Somewhere between AD 97-138 someone in Ephesus (in present-day Turkey) spent a lot of time, weeks or more probably months, copying the Gospel of John: First they had to make, or otherwise obtain, sheets of papyrus. Then the text was carefully copied by hand, letter by letter, line by line, on the front and back of as many sheets as necessary. Then it was bound together into a book (now referred to as a "codex"), and finally a harder cover was added. And then it somehow got to Alexandria, in Egypt.
 
Why? Most probably the church in Alexandria wanted to have their "own" copy of this final written account of the life of Jesus. There was no bookstore to buy from – if you wanted a copy of some writing, it had to be copied by hand. In ancient times scribes fulfilled the functions of today's printer, and they were meticulous in their copying. Whoever acquired or made this copy of John's Gospel never thought about leaving something for us, they just wanted a copy of this very important document for their faith community, yet here it is - its last remaining remnant.
 
This is the oldest remnant of a New Testament book: A few words from the Gospel of John Chapter 18, copied within a generation of the writing of John's original. Called The Rylands Library Papyrus P52, also known as the St. John's fragment, it is a fragment from a papyrus codex, measuring only 8.9 by 6 cm at its widest.
 
Scholars and scientists are very cautious in dating anything from antiquity, but current opinion is that this copy was made somewhere between AD 97 and AD138 – which means, though scholars won't say it, that the copy could have been made from John's original manuscript.
 
From there things get murky, until the year 1920, when this fragment was among a group of papyri acquired on the Egyptian market by Bernard Grenfell. It was transcribed and translated in 1934 by Colin H. Roberts, and it is currently conserved with the Rylands Papyri at the John Rylands University Library Manchester, UK.
 
The front (picture above left) contains parts of seven lines from the Gospel of John 18:31-33, in Greek, and the back (picture to the right), contains parts of seven lines from verses 37-38 .
 
But let's go back a few years....
 
Somewhere between 335 and 107 BC a scribe from the Essene community at Qumran, near the Dead Sea, copied the book of Isaiah onto sheets of parchment, then combined it into a scroll to be used in their religious rituals. Shortly before the destruction of their community by the Romans in AD 68, this scroll and many others were carefully packed in pottery jars and buried in caves near the Dead Sea to protect it from what they knew was coming. Their community was destroyed, but the scrolls survived in the dry climate until its discovery in 1946...
 
One of the prime finds among the Dead Sea Scrolls was a complete scroll containing the book of Isaiah (pictured below). It is about 730 cm long and 28 cm high, consists of 54 columns of text, written on 17 sheets of parchment.
 
Except for a few damaged sections it contains the complete book of the prophet Isaiah. Pieces of the Great Isaiah Scroll have been carbon-14 dated at least four times, giving calibrated date ranges between 335-324 BC and 202-107 BC. Apart from an ancient Hebrew curse tablet dated to around 1400 BC, and two silver scrolls excavated in Jerusalem at Ketef Hinnom, dating from late 7th century BC, the Dead Sea Scrolls are the oldest scrolls containing biblical text ever discovered.
 
You are looking at a photo of a hand-written manuscript of a Bible book more than 2,000 years old...

WHY AM I SHOWING YOU THIS?

¤ To remind you that the Bible has a history.
It didn't just fall from heaven – it came to us through more than 3,000 years of human history. It was written over a period of more than 1,600 years by at least 40 different authors, copied by thousands of scribes through the centuries, compiled into "the Scriptures" by unknown editors, recognised over generations by the people of God as being His "Word" to them. It came in pieces and in various forms; we have, since about the 4th century AD, the finished product.
 
¤ To connect to the ancient people of God:
Today we are disconnected from God's people through the ages, but we are part of the same family - they are our spiritual forefathers. We are the glad recipients of God's truth that they wrote down and preserved through the ages for all who have "eyes to see and ears to hear". We know so much more than those early scribes, but thanks to them we have the Bible manuscripts, and its finished form in our hands.
That Bible in your hand, or on the shelf, makes you a part a history spanning thousands of years.
 
¤ To appreciate the value of what we're dealing with:
We will not value the Bible if we do not understand what we are dealing with. People spent incredible amounts of time to copy these manuscripts, and it had huge value to them – copying was painstaking work, not done on a whim but because of the importance of what they were copying. People protected these manuscripts, and they often died for it.
Do we attach the same value to the Scriptures today?
 
¤ To underline the historicity of the Bible: It has become fashionable to call the Bible a book of myths and stories, but it has a provable history and historical accuracy (More about this in later chapters).
P52 (above) was copied from a source manuscript within (at most) a generation from the time John wrote the original.
The Isaiah scroll dated 335-107 CD, more than 2100 years old, is substantially exactly the same as much older (1000 years older) manuscripts known before their discovery.
More on manuscripts and how we got the Bible in later units, but if it was transmitted to us through the ages with so much care, it deserves more than to be passed off as a book of myths.

SO THEN, WHAT IS THE BIBLE?

Put this question to a group of people, and you'll get more answers than the number of group members! When I posed the questions to my Grade 7 Bible class many years ago, answers ranged from "the Word of God" to "the religious book of Christian people" to "a storybook", and more. You would probably have your own answer, but let me offer a brief "definition" that we will use as the basis for this book:
 
The Bible is a selective written record communicating the intent, origin, history, and development of the relationship between God and humanity.
 
¤ Firstly, it is a record.
Most of the Bible cover historic events from creation to about AD90, as well as portions looking forward to the end of the world. Also recorded are wisdom literature from God's people, and lots of early prophecies (foretelling) of events taking place later in the record.
 
¤ What we have in our hands is a written record.
The earliest parts were transmitted orally from one generation to another, but from about 1500BC it was committed to writing. (Some of the earliest parts are among the first alphebetical writings in history). As history went along, more was written, and eventually recognised as God's intended Word (record) for His people. All in all at least 40 human authors, over a period of about 1600 years, wrote what was to become our Bible. Finally, in the middle-to-late fourth century, all the books recognised by God's people as divinely inspired, were recognised as such and gathered together as one volume. And of course, from the beginning until the invention of the printing press, every bit of the Bible was copied by hand and passed on to future generations.
 
¤ It is absolutely essential for us to remember that the Bible is a written record with a purpose:
It is focused on communicating to us the things the authors, and ultimately God Himself, wanted us to know. Not one of the Bible authors wrote their manuscripts because they had nothing better to do – in a time when writing materials were scarce and difficult to obtain or create, they went to great lengths to write down what they wanted to communicate. And after them scores of scribes put in great effort to copy their writings correctly for future generations. We will look at this in detail in future chapters, but remember: the Bible exists because there are things its human authors and Divine source considered absolutely vital for us to know.
 
¤ This singular purpose also means that the Bible is a selective record.
It is not a comprehensive history of humanity or what we would consider important events. Most of the history of the universe is confined to only one chapter; most of the important historical events in the Biblical lands are touched upon very briefly, if mentioned at all; whole dynasties of rulers are left out... The writers wrote down and passed on what they considered important for the world to know, and behind them was a Divine author inspiring and leading them in their endeavours. God saw to it that what He wanted us to know was recorded and transmitted through the ages – a lot of what we would consider important was not at all important to God. Why this focus?
 
¤ Because it is a record of the relationship between God and humanity.
First it focused on the whole of humanity, then it narrows dows to one family line and the nation born from them, to the Saviour born from this nation, and finally it once again deals with all of humanity.
 
¤ Crucially, it is a record of the purpose of that relationship.
God intended for humans to live in perfect community with Him, but after humanity fell into sin, God had one laser-sharp focus: to restore that original face to face relationship with Him. So human history, and the Biblical record of it, is the history of God's plan to bring salvation to humanity, and restore that original perfect fellowship.
 
That's a lot to take in, but don't worry, we'll work through everything as we go along. For now, the most important thing to understand, is this:
· the Bible is not what we think it should be – a history of the universe, or a scientific explanation of everything, or even an explanation of God Himself, but
· it is what God intended it to be – a record of His dealings with humanity, focusing on the relationship between God and humans - His original intent, what happened to the relationship, what God did about it, His plan as it developed through history, His final goal.

CENTRAL THEME(S) OF THE BIBLE

Any book normally have a central theme, or themes, around which everything revolves. So we might ask, what is the central theme of the Bible?
 
Let's take our definition of the Bible (above) as our guide and say that, at its simplest, the central theme of the Bible is the relationship between God and humanity. From this we can split into three main streams: who and what God is, who and what humanity is, and what the relationship between them is all about.
 
It sound simple, but it has resulted in millenia of devotional and theological studies. From these three main themes flow a lot of others, resulting in a lot of different fields of Biblical studies. Together all these fields of Biblical studies are called "theology", from the Greek words for God and love, so we might say that at its most basic theology is – or should be – an expression of love for God.
 
There are a lot of theological disciplines. Various scholars break it down differently, but most list four main streams:
 
¤ Biblical theology focuses on the progressive historical development of theological concepts through the Bible. It is an exciting field of study, the bedrock from which all else flows (in my opinion) – but often it is accorded only Cinderella status.
 
¤ Systematic theology focuses on the systematic exposition of the various doctrines in the Bible. The Bible doesn't present us with doctrines neatly packaged into separate units - it is revealed piece by piece through history, and systematic theology attampts to gather together the various bits of a particular doctrine into a whole.
 
¤ Practical Christianity focus on how we live out the teachings on the Bible.
 
¤ Historical Theology, which is the study of the historical development of theology.
 
When people talk generally about theology and doctrines, they are usually referring to systematic theology, which takes the facts and teachings of the Bible and organise it into a systematic collection of topics.
(For more detailed discussion of theological disciplines, see the expanded section.)
 
The formal study of the subject matter of the Bible is a lifelong study, which we'll leave to the scholars. We will focus on personal use and study of the Bible, and we will sometimes touch on various formal theological disciplines in our coming studies, but I will try to avoid theological jargon as far as possible.
 
So getting back to our main focus, how did all of this get to us? That is the focus of this whole study. For now, let's look at the channels God used in the Bible to deliver His record to us.

LITERARY CHANNELS

We have said that the Bible is a written record, but within that we can discern a number of literary "channels" used by God and the various authors to record and deliver His message to us.
 
NARRATIVES
 
We often forget that the main component of the Bible is history. God didn't give us a list of morals and philosophical sayings – the morals and philosophy are imbedded in the history recorded for us in the Bible. It is revealed to us in the lives of people and the events of history.
 
It is fashionable and popular these days to say that the Bible is a book of myths, but here we are talking about provable facts – while there are many things and events where there is no clear evidence either way, wherever there is clear historical evidence from archaeology and other such sources, the Biblical narrative has been confirmed. And remember, the absence of evidence for an event or person is not evidence that the Bible is wrong (or right) – it's something for which there is no evidence either way. Let's wait for solid evidence before making judgements.
 
For both believers and unbelievers it is essential to stick to the facts. And those facts are that there's a lot of uncertainty, ambiguity and disagreement, up until the time of Abraham, but from there onwards archaeological evidence and historical facts agree with the Bible, especially in terms of times and cultures.
 
We may not have hard physical evidence for the physical existence of Abraham and the other patriarchs, but what the Bible says about their times and culture has been proven correct. We may not have Daniel's tomb with us today, but what he wrote about Babylonian and Medo-Persian times and customs and rulers agree with archaeology. And the closer we get to the time of the New Testament, the more evidence there is.
 
We will discuss this more in detail in later study units, but for now it is very important to note that God's dealings with humanity played out, and is still playing out, on the stage of history. And the Bible is a record of that history.
 
Briefly, the history covered in the Bible includes:
¤ Creation.
¤ "Pre-history": the period of which no records or proven evidence exist, including the Flood and the repopulating of earth.
¤ The patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
¤ The history of Israel, from bondage in Egypt to living in their promised land, to their exile to Assyria and Babylon, and subsequent return.
¤ The silent years: approximately 400 years from the last Old Testament prophet, until the time of the New Testament.
¤ The history, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
¤ The establishment and growth of the early church, and its expansion through the then-known world, ending in about AD62 with Paul under house arrest in Rome.
¤ And then there is the book of Revelation, a prophetic foretelling of history and the second coming of Jesus, final judgement, and the creation of the "new heavens and new earth".
 
PROPHECY
 
According to Wikipedia "in religion, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a prophet) by a supernatural entity." The Britannica Dictionary says that "prophecy, in religion, [is] a divinely inspired revelation or interpretation. In its narrower sense, the term prophet (Greek prophetes, "forthteller") refers to an inspired person who believes that he has been sent by his god with a message to tell".
 
We tend to think of prophecy as foretelling the future, but the key word for any prophecy is message. Biblical prophecy is God speaking through people to people to deliver a message, and contains three distinct elements:
 
¤ Foretelling:
This is what we usually associate with prophecy – God speaking through people to people about the future. It is the foretelling of events and people, and as such it is interweaved with the history covered in the Bible. An event or person might be prophecied in an early part of the Bible, with the fulfillment recorded (often centuries later) in a different part of the Bible. An example would be Isaiah prophecying that Cyrus would allow the exiled Jews to return to their homeland. Or Jeremiah being so bold as to prophesy that they will be in exile for 70 years!
 
But the prime example is the staggering amount of prophecies fulfilled in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. Again and again the Bible writers quote prophecies fulfilled in Jesus, as proof that He was indeed the Messiah promised by God.
 
¤ Fulfillment:
In a sense, this is the second part of prophecy as a message about the future. As said above, there could be centuries between foretelling and fulfillment, but if a prophecy had its origin in God, it will be fulfilled. Period. In fact, Moses presents this as the acid test for those claiming to be prophets – are their prophecies fulfilled?
 
A prophetic foretelling can be fulfilled as a whole, or in parts, or sometimes even repeatedly. God's promise to David regarding his son Solomon was fulfilled in God's hand of blessing on Solomon, but it reached its fullest fulfillment in Jesus, the ultimate "son of David".
 
¤ Forthtelling:
While there are foretelling prophecies, and historical fulfillment of some, in the New Testament the aspect of forthtelling becomes the most important part of prophecy: God speaking to people through people proclaiming the message of God into their current situation. God speaks to people when His message is proclaimed, and as such all of Scripture is prophecy to us living today: God speaking to us through the words of authors who lived centuries ago.
 
At its deepest, prophecy is God speaking to us, "at many times and in various ways" (Hebrews 1:1); the most profound of which is the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. And that speaking continues whenever and wherever the gospel is preached. Paul makes a profound statement in Romans 10:17 (NLT): Faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ. (Note: this verse does not refer to the Scriptures that must be heard, but the "Good News about Christ", the gospel, being preached or shared.)
 
POETRY
 
Don't be surprised, there's a lot of poetry in the Bible! When we humans are dealing with facts and figures and objective evaluations, we use prose – but when we want to express our deepest feelings, we use poetry. From Adam's first words when he saw Eve, to Miriam's song of praise after walking through the Red Sea, to the celestial praise of the book of Revelation, the deepest feelings need poetry.
 
It is the same with God: When he is speaking intellectually (factually), the Bible uses prose; but when God is speaking from His heart, when His feelings become dominant, He also reverts to poetry. Just read the prophetic books, and see how the most powerful passages expressing God's love for Israel, and His utter disappointment with them, are in poetic form. Or the Psalms: God's people (and in some instances God himself) expressing their deepest feelings...in poetry. No wonder Händel used so much of Isaiah and other prophetic books in his musical masterpiece – music is poetry set to music.
 
Apart from large portions of the prophetic books, we also find poetry as the primary literary channel in the Wisdom literature of the Old Testament:Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Solomon, and without its poetic phrasing the Lamentations of Jeremiah might have been a lot less moving.
 
So poetry might not give us primarily a lot of historical facts, but it is very important in communicating God's heart to us.

REVELATION

Revelation is not so much a separate literary channel, but more the result of what happens in the channels of narratives, prophecy, and poetry: God gradually revealing things to us: about Himself, about ourselves, about the world and what He is doing in it, and so forth. We will return to this in future studies, but it is crucial to recognise from the start that God's revelation to us is a progressive revelation.
 
God doesn't give us everything we need to know about a topic in one neatly-packaged paragraph or two – it is distributed throughout Scripture, with each part building on and enlarging the previous bit. Once again the prime example is our knowledge of the Saviour Jesus Christ. In Genesis we see the promise of a Saviour, in the words of Paul, only as "a reflection in a mirror", not quite knowing what it is all about. But as the history of the Bible progresses we eventually learn that He will be born in Bethlehem, that people will despise Him, that He will die for the sins of humanity, that He will rise again, and so much more.
 
It is vital to always remember this progressive nature of God's revelation. It is the basis for our understanding that, in the words of the Reformers, Scripture interprets Scripture. We need the whole picture on a topic, from Genesis to Revelation, to understand it at its fullest. Which simply means that if we want to get the full picture of what God had said to us about anything, we need to read and study the whole Bible. (See the "Bible Reading" section for a programme and other information for reading the Bible.)

IN SUMMARY

To summarise: The Bible is a selective written record communicating the intent, origin, history, and development of the relationship between God and humanity.
 
This Book is God's definitive and authoratative communication to humanity. It is the essential facts God wants us to know, communicating to us a historical narrative about God, and humanity, and the relationship between them.
 
It is the objective basis for everything else.
 
 

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