Why are there several different Bibles didn't God send one complete book?

Answer 1

The writers

All the books were written by individuals. There were shepherds (Micah), learned men (Isaiah), kings (David), ordinary men, fishermen, a tax collector (Matthew), a doctor (Luke), and even a tent-maker (Paul). Jews and Christians hod that the one thing they all had in common was that they were truly inspired by God in their writings even though they wrote within their own society and from within their own experience of life and God. However, Jews and Christians believe that God imparted messages to the people through those who were inspired to write.

The Early Church

The earliest Christians knew of only one "Bible" -- the Hebrew Scriptures. As Paul's mission to the Gentiles yielded fruit, more and more congregations relied upon the Greek translation of these Scriptures known as the Septuagint The Septuagint has been produced in Alexandria, Egypt for the use of Greek-speaking Jews throughout the Mediterranean world. It contained several books which were not ultimately accepted in the Hebrew canon by the Jewish community in Palestine.

As it became clear that the church would soon have to live without the living authority of the apostles, the Church began to recognize certain writings written by, or authorized by, the Apostles as being inspired by the Holy Spirit in a way that put them on the same level as the Hebrew Scriptures they already regarded as "Bible."

Christians in various locations chose different writings as being divinely-inspired apostolic scriptures. The final decision as to what would form a single collection recognized throughout the church as "the Bible" had to wait until the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. Even at that time, there were those who recognized that the "extra" books included in the Septuagint version of the Hebrew Scriptures held a more questionable value as Scripture than the undisputed Hebrew Bible accepted in the Palestinian Jewish community.

The Reformation

As the Protestant Reformation gained momentum, and the reformers set to work translating the Bible into vernacular languages, they turned for their sources to the best available versions in the original languages, Hebrew and Greek. In so doing the question arose how to deal with the "extra books" of the Septuagint that were already accepted in the West (but not in Eastern Christianity). Martin Luther's decision was to separate them from the undisputed writings of the Hebrew Bible, and place them in a separate section that appeared between the "Old Testament" and the "New Testament" under the heading "Apocrypha" ("hidden" or questionable writings). This became the standard practice in Protestantism.

Today

Modern translations are usually very good, especially as more is now known about the ancient languages of the Bible (Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek), but chiefly because the reputable modern translations are also attempted only after much study (and prayer, as Christians believe this to be essential).

Modern day translations make use of a large team of scholars from all denominations, steeped in prayer, in order that these translations should reflect, as much as possible, the original meaning of the Scripture, but in modern English, and be faithful to, what is, considered to be the inspired Word of God. There are some translations which are dismissed by biblical scholars of both Jewish and Christian faiths - for example that of the Jehovah's Witnesses, as they stand accused of mistranslating in order that the Bible 'fitted' the pre-conceived ideas and beliefs of the Witnesses.