Making the Bible

by William Barclay

William Barclay was a Scottish author, radio and television presenter, Church of Scotland minister, and Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism at the University of Glasgow. He wrote a popular set of Bible commentaries on the New Testament that sold 1.5 million copies. william-barclay.com

Summary

In this classic work by british author William Barclay, he explains God’s process of giving us the Bible. Chapters are (1) the Grandeur of the law, (2) the Writings, (3) For further guidance, (4) The final test.

This is a three chapter work (rather long chapters with many subdivisions) about the formation of the Bible and the Canon. Chapers run: The Grandeur of the Law, The Starting-Point of Scripture, Some Discrepancies, The Holiness Code, Just Because the Days of the Prophets Were Held to Have Ended, The Prophets Established, The Writings, Attributed Authorship, The People of the Book, The Emergence of Sacred Scripture, The First Christian Books, Collecting Paul’s Letters, Making the Collection, The Gospels Win Their Place, A Written Gospel, Authoritative and Sacred, Discarding the Old Testament?, The Church’s Decision, Closing of the Books, The Final Completion, The Final Test: Does the Book Speak of Christ? Faith in a Living Saviour

More Works on Bible Origins

• Talbot, L.T. – Why Four Gospels? The Four-Fold Portrait of Christ
• Litke, S. – How We Got the Bible
• Griffith-Thomas, W.H. – How we got our Bible
• Barclay, W. – Making the Bible

Chapter Content

GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1
THE MAKING OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 4
I. THE GRANDEUR OF THE LAW 6
The Starting-Point of Scripture 9
Some Discrepancies 10
The Holiness Code 11
Just because the days of the prophets were held to have ended 13
The Prophets Established 15
II. THE WRITINGS 16
Attributed Authorship 18
The People of the Book 21
The Emergence of Sacred Scripture 24
The First Christian Books 26
Collecting Paul’s Letters 27
Making the Collection 29
The Gospels Win their Place 31
A Written Gospel 33
Authoritative and Sacred 34
Discarding the Old Testament? 36
The Church’s Decision 38
Closing of the Books 39
The Final Completion 40
III. FOR FURTHER GUIDANCE 42
IV. THE FINAL TEST 43
Does the Book Speak of Christ? 44
Faith in a Living Saviour 46
BIBLIOGRAPHY 47

More Works by William Barclay

• Barclay, W. – Making the Bible
• Barclay free gift of salvation Bok

More Works on Bibliology

More Works on Bible Origins

• Talbot, L.T. – Why Four Gospels? The Four-Fold Portrait of Christ
• Litke, S. – How We Got the Bible
• Griffith-Thomas, W.H. – How we got our Bible
• Barclay, W. – Making the Bible

theWord Modules on Bible Origins

• Warfield – Divine Origin of the Bible
• Gaussen – Divine Inspiration of the Bible
• Pink – Divine Inspiration of the Bible
• DeHoff – Why we believe the Bible