The Bible: Just These Sixty-six Books?

Introduction: If we can be reasonably certain that we have the correct wording of the books of the Bible, another question comes up: why these books, but not others?

Part One: the Old Testament

I. Terminology & categories: The "Church fathers" (writers who came just after the apostolic period in the N.T.) spoke of writings of the O.T. era by using the following categories:

A. Homologoumena ("one word") -- books accepted by everyone. These include all the books found in your Old Testament except Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Ezekiel, and Proverbs.

B. Antilegomena ("spoken against") -- these are the books just mentioned which were included in the canon of the Jews, but about which a question at some time had been raised. The questions seem to stem from interpreting these books in ways that put them at odds with the rest of the O.T.

1. Song of Solomon was questioned because some thought it too sensual. In other words, it seems to be primarily about SEX. Some have attempted to ignore this and interpret the book as ONLY a reference to Christ and the church, but on the surface at least, it seemed pretty racy!

2. Ecclesiastes was questioned because some thought it too pessimistic. Some even considered it a work of skepticism. Superficially, at least, it could be understood as an attempt to claim that life is meaningless. (Although I think that is a device that is used to show just the opposite!)

3. Esther was questioned because the name of God is not mentioned in it. (Though some think it is found there in acrostic form.)

4. Ezekiel was questioned because some thought it contradicted the Mosaic law, although specific examples were never supplied (to our knowledge, at least).

5. Proverbs was questioned because some thought it contradicted itself. The Talmud says, "The book of Proverbs also they sought to hide, because its words contradicted one to another." The specific reference here is to Proverbs 26:4-5 and the question of whether or not one should "answer a fool."

C. Pseudepigrapha ("false writings") -- these are books which no Jewish or Christian tradition has ever included in the canon. Some of the more significant of these are the Assumption of Moses and I & II Enoch, because they are quoted by Jude in the N.T.

Book of Jubilee Letter of Aristeas Book of Adam & Eve
Martyrdom of Isaiah I & II Enoch
Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs Sibylline Oracle
Assumption of Moses II & III Baruch
III Maccabees Pirke Aboth The Story of Ahikar
Psalms of Solomon Psalm 151 Zadokite Fragment

D. Apocrypha ("hidden, hard to understand" or later "esoteric")

1. This term was first used to denote any books not included in the canon, including the pseudepigrapha. After the reformation, it has come to be used of certain O.T. era books not included in the canon.

2. Background of the modern controversy over the "apocrypha"

a. The oldest copies we have of the LXX (Septuagint, the translation of the O.T. into Greek) contain some additional books which the Hebrew O.T. does not. These are:

The Wisdom of Solomon Ecclesiasticus Tobit Judith
I Esdras I & II Maccabees Baruch
Letter of Jeremiah II Esdras Additions to Esther
Prayer of Azariah Susanna Bel and the Dragon
Prayer of Manasseh

b. A key point in the development of this controversy is that most of these writings were included in the Vulgate, a late 4th century translation of the Bible into Latin.

c. Most would date these books somewhere in the period of 300 B.C. to A.D. 100 for their dates for composition.

II. The Apocrypha and the Canon Debate

A. The apocryphal books were not included in the Jewish canon, none of the books are cited as scripture in the N.T., and the early church fathers were (at best) divided in their acceptance of these books.

B. The modern controversy began in the Reformation era when Luther denied the Roman Catholic appeal to II Maccabees 12:45-46 (p. 236) to support the doctrine of purgatory and the appeal to Tobit 12:9 (p. 61) to support salvation by works. At the Council of Trent (1546, twenty-nine years later) the Roman church officially declared some of the apocrypha to be canonical.

C. It is worth noting that one of Luther's opponents, Cardinal Cajetan, published a Commentary on all the Authentic Historical Books of the Old Testament in 1532 and did NOT include the apocrypha.

D. The Council of Trent (1546) did not add all of the list of apocryphal book candidates to their official canon. I & II Esdras and Prayer of Manasseh were NOT included. But the Council did anathematized those who did not regard as sacred and canonical all the books contained in the Vulgate (Latin translation), and the Vulgate did contain what we now call "the Apocrypha."

E. A kind of "compromise" position on the apocrypha was worked out by the Anglican church. Although the Apocrypha are not included with the OT books, they are included as a separate section of something like "recommended reading." For example, my New English Bible, which has Anglican connected origins, has the Apocrypha included as a separate section. Even Martin Luther took a similar approach, including the apocrypha as a kind of "appendix" to his translation, and stating that while not scripture, these books were "useful and good to be read."

III. Counting the number of books in the Apocrypha

A. Many translations made by non-Roman Catholic churches include the Apocrypha as a separate section. The 15 writings are usually included as named above.

B. Roman Catholic versions have only seven additional books. This is because "additions" are combined with the appropriate books, and Baruch and the Letter of Jeremiah are combined into one book.

IV. Regarding the OT: while they are certainly interesting and useful books for learning about various aspects of Jewish history and thought, there is almost no historical evidence to indicate that the Apocrypha are "scripture" in the sense that the apostles use that word. It is reasonably certain that these books were NOT included in the Jewish canon endorsed by Jesus, and should not be considered scripture.

Part Two: The New Testament

Introduction: The number of books on the N.T. list is not a question that has been disputed in modern times in the same way it was concerning the O.T. This is probably because there was no dispute between major Christian groups (such as between the Roman Catholics and the Reformation) which centered on the N.T. canon.

I. The homologoumena (never questioned) books of the N.T.

A. There is a list of N.T. books, the canonicity of which (practically) no one has ever disputed.

B. This list includes (as arranged in our Bibles) Matthew through Philemon plus I Peter and I John

II. The antilegomena (questioned by some)

A. These are the remaining books of the N.T. (Hebrews, James II Peter, II and III John, Jude and Revelation.)

B. These books were, for various reasons, questioned by some in regard to their status in the canon.

1. Hebrews -- questioned by those who did not think the author was Paul

2. James -- questioned because of interpretation. Some have misinterpreted it in ways that conflict with the Pauline teaching on justification by faith. Even Luther wondered about James because of this.

3. II Peter -- on the basis of style or an alleged late date, some have claimed that it is not from Peter. Both these charges have been adequately answered.

4. II & III John -- because of what might be a private addressee, their brevity, and the fact that the author identifies himself as "the elder" rather than an apostle, these books have been questioned.

5. Jude -- questioned because of it references to the pseudepigraphal writings from intertestamental times, those being the Book of Enoch and Assumption of Moses.

6. Revelation -- seems to have been questioned because certain groups based their millennial views on the text of Revelation. It is like James in that it was questioned because of the way it was interpreted.

III. N.T. Pseudepigrapha ("false writings" - never included in the N.T.)

A. These are books that were from the same general time as the N.T., but were never included in the canon. They often reflect some of the heresies that were about in the early church. Sometimes they seem to have been composed to promote a particular false teaching.

B. There are candidates in all the categories of the N.T. books: gospels, acts, epistles, and apocalypses.

C. There are several of each of these, some interesting ones are surveyed below:

1. The "infancy" gospels seem to have the primary purpose of filling in matters of Jesus early life about which the canonical gospels are silent.

(a) Protevangel of James begins with the birth of Mary, covers her betrothal to Joseph.
(b) The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew gives alleged details of the flight of Jesus' family into Egypt.
(c) Infancy Gospel of Thomas alleges to give details of Jesus' boyhood.

2. The Gospel of Nicodemus (also called Acts of Pilate)

(a) This seems to date from the second century.

(b) It is primarily an expanded version of the trial and death of Jesus, based mainly on the accounts of Matthew and John.

(c) An appendix expands upon Jesus' activity in liberating captives from Hades.

3. The Ebionite Gospel

(a) The Ebionites were a Jewish-Christian sect located mainly in the transjordan area.

(b) They were said to be "adoptionists" (Jesus was a man God 'adopted' as His son at baptism), thus their 'gospel' omits any narrative of Jesus birth. They denied the virgin birth.

4. The Gospel of Thomas -- contains 114 "sayings" of Jesus which have the kind of gnostic slant which John countered in his first epistle.

5. The Acts of Peter -- from the second century. This contains the tradition that Peter was crucified upside down.

6. The Acts of Thomas -- expands upon the tradition that the apostle Thomas went to India and there suffered martyrdom.

IV. N.T. "Apocrypha" -- there are some books which were accepted by some for a time as part of the N.T., but were never universally accepted. The most important of these are:

A. Epistle of (Pseudo-) Barnabas (c. A.D. 70-79) A couple of early church writers quote it as scripture. It has a style somewhat like Hebrews, but more allegorical and mystical.

B. Epistle (of Clement of Rome) to the Corinthians (c. A.D. 96)

C. Shepherd of Hermas (c. A.D. 115-40) [Hermas is a person's name, the Shepherd is what this person is supposed to have written.] This was the most popular non-canonical book of the N.T. era. It was quoted as scripture by some and read in some churches. It is a devotional book filled with allegory and images.

D. The Teaching of the Lord to the Gentiles through the Twelve Apostles It is often called Didache (Greek for "teaching"). It dates from about A.D. 100-20. It was quoted as scripture by one church father. It is a handbook of morals and church order.

Conclusion:

A. The Guiding Principle for the N.T. canon was the connection of a writing to an Apostle (or someone closely associated with one of the Apostles). In the case of some books, it took a while to determine this connection (or the lack of it) clearly.

B. In the case of writings that clearly conflict with the teaching of the Apostles, this determination was made more easily.

C. But in the case of writings that did not conflict with the Apostolic teaching, but the origin of which were not clear, it took some deliberation and disagreement before a clear determination was made.