How did they decide what books made the Bible?

Question

Who decided and how did they decide? Was the old and new testament put together at the same time?

Answer 1

The 39 books of the Old Testament form the Bible of Judaism, while the Christian Bible includes those books and also the 27 books of the New Testament. This list of books included in the Bible is known as the canon. That is, the canon refers to the books regarded as inspired by God and authoritative for faith and life. No church created the canon, but the churches and councils gradually accepted the list of books recognized by believers everywhere as inspired.

It was actually not until 367 AD that the church father Athanasius first provided the complete listing of the 66 books belonging to the canon.

He distinguished those from other books that were widely circulated and he noted that those 66 books were the ones, and the only ones, universally accepted.

The point is that the formation of the canon did not come all at once like a thunderbolt, but was the product of centuries of reflection.

Let's look first at the Old Testament. Obviously the first five books (sometimes called the Torah or the Pentateuch) were the first to be accepted as canonical. We're not sure when this occurred, but it was probably during the fifth century before Christ. Of course, the Hebrews had the "Law" for many centuries already, but they certainly did not pay very good attention to it. It was probably the work of the prophets Ezra and Nehemiah that restored it to general use and fixed it once for all as authoritative.

How about the rest of the Old Testament? The prophets' writings were also not brought together in a single form until about 200 BC. The remaining Old Testament books were adopted as canonical even later. The Old Testament list was probably not finally fixed much before the birth of Christ. The Jewish people were widely scattered by this time and they really needed to know which books were the authoritative Word of God because so many other writings claiming divine authority were floating around. With the fixing of the canon they became a people of one Book, and this Book kept them together.

Nor is there a single date when we can say that the canon of the New Testament was decided. In the first and second centuries after Christ, many, many writings and epistles were circulating among the Christians. Some of the churches were using books and letters in their services that were definitely spurious. Gradually the need to have a definite list of the inspired Scriptures became apparent. Heretical movements were rising, each one choosing its own selected Scriptures, including such documents as the Gospel of Thomas, the Shepherd of Hermas, the Apocalypse of Peter, and the Epistle of Barnabas.

Gradually it became clear which works were truly genuine and which mixed truth with fantasy. By the end of the fourth century the canon was definitively settled and accepted. In this process Christians recognize the providence of God in providing us with his written revelation of himself and his purpose with the universe.

Questions still arise now and then about the canon. Some wonder why just these 66 booklets were chosen. Why not 65 or 67? Why was the sometimes puzzling booklet of Jude included to the exclusion of other edifying scriptures? To these questions we reply that these books are the ones that God himself has chosen to preserve for us, and he has not told us exactly why. Together they form an immeasurable treasure, and in them we find God's matchless gift to his people. Here we are moved simply to trust in his providence as he led his people through the years and gave us the most honored and powerful and comforting volume in the history of humanity, the book known as the Bible.

And in his providence he has provided this treasure for you as well. Take up its ancient words and mandates and live by them! As you steep yourself in its pages, your heart will find peace at last.

Answer 2

The old testament is made up of Jewish scripture and relevant to their religion. The new testament was technically written by Jews, but Jews that were followers of Jesus... so it's not relevant to Judaism.

It was put together by early Christian leaders who had a point to make at the time. Like the Gospel of John was most likely written long after the fact in an attempt to destroy Gnosticism and Arianism. Many of the books attributed to Paul were written by those other than Paul to try and show that he wasn't actually a Gnostic.

And even books that are relatively safe from from forgery claims were still chosen to prove a point. The book of Revelation was included then taken out more than once before the final biblical cannon was established.

Answer 3

Great question! To answer the latter, what we know now as the Old Testaments was assembled around 200 BC. The New Testament is a collection of documents that were written between 50 AD (27 years AFTER Jesus' alleged cruxifiction) and 150-200 AD. It wasn't until 390AD that the two collections of documents were combined as one. Revisions, translations, and updates of these documents continue up until present day, although the rate of change has been significantly reduced since the of the printing press and it's implementation in mass-producing this literature.

The criteria that went into selecting which books would be treated as "holy writ", aka "canonization", is a source of modern-day controversy. There were at that time (as there is today) varied opinions on the details of Christianity, including whether or not Jesus was the Son of God, or God Himself. The group that assembled religious documents into the Bible clearly did so based on what they believed was correct, omitting works they felt were contradictory or false.

There are lots of research papers and books on this topic. Search for "textual criticism" as an example of a logical approach to reconstructing the Bible's origins. I wish you luck in learning more!

Answer 4

The NT books were gathered and copied as they were written. The first one around 45 A D (debatable) and the last one around 95. The early church "tested" each book as to 1.) who wrote it. 2.) as to whether or not the book gave internal evidence of inspiration, and 3.) was its acceptance unanimous among church fathers.
The OT was complete and accepted in the fifth century B C.

All 66 books of the Bible today were used together as early as 100. Some of the NT books were questioned by some churches for many years, but eventually in about 397 all doubts were put to rest.

There are some later books like the gospel of Thomas and others that land in the spotlight from time to time-but they were never part of the Bible.

Answer 5

The Council of Nicea decided what books would and would not be included in the New Testament. The Old testament was written by a variety of people as the inherent contradictions in the text demonstrates.

Answer 6

Very complicated. The OT was around for a long time, but the bible as we know it was compiled all together in the 1300s or something. The NT is a small collection of writings. Many other writings were destroyed. This under the order of Constantine I believe.

Anyone would certainly destroy what would diminish there agenda at the time.

Answer 7

The Council of Nicea in 736, with the combined efforts of Constantine, then Holy Roman Emperor, and the Pope in Rome at that time, produced the Bible as it appears today, including Revelations. Of course, they left out any book that suggested that an individual could approach God on his own. People had to go through the parish priest, who prayed to a dead saint, who prayed to the Virgin Mary, who went to Jesus, who then took the prayer to God. It's unknown whether God took direct action or whether the answer rolled back downhill. This established that everyone had to give the priests money to pray for them, to light the candles for them and to intercede for them. Even the Protestants use the same Bible from 736AD. Scary, huh?

Answer 8

eenie-minneey-miney-mo....

Actually, Churrch Father Iraneus decided what four gospels would make it into the Bible, and he based this decision on one simple fact - that there are four cardinal directions, that the wind blows in only four directions, and that there are only four elements on earth - earth, air, fire and water. So, knowing that the Bible was compiled on misguided idiotic theories....why would anyone beleive the craptastic story it contains today?!?!
Furthermore, prior to 325AD, Jesus was not beleived to have been divine, the son of God, nor born from a virgin. These "facts" were voted upon and made dogma by the Council of Nicea in 325 at and the Council of Hippo in 360AD. Yet still people believe...

Dont believe that there were many "false works" - they are ALL false works....its just those that were victorious in having their works named as Gospels demonized tthe other books/works and called them false so as to destroy their validity. Those works were no more false or invalid than the Koran, The Egyptian Book of the Duat, or the Harry Potter series.

Answer 9

the Bible was put together when all the books fit the same theme. Many "gnostic" gospels weren't never considered "inspired" becasue they laced apostolic authorship and were written like 200 years after Jesus...therefore they didn't contain his true teachings...yet the 4 gosples of the bible were written w/in 40 years of Jesus departure and were written by the apostles or theri close friends...The bible "composed" around 400 a.d. by the catholic church consisitng of 72 books. The old testamnet was started around 1300 B.C. and finished by around 500 B.C. The Church chose the gosples that fit the old testament books.

Answer 10

The Council of Carthage in 396 AD. There were many false works or partially corrupted documents floating around the ancient world. An ecumenical council was convened and spent years researching the Canon and the validity of known works.