The Bible is an incredibly popular and influential book, with millions of copies sold every year. It has a rich history and many different versions and translations to choose from. However, many people are unaware that there are two distinct versions of the Christian Bible, due to the number of books written by various authors over the 1600 years it was created.
Key Takeaways
- During the inter-testamental period (around 100 A.D.), a group of Jewish rabbis revised the number of books and certain passages contained in the Jewish Scripture, creating the Apocrypha, which was deemed to be devoid of inspiration. Christians did not follow this revision and continued to use the old version of the Septuagint with 46 books as the Old Testament.
- In the 1500’s, the Roman Catholic Church officially declared the 7 secret books (Deuterocanonical books) as part of their Holy Scriptures, making the official Roman Catholic Bible include the original 46 books for the Old Testament.
- While the Baptist Bible still included the Apocrypha, questions regarding its validity and lack of inspiration led to it being made separate from the Old Testament. By the mid-1800’s, the section was considered of less importance and was completely removed from the publication of the Baptist Bible and most Protestant Bibles.
