, and still
a great deal later were brought together into a single book.

The following concise statement by Professor Henry Drummond throws much
light upon the way the New Testament portions of our Bible took form:
"The Bible is not a book; it is a library. It consists of sixty-six
books. It is a great convenience, but in some respects a great
misfortune, that these books have always been bound up together and
given out as one book to the world, when they are not; because that has
led to endless mistakes in theology and practical life. These books,
which make up this library, written at intervals of hundreds of years,
were collected after the last of the writers was dead--long after--by
human hands. Where were the books? Take the New Testament. There were
four lives of Christ. One was in Rome; one was in Southern Italy; one
was in Palestine; one in Asia Minor. There were twenty-one letters. Five
were in Greece and Macedonia; five in Asia; one in Rome. The rest were
in the pockets of private individuals. Theophilus had Acts. They were
collected undesignedly. In the third century the New Testament consisted
of the following books: The four Gospels, Acts, thirteen letters of
Paul, I John, I Peter; and, in addition, the Epistles of Barnabas and
Hermas. This was not called the New Testament, but the Christian
Library. Then these last books were discarded. They ceased to be
regarded as upon the same level as the others. In the fourth century the
canon was closed--that is to say, a list was made up of the books which
were to be regarded as canonical. And then long after that they were
stitched together and made up into one book--hundreds of years after
that. Who made up the complete list? It was never formally made up. The
bishops of the different churches would draw up a list each of the books
that they thought ought to be put into this Testament. The churches also
would give their opinions. Sometimes councils would meet and talk it
over--discuss it. Scholars like Jerome would investigate the
authenticity of the different documents, and there came to be a general
consensus of the churches on the matter."

Jesus spoke in his own native language, the Aramaic. His sayings were
then rendered into Greek, and, as is well known by all well-versed
Biblical scholars, it was not an especially high order of Greek. The New
Testament scriptures including the four gospels, were then many hundreds
of years afterwards translated from the G