If there are any sections of Scripture about which we have doubts about whether they are God’s words or not, we will not consider them to have absolute divine authority and we will not trust them as much as we would trust God himself. Wayne Grudem in Systematic Theology

Canon of Scripture: The list of all the books that belong in the Bible

The Old Testament Canon began not just with the words of God, but with his writing!

Moses added to the Ten Commandments with the Pentateuch (First 5 books of the OT).

The last book of the Old Testament Canon is Malachi, from about 435 B.C.

The Hebrew Canon of the OT has never really been questioned. The 39 books we have today are exactly the same ones the Hebrews would have seen as from God!

“From Artaxerxes to our own times a complete history has been written, but has not been deemed worthy of equal credit with the earlier records, because of the failure of the exact succession of the Prophets.” Josephus

APOCRYPHA is Greek and means: “HIDDEN AWAY.”

Jesus and the NT authors quote various parts of the OT as divinely inspired over 295 times, but not once do they cite the Apocrypha, or any other books.

Luke 11:51 (NIV) “from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all.”

Jerome included the Apocrypha in his Latin Vulgate Bible (404 or 405 A.D.), but only as books that would be “helpful to the church.” It wasn’t until 1000 years later that scholars again translated directly from the Greek New Testament.

When possible, ALWAYS go back to the original text, in the original language.

The Catholic Bible has 73 books. The additions are: Tobit, Judith, Baruch, Wisdom, Sirach,
1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees

The New Testament Canon begins with the writings of the apostles.

The Apostles had authority to write words of Scripture.

John 14:26 (NIV) “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything that I have said to you.”

Peter recognizes Paul’s epistles as Scripture!

2 Peter 3:16 (NIV) He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

SCRIPTURES: means inspired writings, and is the same term they would use to describe the OT.

1 Timothy 5:17-18 (NIV) The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. 18For the Scripture says, “Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain,” and “The worker deserves his wages.”

Paul is writing to Timothy and placing the writings of Luke on the same level as the writings of Moses.

“It is essential to remember that the Bible is self-authenticating since its books were breathed out by God (2 Tim. 3:16). In other words, the books were Canonical the moment they were written. It was not necessary to wait until various councils could examine the books to determine if they were acceptable or not. Their Canonicity was inherent within them, since they came from God. People and councils only recognized and acknowledged what is true because of the intrinsic inspiration of the books as they were written. No Bible book became Canonical by action of some church council.” Charles Ryrie

Criteria for the NT Canon:
· Written by an apostle
· Generally taught in Christian assemblies
· Consistent and contradiction free
· Reinforced the consensus of belief

Am I confident that the Word of God is really the words of God?