Is the Bible
OUT OF ORDER?

Who did God entrust with PRESERVING His words for mankind? Who decided which writings WOULD and WOULD NOT be in the Bible? How were the writings of Matthew, John, Peter, Paul and others finalized, collected and put together to form the New Testament?

Who set the ORIGINAL ORDER of the Bible's books? Why was the Bible's initial inspired book order CHANGED? Who or what changed it? Why was it done? What is the CORRECT order of the Old and New Testament books and why does it MATTER?

Is the Bible MIXED UP?

The order of the books found in modern Bibles is something that is taken for granted. After all, the placement of the books certainly SEEMS to be correct. We will find on closer study, however, that the order of the Old and New Testament books found in modern translations such as the King James Version (KJV), New King James Version (NKJV), New International Version (NIV), and many others is SIGNIFICANTLY different than their originally inspired arrangement.

Who did God entrust with PRESERVING His words?

Just before his death Moses wrote the book of Deuteronomy, which finalized the first major set of inspired books that would become part of the Bible. This set is known as the Pentateuch, or Law, and is composed of the following five books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Upon completion of the last book Moses, a Levite, gave them to the priests so that they may be preserved:

"So it was, when Moses had completed writing the words of this law in a book, when they were finished, that Moses commanded THE LEVITES, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying: 'Take this Book of the Law, and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there as a witness against you; . . .' "  (Deuteronomy 31:24-26, NKJV throughout unless stated)

It was from the death of Moses that:

" . . . the Aaronic priests and the Levites were made the OFFICIAL custodians of the Word of God. The Old Testament began with Moses, a Levite, who wrote the Law of God. God then transferred the Law to the Aaronic priesthood, who were Levites, to safeguard and preserve it. It was from these original scrolls that faithful copies were made by the priests and Levites for teaching the children of Israel." (The Holy Bible in Its Original Order - A Faithful Version, Second Edition (HBFV), section About this Bible, page 4).

God, for many years after Moses, inspired others such as Samuel, King David, King Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel to write books for the Bible. It wasn't until the late fifth century B.C., however, that these books were collected and compiled to form what we know as the Old Testament.

HOW and WHEN was the Old Testament canonized?

A scroll of the Book of Isaiah

It was Ezra, an Aaronic priest who lived more than eight hundred years after Moses, who led the effort to canonize the Old Testament: " . . . such writings were officially made a permanent part of the Word of God when Ezra the priest — assisted by the priests and Levites of the Great Assembly or Synagogue — completed the final editing and canonization of the Old Testament Scriptures in the late fifth century B.C." (ibid, page 4) Canonization is the process by which a collection of writings comes to be considered authoritative, definitive and fixed by a religious authority. It was during the canonization process that the number of books in the Old Testament and their book arrangement was set.

Ezra and the Great Assembly brought together all the writings inspired by God and produced an Old Testament made up of twenty-two (22) manuscripts (books). The number of finalized manuscripts (22) is the same as the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet.

The Old Testament canon was divided into three major divisions: 1) The Law, 2) The Prophets, and 3) The Writings (also known as “the Psalms” because the book of Psalms is listed first in this division). It was this inspired division of God's word that Jesus referred to when he said:

"Then He said to them, 'These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the LAW of Moses and the PROPHETS and the PSALMS (or Writings) concerning Me.'" (Luke 24:44)

After Ezra died only a few minor additions were made to the genealogical tables of important priestly families mentioned in the Old Testament. 

HOW and WHEN was the New Testament canonized?

A generally accepted theory is that the New Testament canon was completed late in the fourth century A.D. This theory, however, is not true:

"Unger (Unger's Bible Dictionary, page 178) informs us that scholars have arbitrarily divided the canonization of the New Testament into five periods ranging from the first century to its 'ratification' in 397 A.D. (Unger stated:) “The canon of the New Testament, as commonly received at present, was ratified by the third Council of Carthage (A.D. 397), and from that time was accepted throughout the Latin Church…”

"The extended timetable of this theory of canonization — 70 A.D. to 397 A.D. — is in error. God did not commit the canonization of the New Testament to men of dubious character and questionable faith some THREE HUNDRED YEARS after the apostle John’s death. This theory of canonization distorts the truth of how, when and by whom the books of the New Testament were canonized." (HBFV, section When and by Whom Was the New Testament Canonized?, page 65).

God choose to NOT have his inspired New Testament books canonized by those living hundreds of years after His Son died. He instead choose to canonize his word through the three Apostles who were the most prolific writers of New Testament books: Paul (14 books), Peter (2 books) and John (5 books):

"The first phase in the canonization of Paul’s Epistles was completed by the apostle Paul himself, beginning in 63 A.D. These initial Epistles were forwarded to Peter and John, who fully accepted them as Scriptures sanctioned by God. Peter called these Scriptures the “confirmed prophetic Word” (2Peter 1:19); and Paul wrote that his Epistles were “the prophetic Scriptures,” meaning that the writings were composed under the direct “inspiration” of God.

"When Peter wrote his second epistle, he left no doubt that he and the apostle John were forming the official text of New Testament teachings so that believers would have a “written remembrance” of the apostles’ teachings (2Peter 1:15). Peter also referred to this written remembrance as the “confirmed prophetic Word” (verse 19), now known as the New Testament Scriptures — the Word of God for eternal life."

"But I will make every effort that, after my departure, you may always have a written remembrance of these things in order to practice them for yourselves . . ."

"We also possess the confirmed prophetic Word to which you do well to pay attention . . ." (2Peter 1:15, 19, HBFV)

"During Paul’s second imprisonment in Rome in 67 A.D. (2Timothy 2:9), he realized his death was imminent (2Timothy 4:6-8). Knowing he would soon be martyred, Paul urgently began to complete the canonization of his Epistles. At this time, Luke was with Paul and could assist in this all-important task.

"However, in order for Paul to complete his work, he needed Timothy — and Mark. Paul summoned Timothy, specifically requesting that he bring Mark as well. Mark had previously assisted both Paul and Peter, and would be invaluable in helping Paul edit his Epistles and complete his canonization before his death (2Timothy 4:9-11).

"Paul also wanted Timothy to bring several important items needed to complete the canonization of his Epistles:

“When you come, bring the chest [incorrectly rendered "cloak" in the KJV Bible] that I left in Troas with Carpus, and the books — especially the parchments” (2Timothy 4:13, HBFV).

"We can deduce that this chest contained Paul’s own writings — as well as extra sheets of parchment or animal skins that had been made into blank pages for writing. Once Timothy and Mark arrived with these items, Paul could then add the final inspired additions to his Epistles. Because Paul had already canonized eleven of his Epistles earlier in 63 A.D., this final canonization probably required little editing. When the relevant information contained in the writings of the New Testament is brought to light, absolute proof emerges that the apostles Paul and Peter CANONIZED THEIR EPISTLES before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D." (HBFV, section When and by Whom Was the New Testament Canonized?, page 68).

God choose the uniquely qualified apostle John to set the order of the New Testament books and finalize their canonization:

"Clearly, Paul and Peter were dead by 68 A.D., and there were no additional apostolic writings until John finalized his Gospel and Epistles and wrote the book of Revelation in 95-96 A.D.

"Although Paul and Peter had canonized their writings before they died, the official canonization with the final arrangement of the books of the entire New Testament was accomplished by the apostle John in 96-99 A.D. As one of the last living apostles and the last living eyewitness of Christ’s transfiguration, John was uniquely qualified and chosen by Jesus to canonize the entire New Testament in its final form." (HBFV, section John’s Final Canonization of the New Testament, pages 70-71)

What is the ORIGINAL inspired book order of the Old and New Testaments?

Ezra divided the Old Testament manuscripts into three major divisions. These divisions were: 1) The Law, 2) The Prophets, and 3) The Writings. Division one contained five (5) books, division two contained six (6) books, and division three had eleven (11) books for a total of twenty-two (22) books:

The original number of books (manuscripts) in the New Testament was twenty-seven (27). The apostle John grouped these books into four major divisions: 1) the Gospels, 2) the General Epistles, 3) the Epistles of Paul and 4) the book of Revelation. Something to pay particular attention to is the original order of Paul's books:

"The individual books within each category follow the familiar order, except that in the Pauline Epistles, Hebrews stands between Second Thessalonians and First Timothy [which is the correct order], intentionally separating Paul’s local church epistles from those written to individuals” (HBFV, page 7).

The Bible, as a whole, was originally divided into seven (7) major divisions. The total number of books in the original Bible was forty-nine (49), or seven times seven. The number seven symbolizes spiritual perfection.

How are the books in modern Bibles ARRANGED?

The Table of Contents of almost any modern Bible will list thirty-nine (39) books for the Old Testament and twenty-seven (27) books for the New Testament for a grand total of sixty-six (66) books. Today's Bible translations have seventeen (17) MORE Old Testament books than they originally contained.

Today's Bibles have no obvious division or logical pattern to them. For example, although the book of Job is the OLDEST writing in the Bible (1700s B.C.) and therefore would be placed FIRST if the Bible's book order was from oldest to youngest book, it is the 18th book listed in Bibles such as the KJV and NIV.

More importantly, today's commonly accepted Old Testament book order is NOT the logical division endorsed by Jesus:

"Then He said to them, 'These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the LAW of Moses and the PROPHETS and the PSALMS (or Writings) concerning Me.'" (Luke 24:44)

What would Jesus have to say if he had to refer to TODAYS out of order Old Testament for his teaching in Luke 24:44? He would have to say something like:

"Then He said to them, 'These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in books 1 through 5 (the Law), AND in books 6, 7, 9 through 12, 23, 24, 26, and 28 to 35 (the Prophets), AND in books 19, 20, 18, 22, 8, 25, 21, 17, 27, 15, 16, 13 and 14 (the Writings or Psalms), concerning Me."

Who put the Bible OUT OF ORDER?

It was Jerome, in the fourth century A.D., that changed the original format and order of the Bible to something very different:

". . . the Old Testament books are arranged in an ECCLESIASTICAL order devised by Jerome in the fourth century A.D. when he translated the Bible into Latin, a version known as the Latin Vulgate. Jerome freely acknowledged that the ORIGINAL manuscript order of the Aaronic / Levitical Old Testament was composed of twenty-two (22) Hebrew books written on scrolls."

". . . Jerome did not wholly follow the inspired order of the books according to the final canonization by the high priest Ezra and the Great Assembly, and preserved by the Aaronic / Levitical priesthood — the TRUE custodians of the Old Testament. Instead, he chose to follow the order found in the Septuagint, an early Greek translation of the third century B.C." (HBFV, page 1)

Jerome was also the person who COMPLETLY CHANGED the original canonical order of the New Testament:

"In an attempt to exalt the religious and political position of the Roman Church, Jerome not only REJECTED the original order of the Scriptures to follow the order of the LXX, he also single-handedly devised a "new" arrangement of the books of the New Testament. To please Rome and the theologians of the Western Empire, Jerome exalted Paul’s position as "apostle to the Gentiles" over the so-called "Jewish" apostles. In so doing, he deliberately placed Paul’s Epistles, beginning with the book of Romans, after the book of Acts — then placed the seven General Epistles of James, Peter, John and Jude after all of Paul’s fourteen Epistles." (ibid., page 3)

Does it MATTER?

Does it matter which books are considered truly inspired by God and included in the Bible and which are not and rejected? Does the order of books which boldly claim to be the very words of God MATTER?

It mattered enough for Ezra and the Great Assembly (Synagogue) of 120 priests to spend countless hours laboring to collect and sort through manuscripts, determine which ones were and were not inspired by God, determine how the manuscripts should be arranged, etc. etc. all for the goal of creating a unified set of writings that could be consistently reproduced and distributed to all.

It matter enough for the apostle Paul and Peter to dedicate the time before they were martyred to editing and finalizing their writings so that MANY others could learn about God's way, have a relationship with Him and His son, and be saved.

And it mattered to Jesus, who in his very FIRST appearance to the disciples after his resurrection, took the time to encourage and remind them that the three-fold testimony of the law, prophets and writings concerning him HAD to be fulfilled.

If it mattered to all these, shouldn't it matter to us?