The Bible is the word of God not an account passed down over tousands of years. But I always wonder how we know that the word of God was written down correctly...
The collection of 66 Bible books was assembled during the early centuries of the church with the help of leaders like Athanasius (circa 296-373 A.D.) and church councils.
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One of the evidences for the excellency of the Bible is its unity.
The Bible is composed of sixty-six books, thirty-nine in the Old Testament and twenty-seven in the New. Yet those sixty-six books form a cohesive whole, one dynamic message of God’s dealings with humankind.
Among the first books written were what we know as the Books of Moses or the Law (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), composed around 1400 B.C.. The Book of Job may have been written even earlier.
The last of the New Testament was written around A.D. 90, and includes the writings of the apostle John (the Gospel of John, 1, 2, and 3 John, and Revelation).
These sixty-six books were composed by more than forty authors, from a variety of educational and cultural backgrounds. Joshua was a general; Daniel was a prime minister; Nehemiah was a court servant; Amos was a shepherd; Luke, a physician; Paul, a rabbi; and Peter and John were fishermen.
The books of the Bible were composed in a variety of places and cultures. Ezekiel wrote his work while a captive in Babylon. Paul wrote some of his letters from prison in Rome. David wrote some of his psalms while he was a fugitive in the wilderness. Jeremiah wrote while he was in a dungeon. The books were written on three continents: Africa, Asia, and Europe.
The Bible was composed in three languages. The Old Testament was written mostly in Hebrew, with a small part in Aramaic. The New Testament was in the common Greek of the day, Koine.
The unity of the teachings of the Bible is consistent from the beginning to the end. These teachings include the following:
• man—his origin, fall, redemption, earthly and eternal destiny
• sin—its beginning, consequences, punishment in this world and the next
• Satan—the instigator of evil, the liar and murderer from the beginning, his war against God and against believers, his final judgment
• Israel—her social and political development, idolatry, preservation, and final destiny
• the church—her history, from her establishment to her glorification
• salvation—its provision, according to the divine plan
• repentance, faith, the life of the believer, prayer, the service of God, etc.—subjects for infinitely rewarding study, carrying us through the entire Bible
• the Holy Spirit—present at creation, pronouncing the last prayer of the Bible (Genesis 1:2; Revelation 22:17)
• God—forever the same, in his sovereignty, his eternality, his spirituality, his omnipotence, his uniqueness, his omniscience, his omnipresence, his holiness, his righteousness, and his love
• Jesus Christ—the person par excellence of all the written revelation
Adapted from: McDowell, J. (1997). Josh McDowell’s handbook on apologetics (electronic ed.). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.