True Old Testament

IS IT TRUE THAT THE OLD TESTAMENT WAS COMPILED AS ONE BOOK BY THE TIME OF JESUS?

(Historical Evidence for the Catholic Faith)

There was no complete Bible during the time of Jesus. The Church existed before the Bible was complete. The Church began before any New Testament writings even existed. 

The book of Isaiah was cited as Scripture in the New Testament, but not Chronicles or Esther, or Ecclesiastes or Ezekiel, or others. The Bible as we have it now was not finished until centuries after the time of Jesus.

In fact, according to a non-Catholic Biblical scholar, Dr. Karel van der Toom, “There were no books in ancient Israel” (Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible, page 9).

Yes, that includes the time of Jesus. The codices (books) gradually replaced scrolls between the late first and sixth centuries A.D., spread by the adoption of the codex for Christian Bibles. 

In Biblical times, the books were copied on individual scrolls. Luke 4:17 depicts Jesus being given the “scroll” of the prophet Isaiah, rather than a whole Bible.

“The Origin of the Bible: A Guide for the Perplexed” documents that not even the Old Testament was complete by the time of Jesus. If we read pages 87-120, we will see that, while there were Scriptures in the time of Jesus, there was no complete Old Testament canon and debates went over several centuries among the Jews and later even the Christians. 

In the “Canon Debate” volume, we can see the current status of the Old Testament by James Sanders on pages 252-266. The New Testament canon continued also to be debated for centuries (see the article by Harry Gamble on pages 267-294, chapter 17).

THIS SECTION WAS WRITTEN by D. Mark Wilkinson:

So much for the doctrine of “Sola Scriptura” (Scripture Alone) as the sole guiding light throughout the centuries of Christian history! And for the sake of the MAJORITY of people in the world for the past 2,000 years who were (and are) illiterate—that is, unable to read or write in ANY language—THANK GOD for Catholic TRADITION, marvellous artwork, sculptures, statues, stained glass windows, stations of the cross, feast days, holy liturgy, homilies, public readings of the Bible in the Mass, etc.

The novel Protestant doctrine of “the Bible alone” may have held some semblance of plausibility during Martin Luther’s time, over half a century AFTER the invention of the “printing press” by a German Catholic in the mid-1400’s. The first Book ever published on the first printing press was the Catholic Bible—all 73 books of it!

But what about during MOST (the first 3/4) of ALL Christian history, before the printing press had been invented, and when the Scriptures—all 73 books of the Bible—had to be laboriously copied by hand over and over again by educated Catholic priests and monks, in order to be preserved for future generations, and most of the people in the world could not read or write anyway? 

What about during that whole time period? Does it really make sense that God would have instituted a plan to bring His full truth about faith and morals only, or even primarily, through a Holy Book? What about when there WERE NO “books,” as we understand them, but only fragile scrolls? What about if the MAJORITY of people cannot read?

It is no wonder, therefore, that our Lord Jesus Christ never wrote His teachings down in a book, but rather instructed His Apostles to go out into the whole world and to PREACH the Gospel, to BAPTIZE those who responded to their message, and to TEACH new Christians everything Jesus had commanded them! (cf. Matthew 28:18-19; Mark 16:15-16).

Furthermore, Jesus had promised His disciples that He would send them “the Spirit of truth” to “bring back to their remembrance everything Jesus had taught to them” and to “lead them into ALL TRUTH.” Not to write a Book or to write many copies by hand onto scrolls, and hand them out to the people!

(Edited by David Mark Wilkinson, B.A., M.Th.S.)