Can anyone tell me the history of Bible? How many books are there initially?

Question

Heard that there is 77 in the past. Martin Lurther removed some of them. Anyone can tell me more. I need to know more, I am a Christian. Thanks.

Answer 1

The Bible contains 66 books: 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament.

Some of the Old Testament books were immediately recognized as authoritative. Moses, after he wrote a book, put it in the Ark of the Covenant (Deut. 31:24-26). After the temple was built, the sacred writings were kept there (2 Kings 22:18). Early on, God commanded the kings to write for themselves a copy of the law. “And he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God” (Deut. 17:19). As the prophets spoke God’s word, saying, “Thus saith the Lord,” they also recognized that their message had to be recorded for future generations.

Occasionally we hear references to the so-called lost books of the Bible, books that some people think have been hidden from the general populace. In 1979, Bell Publishing Company of New York came out with a book entitled The Lost Books of the Bible. On the flyleaf it says that these books were not among those chosen to comprise the Bible, and “They were suppressed by the church, and for over fifteen hundred years were shrouded in secrecy.

Actually, these are not the lost books of the Bible. We have all that God has ordained for us. A lot of people think the Bible isn't trustworthy and that many books were removed from it. That isn't the case. But, there were many ancient books around when the Bible was written. Here are some of them.

You can see them on the link below.

Answer 2

Man, you got all sorts of lies out.

The number of books depends on the language, among other things. The Hebrew OT has several fewer books that You would think, even after reading the rest of my discussion. The "minor prophets" are lumped together into a single book called, "The Book of the Twelve." Within that, Malachi has only 3 chapters, rather than the 4 in every English Bible I've ever seen.

As for the Old Testament and the books THE CATHOLICS ADDED TO WHAT WAS CONSIDERED SCRIPTURE: THE JEWS NEVER CONSIDERED THOSE BOOKS AUTHORITATIVE. They were included in the Septuagint (LXX), the Greek translation of the Old Testament in common use during the first century. The LXX was created for the Greek library at Alexandria, NOT THE JEWS. As a result, it contained many things which the Jews did not consider scripture. The common "Protestant Bible" merely represents the ORIGINAL HEBREW LANGUAGE OLD TESTAMENT, without the additions made for the LXX. The catholic Bible is based on an early LATIN translation called the Vulgate. - Like "koine," the Greek of the New Testament, both words mean "common." The Vulgate was NOT based on the Hebrew Bible of the Jews, but the Greek LXX.

That is the reason for variation in modern times.

There are a couple works which have been known through the centuries which MAY actually have been inspired writings, but were not considered such by the early church. Generally, the "church fathers" could not reach any consensus on their authorship or origin.

There are other books in a class scholars call pseudopigrapha, which means "false author." These are books written in second and later centuries which CLAIM to have been penned by an apostle or one of their commonly known associates.

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/ has a good collection of both of these online.

For our muslim LIAR: JESUS PREDICTED THE END OF THE LAW LONG BEFORE PAUL CAME ALONG.
Mt 5:17 “Do not think I have come to get rid of what is written in the Law or in the Prophets. I have not come to do that. Instead, I have come to give full meaning to what is written. 18 What I’m about to tell you is true. Heaven and earth will disappear before the smallest letter disappears from the Law. Not even the smallest stroke of a pen will disappear from the Law until everything is completed.

Verse 18 says, "until everything is completed." Were the law NOT TO BE SET ASIDE, this clause is meaningless. It ONLY serves a function in the sentence IF the law would end. SINCE IT IS THERE, WE MUST CONCLUDE THAT JESUS INTENDED THAT THE LAW "DISAPPEAR." Thus, the teachings of Paul and the 43 EXPLICIT CLAIMS TO DEITY IN JOHN'S GOSPEL are BOTH in line with the teachings of Christ. As for your claim of redaction in the fourth Gospel, The simplistic quality which I call, "Fourth Grade Greek" belies any such rewriting. The character and tone of the language do not vary like those documents where multiple authors penned various sections. The character would seem to indicate that either:
1. The author had only a limited vocabulary and familiarity with the language.
OR
2. The author wanted the book to be so simple a child could easily understand it so its meaning would be unmistakable.
... It is quite possible that both of these are true.

As for the sayings which are not duplicated in the synoptics, remember, ALL 3 SYNOPTIC GOSPELS refer to instances where ONLY PETER, JAMES, AND JOHN WERE PRESENT with Jesus. That all of them mention this indicates it was most likely a common happening.

There WERE NO CHRISTIANS during Jesus lifetime. His ministry was TO THE JEWS LIVING UNDER THE LAW, NOT CHRISTIANS. Jesus taught the apostles a method and interpretation then, after his death and resurrection, the Spirit taught the apostles and guided them-and the others as the Spirit chose- as they recorded the scriptures which we read today.

Answer 3

The original canon of scripture, established by the Catholic Church, consisted of 73 books. Even the original King James of 1611 had the same 73 books but were soon pared down to the 66 we know. The Catholic version of scripture still has the 73.

As one previous answer tells of the 66 book Jewish canon of Christian scripture....well, its just plain wrong. There has never been a "Jewish Canon" of scripture intended for the Christian religion. They are confused with the simple King James Bible. The Jewish sacred writings actually make up what are the first 5 books of our Old Testament. These are known collectively as the Books of Moses, or the Pentateuch. It is these books that are on the Holy scrolls used by Jewish worshippers.

Many Protestants also believe the Catholics "added extra books" when in reality it is the Protestants who "removed existing books" from their bible later when they found things they did not like.

Interesting to note too, the difference in number of books only apply to the Old Testament. The Catholic Old Testament (NAB, Jerusalem, Douay) has 7 more books. The New Testament in a Protestant and Catholic Bible are exactly the same.

There are dozens and dozens of Apocryphal books written in the basic style of the other canonical books that claimed the same status. These are the "Hidden" books, or "lost" books of the bible.
In reality they are not lost or hidden. Everyone knows they exist. The fact is, the Church councils decreed that ALL Old Testament inspired scriptures were written prior to the Advent of Christ. ALL New Testament scripture was written no later than the end of the 1st century. These other "Books" were written by disciples that came after the original 12 Apostles in the centuries that followed, for about 200 or 300 more years. They make for interesting reading, but they are not part of the Bible.

Answer 4

Based on the Jewish "Canon" there were 66 books in the Christian Bible (39 books in the Old Testament and 3 x 9 in the New Testament.)

I think it was at the Council of Trent in the 1500's that the Roman Catholic Church changed to a different "Canon", based more on the Septuagint ... and thus changed from 66 books to 72 books.

Answer 5

You are refering to the Apocrypha.
These additional writings are Tobit, Judith, Wisdom (of Solomon), Ecclesiasticus (not Ecclesiastes), Baruch, 1 and 2 Maccabees, supplements to Esther, and three additions to Daniel: The Song of the Three Holy Children, Susanna and the Elders, and The Destruction of Bel and the Dragon. The exact time of their being written is uncertain, but the evidence points to a time no earlier than the second or third century B.C.E.

Answer 6

Here is an interesting site on the history of the Bible:
http://agards-bible-timeline.com/q2_bible_english.html
Another site from the American Bible Society which may be helpful to you is: http://www.americanbible.org/site/PageServer?pagename=bib_bible_history

Answer 7

Initially there weren't any books. Tha's a proven sciencific fact. Then, thousands of years ago, some bedouin wrote the first one, and the fad caught on.

Answer 8

You raised a very important Issue dear. Lots of Alterations started By Paul from original teachings of Jesus (pbuh).

Historical facts reveal that Jesus did not use the word Christianity. He and his followers used to worship in the temple which other Israelites used. The message of Jesus was to call people back to the religion of Abraham and Moses from which they had gone astray. After the disappearance of Jesus, Paul declared that belief in Jesus sufficed for salvation. The Jewish scholars of that time called the followers of prophet Jesus the misguided sect of Nazarene or Galilaens. In 43 C.E., when Paul and Barnabas went to Antioch to preach, they were ridiculed and were called Christians by the masses. The ones who were called Christians felt that if they are being given a name in reference to Jesus, there is nothing wrong in accepting it. A present day analogy may be the case of Muslims being called Mohammedans in the West and Muslims giving in to the name.

PAUL ALTERED THE MESSAGE

At the beginning, Paul was a staunch opponent of prophet Jesus and remained so for many years after his ascension. When he did join the followers of Jesus later on, he initiated many alterations in the teachings of Jesus in hopes of winning over the Gentiles (non-Jewish people). He introduced the following concepts into Christianity:

1. the concept of Jesus as son of God;
2. Jesus died on the cross to wash eternal sins of Adam's children through his blood; and
3. the Law of Torah was renounced. He eliminated all regulations concerning food and abrogated the injunctions of circumcision. The real followers of Jesus opposed these blatant misrepresentations of the message of Jesus. Their struggle to reject the notion of Divinity of Jesus continued for about two hundred years. Since these alterations were very appealing to the Gentiles, the true believers were unable to stop the misguidance. In 325 C.E., a council of Christian leaders met at Nicaea
and officiated Paul's beliefs as their religion. The Roman Empire declared Paul's religion as the religion of the State and all those books which denied these beliefs were banned. In 367 C.E., the State announced a list of books acceptable to it and fifteen years later, a council held under the presidency of Pope Damasius gave its approval to these books. At the end of the fifth century, Pope Galasius published a list of unauthorized books (Apocryphal) to further conform with Paul's religion of Christianity. Anyone can call God "Father" according to the Bible

"I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." (John 20:17 RSV 1952)

Jesus, at the end of his mission, made it clear that God is not only his father, but also the father of all, and God of all, and even his own God whom he worshipped throughout his earthly career.

“We cry, Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:15 KJV 1611) Here the writer is Paul and he made it clear that anyone can address God as "Father." Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: ". . . Do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. (Matthew 23:1,9 NIV 1984)

According to Matthew, Jesus taught everyone to call God 'Father'. He said to them: "This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name . . .' " (Matthew 6:9 NIV)

Jesus made it clear that he is not God

"Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone." (Mark 10:18)
A man had ran up and knelt before Jesus and called him "Good Teacher." Jesus used the opportunity to make it clear to people that they must not praise him more than a human being deserves to be praised.
Jesus depends on God for Authority: God depends on no one :

"I can do nothing of my own authority" (John 5:30)

"I do as the Father has commanded me." (John 14:31 RSV)

Needless to say, God does not receive commands from anyone.

"The words that I say to you I do not speak of my own authority." (John 14:10 RSV) "I do nothing of my own authority but speak thus as the Father has taught me." (John 8:28 RSV)

God has full authority, and full knowledge. He cannot be taught, but He teaches.

Jesus is not Equal to "The Father"

"The Father is greater than I." (John 14:28 RSV)

People forget this and they say that Jesus is equal to the Father. Whom should we believe--Jesus or the people?

Jesus Does Not Know Everything

Speaking of the Last Day, Jesus said:
"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only." (Matthew 24:36)


Did Jesus say everything John says he said?

John 14:9 Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
John 6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life.
John 8:12 I am the light of the world.
John 8:58 Before Abraham was, I am.
John 10:7 I am the door of the sheep.
John 11:25 I am the resurrection, and the life.
John 14:6 I am the way, the truth, and the life.
John 15:1 I am the true vine.

Christian scholars tell us that if Jesus had made all these fantastic claims about himself, the first three gospels would surely have recorded them. Mark was written around 70 C.E., followed by Matthew and Luke somewhere between 80-90 C.E. John, written around 100 C.E., was the last of the four canonized gospels. The Christian scholar James Dunn writes in his book The Evidence for Jesus:
"If they were part of the original words of Jesus himself, how could it be that only John picked them up and none of the others? Call it scholarly scepticism if you like, but I find it almost incredible that such sayings should have been neglected had they been known as a feature of Jesus' teaching. If the 'I ams' had been part of the original tradition, it is very hard indeed to explain why none of the other three evangelists made use of them." (The Evidence for Jesus, p. 36)

Similarly, the New American Bible tells us in its introduction, under the heading How to Read Your Bible:
"It is difficult to know whether the words or sayings attributed to Jesus are written exactly as he spoke them. . . . The Church was so firmly convinced that . . . Jesus . . . taught through her, that she expressed her teaching in the form of Jesus' sayings." (St. Joseph Medium Size Edition, p.23)
What we have in John, then is what people were saying about Jesus at the time John was written (about 70 years after Jesus was raised up). The writer of John simply expressed those ideas as if Jesus had said them. Rev. James Dunn says further in his book that, almost certainly, the writer of the fourth gospel "was not concerned with the sort of questions which trouble some Christians today -- Did Jesus actually say this? Did he use these precise words? and so on." (The Evidence for Jesus, p. 43)

Scholars have concluded that this gospel was originally written in a simple form. But this gospel was later on, as the New Jerusalem Bible says, "amplified and developed in several stages during the second half of the first century." (The New Jerusalem Bible: Introduction to John, p. 1742)
It says further:
"It is today freely accepted that the fourth Gospel underwent a complex development before it reached its final form." (p. 1742)

On a previous page, the same Bible says:
"It would seem that we have only the end-stage of a slow process that has brought together not only component parts of different ages, but also corrections, additions and sometimes even more than one revision of the same discourse." (The New Jerusalem Bible, p. 1739)

The New American Bible says that most scholars "have come to the conclusion that the inconsistencies were probably produced by subsequent editing in which homogeneous materials were added to a shorter original." (The New American Bible, Revised New Testament, p. 143)