Does the Original and First Bible Still Exist? Yes and no. The original papyrus pages and animal skins have deteriorated and been replaced many times, but over 6 billion Bibles and parts of the Bible containing the original writings exist in 3,384 languages worldwide.
It took 35 years, three months, and two weeks for my wife, Renee, to lose her original wedding ring. Were we still married? Yes. I should know! I lost my own wedding ring five years earlier. If Renee and I lost our original marriage certificate, what would happen? Would we still be married? Again, yes. Original items are valuable but not essential.
The same principle applies to the original Bible. Does it still exist? Yes and no. The original papyrus pages and animal skins have deteriorated and been replaced many times, but over 6 billion Bibles, New Testaments, and parts of the Bible containing the original writings exist in 3,384 languages worldwide.
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Read more : What is the Athanasian Creed and what is its significance؟
These Writings(Bible) Are Inspired by God
The prophet Jeremiah provides seven important insights.
- Inspiration begins the moment God reveals a part of His truth to His prophets for His people (Jeremiah 36:1). The prophet immediately knew that he had received new revelation from God. There was no need for reflection!
- Inspiration often starts as an oral message that the prophet or apostle dictates or writes. Whether written immediately or after a long time, it is inspired (Jeremiah 36:1-2; Jeremiah 36:32).
- Inspired messages accurately convey God’s word to humanity. From the moment of writing, they become the inspired Bible. Their value as God’s word does not increase, but their impact does. People can review the recorded messages and read them alongside other messages from different times (Jeremiah 36:3).
- Inspiration is not dependent on the written Bible. When we share parts of the Bible orally, we convey God’s word to others (Jeremiah 36:9-16).
- Inspiration is not dependent on the physical existence of original copies today (Jeremiah 36:32). Jeremiah dictated “all the words of the previous scroll” that had just been written—a newly inspired Bible scroll that a wicked king immediately destroyed (Jeremiah 36:22-23; Jeremiah 36:28). Inspiration is always dependent on the Lord. Although Jeremiah was the Lord’s prophet, he couldn’t prophesy whenever he wanted. Sometimes the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, compelling him to prophesy (Jeremiah 37:6).
- Sometimes the Lord gave Jeremiah a message while he was speaking (Jeremiah 37:17), essentially a message Jeremiah had often delivered before. Sometimes Jeremiah had to wait a long time for the Lord to give him a new message (Jeremiah 42:7).
- Inspiration also applies to the choice of words. Jeremiah felt strongly that he had to deliver the entire message of the Lord without omitting a word (Jeremiah 42:4; Jeremiah 43:1). Jeremiah also wrote down the thoughts and words of others, but the Holy Spirit guided every word he wrote.
God Preserved the Writings
The Bible from Genesis to Revelation has been meticulously preserved.
The Old Testament: This collection of the Bible began around 1400 BC (the books of Moses) and was completed around 450 BC (Malachi). According to Josephus, the Hebrew scriptures were divided into the following sections:
- Five books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
- Thirteen Prophets: Joshua, Judges and Ruth (considered one book), Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Lamentations (one book), Ezekiel, the Twelve Minor Prophets (one book), Daniel, Job, Esther, Ezra and Nehemiah (one book), and Chronicles.
- Four Writings: Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes. Sometimes Job, Ruth, Lamentations, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles were added to this third section of writings.
The New Testament: Soon after the church began, there was a need for a recognized second collection of the Bible. The New Testament canon formed much more quickly than the Old Testament due to the loss of apostles and other witnesses, the spread of Christianity beyond Palestine, the need to protect the message from false teachings, the persecution of Christians (they needed to know which books they were dying for), and missionary work (they needed to know which books to translate and use in preaching).
Early churches went through various stages to finalize the New Testament canon. Most books were widely recognized as canonical by the second and third centuries. Only a few later New Testament books were seriously questioned. By AD 397, two official church councils confirmed the canonical nature of the 27 New Testament books.
Scribes Copied the Writings with Great Care
We can confirm the accuracy of the transmission of the original Bible to later copies in four significant ways.
- After the Babylonian exile, Ezra and other scribes meticulously worked to ensure there were always abundant copies of God’s word. These scribes were known as “lawyers” due to their knowledge of the Old Testament laws.
- The Talmudists (AD 10 to 450), Masoretes (AD 450 to 900), and similar groups reproduced the Old Testament according to the strictest copying rules. Their high standards demonstrate their copying accuracy. Here are some of the rules they followed:
- They could not copy from memory.
- They could not correct the original text if they thought it was wrong (they could only add notes in the margins).
- They counted the number of letters and words in each line they copied, compared middle words, checked the frequency of each letter, and more.
- They used a hairline space between each letter. (Talk about precision!)
- They burned or buried worn-out copies to avoid desecration of the Lord’s name.
- There is an abundance of evidence for the New Testament. Its 27 books were written between AD 40 and 100. The oldest known copy of a portion of the New Testament is dated only a few decades after the original was completed.
Additionally, there are 5,400 ancient copies of the New Testament in Greek alone, 10,000 more in Latin, and 9,300 in other languages. Scholars have used this wealth of resources to compare and determine the precise original.
Sir Frederick George Kenyon, a former director and principal librarian of the British Museum, stated, “Thanks to these manuscripts, the ordinary reader of the Bible can feel assured about the accuracy of the text. With only a few minor variations, natural in books copied by hand, we are now certain that the New Testament has remained intact.”
- Nearly the entire New Testament can be reconstructed from the writings of the early church fathers of the second and third centuries. All but 11 verses can be restored from the verses they quoted. Incredible!
The Miracle of AD 325 Continues
Thanks to Dr. Philip Barton Payne in Edmonds, Washington, I was able to see an exact copy of the oldest extant Bible, the Codex Vaticanus. This copy includes small symbols indicating that ancient scribes knew there were differences in some of the Bible copies available in their scriptorium library. These symbols align with what scholars know today, even though the meaning of these small symbols wasn’t deciphered until 1995.
So, do the original Bible writings still exist? Yes!
