The Bible is a text that many people own but may not have really read or understood. In the Christian faith, it is the book we read to learn more about God, our lives, and the world.
Some writers call it Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth based on an acronym for B.I.B.L.E.
The Bible is and will continue to be the most published book around. The Guinness Book of World Records estimates that more than 5 billion copies of the Bible have been printed.
It also has the most translations in other languages, with at least one book of the text now available in a staggering 3,312 languages.
What is also striking is that each language translation of the Bible has many different versions. So for example, right now you can get the English translation in versions such as: King James Version (KJV), New International Version (NIV), New American Standard Bible (NASB), The Message, and The Amplified Bible.
Therefore, the importance and relevance of the bible is not a thing to be disputed. What is and will continue to be in contention, is the context of what is written in it and the main message that Jesus is the Saviour of the world.
The Historical Document With Most Manuscripts
One of the reasons for so many different versions of the Bible is the number of manuscripts available. There are more than 5,800 New Testament Manuscripts in Greek, 10,000 Old Testament Manuscripts in Hebrew, and more than 19,000 copies of Manuscripts in Coptic, Latin, Aramaic, and Syriac languages.
This is vital to know because there are no other texts with as many older copies, manuscripts, or versions that have survived until today. The closest there is are the works of Homer and the Iliad and Odyssey sagas of old that have over 1,000 copies.
The History of the Old Testament
It is known through Jewish tradition that the older manuscripts were copied meticulously in an attempt to not make mistakes.
The scribes of old would write the Hebrew words closely from right to left and count both words and letters to ensure they got all the written text. In that way, they would create fairly accurate copies that passed from one scribe to the next over time.
We know this is true because the greatest find of our time in relation to Old Testament texts, the Dead Sea Scrolls, contains multiple manuscripts that match current known copies of the Bible.
The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in late 1946 and early 1947 and there were fragments found of almost all the books in the Hebrew Bible aside from Esther. The Dead Sea Scrolls were written between 150 B.C. and 70 A.D.
Jesus Mentions Many People and Places from The Old Testament
In addition, Jesus, who we read about in the New Testament and who Christians believe is the God of the earth, stated many quotations from the Old Testament and names of people in the texts.
This is essential because if Jesus is God and one of the characteristics of God is that He cannot lie, then He must have spoken about people, places, and events that actually existed or occurred.
Examples of things Jesus spoke about from the Old Testament:
People: Solomon, Moses, David, Elisha, Noah, Daniel
Places: Sodom and Gomorrah, Tyre and Sidon,
Events: The Flood in Genesis, Famine during the time of Jezebel and Ahab, Satan’s fall from heaven
The History of the New Testament
The New Testament which contains the gospels and the writings of the apostles is also deeply steeped in knowledge. Its history stretched back to the first text which was said to be the Gospel of Mark (50 AD).
The 27 books are fresh and vivid. They tell the stories of Jesus and his early disciples, the history of how the first church in Jerusalem formed, later missionary journeys, and letters named epistles by different apostles to the known churches at the time.
How The Bible was Formed
The main Bible currently has the Roman Catholic type which has 73 books versus the Reformed Canon which has 66 books. The tradition of its text comes from a series of meetings over centuries that examined and tried to put together the books so that the church leaders had the most accurate documents to discuss in communities of faith.
As you can imagine, books of the bible were used and taught from the 1st century. But now they compiled them to create the main ones that spoke of Jesus and His story over time.
The first meeting, popularly known as the Council of Nicea, was in 325 AD. The bishops of the time decided to meet, based on heretical issues from groups such as the Arianists who figured that Jesus was not divine. So the texts were put together to prove that this was incorrect. Jesus came to redeem the world and was truly God.
It Transforms Lives
The Bible has a rich history. However, the role of it in being the Word of God that transforms men’s minds and hearts is probably even more important (Hebrews 4:12).
The Bible covers many topics that you will face in life and can help you to manoeuvre life’s issues and challenges. It is an inspired Word that gives light to dark areas and truth and wisdom.
Men that God made, read the Word, become renewed and connected back to the Divine who created them in the first place. The Bible continues to change lives and create new vessels working for the glory of God.
