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- How did we get the Bible? I think most of you know the Bible did not fall down from heaven or God did not deliver it as is, rather it was written over time.
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- 66 books written by over 40 different authors over the course of about 1 ,500 years.
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- So in this video, I want to try to give you the most simple overview I can of how the scriptures came about.
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- Moses wrote the first five books. God spoke directly to Moses and gave him the information necessary about the creation of the heavens and the earth and the early history of man.
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- That's Genesis chapters 1 through 11 and then starting in chapter 12, Abraham is introduced and from that point forward the rest of the
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- Old Testament scriptures, 39 books in all, tells of the story of the nation of Israel.
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- So the Old Testament we could generally say was written by the prophets.
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- The Old Testament refers to itself as the Word of God over 3 ,800 times.
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- The New Testament was written by the Apostles, the Apostles of Jesus Christ and their close associates.
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- And of course Jesus Christ is the central figure of both
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- Old and New Testaments. Jesus himself affirmed the
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- Old Testament scriptures as the Word of God. In John 5 39, he said they were about him.
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- Jesus appointed the Apostles to be his official representatives and they wrote the
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- New Testament books, 27 in all. So 39 Old Testament books plus 27
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- New Testament books, that's 66 in all. Now, how did they come together all in one volume?
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- How did the church know which books to include? This is the question of canon.
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- The word canon means a measuring stick. But we use it to refer to those books recognized as being divinely inspired by God.
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- So the canon is Genesis through Revelation. The Old Testament books basically had been established by the time of Jesus and the
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- New Testament authors. As far as the New Testament books go, there were certain tests such as who was the author.
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- For example, if a letter was written by an Apostle, it was included in the canon.
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- Of course, we know that Mark and Luke were not technically Apostles, but Mark was a close associate of Peter and Luke, a close associate of Paul.
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- So the first test was who is the author. Test number two, were the books accepted within the local churches.
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- Test number three, involved the content. Were the teachings in line with the faith?
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- Test number four, did the early church fathers of the first few centuries accept the writings?
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- And then number five, were the books edifying? And then, church councils were held, not to give the
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- Bible its authority or to give authority to these letters, rather to officially recognize which books were inspired by God and therefore authoritative.
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- So the scripture was not decided upon, rather the church recognized which books were scripture.
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- The canon was officially recognized by the church councils in the fourth and fifth century.
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- So in conclusion, the history of the Bible and how it was compiled into one volume, a single book that we could hold in our hand, it's complicated.
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- But the simple belief that we can have confidence that we have the Word of God, all 66 books, that is one thing that all evangelical
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- Christians agree on. I'll close with what the scripture says about itself in 2nd
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- Timothy 3, 16 and 17. The Apostle Paul writes, all scripture is given by inspiration of God.
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- It is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
