The determination of the canon “standard”

There were various tests given to each book.

 

These tests included:

 

Authorship – Who wrote the book or epistle?

 

Local Church acceptance – Had it been read by the various churches?

What was each one’s opinion?

 

Church father’s recognition – Had the pupils of the Disciples quoted from the books?

 

Book subject matter – What did the book teach?

 

Did it contradict other recognized books?

 

Personal edification – Did the book have the ability to inspire, convict, and edify the local congregation and individual believers?

 

It was the combination of all 5 that determined whether a book was considered inspired. Age or the language of the given book did not determine it and I am sure that God moved each book to the forefront when it was considered.

 

The writings that were unaccepted.

After the Old Testament canon was recognized as officially closed, prior to the New Testament, period there arose a body of letters known as “Apocrypha” which means “That which is hidden” and it consisted of 14 books:

 

Old Testament Apocrypha

1 Esdras – This book covers much of the material found in Ezra, Nehemiah, and 2 Chronicles, but it also includes a fanciful story concerning 3 Jewish servants in Persia.

 

2 Esedras – This book contains certain visions given to Ezra dealing with God’s government of the world and the restoration of certain lost scriptures

 

Tobit – This is a story of a pious Jew who is accidentally blinded and later healed by an angel named Raphael.

 

Judith – This is a story of a beautiful and devout Jewish princess who saves Jerusalem from being destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar’s invading army.

 

The remainder of Esther – These are additional inserts to the book of Esther to show the Hand of God in the narrative by putting the word “God” into the text. The word “God” does not appear in the book of Esther.

 

The Wisdom of Solomon – This has been called the gem of the apocrypha. It is one of the loftier books.

 

Ecclesiasticus – Also called “The wisdom of Jesus, son of Sirach” This book resembles the book of Proverbs and it gives rules for personal conduct in all details of civil, religious, and domestic life.

 

1 Maccabees – An historical account of the Maccabean period relating events of the Jewish heroic struggle for liberty

 

2 Maccabees – This book covers the same period that the first does except it is inferior content wise

 

Baruch – This was supposedly written by Baruch, Jeremiah’s secretary. It contains prayers and confessions of the Jews in exile and contains promises of restoration

 

The song of the three children – This was inserted into the book of Daniel right after the fiery furnace episode. It contains an eloquent prayer by Azariah, one of the three men thrown into the furnace

 

The story of Susanna – The story of how a godly wife of a wealthy Jew in Babylon, falsely accused of adultery, was cleared by the wisdom of Daniel.

 

Bel and the Dragon – This book was also added to the book of Daniel. It contains two stories:

The first concerns how Daniel proves to the king that Bel, his god, was a dead idol

The other describes how Daniel killed a dragon who the Babylonians worshipped

 

The prayer of Manasses – A supposed confessional prayer of the wicked King Manasses of Judah, after he was carried away to Babylon as a prisoner.

 

  None of the 14 books claims divine inspiration. In fact, many disclaim it.

Some books contain obvious historical and geographic errors. Some of the books teach false doctrine such as prayer for the dead.

None of these books were in the early church collection. The Scribes, the Pharisees, did not accept them or the Jewish elect. Jesus never quoted it.

 

There is much talk these days about lost books of the Bible.  From cults to the New Age, people make all sorts of claims about how the Bible is missing books, books that help justify what they hope to believe.  Sometimes people claim that the Bible was edited to take out reincarnation, or the teaching of higher planes of existence, or different gods, or ancestor worship, or “at-one-ment” with nature.  
     The “lost books” were never lost.  They were known by the Jews in Old Testament times and the Christians of the New Testament times and were never considered scripture.  They weren’t lost nor were they removed.  They were never in the Bible in the first place.
     The additional books were not included in the Bible for several reasons.  They lacked apostolic or prophetic authorship, they did not claim to be the Word of God; they contain unbiblical concepts such as prayer for the dead in 2 Macc. 12:45-46; or have some serious historical inaccuracies.
     Nevertheless, the Roman Catholic Church has added certain books to the canon of scripture.  In 1546, largely due in response to the Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church authorized several more books as scripture known as the apocrypha.  The word apocrypha means hidden. It is used in a general sense to describe a list of books written by Jews between 300 and 100 B.C. More specifically, it is used of the 7 additional books accepted by the Catholic Church as being inspired. The entire list of books of the apocrypha are: 1 and 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, the Rest of Esther, the Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, (also titled Ecclesiasticus), Baruch, The Letter of Jeremiah, Song of the Three Young Men, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, The Additions to Daniel, The Prayer of Manasseh, and 1 and 2 Maccabees. The books accepted as inspired and included in the Catholic Bible are Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees Wisdom of Solomon Sirach (also known as Ecclesiasticus), and Baruch
 The Pseudepigraphal books are “false writings.”  They are a collection of early Jewish and “Christian” writings composed between 200 BC and AD 200.  However, they too were known and were never considered scripture.
     The deuterocanonical (apocrypha) books are those books that were included in the Greek Septuagint (LXX) but not included in the Hebrew Bible.  The recognized deuterocanonical books are “Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus (also called Sirach or Ben Sira), Baruch (including the Letter of Jeremiah), 1 and 2 Maccabees, and additions to the books of Esther and Daniel. The canon of the Greek Orthodox community also includes 1 Esdras, the Prayer of Manasseh, Psalm 151, and 3 Maccabees, with 4 Maccabees as an appendix.”^{(FromCarm.org})

 

Several apocalyptic works were written between 200 B.C. and A.D. 100 though they were not included into the biblical cannon. Many of these seem to be trying to answer questions or explain things that are in the Bible. Many claimed to predict future events but were actually written after such events had already happened.

1 Enoch – This book attempts to explain who the “Sons of God” were.

The book of jubilees

 

 The Testament of the 12 Patriarchs

The psalms of Solomon

The assumption of Moses

  The martyrdom of Isaiah

  4 Ezra

2 Baruch

The apocalypse of Moses (the book of Adam and Eve)

 

Many New Testament apocrypha works also exist.

 

The Apocryptic gospels.

Infant gospels – These books had to do with some aspect of the childhood of Jesus.

(The Gnostic infancy gospel of Thomas and of James)

Passion gospels – These books were concerned with describing supplementing accounts surrounding the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.

(The gospel of Bartholomew, Questions of Bartholomew, Gospel of Peter, Acts of Pilate, Resurrection of Jesus (by Bartholomew)

 

Jewish – Christian gospels – Works that originated among Jewish- Christian groups.

Heretical gospels – These cover a wide variety of apocryphal gospels; most of which are considered to be Gnostic in origin.

 

The apocryphal Acts – A large number of legendary accounts of the journeys and heroics of the New Testament Apostles that sought to parallel and supplement the book of Acts.

 

The Apocryphal epistles – A small group of epistles or letters attributed to Paul. These letters try to supplement or are motivated by references to unknown writing in his epistles.

(also the epistle of Barnabas, The epistle of Clement)

One in Corinthians and another motivated by Colossians 4:16

 

The apocryphal apocalypses – These are scripture to those who study church history. While they are interesting and informative they are usually unreliable historically and they are always unauthorative for matters of faith and practice.

(The first and second apocalypse of James, The apocalypse of Peter; of Paul; of Stephen; of Thomas)

 

Some canonical books were at first doubted but later fully accepted.

 

Old Testament books

Song of Solomon – Because it seemed to be a mere poem of love. In Hebrew schools you kids not allowed to read it until the age of 16.

 

Ecclesiastes – Because some felt that it taught atheism (9:5)

 

Esther – Because it did not mention God in the entire book

 

Ezekiel – Because it seemed to contradict the Mosaic Law

 

Proverbs – Because it seemed to contradict itself (26:4-5)

 

New Testament books

Hebrews – Because of the uncertainty about the books authorship

 

James – Because it seems to contradict the teachings of Paul. (James 2:20 – Ephesians 2:8-9)

 

2 & 3 John – Because they seemed to be simply personal letters

 

Jude – Because the author refers to an book of Enoch (Yet Paul refers to many pagan writers)

 

Revelation – Because of the uncertainty of the books authorship and speculation about its many mysterious symbolic terms.

 

Some interesting facts about the Bible:

 

The Bible’s amazing unity – This unity is achieved in spite of a long period of time involved in its writing.

More than 15 centuries elapsed between the writing of Genesis to Revelations.

Nearly 400 years elapsed between the writing of Malachi and Matthew.

 

This unity is achieved in spite of many authors and their various occupations

Moses – an Egyptian prince

Joshua – a soldier

Samuel – a priest

David – a King

Esther – a Queen

Ruth – a housewife

Job – a rich farmer

Amos – a poor farmer

Ezra – a scribe

Isaiah – a prophet

Daniel – a prime minister

Nehemiah – a cupbearer

Matthew – a tax collector

Mark – an evangelist

Luke – a physician

John – a wealthy fisherman

Peter – a poor fisherman

Jude and James – probably carpenters

Paul – a tentmaker

The reason for the writing of the Bible

Probably the one supreme difference between man and all other creatures is the God-given ability to express his thoughts on paper. In times past; the best way to communicate with all men of all ages is through the written word. The advantages are many:

 

Precision – Our thoughts must be somewhat precise to be written

Propagation – The most accurate way to communicate a message is usually through writing.

Preservation – Men die, memories fade, but the written record remains

 

It can be said that the New Testament was written for the following reasons:

To meet the demands of the early Church

To contrast and cut off false doctrine

Because of persecution and politics

 

The Old Testament

The order of the books of the Hebrew Old Testament 39 books and our English Old Testament appear somewhat differently

 

The Law (Torah)

Genesis

Exodus

Leviticus

Numbers

Deuteronomy

 

The Prophets (Nebhiim)

Former prophets – 4 books

Joshua

Judges

Samuel

Kings

 

Latter prophets (major and minor)

Major

Isaiah

Jeremiah

Ezekiel

Minor

Hosea

Joel

Amos

Obadiah

Jonah

Micah

Nahum

Habakkuk

Zephaniah

Malachi

 

The writing

The prophetic books

Psalms

Proverbs

Job

The scrolls

Song of Solomon

Ruth

Lamentations

Ecclesiastes

Esther

 

Prophetic-historic

Daniel

Ezra-Nehemiah

Chronicles

 

The New Testament

From A.D. 50-100 by 8 separate authors

Matthew (Levi)

Mark

Luke (Luke and Acts)

John (John, 1,2^nd, and 3^rd John, and Revelation)

James

Jude

Peter (1 and 2 Peter)

Paul (author of the 13 remaining New Testament epistles)

Hebrews

The preservation of God’s Word

 

Writing materials of the Bible

 

The Old Testament

Clay – Jeremiah 17:13

Stone – Exodus 24:12

 

The New Testament

Papyrus

2 John 12

Revelation 15:1

Vellum (Calfskin)

Parchment (lamb skin)

Leather (cow hide) – 2Timothy 4:13

Metal – Exodus 28:36, Job 19:24, Matthew 22:19-20

 

The original language of the Bible

The Old Testament was written in Hebrew with the following exception

Aramaic – Ezra 4:8-6:18, 7:12-26

Jeremiah 10:11

Daniel 2:4-7:28

 

The entire New Testament was written in Greek

 

Why did God choose Hebrew?

It is a pictorial language. 1Corinthians 10:11

It is a personal language

It addresses itself to the heart and emotions rather than merely to the mind – Malachi 1:2-3

It is an intellectual language

It was more suited to exemplifying a communication or reflection on a revelation of God in order to put it into simple communicable form. The theological truths that were more generally expressed in the Old Testament Hebrew were more precisely formulated in the Greek of the New Testament.

It was a nearly universal language

Koine – common Greek. This was spoken in the marketplace. It was commonly used all the time.

Is inspiration still going on today?

 

Has God inspired the writing of a 67^th book of the Bible?

In Revelation 22:18-19 is generally believed that this warning was not only for the book of Revelation but also for the Bible as a whole.

 

For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:

And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

 

It is believed that when John laid his pen down that inspiration from God for scripture stopped or else the following tragic conclusions take place. If inspiration were still going on today we would be forced to admit:

A.     God could have inspired the weird wicked writings of John Smith or Mary Baker Eddy

B.     Perhaps we still don’t have all the details concerning salvation

C.    That God has allowed millions of devoted and faithful Christians to believe a horrible lie for some 2000 years.

 

The supreme authority of the Bible.

 

The Bible is profitable

 

2 Timothy 3:15-17

For doctrine

For reproof

For correction

 

The authority of the Bible exceeds that of:

 

1) Human reason

Proverbs 3:5-7

Proverbs 16:25

Isaiah 55:8-9

 

Agnosticism – He does not think that the Bible is inspired

Liberalism – He believes that many of the ways and things in the Bible are outdated.

Cults – They give lip service to the Bible, but they look upon the writings of their various founders as equal or more superior than scripture

 

2) The Church

Christ is the head of the Church and while the Church has authority from God it is not the final authority

 

3) Tradition

Matthew 15:6

Colossians 2:8

 

4) Popes and preachers

The godliest of men can still become capable of errors and this also applies to the Pope and to priests, preachers and teachers. Rome believes that the Church is the divinely appointed custodian of the Bible and it has the final word on what is meant in any specific passage. Many denominations and different religions believe that they can grant and withdraw salvation

 

5) Feelings and experiences

2 Timothy 3:16-17

Proverbs 3:5-7

Psalms 23

How the Bible claims inspiration from God

 

The Old Testament

 

2 Peter 1:20-21

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

 

Hebrews 1:1

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

           

 John 10:35

If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;

 

The New Testament

 

1 Peter 1:10-12

Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:

Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.

Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

 

Conclusions of plenary-verbal inspiration

It does not teach that all parts of the Bible are equally important but that they are all equally inspired.

 

It does not guarantee the inspiration of any modern or ancient translation of the Bible, but deals only with the original Greek and Hebrew language.

 

It does not allow for any false teaching but it does record the lie of someone. The Bible is like a newspaper, most of the time they record everything in reporting the news, regardless of bias. For example, do you think that if David had his choice, the times he screwed up would have never made it? As we read the Bible we must learn to discern between what it records and what God sanctions.

 

It does not permit any historical, scientific, or prophetical error whatsoever

 

It does not prohibit personal research

 

It does not deny the use of extra-biblical sources

 

It does not overwhelm the personality of the human authors.

 

It does not exclude the usage of pictorial or symbolic language.

 

It does not mean uniformity in all details given in describing the same event.

The reign of King Manasseh (2 Kings 21:1-18, and 2 Chronicles 33:1-20)

The four different accounts concerning the superscription on the cross

Ways God has communicated with man

 

1) Revelation

 

He spoke to men through angels.

He spoke to men through a loud voice.

He spoke to men through nature

He spoke to men through dreams

He spoke to men through visions

He spoke to men through Christophanies “The Angel of the Lord”

 

2) Inspiration

 

Theopneustos – “God breathed”

Now we come to the second step and see how God gets His revelation together

 

Various theories of inspiration

 

Natural theory

This says that the Bible writers were inspired in the same way that Shakespeare was inspired. This states that all men have the same form of inspiration but the writers of the books of the Bible simply had inspiration that burned brighter.

This is refuted in 2 Peter 1:20

2Pe 1:20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

 

Mechanical theory

This states that God coldly dictated His words to the writers like an office manager would dictate a letter to his secretary. These states that God took control of these men and that they mechanically wrote things down, but look at the Gospels

Luke was a physician and he would have used different words than others.

He was a Gentile and he would have used Gentile words.

Matthew was a Jew and he would have targeted a Jewish listener.

Each writer directed his Gospel to a different audience. God did not hand down each word yet God inspired all of the words

 

Hebrew 1:1

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

2 Peter 3:2

That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:

 

Concept theory

This states that only the main thoughts of a paragraph or chapter is inspired.

This is refuted by:

Matthew 5:18

For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

2 Samuel 23:1-2

Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said,

The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue.

 

Partial theory

This states that only certain parts of the Bible are inspired. Yet all scripture is inspired.

2 Timothy 3:16

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

 

Spiritual-rule-only theory

This states that the Bible can be used as our spiritual and ethical religious aspects but not for history

John 3:12

 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?

 

Plenary-verbal theory

This states that all (plenary) the very words (verbal) of the Bible are inspired by God. This view alone would be the correct one. When one says plenary it means that the very words of the original manuscripts were written down the way God wants them to be written in the order that He wanted them

Matthew 4:4

But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

 

1 Corinthians 2:13

Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

 

John 6:63

 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.