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Part II:
Was The Apocrypha Added to, or Deleted from the Canon, They Were Not "God-breathed" nor Authoritatively Quoted in The New Testament, Historical and Doctrinal Errors in the Apocrypha. Conclusion.
ON THIS PAGE
Emphasis Mine In All Bible Verses
Part I
Defining The Terms
A Commonly Believed Fallacy
The Canon In Various Traditions
Divine Providence and The Canon
Jesus and The Canon of the Old Testament
The Law and The Prophets
From Abel to Zachariah
Josephus And The Hebrew Canon
The Importance of the Hebrew Canon
The Masoretic Text and the Dead Sea Scrolls
The Canon of The New Testament
The Apostles Knew Their Writings and The Writings of
Other NT Authors Were Inspired by God
The Compilation of the New Testament
The Muratorian Canon
The Reliability of the New Testament
Defining The Terms
Canon: The word canon comes from the Greek kanon, which means a reed or measuring rod, probably used by carpenters and masons as a standard for testing straightness. The early church initially used the word to describe those doctrines that were accepted as the rule of faith or standard of religious belief. Over the course of time "canon" came to be applied to those books of the Bible considered to be inspired of God therefore officially accepted as Holy Scripture.
Apocrypha: The word Apocrypha" (hidden) refers to several books written in the inter-testamental period i.e. between Malachi and Matthew (approximately 400 B.C. and the time of Christ). Most were written in Greek rather than Hebrew.
These books that often imply or even claim Biblical authority are considered non-canonical by Protestants. However, they were included in the Vulgate, Roman Catholic and Orthodox Bibles in which they are often referred to as "deuterocanonical" - a word that comes from the Greek meaning 'belonging to the second canon'. The books in question include 1 and 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, the Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, (also titled Ecclesiasticus), Baruch, The Letter of Jeremiah, The Prayer of Manasseh, and 1 and 2 Maccabees.
The Church of England lists the deuterocanonical books as suitable to be read for example of life and instruction of manners, but not to establish any doctrine."
The Septuagint, also called "LXX" is an ancient translation of the Hebrew Bible into Koine (common) Greek. It is believed to be the work of 72 Jewish scholars who undertook the translation at the request of Ptolemy II of Alexandria. However, the numerous holes in this commonly believed story makes it more likely that the first five books of Moses were translated into Greek by Hellenistic Jews living in Alexandria, Egypt during the time of the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus. Other books were probably added later. These Jews were likely to have been losing touch with Hebrew and needed the Law in a language they probably used on a daily basis... Greek. (See The Septuagint)
It is believed that the Septuagint incorporated not only all the books of the Hebrew Bible but books later considered apocryphal or deuterocanonical. However, we cannot be sure of this as no copy of the original translation exists.
A Commonly Believed Fallacy
Perhaps one of the most common misconceptions about the Bible is that it is incomplete in some way.
There were literally dozens of spiritual books written in the same time period as the books of the Bible causing some to believe that church councils weeded them out because they were unfairly prejudiced against the teachings in these books, . Consequently, several books that should have been included in the Bible, were not. On his radio program called Spiritual Awakening, James Bean once said... (All Emphasis Added)
for centuries -- the early Church had no such concept as a closed canon of scripture, a collection of books that they viewed as the "final" or "only" revelation concerning spiritual matters. Rather, Christians during that creative period felt free to compose new scriptures, psalms, odes, proverbs, letters that they felt were inspired, and other documents of a spiritual nature.
Christianity, like other religions, underwent the process of "mainstreaming" -- settling down or crystallizing -- into a standardized, organized faith. The mainstream consciousness came to believe that "the age of the apostles and prophets was now past." So, since masters and saints (who acted as oracles of the Divine) were no longer being recognized by the masses, some people started to look to past masters for guidance. Christianity entered the stage where the Book became the master, the Book became the guru. The state church of the Emperor Constantine created a fixed list of books which would serve for all time as the rule of faith. They also made lists of books that were to be weeded out of circulation, no longer to be considered as scripture. This process of canonization and censorship, for the most part, happened during the fourth century. It was during this time that most of the "other books" lost their status as scripture. Only a small number of books made it into the this fourth century Bible and sadly, many important mystical books were left out. [01]
It would be hard to find another couple of paragraphs so ignorant - so jam packed with misinformation which was unfortunately broadcast from the treetops and probably accepted as truth by many who heard this bilge or read it on his web site. Much to the contrary...
1.) The only books accepted into the canon were written by those whom God called to to do so, not any individuals who happened to feel "creative" and compose their own scriptures and psalms.
2.) When Paul said the Scriptures were inspired (2 Timothy 3:16-17), he used the Greek theopneustos - ‘God breathed'. In other words, the books were canonical the moment they were written not when any individual or council decided whether they were. The canon was not created but discerned by recognizing and acknowledging that which was 'God breathed'.
As so well said by Dennis Rupert...
"...a book did not become inspired by being included in the canon. Rather inclusion in the canon was merely recognition of the authority that the book already possessed from God. It is a little bit like an purple elephant walking into the room and us deciding that "Yes, indeed! That's a purple elephant and he is in the room." We did not make him a purple elephant and we did not put him in the room -- we merely recognize what is obvious.
The canon of Scripture was NOT formed by the declaration of a church council any more than Isaac Newton created the law of gravity. Rather, as written revelation came from God through God's chosen writers, the people of God recognized God's voice and affirmed that the writing was indeed the word of God.
Jesus said, "His sheep follow Him because they know his voice" (John 10:4). The people of God knew the Word of God when they heard it and read it and, as a result, the 39 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament were recognized and collected into the canon". [02]
Inspired Scripture was canon the moment pen was put to parchment and was recognized as such
3.) Constantine had nothing to do with the forming of the canon that was not even an issue under discussion at the 325 A.D Council of Nicea. As a matter of fact, the council of Nicea was held in order to settle a bitter dispute within the church regarding the Divinity of Christ. As a matter of fact, there are approximately 32,000 quotations from the New Testament found in writings from before the council took place, In fact, the New Testament was so widely quoted that, except for a few verses, it could be reproduced in it's entirety just from the second and third century writings of the early church fathers - much before the council of Nicea.
4.) No book ever 'lost its stature as Scripture'. Although they may have had a few proponents, many that were never widely trusted (for reasons I will get to) were not included. Books that had little basis in reality, were doctrinally or historically unsound did not find their way into the canon (Details in Part II) or were were written by people lying about authorship. However, one other reason was that they were never part of the Hebrew Scriptures.
5.) Lost books? What “lost books”?
The so called "lost books" were never "lost" or 'removed' from the Bible - they were never part of the Bible. In fact, When it comes to the Scriptures there are only two choices, Either the Bible is Divinely inspired or it is not.
If the former it is impossible to believe that God managed to lose track of the contents of His own book. On the other hand, if the Bible is simply a product of the church then the leaders of the church had the right to determine which books accurately reflected their beliefs and include them in the canon. Any book they chose not to include, is by definition, not a part of the Bible. And, as said by Grek Koukl "It might be a lost book of antiquity, a great archaeological find, a wonderful piece of literature, but a lost book of the Bible? No". In other words there is no such thing as a "lost book" of the Bible. (See No Lost Books of the Bible)
The questions then are what selection process gave us our current 66 books of the Bible and why was the apocrypha accepted into the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Bibles but is not included in Protestant Bibles?
First a short overview of what books are accepted by the various churches
The Canon In Different Traditions
Christianity is rooted in and inseparable from the Scriptures. Everything a Christian knows about God, everything he believes and practices, is based not on human knowledge, insight, or experiences but rests solely on God's Word to man as recorded in the Scriptures.
Therefore, in order for us to know exactly what God has said and be able to distinguish truth from error it is crucial that we know which of the many books that were written during the Old and the New Testament periods, the approximately 400 years in between, and in the centuries after the birth of the early church, should be classified as Scripture or God's authoritative revelation.
The problem is that the Protestant Bible differs very greatly from the canon recognized by the church of Rome, Eastern Orthodox churches and by various other groups that claim to recognize the authority of the Scriptures. However, as said below the only difference between the Protestant Old Testament and the Hebrew Scriptures is the order and division of the books.
Judaism: The Hebrew Scriptures are made up of twenty-four books beginning with Genesis and ending with 2 Chronicles. The Five Books of the Law (Torah): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. The Eight Books of the Prophets (Nevi'im): Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, The Twelve (twelve minor prophets). And the Eleven Books of the Writings (Ketuvim): Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra/Nehemiah, Chronicles
Protestantism: The Protestant Old Testament contains exactly the same matter as the Hebrew canon except that the books are differently ordered and some of them are divided bringing the total number to thirty-nine instead of the Hebrew twenty four. Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles are divided into two books each. Ezra and Nehemiah are one book in the Hebrew Old Testament but are separated in our Bibles. The twelve Minor Prophets - originally one book in the Hebrew Scriptures - were divided into twelve individual books in our Bibles.
The current order and number of books found in our modern Old Testaments was influenced by the Septuagint (or LXX ), the Greek translation of the Old Testament. It arranged the books in the sequence of law, history, wisdom literature, and prophets. However, at the risk of being repetitious, although our Bibles follow the LXX's order and division of the books the subject matter in the Protestant Old Testament is identical to the Hebrew Old Testament.
Catholicism: In the year 1546, claiming that Protestants had removed seven books plus parts of Daniel and Esther from the Old Testament, the church of Rome officially declared them to be canonical. Collectively known as the apocrypha the books in question are 1 and 2 Maccabees, Sirach, Wisdom, Baruch, Tobit, and Judith
Eastern Orthodox: The Greek Orthodox church recognizes all the books that the Catholic church does, but also accepts I Esdras, the Prayer of Manasseh, Psalm 151, and 3 Maccabees. Other Eastern Orthodox churches include 4 Maccabees in their canon. The canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is probably the largest of them all, since some methods of listing the books comes up with as many as 81 books, divided into "narrower" and the "broader canons. [03]
The Anglican Church: The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion which are the historically defining statements of doctrines of the Anglican church, says the Apocrypha can be used in worship as providing examples of life and instructions in manners, but not for the establishment of doctrine. [04]
Mormonism: The Mormons add the Book of Mormon, the Book of Abraham, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price to the canon.
Christian Science: recognizes Mary Baker Eddy's book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, perhaps not as canon, but certainly on par with the Scriptures.
All of which can get very confusing and often prompts more then one question. Are any inspired books are missing from our Bibles or, on the other hand, are any books included that should not be there. Is our Old Testament the same as the one the Lord used when He walked the earth and is our New Testament the same as the one used by the apostles?
Divine Providence and The Canon
Perhaps it is wise to first apply a modicum of common sense to the issue.
The Bible is not just a piece of ancient literature. It's 66 books were written by different authors from widely diverse backgrounds, including a couple of kings, a general, at least two fishermen, a musician, a priest, a tax collector, a physician etc. They lived over a period of some 1,500 years on three different continents and spoke three different languages. Yet without possible concert or collusion, they wrote as one man, with one message. Such a book is a literary miracle that could not possibly have come about by ordinary means without supernatural intervention. No other book in history can make the same claim! (See Authorship of The Bible)
Not only does the Bible record important events in the history of His dealing with the human race but it is also the only means by which we know who God is, what He is like and what His eternal plans are. It simply and effectively presents God's revelation of Himself and His will. It tells us how we have strayed from the paths He originally intended for us to walk in and how He chose a nation to be the channel of His great plan of redemption. Reading and studying the Bible develops in us a world view very different from that of most of humanity. In other words, we begin to see things the way God sees them.
The Bible begins with the creation of this planet and it's inhabitants, tells us where we are in history, and stretches into the future to the end of our present world, and the beginning of a new heaven and a new earth. See End of The Age
Its overarching message is one of hope that our sins can be forgive, and that the grave is not our final destination provided we turn to Christ and away from sin (See Sin, Repentance and Salvation on THIS page). To this end the Bible teaches, instructs, rebukes, and encourages. In fact it is no exaggeration to say that the eternal destiny of each and every one of us is contained in the Divinely inspired words recorded between the covers of the collection of books we call the Bible. As Paul said to Timothy
You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:14-17 NASB)
That God places supreme importance upon His written word is abundantly clear.
The words of the LORD are pure words; Like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, filtered seven times. You, LORD, will keep them; You will protect him from this generation forever. (Psalms 12:6-7 NASB)
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. (Mark 13:31 NASB)
He warned the nation of Israel not to add or subtract from the commandments He had given them
Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. (Deuteronomy 4:1-2)
As the apostle James said, “Do not merely listen to the word; and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (James 1:22). In other words, we not only have to read, but obey His commandments. But, in order to do that, we have to first be sure we know exactly what His Word says.
With all that in mind, it is ludicrous to believe that God took about 1500 years to convey His message to us but has failed to ensure that what we have in our Bibles today is exactly what He intended. It is completely senseless to believe that He has not taken an active role in the collection and arrangement of His Scriptures, making sure that no inspired book is missing and no non-inspired book has been added.
The Old Testament Prophets Knew That God Was Speaking Through Them
Now it came about in the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was by the river Chebar among the exiles, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. (Ezekiel 1:1 NASB)
The word of the LORD which came to Hosea the son of Beeri, during the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel. (Hosea 1:1 NASB)
This is what the LORD says: “For three offenses of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke its punishment, Because they threshed Gilead with iron sledges. (Amos 1:3 NASB)
The vision of Obadiah. This is what the Lord GOD says concerning Edom— We have heard a report from the LORD, And a messenger has been sent among the nations saying, “Arise, and let’s go up against her for battle” (Obadiah 1:1 NASB)
This is what the LORD says: “Though they are at full strength and so they are many, So also they will be cut off and pass away. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no longer. (Nahum 1:12 NASB)
Then the LORD answered me and said, “Write down the vision And inscribe it clearly on tablets, So that one who reads it may run. (Habakkuk 2:2 NASB)
The word of the LORD which came to Zephaniah son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah: (Zephaniah 1:1 NASB)
In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo saying, (Zechariah 1:1 NASB)
The pronouncement of the word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi: (Malachi 1:1 NASB)
.But the question, yet unanswered, is which books made up the Tanakh, or Hebrew Scriptures?
Jesus and The Canon of the Old Testament
Jesus Himself was very clear about the limits of the Hebrew Canon.
The Law and The Prophets
On several occasions Jesus, Luke, and Paul appealed to the authority of 'The Law and the Prophets’ that along with 'The Writing' made up tri-fold division of the Hebrew Old Testament. No known version of the Greek translation had any such division. In fact, there is not a single case of a New Testament author citing as Scripture any book other than the 39 we have in our Bibles. The Apocrypha was never included.
Do not presume that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. (Matthew 5:17 NASB) (See Jesus and The Law)
In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 7:12 NASB)
Jesus declared, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40 BSB)
Jesus said to them, “These are the words I spoke to you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms.” (Luke 24:44 BSB)
After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the synagogue officials sent word to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it.” (Acts 13:15 NASB)
But I confess this to you, that in accordance with the Way, which they call a sect, I do serve the God of our fathers, believing everything that is in accordance with the Law and is written in the Prophets; (Acts 24:14 NASB)
When they had set a day for Paul, people came to him at his lodging in large numbers; and he was explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus, from both the Law of Moses and from the Prophets, from morning until evening. (Acts 28:23 NASB)
From Abel to Zachariah
Additionally, when Jesus said...
that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous unto the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom ye slew between the sanctuary and the altar". (Matthew 23:35)
...He was referring to Abel's murder at the hands of his brother as recorded in Genesis the first book of the Hebrew Bible. Zachariah's murder commanded by king Joash is recorded in 2 Chronicles 24:20-22. Not only was Jesus excluding the other murders of God's messengers recorded in the Apocrypha but since 2 Chronicles was the last book of the Hebrew Old Testament in essence He was saying, 'from the first murder to the last murder in the Bible'.
This statement is the equivalent of someone today saying 'from Genesis to Malachi' and clearly shows that our Lord considered the twenty four books of the Hebrew Scriptures to be the canon of the Old Testament.
Yet, the Council of Trent, the 19th ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic church, held at Trent in northern Italy between 1545 and 1563, showed absolutely no regard for Jesus' clear indication of the limits of the canon, but made their own determination as to which books were to be accepted as God's Word.
 Indeed, there is not a single instance anywhere of a NT author citing a book as Scripture that is not in our current thirty-nine book canon. And while Jesus himself had many disagreements with the Jewish leadership of his day, there appears to be no indication that there was any disagreement over which books were Scripture—a reality that is hard to explain if the OT canon was still in flux.
Josephus And The Hebrew Canon
Early testimony to the extent of the Hebrews canon was provided by the Jewish historian Josephus. Defending Judaism as a classical religion and stressing its antiquity against what he perceived as more recent traditions of the Greeks, Josephus was very clear about the precise number of books in the Hebrew Scriptures which effectively eliminated all the books of the apocrypha.. (All Emphasis Added)
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 contain the records of all the past times; which are justly believed to be divine; and of them five belong to Moses, which contain his laws and the traditions of the origin of mankind till his death. This interval of time was little short of three thousand years; but as to the time from the death of Moses till the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, who reigned after Xerxes, the prophets, who were after Moses, wrote down 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. It is true, our history hath been written since Artaxerxes very particularly, but hath not been esteemed of the like authority with the former by our forefathers, because there hath not been an exact succession of prophets since that time; and how firmly we have given credit to these books of our own nation is evident by what we do; for during so many ages as have already passed, no one has been so bold as either to add any thing to them, to take any thing from them, or to make any change in them; but it is become natural to all Jews immediately, and from their very birth, to esteem these books to contain Divine doctrines, and to persist in them, and, if occasion be willingly to die for them. (Against Apion 1:8)
When Josephus said "history hath been written since Artaxerxes very particularly, but hath not been esteemed of the like authority with the former by our forefathers, because there hath not been an exact succession of prophets since that time.." he was telling us that the Jews recognized the Old Testament canon as being complete after their return from Babylon in the time of Ezra who returned to Jerusalem from Babylon in the seventh year of king Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:1, 8 2) around 400 B.C.
Although the exact reasons are unknown, towards the end of the first century or beginning of the second the Jews changed the number of the books to 24 - not by adding any material (which no Jew would have done), but by simply dividing Joshua-Judges into two separate books, and the Book of Kingdoms into Samuel and Kings. Modern versions of the Tanakh list 39 separate Books just like the Christian Old Testament but maintains the traditional tri-fold division that begins with Genesis and ends with Chronicles.
Jerome
Although Jerome, who is best known for his translation of the Bible into Latin (the Vulgate), mentions a slightly different division of books, he also referred to the twenty two books of the Hebrew canon
As, then, there are twenty-two elementary characters by means of which we write in Hebrew all we say, and the compass of the human voice is contained within their limits, so we reckon twenty-two books, by which, as by the alphabet of the doctrine of God, a righteous man is instructed in tender infancy, and, as it were, while still at the breast. [05]
The Importance of the Hebrew Canon
And Why We Have To Take It Into Account
The question could very well be asked.. why should we pay particular attention to the number of books the Jews considered inspired and therefore sacred? Simply because...
The Jews Were Were Entrusted With The Oracles Of God
The Bible says (Emphasis Added)
Then what advantage does the Jew have? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? Great in every respect. First, that they were entrusted (Gk. pisteuo)with the actual words of God. (Romans 3:1-2 NASB)
Not only did the Jews have the privilege of being the keepers of the sacred books with the responsibility to preserve them for posterity but the Scriptures are very clear - God Himself trusted them with His Word. The Greek word translated "entrusted" is pisteuo (to have faith in). If God had enough faith and confidence in the Jews to appoint them guardians of the Law, The Prophets, and The Writings, who are we to tell the Almighty that His faith was misplaced.
And the Jews certainly lived up to the challenge of perfectly preserving God’s Word for posterity.
The Masoretic Text and the Dead Sea Scrolls
Although their eyes may be blind to the truth of the Messiah, the Jews guarded the text of the Old Testament with the utmost devotion and great accuracy.
The Old Testament that we use today is translated from what is called the "Masoretic Text" (Masoretic comes from the Hebrew masoreth, “tradition”). Until the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 1947, the oldest Hebrew text of the Old Testament was the Masoretic Aleppo Codex which dates to A.D. 935.
Sometime in the Middle Ages a group of Jewish scholars called Masoretes became concerned that since Hebrew was no longer a spoken language, the pronunciation of the words might be lost. The, therefor, developed a system for marking the vowels, punctuation, accents etc.
The most popular system of signs was developed by the Ben Asher family, and it is their system that is preserved in the Leningrad Codex. If you look carefully at a page you can see that the consonants, or letters, have little marks above and below them. Some of the marks are called "vowel points," and some are called "accents." The accents both act as punctuation and as musical notation.
The Masoretes were also interested in copying the biblical text very carefully so that it would be preserved from generation to generation. The way they tried to ensure this was the use of notes in the margins. In the margins beside the biblical verses they put little letters as symbols.
These symbols told the scribe copying the text information about unusual forms or words that should not be changed. For instance, they might put a circle over a word that occurred nowhere else in the Bible. In the margin they would then put the letter "l" which told the scribe, "yes, this is a unique word, but it is not an error, so just copy it the way it is." The notes at the top or bottom of a page would usually give more information about the symbols in the side margins. [06]
Working between A.D. 500 and 950, "This monumental work was begun around the 6th century ad and completed in the 10th century ad by scholars at Talmudic academies in Babylonia and Palestine in an effort to reproduce as far as possible, the original text of the Hebrew Old Testament. Their intention was not to interpret the meaning of the Scriptures but to transmit to future generations the authentic Word of God. To this end they used extremely meticulous and painstaking procedures to ensure that the text of the Old Testament was accurately transcribed. Some of their methods are described by the Encyclopædia Britannica Online ...
The Masoretic text that resulted from their work shows that every word and every letter was checked with care. In Hebrew or Aramaic, they called attention to strange spellings and unusual grammar and noted discrepancies in various texts. Since texts traditionally omitted vowels in writing, the Masoretes introduced vowel signs to guarantee correct pronunciation. ... In addition, signs for stress and pause were added to the text to facilitate public reading of the Scriptures in the synagogue.
When the final codification of each section was complete, the Masoretes not only counted and noted down the total number of verses, words, and letters in the text but further indicated which verse, which word, and which letter marked the centre of the text. In this way any future emendation could be detected. The rigorous care given the Masoretic text in its preparation is credited for the remarkable consistency found in Old Testament Hebrew texts since that time. The Masoretic work enjoyed an absolute monopoly for 600 years, and experts have been astonished at the fidelity of the earliest printed version (late 15th century) to the earliest surviving codices (late 9th century). The Masoretic text is universally accepted as the authentic Hebrew Bible. [07]
Additionally, to ensure accuracy they
"...developed a number of strict measures to ensure that every fresh copy was an exact reproduction of the original. They established tedious procedures to protect the text against being changed. For instance,
(a) when obvious errors were noted in the text, perhaps because a tired scribe nodded, the text was still not changed. Instead, a correction was placed in the margin called qere, “to be read,” and that which was written in the text was called, kethibh, “to be written.”
(b) When a word was considered textually, grammatically, or exegetically questionable, dots were placed above that word.
(c) Minute statistics were also kept as a further means of guarding against errors: in the Hebrew Bible at Leviticus 8:8, the margin has a reference that this verse is the middle verse of the Torah. According to the note at Lev. 10:16 the word darash is the middle word in the Torah, and at 11:42 we are assured that the waw in a Hebrew word there is the middle letter.
At the end of each book are statistics as: the total number of verses in Deuteronomy is 955, the total in the entire Torah is 5,845; the total number of words is 97, 856, and the total number of letters is 400,945.64/ [08]
It has often been claimed that the Masoretes edited the texts to minimize, or even delete the messianic prophecies or types (See Typology). However, the 1947 discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in caves in Qumran gave us manuscripts that predate the Masoretic Text by about one thousand years. After years of study, it was found that the scrolls were almost identical with the Masoretic text. This substantially confirms that our Old Testament has been accurately preserved. In fact, it is a matter of wonder that the text went through so little alteration in over a thousand years.
After examining the Isaiah scrolls found in Cave 1, Gleason Archer, professor of Biblical Languages at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California from 1948 to 1965, wrote (Emphasis Added)
“Even though the two copies of Isaiah discovered in Qumran Cave 1 near the Dead Sea in 1947 were a thousand years earlier than the oldest dated manuscript previously known (A.D. 980), they proved to be word for word identical with our standard Hebrew Bible in more than 95 percent of the text. The five percent of variation consisted chiefly of obvious slips of the pen and variations in spelling.” [09]
The Canon of The New Testament
The New Testament Was Guided and Preserved by The Holy Spirit
Although the Hebrew canon was closed, Christianity brought in a whole new addition in the form of the 27 books of the New Testament. Jesus' disciple, and the early apostles had learned that Jesus was the Messiah who had been long foretold in the Hebrew Scriptures. Thus they knew the canon was not complete - God had not yet finished speaking.
Although most of the New Testament books were not written by any of the twelve disciples either the author was directly chosen or commissioned by God or was closely associated with someone who was. Paul, Peter, and John fell into the first category. Mark was closely associated with Peter, and Luke with Paul. Luke accompanied Paul on his second and third missionary journeys as well as to Rome. Paul called him "the beloved physician" in Colossians 4:14, told Timothy that "only Luke” was with him (2 Timothy 4:11), and described Luke as his "fellow worker" in Philemon 24.
Luke was very clear that his Gospel was based on "eyewitnesses".
Since many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, it seemed fitting to me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in an orderly sequence, most excellent Theophilus; so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught. (Luke 1:1-4 NASB)
The Apostles Knew Their Writings Were Inspired by God
The process of recognizing which books were of God began with the apostles themselves who not only realized that their own writings were Spirit led on a par with the Old Testament Scriptures.
John, in referring to the book of Revelation which he himself wrote warned against adding or taking away from the "words of the book of this prophecy". This tells us that New Testament canon was being set in stone even as it was being written.
Paul claimed that what he wrote was God's Word and ignored at the reader's peril.
Or was it from you that the word of God first went out? Or has it come to you only? If anyone thinks that he is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the things which I write to you are the Lord’s commandment. But if anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. (1 Corinthians 14:36-38 NASB)
For I would have you know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel which was preached by me is not of human invention. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. (Galatians 1:11-12 NASB)
which in other generations was not made known to mankind, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power. (Ephesians 3:5-7 NASB)
For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of mere men, but as what it really is, the word of God, which also is at work in you who believe. (1 Thessalonians 2:13 NASB)
Peter
But the word of the Lord endures for ever. And this is the word which was preached to you. (1 Peter 1:25 NASB)
to remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles. (2 Peter 3:2 NASB)
They also claimed that they could see into the future.
But the Spirit saith expressly, that in later times some shall fall away from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, (1 Timothy 4:1)
But know this, that in the last days grievous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, haughty, railers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, no lovers of good, traitors, headstrong, puffed up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding a form of godliness, but having denied the power thereof: from these also turn away. (2 Timothy 3:1-5)
The Apostles Recognized Each Others Teachings
Peter:
spoke of Paul's writing as being equal to the Divinely inspired Old Testament. This would have been complete irreverence for any Jew who considered the Hebrew Scriptures the exalted Word of God. In fact Peter's words, that very obviously put Paul's Epistles on the same plane as the Old Testament, would have been nothing short of profane, and blasphemous.
and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which there are some things that are hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. (2 Peter 3:15-16 NASB)
Paul:
In 1 Timothy 5:18, Paul quoted both Deuteronomy 25:4 and Luke 10:7 calling them "the Scripture"
For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle the ox while it is threshing,” and “The laborer is worthy of his wages.” (1 Timothy 5:18 NASB)
The Compilation of the New Testament
The books of the New Testament are not in chronological order in our Bibles. They were circulated separately at first and preserved by the churches or people to whom they were sent. It took over 300 years before all twenty seven books came together and were fully acknowledged by the church.
That it took so long for the New Testament to come together is not surprising considering the circumstances
1) Because the early church was persecuted and the people scattered all over the place individual books were written from various locations to particular churches in different areas. It would have taken some time for the letters to find their way to other churches.
2) Letters written to individuals (Philemon, 2 and 3 John) would not have been circulated as widely as those sent to churches.
Because there was other literature written in the early church period it would have been reasonable to expect Christians of the time to have been confused as to which of them were inspired and which were not. However, this was not the case although there was was no central authority that officially decided which books were canonical. As said by Allan MacRae, President of Biblical Theological Seminary...
Since Jesus did not state any way in which the books that were free from error could be distinguished from the others, it would be natural to expect that soon there would be great disagreement about this question. Those churches that knew the author of a particular book or group of books would be strongly inclined to accept his books, while other churches where he was less known might question whether his writings were inspired. It would be natural to expect there would be different views in different places and even considerable differences of opinion within certain groups as to which were the books God wanted accepted as part of His infallible Word. [10]
Just as in the case of the Old Testament it is very unlikely that there could have been any unanimity of decision unless the Holy Spirit guided the church in the formation of the New Testament canon. Jesus told the disciples that the Holy Spirit would guide them into all truth (John 16:12-130, and "all truth" had to include recognition of the canon even under some very trying circumstances. Any lists drawn up were merely affirmed what was already widely believed.
Although several attacks were made on some of the genuine writings there was virtually no serious nor widespread question raised about the canonical authority of the majority of the New Testament including the four Gospels, Acts, the thirteen epistles of Paul, 1 John, 1 Peter and Revelation. Only seven books that are now included in our New Testament (Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, Jude, Philemon, and the second and third epistles of John) were ever under question. However, there is evidence that the canon was close to being established very early on.
The earliest list in our possession is what is known as ...
The Muratorian Canon
is an ancient list of canonical books written in poor Latin although internal clues suggest that the list was translated from Greek. This codex came from the library of a monastery in northern Italy and is dated to between 170 and 200 AD. It provides important testimony to the books which were recognized as canonical at a very early point in the history of the church, including as it does all the New Testament books except Hebrews, James, and one epistle of John.
The Muratorian Canon is one of the earliest known lists of New Testament writings recognized as authoritative within the early Christian communities. Although it exists today as a fragment, this ancient document offers a compelling glimpse into how believers in the second century approached the question of which writings carried apostolic authority. Discovered by the Italian historian Ludovico Antonio Muratori and subsequently published in the 18th century, the fragment is often dated to around AD 170-200. Despite its incomplete state, the Muratorian Canon remains a primary witness to the formation of the Christian scriptural canon. [11]
In 397. A.D the Council of Carthage had certified all 27 books of the New Testament and the 39 books of the Old Testament, but also included several apocryphal books such as Maccabees and Esdras.
The Reliability of the New Testament
Just how reliable are the New Testament documents? As said by J. Hampton Keathley in a study entitled The Holy Canon of Scripture. (All Emphasis Added)
There are now more than 5,300 known Greek manuscripts of the New Testament. Add over 10,000 Latin Vulgate and at least 9,300 other early versions (MSS) and we have more than 24,000 manuscript copies of portions of the New Testament. This means that no other document of antiquity even begins to approach such numbers and attestation. In comparison, the Iliad by Homer is second with only 643 manuscripts that still survive. The first complete preserved text of Homer dates from the 13th century.
This contrast is startling and tremendously significant. Perhaps we can appreciate how wealthy the New Testament is in manuscript attestation if we compare the textual material for other ancient historical works.
For Caesar’s Gallic War (composed between 58 and 50 B.C) there are several extant MSS, but only nine or ten are good and the oldest is some 900 years later than Caesar’s day.
Of the 142 books of the Roman history of Livy (59 B.C-A.D 17), only 35 survive; these are known to us from not more than twenty MSS of any consequence, only one of which, and that containing fragments of Books III-VI, is as old as the fourth century.
Of the fourteen books of Histories of Tacitus (c. A.D. 100) only four and a half survive; of the sixteen books of his Annals, ten survive in full and two in part. The text of these extant portions of his two great historical works depends entirely on two MSS, one of the ninth century and one of the eleventh.…
The History of Thucydides (c. 460-400 B.C.) is known to us from eight MSS, the earliest belonging to about the beginning of the Christian era.
The same is true of the History of Herodotus (c. 480-425 B.C.).
Yet no classical scholar would listen to an argument that the authenticity of Herodotus or Thucydides is in doubt because the earliest MSS of their works which are of any use are over 1,300 years later than the originals.
The fact of the many documents, plus the fact that many of the New Testament documents are very early (hundreds of parchment copies from the 4th and 5th centuries with some seventy-five papyri fragments dating from A.D. 135 to the 8th century) assures us we have a very accurate and reliable text in the New Testament. [12]
Careful comparison of these hundreds of copies assures us that we have an accurate and trustworthy New Testament
Continue On To Part II - Examples of The Problems With The Apocrypha HERE
Endnotes
(1) James Bean. The Lost Books Of The Bible.
https://medium.com/sant-mat-meditation-and-spirituality/lost-books-of-the-bible-fdf084caa87e
([02] Dennis Rupert, Who Decided What Books Got Into The Bible?
http://www.new-life.net/faqs/biblical-questions/who-decided-what-books-got-into-the-bible/
[03] R. W. Cowley. The Biblical Canon Of The Ethiopian Orthodox Church Today. Ostkirchliche Studien, 1974, Volume 23, pp. 318-323. http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Bible/Text/Canon/ethiopican.html
[04] http://www.anglicansonline.org/basics/thirty-nine_articles.html]
[05] The Books of Samuel and Kings, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf206.vii.iii.iv.html
[06] The Leningrad Codex. West Semitic Research Project.... affiliated with the University of Southern California School of Religion and directed by Dr. Bruce Zuckerman.
http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/wsrp/educational_site/biblical_manuscripts/LeningradCodex.shtml
[07] http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/368081/Masoretic-text
[08] The Bible: The Holy Canon of Scripture. Study By: J. Hampton Keathley, III.
http://bible.org/seriespage/bible-holy-canon-scripture
[09] Gleason Archer, A Survey of The Old Testament. Introduction (Chicago, IL.: Moody Press, 1985), Pg 25
[10] Allan MacRae, "The Canon of Scripture: Can We Be Sure Which Books Are Inspired by God?" in John Warwick Montgomery (ed.), Evidence for Faith: Deciding the God Question (Dallas: Probe, 1991), Pgs. 225-226. As quoted in The Apocrypha and the Biblical Canon - Part 4, by Dr. John Ankerberg and Dr. John Weldon.
http://www.ankerberg.com/Articles/apologetics/AP0604W3.htm
[11] What is the Muratorian Canon? https://biblehub.com/q/what_is_the_muratorian_canon.htm
[12] The Bible: The Holy Canon of Scripture. Study By: J. Hampton Keathley, III.
http://bible.org/seriespage/bible-holy-canon-scripture
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