How were the books in the Bible picked?

Question

Like Luke, Matthew, John, and Mark (um i think that's right).
i heard there were other.
who said those should be included

Answer 1

The Old Testament came about over a couple thousand years as the stories were passed down orally. Most of the stories had their origins in previous myths.

The New Testament was made official during the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD under Constantine who was really the person who gave Christianity its popularity. The books were picked because the Bishops back then thought 4 was a good number. There have been changes to the Bible up to the 15th century, and different Christian sects still recognize different books as being part of the official canon. There is evidence of much editing, too, such as the book of Mark which has at least three endings.

The left over books were called Apocrypha.

Answer 2

There is a Hebrew Bible or Christian Bible (which contains extra books found in the Greek Septuagint) The hebrew bible hinges around the Old Testament which roughly translates to 3 parts The Teaching/Law, Prophets and Writing. It has it's origins (as far as I can gather) in oral traditions as the Hebrew language was originally oral only! It has gone through Hellenistic and various translations since. However those are the old testament origins, very roughly. The Chrisitan Bible just varies its emphasis in the old testament looking at slightly differing translations and some canons recognising extra books!
The first four books of the New Testament are the Gospels, which tell of the life and teachings of Jesus. The four canonical books are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The first three are often called synoptic because of the amount of material they share. The rest of the New Testament consists of a sequel to Luke's Gospel, the Acts of the Apostles, which describes the very early history of the Church, a collection of letters from early Christian leaders to congregations or individuals, the Pauline and General epistles, and the apocalyptic Book of Revelation
This really came into being from the Chrisitan faith adopting Christ as it's central figure and the texts were surviving accounts put together by the founders of Chrisitanity in the 1st century AD. It also has its its roots in Judaism, thus similarities with the Torah, etc. However it branches away from more traditional Judaism as some of the teaching of Christ were not accepted by traditional Jews!

Answer 3

I assume you mean the "modern" bible which includes the New Testament tacked on to the Jewish bible.

Essentially by the early 4th century, various people all over the Roman Empire were writing different books about Jesus and his teachings. These included the 4 current gospels in several different versions, as well as many other gospels purported to be written by other disciples, and various letters from christians with different points of view on who or what Jesus or his teachings meant. The most prolific letter writer was Paul, and he had a definite point of view which influenced the early church. Many of his letters are speaking against various other versions of christianity that were in competition with Paul's interprestation for popularity. It is generally agreed that many of the letters attributed to Paul are actually by unknown authors who were familiar with, and wrote in his style. This was common practice at the time.

At the First Council of Nicea in 325, (yes there was a second one in 787 ) Constantine ordered a group of bishops to write a catholic bible, (catholic in the sense of accessible and available to all) and decide on what was orthodoxy. There was basically a compromise among the factions. They agreed to one canon of beliefs and renounced their previous beliefs. Books that reflected various unorthodox versions of Christianity , of which there were MANY, were thrown out and the first version of what we now call the Bible was written, with a lot of redacting to try and make the contradictions more harmonius. Then followed a bloody purge of 'heretics' and 'heretical writings' sanctioned by Constantine, and what then became the Catholic Church.

None of the 4 gospels included was written by anyone who had met Jesus directly, thought they purport to, nor do we know the real names of the authors . (This assumes Jesus actually existed, of course, which is another fascinating question)

Mark was written first, at least 1-2 generations after the putative events. It does not include all the "familiar" details of Jesus birth and resurrection...it is a much shorter and simpler version of the Jesus myth. Matthew and Luke largely copied different versions of Mark almost word for word. The order of some things was changed to make more sense, and some new miracle stories and birth and resurrection stories were added. They both then added "sayings of Jesus" from what is known as the Q document, and sometimes wrote little stories around the sayings. John was the last written, and really sticks out as different in tone, and speaks more of a supernatural Jesus who is the spiritual intercessory to God, than a recently living man....it is surprising it was actually included, in retrospect.

That is MY summary, if you want more detail I have posted a few good links. Also books by Randal Helms (" Who Wrote the Gospels?" and "Gospel Fictions" )and Tim Callahan ("Secret Origins of the Bible")are highly recommended to get an introduction to the topic.

Answer 4

The Council of Niccea in about 320 AD hand picked what the current make up of the bible is. The council consisted of Emporer Constanstine and his chosen religious leaders of the time. And yes, it is said, that many 'parts' were excluded because they did not convey the meanings that the religious leaders of the time wanted to portray. So the chistian idea that the bible was somehow 'God inspired' is ridiculous at best.

Answer 5

New Testament books had to be written by an apostle or been approved by an apostle
they had to be accepter already by the early church
there was a church council confirming the collection of books, but the church already had accepted them

the Old testament books had to be written by a prophet or approved by a prophet and then eventually by a coucil of Jewish elders
as a collection

Answer 6

A group of church leaders got together and asked which texts were being used the most by the churches of their time. These scriptures were compiled as the bible.

They were individually selected for having the most evidence of being true, like multiple copies that agree and elements of truth that compare with one another. Collectively, the books were simply the ones most used as voted by a group of church leaders from each known region.

Answer 7

At key points in early church history, church leaders met and tested the writings to determine which should be considered truly authoritative.

These books came to be called canonical, from the Greek word for a measuring stick (kanon); they later became what we today know as the Bible.

Answer 8

So designated to distinguish them from the pre-Christian Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Scriptures. It is a common practice to call this latter portion of the Bible the New Testament.—See BIBLE.

There are 27 canonical books that make up the Christian Greek Scriptures. After the death of Jesus, these books were penned under inspiration by eight men: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, James, Peter, and Jude. Not all these men followed Jesus during his ministry; in fact, as far as is known for a certainty, only the three apostles Matthew, John, and Peter did. Mark may have been the “certain young man” who followed Jesus at a distance after he was arrested. (Mr 14:51, 52) At Pentecost, James, Jude, and perhaps Mark were present along with them. (Ac 1:13-15; 2:1) Later the apostle Paul was converted. All these writers became closely associated with the governing body of the first-century congregation in Jerusalem.

In what language were these books originally written? With the exception of the book of Matthew, which was written originally in Hebrew and later translated into Greek, all the other 26 books were written in the common Greek, Koine, the international language of the day.—See MATTHEW, GOOD NEWS ACCORDING TO.

Nor was it a mere coincidence that these inspired Christian men, all of them natural-born Jews (Ro 3:1, 2), had their writings sent out in Greek. These were not private communications but were intended for wide circulation, to be read and studied by all the congregations. (Col 4:16; 1Th 5:27; 2Pe 3:15, 16) The writers were under divine command to spread this good news and teaching to the most distant part of the earth, to places where Hebrew and Latin were not read. (Mt 28:19; Ac 1:8) Even in territories closer to Palestine, there was an increasingly large number of non-Jews coming into the local congregations. Also, when quoting the Hebrew Scriptures, these writers frequently used the Greek Septuagint.

The books of the Christian Greek Scriptures, listed according to the approximate year (C.E.) written, are as follows: Matthew, 41; 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 50 and 51; Galatians, 50-52; 1 and 2 Corinthians, 55; Romans, 56; Luke, 56-58; Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, Philippians, 60-61; Hebrews, Acts, 61; James, before 62; Mark, 60-65; 1 Timothy, Titus, 61-64; 1 Peter, 62-64; 2 Peter, 64; 2 Timothy, Jude, 65; Revelation, 96; John and 1, 2, 3 John, 98. This period of less than 60 years is quite a contrast with the nearly 11 centuries taken to complete the Hebrew Scriptures.

When it came time to combine these books of the Christian Greek Scriptures into a single volume, they were not assembled in the order in which they were written. Rather, they were put in a logical arrangement according to subject matter, which can be classified as (1) the five historical books of the Gospels and Acts, (2) the 21 letters, and (3) the Revelation.

The four Gospels (the word “Gospel” meaning “good news”), written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, give us a fourfold historical account of the life and activity of Jesus, each account being an independent report. The first three of these are sometimes called synoptic (meaning “like view”) because they have a relatively similar approach to Jesus’ ministry in comparison with John’s Gospel, yet each reflects individualism on the part of the writer. John’s Gospel fills in certain details omitted by the other three. The Acts of Apostles then follows in logical sequence, carrying the history of the Christian congregation as established at Pentecost on down nearly 30 years after the death of Jesus.

The congregation’s inner workings, its problems, its public preaching, its other privileges, and its hopes are dealt with in the 21 letters that follow the historical section. Paul is named as the writer of 13 letters. The letter to the Hebrews is also generally ascribed to Paul. Following these writings is a group of letters, most of which were written to all the congregations in general, by James, Peter, John, and Jude. Lastly, as a delightful climax to the whole Bible, is the Revelation with its preview of profound events of the future.

Answer 9

A lot of good Christians decided that way at Nicea; it will be wonderful if we'll try to read and learn from them to live beautifully not like we live! The first Christians were Christians indeed...not like us!

Important is the fact that they resisted until now, I thank God for that.

Answer 10

Councils. There were many religious councils convened, not just the famous one everyone refers to (Council of Nicea), and ALL the books were researched, the autors were scrutinized, as well as the books, to make sure they were all in accordance with one another.