Page 52 - Doctrine and History of the Preservation of the Bible Student Textbook

Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2
Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon = Paul - A.D. 50-70
Hebrews = unknown, mostly likely Paul, Luke, Barnabas, or Apollos - A.D. 65
James = James - A.D. 45
1 Peter, 2 Peter = Peter - A.D. 60
1 John, 2 John, 3 John = John - A.D. 90
Jude = Jude - A.D. 60
Revelation = John - A.D. 90

While we do not have a single original manuscript of any of these books, we do have copies, many of
them, to validate the accuracy of the original manuscripts. We will now learn about how the Bible was
accurately copied over the ages of time so that we, today, could have an accurate copy of God’s Word.

A History of Biblical Development

315 AD, Athenasius, the Bishop of Alexandria, identified the 27 books which we recognize today as the
canon of New Testament Scripture.

Roman Catholic Bibles have several more books in the Old Testament than Protestant Bibles. These
books are referred to as the Apocrypha or Deuterocanonical books. The word apocrypha means
“hidden.” The Apocrypha was written primarily in the time between the Old and New Testaments. The
Apocrypha was kept as part of virtually every Bible scribed or printed from these early days until just 120
years ago, in the mid 1880’s when it was removed from Protestant Bibles. Until 1880’s every Christian
embraced the Apocrypha as part of the Bible, though debated over hundreds of years whether it was
inspired. Catholic Bibles have retained 12 of the 14 apocryphal books in their Bible.

The books of the Apocrypha include 1 Esdras, 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, the Letter of
Jeremiah, Prayer of Manasseh, 1 Maccabees, and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom of Solomon, as well as
additions to the books of Esther and Daniel. Not all of these books are included in Catholic Bibles.

By 500 AD, the Bible had been translated in over 500 languages. In 600 AD, the Bible was restricted to
ONE language: Latin. The church in Rome refused to allow any other scripture to be available to people.
Those possessing non-Latin copies were executed! This was because only the priests were educated to
understand Latin, and this gave the church ultimate power… a power to rule without question… a power
to deceive… a power to extort money from the masses. Nobody could question their “Biblical”
teachings, because few people other than priests could read Latin. The church capitalized on this forced
ignorance through the 1,000 year period from 400 AD to 1,400 AD knows as the “Dark and Middle
Ages”.

Pope Leo 10 established a practice called the “selling of indulgences” as a way to
extort money from the people. He offered forgiveness of sins for a fairly small
amount of money. For a little bit more money, you would be allowed to indulge
in a continuous lifestyle of sin, such as keeping a mistress. Also, through the
invention of “Purgatory”, you could purchase the salvation of your loved-one’s
souls. The church taught the ignorant masses, “As soon as the coin in the coffer
rings, the troubled soul from Purgatory springs!” Pope Leo the Tenth showed his
true feelings when he said, “The fable of Christ has been quite profitable to us!”

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