Which came first, the Bible or the Church?

Answer 1

Since the Church is a new thing, based and founded on Christ's new covenant, and subject to none of the old laws or statutes, the new covenant church predates and supercedes the Bible, and it was the church which quite rightly decided exactly which of the sacred scriptures were valid and true.

The Church is not subject to scripture ... only to God ... although it recognizes the divine, inspired, and inerrant nature of scripture, and constantly celebrates God's written word.

Jesus founded only one Church, not the Bible. He gave power and authority to his Church ... not the Bible.

The Church knows this from Tradition, because it was there with Christ and the apostles, when it happened.

The new testament of the Bible was only set to writing later, when the Holy Spirit, who constantly guides the Church, directed the sacred writers to do so. The old testament was accepted for the same reason.

The real question is, how could the Holy Spirit change his mind about the canon of sacred scripture, guiding the Church Jesus personally founded to declare one canon of scripture, and then, 1200 years later, guide the Protestant churches in another, quite different direction?

Heb 13:7 Remember your prelates who have spoken the word of God to you: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation,
Heb 13:8 Jesus Christ, yesterday, and today: and the same for ever.

Answer 2

Well, since the "Church" put together the Bible, the easy answer is the Church came first. However, the books which make up the Bible were written either before (what we call Old Testament)or concurrently with (New Testament) the forming of the Church. So I suppose the true answer is, pick 'em.

Answer 3

The Old Testament of The Holy Bible was written long before the church came on the scene. Jesus Christ started and introduced the Church mainly through Paul the Apostle. Most of he New Testament of The Holy Bible was written at about the time the church started.

Answer 4

The term "church" merely refers to a gathering of people for the purpose of spiritual worship or instruction. You will find reference to church in the New Testament part of the Bible. These were nothing like the churches that we are used to today. There was no such thing as an organized religion and the churches were usually house churches, that is a small group of people who gathered into each other' s homes.

The Apostle Paul asks that his letters be distributed among some of these churches in his letters.So the church, or concept of church definitely came before the Bible.

A quick word of "church" search on http://www.biblegateway.com till help clarify this.

Answer 5

The Church

The Church compiled the Bible

Answer 6

If you mean the Bible as the canon we presently possess, and the Church as the institutional bodies which presently exist, the answer is neither.

The early Christian community was not "the Church." It had no necessarily direct continuity with the Hellenistic communities formed as Christianity spread throughout the Empire. And further, the proto-orthodox party which eventually won out at Nicea, and enlisted the aid of the state in suppressing its competitors, was only one of many equally primordial Christian factions. We have the "churches" we now have, with their broadly similar doctrines, thanks to Constantine, not to Jesus Christ.

The Bible was selected and canonized first by the proto-orthodox party, and then by the state-sponsored Church. Scriptures they disagreed with were destroyed (though not so thoroughly that all traces were destroyed -- thank God for Nag Hammadi). The Church functionally created the Bible.

Judging from your name, I'd guess you're supporting some kind of Orthodox or Catholic ecclesiolatry, as against the Bibliolatry of your Protestant brethren. But guess what: you're both wrong.

Answer 7

The Church

Answer 8

Anyone who has read the Bible would know that the writings in the Bible came first. The Old Testament is actually Hebrew writings that pre-dated any Christian church by thousands of years.

Answer 9

Clearly the Church predates the Bible. The earliest book in the New Testament, First Corinthians, was not written until the 50's.
The fact that the Church is first, petty much dismisses the "sola scriptura" position since there were Christians before there was Scripture.

Answer 10

The Church.

The Bible, as we know it, wasn't written down and compiled until The Council of Nicea in 325AD. During this council, the leaders of the Catholic Church ordered the destruction of various accounts of Christ's life (a few copies still exist, now known as the Dead Sea Scrolls) and choose what books would be in the Bible.