The apostles carried the very authority of Jesus himself as they taught. Jesus even said these words to them: “Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me” (Matthew 10:40, NIV). Jesus promised the apostles a special ministry of the Holy Spirit in regard to their teaching and writing, being guided into all truth.
This is why the teachings of the apostles were considered Scripture, and the mark of what would be included in the New Testament was simple: It had to be written by, or based on, the teaching of Jesus or one of his apostles.
3. About Translations and Interpretations
The Bible was basically written in two languages: Hebrew and Greek. The Old Testament was written in the language of its writers—Hebrew—and the New Testament was written in the most-used language of its day—koine Greek.
That means that all of our Bibles today are translations of those original languages. Translations are the product of a team of scholars who have studied those languages and have translated the text into English.
So why are there so many?
It’s not because we don’t know what the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts contain—we do. It’s because modern language is a moving target. The way we talk, the words we use, even the meanings of those words, keep changing.
So when the Bible was translated in the 1600s, the Greek and Hebrew manuscripts were translated into the language of that day, which was King James English. That means there were lots of thees, thous and heretofores, and other words we don’t use today or that don’t even make sense to us. That’s why the King James Bible is called the King James Bible.
We don’t talk in King James English today, which is why there have been translations since then, and there will need to be more in the future.
So why so many interpretations?
When someone points out something the Bible teaches, someone else will say, “Well, that’s just your interpretation,” as if when it comes to what the Bible says, there’s nothing more than personal opinion.
That is a cultural myth.
There’s an actual field of study for interpretation—it’s called hermeneutics. Hermeneutics means “the science of interpretation,” and it is a science—a series of steps, practices, disciplines and rules that apply to interpretation. But make no mistake—99% of the Bible doesn’t take any heavy lifting in regard to interpretation. Just some reading.
