The Bible - A Catholic Book

Did The Catholic Church Compile the Bible?

Yes—there is clear historical and documented proof that the Catholic Church compiled the Bible. 

While the Bible is divinely inspired by God, it was through the authority of the early Catholic Church that its books were gathered, preserved, and formally recognized as the inspired Word of God.

Before the Bible became a single bound volume, in a form we might today recognize, it existed as a collection of scrolls and letters circulated among Jewish communities and early Christians. 

This was in addition to the Old Testament which was already in use during Jesus’ time.

However, the New Testament was written over the course of 5-7 decades after Christ’s death and Resurrection. However, these writings were scattered, not cohesive, and not instantly considered, “Scripture," as we think of it.

In fact, it took centuries of prayerful discernment by the bishops and leaders of The Church to determine which books truly belonged in what would eventually become The Bible.

1. The Church Chose the Canon

By the 4th century, The Church had grown substantially. With all the different people coming in from all over the region, there was a need to define what God wanted to have taught about His intentions for mankind. But, since The Church was comprised of human men, disputes arose about which books should be included in the Bible. 

Many works circulated at the time, and some early Christian communities were using, "spurious" texts, i.e., works of dubious authorship, sometimes self-generated, and not inspired, such as the Gospel of Thomas or the Shepherd of Hermas. 

To preserve the purity of the faith, and clarify God's plan for man's salvation, The Catholic Church called councils to define the canon - the official inclusions - of Scripture.

The most significant moments came at the Council of Rome (AD 382) under Pope Damasus I, followed by the Council of Hippo (AD 393) and Carthage (AD 397 and 419). These councils listed the 46 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament—the exact same books the Catholic Church still uses today.

After the Protestant rebellion, the separatist churches took it upon themselves to edit the Bible as they saw fit, and to re-define what the Bible should have in it.... books were removed or rearranged, to suit their whims. 

But Christ's original Church has not followed their error.

In fact....

2. The Church Preserved and Copied the Bible

During the Middle Ages, it was Catholic monks who painstakingly copied the Bible by hand, preserving it through centuries of turmoil, war, and illiteracy.* 

It was the Catholic Church that protected the Scriptures, interpreted them authoritively and faithfully, and made them available for future generations—long before the invention of the printing press or the Protestant rebellion.

* Some Protestants like to proclaim the error that, "The Church forbid the people from even seeing The Bible." They say Scripture was kept hidden away from the people by The Church. This is, actually half-right, but only that, because ot stems from a lack of understanding about the period.

In reality, the Church DID  carefully protect the Bibles it held in trust, because it took 3 or 4 years for a single copy to be hand written. These copies were also exquisitely decorated in text and picture - works of art, really - and so were very precious items! Unless kept guarded, sometimes under lock and key, they could be stolen (and were), or mishandled. So to protect them, they were not allowed to just float around willy-nilly.

The reality is that, until the printing press became quite commonplace, The Bible was not available for anyone to possess a personal copy. Until that time, The Church was its custodian.

3. The Bible Points Back to the Church

Ironically, Christian sects outside The Church today accept the authority of the Bible....but they reject the Church that birthed it and knows it from its origins. The same Church which made it possible for them to have it, at all!

So this leads to the question:

"Without the teaching authority of the Catholic Church, which created and made The Bible available, can you know with certainty which books are inspired?"

The anwers is a simple, "No."

Now, that will surely anger most people outside The Church. 

But, as we've already learned, the Bible didn't fall from the sky with a list of its own books included. By default, it had to rely on the  Sacred Tradition that was passed on BEFORE The Bible came into being, to be understood, authenticated,amd made firm in its contents. 

And that Tradition WAS the functional Catholic Church for centuries.

So, yes, the Bible is God’s Word to man about His designs for us. No one disputes that. But the Catholic Church was, is, and will continue to be the divinely appointed guardian of that Word...as God also designed from the first.

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Reflection: "If The One Church instituted by Christ, The Church which compiled, protected, studied and stewarded the Bible for nearly two millenia....if that one Church put it all together under God's own authority... shouldn't we trust her to interpret it faithfully? 

Of we are open-minded enough to say, "yes," to that, well....wouldn't you then wish to know more about that Church, and ultimately become part of it?

#catholic