How We Got the
Bible
and why we can trust in it?
Translation Tree
of the Holy Bible
Notice that NO
modern translation
is taken directly
from the originals.
The Canonization of Scripture

The Old Testament was standardized by Jesus’ time
(confirmed by Josephus in the 1st century).

The New Testament was standardized by no later than 367
AD.

Canon comes from the Hebrew qaneh, meaning reed (used
as a measuring rod).

A book/letters acceptance by early believers is what led to it
becoming a part of the canon.

Could the author be trusted? Was the content consistent?
Was it widely accepted by the believers?

No one person or council can be credited with our modern
Bible. It was a product of God’s work over time.
How it came together…





OT was essentially set by Jesus’ time.
The Gospels were added as eyewitness accounts of Christ.
(Mark wrote on Peter’s behalf, Luke Wrote from Paul’s
perspective).
The “memoirs of the apostles” (Justin Martyr) were added
by the middle second century at the latest.
A few other books like James, Hebrews, Revelation and a
couple of epistles were debated a bit, but eventually found
acceptance by the 3rd century.
Eusebius wrote in the 3rd century a list of all our modern
NT, stating the Revelation was accepted by most, yet raised
questions about its place in the canon.
Old Testament Confirmation
The Caves at Qumran where the scrolls were found in 1947
Dead Sea Scrolls



In the winter of 1946–47, Muhammed edh-Dhib
and his cousin discovered the caves, and soon
afterwards the scrolls.
Before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the
oldest Hebrew manuscripts of the Bible were
Masoretic texts dating to 9th century AD.
The biblical manuscripts found among the Dead
Sea Scrolls push that date back to the 2nd
century BC, a difference of about 1100 years!
Dead Sea Scrolls
Books Ranked According to Number of Manuscripts found (top 16)















Psalms(39)
Deuteronomy(33)
1Enoch(25)
Genesis(24)
Isaiah(22)
Jubilees(21)
Exodus(18)
Leviticus(17)
Numbers(11)
Minor Prophets(10)
Daniel(8)
Jeremiah(6)
Ezekiel(6)
Job(6)
1 & 2 Samuel(4)
So What?



All the prophecy in Isaiah and the Psalms regarding Jesus,
his lineage, his earthly origins, the nature of his attitude
and the details of his death absolutely pre-date his life
and can not be seen as a Christian interpolation placed in
at a later time. They WERE prophetic or amazing
coincidence.
The Old Testament we have in our Bibles now checks out
magnificently with what is in the Dead Sea Scrolls, which
answers questions about how reliable the translation
process has been…VERY RELIABLE!
Of the 500,000 letters in the Torah, the Dead Sea Scrolls
revealed just 169 variants, mostly spelling errors or repeat
words. Over 99% identical to our modern translation! No
events or doctrines were off at all!
“Missing” Books?





Gospel of Thomas?
Gospel of Mary?
Gospel of Philip
The Apocrypha?
Others…
Just because they are not part of the canon does not
mean that they hold no validity. They can give some
historical insight as well as some spiritual insight. They
were excluded because:
-authorship was in question.
-portions were inconsistent with the previously
accepted books in the canon.
From the Gospel of Thomas

(114) Simon Peter said to him, "Let Mary
leave us, for women are not worthy of
life."
Jesus said, "I myself shall lead her in
order to make her male, so that she too
may become a living spirit resembling you
males. For every woman who will
make herself male will enter the
kingdom of heaven."
No Originals? Should I be Worried?



In a word… “no”.
We have no original copies of, Plato,
Aristotle, Homer or even Shakespeare*,
yet we don’t question their validity.
FACT: the Bible stacks up FAR BETTER
than any of these when it comes to the
number of early copies and closeness in
age to the originals.
Comparison of Ancient Writings







Title
History of Thucydides
Poetics of Aristotle
Caesar’s Gallic Wars
Works of Plato
Homer’s The Iliad
New Testament
Origin
450 BC
343 BC
50 BC
400 BC
900 BC
45-80 AD
Source: How We Got the Bible and Why We can Trust It, IPI Books 2009, pp. 37
Earliest Copy
900 AD
1100 AD
1000 AD
900 AD
400 BC
110 AD
Interval Copies
1350 years
8
1450 years
5
1050 years
9
1300 years
7
500 years
643
65 years 5686
Key Points
1.Compared to other widely accepted ancient
writings the Bible has no peer.
2.Written shortly after the events.
3.Thousands of eye witness’ were still alive to
confirm or dispute events as it circulated.
4.Copies from different regions are in agreement!
5.The entire NT could be recreated (save for 11
verses) by using letters and citations from works
of the 1st to 3rd centuries?
Archeological Support






The Hittites were once thought to be a Biblical legend, until their
capital and records were discovered at Bogazkoy, Turkey.
It was once claimed there was no Assyrian king named Sargon
as recorded in Isaiah 20:1, because this name was not known in
any other record. Then, Sargon's palace was discovered in
Khorsabad, Iraq. The very event mentioned in Isaiah 20, his
capture of Ashdod, was recorded on the palace walls. What is
more, fragments of a stela memorializing the victory were found
at Ashdod itself.
Assassination of Sennacherib by his own sons (2 Kings 19:37),
as recorded in the annals of his son Esarhaddon.
Freeing of captives in Babylon by Cyrus the Great (Ezra 1:1-4;
6:3-4), as recorded on the Cyrus Cylinder.
Dozens upon dozens of others!
The absence of flat contradiction in archeological findings.

The Basalt Stelae from Dan, found in 1993 and 1994 with the words "house
of David," gave us the first external evidence to the Bible of the reality of
King David's existence. Previous to this, it had been fashionable to dismiss
the David narratives in the Bible as “priestly propaganda” that had tried to
give Israel a respectable past history as they sat in the Babylonian captivity.
Avraham Biran, of the Hebrew Union College, excavating a site in northern
Israel known as Dan, found in an exposed wall of stones one basalt
fragment about 12 inches high. In the same wall a year later, two other
smaller pieces were found to be part of the original inscription. When the
Aramaic words were translated from the paleo-Hebrew script, here was the
first extra-biblical reference to King David.
The Life Test!

No other book, philosophy, world religion or system of
government can make such a difference when put into
practice.

World Peace….got it! (Philippians 2:3 MT 5:38)

End to world hunger…got it! (Acts 4:32-35)

End to crime…got it!


End to pervasive troubles like divorce, unnecessary
single parenthood, drug addiction…got it!
Cure for AIDS…got it!
Not “Rocket Science”, but Not Bad

The Bible is NOT a science book.

The Bible is free of outrageous claims that have
been plainly refuted by science.

In fact there are good examples of the Bible being
ahead of the curve…
-Ecc. 1:6-7 explains the Water Cycle accurately
-Jer. 31:35-36 The Order of Astronomy
-Job 26:7 The Earth is suspended in space
-Jer. 33:22 The countless # of stars
-Job 38:16 Oceans contain springs
Conclusion


What serious reason do we have NOT TO
believe in the divine inspiration of the
Bible?
Given this verdict, why should we not take
the time to read it, learn it, know it, share
it with others confidently and live it
personally?