Question:
When was the Bible compiled?
Answer:
The Old Testament canon was compiled under the direction of Ezra and Nehemiah. Regarding the New Testament, it can be said that from the days of the apostles, the Gospels and Epistles were read in the churches and widely accepted. We have a significant reference in the Latin Fragment published by Muratori in 1740, which resembles a complete list of the New Testament Scriptures from a writer who identified himself as contemporary with Pius, the bishop of Rome, around A.D. 150. A similar list can also be found in the Syriac Version, which is unlikely to be later than the second century.
The notable figure Athanasius (A.D. 296-373) confidently enumerates all the Scriptures of the New Testament as we have them today, a view also supported by Latin Church Fathers Augustine and Jerome. (See S. S. Teacher’s Combination Bible Helps, section 14, page 34). In the Sinaitic manuscript from the fourth century, the entire New Testament is present. While the books of the New Testament were generally accepted as they were written, it took some time to compile them all into a single collection.
