‘Behold, the Lamb of God’s
ide o amnos tou
theou
College Study
10th teaching
9.17.2012
“the Canon of Holy Scripture”
Turn to Acts 20:22-27.
Paul on his way to Rome is talking with these church elders and says to them
that he preached the whole counsel of God, the entirety of Scripture as they
knew it in his day.
Tonight we’re going to be looking at the subject of
the Canon of Scripture, that is:
what is in the Bible, what should be in the Bible and what should not be in the
Bible. Now remember that the Bible is God’s special and specific revelation to
mankind.
But if we’re going to talk about God giving to man
His word for the purpose of revealing Himself through His word, then we must
know just what is His word and just
what His word is not. What is the
Bible and what is not the Bible? Which books are a part of the Bible and
therefore a part of God’s supernatural revelation of Himself, and which books
are not? Our quest is to learn what all of the Bible is and at the same time
what all the Bible is not.
This is a very basic question: what is the Bible
and what is it not? Maybe we’ve never considered just what the whole counsel of
God is and what it isn’t. Maybe you’ve never wondered why other religions and
groups claim other books to be a part of the Bible and why we don’t. But this
is a very foundational series of studies, and ours tonight is a very
foundational question. Again, we’re studying Bibliology. We want to know just
what is the Bible. Are we missing out because some books are missing? Or is
this really the whole counsel of God?
All over the Old Testament, the prophets were
instructed by God to carry God’s message exactly as God gave it to them.
Deuteronomy
18:18, “You shall not add to the word which I
command you, nor take anything from it, that you may keep the commandments of
the LORD your God which I command you.”
Jeremiah
26:2, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Stand in the court of the LORD’s house, and speak
to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD’s house, all the
words that I command you to speak to them. Do not diminish a word.”
Even in the prophetic book of the New Testament, in
Revelation 22:18-19, the last chapter
of the Bible, God says “For I testify to
everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to
these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book;
and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall
take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the
things which are written in this book.”
So the prophets were under strict rules. The
prophecies must be exact. The communication of God’s word must be exact.
Therefore, our understanding of what God’s word is and what is contained in it
must also be exact. We need to know what the Bible is and what it is not.
But first
off, however, we need a definition of terms. I apologize ahead of time, but
because of our subject, there’s going to be some terms that are a bit rough.
Let us pray that what we learn will become useful to us and others, and if not,
then that God would help us to forget it as soon as possible:
Here’s a short list of terms with which we’ll be
concerned tonight and what they mean:
1.
Canon
What on earth is the Canon of Scripture? Well, the
word canon (not cannon) comes from
the Greek word kanon (ka-nown). Kanon means a rule or standard. When we
talk about the Canon of Scripture, we’re talking about the standard books which
form the standard Bible for the Christian faith. So the biblical canon means
the standard collection of biblical books. The collection of biblical books we
know today are known as the protocanon, that is, the first-canon. Note that the
protocanon is a closed canon, meaning there can be no books added to it. It was
completed at the end of the 1st century AD.
2.
Apocrypha
The word apocrypha
means something that is hidden away. In reference to religious books known as
the Apocrypha, it refers to several pieces of literature which many claim
should or should not be a part of the biblical canon. The Apocrypha contains 11
books, 1 addition to the book of Esther and 3 additions to the book of Daniel.
The Apocrypha is also known as the deuterocanon, or the second-canon. Remember
that the protocanon is complete; hence why the apocryphal books are known as a
second canon. We’ll talk more specifically on the Apocrypha later.
There are other terms to know and many
other things to learn when it comes to books and writings that never made it
into the Bible, whether they were disputed or heretical or not authentic, but
for the sake of our little study here, these terms will do. The Apocrypha does
not include all of the false writings or uninspired writings that failed to
make it into the canon. For example, there’s the Book of Enoch which is not a
part of the Apocrypha, which even Catholics reject, but which is quoted by
Jude. There’s also the Gospel of Judas, which is not a part of the Apocrypha,
which is a heretical, Gnostic writing. There’s books called the Psalms of
Solomon, 3 Maccabees, the Epistle of Barnabas, the Apocalypse of Peter and so
on and on.
All of that is for another study for
another time.
Tonight, though, here is how our study
will break down:
1. How we got the Old Testament protocanon
2. How we got the New Testament protocanon
3. What to do about the deuterocanon and other
writings
4. What does this mean to us?
1.
How we got the Old Testament protocanon
The canon of Old Testament Scripture originally
contained 24 books. The Jews count the Old Testament as having 24 books. Look
at your index at the beginning of your Bible… How many books are in your Old Testament? You should have 39,
if you have the complete and correct canon of Scripture.
The reason why the Jews had 24 books and we have 39
is because the Jews considered I and II Samuel to be one book of Samuel, I and
II Kings to be one book of Kings, I and II Chronicles to be one book of
Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah to be one book and all of the twelve minor
prophets to be one book of prophets. Therefore, though our ordering of the
books is different, the exact Scriptures are the same between the ancient, traditional
Jewish canon and our modern canon.
*Each of the canons were formed over time. As new
writings appeared, they were added to the canon collection. What we must notice
is that when the legitimate, inspired writings came along, they were always
immediately accepted and circulated or stored for the next generations.
Deuteronomy
31:24-26, “So it was, when Moses had completed writing
the words of this law in a book, when they were finished, that Moses commanded
the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying: ‘Take this
Book of the Law, and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your
God…” So Moses’ writings were stored with the ark of the covenant as a part
of the tabernancle. Moses’ writings include Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers
and most of Deuteronomy.
Joshua
24:26
describes Joshua writing in the Book of the Law, probably completing the book
of Deuteronomy to include the story of Moses’ death and burial.
I Samuel
10:25 says “Then Samuel explained to the people the behavior
of royalty, and wrote it in a book and laid it up before the LORD.”
Samuel’s prophetic writings were stored away.
Daniel
9:2, here it appears that the
prophet Daniel studied the writings of the prophet Jeremiah.
The original audiences of the original scriptures
knew that the words were from God, as shown in their preservation and
acceptance.
*Besides the fact that the canonical books of the
Old Testament were stored and circulated, they are also quoted and referenced
by books which followed. Moses is quoted by Joshua his successor just as the
later prophets quoted the earlier prophets.
*Besides that, the prophets were enabled by God to
perform miracles and wonders, which would have had the effect of validating
their writings and message to their original audience. In fact, Scripture
claims that false prophets were to be weeded out on that basis, if their
predictions however miraculous did not come to pass.
*Besides that,
the entire Old Testament as we know it has almost always been traditionally
accepted by the ancient Jews. Only a select few from the Jewish community ever
accepted other books besides the ones we have in our Old Testament today. But
mostly all the ancient Jewish communities and teachers accepted only the Old
Testament as we know it today.
Let me give you some major examples.
1. Philo (20BC – 40AD) was a Jewish teacher and
contemporary of Christ who quoted from almost every book in the Old Testament
never once quoted from the Apocrypha.
2. Josephus (30AD – 100AD) was a Jewish historian who
clearly confirmed the Old Testament canon and denied the apocrypha. He wrote:
“For we have not an innumerable multitude of books among us, disagreeing from
and contradicting one another (as the Greeks have), but only twenty-two books,
which are justly believed to be divine; and of them, five belong to Moses,
which contain his law and the traditions of the origin of mankind till his
death… but as to the time from the death of Moses till the reign of Artaxerxes
king of Persia, who reigned as Xerxes, the prophets, who were after Moses,
wrote own what was done in their times in thirteen books. The remaining four
books contain hymns to God, and precepts for the conduct of human life.
3. The Dead Sea Scrolls. We talked about these last
time. They were a discovery of a large amount of manuscripts and fragments.
Among the manuscripts from the protocanon were apocryphal writings from the
deuterocanon. However, while there were commentaries in the Dead Sea Scrolls
for the protocanon, there were none for the deuterocanon. Also, the manuscripts
for the protocanon were of much higher quality and were written with greater
skill than the deuterocanon.
4. Jesus Christ (1AD – 33AD). Jesus quoted from all of
the books of Moses, extensively from most of the prophets and from some of the
poetic books of the Old Testament. He quoted from each of the portions of the
Old Testament: the Law, the Prophets and the Writings. But He never once quoted
from any of the apocryphal books. Gee, I wonder why?
All this to say that the Old Testament protocanon
grew as it was written, that it was widely and immediately accepted among its
original audience, and that it is exactly the same as we know it in our Bible’s
today.
2.
How we got the New Testament protocanon
The New Testament protocanon consists of 27.
Like the Old Testament protocanon, the New
Testament one was formed over time, with each subsequent writing being
completed until Revelation was written. And just as with the Old Testament, the
New Testament canon was almost universally recognized by the early church, with
the exception of a few books which had some doubt cast over them.
These six books that some of the early Christians
were doubtful about were the books of Revelation, II Peter, II and III John,
James and Hebrews. These were a part of a group of books known as the
Antilegomena, meaning the disputed writings. However, we know now that
eventually, as early as about 300AD, even these 6 disputed books eventually
made it not only into the New Testament but into widespread usage in the early
Christian church.
As early as the 2nd century, the century
after the apostles, a canon of four gospels was the standard. Irenaeus of Lyons
in 185AD denounced groups who used only one gospel, claiming that the four
gospels were the pillars of the church.
By the 4th century, there was no longer any debate on the
protocanon. It was considered closed and contained the 27 books of the New
Testament. These books were quickly recognized as canonical and experienced
widespread usage in the Christian church, whereas the apocryphal books of the
New Testament were in constant dispute,
never fully agreed upon and never experienced any more than limited and local
usage among churches.
*Like the Old Testament protocanon, the New
Testament one has a succession of quotations: later writings quote earlier writings.
The Gospel of Luke mentions Matthew and Mark as other gospel accounts. The
apostle Paul references the Gospel of Luke. Paul also makes reference to other
epistles he wrote. Jude cites II Peter. Revelation is full of imagery and
concepts and most importantly prophecies which have already been developed in
the writings that came before the apostle John wrote it. The apostle Peter even
calls Paul’s writings Scripture along with the Old Testament (II Peter 3:16).
*Like the Old Testament protocanon, the New
Testament one had authors who were validated not only by the miracles they
performed, but by the fact that they had seen the risen Christ. Every writer of
every New Testament book had seen the Son of God in the flesh, whereas the
apocryphal writings that came down the road generations later had authors who
did not. Only the 27 books of the New Testament authors represent apostolic
teaching, which is teaching direct from the apostles and those who saw Christ.
3.
What to do about the deuterocanon and other writings
Answer: reject them.
Let me give you four reasons:
1. Christ
and the apostles. They
never once quoted from the Old Testament apocrypha. Some have claimed that
Christ and the apostles quoted from a version of the Old Testament which is
called the LXX, that is, the Septuagint version, which was a popular Greek
translation of the Old Testament, which did in fact contain the apocrypha. But
still, the Lord and His disciples never quoted from the apocrypha, whether the
LXX in their day contained it or not, or whether they truly were quoting from
the LXX at all. Jesus and His followers affirmed that nearly all of the Old
Testament books were Scripture, but they never once did so for the apocrypha.
2. Prophecy. While the Scriptures are
called by the apostle Peter the prophetic word, and while we’ve seen that much
of the Bible deals with prophecy, and while you know that the writers of the
Bible were apostles and PROPHETS, looking at the apocrypha, it is clear that
this deuterocanon is NOT prophetic. There is no predictive prophecy in the
apocrypha. There are no miraculous confirmations for the writers of the
apocrypha as there are for the prophets of Scripture. None of the apocryphal
books even claim to be written by a prophet and one of them (I Maccabees) claims
that it is not prophetic at all.
3. Dispute. While dispute did exist over certain books of the
protocanon, dispute never ceased over the deuterocanon, not only on whether it
should be included in the Bible, but what should be included in the apocrypha.
The apocryphal books changed in number over the centuries, with certain books
being added and certain being subtracted in various circles. It took a Catholic
Council, the council of Trent, to finalize and infallibly proclaim the
deuterocanon to be inspired before even the Catholic church finally agreed upon
it, since historically even Catholic priests and teachers disagreed on the
apocrypha.
4. Unity. One of the biggest proofs for the Bible being the
Word of God is actually one of the biggest proofs that the apocrypha is not the
Word of God. The apocrypha, as well as the other writings not included in it,
do not agree with each other and certainly do not agree with Scripture.
So this only further proves that the Bible has been
so well preserved for us.
4.
What does this mean for us?
Obviously, we know now just how well the Bible as
the protocanon has been preserved. God supernaturally authored it, inspired it
and kept it and preserved it through the ages.
The biggest question is: why?
Why should God Almighty take the time to create all
this and work through men to write all this down? Why should Infinite God wish
to communicate to creatures which with every action spite Him, hate Him and
rebel against Him? Why should God Most High condescend to speak to us? Why doesn’t
He just leave us in our sinful state? Surely we don’t deserve His revelation to
us.
But the great mystery of God is that He has chosen to reveal Himself to
humanity, that He has spoken to us,
that He has preserved His word so you
and I could have it all these generations down the road, that He has loved us so much as to allow us to
have the good news of His substitutionary death on the cross.
Why? Because of His great love, love that was
demonstrated most importantly on the cross, but not only there, also in the
preservation of His Word and the tedium of the copying and the manuscripts and
the complexity of the canon and the translations and the history and all of
that. God went through a heck of work just in keeping this book together, to
preserve it for we who were far away.
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