How did the Bible Come About?

The creation of the Bible: A description of how we got the Bible as we know it today was a long and complex process, spanning over a thousand years and involving multiple languages, authors, and generations of religious leaders.

It evolved from oral tradition into written texts, which were then compiled, translated, and ultimately printed and distributed globally. 

The Formation of the 66-Book Protestant Bible: 

A Historical Overview: The Bible, as known in Protestant Christianity, consisting of 66 books (39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament), is not a single book that fell from heaven but the result of a long, complex historical process of writing, collection, recognition, and occasional debate over centuries. This process involved Jewish scribes, early Christian communities, church councils, and key figures who discerned which writings were considered inspired and authoritative.

 The Old Testament (39 Books)

The Hebrew Scriptures, which Christians call the Old Testament, were written mostly between approximately 1200 BC and 165 BC. They were composed in Hebrew (with some later portions in Aramaic) by prophets, priests, kings, and other authors.

 Jewish tradition holds that the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) was given to Moses, while the Prophets and Writings were added over time. By around 400–200 BC, Jewish scholars had largely settled on a three-part canon:

- Torah (Law) – 5 books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy

- Nevi’im (Prophets) – 8 books: Joshua, Judges, Samuel 1 & 2  (counted as one single book), Kings 1 & 2  (counted as one single book), Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, The Twelve Minor Prophets (counted as one single book): Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi

- Ketuvim (Writings) – 11 books: Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs (or Song of Solomon), Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah (counted as one book), Chronicles (1 & 2 Chronicles counted as one book)

This 24-book Hebrew canon is identical in content to the 39 books of the Protestant Old Testament (Protestants count some books separately, e.g., splitting 1–2 Samuel, 1–2 Kings, and the twelve Minor Prophets).

A council at Jamnia (Yavneh) around AD 90 is sometimes cited as “closing” the Hebrew canon, but modern scholarship views this more as a scholarly discussion after the destruction of the Temple than a formal vote that excluded books.

The seven Deuterocanonical books (Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, 1–2 Maccabees, plus additions to Esther and Daniel) were written in Greek or late Hebrew, widely used by Hellenistic Jews, and included in the Septuagint (LXX), the Greek translation of the Jewish scriptures completed by the 2nd century BC. These books were never universally accepted by Palestinian Jews and were later rejected by Protestants.

The New Testament (27 Books)

The 27 books of the New Testament were written between approximately AD 45 and AD 100, mostly in Greek, by apostles or their close associates.

From the beginning, certain writings were treated as authoritative:

- Paul’s letters were circulated and collected early (see 2 Peter 3:15–16, which already treats Paul’s letters as “scripture”).

- The four Gospels gained almost immediate recognition.

By the late 2nd century, the “core” of the New Testament was widely accepted:

- Four Gospels, Acts, The thirteen Pauline epistles, 1 Peter, 1 John

But still some debate existed over seven shorter books:

- Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2–3 John, Jude, Revelation (accepted in the West but doubted by some Eastern churches)

A few other writings were read in some churches but ultimately rejected (Shepherd of Hermas, Didache, Epistle of Barnabas, 1 Clement, Apocalypse of Peter, etc.).

Key early canonical lists:

- Muratorian Fragment (c. AD 170–200) – first known list close to our 27 books (omits Hebrews, James, 1–2 Peter, includes Wisdom and Apocalypse of Peter).

- Origen (c. 185–254) – distinguishes universally accepted books from disputed ones.

- Eusebius (c. 325) – categorizes books as accepted, disputed, and spurious.

- Athanasius of Alexandria – In his 39th Festal Letter (AD 367), he provides the first list that exactly matches the modern 27-book New Testament.

Church councils in the late 4th century (Hippo 393, Carthage 397, Carthage 419) formally affirmed the 27-book New Testament for the Western church. These councils did not “create” the canon but ratified what was already the overwhelming consensus of churches across the Roman Empire.

Summary

The Protestant Canon of 66 Books

During the early Christian centuries and throughout the Middle Ages, Western and Eastern churches used a Bible of 73 or more books (including the Deuterocanonicals).

The Protestant Reformers in the 16th century (Luther, Calvin, etc.) returned to the shorter Hebrew canon for the Old Testament, arguing that only books originally in Hebrew and accepted by the Jews belonged in the canon. They placed the seven Deuterocanonical books in an appendix called “Apocrypha” (useful to read but not authoritative for doctrine).

The Roman Catholic Church responded at the Council of Trent (1546) by formally declaring the longer 73-book canon (including Deuterocanonicals) as fully canonical. Protestant confessions (e.g., Westminster Confession 1646, Belgic Confession) explicitly defined the 66-book canon.

The Old Testament

• Oral traditions (before 1200 BCE): The earliest parts of the Hebrew Bible began as stories and songs passed down orally through Israelite communities.

• Written texts (1200–400 BCE): The writing of the Old Testament books took place over many centuries. Scholars believe the earliest parts began to be written in the mid-second millennium BCE, and the collection was finalized around 400 BCE.

• The Septuagint (c. 250 BCE): This is the first translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek. It became the version of the Old Testament used by early Christians.

• The Dead Sea Scrolls (c. 250 BCE–100 CE): The discovery of these manuscripts in 1947 provided copies of most of the Old Testament books that were a thousand years older than previously known texts, confirming the remarkable consistency of the Masoretic text used today.

• Old Testament canonization (c. 90–118 CE): The Jewish Council of Jamnia affirmed the 39 books of the Old Testament canon. 

Christianity originated as an outgrowth of Second Temple Judaism, utilizing the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament books) as its basis for the Old Testament.

The New Testament

• Apostolic writings (c. 50–100 CE): The New Testament began with the letters of Paul and other church leaders, written to instruct and encourage early Christian communities. This was followed by the writing of the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) to preserve eyewitness accounts of Jesus' life and teachings.

• Early circulation: The letters of Paul were circulated among churches and copied by scribes. As Christianity spread, a shared collection of authoritative writings started to form.

• Early canon lists (c. 140–200 CE): The formation of the New Testament canon was accelerated by challenges from heretical movements, which prompted orthodox Christians to identify which books should be considered Scripture. The Muratorian Fragment, from the late 2nd century, is one of the earliest lists of canonical New Testament books.

• Formal canonization (367 CE and 397 CE): Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria listed the 27 books of the New Testament that are recognized today. This list was formally ratified by the Council of Carthage in 397 CE.

• The Latin Vulgate (c. 400 CE): St. Jerome compiled and translated the books of the Old and New Testaments into a single volume in Latin, creating the Vulgate, which became the standard text of the Bible for the medieval Catholic Church. 

English translations and printing

• Wycliffe's Bible (c. 1384): John Wycliffe produced the first hand-written English translation of the complete Bible, based on the Latin Vulgate.

• Gutenberg's Printing Press (1455): Johannes Gutenberg's invention of the printing press revolutionized book production. The first book he printed was a Latin Bible, making the Scriptures more widely available than ever before.

• Tyndale's New Testament (1525): William Tyndale produced the first printed New Testament in English, translated from the original Greek. His translation was famously sold and circulated illegally in England.

• The King James Version (1611): Commissioned by King James I, this version brought together the best aspects of previous English translations. Its widespread distribution and elegant language made it one of the most influential books in the English-speaking world.

Modern translations (20th century–Present): New discoveries of ancient manuscripts, like the Dead Sea Scrolls, and changes in the English language spurred the creation of many modern translations and versions, such as the New International Version (NIV), the English Standard Version (ESV), and the New American Standard Bible (NASB).

Thus, the 66-book Bible used by most Protestants today is the result of:

1. Jewish canonization of the Hebrew scriptures (by ~2nd century BC).

2. Early Christian recognition of the 27 New Testament books (widespread by 3rd–4th century, formalized in 4th-century councils).

3. The 16th-century Protestant decision to follow the Hebrew rather than the Septuagint canon for the Old Testament.

No single “vote” created the 66-book Bible in a modern parliamentary sense. Instead, it emerged through a centuries-long process of communal recognition, guided by criteria such as apostolic origin, orthodoxy of teaching, and continuous use in worship, with final delineation occurring during the Reformation era.

The 66-book canon is therefore not arbitrary but the fruit of careful discernment by the Jewish people (Old Testament) and the early church (New Testament), later refined by the Reformers’ return to the ancient Hebrew standard.