From Scrolls to the ESV: How the Bible We Read Today Came to Us
Section: 07 — Biblical Background
Estimated reading time: 18–22 minutes
Introduction
When a reader opens an English Standard Version Bible today, the result appears simple: sixty-six books bound between two covers, divided into Old and New Testaments, printed in clear modern English.
Historically, however, that Bible stands at the end of a very long process.
Behind the ESV lie:
- ancient Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek writings;
- centuries of manuscript copying;
- Jewish and Christian decisions about which books belonged to Scripture;
- ancient translations such as the Septuagint and Latin Vulgate;
- church debates and regional councils;
- the invention of printing;
- the Protestant Reformation;
- the recovery and comparison of increasingly ancient manuscripts;
- generations of English Bible translation;
- and finally the work of modern textual scholars and translation committees.
It is important to distinguish three processes that are often confused:
Canon formation asks: Which books belong in the Bible?
Textual transmission asks: How do we know what those books originally said?
Translation asks: How should those Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts be expressed in English?
The ESV is the result of all three histories.
1. Scripture Began as Individual Writings
The Bible did not appear as a completed book at one moment in history.
The Old Testament consists of writings produced across many centuries. The Law, historical books, poetry, wisdom literature, and prophets arose in different periods and circumstances.
The New Testament arose much more quickly, largely during the first century AD. Paul’s letters were written to particular congregations or individuals. The Gospels presented the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Acts narrated the expansion of the church. Other letters addressed doctrine, suffering, Christian living, and false teaching. Revelation was addressed to seven churches in Asia Minor.
The earliest Christians therefore did not initially possess a bound volume titled The New Testament.
They possessed individual writings.
Those writings were copied, exchanged, read publicly, and increasingly collected.
Paul himself expected correspondence to circulate:
“And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans.”
— Colossians 4:16
By the second century, collections of Paul’s letters and the four Gospels were circulating widely.
The Bible began not as one physical book, but as a growing collection of recognized sacred writings.
2. The Old Testament Before Christianity
Long before Christianity began, Jewish communities already possessed sacred writings.
The Torah—the five books of Moses—held foundational authority. The Prophets and other writings were also increasingly recognized and used in Jewish worship and teaching.
By the time of Jesus, the Jewish Scriptures already represented an established body of sacred literature, although scholarly discussion continues over exactly when every boundary of the Jewish canon became fixed.
Jesus and the apostles repeatedly appealed to these writings as authoritative Scripture.
Luke 24:44 reflects a familiar threefold pattern:
“the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms.”
The Dead Sea Scrolls, dating from roughly the third century BC to the first century AD, preserve manuscripts of biblical books alongside many other Jewish writings. Their discovery demonstrated that biblical texts were being copied centuries before the medieval Hebrew manuscripts previously available to scholars.
3. The Septuagint: The Hebrew Scriptures in Greek
As Jewish communities spread through the Greek-speaking Mediterranean world, many Jews became more comfortable with Greek than Hebrew.
Beginning several centuries before Christ, Jewish Scriptures were translated into Greek.
The resulting collection became known as the Septuagint, often abbreviated LXX.
The Septuagint became enormously important for Christianity because Greek was the common language of much of the eastern Roman Empire, and many New Testament quotations of the Old Testament resemble forms found in the Septuagint.
The Septuagint tradition also included books and additions that would later become a point of disagreement between Christian traditions.
These writings include books such as:
- Tobit
- Judith
- Wisdom of Solomon
- Sirach
- Baruch
- 1 and 2 Maccabees
- additions to Esther
- additions to Daniel
Roman Catholics generally call these deuterocanonical books. Protestants commonly call them the Apocrypha.
That disagreement would become particularly important during the Reformation.
4. The New Testament Books Are Written
Most New Testament books were written approximately between the AD 40s and the end of the first century.
Their authors did not meet at a council to create a New Testament.
Instead, the books emerged from the apostolic mission itself.
Paul wrote letters.
The evangelists wrote Gospels.
Other apostolic leaders wrote to churches.
These documents acquired authority because churches believed they faithfully transmitted the teaching of Christ and his apostles.
Gradually, churches faced a new question:
Which of the many Christian writings circulating among congregations genuinely belong among the authoritative apostolic Scriptures?
This became increasingly important as Christianity expanded.
5. Recognition Before Councils
One misconception should be removed immediately:
The church did not wait until the fourth century for a council to decide which writings were Scripture.
Long before the great councils, Christian writers quoted the Gospels and apostolic letters as authoritative.
By the second century:
- four Gospels had acquired a distinctive place;
- Paul’s letters circulated as a collection;
- Acts was widely known;
- many of the Catholic Epistles were used;
- Revelation was accepted in many regions.
At the same time, some books remained disputed in certain places.
These included at various times:
- Hebrews
- James
- 2 Peter
- 2 and 3 John
- Jude
- Revelation
Other Christian books were highly respected but ultimately not included, such as:
- 1 Clement
- the Shepherd of Hermas
- the Didache
- the Epistle of Barnabas
The process was therefore one of recognition and discernment, not simply a single administrative decree.
6. The Muratorian Fragment
One of the earliest surviving discussions of a New Testament collection is the Muratorian Fragment, usually associated with the late second century, though aspects of its dating remain debated.
It recognizes most of the writings that would eventually form the New Testament while revealing that discussions concerning certain books were still occurring.
Its importance lies in showing that Christians were already asking explicit questions about the boundaries of authoritative apostolic literature well before the major fourth-century councils.
7. Did the Council of Nicaea Decide the Bible?
No.
This deserves special emphasis because the claim appears frequently in popular discussions.
The Council of Nicaea, convened by Emperor Constantine in AD 325, addressed principally the controversy concerning the relationship of Jesus Christ to God the Father and produced the foundation of what became the Nicene Creed.
Its surviving twenty disciplinary canons concern issues such as clergy, ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and church order. They do not contain a decree determining the books of the biblical canon.
Therefore:
Nicaea did not choose the books of the Bible.
The canon was already developing through Christian usage and recognition before Nicaea and continued to be discussed afterward.
8. Athanasius and the Twenty-Seven Books
A major milestone came in AD 367.
Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, issued his annual Easter letter and listed the books he regarded as canonical.
His list of New Testament books contains precisely the same twenty-seven books found in today’s New Testament.
This does not mean Athanasius invented the New Testament canon in 367.
Rather, his letter provides an especially important surviving witness to the growing consensus that had developed within much of Christianity.
9. Hippo and Carthage
Regional councils in North Africa subsequently addressed the canon.
Important dates include:
- Hippo — AD 393
- Carthage — AD 397
- Carthage — AD 419
These councils affirmed lists corresponding to the twenty-seven-book New Testament while also accepting an Old Testament collection that included books later called deuterocanonical by Roman Catholics.
Again, these councils should not be portrayed as creating Scripture from nothing.
They formalized within their jurisdictions what had already become widespread ecclesiastical practice.
The process is better described as:
use → recognition → discussion → increasing consensus → formal affirmation
rather than:
council → Bible suddenly created
10. Jerome and the Latin Vulgate
Around the end of the fourth and beginning of the fifth centuries, Jerome undertook the enormous task of producing and revising Latin biblical translations.
His work eventually became known as the Vulgate.
For Western Christianity, the Vulgate became the dominant Bible for approximately a thousand years.
Jerome was unusually interested in the Hebrew text of the Old Testament and distinguished between books found in the Hebrew canon and other ecclesiastical books used by Christians.
That distinction would become significant many centuries later during debates over the Old Testament canon.
11. What Happened to the Original Manuscripts?
The original physical manuscripts—the autographs—of the biblical books disappeared.
Yet the texts continued because they were copied.
This connects directly with our companion study:
Why Did Ordinary Roman Letters Survive but the New Testament Autographs Did Not?
The manuscript tradition became enormous.
Some copies contained individual books.
Others contained collections.
Eventually entire biblical codices appeared.
Among the most important surviving ancient Christian manuscripts are:
- Codex Vaticanus
- Codex Sinaiticus
- Codex Alexandrinus
These manuscripts are much later than the autographs, but they preserve extensive portions of the biblical text and can be compared with earlier papyri and later manuscripts.
The task of comparing these witnesses eventually became known as textual criticism.
12. The Printing Press Changes Everything
For most of Christian history, every Bible had to be copied by hand.
That changed dramatically after the invention of movable-type printing in Europe during the fifteenth century.
Printing made it possible to produce large numbers of nearly identical copies.
Once biblical texts could be printed rather than continually recopied by hand, the nature of transmission changed fundamentally.
Instead of thousands of handwritten manuscripts gradually accumulating individual variations, a printed edition could be reproduced in hundreds or thousands of copies.
But another question now became important:
Which Hebrew and Greek manuscripts should printers use to establish the text being printed?
That question eventually helped produce modern critical editions.
13. Erasmus and the Printed Greek New Testament
In 1516, Desiderius Erasmus published an influential printed edition of the Greek New Testament.
Erasmus worked from a relatively small number of Greek manuscripts available to him.
His editions, and later related editions by other scholars, contributed to the textual tradition eventually associated with the Textus Receptus.
That Greek textual tradition strongly influenced Reformation-era translations, including the English Bible tradition culminating in the King James Version.
Later discoveries of far older manuscripts greatly expanded the evidence available to textual scholars.
14. William Tyndale and the English Bible
One of the most important figures in the history leading to the ESV is William Tyndale.
His English New Testament appeared in 1526.
Tyndale was convinced that ordinary English-speaking Christians should be able to read Scripture directly.
His translation had a profound and lasting impact on English biblical language.
Many phrases familiar from later English Bibles ultimately descend from Tyndale.
His influence passed into subsequent translations and eventually into the King James Version.
The ESV itself explicitly identifies Tyndale’s New Testament as the fountainhead of the English translation tradition it seeks to continue.
15. The Reformation and the Old Testament Canon
The Reformation reopened significant questions concerning the Old Testament canon.
Martin Luther and other Reformers placed primary emphasis upon the books belonging to the Hebrew Jewish canon.
They generally separated the additional Greek Old Testament books rather than treating them as equal in authority to the Hebrew canonical books.
This became the basic Protestant position.
The Roman Catholic Church responded to Reformation controversies at the Council of Trent in the sixteenth century by formally reaffirming its larger Old Testament canon, including the deuterocanonical books.
Thus the principal difference remains today:
Protestant Bible: 39 Old Testament + 27 New Testament = 66 books
Roman Catholic Bible: 46 Old Testament + 27 New Testament = 73 books
Orthodox traditions contain somewhat different collections again.
The disagreement concerns principally the Old Testament. The twenty-seven-book New Testament is shared among the major Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant traditions.
16. The King James Version — 1611
In 1611, the King James Version appeared.
It was not the first English Bible.
It stood on the shoulders of earlier translations including:
- Tyndale
- Coverdale
- the Great Bible
- the Geneva Bible
- the Bishops’ Bible
The KJV achieved extraordinary influence in the English-speaking world.
Its language shaped English literature, worship, preaching, and Christian vocabulary for centuries.
The ESV ultimately belongs to this same literary family.
But the biblical manuscript evidence available in 1611 was far more limited than that available today.
17. Older Manuscripts Change the Textual Picture
During the centuries following the King James Version, scholars gained access to increasingly ancient biblical manuscripts.
Important discoveries and manuscript studies included:
- Codex Vaticanus
- Codex Sinaiticus
- additional ancient Greek manuscripts
- biblical papyri
- the Dead Sea Scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls were particularly important for the Old Testament.
Dating from roughly the third century BC through the first century AD, they pushed the surviving Hebrew manuscript record dramatically earlier than the medieval manuscripts on which scholars had previously depended.
This wealth of manuscript evidence enabled scholars to compare readings much more extensively.
18. Textual Criticism
Textual criticism asks:
Among surviving manuscript readings, which most probably represents the earliest recoverable form of the text?
Suppose one hundred manuscripts contain a verse.
Ninety contain one wording.
Ten contain another.
The answer is not automatically determined by majority vote.
Scholars consider:
- the age of the manuscripts;
- geographical distribution;
- relationships between manuscripts;
- scribal tendencies;
- which reading best explains how the others arose;
- ancient translations;
- quotations from early Christian writers.
For the New Testament, modern editions such as the Nestle-Aland and United Bible Societies Greek New Testament summarize this enormous body of evidence.
For the Hebrew Bible, modern scholars work principally from the Masoretic textual tradition while also comparing the Dead Sea Scrolls, Septuagint, Samaritan Pentateuch, Syriac translations, and other witnesses.
19. The English Revised Version — 1885
By the nineteenth century, scholars recognized both that English had changed since 1611 and that manuscript studies had advanced substantially.
The English Revised Version, completed in 1885, was intended as a revision of the King James Version.
It incorporated developments in biblical scholarship and textual criticism while preserving much of the established English tradition.
20. The American Standard Version — 1901
American scholars associated with the Revised Version eventually produced the American Standard Version in 1901.
The ASV became another major step in the translation family that would ultimately lead to the ESV.
The lineage now looked approximately like this:
Tyndale → King James Version → Revised Version → American Standard Version
21. The Revised Standard Version
The Revised Standard Version appeared in stages, with the New Testament published in 1946 and the complete Bible in 1952. An important revision followed in 1971.
The RSV sought to retain the literary heritage of the King James tradition while incorporating modern textual scholarship and contemporary English.
It proved enormously influential.
And it is especially important for understanding the ESV because the 1971 RSV became the immediate English starting point from which the ESV translators worked.
22. Why Was the ESV Created?
During the 1990s, a group of evangelical scholars and publishers sought an English translation they believed would combine:
- close attention to the wording of the original languages;
- literary quality;
- theological terminology;
- continuity with the historic English Bible tradition;
- suitability for preaching, study, memorization, and public reading.
Crossway obtained rights to revise the RSV.
Translation work began in the late 1990s.
The project eventually involved more than one hundred scholars and advisers, overseen by a Translation Oversight Committee. Crossway identifies J. I. Packer as one of the key figures in this work.
The English Standard Version was first published in 2001.
23. What Does “Essentially Literal” Mean?
The ESV describes its translation philosophy as “essentially literal.”
This means that translators generally try to preserve:
- wording;
- grammatical relationships;
- recurring terminology;
- sentence structure;
as closely as good English allows.
No translation can be mechanically word-for-word because languages do not correspond perfectly.
Translation always requires interpretation.
The ESV therefore aims to remain close to the structure and wording of Hebrew and Greek while still producing understandable English.
This makes it particularly useful for the Berean Bible Study Project because recurring Greek and Hebrew terms often remain visible in English.
24. What Hebrew and Greek Text Is Behind the ESV?
This is where the story returns directly to manuscript transmission.
The ESV Old Testament is principally based upon the Masoretic Hebrew text represented by Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia.
When difficult textual questions arise, translators may consult:
- Dead Sea Scrolls
- Septuagint
- Samaritan Pentateuch
- Syriac Peshitta
- Latin Vulgate
- other ancient witnesses
The New Testament is based upon modern critical Greek editions, particularly the Nestle-Aland and United Bible Societies texts.
The current ESV preface identifies Nestle-Aland 28 and the corresponding UBS Greek text as its principal New Testament textual base.
Thus the ESV is not translated from the King James Version.
Its English literary ancestry runs through the Tyndale–KJV–RSV tradition.
But its textual basis comes from modern editions of the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek Scriptures.
These are different things.
25. The ESV Is Still a Living Translation
The first ESV appeared in 2001, but the text has not remained entirely unchanged.
Crossway has made limited revisions as translators have reconsidered particular passages and evaluated linguistic and textual evidence.
An especially interesting event occurred in 2016.
Crossway initially announced that the ESV text would become permanently fixed. Within weeks, it reversed that decision, acknowledging that future discoveries and improved understanding might occasionally warrant further changes.
That decision proved significant.
In 2025, Crossway announced another limited update affecting 42 verses and 68 words. The revised editions began appearing in 2025 and are scheduled to continue rolling out through 2026. Crossway states that future revisions should remain infrequent but that translators should remain open to archaeological, linguistic, and textual discoveries.
Thus even the Bible on our desk today exists within an ongoing scholarly process.
The Scriptures do not change.
Our ability to translate them accurately can improve.
26. Timeline: From Ancient Scripture to the ESV
| Date | Event | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| c. 1400–400 BC | Old Testament writings composed over many centuries | Formation of Israel’s Scriptures |
| 3rd–1st centuries BC | Septuagint produced | Hebrew Scriptures become widely available in Greek |
| 3rd century BC–AD 68 | Dead Sea Scroll manuscripts | Earliest major body of surviving Hebrew biblical manuscripts |
| c. AD 45–100 | New Testament books written | Apostolic Christian writings enter circulation |
| 2nd century | Gospels and Pauline letters circulate as collections | Early movement toward recognizable New Testament collections |
| late 2nd century | Muratorian Fragment | Early surviving discussion of New Testament books |
| c. AD 200 | P46 and other early papyri | Evidence for early copying and collection |
| AD 325 | Council of Nicaea | Major doctrinal council; did not establish the Bible’s canon |
| AD 367 | Athanasius’ 39th Festal Letter | First surviving list containing exactly today’s 27 New Testament books |
| AD 393 | Synod of Hippo | Regional affirmation of canonical books |
| AD 397 | Council of Carthage | Further regional canonical affirmation |
| AD 419 | Council of Carthage | Reaffirms the canon in North Africa |
| c. AD 400 | Jerome’s Vulgate | Latin Bible becomes dominant in Western Christianity |
| 15th century | Printing revolution | Biblical texts can be reproduced on a large scale |
| 1516 | Erasmus’ printed Greek New Testament | Major step in printed Greek textual history |
| 1526 | Tyndale New Testament | Foundation of the classic English Bible tradition |
| 1534 | Luther’s complete German Bible | Major Reformation vernacular Bible |
| 1546 | Council of Trent | Roman Catholic Church formally reaffirms its larger OT canon |
| 1560 | Geneva Bible | Influential Protestant English translation |
| 1611 | King James Version | Dominant English Bible for centuries |
| 1647 | Westminster Confession | Classic Reformed statement defining the Protestant canon |
| 1885 | English Revised Version | Major revision incorporating newer textual scholarship |
| 1901 | American Standard Version | American continuation of the revision tradition |
| 1946–1952 | Revised Standard Version | Modern revision of classic English Bible tradition |
| 1971 | Revised RSV | Becomes immediate English basis later used for ESV |
| 2001 | English Standard Version | ESV first published |
| 2016 | ESV “permanent text” decision announced and reversed | Recognition that translation should remain open to improved evidence |
| 2025–2026 | Latest limited ESV revision rolled out | Ongoing refinement based on textual and linguistic study |
27. So Who “Decided” What the Bible Is?
The answer depends partly upon what is meant by “decided.”
No single person selected the Bible.
No single council created it.
No emperor simply imposed it.
Instead, biblical canon formation occurred through a long historical process involving:
- apostolic origin or association;
- consistency with the inherited faith;
- widespread church usage;
- public reading in worship;
- theological discernment;
- debate;
- eventual ecclesiastical affirmation.
Different Christian traditions subsequently defined the Old Testament boundaries somewhat differently.
Therefore, a historically balanced formulation is:
The books of Scripture were written first, used and recognized by communities of faith, increasingly collected, debated at the margins, and eventually affirmed in formal canonical lists.
Councils played a role.
They did not create the books they recognized.
28. Has the Bible Changed?
This question requires careful definition.
If “changed” means:
Did scribes ever introduce differences into manuscript copies?
Yes.
Textual variants unquestionably exist.
If “changed” means:
Did Christian councils repeatedly rewrite the biblical message?
The manuscript evidence does not support such a claim.
Thousands of manuscript witnesses allow scholars to see where textual differences occurred.
Most variants are minor.
Some are more substantial and deserve careful discussion, including passages such as:
- Mark 16:9–20
- John 7:53–8:11
- certain wording in 1 John 5:7–8
Modern translations usually identify major textual questions openly in footnotes.
The ESV itself regards these textual notes as part of its translation apparatus.
That openness allows readers to examine the evidence rather than pretending manuscript differences do not exist.
29. What the ESV Represents
When you hold an ESV Bible, you are therefore looking at several histories converging.
Behind one verse of Romans stand:
Paul’s first-century composition
↓
early handwritten copies
↓
collections of Pauline letters
↓
centuries of Greek manuscripts
↓
ancient translations and quotations
↓
modern textual comparison
↓
Nestle-Aland / UBS critical Greek text
↓
centuries of English translation
↓
Tyndale
↓
King James Version
↓
Revised Version
↓
American Standard Version
↓
Revised Standard Version
↓
English Standard Version
That is a remarkable chain of transmission.
30. A Berean Perspective
Understanding this history should produce neither naïve confidence nor unnecessary suspicion.
The Berean approach asks difficult questions.
Where are the autographs?
They are gone.
Are manuscripts identical?
No.
Did Christians debate which books belonged in Scripture?
Yes.
Do Christian traditions still differ concerning the Old Testament canon?
Yes.
Did councils participate in defining those boundaries?
Yes.
Did Nicaea create the Bible?
No.
Has textual scholarship changed our understanding of some individual readings?
Yes.
Does that mean the biblical text disappeared?
The surviving evidence does not justify that conclusion.
Instead, we possess a remarkably large and diverse body of manuscript evidence through which ancient readings can be examined and compared.
The path from Paul to the ESV is neither magical nor simple.
It is historical.
And because it is historical, it can be investigated.
That is precisely what a Berean approach should welcome.
31. Scripture as Our Final Authority
Church councils matter historically.
Athanasius matters.
Jerome matters.
Luther matters.
Tyndale matters.
Textual critics matter.
Translation committees matter.
But none of them stands above Scripture.
The councils did not give Scripture its truth.
The Reformers did not give Scripture its authority.
The ESV Translation Oversight Committee does not give Scripture its authority.
For the Berean Bible Study Project, the appropriate relationship is:
Manuscripts help us recover the text.
History helps us understand its transmission.
Translators help us read it in our own language.
But Scripture remains the authority by which every interpreter, council, confession, and translation must ultimately be tested.
This is why the example of the Bereans remains so important:
“They received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.”
— Acts 17:11
They listened to teachers.
But they tested what they heard against Scripture.
That remains our method.
Key Takeaways
- The Bible did not appear all at once as a completed volume.
- Old and New Testament books originated as individual writings that were copied, circulated, and collected.
- Canon formation, textual transmission, and translation are three different historical processes.
- The Council of Nicaea did not determine the biblical canon.
- Athanasius’ AD 367 letter provides the first surviving list containing exactly today’s twenty-seven New Testament books.
- Hippo and Carthage later provided important regional affirmations.
- Catholic and Protestant traditions differ primarily over the boundaries of the Old Testament canon.
- The original biblical manuscripts are lost, but their texts survive through manuscript copies.
- The Dead Sea Scrolls and early New Testament papyri greatly expanded modern knowledge of biblical textual history.
- Tyndale profoundly shaped the English translation tradition.
- The ESV’s English ancestry runs through Tyndale, the KJV, RV, ASV, and especially the RSV.
- The ESV itself is translated from modern Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek critical texts, not from the King James Version.
- The ESV was first published in 2001 and continues to receive occasional limited revisions.
- Councils, scholars, and translators serve the transmission and interpretation of Scripture; they do not replace its authority.
Related Background Studies
Why Did Ordinary Roman Letters Survive but the New Testament Autographs Did Not?
How Does Textual Criticism Reconstruct the Biblical Text? (future study)
The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Hebrew Bible (future study)
How Was the Biblical Canon Recognized? (future study, if a more detailed treatment is desired)
Sources for Further Study
ESV Preface — Crossway: explains the ESV’s translation philosophy, English translation lineage, textual basis, translation committee, and use of Hebrew and Greek critical editions.
Crossway — History of the ESV: documents the development of the translation project and its publication in 2001.
Athanasius, Festal Letter 39: important fourth-century witness to the twenty-seven-book New Testament canon.
Library of Congress — Dead Sea Scrolls: historical and manuscript background for the Hebrew Scriptures and Second Temple Judaism.
Crossway — ESV Bible Translation Update: documents the limited 2025 textual revision and Crossway’s continuing approach to occasional future updates.