When did the Bible first exist?

Answer 1

The word "Bible" comes from the Greek word for "book", biblos (also biblion) which is originally derived from the name of the Phoenician city of Byblos. This city seems to have been known as a center for books. The word "bible" therefore simply means "book", in Greek.

Answer 2

A:All the books of the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, had been written by the second century BCE, although no decision was made as to which books to include or exclude until the Council of Jamnia in about 96 CE. The Catholic and Orthodox Bibles include books not accepted by the Council of Jamnia simply because the early Christians did not communicate with their Jewish counterparts and were therefore unaware of which books were considered by the Jews to be inspired.

All the books that are now included in the New Testament were written by the middle of the second century CE, although once again the Church had yet to make a decision as to which to include and which to exclude. The 'heretic' Marcion created the first known list of Christian scriptures in the middle of the second century, spurring the mainstream Church to begin considering which books it felt were proper for Christians to read. A list of New Testament books, written around 200 CE omitted Hebrews and four of the general epistles, but included the Apocalypse of Peter.

Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, was the first to list the books we now have in the New Testament in the same order as was subsequently used, in his Easter letter of 367 CE. This was not yet official, but was the basis of future lists, although there was not yet a single bound volume known as the Bible until the sixth century.