God—Guide Four

Tahlequah, Oklahoma United Indian Mission

Greeley, Colorado

These guides are designed to help you to study, to learn, to understand, and to live what God teaches us in his Word, the Bible. God gave us the Bible to teach us how to know and to walk with Him. We can enjoy God’s blessings forever, rather than experiencing his judgement. His Word is eternally true. Take time to carefully read and think about the Scriptures used in this guide. Meditate on them and the truths they teach. Learn to love God and his Word. Regularly ask God for a right understanding of Scriptural truths and then make them part of you. Absorb them. If you go over the material too quickly without much thought, it will have little or no lasting impact on your life. Commit yourself to making Biblical truths the foundation of your life and to putting them into practice every day of your life.

Have you ever wondered or been questioned about the make-up of the Bible? How did these 66 books come to be in the Bible? Is it possible that other books should be in the Bible, but somehow got left out? Or maybe a book was put in the Bible that shouldn’t be there? Why does the "Catholic" Bible have books that are not included in the "Protestant" Bible? These kinds of questions are asked by those with a healthy desire for greater understanding of the Bible and also by some who would like to discredit the Bible. In this lesson we are going to look at how our Bible came to be in its present final form.

In our context, the word "canon" is not referring to a weapon used in battle. The root meaning of "canon" refers to a measuring rod. In Biblical use, it refers to the standard used to determine if a book should in fact be a part of Scripture. In common Biblical usage today, it refers to the actual 66 books which make up the Bible.

In this lesson we are going to look at the make-up of Scripture from two different perspectives. The first perspective is a perspective of faith. The second perspective is to look at it historically to see how the Bible developed in history.

What does Isaiah 40:8 say about the Word of God?

What does I Peter 1:23-25 say about the Word of God?

Write out I Peter 1:25.

Our record of God’s spoken and written Word is the Bible. The Bible is God’s truth that He revealed to man. According to these verses God’s Word stands forever, is imperishable, and enduring. It is inconceivable to think that some of what God chose to reveal to all mankind and that He intended to be in our written Word, somehow got lost or left out. God himself states that his Word is imperishable and enduring. Again, how could some of what He intended to be preserved in the written Word be lost? It would no longer be imperishable and enduring.

God is God. In his own sovereign way and timing, He has revealed to man what we need to know about Him, how to know Him, how to walk with Him, and his dealings with mankind. We recognize that from a human standpoint, man played a role in the selection of the Biblical books. This, however, does not override God’s sovereign will and purpose in revealing Himself to man through his Word, the Bible. We have what God intended us to have.

What warning is given in Revelation 22:18-19?

It is recognized that this warning’s immediate reference is to the book of Revelation. However, the book of Revelation is one of 66 books, all of which were equally God breathed. This warning is just as applicable to the other 65 books as it is to the book of Revelation.

Will God preserve his own Word?

What non-Biblical books are mentioned in each of these following verses?

Joshua 10:13 _____________________________

I Chronicles 29:29-30 _____________________________ and _____________________.

Who did Jude quote in Jude 1:14?_____________________ Is there a Biblical book written by or about Enoch?

Each of these non-Biblical books or records have faded out of existence. While they may have been valuable, they were never part of the imperishable enduring Word of God. Our faith in God leads us to believe that He has preserved all of his written Word for us, and that He has not allowed any non-inspired books that are not his Word to be included in the Bible to confuse and mislead us.

Moses wrote the first five books of the Old Testament. They were immediately recognized and accepted as the Word of God. As time passed and the prophets recorded their messages in writing, the recognized body of Scripture grew. It is not known exactly when the 39 books of the Old Testament were recognized as the complete body of Scripture. However, Jewish history credits Ezra with compiling the final grouping of books as we now have them. Josephus, a credible Jewish historian writing shortly after the death of Christ, credits Ezra with the final compiling of the Old Testament. This would have dated the completion of the Old Testament at about 450 B.C.

Jesus himself recognized the authority of the Old Testament by continually quoting from many of its books and referring to it as Scripture. This is solid evidence of the legitimacy of the Old Testament.

As the New Testament authors began to write, their writings were read, studied, copied, and sent to other churches. There were other letters and books that were also written during this time. As time passed, non-Scriptural writings began to fade from use, while the books which now form the 27 books of our New Testament came to be accepted and recognized as being as equally inspired as the Old Testament Scripture. Some books such as II John and III John, Hebrews, and James were questioned at first, but with time they came to be universally accepted. Other books such as "The Shepherd of Hermas" and "The Gospel of Thomas" were thought by some to be part of Scripture, but with time they failed to pass the strict standards used to determine what was Scripture and what was not Scripture.

In the first centuries after the formation of the church, church councils were called by church leaders to decide important issues facing the Christian church. Acts 15 records what might be described as the first of these councils. Many more councils followed. In A.D. 397, in what was called the Third Council of Carthage, the 27 books of the New Testament along with the 39 books of the Old Testament were recognized as the completed Word of God. The Council of Hippo in A.D. 419 re-confirmed that decision.

As the church leaders discussed what books should be included in the New Testament, they asked very important questions about each book. Each book had to pass very strict guidelines before it could be accepted as part of God’s written Word. Questions like the following were asked about each book.

1. Was it written by an apostle? If not, was the author closely allied with the apostles (such as Mark & Luke)?

2. Was the subject matter and the treatment of that subject matter consistent with the rest of Scripture?

3. Was it universally accepted by Christian churches, or was it seriously questioned by some Christians?

4. Did it stand the test of time, or with time was it fading from use?

5. Did it give unmistakable internal evidence of inspiration? Did the Holy Spirit use it to convict men of spiritual truth?

These tests were a high standard. Only the genuine inspired Word of God could meet this standard.

Today, one can consider all the evidence and still not be convinced that the Bible is the revealed inspired Word of God. That is because our faith in the Word of God is based in our reading and study of the Bible itself, and on the understanding we receive from the Holy Spirit. Our faith is not primarily based on human logic.

Genuine faith in the Bible comes through our own personal absorption of the Word of God. As we read and meditate on the Word and as the Spirit of God works in our hearts and as we listen and submit to the Word, then we can know for sure that ‘yes’ this is his Word, and we can have total confidence in it. Individuals who consistently absorb the Word, who see God at work in their own lives, who serve the Lord, and who commune with Him in prayer, are not troubled with doubts about the genuineness and truthfulness of God’s written Word, the Bible.

There are fourteen books called the "Apocrypha" that the Roman Catholic Church includes in its Bible that "Protestant" denominations do not include. These books were written during the "four hundred silent years" between the Old and New Testaments.

The following observations about these books should be noted.

1. The early Jews never believed these books were inspired by God, and they were never part of the Jewish Scriptures or Old Testament.

2. The early Christian church did not believe they were part of Scripture.

3. In the New Testament, Jesus and the other authors quoted from the Old Testament many times. However, not once did Jesus or any other New Testament author ever quote from an Apocryphal book.

4. While the book of I Maccabees is considered valuable history, the contents of several of the books are whimsical and silly and the authorship is uncertain.

5. It was not until 1546 that the Catholic Church declared them to be part of the Bible. At the Council of Trent, which was held to consider strategy to stop the Protestant reformation, the Catholic Church declared that the Apocryphal books were part of Scripture.

6. There are no conservative protestant Biblical scholars who believe that the fourteen Apocryphal books are indeed part of the inspired Word of God.

1. ______ Number of books in the Bible

2. ______ Author of the first 5 books of the O.T.

3. ______ According to Jewish tradition, this man compiled the O.T.

4. ______ The O.T. was completed by this date

5. ______ Name of the Jewish historian who credited Ezra with compiling the O.T.

6. ______ What language was the O.T. written in?

7. ______ What language was the N.T. written in?

8. ______ The name of the O.T. translation into Greek

9. ______ Approximate date of the Septuagent

10.______ Number of books in the New Testament

11.______ Date the church officially recognized the completed N.T.

12.______ Name of Council that recognized the books of the N.T.

13.______ Name of books included in Catholic Bible but not in the original Bible

14.______ Date the Catholic Church added the Apocrypha

15.______ Number of Apocryphal books

16.______ The 66 books of the Bible are often call the ________________of Scripture.

A. 450 B.C. J. 66

B. Council of Carthage K. 14

C. Septuagent L. Ezra

D. Canon M. Josephus

E. Ebenezer Scrooge N. Latin

F. 250 B.C. O. Greek

G. A.D. 397 P. Apocrypha

H. 39 Q. Moses

I 27 R. Hebrew

S. Canon

List the five tests which were used to determine if a book should be included in the N.T.

1.____________________________________________________________________________

2.____________________________________________________________________________

3.____________________________________________________________________________

4.____________________________________________________________________________

5.____________________________________________________________________________

What are six reasons we do not accept the Apocrypha as part of the inspired Word of God?

1.____________________________________________________________________________

2.____________________________________________________________________________

3.____________________________________________________________________________

4.____________________________________________________________________________

5.____________________________________________________________________________

6.____________________________________________________________________________

How can a young man keep his way pure?

© Copyrighted

All Rights Reserved

October, 2001