Who created the Bible?

[Tommy O Riley]

who said what wud b put in and not put in? and r more ever goin to be added or taken away?  

 

thanks, tommy.

[AlanLamb0986]

God wrote the Bible by the hand of man. Most people say that this is contradictory, but it's really not. One of my favorite books is 'the Autobiography of Malcolm X.' It was penned by Alex Haley, but because the words were dictated by Malcolm it's recorded as an autobiography. God the Spirit, third person in the Trinity, has always been man's dictator, in the sense that He gives the words to man to write the Bible. The Spirit enables man to testify coherently, so that the Bible is sound, persuasive, logical, and complete. Scripture is just like the Prophets, in the sense that the latter Prophets couldn't reveal something that contradicted a revelation given to an earlier Prophet. This is how we know that the Bible is theologically sound, because it it Theologically consistant. It's also why we removed the Apocrypha from the Bible- it contradicted the Law of God, encouraged things that God considered blasphemous and so on.  If you're asking about who held the pen, then there were multiple pen holders. The Bible makes it clear that the words were God's own:

 

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work" 2 Timothy 3:16-17

 

In Psalm 33:6, it says that "The LORD merely spoke, and the heavens were created. He breathed the word, and all the stars were born." 

 

Of course that doesn't men God exhaled and whoosh, we have stars. God commanded the existence of stars with words, but I'm sure you get the point. So when we say that scriptures were 'breathed out by God', we mean that the Holy Spirit gave man/enabled man to write the word of God as precisely as if it was God holding the pen Himself. There won't be more books added. The Bible is the major record of God's relationship with man, to bear witness to events, and remind the world of what happened. The next major even between man and God will be the second coming of Jesus. It will be witnessed worldwide, and after that the sinners will be destroyed, and the righteous will see God face to face. There will be no-one to witness to, because we will all be witnesses. So I don't think more books will be added. Scripture definitely won't be removed from the Bible! The only scripture removed from the Bible was the Apocrypha, but that was added long after the Bible was completed, in the year 1546. So no, I don't think any genuine, God breathed scripture will be added to the Bible.

 

I'll list them for you

 

Genesis Moses ? - 1445 B.C.

Exodus Moses 1445 - 1405 B.C.

Leviticus Moses 1405 B.C.

Numbers Moses 1444 - 1405 B.C.

Deuteronomy Moses 1405 B.C.

Joshua Joshua 1404-1390 B.C.

Judges Samuel 1374-1129 B.C.

Ruth Samuel 1150? B.C.

First Samuel Samuel 1043-1011 B.C.

Second Samuel Ezra? 1011-1004 B.C.

First Kings Jeremiah? 971-852 B.C.

Second Kings Jeremiah? 852-587 B.C.

First Chronicles Ezra? 450 - 425 B.C.

Second Chronicles Ezra? 450 - 425 B.C.

Ezra Ezra 538-520 B.C.

Nehemiah Nehemiah 445 - 425 B.C.

Esther Mordecai? 465 B.C.

Job Job? ??

Psalms David 1000? B.C. Sons of Korah wrote Psalms 42, 44-49, 84-85, 87; Asaph wrote Psalms 50, 73-83; Heman wrote Psalm 88; Ethan wrote Psalm 89; Hezekiah wrote Psalms 120-123, 128-130, 132, 134-136; Solomon wrote Psalms 72, 127.

Proverbs Solomon wrote 1-29
Agur wrote 30
Lemuel wrote 31 950 - 700 B.C.

Ecclesiastes Solomon 935 B.C.

Song of Solomon Solomon 965 B.C.

Isaiah Isaiah 740 - 680 B.C.

Jeremiah Jeremiah 627 - 585 B.C.

Lamentations Jeremiah 586 B.C.

Ezekiel Ezekiel 593-560 B.C.

Daniel Daniel 605-536 B.C.

Hosea Hosea 710 B.C.

Joel Joel 835 B.C.

Amos Amos 755 B.C.

Obadiah Obadiah 840 or 586 B.C.

Jonah Jonah 760 B.C.

Micah Micah 700 B.C.

Nahum Nahum 663 - 612 B.C.

Habakkuk Habakkuk 607 B.C.

Zephaniah Zephaniah 625 B.C.

Haggai Haggai 520 B.C.

Zechariah Zechariah 520 - 518 B.C.

Malachi Malachi 450 - 600 B.C.

 

New Testament Book Author Date Written (A.D)

Matthew Matthew 60's

Mark John Mark late 50's

early 60's

Luke Luke 60

John John late 80's
early 90's

Acts Luke 61

Romans Paul 55

1 Corinthians Paul 54

2 Corinthians Paul 55

Galatians Paul 49

Ephesians Paul 60

Philippians Paul 61

Colossians Paul 60

1 Thessalonians Paul 50 - 51

2 Thessalonians Paul 50 - 51

1 Timothy Paul 62

2 Timothy Paul 63

Titus Paul 62

Philemon Paul 60

Hebrews (Paul, Apollos, Barnabas...?) 60's

James James, half brother of Jesus 40's or 50's

1 Peter Peter 63

2 Peter Peter 63 - 64

1 John John late 80's
early 90's

2 John John late 80's
early 90's

3 John John late 80's
early 90's

Jude Jude, half brother of Jesus 60's or 70's

Revelation John late 80's
early 90's

Edited January 15, 2014 by AlanLamb0986

[hardy]

I take the question to mean who picked the books that is the anthology?

 

The early church over a 400 year period.

[RustyAngeL]

Revelation 22:18-19 talks about adding to and taking from this book. It says if anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues of this book, and to those who take away from the things of this book God will take away his name from the Book Of Life.  God's word is complete and needs nothing more or nothing less.  God spoke to man and they wrote the words but every word in scripture was spoken by God through man.

[Willa]

Since the books of the New Testament were written to different churches and even different people, and then circulated to nearby churches, it took a little time to for some books from the east to be recognized in the west, for instance. It was in the latter 300s that they all started getting together to arrive at such agreements. In the 100s, after the apostles had died, false gospels and letters were written claiming to be authentic but had the names of the authors forged. The people who studied under the apostles were still alive and were able to authenticate those that were truly from the apostles. But it is as previously said, that there is consistancy in those that were inspired by God. Most people who are filled with the Holy Spirit and who are very familiar with the true gospels can easily spot false ones, which don't reveal God's character. There is a curse on those who change the Gospel so no true book has been written after the year 100 or the death of the Apostles, nor can there be anything added.

Some cults have done that, such as the Muslims and the Mormons, and the Jehovah Witnesses have changed words in the Bible to fit their beliefs as did the ancient Gnostic cults which wrote so many false gospels as well. That is one way to tell that they are false religions.

[Guest DRS81]

It's amazing how all those prophets of the 66 books wrote in different cities, towns,

had different experiences and still is perfect in word, timelines and everything else.

It amazes me, but that's God...

yup the Holy Spirit was speaking in these men, and the Holy Spirit comes from the same God, the Father.

It's beautiful.

[RobertStone]

The Bible was created by early Christian people taking some of the writings of the ancients and compiling them into one record. Throughout ancient times the people of God kept historical and spiritual records of their lives and their dealings with God. There were many of these records and they were passed down throughout the generations. Some were kept well, others were destroyed or lost. At the time of Christ, his disciples and apostles also recorded what happened with them. It wasn't until the 3rd and 4th century AD that people wanted these all together and so the emperor of Rome's scholars started putting something together. They had to deal with issues such as incomplete texts, copies that didn't agree with each other, writings that they were not sure were authentic, etc.. So they chose texts that could be verified, they chose texts based on their religious beliefs at the time, and they chose some that furthered their political ideology as well. So, some texts were chosen, some were discarded, and we have what we have today. We have a great record that keeps the faith alive, but I do hope someday we will have more. Actually, there is more, it just is not included in the Bible. Do a search for lost books of the Bible and you will see the many that are out there.

[RobertStone]

I'm confused. Do you mean to say that the book of Revelation talks about not adding to or taking away from the book of Revelation, or do you mean it is saying not to add or take away from the Bible?

[AlanLamb0986]

I'm confused. Do you mean to say that the book of Revelation talks about not adding to or taking away from the book of Revelation, or do you mean it is saying not to add or take away from the Bible?

The book of Revelation is speaking specifically of that book. Most translations say

 

"For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:" Revelation 22:18

 

Don't forget that the canon of the Bible hadn't been compiled at this point, so there was no way that John would warn those who read it not to add to it. Otherwise we'd all own copies of scrolls instead of a complete book. 'Bible' is plural, meaning 'books', not 'book.' John spoke only of not adding to one particular book, not the whole canon of the Bible.  But I don't think that it's coincidence that John warned against not adding, and the Church decided that Revelation was to be the last book in the Bible, do you?. 

 

The Old Testament also warned several times against adding to it.

 

"Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar." Proverbs 35:6

 

So how comes we have books written after Proverbs? Each book of the Bible was exactly that- an individual book. Each book compliments the next, reveals prophecy written in previous books, and doesn't contradict an earlier book. So when God says 'do not add words', He means don't add words to the individual books of the Bible.  If people write 66 books all guided by the Holy Spirit, dictated so to speak, by God, then they are perfect.

Genesis- written by Moses, guided by the Holy Spirit= perfect

Judges- written by Samuel, guided by the Holy Spirit= perfect

etc, etc, etc

 

If man goes around adding willy nilly, then that's when we get contradictions. That's why we had 66 perfect books in the Bible, then the Catholic Church decided to add the Apocrypha.  And what happened? Well, we ended up with books that encouraged magic (Tobit 6:5),  offering of money for the sins of the dead (2 Maccabees 12:43-45), and forgiveness of sins by almsgiving (Tobit 4:11; 12:9).So you see, when man (the Catholic Church) added stuff that wasn't God breathed, we had contradictions and the allowance of pure blasphemies.

 

Also, let's reason logically for a second. God said to man 'Do not add to my word.' But God has no issue adding to the Bible, it's His word, He can add to it. God's issue was only with MAN adding to it.

[Fez]

 

I'm confused. Do you mean to say that the book of Revelation talks about not adding to or taking away from the book of Revelation, or do you mean it is saying not to add or take away from the Bible?

The book of Revelation is speaking specifically of that book. Most translations say

 

"For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:" Revelation 22:18

 

Don't forget that the canon of the Bible hadn't been compiled at this point, so there was no way that John would warn those who read it not to add to it. Otherwise we'd all own copies of scrolls instead of a complete book. 'Bible' is plural, meaning 'books', not 'book.' John spoke only of not adding to one particular book, not the whole canon of the Bible.  But I don't think that it's coincidence that John warned against not adding, and the Church decided that Revelation was to be the last book in the Bible, do you?. 

 

The Old Testament also warned several times against adding to it.

 

"Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar." Proverbs 35:6

 

So how comes we have books written after Proverbs? Each book of the Bible was exactly that- an individual book. Each book compliments the next, reveals prophecy written in previous books, and doesn't contradict an earlier book. So when God says 'do not add words', He means don't add words to the individual books of the Bible.  If people write 66 books all guided by the Holy Spirit, dictated so to speak, by God, then they are perfect.

Genesis- written by Moses, guided by the Holy Spirit= perfect

Judges- written by Samuel, guided by the Holy Spirit= perfect

etc, etc, etc

 

If man goes around adding willy nilly, then that's when we get contradictions. That's why we had 66 perfect books in the Bible, then the Catholic Church decided to add the Apocrypha.  And what happened? Well, we ended up with books that encouraged magic (Tobit 6:5),  offering of money for the sins of the dead (2 Maccabees 12:43-45), and forgiveness of sins by almsgiving (Tobit 4:11; 12:9).So you see, when man (the Catholic Church) added stuff that wasn't God breathed, we had contradictions and the allowance of pure blasphemies.

 

Also, let's reason logically for a second. God said to man 'Do not add to my word.' But God has no issue adding to the Bible, it's His word, He can add to it. God's issue was only with MAN adding to it.

 

Don't forget that the canon of the Bible hadn't been compiled at this point, so there was no way that John would warn those who read it not to add to it. 

 

Which makes perfect sense to me.