C. R. CONDER.
BIBLE.—
A, Internal ReUtiona o( the Bible.
I. Names. 11. Onjpnal Languages.
III. Division and Arrangement.
IV. Canon.
i. OT Canon and Criticism ii. NT Canon. V. Text. VI. Versions.
B. External Relations of the Bible.
I. The Literature of other Religions. IL The Bit>le in relation to this Literature. i. Revelation. U. Inspiration.
A word or two of explanation may be desirable as to the purpose which the article ' Bible ' in a Bible Dictionary is intended to fulfil. Its design is twofold, according as it has in view the internal or the external relations of the sacred volume. The whole Dictionary being intended to explain the form and illustrate the contents of the B., the special article should, as far as may be, afford the means of gathering the information thus supplied into the unity of a system, of exhibiting it in topical rather than alphabetical order, so that the usefulness of a systematic work may be, to some extent, combined with the convenience of the lexical arrangement. In particular, the article should give, in an abridged and ordered form, an account of the various parts of which the Bible consists, and the various forms in which it has appeared, including such subjects as Canon, Text, and Versions, referring to the special articles so entitled for details. In this way it will be of use to those who desire no more than an outline or summary of these subjects, or who wish to under- stand their mutual relations. It should include, of course, the particulars respecting the B. as a whole, such as its names and arrangement. Having thus, in the first part, surveyed its in- ternal relations, the article should proceed in the second part to consider the B. as one of the sacred literatures of the world, its claims to uniqueness and authority, its reception in the Christian Church, and the position accorded to it there. Into the two divisions thus indicated, the present article will fall.
A. INTERNAL RELATIONS OF THE BIBLE. I. Names. — The word 'Bible' is derived from the Greek. Ancient books were ■vvritten upon the Byblus or Papyrus reed, and from this custom naturally came the Gr. name pip\oi (Mt 1'), in the diminutive form jSi/SMof (Lk 4") for a book. As the recognised records of Divine Revelation, the writings which made up their sacred volume became known to the Greek Christians as tA ^i/SWi, ' the books ' par excellence. This ex- pression is said to appear for the first time in this connexion in the2na Epistle (14-) falsely attributed to Clement of Rome, and ^vritten probably towards the middle of the 2nd cent. ; but the word afterwards became very common, though generally qualified by an adjective such as 'holy,' 'dinne,' ' canonical. In its Latin form, however, by a misunderstanding in which there is not a little sipiificance, the neuter plural ' biblia ' (gen.
BIBLE
bibliorum) came to be regarded and treated as a fem. sing. (gen. biblue), the transition being no doubt assisted by the growing conception of the B. as the one utterance of God ratlier than as the multiplicity of voices speaking for Him. As a singular name, accordingly, it has been adopted into the language of the Western Church, and is employed in the tongues of modern Europe.
Another name, ' liibliotheca,' appears to have been commonly used for the B. throughout the Middle Ages, as evidenced by the paronomasia— ' Habeo bibliothecam in mea bihliotheca ' — w liicli was then current. It appears with this meaning in old English, and was technically employed by mediieval writers to designate a complete MS of OT and NT. When originally used by certain of the Lat. Fathers, such as Jerome, the adjective • Divina ' had been prefixed to ' Bibliotheca,' but this was ere long dispensed with, and, as in the case of 'the Books,' the Scriptures became pre- eminently 'the Library.' This change of the point of view from plurality to unity is, as we shall see afterwards, precisely that which modern thought and investigation find it necessary to some extent to reverse. But it is interesting to observe the process thus embodying itself in language.
The names employed in OT and in the Apocr. for the Jemsh Scriptures are such as ' the books ' (Dn 9-), ' the holy books ' (1 Mac 129), < the book of the law' (1 Mac l" 3«), 'the book of the testa- ment ' (1 Mac 1"). In the NT the usual term is al ypa<pal, 'the Scriptures' (Lat. scriptura), that is, the sacred writings (Mt 21*^ 22=^ Lk 24»^ Jn 5'», Ac 18'^). It is to be noted, that while the Jewish Scriptures as a wiiole are thus designated, ii ypa<p-n, in the singular, is always used for a special passage (Lk 4-', Jn 20», Ja 2*), and not as with us, by whom Scripture is employed perhaps even mort frequently in the collective than in the special sense. Occasionally for the simple ol ypa<pal we find ypaipal d7iai (Ro V) or ri. Upa ypAiiiiara (2 Ti 3">). Another variant is when the leading (Jewish) divisions of OT are indicated, as ' the law, the prophets and the psalms ' (Lk 24**), ' the law and the prophets ' (Ac 28-»), ' the law ' (Jn 12*'). The same practice is also common in rabbinical WTit- ings, though sometimes, instead of the divisions, the number of the books is given, and the OT is known as ' The Twenty-four ' ; sometimes, again, the simple term 'The Reading' is employed, which, in contrast with ol ypa<pai, reminds us of the use of the Scriptures in the services of the synagogue. By the early Christians the most common designation for the whole B. was ' The Scriptures,' accompanied as a rule by some such adjective as in the case of Biblia.