Throughout my life, I have been indescribably blessed by the Holy Scriptures. They have inspired, instructed, rebuked and directed me. In them we find life, love, creational distinctions, God’s wisdom and condemnation of evil. In short, they testify of Jesus the Christ.
As you know, the Scriptures are sometimes misrepresented or maligned by confused or hostile people. One example:
Back in 1999, a friend told me that his Roman Catholic cousin said that the Catholic church gave us the Bible. Thus, we should trust the Roman Catholic Church and possibly join it. My friend asked me to write a short response to his cousin. Here it is,
Did the Catholic Church give us the Bible?
“The Hebrew writings of the Old Testament were translated by 70 (or 72) Jewish Priests in the 2nd and 3rd century BC. It was this OT Canon along with the existing Hebrew scrolls that is the “scriptures” in the days of Christ—the word of God.
God’s promise to the world that in the last days He would speak to us “by His Son” (Hebrews 1:2) provides the basis for the rest of the Scriptures—the New Testament. These writings were verbal at first, passed on by Godly believers. Paul’s reminder to the church in Thessalonica (2 Thess. 2:5, 1 Thess. 3:4) that when he was “with them he told them all these things” demonstrates the oral transmission of the gospel.
The history of the canon then, covers a gradual process of forming an authoritative and then a closed collection. It required time, for the Bible of the first century was still the Old Testament. At first, there was evidently no thought of a complete New Testament to be placed alongside the Old. But as the Judaic system was superceded by the revelation of redemption in Christ, one thing was lacking to give permanence to this revelation of truth—that was a body of inspired writings, such as the Jews possessed.
Jesus did not write; He taught orally. The Apostles were his authorized representatives, whose oral messages, when later written became the authoritative source for the life and teachings of Jesus. This work was the labor of the Holy Spirit of God who impressed these men to write. The authority of the New Testament is attested externally by apostolic authorship, and internally through the inherent power by which the New relates to the Old. The whole Bible authenticates itself as inspired—a moral credential which acts upon the reader who receives it. Further, the moral power of the Scriptures in changing the lives of men constitutes visible evidence to others as well as to the individual himself.
As the New Testament was gradually assembled by the acceptance of books in various churches, the test of what writings were to be read publicly in the congregations helped determine the Canon. The principle of selection was apostolic authorship or companions of the apostles, such as Mark & Luke.
From the second century onward, the rise of various heresies and the challenge of spurious writings claiming apostolic authority increased the incentive to lay emphasis on the true apostolic writings. This was rational, scriptural, and harmonious, for an apostle is one sent to teach with authority. The materials of the canon, in the sense of being received by the scattered churches, may be regarded as complete within the latter half of the first century, but they were not yet collected and accepted by the church at large. The four gospels and Paul’s epistles were regarded as authoritative from the first.
Please note the distinction between the initial acceptance of individual books, the general recognition (the real Canonization attended by the Holy Spirit) and the later formal inclusion in official lists and catalogues. It was a process of almost 2 centuries, which ended when the church became satisfied that the apostolic books, which had been accepted in the first period, constituted the full New Testament canon. Noteworthy is the early church’s complete exclusion of the apocryphal books. This work predated the actions of the organized (Roman Catholic) church some two centuries later, who took action in ecclesiastical councils to define the Canon. Ironically, it was this organized Church (Roman Catholic) that insisted upon the inclusion of the apocryphal books—books that were clearly rejected by the post-apostolic believers.
While it must be admitted that the Catholic Church did indeed make effort to establish scripture, theirs was a latent attempt to formalize what the early believers had accepted centuries before, under the care of the Holy Spirit. Equally their burden (universal/catholic) was the adoption of the apocrypha without which, some of their doctrines were untenable.
Jerome, a fine scholar worked hard to resist the Apocrypha in his translation of the Latin Vulgate, but eventually yielded to external pressure to give a half-hearted reception to these spurious books.
Augustine, a contemporary, disagreed sharply with Jerome’s disavowal of the apocryphal writings.
Melito, Bishop of Sardis, (176 A.D) listed only the books of the Hebrew Old Testament as canonical.
Irenaeus and Tertullian (195-230 AD) distinguished likewise between the “canonical” books and the “apocryphal.”
Origen (238 AD) expressly states that the canonical books were 22 books (The Minor Prophets were considered as one book, Ezra and Nehemiah were together). No apocryphal writings were recognized.
The addition of the Apocrypha to the Canon was introduced under the influence of Augustine in the 4th and 5th centuries. Seven disputed books were allowed into the canon. The synods (Legal Councils) at Hippo (393) and Carthage (397) held under Augustine’s influence, inevitably included the Apocrypha. This was certified by the Roman Church later.”
What does this mean for us in 2023?
It means that God has protected His Word from external onslaughts and given us a reliable source of divine truth (Matthew 24:35; 1 Peter 1:25). In His Word, we find God’s will for mankind, comfort, destiny, morality, origins and meaning, all encapsulated in His Son. It has outlived all who rise up against it.
Enjoy and experience it.
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“Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105).