Why the old testament became part of the bible

[John Churchilly]

This is dialogue with AI  about why the so called old testament was attached to the bible 

when the old testament became part of the bible

The Old Testament became part of the complete Christian Bible in the 2nd century AD. Before that, early Christians read and shared the Hebrew Scriptures, which were formally grouped into the Jewish canon by the 1st century AD. [1, 2, 3, 4]

The historical timeline involves several key milestones:

• 1400–400 BC: The individual books that make up the Old Testament were written over roughly 1,000 years. [1]
• 3rd to 2nd Century BC: The Hebrew scriptures were translated into Greek (a collection known as the Septuagint). This translation was widely used by early Greek-speaking Christians. [1, 2]
• 1st Century AD: The core Hebrew canon was largely settled in Judaism, though the exact number of books varied slightly between different Jewish and early Christian groups. [1, 2]
• Mid-2nd Century AD: Early Christian leaders officially used the term "Old Testament" to distinguish the inherited Jewish scriptures from the newly written Christian writings (the New Testament). [1]

The exact collection of books varies depending on the tradition. Protestant Bibles typically feature 39 Old Testament books, while Catholic and Orthodox Bibles include additional historical and wisdom texts (known as the Deuterocanon or Apocrypha). You can explore the historical scholarship behind this development in the Wikipedia Old Testament Overview or delve into how it became viewed as distinctly Christian via the Desiring God Article on the OT. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

If you want to know more, let me know:

• Are you interested in the differences between Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Old Testaments?
• Would you like to know when the New Testament was officially added to form the Bible as we know it today?

Let me know what you'd like to explore further.

ut there is no connection between the so called old tesament & Bible . When reading both they are both built on different time line urelated to Jesous christ

To understand how these two collections connect, it helps to look at the theological framework that ties them together, even though they were written centuries apart.

While it is historically true that the Old Testament books were written long before Jesus was born and contain their own distinct historical timelines, mainstream Christianity views the two testaments as an inseparable, continuous story.

Why They Are Connected in the Bible

• The Concept of "Testament": The word "testament" means covenant or agreement. The Old Testament details God's covenant with Israel, while the New Testament details what Christians believe is the "New Covenant" established through Jesus.
• Prophecy and Fulfillment: Early Christians did not see the timelines as unrelated. They believed the Old Testament timeline was a historical preparation that predicted and pointed directly toward the arrival of Jesus.
• Jesus's Own Teachings: According to the New Testament gospels, Jesus himself frequently quoted the Hebrew scriptures, stated he came to fulfill them, and used them as the foundation for his authority.

The Historical Disconnect: Marcionism

Your observation that the two text collections feel completely unrelated actually mirrors a famous historical debate from the early Church:

• Marcion of Sinope: In the 2nd century AD, a theologian named Marcion argued exactly this point. He believed the God of the Old Testament was an entirely different, lesser deity unrelated to Jesus Christ.
• The Church's Response: The early Christian Church rejected Marcion's view as heresy. They formally declared that the Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian writings were part of the same progressive timeline, cementing the Old Testament as a permanent part of the Christian Bible.

While the historical settings of the Old Testament books are ancient and separate from 1st-century Judea, the Bible links them through the narrative theme of promise (Old Testament) and fulfillment (New Testament).

If you want to look closer at this, we can investigate:

• The specific Old Testament passages that Christians interpret as predictions about Jesus.
• More details on the Marcionite controversy and how it shaped the early Church.

Let me know which angle you would like to look at next

more details about Marcion of Sinope

Marcion of Sinope (c. 85 – c. 160 AD) is historically famous for creating the very first closed Christian biblical canon, a move that forced the early Church to define its own Bible. Often labeled by early Church Fathers as the "arch-heretic", Marcion built a massive, alternative Christian movement that rejected the Old Testament entirely. [1, 2, 3, 4]

His life, unique theology, and lasting impact on history involve several core developments. [1, 2]

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1. Biography and Rise to Power

• The Rich Shipowner: Marcion was born in Sinope, a wealthy port city on the Black Sea (modern-day Turkey). He was a successful shipping merchant and the son of a Christian bishop. [1, 2, 3]
• The Roman Split: Around 139 AD, he traveled to Rome and joined the prominent Roman Church. He made a massive financial donation of 200,000 sesterces (worth more than 100 years of average wages). However, as his radical ideas developed, the Roman church leaders rejected his teachings. In 144 AD, they formally excommunicated him and returned his money. [1, 2, 3]
• The Marcionite Church: Undeterred, Marcion traveled the Roman Empire as a missionary. He established a highly organized, rival network of churches that lasted for centuries, competing directly with mainstream Christianity. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

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2. Radical Two-God Theology (Dualism)

Marcion’s teachings were rooted in an extreme form of metaphysical dualism, sharing some similarities with Gnosticism. He argued that the universe was governed by two entirely separate deities: [, 2, 3, 4, 5]

• The Creator God (The Demiurge): This was the God of the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament). Marcion argued this God was legalistic, vengeful, strict, and fiercely tribal. He pointed out that this God created a flawed, material world full of suffering. [1, 2]
• The Supreme Heavenly Father: This was a previously hidden God of pure mercy, love, and compassion, revealed for the first time through Jesus Christ. This God had no role in creating the physical world and came exclusively to save humanity from the harsh laws of the Creator. [1, 3, 4]

Because Marcion viewed the physical world as inherently evil, he taught Docetism—the belief that Jesus did not possess a real, flesh-and-blood human body. Instead, Jesus merely appeared to be human to bypass the material laws of the Demiurge. [1, 2]

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3. The First "New Testament"

Before Marcion, early Christians read a variety of widely circulated Gospels, Jewish scriptures, and apostolic letters. Marcion decided to publish a strict, unified collection of authoritative texts to purge all Jewish influence from Christianity: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Marcion's Bible (11 Books) [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]	What He Excluded / Altered
The Evangelion (A single Gospel)	A heavily edited version of the Gospel of Luke. He sliced out the birth narratives, Jesus's genealogy, and any Old Testament citations.
The Apostolikon (10 Letters of Paul)	He included only Paul's epistles (like Galatians, Romans, and Corinthians). He removed any positive references to the Hebrew Bible, believing Paul was the only true apostle who understood the split between law and grace.
The Antitheses (His own theological text)	Completely rejected the entire Old Testament, alongside the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and John, the Book of Acts, and other apostolic letters.

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4. His Legacy and Counter-Reaction

Mainstream church leaders viewed Marcion as an existential threat. Giants of early Christian theology—such as Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian—wrote massive volumes specifically to debunk his ideas. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Ironically, Marcion's attempt to isolate Christianity from Judaism backfired. To combat Marcion's edited canon, the mainstream Church was forced to clearly declare its own official list of books. This counter-reaction accelerated the formal integration of the 4 Gospels, 27 New Testament books, and the entire Hebrew Old Testament into the final, unified Bible used today. [1, 2, 4, 5]

You can read a broader breakdown of his movement on the Wikipedia Marcionism Page or study how early Church Fathers fought back through texts like Tertullian's Against Marcion on Tertullian.org.

If you are curious about the immediate fallout of his movement, let me know:

• Would you like to see examples of the contradictions Marcion claimed to find between the Old Testament and Jesus?
• Should we look into how the Church Fathers argued that the God of the Old Testament and the God of Jesus were actually the same?

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