Muslims love to ask:
“Which Bible is the true Bible—the one with 66 books, or 73, or 76, or 86 or whatever?”
It sounds like a devastating question. It isn’t.
So let’s set the record straight.
Misconception: “There are many Bibles!”
False.
There is one Bible comprising of the Old Testament and the New Testament. There are 39 Old Testament books (from Genesis to Malachi) and 27 New Testament books (from Matthew to Revelation).
That is 66 books in total. And all together a total of 31, 102 verses. This is the core of the Bible.
All the Bibles contain these 66 books.
There is a separate collection of Jewish historical books called the Apocrypha or Deuterocanonicals. These books are neither Old Testament or New Testament. Sometimes they are known as the “inter testament” books, i.e. books in between the Old and New Testaments. These books were never part of the Hebrew Old Testament canon used by Jews themselves. The difference is not about different Bibles, but about whether these books are included or excluded in the collection of biblical books
Historically, there was a period of 400 years between the Old and New Testaments. The last writing of the Old Testament was by the prophet Malachi who prophesied the coming of God Himself into the world, specifically to His temple in Jerusalem.
“Then suddenly the LORD you are seeking will come to his temple…”
Malachi 3:1
Then there was 400 years of silence. No word from God. No confirmation of His prophecy. No prophet came to Israel. The Jews were under great persecution. They were waiting for the promised Messiah. The 400 years seemed to mirror the 400 years that Israel was in bondage as slaves in Egypt. Until Moses came.
It was during this period that those inter-testamental books were written. They were not written by prophets, like all the Old Testament books were. The Apocrypha was written to encourage the suffering Jews, to tell them to hold on. Today, we can read it and see a rich historical perspective of Israel during those 400 years including narratives of the Maccabean revolt, the Hellenization crisis, etc.
The New Testament opens with Matthew announcing that the Messiah had finally come! Mark even quotes Malachi’s prophecy in his opening verses. Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, who is “God With Us” had come to save us, like Moses came to deliver the Israelites.
The 66 books are the core of the Bible. The Old Testament prophesies the coming Messiah and the New Testament confirmed His coming. This is the standard and used by all Christians, whether Protesant, Catholic or Orthodox. These 66 books were recognized early, preserved faithfully, and widely used by the global church.
What about the Catholic Bible that has 73 books and the Orthodox Bible that has 86? Critics do not realize that they both have the same 66 books (Genesis to Revelation).
However, the Catholic Bible includes the apocrypha books which the Roman Catholic church decided to include in addition to the 66 books during the Council of Trent in 1546, even though they were not part of the original Hebrew canon.
The Orthodox Bible has the core 66 books but include a few additional historical texts, like 1 Esdras and 3 Maccabees. These were seen more as edifying literature, not core doctrine.
Some critics ask about the “Charismatic Bible” that has 76-books. However, there is no such Bible. This sounds like a made-up label from misinformed sources.
📚 So, which Bible is the Word of God?
Answer: The Bible with the 66 books.
These books were:
- Authenticated by Jesus Himself (He quoted from the Hebrew OT, never from the Apocrypha)
- Affirmed by the apostles
- Used by the early Church
- Transmitted through centuries of faithful copying, translation, and preservation
The additional books in Catholic/Orthodox can be respected as historical documents, but they’re not on the same level as the 66 inspired books of Scripture.
🔄 Now Let’s Flip the Script: What About the Qur’an?
If Muslims want to play “which book is true,” let’s apply their own logic to the Qur’an.
Contradictions and Chaos in the Qur’an:
1. Where’s the original Qur’an?
- Muslim historians admit the Qur’an was compiled years after Muhammad’s death by Uthman, who burned all other versions (Sahih Bukhari 6:61:510).
- That’s not preservation. That’s censorship. What did Uthman destroy? Why?
- There are no original manuscripts from Muhammad’s time.
- There is no Uthmanic manuscript either. Where is it?
- What we have today is the recitation by Hafs, who lived in the 8th century AD, long after Muhammad. The Qur’an you have today was standardised in Cairo in 1924. Why use Hafs’ recitation anyway?
- This isn’t even the only version in use today.
2. Multiple Qur’anic versions today
- Muslims claim there’s only one Qur’an.
- That’s false. There are at least 37 different Arabic Qur’ans in circulation today, with variant words, spellings, and meanings.
See: Hafs vs. Warsh recitations. Hafs is used in most Muslim countries including Saudi. Warsh is used in North African countries like Morocco.
3. Missing verses?
- The Hadith admit verses were lost, eaten by goats, or forgotten.
🔹 Sunan Ibn Majah 1944: “The verse of stoning… was part of the revelation, but we have forgotten it.”
🔹 Sahih Muslim 2286: “A verse about breastfeeding was recited… then eaten by a goat.” - Learn more: Is Your Quran Same As Muhamad’s Quran?
4. Abrogation (Qur’an 2:106)
- Allah could “cancel” earlier verses with later ones. That means the Qur’an admits it contains contradictions and replaces itself.
💥 Final Verdict: The Bible Stands. The Qur’an Collapses.
Christians have:
- The 66 books of the Bible preserved, a total of 31, 102 verses.
- A continuous manuscript tradition, numbering in the thousands (We didn’t burn any.)
- Internal consistency
- A Savior who fulfilled prophecy, not self-glorified with self-serving revelations to satisfy his lusts
Muslims have:
- A Qur’an built on burned manuscripts that were destroyed, variant texts, missing verses, and abrogated laws.
- Islamic sources that claim the Qur’an has 110 chapters (Ibn Mas’ud), 116 chapters (Ubayy bin Ka’b) but today’s Qur’an has 114.
- Over 30 different Arabic versions of the Quran
- Differing claims of number of verses: 6236 (hafs), 6216 (warsh), 6348 (including bismillah) or 6666, (other versions show 6616, 6217, 6204 verses, etc ).
- The majority use quranic recitation of Hafs, not of Muhammad or even Uthman.
- Quran that was standardised only in 1924 in Cairo.
- A prophet who left chaos behind him.
- A book that can’t pass the same test they try to apply to the Bible.
So next time a Muslim asks:
“Which is the true Word of God?”
Reply boldly:
“The one where Jesus was prophesied, came to the earth, died and rose to life and will come back again. Not the book where goats ate verses about breast-feeding, and how their own rulers burned their books to hide evidence and then pretend that their book has been preserved.”