The early church’s Bible

1. What the “Bible” Meant in the First Century

During the time of Jesus and the apostles (1st century CE):

• There was no single bound “Bible” yet — only scrolls.

• The Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) already existed, but in several textual forms (as we saw):

  • Hebrew proto-Masoretic text (used in Judea/Temple)

  • Greek Septuagint (LXX) (used by Greek-speaking Jews and Christians)

  • Aramaic Targums (used in synagogues)

So when the early church began, their Scriptures = Old Testament, and their version was mostly the Septuagint (Greek).

2. The “Bible” of the Early Church

a. Old Testament

• The Septuagint (LXX) was the Bible of the early Christians.

• The apostles and New Testament writers quoted the Greek LXX, even when it differed from the Hebrew.

• Example:

  • Hebrews 10:5 quotes Psalm 40:6 following the LXX version (“a body you prepared for me”) rather than the Hebrew (“ears you have opened”).

• Early Christians saw the LXX as inspired and authoritative — it was their Scripture.

b. New Testament

• The New Testament writings (Gospels, Letters, Revelation) were written in Greek between ~50–100 CE.

• These circulated as individual scrolls or small collections (Paul’s letters, the Gospels, etc.).

• Only gradually did these writings get collected and recognized as Scripture alongside the Old Testament.

3. Manuscripts the Early Church Used

• The earliest manuscripts were hand-copied Greek scrolls and codices, written on papyrus or parchment.

• We have fragments of these (like P52, P46, P66, P75 — 2nd–3rd century papyri).

• The church in different regions had slightly different copies, since everything was hand-copied.

  • Small textual variations existed (spelling, order, extra words, etc.).

• No one had a complete “Bible” as we know it; communities had portions — a Gospel, Paul’s letters, Psalms, etc.

4. Did Early Christians Claim a “Perfect Bible”?

No — they did not claim a single perfect, fixed text.

Here’s what we know:

• They believed the Scriptures themselves were divinely inspired, but they did not yet have a perfect manuscript tradition.

• They accepted that there were different Greek copies — but all testified to the same inspired truth.

• Early church fathers (like Origen, Irenaeus, and Tertullian) sometimes compared variants or noted textual differences, showing they were aware of them.

• Origen (3rd century) even compiled the Hexapla — six parallel versions (Hebrew, Greek LXX, and others) — to try to restore the most accurate text.

So:

• Belief: Scripture is inspired.

• Reality: No single “perfect” textual form yet.

5. By the 4th–5th Centuries

• Christianity spread widely; Greek and Latin Bibles became dominant.

• Key codices (the first full “Bibles”):

  • Codex Vaticanus (4th c.)

  • Codex Sinaiticus (4th c.)

  • Codex Alexandrinus (5th c.)

• These contained both Old (Greek LXX) and New Testaments.

• But even these don’t all agree exactly — differences in wording and order still appear.

6. Latin and Other Translations

• As the church spread west, Latin translations of the Greek Bible were made.

• These became many and inconsistent.

• Around 382 CE, Jerome was commissioned to produce a more accurate version — the Latin Vulgate — translated mostly from Hebrew for the Old Testament and Greek for the New Testament.

• Over time, the Vulgate became the “official” Bible of the Western Church, though it too underwent revisions.

Summary: What the Early Church Used & Believed

Period	Scriptures Used	Language	"Official" or "Perfect"?
1st century (Apostolic)	Hebrew & Greek OT (mostly LXX) + emerging NT writings	Greek (some Aramaic)	❌ No fixed or perfect text
2nd–3rd century	LXX + NT collections	Greek (and some early Latin, Syriac, Coptic)	❌ Many copies, textual variations
4th–5th century	LXX/Greek NT in codices (Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, etc.)	Greek & Latin	⚙️ Moving toward standardization
Late 4th century onward	Latin Vulgate (Jerome) in the West	Latin	✅ Eventually became “official” in the Catholic Church

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Bottom Line

• In the first century, the Septuagint (Greek OT) and the Greek NT writings were the Scriptures of the Church.

• There was no single, perfect manuscript, but they believed the message and meaning of Scripture were inspired and authoritative.

• The idea of a perfect, official Bible came centuries later, when the Church and later Judaism both standardized their texts (Masoretic Text for Jews, Vulgate for Western Christians).