How the sixty-six books were collected and Preserved.
The Canon of the Bible comes from the Greek word kanon. It means, in the first place, a reed or rod, then a measuring rod; hence a rule or a standard.
In the Second place it means the authoritative decision of a church council.
In the Third Place, as applied to the Bible, it means Those books which have been measured, and found satisfactory, and approved as inspired by God.
Athanasius the church father around 350A.D. first used the term canon in relation to the Bible.
Thiessen Lectures in Systematic Theology; Genuineness, Credibility,and Canonicity of the Bible p.102
1. The Languages of the Bible.
A. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew with the following exceptions which were written in
Aramaic. Ezra 4:8 - 6:18; 7:12-26; Jeremiah 10:11; Daniel 2:4 - 7:28
Aramaic. Ezra 4:8 - 6:18; 7:12-26; Jeremiah 10:11; Daniel 2:4 - 7:28
Aramaic (Classical Syriac: ܐܪܡܝܐ Aramaya) is a family of languages or dialects, belonging to the Semitic family. More specifically, it is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily, which also includes Canaanite languages such as Hebrew and Phoenician. The Aramaic scriptwas widely adopted for other languages and is ancestral to both the Arabic and modern Hebrew alphabets. Wikipedia.com
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| <Assyrianvoice.net> Aramaic |
Why did God choose Hebrew?
Hebrew has the faculty to present “pictures” of the events and to dramatize the scene. The hebrew thought in pictures and thus his nouns are concrete and vivid. Some of the rich meaning is lost in English Translation.
As a Pictorial language Hebrew gives a vivid picture of the Acts of God among a people who became examples and illustrations for future generations. cf. 1 Cor 10:11 And all these things happened to them as examples; and it is written for our warning on whom the ends of the world have come.
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| KindleHebrewBibleScreenshotGenesis1 |
Furthermore, Hebrew is a Personal language.It addresses the heart and the Emotions rather than merely the mind or reason. The appeal is to the person in the concrete realities of life and not merely the abstract or the theoretical. It is a language in which the message is felt rather than merely thought. Willmington p.801
B. The Entire New Testament was written in Greek.
“ Greek was an intellectual language. It was more a language of the mind than the heart. It suited the ‘codifying of a communication or reflection on a Revelation of God in order to put it into a simple communicable form.’ Willmington p.801
Also Greek was a nearly Universal language at that time. The fuller revelation given by God in the New Testament for the whole world was not given in Hebrew but in Greek.
Luk 24:47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be proclaimed in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
The most logical language of that time was the universal language which was the most widely spoken. (Koine) Greek, was the international Language of the Mediterranean World
Koine Greek (from κοινή "common", also known as Alexandrian dialect, common Attic or Hellenistic Greek) was the common supra-regional form of Greek spoken and written during Hellenistic and Roman antiquity. It developed through the spread of Greek following the conquests of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC, and served as the common lingua franca of much of the Mediterranean region and the Middle East during the following centuries. It was based mainly on Attic and related Ionic speech forms, with various admixtures brought about through dialect levelling with other varieties.[1]
Koine Greek displayed a wide spectrum of different styles, ranging from more conservative literary forms to the spoken vernaculars of the time.[2] As the dominant language of the Byzantine Empire it developed further into Medieval Greek, the main ancestor of Modern Greek.[3]
Literary Koine was the medium of much of post-classical Greek literary and scholarly writing. Wikipedia.com
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| Koine Greek Matthew 5:9-12 |
God chose the very best languages to Communicate His truth to us. Hebrew with its pictorial and personal language expressed so well the Biographical truth of the Old Testament.
Greek with its intellectual and universal potentialities served well for the Doctrinal and Evangelistic Truths of the New Testament.Willmington p.801
2. The Materials on which the Bible was Written.
They wrote on materials used in their day.
a. Clay : Eze 4:1 Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:
A tile - Rather, a brick. Sun-dried or kiln-burned bricks were from very early times used for building walls throughout the plain of Mesopotamia. The bricks of Nineveh and Babylon are sometimes stamped with what appears to be the device of the king in whose reign they were made, and often covered with a kind of enamel on which various scenes are portrayed. Among the subjects depicted on such bricks discovered at Nimroud are castles and forts.
In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets (Akkadian ṭuppu(m) 𒁾)[1] were used as a writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform, throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age.
Cuneiform characters were imprinted on a wet clay tablet with a stylus often made of reed (reed pen). Once written upon, many tablets were dried in the sun or air, remaining fragile.
Wikipedia.com
List of the victories of Rimush, king of Akkad, upon Abalgamash, king ofMarhashi, and upon Elamite cities.Clay tablet, copy of a monumental inscription, ca. 2270 BC. (see Manishtushu Obelisk)
B
C. Papyrus (made from pressing and gluing two layers of split papyrus reeds together in order to form a sheet.
2Jn 1:12 Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink: but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be full.
I would not write with paper - The word “paper” here conveys an idea which is not strictly correct. “Paper,” as that term is now understood, was not invented until long after this period. The material designated by the word used by John (χάρτης chartēs) was the Egyptian papyrus, and the particular thing denoted was a leaf made out of that plant. The sheets were made from membranes of the plant closely pressed together. This plant was found also in Syria and Babylon, but it was produced in greater abundance in Egypt, and that was the plant which was commonly used. It was so comparatively cheap, that it in a great measure superseded the earlier materials for writing - plates of lead, or stone, or the skins of animals. It is probable that the books of the New Testament were written on this species of paper. Compare Hug, Introduction, chapter iii., Section 11.
d. Vellum (calf skin), parchment (lamb’s skin) leather (cowhide)
2Ti 4:13 The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments.
Especially the parchments - The word here used (μεμβράνας membranas, whence our word “membrane”), occurs only in this place in the New Testament, and means skin, membrane, or parchment. Dressed skins were among the earliest materials for writing, and were in common use before the art of making paper from rags was discovered. These “parchments” seem to have been something different from “books,” and probably refer to some of his own writings. They may have contained notes, memorandums, journals. Barnes
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| A vellum deed dated 1638, with pendentseal attached. Wikipedia.com |
D. Metal.
Mat 22:19 Show me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a denarius.
Mat 22:20 And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription?
3. The Canonization of the Old Testament.
The Thirty-nine Books of the English Old Testament appear in a Different order in the present-day Hebrew Bible. They number twenty-four but cover the same material as in the English thrity-nine books.
The Order is also different having a three-fold division into (1) the Law [the Torah]; (2.) The Prophets [Nebhiim]; (3) The Writings [Kethabhiim].. This does not imply three periods of canonization.
All together, they are the Tanakh.
Torah the Law
A
Nevi'im The Prophets
A
Khethabi'im The Writings
H
Torah (The Law):
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Genesis ; Exodus ; Leviticus; Numbers; Deuteronomy
Nevi'im: (Nebiim) The Prophets.
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Joshua; Judges;Samuel I &II; Kings I &II ; Isaiah ; Jeremiah ; Ezekiel
The Twelve [one book] (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nachum, Habbakkuk, Zephaniah, Zechariah, Malakhi)
Ketuviim:(Kethabiim)
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Psalms ;Proverbs; Job;Song of Songs;Ruth;Lamentations; Ecclesiastes; Esther; Daniel ;
Ezra & Nehemiah [One book] ; Chronicles
(Keep in mind the list order differs from Christianity, and the OT / Torah are NOT the same thing. The Torah refers to the first five books). <answers.yahoo.com>
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It is thought that Job is the oldest book written about 2150 B.C.
The Books of the Pentateuch [the Torah] were put together at the beginning of the Old Testament as they were believed to be written by Moses around 1402 B.C.
With the Prophets were put such books as were believed to be written by a Prophet in office. Daniel , had the prophetic Gift but not the prophetic Office as Samuel. Thus Daniel was put into the third division, the Writings or the Kethabhiim.
The Kethabhiim or the Writings were subdivided according to their contents or the purpose for which they were used. The Psalms, the Proverbs and Job were considered as Poetical Books, because of their Literary Character.
The Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther (5) were called the Megilloth [the Scrolls]; because they were read at the Jewish feast of the Passover, of Pentecost, and the Fast of the Ninth Ab, at the Feast of Tabernacles, and at the feast of Purim, respectively.
Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, and Chronicles were classed as non Prophetical Historical books as they were written not by a prophet in Office.
Amos was not a prophet at first, but God took him from following the flock, and sent him to ‘prophesy’ to his people (Amos 7:14,15); that is he became a prophet in office, and was rightly classed with the latter prophets.Thiessen p. 102 |
| http://www.dodsonlumber.com/Acts242/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/tanakh1.png |
Some maintain that the Canonization of the OT was not closed until the Council of Jamnia (A.D.90); because Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon were not added till that time. There are discussions about the inclusion of certain books but with regard to the Old Testament we have today we are following the Views of David Kimchi (1160-1232), and Elias Levita (1465-1549), two Jewish Scholars, who held that the final collection of the Canon was completed by Ezra and the Members of the Great Synagogue in the fifth century before Christ. ibid p.103
This is affirmed by the Jewish Historian Josephus.
According to Michael Barber,[9] the earliest and most explicit testimony of a Hebrew canonical list comes from Josephus (37CE – c. 100CE): "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 all 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… 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."
Josephus refers to sacred scriptures divided into three parts, the five books of the Torah, thirteen books of the Nevi'im, and four other books of hymns and wisdom.[15] Since there are 24 books in the current Jewish canon instead of the 22 mentioned by Josephus, some scholars have suggested that he considered Ruth part of Judges, and Lamentations part of Jeremiah. Other scholars[who?] suggest that at the time Josephus wrote, such books as Esther and Ecclesiastes were not yet considered canonical.
Wikipedia.com/Development of the Hebrew Canon.
4. The Canonization of the New Testament.
A. The New Testament was written over a period of about 50 years;
(A.D. 50-100)by eight separate human authors.
1. Matthew (Levi) - author of Matthew
2. Mark (nephew of Peter) - author of Mark.
3. Luke (the Physician) author of Luke and Acts.
4. John (the Apostle) - author of John’s Gospel; Epistles 1,2,3, and Revelation
5. James (Jesus Brother) - author of James.
6. Jude - the author of Jude
7. Paul, the Apostles - author of the Fourteen remaining New Testament Epistles.
8. Peter, the Apostle - author of 1 and 2 Peter.
B. The Determination of the Canon.
1. The Tests given to the Biblical Books. The New Testament books were submitted to certain Rigid Tests by the Early Church.
1. The first was Apostolicity.: was the Book written by an Apostle, or if not, did the author of the Book sustain a relationship to an Apostles so as to raise the Book to the level of one of the Apostolic Books. The latter was used in determining the Canonicity of the Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of Luke, the Book of Acts and the Epistle to the Hebrews
2. The second Test was Contents. Were the contents of a given book of such Spiritual character as to entitle it to this Rank? On the basis of this test most of the Apocryphal and the Pseudepigraphical Books were eliminated. and the ones which we now have were retained.
3. The third was Universality. Was the Book universally received in the churches? It is this test that further aided in the elimination of the unworthy books; but it also perpetuated the debate about canonicity for a long time of the so-called Antilegomena. Thiessen p.104
Antilegomena, a direct transliteration from the Greek αντιλεγόμενα, refers to written texts whose authenticity or value is disputed.[1]
Eusebius in his Church History written c. 325 used the term for those Christian scriptures that were "disputed" or literally those works which were "spoken against" in Early Christianity, before the closure of the New Testament canon. It is disputed whether or not Eusebius divides his books into three groups of homologoumena/accepted, antilegomena, and heretical — or four by adding anotha/spurious group. <Wikipedia.com>
4. The final Test was Inspiration. Did the Book give Evidence of being Divinely Inspired? This was the ultimate Test and everything finally had to give way to it. Henry C. Thiessen p.104
To demonstrate how books were approved for inclusion in the Bible by the Characteristics of genuine quality, consider the books of Hebrews and Job. |
| Eusebius Pamphilus |
The Authorship pf hebrews is unknown, therefore the issue has been debated since the early years of the Christian Church.
Even the church fathers mention different writers for the book. Clement of Alexandria says it was written by Paul in Hebrew and Translated into Greek by Luke. Eusebius holds the same view Origen says that men of old times handed it down as Paul’s. In the final analysis, the authorship of Hebrews is like that of Job in the Old Testament: unknown . But both Hebrews and Job were accepted as genuine books of the Bible on the basis that they were divinely inspired. The Bible and the Church An Independent Study Text-book by Suwandoko Roslim and David Duncan ICI Belguim
In fact, it is Clement who gives us perhaps the most philosophically detailed treatment of knowledge in the entire first millennium of Christian thought.
Conclusion: At the end of the Second Century A.D. all but seven Books of the New Testament , the so-called Antilegomena. This included: Hebrews; 2 and 3 John; Jude; James; and Revelation; were all recognised as Apostolic and by the end of the fourth Century A.D. all the Twenty-seven Books of the Present Canon were recognised by all the churches in the West. After the Damsine Council of Rome (382 A.D.) and the third Council of Carthage (397 A.D.) the question of the Canon was closed in the West. After a further 100 years all the Greek churches also accepted the books of the present Canon.
What about the Apocrypha?
Yes, I think that there are redeeming reasons for reading the Apocrypha. Even though Protestants reject its canonical status, the Apocrypha continued to be included between the covers of most English Bibles as late as the nineteenth century, and even the King James Version of 1611 included it. Although many English translations printed a small disclaimer that the Apocrypha was not on par with the Old and New Testaments, it was nonetheless between the same covers with sacred Scripture. The 1599 edition of the Geneva Bible was the first English Bible printed without the Apocrypha. So what was the Apocrypha doing in all those English Bible? Christians believed that it possesses spiritual value. How so? I’d suggest at least three ways that the Apocrypha is valuable:
1. Exegetical value
The Apocrypha is valuable because it sheds light on the history of Second Temple Judaism. Understanding this period is especially important to discern the religious, political, social, and literary context of the New Testament.
2. Cultural value
The Apocrypha has had a pervasive influence on Western literature and music. Knowledge of the Apocrypha’s content is useful for interpreting works it has inspired spanning from William Shakespeare’s plays to Charles Wesley’s hymn compositions. Dozens of Wesley’s hymns including “Now Thank We All Our God,” “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” and “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear,” incorporate ideas, phrases, and even whole sections from the Apocrypha (cf. Bruce M. Metzger, “The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1979], 1:174).
3. Devotional value
Christians recognize that it is possible for non-inspired sources to possess devotional value (e.g., books, hymn lyrics, the words of a preacher). The Apocrypha has devotional value in the sense that a generally useful devotional book does. (And it is certainly not completely free from error!)
The life of John Bunyan is a classic example. At a crucial point in his life, Bunyan questioned whether or not he was one of God’s elect, and after a great mental struggle, God used a verse from the Apocrypha to comfort him. Bunyan could not find the reference to what he thought was a Bible verse, and he tried in vain to find it. He wrote in his autobiography Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners:
Andy Naselli The value of the Apocrypha.Thoughts on Theology
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