Adapted from “The Holy Scriptures: God’s Word, Written in Human Words,” an updated version of Herman Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, trans. Henry Zylstra (Eerdmans, 1956), chapter 7.

Who decided which books belong in the Bible? Do we still have the original manuscripts? And if Scripture was written in ancient languages, how can we be confident we’re reading it rightly today? These are questions many Christians quietly wonder about. The good news is that they’ve been taken seriously for a very long time.

Looking at how the books of the Bible first came about doesn’t exhaust the study of the Bible. It only begins it. Over time a whole cluster of fields of study has grown up around the Bible, and the purpose of every one of them is to help us understand the meaning of Scripture better. Here are four of them.

The Canon: Recognised, Not Created

First, each book of the Bible, besides having its own individual origin, eventually took its place in a collection called the Canon: a list or group of writings that make up the rule of faith and life.

This kind of collecting even happened within single books. The Psalms and Proverbs, for instance, come from various people and were gradually gathered into one body of writing. Later, the various books were gathered into one and called the Bible.

But here’s the crucial point. We must not imagine that the church made the Canon, or that the church gave canonical authority to the writings of the prophets and apostles. Those writings were authoritative in the church from the moment they were written, and they functioned there right away as the rule of faith and life. The Word of God, first unwritten and later written, does not get its authority from people, not even from believers. It gets it from God, who watches over it and brings about its acknowledgment.

The Word of God does not derive its authority from men, but from God, who watches over it and brings about the acknowledgment of it.

So why did lists need to be drawn up at all? Because as the number of prophetic and apostolic books grew, other writings appeared alongside them. These weren’t written by prophets or apostles, though some claimed to be or were accepted as such in certain circles. The church therefore had to distinguish the true canonical books from the false, alleged, apocryphal or pseudo-epigraphical ones, and draw up a list of the true books. For the Old Testament this happened before Christ; for the New Testament, in the fourth century after Christ. A whole field of study is devoted to investigating this and shedding light on the canonicity of the Bible.

The Text: Getting Back to the Original

Second, the original manuscripts written by the prophets and apostles themselves have, without exception, been lost. We have only copies.

The oldest substantial copies of the Old Testament, found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, date from the third to first centuries BC, often many centuries after the books were written. For the New Testament, the earliest fragments date from the second century AD, and complete manuscripts survive from the fourth.¹If we ask when the oldest copies of the Old Testament Hebrew manuscripts date from, the answer depends on whether we mean fragments, scrolls, or complete copies.

Earliest fragments (late 7th–early 6th century BC). The Ketef Hinnom silver amulets, found in Jerusalem in 1979, carry a form of the Aaronic blessing (Num 6:24–26). Scholars usually date them to around 600 BC. They are inscribed amulets rather than biblical manuscripts, but they are the oldest surviving text of any passage of Scripture.

Dead Sea Scrolls (c. 250 BC – AD 70). About 200+ biblical manuscripts survive from Qumran, and some come from nearby sites at Masada, Nahal Hever and Murabba’at, which run to about AD 135.

• The oldest, such as 4QExod-f, 4QSam-b and 4QJer-a, date to around 250–200 BC.
• The Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a) dates to around 150–100 BC. It is the only complete Old Testament book from the period.
• Every book is represented except Esther.

The Nash Papyrus, which contains the Decalogue and the Shema, dates to about 150–100 BC. It was the oldest known Hebrew biblical text before Qumran was discovered.

The gap. After the second century AD, almost nothing survives until the Cairo Genizah fragments, which begin around the 9th century. One exception is the charred En-Gedi Leviticus scroll, which was read digitally in 2015 and dated anywhere from the 1st to the 4th century AD.

Masoretic codices (ancient manuscripts) (c. 900–1008 AD).

• Aleppo Codex (c. 930): the Ben Asher text. About 40% of it, including most of the Torah, was lost in 1947.
• Leningrad Codex (1008/9): the oldest complete Hebrew Bible. It is the basis of BHS and BHQ.
• Cairo Codex of the Prophets: its colophon says AD 895, but it is now often thought to be later.

What matters apologetically (giving a rational and intellectual defense of the Christian faith) is how closely the Qumran material, especially Isaiah, agrees with the medieval Masoretic text, despite a gap of roughly a thousand years. Qumran also shows real textual plurality. Some manuscripts align with the Septuagint or Samaritan traditions, as with Jeremiah and Samuel.

The New Testament evidence is much closer in time to its originals than the Old Testament evidence is, though recent work has made the earliest datings less certain. Codex Sinaiticus (c. 330–360) is the oldest complete New Testament.

Earliest papyri (2nd–3rd century). About 140 papyrus manuscripts survive, almost all from Egypt.

(P = papyrus manuscript)

• P52 (John Rylands Library, John 18:31–33, 37–38) is traditionally dated to around 125. It is still often cited as the oldest NT fragment. Brent Nongbri and others have argued that palaeography allows a range of roughly 100 to 200 or even later, so the “c. 125” date is now held more loosely.
• P104 (Matt 21) and P90 (John 18–19) are usually placed in the late 2nd century.
• P137, a Mark fragment, was heavily rumoured to be first-century. When it was published in 2018 it turned out to date from the late 2nd or early 3rd century. Claims that 7Q5 from Qumran is Mark are not accepted.

Substantial early codices (c. 175–250).

• P66 (c. 200) contains most of John.
• P75 (c. 175–225) contains much of Luke and John. It is strikingly close to Vaticanus.
• P46 (c. 200) contains most of Paul’s letters and Hebrews.
• P45 (3rd century) contains the Gospels and Acts, and P47 (3rd century) contains Revelation.

These belong to the Bodmer and Chester Beatty collections.

The great majuscules (4th–5th century).
(majuscules are manuscripts’ large lettering, either capital or uncial, in which all the letters are the same height)

• Codex Vaticanus (c. 300–325) lacks Heb 9:14 onwards, the Pastorals, Philemon and Revelation.
• Codex Sinaiticus (c. 330–360) is the oldest complete New Testament.
• Alexandrinus, Ephraemi Rescriptus and Bezae date from the 5th century, Bezae possibly from around 400.

The wider picture. Over 5,800 Greek manuscripts are catalogued. Early versions in Latin, Syriac and Coptic add to this, as do extensive quotations in the Church Fathers. The gap between the original writing and the earliest substantial copies is about 100–150 years. That is far closer than for any other ancient text. With classical authors the gap is typically a thousand years or more.¹ So centuries separate the originals from the copies we have. During that time the text had a history of its own and underwent changes, some lesser, some greater.

To take just one example: The original Hebrew manuscripts were written in consonants only, without vowel signs or punctuation; these were added by Jewish scribes known as the Masoretes between about the seventh and tenth centuries AD. The chapter divisions we are used to were introduced in the early thirteenth century, and the verse numbers in the sixteenth.²The Old Testament was divided into verses long before the sixteenth century (as sometimes used to be thought). The divisions are attested in the Talmud, and the Masoretes marked the end of each verse. What came in the sixteenth century was numbering: Pagnini numbered the Old Testament in 1528, and Robert Estienne (Stephanus) numbered the New Testament in 1551. The New Testament had no comparable earlier verse divisions, so “verse numbers” is accurate for both Testaments. Hebrew scribes did use certain consonants to indicate some vowels (matres lectionis), and you can see this in the Dead Sea Scrolls. The original scrolls did have spaces between words and paragraph breaks, which can also be seen at Qumran and helps avoid implying that the text ran on without any breaks. But the full system of written vowel signs is Masoretic. Chapters are usually credited to Stephen Langton, working in Paris around 1200–1228, and were made for the Latin Vulgate.

For reasons like these, a special field of study is needed that uses every helpful means to identify or “establish” the original text and present it as the basis for interpretation.

Translation: God’s Word in Every Tongue

Third, the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, with a few specific sections written in a related Semitic language, Aramaic.³Dan. 2:4b–7:28; Ezra 4:8–6:18 and 7:12–26; individual verses – Gen. 31:47 and Jer. 10:1. Aramaic was adopted during and after the Babylonian exile, and in the 6^th century BC became the common spoken language of the Jews. The New Testament was written in Greek. The moment the Bible spread among people who didn’t understand those languages, translation became necessary.

As early as the third century before Christ, work began on translating the Old Testament into Greek. Translation of both Testaments into many ancient languages, and in time into many modern ones, followed. After the revival of missions to the nations in the nineteenth century, this work was taken up again with energy. Today the whole Bible is available in more than 750 languages, and at least some Scripture in over half of the world’s 7,000-plus languages.

Studying these translations, especially the ancient ones, matters a great deal for understanding Holy Scripture properly. After all, every translation is really a kind of interpretation. But, unlike Islam were only the Arabic version of the Quran can be said to be really God’s words, interpretations of the original Bible languages into other languages are regarded as God’s own words directly, in person, to us. See Ezra’s preaching to the Jews returned from Babylon (Nehemiah 8:1-8).

Interpretation: Progress Through the Centuries

Fourth and finally, an enormous amount of care and effort has gone into interpreting Holy Scripture. It began with the ancient Jews, has continued through the centuries, and goes on not least in our own time.

It’s true that every interpreter has his own slant, and that much interpretation has been biased. But the history of interpretation still shows remarkable progress, with each century contributing its share.

And in the end, that progress doesn’t rest on human brilliance. In the final analysis, it is God himself who, often despite human error, maintains his Word and makes his thoughts triumph over the wisdom of the world. So when you open your Bible, you can do so with confidence. The same God who gave his Word has been watching over it all along.

—

• 1
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• 2
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• 1
  If we ask when the oldest copies of the Old Testament Hebrew manuscripts date from, the answer depends on whether we mean fragments, scrolls, or complete copies.
  
  

  Earliest fragments (late 7th–early 6th century BC). The Ketef Hinnom silver amulets, found in Jerusalem in 1979, carry a form of the Aaronic blessing (Num 6:24–26). Scholars usually date them to around 600 BC. They are inscribed amulets rather than biblical manuscripts, but they are the oldest surviving text of any passage of Scripture.
  
  

  Dead Sea Scrolls (c. 250 BC – AD 70). About 200+ biblical manuscripts survive from Qumran, and some come from nearby sites at Masada, Nahal Hever and Murabba’at, which run to about AD 135.
  
  

  • The oldest, such as 4QExod-f, 4QSam-b and 4QJer-a, date to around 250–200 BC.
  • The Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a) dates to around 150–100 BC. It is the only complete Old Testament book from the period.
  • Every book is represented except Esther.

  The Nash Papyrus, which contains the Decalogue and the Shema, dates to about 150–100 BC. It was the oldest known Hebrew biblical text before Qumran was discovered.
  
  

  The gap. After the second century AD, almost nothing survives until the Cairo Genizah fragments, which begin around the 9th century. One exception is the charred En-Gedi Leviticus scroll, which was read digitally in 2015 and dated anywhere from the 1st to the 4th century AD.
  
  

  Masoretic codices (ancient manuscripts) (c. 900–1008 AD).
  
  

  • Aleppo Codex (c. 930): the Ben Asher text. About 40% of it, including most of the Torah, was lost in 1947.
  • Leningrad Codex (1008/9): the oldest complete Hebrew Bible. It is the basis of BHS and BHQ.
  • Cairo Codex of the Prophets: its colophon says AD 895, but it is now often thought to be later.

  What matters apologetically (giving a rational and intellectual defense of the Christian faith) is how closely the Qumran material, especially Isaiah, agrees with the medieval Masoretic text, despite a gap of roughly a thousand years. Qumran also shows real textual plurality. Some manuscripts align with the Septuagint or Samaritan traditions, as with Jeremiah and Samuel.
  
  

  The New Testament evidence is much closer in time to its originals than the Old Testament evidence is, though recent work has made the earliest datings less certain. Codex Sinaiticus (c. 330–360) is the oldest complete New Testament.
  
  

  Earliest papyri (2nd–3rd century). About 140 papyrus manuscripts survive, almost all from Egypt.
  
  

  (P = papyrus manuscript)
  
  

  • P52 (John Rylands Library, John 18:31–33, 37–38) is traditionally dated to around 125. It is still often cited as the oldest NT fragment. Brent Nongbri and others have argued that palaeography allows a range of roughly 100 to 200 or even later, so the “c. 125” date is now held more loosely.
  • P104 (Matt 21) and P90 (John 18–19) are usually placed in the late 2nd century.
  • P137, a Mark fragment, was heavily rumoured to be first-century. When it was published in 2018 it turned out to date from the late 2nd or early 3rd century. Claims that 7Q5 from Qumran is Mark are not accepted.

  Substantial early codices (c. 175–250).
  
  

  • P66 (c. 200) contains most of John.
  • P75 (c. 175–225) contains much of Luke and John. It is strikingly close to Vaticanus.
  • P46 (c. 200) contains most of Paul’s letters and Hebrews.
  • P45 (3rd century) contains the Gospels and Acts, and P47 (3rd century) contains Revelation.

  These belong to the Bodmer and Chester Beatty collections.
  
  

  The great majuscules (4th–5th century).
  (majuscules are manuscripts’ large lettering, either capital or uncial, in which all the letters are the same height)
  
  

  • Codex Vaticanus (c. 300–325) lacks Heb 9:14 onwards, the Pastorals, Philemon and Revelation.
  • Codex Sinaiticus (c. 330–360) is the oldest complete New Testament.
  • Alexandrinus, Ephraemi Rescriptus and Bezae date from the 5th century, Bezae possibly from around 400.

  The wider picture. Over 5,800 Greek manuscripts are catalogued. Early versions in Latin, Syriac and Coptic add to this, as do extensive quotations in the Church Fathers. The gap between the original writing and the earliest substantial copies is about 100–150 years. That is far closer than for any other ancient text. With classical authors the gap is typically a thousand years or more.¹ So centuries separate the originals from the copies we have. During that time the text had a history of its own and underwent changes, some lesser, some greater.
  
  

  To take just one example: The original Hebrew manuscripts were written in consonants only, without vowel signs or punctuation; these were added by Jewish scribes known as the Masoretes between about the seventh and tenth centuries AD. The chapter divisions we are used to were introduced in the early thirteenth century, and the verse numbers in the sixteenth.²The Old Testament was divided into verses long before the sixteenth century (as sometimes used to be thought). The divisions are attested in the Talmud, and the Masoretes marked the end of each verse. What came in the sixteenth century was numbering: Pagnini numbered the Old Testament in 1528, and Robert Estienne (Stephanus) numbered the New Testament in 1551. The New Testament had no comparable earlier verse divisions, so “verse numbers” is accurate for both Testaments. Hebrew scribes did use certain consonants to indicate some vowels (matres lectionis), and you can see this in the Dead Sea Scrolls. The original scrolls did have spaces between words and paragraph breaks, which can also be seen at Qumran and helps avoid implying that the text ran on without any breaks. But the full system of written vowel signs is Masoretic. Chapters are usually credited to Stephen Langton, working in Paris around 1200–1228, and were made for the Latin Vulgate. ↩︎

• 3
  Dan. 2:4b–7:28; Ezra 4:8–6:18 and 7:12–26; individual verses – Gen. 31:47 and Jer. 10:1. Aramaic was adopted during and after the Babylonian exile, and in the 6^th century BC became the common spoken language of the Jews. ↩︎