Why 66 Books? The Canon of the Scripture by Brian Edwards

DVD Summary:How do we know the Bible is True? Where does the Bible come from?

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The Bible:

1. 66 Books
2. 40 writers
3. About 1600 years
4. One consistent story line
5. One ultimate Author
6. A Book without error

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66 books = canon of Scripture

Canon = "a rod" (Hebrew), "a reed" (Greek)

Canon, earliest known use by 3rd Century AD Clement & Origen of Alexandria

Canon refers to a collection of books that are:
- Fixed in their number
- Divine in their origin
- Universal in their authority

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Gnostic Books/Gospels undermining Christian Foundation:

2nd Century Heretics believing bad god (OT), good god (NT), salvation by secret knowledge (Hence gnostic=knowledge), Jesus was not the son of God, not born of the virgin, didn't die on the cross, etc.

Gnostic Writings: The Nag Hammadi Library (Discovered 1945 in Egypt), the Judas Gospel (First published 2006, about Judas as hero, first known since Irenaeus of Lyons wrote about it in A.D. 180 as "fictitious history"), etc.

The Church threw out 1900 years ago.

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Canon of OT: (24 books Hebrew Scripture, 39 books without volume count)
- Torah (the Law)/ Pentateuch (Greek) referring to "5 rolls"
- Neviim (the Prophets): Joshua, Judges, 1&2 Samuel (1 vol), 1&2 Kings (1 Vol), Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the 12 Minor Prophets (1 vol)
- Kethubim (the Writings): Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Ruth, Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther, Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah (1 vol), 1&2 Chronicles (1 vol)

Council of Jamnia (AD 90-100):
- A group of Jewish scholars meeting to consider matters relating to the Hebrew Scriptures
- No clear contemporary records, leaving to comments of later Rabbis.
- Examine and discuss Hebrew Scriptures; not to decide which book should be included. Books were already decided before AD 90.
- Now generally accepted not as council, but was merely an assembly.

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The Apocrypha:

- 14 books written between OT and NT.
- Never used by Jews as Scripture
- Never used by Josephus (Jewish Historian) as Scripture
- Never used by Jesus and the Apostles

Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox accept some, for example: book of Maccabee supports praying for dead, hard to be found in the 66 books.

Protestants: the authority of Jesus and the Apostles is final, Apocrypha rejected.

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The Septuagint:

- 3rd century B.C. translation of OT from Hebrew to Greek. Used mostly by Jesus and Apostles.
- Supposedly 70 men involved in translation.
- Earliest copy we have is from 5th century AD which contains Apocrypha, but doesn't tell us about the one in 250 B.C.

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The Dead Sea Scrolls

- discovery in 1947
- in Wadi Qumran
- All OT Books found except, the book of Esther, but doesn't tell us what mainstream Judaism accepted.
- No Apocrypha
- Scripture for Jews as a revelation from God through the prophets ended around 450 BC with the close of the book of Malachi.

- Little differences between with the Masoretic Text, approx. 1000 years difference (ie. Isaiah).

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the Canon of NT

- (Though liberal) NT scholar A.T. Robinson was convinced that all NT books completed before AD 70, due to the destruction of Jerusalem not mentioned in any of these books.

- Earliest known list collection: The Muratorian Canon dated around AD 150 (save 1&2 Peter, James, Hebrews)

- Ireneaus of Lyons, who was disciple of Polycarp (martyred 155AD), who was disciple of Apostle John, wrote 5 volumes "Against Heresies", settling gnostics and others' jeopardizing of the NT canon.

- The churches have always been using only 4 gospels, even though there were other few "pseudo" gospels. Some, not 80 as Dan Brown of "the Da Vinci's Code" thinks.

Apart from James, Jude, 2&3 John, 2 Peter, Hebrews and Revelation, all OT books had been universally accepted by AD 180. Only a few churches hesitated over these seven.

AD 150 Muratorian Canon - 22 of 27

AD 180 Irenaeus of Lyons - 23 of 27

AD 240 Origen of Alexandria - 27 (He referred as the "New Testament")

AD 325 Eusebius (Historian, advisor to Emperor Constantine) of Caesarea - 22 + 5 (researched, 22 unquestionable by any church, 5-James, Jude, 2 Peter, 2&3 John, widely recognized by the churches)

AD 367 Athanasius of Alexandria - 27

AD 382 Council of Rome - 27 (but unclear due to historical uncertainty, as Grok.com listed):

• The Decretum Gelasianum is now dated by most scholars to the 6th century, not 382, and its attribution to Damasus or the Council of Rome is debated. It may reflect later editorial work rather than a direct decree from 382.
• No contemporary records from the Council of Rome explicitly confirm it produced a definitive canon list. The association largely relies on later traditions and the Decretum.
• Even if the council discussed the canon, its decisions were not universally binding, as it was a regional synod, similar to Hippo and Carthage.

AD 393 Council of Hippo - 27 (but unclear as documentation from this Council was not fully preserved - Grok.com: "What's the difference between the 393 Council and 397 Council on the canon of the Bible?")

AD 397 3rd Council of Carthage

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Why NT took so long?

1. The originals were scattered across the whole empire, for example, Paul wrote to not one but a number churches, large empire, etc.

2.  No scroll could easily contain more than one or two books.

3. The first century Christians expected the immediate return of Christ.

4. No one church or leader dominated all the others, for 500 years. When Roman Catholic began to throw its weight in the empire, it was decidedly put in place by the others.

5. The early leaders assumed the authority of the Gospels and the apostles. Apostles writers: Matthew, John, James, Peter, Paul; Apostolic Men (according to Tertullian) writers: Mark, Luke, Jude, perhaps Hebrews. Papias: Mark by Peter's guidance, Luke as Paul's companion, Jude was brother of Jesus, common though not universal to accept Paul as author of Hebrews. They knew which was apostolic, which wasn't.

6.  Only when the heretics attacked the truth was the importance of a canon appreciated.

Pseudepigrapha (False writings):
The Preaching of Peter, the Acts of Peter, the Apocalypse of Peter, Gospel of Thomas (filling out childhood of Jesus), 4th century Epistle to the Laodiceans (Colossians 4:16), others provided false letters by Paul, Peter, Herod, Pilate, Joseph of Arimathaea, woman with issue of blood, Jesus, letters between Paul and Seneca (philosopher, tutor and advisor to emperor Nero).
- The are all so different from the apostolic letters.
- Not one of them appears among the books used as Scripture by the early churches.
- All written far too late to have come from the hand of an apostle.
- Many of the details in them are hopelessly inaccurate. (ie. the forger of the letter of Herod obviously forgot that the Herod of the time of our Lord's birth was not the same Herod of His trial and crucifixion, oops)

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What made a book "Scripture"?

First 200 years, 5 tests:

1. Apostolic - does it come from an apostle? (or under the direction of an apostle), ie. 2 Thessalonians 3:17, because already people were writing pretending to come from Paul.

2. Authentic - does it have the ring of truth? Words of God.

3. Ancient - has it been used from the earliest times?

4. Accepted - are most of the churches using it?

5. Accurate - does it conform to the orthodox teacing of the churches?

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How early are our oldest copies of the NT?

NT (1 vol) - 300 years after apostles

Compare:

- Josephus' Jewish Antiquities (AD 93-94) - Earliest complete text 1,300 years after his death
- Tacitus' Augustus to Nero, History (AD 69-97) - Earliest complete text 800 years after his death
- Julius Ceasar's Gallic Wars (58-55 BC) - Earliest complete text 900 years after his death

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What is available?

About 5,500 Greek texts including full texts, collections, sections, and small fragments

Codex Sinaiticus
- An earliest complete New Testament dated around AD 350
- Discovered in 1859, at a monastery at Mt. Sinai
- Contain whole OT + 6 books of Apocrypha
- Originally copied in Alexandria
- Now in British Library, purchased from the Soviet Union in 1933 for 100,000 Pounds.

Chester Beatty Papyri
- 15 NT around AD 200

John Rylands Papyrus
- 5 verses from John 18 around AD 125 (circulating in Egypt)

Qumran fragment 7Q5 - a fragment from Mark 6:52-53? (though not everyone agrees) but all agrees:
- Discovered in 1955 in a cave sealed in AD 68.
- Jose O'Callaghan, Papyrologist, identified one fragment to come from Mark 6:52-53, and 9 other NT fragments.

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"Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar." - Proverbs 30:5-6

"These are the fountains of salvation, that whoever thirsts, may be satisfied by the eloquence which is in them. In them alone is set forth the doctrine of piety. Let no one add to them, nor take anything from them." - Athanasius