Thank you Belinda for being willing to ask me a spiritual and challenging question and sharing a little bit about your personal life with family and within church community.
“I was raised in Hyde with two brothers. My mum is Irish Catholic and my Dad is English Protestant. My husband was brought up in Audenshaw and attended the Moravian church. We married in 1994 and now live in Audenshaw and we’re blessed with two children. I am a Welfare Rights Officer and a Children’s Entertainer. I have been raised as a Christian all my life but committed my life to the Lord in 1994. I belong to the Maranatha Community and worship with Christians from different denominations in unity. I also sing with the United Christian Singers choir”.
‘Over the years I have become aware that some historical and religious books are not included in the Bible we have today, such as the Apocrypha and other works. How has it come to pass that some writings have been included and others haven’t and for what reasons? Does this also mean that any of the books in the present Bible could be taken out and new ones placed within’?
Martin Luther’s copy of the Bible that included the Apocrypha pixabay.com
Rev Graham replies:
During my training at Bible College and University Belinda, I studied the history of Biblical texts and versions and noted in relation to your question that there was a number of hidden writings that had periods of being accepted or rejected in relation to the authority of the Bible as a source for Christian living and service.
In our modern world, that is largely rational and empirical, it can be hard to accept that all scripture is inspired from God. In this very brief reflection on your question we may conclude that all religious and non-religious writings have a wisdom and function in themselves as reflected in that well know phrase “Even a broken clock is right twice a day” compared to God’s word that is correct each and every hour of a day!
Following the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls there has been an extra weight to other manuscripts and archaeological findings that affirm the authenticity of the Bible. I have considered some of those findings in my article Is the Bible Trustworthy? which you might want to refer to at a later date.
History of Biblical Texts
The Bible is a collection of writings that have been written by different authors. It includes the Jewish Hebrew Scriptures and accounts by those who had witnessed the life and ministry of Jesus and the development of the early church. The formation of the Bible is known as a canon that represents a ‘Measuring Stick or Rule of Faith’ inspired by the Holy Spirit and represents God’s word to humanity.
It has been written as a guide for Christians in church teaching, worship and service as exampled in the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. There are sixty-six separate books with thirty-nine in the Old Testament and twenty-seven in the New Testament.
Hidden Books
When we think about a number of writings that are not on a par with the Bible they are known as the Apocrypha, which in Greek means ‘hidden away’ existing during the Old and New Testament times. Some of the writings are legendary, historical or theological and do have a certain value but are not viewed as having the full authority for Christian living.
The Septuagint is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible and its status was clarified in the 16th century with twelve books from the Apocrypha included in the canon of the Roman Church as a result of the Council of Trent in 1546.
Writings other than the Apocrypha are termed Pseudepigrapha as many of the authors pretended to be authentic when in fact they were false teachers and therefore had to be rejected by the early church leaders. Another group of writers became known as Gnostics who represented a salvation and way to God based on human knowledge (Gnosis).
Church Authority and Interpretation
The process of formulating and agreeing the canon took many centuries to complete. In the main the agreement over the sixty–six books was on the basis that they seemed to have an authority as how best to understand and apply the Christians faith for daily living and service.
Old Testament
Jesus recognised the Hebrew Scriptures, that contained twenty-four scrolls and later increased to thirty-nine books to form the Christian Old Testament. It seems that a number of Apocryphal books were part of the Jewish canon but as the early church developed, different views existed as to what was acceptable or not.
The Torah Scroll thank you britannica.com
Jerome a 4th century theologian rejected the Apocrypha as scripture but recognised some of it in the Latin Vulgate translation, identified from the main text and without full authority and canonical status. The Western church followed the view of Jerome. Augustine a contemporary of Jerome felt that the church should accept the Apocrypha and it is included within the canon of the Orthodox Church.
Over a thousand years later, during the European Reformation Martin Luther, included and placed the Apocryphal books, between the Old and New Testaments but did not hold equal status to scripture but were considered a useful and interesting read. John Calvin rejected all the Apocryphal writings and his view became the dominant Protestant position thereafter that compared to the Roman Catholic understanding that the Apocrypha was just as valid as scripture.
New Testament
The development of the New Testament is relatively straight forward with no Apocrypha books included and wasn’t totally dependent on the views and decisions of Emperor Constantine or the Council of Nicaea in AD 325. Early Christians accepted some of the Apostles writings and oral traditions.
Many of the writers accepted each other’s writings as inspired by the Holy Spirit and also believed in the inspiration of the prophets in the Old Testament. The four gospels were accepted quite easily by the early church leaders such as Ignatius, Justin Martyr and Irenaeus as authoritative from the beginning as well as the Apostle Paul’s later letters.
The Challenge from Heretics
Around AD 140 the heretic Marion rejected the Old Testament and other New Testament writings and this challenged and motivated the early church to confirm the authority of the book of Acts, and those none Pauline letters. Some parts of the church did not accept Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2 John 3 John, Jude and Revelation perhaps because copies of them had been delayed in being read and understood with any given authority.
In the light of such opposition the church had to make sure that all the scriptures in the New Testament were considered authoritative. The Muratorian Cannon from 170 to the 4th century did not include Hebrews, James, and the letters of Peter or the three letters of John yet The Shepherd of Hermas was referred to quite often.
Ananasius Thank you christianhistoryinstitute.org
The first listing of the New Testament canon was found in an Easter letter from Athanasius in AD 367 but gave no indication of the church deciding to accept some texts over others. He confirmed that the twenty-seven New Testament books were ‘God inspired’ from individual eye witnesses and ministers of the word. He adds that The Shepherd of Hermas and the Didache could be useful alongside the Apocrypha but did not carry any divine authority.
How then did the early church recognise what was or what wasn’t God breathed? We may say that the sixty-six books of the bible were considered the inspired word of God not because some Empower or special Council decided upon it but rather because the Holy Spirit guided the church to those writings that represented God speaking directly to all peoples and in later times expressed in the following articles of faith.
The Thirty-nine Articles article 6 (1571) brings out that the Apocrypha may be referred to for “examples of life and instruction of manners” but are not fit for the “establishment of any doctrine”. In The Westminster Confession article 1:3 (1647) the Apocrypha is “of no divine inspiration, and are no part of the canon of the Scripture” and therefore have “no authority in the church of God”.
Modern Thinking
In a modern age that contains fake news, there has always been the challenge that the Bible is not historical or true and certain texts and versions are difficult to believe and so may be considered far-fetched! There is the argument that if aspects of the Bible are not proven scientifically then it cannot be believed at all! At this point we have to understand that science and faith are different mind-sets and will clash but also can sit side by side respectfully. In our daily living we have to realise that theory, fact, faith and fantasy are woven together in all our thoughts.
From the beginning of time stories of creation and spiritual guidelines have been shared orally and in a written form. For the Christian the main source for their faith is found in the Bible that includes the Old and the New Testaments. All world religions have some form of holy writings that have come from an individual or collective group that seeks to offer an understanding about creation, forgiveness, holy living on earth with a hope of eternal life to come.
Those who do not follow any religious pathway will certainly embrace another form of guidance for earthly living as represented in humanistic and political ideologies. As we have commented on the early church sensed God’s authority in the various writings handed down and not particularly in others.
Take Away
In general Belinda all writers do struggle to get their work appreciated or read and they often lie hidden or lost. A famous person however may get a ghost or false writer to complete and publish their work with greater effect. In all any value for the reader between the two will be different but there will always be a leaning to the one that is most authentic!
Thank you jclk8888 pixabay.com
Over centuries there has always been those without success, who have sought to burn and destroy the Bible and I do not think that any of the books in the present Bible would be taken out and new ones placed within.
The hidden and lost writings do have a certain value in themselves be they included in a Bible, shared in liturgical form or just for private reflection and reading. God by his spirit applies the words in scripture for our guidance and help as a “Rule of Faith” and as Tertullian (the founder of Western Theology) said ‘truth will always precede forgery’.
Selah: (Pause to think calmly on what has just been read) and check out A Time to Worship
Graham
Explore to Inspire 
