The Bible is the account of God’s action in the world, and his purpose with all creation.  The writing of the Bible took place over sixteen centuries and is the work of over forty human authors.  It is quite an amazing collection of 66 books with very different styles, all containing the message God desired us to have.

This compilation of booklets contains an astonishing variety of literary styles.  It provides many stories about the lives of good and bad people, about battles and journeys, about the life of Jesus, and about early church activity.  It comes to us in narratives and dialogues, in proverbs and parables, in songs and allegories, in history and prophecy.

The accounts in the Bible were not generally written down as they occurred.  Rather they were told over and over again and handed down through the years, before eventually being written down.  Yet the same themes may be found throughout the book.   Along with the diversity, there is also remarkable unity throughout.

The word Bible comes from the Greek word for “papyrus plant” – biblos, since the leaves of that plant were used for paper.

In the ancient and medieval worlds, some Christians memorized large portions of Scripture.  Eusebius of Caesarea said he once met a blind Egyptian who “possessed whole books of the Holy Scriptures … in his heart.”

The cost of a Bible in the 1300s might easily amount to a priest’s whole yearly income.

So what is the Bible?  Well, in addition to all the above, the Bible:

Reveals

• the mind of God,
• the state of man,
• the way of salvation
• the doom of sinners,
• the happiness of believers.

Its doctrines are holy,
Its precepts binding,
Its histories are true,
Its decisions are immutable.

Read it to be wise
Believe it to be safe
Practice it to be holy.

It contains

• light to direct you,
• food to support you,
• comfort to cheer you.

It is

• the traveler’s map,
• the pilgrim’s staff,
• the pilot’s compass,
• the soldier’s sword,
• the Christian’s character.

Here

• paradise is restored,
• heaven opened, and
• the gates of hell disclosed.

Christ is the grand object, our good is its design, the glory of God is its end.

It should

• fill your memory,
• rule the heart, and
• guide the feet.

Read it slowly, frequently, and prayerfully.

It is given in life, will be opened in the judgment, and will be remembered forever.

It involves the highest responsibility, will reward the greatest labor and will condemn all those who trifle with its sacred contents.

A Brief Chronology of How We Got the Bible

Early Development
c. 1400–400 B.C. Books of the Hebrew Old Testament written

c. 250–200 B.C. The Septuagint, a popular Greek translation of the Old Testament, produced

A.D. 45–85? Books of the Greek New Testament written

90 and 118 Councils of Jamnia give final affirmation to the Old Testament canon (39 books)

140-150 Marcion’s heretical “New Testament” incites orthodox Christians to establish a NT canon

303-306 Diocletian’s persecution includes confiscating and destroying New Testament Scriptures

c. 305-310 Lucian of Antioch’s Greek New Testament text; becomes a foundation for later Bibles

367 Athanasius’s Festal Letter lists complete New Testament canon (27 books) for the first time

397 Council of Carthage establishes orthodox New Testament canon (27 books)

c. 400 Jerome translates the Bible into Latin; this “Vulgate” becomes standard of medieval church

English Versions From Latin
c. 650 Caedmon, a monk, puts Bible books into verse

c. 735 >Historian Bede translates the Gospels

871-899 King Alfred the Great translates the Psalms and 10 Commandments

950 The 7th-century Lindisfarne Gospels receive English translation

955-1020 Aelfric translates various Bible books

c. 1300 Invention of eyeglasses aids copying

c. 1325 Both Richard Rolle and William Shoreham translate psalms into metrical verse

1380-1382 John Wycliffe and associates make first translation of the whole Bible into English

1388 John Purvey revises Wycliffe Bible

1455 Gutenberg’s Latin Bible—first from press

English Versions From Greek
1516 Erasmus’s Greek New Testament, a forerunner to the Textus Receptus used by KJV translators

1525 William Tyndale makes the first translation of the New Testament from the original Hebrew and Greek text.

Tyndale said, “that if God would spare his life, he would see that a plowboy would know more Scripture than the priests of the time”.