Why is the Bible called so?

Question:

Why is the Bible called the Bible? There is no word “Bible” in the Bible! Where is it from and what is its significance?

Etymology

Online Etymology Dictionary reports us that the word comes from the Greek words “ta biblia to Hagia” which in translation means the holy books, from the term “biblion” which translated from Greek means paper or scroll and it was the ordinary word for any book. The origin of the word is from the name of the Phoenician port Byblos from which Egyptian papyrus was exported to Greece. Holy Scriptures was refered to in Greek as “ta Biblia” as early as c.223, but Biblical scholar Mark Hamilton states that this phrase was an expression Hellenistic Jews used to describe their sacred books. 

There is the word “Bible” in the Bible

The first verse of the Gospel of Matthew says the following:

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. (Matthew 1:1)(KJV)

The same verse in Greek is so:

Βι ́ βλος γενέσεως  Ιησου Χριστου, υιου Δαυΐδ, υιου Αβραάμ. 

You can see for yourself that the first word of New Testament is “byblos”, i.e. the Bible, and throughout the New Testament it is used 40 times in 10 different forms in 42 verses.

Translated by Felicia Rotaru