Why Do We Have the Bible That We Have?

The Bible came about through the discernment in the early centuries of the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  Much was written and recorded about Jesus in the early church during this time, and it had to be determined which writings were accurate and inspired by God for the building up and guidance of His Church.  The decision to include a particular book in the canon of New Testament Scripture largely hinged on whether a writing was considered of “apostolic origin” or not.

“Apostolic origin” was important because the apostles were the actual eye witnesses to the life, death and resurrection of Christ.   The Apostles knew Jesus well.  They were with him.  They participated in his ministry.  They sat at Jesus’ feet and learned from him.  Most importantly, however, they witnessed the events of Holy Week and Easter.  The Apostles and the first century communities that formed around them through the prompting and inspiration of the Holy Spirit went on to write down their experience of Jesus.  These writings were written down, or “codified,” into what we know today as the New Testament Canon of Scripture.

The church generally used three criteria for finally deciding if a book should be included in the Canon of Scripture:

1.      That it was written by an Apostle or by the community that immediately formed around an Apostle.

2.      That it had been circulated among the apostolic churches in the Mediterranean basin and was widely, if not universally, accepted.

3.      That the writing was consistent with the larger body of writings accepted in the church.

By about 140 AD, the four Gospels and most of the Pauline Epistles were accepted by the broader Church.  By the end of the 2^nd Century, the accepted books also included 1 Peter, 1 John, Jude and Revelation.  Books still being questioned by the Church, primarily based on the possibly of non-apostolic origins, were Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John, Shepherd of Hermas and the Revelation of Peter.  Five of these seven books were eventually accepted, giving us our present day New Testament.