1. THE RULE OF BOOKS
THE FORMATION OF THE BIBLE
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2. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE BIBLE
• A Roman Governor had a Christian brought
before him, and found that he possessed a copy
of the four gospels. He immediately asked where
it came from and found that the scriptures were
in circulation even in the fourth century.
• Today we find it almost impossible to think of the
Christian faith without the Bible. It is the
foundation of Christianity’s evangelism, its
teaching, its worship, and its morality. The
constant test of our teaching today is based upon
this phrase, “what does the Bible say.”
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3. THE BASICS OF THE BIBLE
• The word Bible means= book. Jerome the fourth
century translator called the “the Divine Library”.
The word shifted from Biblia meaning books, to
Bible.
• Today we find the Scriptures grouped under Old
Testament and New Testament. In the ancient
world a “testament” or more often a covenant
was the term for a special relationship between
two parties.
• The term “canon” means measuring rod, ruler. It
was the standard used in measuring something
straight. John 10:35; Luke 24:44
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4. TENETS OF THE BIBLE
• Christians of the fourth century went through
great lengths to make the Old Testament apply to
the modern church. They soon developed a
method of interpretation called the
allegorical, which found Jesus throughout the Old
Testament.
• The Scriptures have both a literal meaning and a
spiritual meaning which is hidden from most
readers. Origen was a master at finding the
Christian message just below the surface of the
Old Testament. 4

5. THE QUESTION OF THE APOCRYPHA
• A LIST OF 12-15 BOOKS THAT THE ROMAN
CATHOLIC CHURCH RECOGNIZES AS
CANONICAL, AND PROTESTANTS DO NOT.
• PROTESTANT CHRISTIANS HAD 39 BOOKS IN
THE OLD TESTAMENT, SIMILAR TO THE JEWS.
JESUS SPOKE OF THESE BOOKS, LAW OF
MOSES, PROPHETS, AND THE PSALMS. Luke
24:44
• THE TERM SEPTUAGINT MEANS THE GREEK
TRANSLATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
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6. THE FOUR GOSPELS
• Churches also relied on accounts about the life of
Jesus. The first Gospels were not written before
A.D 60 or 70 but their content were partly in
written form before this.
• How were the 27 books of the New Testament
chosen? Some internal characteristics of the
developing life of churches, others were external.
1. Self evidencing quality. 2. They carry
uniqueness on their face. 3. They exercise power
over the lives of men. 4. Ties to the Apostles.
Colossians 4:16; Matthew 10:40
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7. LIST OF CHRISTIAN BOOKS
• The church had to complete the New Testament
because of marcion and his teachings. So they
chose the letters of the Apostles and to link all
the letters to the four Gospels by using the book
of Acts as the bridge.
• By retaining the Old Testament the church scored
two important points. 1. Faith for the Christian
would have to reconcile both the wrath and love
of God. 2. The Old Testament shows the
importance of the history of Christianity.
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8. MARCION TEACHINGS
• About A.D 140 a wealthy ship-owner marcion
from Sinop e traveled to Rome. He fell under the
spell of Gnostic teachings. Who believed that the
God of the Old Testament was different from the
God of the New Testament. The Old Testament
God Jews only and was sheer justice. New
Testament God love and grace.
• He rejected the Old Testament completely, and
any New Testament scripture that favored the
Jews. Marcionite churches appeared, and had
influence in the east for many decades.
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9. FRESH VOICES FROM GOD
• In A.D 156-172 Montanus appeared on the
church scene, with his two prophetesses Prisca
and Maximilla. They went around prophesying of
the speedy second coming of Christ.
• Montanus taught a doctrine of new age of the
Spirit. The Old Testament had passed, Christian
period centering on Jesus had ended.
• The church did not believe the Spirit had quite
speaking. The difference was that in the first days
The Holy Spirit had enabled men to write the
sacred books of the Christian faith; in later days
the Holy Spirit enabled men to understand,
interpret, and to apply what had been written.
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10. VOCABULARY OF THE BIBLE
• Septuagint=Greek Old Testament. Translation
from the 70 interpreters. Ptolemy had this done
for the Jews that spoke Koine Greek and not
Hebrew.
• The Talmud=teach, study. Rabbinic Judaism
considered second to the torah. Has two
components, the mishnah (oral law), gemara
(other subjects) expounds broadly Hebrew Bible.
63 tractates, 6,200 pages long. Opinions of
thousands of rabbis on a variety of subjects.
Law, ethics, philosophy, customs, history, theolog
y, lore, history, and many other subjects.
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11. VOCABULARY OF THE BIBLE CONT.
• DEAD SEA SCROLLS=are a collection of 972 texts
discovered between 1946 and 1956 that consist
of biblical manuscripts from what is now known
as the Hebrew Bible and extra-biblical documents
found on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea,
from which they derive their name.
• TORAH=(teaching) the first five books of the
Hebrew Bible.
• TANAKH=is the name used in Judaism for the
canon of the Hebrew Bible. Also know as the
Masoretic Text.
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12. VOCABULARY OF THE BIBLE CONT.
• LATIN VULGATE=the late fourth century Latin
translation of the Bible.
• PENTATEUCH=The first five books of the Jewish
and Christian scripture called the Torah.
• MASORETIC TEXT=Is the authoritative Hebrew
text of the Jewish Bible. It also defines letter text
of these biblical books. With their vocalization
(vowels) and accentuation (accents) known as the
Masorah.
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13. VOCABULARY OF THE BIBLE CONT.
• CODEX ALEXANDRIUS=is the 5th century
manuscript of the Greek Bible. Containing a
majority of the Septuagint and the New
Testament. It is one of the earliest and most
complete manuscripts of the Bible.
• CODEX VATICANUS=Greek Bible which was kept
in the Vatican library. Best New Testament.
• CODEX SINAITICUS=one of the best Greek Text.
Handwritten copy.
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