Bible) consists of several literary genres i.e., historical narratives, laws, wisdom literature, poetry and prophecy. It is generally classified as:
- The Torah (Law): Genesis - Deuteronomy and attributed to Moses.
- The Nevi'im (Prophets): Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Samuel, Kings and several others
- The Ketuvim (Writings): Psalms, Proverbs, Daniel, Job and others compiled during different historical periods, including the Babylonian exile, which significantly influenced Jewish identity and theology.
By around 400 BC, many Jewish communities had accepted a core set of these texts as sacred. The idea of an Old Testament has it's roots in the covenant God made with Israel. In The Question of Canon, Michael Kruger, notes "scholars have long observed that the concept of a treaty-covenant was not unique to the Old Testament, but was prevalent in the ancient Near Eastern world out of which this corpus of books was born... In addition... these treaty-covenants included written texts that documented the terms of the covenant arrangement." Scriptures equating the covenant are found in Exo 24:7, 31:18, 34:1, Deut 4:13, 29:21, 30:10, 2 Kin 23:2, 2 Chr 34:30
When the Old Testament refers to the future eschatological age of redemption, it explicitly states that this new era will be accompanied by a new divine message. For example Deut 18:18, Isa 11:1, Isa 4, Isa 2:2, Isa 3, Isa 61:1-2. The Old Testament was seen as the written form of the Mosaic Covenant and the christians of the early church sensed the need for a written form of the fulfillment of the New Covenant mentioned in Jer 31:31–34
Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God and they shall be My people.
Timeline of Key Bible Events
New Testament Beginnings
Christians of the early church believed the apostles possessed the authority of Christ and it was therefore them that wrote down that apostolic message in books. The New Testament emerged in the 1st century AD (45-100 AD), centered on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. It is generally classified as:
- The Gospels: Four accounts of Jesus' life (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John), composed a few decades later, drawing on oral accounts, eyewitness testimony and written sources.
- Acts of the Apostles
- Letters (Epistles): Written between 50-60 AD from Paul, Peter, John and others to churches and individuals
- Revelation of Jesus Christ: Apocalyptic vision of the end time
These writings were read aloud in gatherings, passed them between communities and were considered authoritative by many early believers.
The books of the Bible are not not the Word of God because they are accepted by the people of God; rather, they are accepted by the people of God because they are the Word of God.
That is, God gives the book it's divine authority, not the people of God. They merely recognize the divine authority which God gives to it.
Canonization - Choosing the Books
Old Testament Canon
By the time of Jesus, different Jewish groups recognized different sets of texts as scripture:
- Pharisaic Judaism (later Rabbinic Judaism) eventually settled on a Hebrew canon (~24 books, equivalent to 39 Protestant Old Testament books) around 90 AD at the Council of Jamnia
- Alexandrian Jews and many early Christians used the Greek Septuagint, including the Deuterocanonical books (or Apocrypha)
When Christianity began to grow apart from Judaism, the Septuagint remained the Old Testament of choice for most early Christians, which explains why Catholics and Orthodox include more Old Testament books than Protestants.
New Testament Canon
The process of defining the New Testament canon was gradual. After the death of Jesus (33 AD), the early christians circulated the Gospels and Paul's letters and some other writings. There was no fixed canon per say and the letters were written by different authors for different communities. By the 2nd century, core texts like the four Gospels and Paul's letters were widely read and recognized as authoritative, but debates continued over other writings. To settle things church leaders and the early believers evaluated potential Scripture based on several key factors:
- Authorship: Was it written by a recognized prophet or apostle with divine authority?
- Miracles: Did the writer's ministry include supernatural acts affirming their legitimacy?
- Theological Consistency: Did the content align with God's truth and character without contradiction?
- Spiritual Impact: Did the text transform lives and reflect divine power?
- Widespread Use: Was it widely accepted, preserved and used in early Christian communities?
After much prayer and discussion, by and large they reached consensus around the 4th century - where leaders like Athanasius listed (367 AD) the 27 books now recognized as the New Testament. Councils at Hippo (393 AD) and Carthage (397 AD) affirmed this list, solidifying the canon. By the end of the 4th century, the New Testament canon was largely settled and is still used today.
The Apocrypha
The Apocrypha is a collection of Jewish writings that some Christian traditions value, but it was excluded from the biblical canon due to it's absence from the Hebrew Scriptures, questions over authorship and theological concerns. Key figures in Jewish and early Christian history did not recognize these books as inspired. For instance, Philo, the Alexandrian Jewish philosopher, cited the Old Testament extensively but never the Apocrypha. Josephus, a 1st century Jewish historian, explicitly excluded it from his count of sacred books and never referenced it as Scripture. Neither Jesus nor the New Testament writers quoted from the Apocrypha, despite referencing nearly every book of the Hebrew canon.
Following this pattern, the Jewish council at Jamnia (AD 90) did not include these writings, and no early Christian council or canon affirmed them as inspired; including Jerome, the translator of the Latin Vulgate. It was not until AD 1546, at the Council of Trent, during the Counter-Reformation, that the Roman Catholic Church officially declared the Apocryphal books to be canonical - a move seen by some as a polemical response to Protestant reforms.
The Role of Translation
Originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, the Bible was inaccessible to most people for centuries. As Christianity spread across the world, translating the Bible into different languages became essential. Early translations included Latin (the Vulgate, by Jerome), Syriac and Coptic. During the Middle Ages, access to the Bible was tightly controlled, often restricted to clergy and written only in Latin, limiting the common person's ability to read it.
Things really changed with pioneers like John Wycliffe, who produced the first complete English Bible in the 14th century. Though handwritten and outlawed, his translation sparked a movement because he believed that the Scripture were divinely inspired and should be available to all. In the 16th century, William Tyndale took this further, producing a printed English Bible from the original Hebrew and Greek texts. For this, he was executed, but his work laid the foundation for later translations like the King James Version. Martin Luther did the same for the German people because he believed it was the divine Word of God, and should be available for everyone to read. Their sacrifices laid the foundation for a Bible that could be shared, read and understood by ordinary people around the world.
Today, thanks to the efforts of translators, linguists and missionaries, the Bible is available in over 3500 languages, allowing people from diverse cultures to read it in their own tongue. This not only made the Bible a global text, but also allowed it to deeply influence societies by shaping education, language, morality and law.
A Living Testament
The Bible is not just a static collection of ancient writings. It is a living document that has inspired generations, influenced cultures and guided personal faith. It's formation was not the work of one person or one moment, but a process stretching across 1500 years - blending divine inspiration, historical experience and human effort.
Unlike books that remain fixed in historical context, the Bible engages in the present moment. It's truths are timeless, yet always timely. Whether offering comfort in suffering, calling for justice, or revealing the character of God, it's words resonate across the ages. It has inspired countless movements for freedom, equality and human dignity, from the abolition of slavery to civil rights campaigns. Millions turn to it daily not just for knowledge, but for transformation because it addresses the deepest questions of human existence. The turn to it to hear God speak to them, receive guidance and wisdom from His Holy Spirit.
Today, the Bible is studied in churches and universities, read in personal devotion, quoted in literature and law and translated into over 3500 languages. It's formation reminds us that faith has a history - and that history is worth knowing. The Bible has the message of hope and salvation and it is available to all, regardless of culture, background, or belief - offering the message of redemption, grace and eternal hope.