The sixty six books of the Bible should be considered one of the wonders of the ancient world. What other book was written over a period of 1600 years (starting in approximately 1500 BC to AD 100)? What other book has such a consistent message and yet was compiled by more than 40 ancient authors who included kings, prophets, patriarchs, and men of great renown? What other book had such a profound impact on human history? What other book contains ancient prophecy that accurately described the rise of the Babylonian, Media-Persian, Greek, and Roman civilizations? What other book claims to be inspired by the triune God who created the universe? (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21) Is there any other document that gives such accurate historical evidence of the words and works of Jesus Christ? What other book contains prophecy for the end of time that describes such a clear judgment against the sin of humanity, the destruction and restoration of the world, and the ultimate creation of heaven on Earth?
Although the Bible has had an irreplaceable impact on human history, it has also become one of the most overlooked books today. This is why it is so important for Christians to have a renewed interest in how the Bible was preserved and translated into the version of the English Bible that we use today. This will be the first of two articles on the subject. Today’s article will focus on the ancient witness of the Bible and the second article will describe how the original texts were translated into English.
The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew and Aramaic on stone, clay, and leather. It was written from around 1500 – 400 BC. As books were added to the canon of Scripture, they were compiled together and written on large scrolls of leather. Later the material was changed to papyrus. These scrolls were copied with meticulous detail by scribes who were trained specifically to insure the accuracy of the writing. When I was in school I was amazed to learn that the Masoretic text of the Old Testament included guidelines at the end of each book that helped the scribe copying the text to know the total amount of letters in the book, as well as what letter was in the exact middle of the book. This way the scribe would know if he had accurately copied that book or not.
The New Testament was written in an ancient version of Greek called Koine Greek. It was written from approximately AD 45 – 100. The original copies of the New Testament do not exist, but there are over a hundred ancient copies called “New Testament Papyrus” that are registered as authentic ancient copies of the New Testament. The most famous is called Papyrus 45, which is a part of the Chester Beatty Papyri, named after the man who purchased them. Papyrus 45 contains portions of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and the book of Acts. By examining the letters and handwriting, scholars have dated this papyrus to the 3rd Century.
The most impressive evidence for the integrity of the sixty-six books of the Bible is contained in the thousands of Biblical manuscripts that have been found all over the ancient Mediterranean world. One of the greatest modern discoveries of Biblical texts took place when the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947. A Bedouin shepherd found a hidden cave that was full of clay pots that contained religious scrolls. The cave contained nearly 1,000 manuscripts that had been written between 300 BC and AD 70. The scrolls removed all doubt about the accuracy of the modern copies of the Old and New Testament. I was able to see an exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls in San Diego back in 2007. It was surreal to look at a scroll of Isaiah that was over 24 feet long and over 2000 years old.
The manuscript evidence of the New Testament is even more impressive. There are around 5600 copies of the original that have been dated to within 100 years of the original writing of the New Testament. In comparison, there are only 7 copies of what Plato wrote and there is a gap of 1200 years from when he spoke the words and the earliest written copy of his words. Also, there is a remarkable consistency between the Biblical manuscripts. This allows scholars to decipher what was originally written. If other languages than Greek are added to the list of ancient copies of Scripture, then the number of New Testament manuscripts jumps to 24,000! Clearly, the New Testament was an important book, which was copied thousands and thousands of times to insure that the people of God would have God’s word available in their own language.
One of the greatest proofs to the importance of the Bible today is that it is still the most translated book in human history. There are over 7,000 different languages spoken in the world today. According to Wycliffe Global Alliance, almost half of them, 3,589 languages, have portions of the Bible in translation (www.wycliffe.net/resources/statistics). The website states that 724 languages have a full Bible available, while 1,617 have the New Testament available, and 1,248 languages have portions of the Bible available. The amount of time it has taken to translate the Bible from Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek into thousands of languages is staggering! Why would people take the time to do such meticulous work? It is because they believe they are helping people hear the very words of God and there is nothing as important as that! My prayer is that people will appreciate the amazing gift we have in the sixty-six books of the Bible. I hope Christians will be encouraged to study it more and I pray that those who have never read God’s word would be motivated to do so.
