The History of the Bible

Three MESSAGES

  • Across the history, God revealed His divine Message to His messengers from Adam to Prophet Muhammad.

    However, the scriptures of the earlier messengers, such as Noah and Abraham, were completely lost. Currently, we have three divine books: the Torah, the Bible and the Quran.

    If they were truly revealed by God, then it is reasonable to believe there is a link between these three books because they were sent by one God.

    In addition, it is logical to ask: Why do we have three books? Why are they not combined in one book that contains God's Message to humanity?
    Were any parts of these divine books partially or completely lost over history?
    What about alterations, additions or changes to the pure Message of God?
    Were any of these things possible to happen during the last 3000 years?
    The answer may surprise many readers when we look at the history of writing and assembling the Torah, the Bible and the Quran.

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    Is there a final Testament that combines all past revelations and divine books?

    he History of the Bible
    (the Old and New Testaments)
    As Timothy 3:16 indicated, the Bible was “breathed out” by God, "Scripture is given by inspiration of God".
    According to Christian sources, God inspired the human authors of the Bible so that, while using their own writing styles and personalities, they would record the commandments and meanings intended by God.
    According to Christian sources, God inspired the human authors of the Bible so that, while using their own writing styles and personalities, they would record the commandments and meanings intended by God.

    The Old and New Testaments were written by approximately 40 men of diverse backgrounds over 1500 years, starting from Moses and ending with John the disciple of Jesus.
    Solomon is credited with writing or inspiring much of Bible’s wisdom literature (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, etc.).


    Other authors of the Bible were from all walks of life. Isaiah was a prophet, Ezra was a priest, Matthew was a taxcollector, John was a fisherman, Paul was a tentmaker and Luke was a physician.
    Those who wrote the Bible lived at different times, some separated by hundreds of years. In many
    They served under different governments, and lived within diffrent cultures and systems of philosophy.

    During the period of its composition, almost the entire Old Testament was written in Hebrew.
    A few chapters in the prophecies of Ezra and Daniel were written in Aramaic, which became the common language spoken in Jesus' time.


    There was a 500-year period when no writings were contributed to the Bible. This is the period between the testaments, when Alexander the Great conquered much of the world and the Greek language was introduced to the Hebrews.
    The New Testament, however, was written in Greek, which was the language of scholarship during the years of the composition of the New Testament from 50 to 100 CE.

    The authors of the New Testament did not use classical Greek language, rather they used everyday common language, which was criticized by classical authors such as Plato and Aristotle.
    Two of the gospel biographies were written by the apostles Matthew and John, who knew Jesus personally and traveled with him for over three years.


    The other two books were written by Mark and Luke, who were close associates of the apostles.
    Other New Testament writers had immediate access to Jesus as well: James and Jude were half-brothers of Jesus who initially did not believe in him. Peter was one of the 12 apostles.
    Paul started out as a violent opponent of Christianity and a member of the religious ruling class, but he became a keen follower of Jesus.

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    THE STRUCTURE OF THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE

    The Christian Bible is composed of the "Old Testament" and the "New Testament".
    There are 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament.
    The total number of books in the Bible is 66 books (1,189 chapters with 31,173 verses).
    The 39 books of the Old Testament (or Hebrew Scriptures) include the five scrolls of Moses (Torah), twelve books of history, five books of poetry, five books of major prophets and twelve books of minor prophets.

    The 27 books of the New Testament include five books of history (Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Acts), letters of Paul, eight general letters and one book of revelation or prophecy.


    The New Testament consists of stories, teachings and letters that were circulated among the first Christian churches.
    The gospel of Matthew is popularly attributed to Matthew the Levi or tax collector.
    Mark’s gospel is thought to record the memoirs of Peter.

    The gospel of John was written by one of Jesus closest disciples, focusing on the Messiah's life.
    The gospel of Luke and book of Acts were written by Luke, who was also a traveling companion to the apostle Paul. They covered the life of Jesus and the early church.

    THE STRUCTURE OF THE HEBREW BIBLE

    The current Jewish Bible, or "Tanakh," is composed of three main groups of books: "Torah", "Prophets", and "Writings".
    The Torah contains the laws of God that were revealed to Moses and recorded in the first five books of the Hebrew scriptures (called the Pentateuch, literally meaning "five scrolls").
    It also includes the covenant that binds the Jewish people to God. Although many scholars agree that the five scrolls were initiated by Moses, they believe the Torah could not have been written by a single person – because of differences in style, language and some contradictions in the text.

    The second part of the Jewish bible called "Prophets" includes books from Joshua through Malachi.
    The third and last part "Writings" includes books from Psalms through Chronicles. They are of later origin and are most varied, containing works of poetry, "wisdom literature," as well as some historical material.
    The order of the Christian "Old Testament" follows a different logic. For example the book of Ruth, although written much later, comes right after Judges, since the events it describes take place during the same period. But the most significant change is in how the books are ordered at the end.