John Phillip J.

Mendoza
AIM-I

Methods of Bible Study Research

Questions:
1. How the bible were put together as one book?
2. What were the events used by God to put all the books together?

Determining when the Bible was written poses challenges because it isn't a single book.
It's a collection of 66 books written by more than 40 authors over more than 2,000
years.

In the Beginning

The first step in assembling the Bible involves the 39 books of the Old Testament, also
referred to as the Hebrew Bible. Beginning with Moses, who wrote the first five books
of the Bible, these books were written over the centuries by prophets and leaders. By
the time of Jesus and his disciples, the Hebrew Bible had already been established as
39 books. This was what Jesus meant when he referred to "the Scriptures."

After the early church was established, people such as Matthew started writing
historical records of Jesus' life and ministry, which became known as the Gospels.
Church leaders such as Paul and Peter wanted to provide direction for the churches
they established, so they wrote letters that were circulated throughout congregations in
different regions. We call these the Epistles.

A century after the launch of the church, hundreds of letters and books explained who
Jesus was and what he did and how to live as his follower. It became clear that some of
these writings weren't authentic. Church members began to ask which books should be
followed and which ignored.

Finishing the Process

Eventually, Christian church leaders worldwide gathered to answer major questions,

including which books should be regarded as "Scripture." These gatherings included the
Council of Nicea in A.D. 325 and the First Council of Constantinople in A.D. 381, which
decided a book should be included in the Bible if it was:

- Written by one of Jesus' disciples, someone who was a witness to Jesus'

ministry, such as Peter, or someone who interviewed witnesses, such as Luke.
- Written in the first century A.D., meaning that books written long after the
events of Jesus' life and the first decades of the church weren't included.
 - Consistent with other portions of the Bible known to be valid, meaning the book
couldn't contradict a trusted element of Scripture.

After a few decades of debate, these councils largely settled which books should be
included in the Bible. A few years later, all were published by Jerome in a single
volume.

By the time the first century A.D. ended, most of the church had agreed on which
books should be considered Scripture. The earliest church members took guidance from
the writings of Peter, Paul, Matthew, John, and others. The later councils and debates
were largely useful in weeding out inferior books that claimed the same authority.

It is important to know the time when the Bible was written to appreciate the
history of God's revelation to the human race. Some of the first people mentioned in
the Bible (and most of the people with whom the Bible deals) came from the Middle
East. To put the time frame into perspective, consider that alphabetic writing originated
in the area of Mesopotamia around the year 2000 BC. Abraham arrived in Canaan about
1850 BC. He was chosen by God to be the father of the Hebrew nation, and is
significant for his role in leading the Jewish people. One could even say that he is the
central figure in the OT, since he is the vessel of God’s promise of worldwide salvation.
 The first five books of the Bible are referred to by two names, the Torah or the
Pentateuch. The term Torah is a Hebrew word which means "law" and these books
contain the laws of the Jewish people. The term Pentateuch comes from two Greek
words which mean "five scrolls" or "five books." The Pentateuch consists of Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

Moses, who led the Israelite people out of slavery in Egypt and into the promised
land, lived probably around the mid-thirteenth century, about 1250 BC. Along with
Abraham, Moses is truly the central figure in the Pentateuch and even the whole Old
Testament. The first five books of the Bible, though probably not written literally by
Moses himself, were nonetheless all based in various ways in the traditions that his
career spawned, culminating in his face to face encounter with God himself as he
received from Him the law.

The Old Testament was originally written almost entirely in ancient Hebrew—the
common language of Israelites in the days of the monarchy. Indeed for Jews, who do
not believe in Jesus as Messiah, the Old Testament is simply the “Bible” since there is
no New Testament. The Hebrew Bible was usually divided into three parts: 1) the law
(Torah) 2) the prophets (in Hebrew nebi’im) and 3) the writings (in Hebrew ketuvim).
These words Torah, nebi’im and ketuvim form the acronym Tanak, which is often the
name used for the Jewish Bible in Hebrew.

Since Jews in later centuries were often living far from Palestine, many forgot
how to speak Hebrew but communicated in Greek instead, which was the dominant
language in the Mediterranean world after the time of Alexander the Great. The need
for a Bible in the common language of the people was acute, and so the Bible was
translated into Greek in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, around three centuries before
the coming of Jesus Christ. This translation became known as the Septuagint since
around 70 rabbis were involved in its production. It is often abbreviated by the letters
LXX. The LXX was structured a little differently than the Tanak. It was divided into four
parts 1) the law 2) the historical books 3) the wisdom books and 4) the prophets. It is
also possible that some versions of the LXX contained additional books as well. As you
can see the story of the Old Testament--like many things in history--is very convoluted.
 It is not known exactly what books were thought by Jews to be part of the Bible
at the time of Jesus. Everyone would have accepted the core books contained in the
Tanak (either in Greek of Hebrew), though it is likely that opinions varied as to what
other books might be included. It is very likely however that Jesus and his followers,
especially the one who wrote the Greek New Testament, considered the LXX to be, for
all intents and purposes, their Bible.
(https://www.slideshare.net/ICReAd/how-wegotthebible)