At the time of Jesus, Greek was the common language, and Aramaic common among Semitic peoples. It was St. John the Evangelist who made the connection between Jesus and the λόγος. From there, Greek philosophical terms helped to conceptualize this reality.
You should look into the comparisons made between the Masoretic Texts and the Dead Sea Scrolls. They are remarkably similar. Scribes dedicated their lives to making near-perfect copies of the original texts so as to preserve them for generations.
Jesus was a historical person. We know this from multiple historical records and eyewitness accounts. I would posit that Jesus was not a combination of heroic people, but rather, the true hero that others, whether they realized it or not, were imitating.
Sure, there are letters in the NT attributed to Paul that were not written directly by him. There are also books in the OT attributed to Moses that were not written by him. Does that make them less inspired? And thanks for the welcome, glad to be here.
No, Scripture is not deity. That would be pantheistic, right? It does, however, as Jesus says, testify on his behalf, as the apostles did after the Resurrection, and ultimately do by their writings, i.e. Gospels, Epistles, etc. See 2 Pt. 1:12-21.
John 5:31-40 is part of an appeal to the Jews who were trying to kill him because he healed on the Sabbath. John is not making a distinction between Scripture & Christ so much as he is showing that Sacred Scripture has been pointing to Christ all along.
Well, Jesus is the Incarnate Word of God (Jn. 1:14). St. John made this connection with his use of the Greek word "logos". Sacred Scripture, contains the Word of God as transcribed by the sacred authors under the inspiration of the Spirit.
Thanks, @22899! I like the NRSV for English, Strong's for Greek, Vulgate for Latin, Grail for Psalms. The bottom line, however, is I love the Word of God.
Good question. Shortest answer: The NT contains the letters of Paul & the Apostles, plus the Gospels. These writings were the most heavily circulated and widely accepted at the time (~326 AD), used for worship and to educate about the teachings of Jesus.