Bible Information
By Vic Scaravilli
Bible comes from the Greek word meaning “books.”
The Bible is not one book, but a collection of books.
Inspired means that God is the primary author of the Bible.
Infallible means that it is free from errors.
The Bible is divided into two sections: Old Testament and the New Testament
It was written over a period of about 2,000 years
The Old Testament was written in Hebrew; the New Testament in Greek
Old Testament
Was written in Hebrew over about 1,900 years
The first five books of the Old Testament are called the Pentateuch – meaning five, the Torah, or the 5 Books of Moses. The first five books deal with creation, Genesis, the origin of the human race, the story of the “Chosen People”, laws and covenants God made with His people and leaders such as Noah, Abraham, and Moses. (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy)
Other books include history and writings of prophets
Other are songs and prayers such as the Book of Psalms
The Septuagint was the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament that was used by Jesus and the apostles and contained 46 books.
New Testament
The coming of Jesus established the beginning of the New Testament
The first New Testament book was not written until about 20 years after Christ’s ascension to heaven
Written in Greek over about 50 years
The word "Gospel" comes from word meaning "Good News."
Contains gospels, history of the early Church (Acts), and epistles
Canonization of the Bible
This is how the complete Bible was compiled as we have it today. It was a process where all of the many writings were examined by the Catholic Church who determined which ones were actually inspired by God.
The "Canon" (derived from the Greek word for rule) of Scripture comprises books of the Bible received in the Church as authentically inspired and normative for the Faith
The criteria used to determine which books were inspired are as follows:
Apostolic origin of teachings
Conformation to the oral Traditions of teachings of the existing Church
It was the Catholic Church who determined which books to put into the Bible. A council of bishops assembled at the end of the 4th century formalized the Bible that was ratified by the Pope in the early 5th century.
The Bible as we have it today was compiled at the end of the 4th century by the Catholic Church. It selected 27 books for the New Testament and ratified the 46 books of the Old Testament.
OT – 46
NT – 27
73 Books
The canonized Bible contained 73 books.
The answer! It was the Catholic Church, under the leadership of its bishops who met, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who determined what books were to be included in the Bible.
Every time a person believes that the Bible is the Word of God, that person then automatically accepts the authority of the Catholic Church in canonizing it!!!
That is why we can say the Bible came from the Church and not the Church from the Bible.
Martin Luther, who started the Reformation in the early 1,500’s, initially rejected the authority of 7 books from the Old Testament which were later removed by Protestants. As a result, Protestant Bibles contain only 66 books. It was the Protestants who took out 7 books in the Bible and it was NOT the Catholics who added them.
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH HAS:
A. Written the New Testament.
B. Decided which books went into the Bible, i.e., decided what books are inspired and should make up the "Canon" of scripture.
C. Compiled those books into a collection which it named the "Bible."
D. Preserved the Bible, for the first 1500 years by hand writing each book over and over again on fresh papyrus, or on fresh skins of animals.
E. Preserved the Bible from destruction.
F. Preserved the Bible from error.
G. Defended the Bible through the last 1900 years.
H. Grounded her doctrines upon the Bible.
I. Held the Bible in highest veneration.
J. Interpreted the Bible for Her people.
K. The right to call the Bible Her Book.
"I would not believe the Gospel
unless moved thereto by the
authority of the Church."
St. Augustine
