The Home Christian's Handbook

Chapter 2 - Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. (2Tim 3:16-17, NASB)

The bible is a collection of 66 books written over a period of 1600 years by some 40 different writers, yet the internal harmony of its teachings is striking.  It is composed of two parts: Genesis to Malachi, commonly referred to as the Old Testament, or Hebrew Scriptures, and Matthew to Revelation, known as the New Testament or Greek Scriptures.  Despite this common division, it is really one book with a unified theme and message.  The writing of the bible began in 1513 BCE (Before Common Era) under the penmanship of Moses and was completed by the apostle John just before the end of the first century CE (Common Era).

The terms Old Testament and New Testament, although in common use, are not very accurate descriptions of the two parts of the bible.  Calling Genesis through Malachi “Old” implies that these books are not as important as the “New” Testament books, or are outdated.  Many prophecies in the Old Testament have not yet been fulfilled, and are therefore of great interest to us.  Much of the counsel, as well, is as pertinent to Christians today as it was to Jews in the pre-Christian era.  The terms Hebrew Scriptures for Old Testament and Greek Scriptures for the New Testament are better, yet these are not the only languages used to write the bible books.  Aramaic was also used.

In this handbook, we will employ the novel terms First Testament and Second Testament1.  The First Testament refers to the books Genesis to Malachi, and the Second Testament includes Matthew through Revelation.  The abbreviations FT and ST will be used for brevity.

The First Testament starts with the Genesis account of Creation, the fall of man into sin, the promise of restoration through Abraham’s seed, and God’s dealings with Israel.  The middle of the First Testament contains 150 Psalms, or songs of praise to God, and 31 chapters of Proverbs, or wise sayings.  It ends with several books of prophecy concerning the future of Israel, the coming Messiah, and God’s purpose to restore mankind alienated from him.

The Second Testament is a record of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and his apostles.  It begins with the book of Matthew, the first of four gospels, each which record the life of this extraordinary person.  The others are the books of Mark, Luke and John.  Following the four gospels is the book of Acts, which records the experiences of the first century Christians after Jesus’ death and resurrection.  The ST ends with the book of Revelation, which ties in with the Hebrew prophets of the FT and points to a coming new age of peace and unified worship under the Kingdom of God.  Between Acts and Revelation are letters written by several apostles and other qualified men to the Christian congregations, to build them up in the faith.

The bible explains why our lives are filled with sin and suffering: why we die, why we can’t bring about good government, and why there are wars, famines and diseases.  In Genesis, we learn that our original parents, Adam and Eve, chose a path independent of their Creator and subsequently brought much suffering and ruin upon themselves and their offspring, which includes all of us.  Many have blamed the situation on God, or have suggested that His rule was not in our best interests in the first place. God, in his great wisdom, patience, and enduring love, desired to rescue man from his sinful state, and address the challenges to his sovereignty and the reproaches upon His Name.  He purposed to do so through the ransom sacrifice of his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, and through the establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven.

In the first book of the bible, Genesis, we read of the fall of mankind into sin.  In the last book, Revelation, the future establishment of a righteous new order under Kingdom rule is foretold.  The bible teaches us that living apart from God is the problem.  The solution is to admit we were wrong and return to Him.  The road leading back to God begins with Jesus Christ.  It is Jesus that leads us the rest of the way.

The theme of the bible is:

• God’s purpose to sanctify His name2., to vindicate His sovereignty3., and to bring all creation back into harmony with His divine will.

God accomplishes this by:

• Providing a promised seed, God’s only-begotten son, to redeem fallen mankind from sin and death, and to offer reconciliation to God to all mankind.

• Establishing His Kingdom under Jesus Christ over the earth during the “thousand years” (Rev 20:2-7), with the objective of bringing all things, including multitudes of resurrected humans, back into harmony with God’s sovereignty.

Keeping this theme and outline of God’s purposes in mind will aid greatly in our ability to understand and appreciate the bible.

Why We Can Trust the Bible is God’s Word

We can trust that the bible is the inspired Word of God for many reasons.  The very fact that it exists, intact, and distributed worldwide in over a thousand languages, is a miracle in itself.  We would expect a book that has been copied over and over down through the centuries, to be full of errors.  Yet when compared to recently discovered ancient manuscripts, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, the integrity and accuracy of our modern bible is striking.

The bible is historically accurate, even when its history does not agree with current secular history.  There have been many critics who have claimed that certain events or people in the Scriptures did not really exist, only to subsequently have archaeological evidence unearthed that proved they did.  For example, the existence of Belshazzar, described as “king of Babylon” in the book of Daniel, was denied by bible critics.  However, in 1854, ancient texts were discovered in southern Iraq that prove Belshazzar was in fact a real person and was the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar.  In this case, as in others, the critics were silenced.

W.E. Vine, a highly respected bible scholar, makes the following observation regarding bible critics:

We shall be told that the errors [in the bible] exist.  That, however, has never yet been irrefutably substantiated.  Abundant efforts have been made to find and expose the errors, but no one has been able actually to prove their existence.  (W.E. Vine, The Bible, p.24)

We would expect a high degree of candidness in a written work striving for accuracy and truth; especially by writers inspired by and in fear of their God.  We would not expect historical facts to be massaged to create a nice appearance.   And this is precisely what we observe in the bible.  We see the admirable qualities of God’s people along with their flaws; in some cases very serious flaws.

Moses, who was the greatest leader of the Israelites, commits a serious sin by performing a miracle and not crediting God (Nu 20:9-13).  For this he is denied the privilege of leading God’s people into the promised land.  Peter denies the Lord three times on the night of our Lord’s arrest.  David, God’s chosen king of Israel, commits adultery and plots a murder to cover it up.  Thomas doubts the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  And yet all of these men were forgiven for their sins and restored to God’s favor.  The faults as well as the good qualities of God’s servants are recorded in striking clarity.  The bible speaks the truth, even if the truth hurts.  We sense this from the candidness of the writing.

Although the bible is not a scientific textbook, when it does touch on science, is speaks accurately.  The water cycle, for example, unknown to mankind at that time, is described in Ecclesiastes.

*** Ecclesiastes 1:7 ***

7 All the winter torrents are going forth to the sea, yet the sea itself is not full. To the place where the winter torrents are going forth, there they are returning so as to go forth.

In the following verses, Job and Isaiah give us a modern-day picture of the earth suspended in space, and the galaxies stretched out “as a fine gauze”, which is an accurate description of our modern idea of clusters of galaxies, each composed of billions of stars.

*** Job 26:7 ***

7 He is stretching out the north over the empty place,

Hanging the earth upon nothing;

*** Isaiah 40:22 ***

There is One who is dwelling above the circle of the earth, the dwellers in which are as grasshoppers, the One who is stretching out the heavens just as a fine gauze, who spreads them out like a tent in which to dwell.

In Leviticus, there are many laws instituted regarding disease, notably leprosy.  Quarantining the patient, for example, was mandatory.  If the leprosy was benign, the person could, after a time, return to the camp.  If not, after several examinations by the priest, the person would be banished to the outskirts of the camp, in order not to infect anyone else.  These laws demonstrated an advanced understanding of infectious diseases, advanced beyond the medical knowledge of that time.

The precision with which words are used in the bible is not what we would expect from normal human writings, especially considering there were some 40 different writers over a period of 1600 years.  The words are carefully chosen and expertly applied so as to convey spiritual truths clearly and unambiguously.  The use of concordances, which list detailed word usage in the original bible languages, bears witness to this amazing precision.  As W.E. Vine has noted:

The study of phraseology of Scripture by means of concordances is ever yielding to the devout student some fresh gem of divine truth.  Such studies have, since the use of concordances came in, covered practically the whole field of the Sacred Volume, and the results achieved bear striking witness to the divine inspiration of the words of the Book.  (W.E. Vine, The Bible, p.40)

The most compelling evidence of divine inspiration, however, is the fulfillment of prophecy.  Mankind has difficulty foretelling the weather a few days in advance, yet the bible has accurately foretold events centuries before they occurred.  Only God is capable of such foreknowledge and therefore must have directed the writing of this amazing book.

For example, in Daniel, there is a prophecy concerning the rise of world powers.  At the time of Daniel’s writing, Babylon was the ruling world power.  In a vision, Daniel sees a two-horned ram battle a hairy he-goat (Da 8:3-8). 

*** Rbi8  Daniel 8:3-8 ***

3 When I raised my eyes, then I saw, and, look! a ram standing before the watercourse, and it had two horns. And the two horns were tall, but the one was taller than the other, and the taller was the one that came up afterward. 4 I saw the ram making thrusts to the west and to the north and to the south, and no wild beasts kept standing before it, and there was no one doing any delivering out of its hand. And it did according to its will, and it put on great airs.

5 And I, for my part, kept on considering, and, look! there was a male of the goats coming from the sunset upon the surface of the whole earth, and it was not touching the earth. And as regards the he-goat, there was a conspicuous horn between its eyes. 6 And it kept coming all the way to the ram possessing the two horns, which I had seen standing before the watercourse; and it came running toward it in its powerful rage.

7 And I saw it coming into close touch with the ram, and it began showing bitterness toward it, and it proceeded to strike down the ram and to break its two horns, and there proved to be no power in the ram to stand before it. So it threw it to the earth and trampled it down, and the ram proved to have no deliverer out of its hand.

8 And the male of the goats, for its part, put on great airs to an extreme; but as soon as it became mighty, the great horn was broken, and there proceeded to come up conspicuously four instead of it, toward the four winds of the heavens.

The he-goat wins, breaking the ram’s two horns.  However, the he-goat, as soon as it grew mighty, had its horn broken, and four horns came up in place of the broken horn.  In Daniel 8:20-22, an angel explains the meaning of this vision to Daniel.

*** Rbi8  Daniel 8:20-22 ***

20 “The ram that you saw possessing the two horns [stands for] the kings of Me'di·a and Persia. 21 And the hairy he-goat [stands for] the king of Greece; and as for the great horn that was between its eyes, it [stands for] the first king. 22 And that one having been broken, so that there were four that finally stood up instead of it, there are four kingdoms from [his] nation that will stand up, but not with his power.

History would prove the accuracy of this prophecy.  Babylon fell to the Medes and Persians, who together, formed the next world power.  Greece, led by Alexander the Great eventually battled the Medes and Persians and defeated them.  However, just when the Grecian empire was in its prime, the young Alexander took sick and died suddenly.  His kingdom, true to the prophecy, was divided among his four generals.  The prophecy was fulfilled in exact detail, even though uttered centuries before the events occurred.  And this is just one prophecy in Daniel.  There are many more in that book and the rest of the bible.

Because of the striking accuracy of the prophecies in Daniel, specifically naming future world powers that would arise, many critics have tried to discredit that book, suggesting that it is a fraud--that it must have been written after the fact.  Yet none of these critics have succeeded in proving this.  And there are many fulfilled prophecies besides these.

Jesus Christ himself fulfilled hundreds of prophecies in the First Testament, such as his birthplace being the town of Bethlehem (Micah 5:2, Lk 2:4-7), and that lots would be cast for his garments (Ps 22:18, Lk 23:34).  Isaiah foretold that the Messiah would be struck and spit upon. (Isaiah 50:6; Matthew 26:67)  Five hundred years in advance, Zechariah prophesied that the Messiah would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver. (Zechariah 11:12; Matthew 26:15)

These examples only scratch the surface of bible prophecy.  To treat the subject satisfactorily would take several books.  We will provide an introduction to this fascinating subject in a later chapter.

The amazing existence of the bible, the historical and scientific accuracy, the candidness, the precise use of language, and the striking fulfillment of prophecy demonstrate that the bible is not man’s book.  It is inspired of God and should be viewed as such.  A question that naturally arises, however, is: How do we know the bible is complete?  Should all 66 books in our modern bible be considered inspired Scripture?  Are there other books that should be included as well?

The Bible Canon

The bible canon refers to the accepted set of books which make up our modern bible.  Its development is not well understood.  During the time of the first century Christians, some scholars think the First Testament canon was complete, others believe it was not.  As for the early Christian writings, there was not, at this time, much discussion as to which books should be included in the canon.  The early Christians were much more interested in the person of Jesus Christ, who was still fresh in their memories, and indeed, who they believed was alive, being raised from the dead by God.  Since most of the early Christians were Jews, they were familiar with the Hebrew writings, and saw in these foreshadows of their Lord’s life and work.  Scripture to the first century Christians meant the Hebrew writings.  It would be centuries before the canon of our modern bible would be completed, and the process would remain mysterious to most people.

It must be remembered in this discussion that the bible is not man’s book, it is God’s revelation to man.  The fact that the modern canon is agreed upon, and the bible has been distributed worldwide in greater numbers than any other book, in over 1000 languages, speaks volumes.  If God wanted his thoughts to be known by men in a book, then there is no better candidate than the bible.  Its very existence in our day, faithfully and accurately reproduced through the centuries, is evidence of God’s hand in its production and distribution.

We will now consider the historical development of the bible canon.  However, we must look beyond the plain historical facts.  We must assume that God wanted His purposes to be known by humans, and that he would act to ensure this.  We must look past the data to perceive the unseen hand of God.

The View of the Early Christians

For the early Christians, it was not a book that they based their faith on, but the testimony and teachings of Jesus Christ.  For them, their resurrected Lord was a real and present leader and teacher.  His Apostles represented their Lord, so their testimony was viewed as authoritative.

*** Acts 2:42 ***

42 And they continued devoting themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to sharing [with one another], to taking of meals and to prayers.

Although scholars disagree on the status of the First Testament canon in the first century CE, most of the books therein were already considered Scripture by the early Christians-- that is, inspired of God, and were quoted from liberally.  They began to see the FT in a new light—as a preparatory work leading to the Christian era, as opposed to a testament given to Israel only.  The many prophecies concerning Christ in the FT were fulfilled, they believed, in the life and ministry of their Lord Jesus.  The promises of a future restoration of Paradise, and a general resurrection of mankind, they believed, would be fulfilled in Christ through his Kingdom.  Thus the FT became a deeply Christian book.  However, it was their personal experience with Jesus Christ, and through him, with their Heavenly Father Yehowah, which was the focus of their worship.

The Problem of Corruption

As long as the Apostles were alive, there was always an authoritative source for Christian truth.  However, after the death of the Apostles, the foretold apostasy, or false Christianity, crept into the Christian congregation.  Paul writes in Acts:

*** Acts 20:29-30 ***

29 I know that after my going away oppressive wolves will enter in among YOU and will not treat the flock with tenderness, 30 and from among YOU yourselves men will rise and speak twisted things to draw away the disciples after themselves.

Some years after the martyrdom of Paul, The Apostle John warns that the apostasy had already begun.

*** 1 John 2:18-19 ***

18 Young children, it is the last hour, and, just as YOU have heard that antichrist is coming, even now there have come to be many antichrists; from which fact we gain the knowledge that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of our sort; for if they had been of our sort, they would have remained with us.

With the death of the apostles, Christianity was in danger of becoming completely corrupted.  False Christian movements arose, and their teachings spread quickly.  In the second century, the Montanists proclaimed the imminent second coming of Christ and their own prophetic authority.  Around the same period the Gnostics arose and rejected the First Testament.  They denied that the Christian’s God created the universe, and distinguished the heavenly Savior from the human Jesus of Nazareth.  They also proclaimed they had received “secret” gospels from the apostles.

Marcion, a wealthy ship owner, was influenced by the Gnostics, and developed a large following.  He felt that Christianity had to be completely separate from Judaism.  In addition to rejecting the First Testament outright, Marcion went to the outrageous extreme of actually editing some of Paul’s own letters as well as the book of Luke, removing teachings that contradicted his theology.  Greek philosophy was also exerting a strong influence on Christian thought, and over time, many of its unscriptural concepts found their way into Christianity, corrupting it.

The defenders of the faith, however, were not silent.  Iranaeus, in the late second century, wrote prodigiously, challenging the false teachings that were developing.  Tertullian also defended the true faith.  However, he later succumbed to the Montanists, and ultimately joined their movement.

So Christianity in the second century was not uniform.  Contrary to common belief, there was no monolithic, unified church of believers.  Corrupted Christians and their teachings existed alongside the true.  Jesus’ prophecy had been fulfilled.

*** Matthew 13:24-30 ***

24 Another illustration he set before them, saying: “The kingdom of the heavens has become like a man that sowed fine seed in his field. 25 While men were sleeping, his enemy came and oversowed weeds in among the wheat, and left. 26 When the blade sprouted and produced fruit, then the weeds appeared also. 27 So the slaves of the householder came up and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow fine seed in your field? How, then, does it come to have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy, a man, did this.’ They said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go out and collect them?’ 29 He said, ‘No; that by no chance, while collecting the weeds, YOU uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest; and in the harvest season I will tell the reapers, First collect the weeds and bind them in bundles to burn them up, then go to gathering the wheat into my storehouse.’”

Jesus explained the meaning of this prophecy to his disciples privately.

*** Matthew 13:36-43 ***

36 Then after dismissing the crowds he went into the house. And his disciples came to him and said: “Explain to us the illustration of the weeds in the field.” 37 In response he said: “The sower of the fine seed is the Son of man; 38 the field is the world; as for the fine seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; but the weeds are the sons of the wicked one, 39 and the enemy that sowed them is the Devil. The harvest is a conclusion of a system of things, and the reapers are angels. 40 Therefore, just as the weeds are collected and burned with fire, so it will be in the conclusion of the system of things. 41 The Son of man will send forth his angels, and they will collect out from his kingdom all things that cause stumbling and persons who are doing lawlessness, 42 and they will pitch them into the fiery furnace. There is where [their] weeping and the gnashing of [their] teeth will be. 43 At that time the righteous ones will shine as brightly as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let him that has ears listen.

The Greek word for “weeds” means “tares”, which is a weed that resembles wheat when both plants are young.  Pulling out the weeds before they are mature risks mistakenly pulling up some wheat with it.  The “men [who] were sleeping” refers to the death of the apostles, who were acting as a restraint against the apostasy.  Jesus, in this parable, teaches us to expect true and false Christians to exist side by side until his second coming, at which time the distinction between them would become clear, and the false Christians would be “collect[ed] out from his kingdom”.

The book of Revelation warns Jesus’ true followers of the perils of staying inside a religion known to be corrupt:

Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.  (Rev. 18:4-5, NIV)

During the third century, false Christianity continued to flourish and grow alongside the true.  Christians of many persuasions experienced waves of vicious persecution.  The various flavors of Christianity continued to grow and develop, and in many cases there was much animosity between them.

In the fourth century, Constantine, the Roman emperor, was very concerned about unity and peace within his empire.  He saw religion as a potentially divisive force if not managed, but as a force for unity if controlled and administered.  He was not much concerned about theology, despite his claim of conversion to Christianity.  As long as his bishops all agreed and supported Rome he would be satisfied.

At the time there was a roaring debate in the church between Arius and his supporters and Athanasius, representing the view of the other Christian leaders.  Arius contended that Jesus was not God Almighty, but God’s Son, and further showed that the Scriptures, as they were then understood, supported his view.  He rejected the idea of the Father and Son being of the same “substance”, which Athanasius believed, an idea which led to the formulation of the Trinity doctrine. 

In his letter to Eusebius, a church bishop and historian, Arius writes in part:

“We are persecuted, because we say that the Son has a beginning, but that God is without beginning”4

Arius may have had a minority viewpoint, but it was not without support from Proverbs, Paul’s letter to the Colossians and the book of John.

*** Proverbs 8:22 ***

22 “Jehovah himself produced me as the beginning of his way, the earliest of his achievements of long ago.”

*** Colossians 1:15 ***

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;

In the beginning was the Word.  (John 1:1)

Unfortunately for Arius, scriptural support was no substitute for political capital.  He was not dealing with a theologian searching for truth, but an emperor who wanted to consolidate his power.

To settle the issue, Constantine convened the council of Nicaea in 325 CE.  The Nicene Creed, a decidedly anti-Arian document, was written, and Arius was exiled to Illyria.  Although Arius would return to favor for brief periods, by the end of the fourth century, the institutional church would reject his theology completely and embrace the theology of the Nicene Creed, which led to the establishment of the Trinity as a central church teaching and the Church-State relationship as an institution.

With the end of the Arian controversy, the corruption of the true church, foretold by Jesus and the apostles, was complete.  Christianity had become a state religion; a prostitute in the service of Rome, her master.  As Malcom Muggeridge, in The End of Christendom, put it:

“Christendom began with the Emperor Constantine.  Christianity, on the other hand, began with the Incarnation…”

“Christendom…began when Constantine, as an act of policy, decided to tolerate, indeed positively favour, the Church, uniting it to the secular state by the closest possible ties.”

From this point forward, true Christians, in general, would exist outside of Christendom, the corrupted Church, and be persecuted by it.  In the middle ages, for example, many were burned at the stake by the Catholic Church for simply possessing a bible.  The Protestant churches were no better, similarly using prison and the stake as a threat to anyone who might resist their power.  In 1415, the Catholics burned John Huss for challenging their authority.  William Tyndale, the courageous bible translator, was strangled and burned in 1536 for no other reason than wanting the common person to have God’s Word.  In 1553, Michael Servetus, a brilliant Spanish Physician, was burned alive by the so-called reformer John Calvin, for professing a belief very similar to Arius’.  Constantine and Athanasius were long dead, but their followers apparently remained.

Christ had taught his followers to keep separate from the world, but the churches had formed an evil alliance with the worldly powers, in direct contradiction to his teachings.

*** John 15:19-20 ***

If YOU were part of the world, the world would be fond of what is its own. Now because YOU are no part of the world, but I have chosen YOU out of the world, on this account the world hates YOU.  Bear in mind the word I said to YOU, A slave is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will persecute YOU also; if they have observed my word, they will observe YOURS also.

*** John 17:14 ***

 I have given your word to them, but the world has hated them, because they are no part of the world, just as I am no part of the world.

*** John 18:36-37 ***

Jesus answered: “My kingdom is no part of this world. If my kingdom were part of this world, my attendants would have fought that I should not be delivered up to the Jews. But, as it is, my kingdom is not from this source.” 37

The undeniable conclusion from these words of our Lord is that a church that derives its authority and power from secular sources does not belong to him.  Claiming to be Christian is not sufficient.  One must do the will of God.

*** Matthew 7:21-23 ***

21 “Not everyone saying to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but the one doing the will of my Father who is in the heavens will. 22 Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and expel demons in your name, and perform many powerful works in your name?’ 23 And yet then I will confess to them: I never knew YOU! Get away from me, YOU workers of lawlessness.

The results of the corruption of the church are clear.  In history we read of the Inquisitions, the Crusades, rampant immorality, and cut-throat politics practiced by powerful religious leaders.  In our time the media is filled with horrific accounts of the abuse of religious power.  Jesus said we will recognize a tree by its fruits, and the fruits are clearly wicked.

The widespread corruption of Christianity, however, did not thwart God’s purposes.  The bible canon would be established and the Scriptures distributed widely for a comfort to those whose hearts were pure, but as a witness against those whose hearts were corrupt.  The subsequent attempts to keep the bible from the common people by the Catholic Church would fail.  True Christians, like William Tyndale, would give their lives to translate the bible into the common tongue.  And with God’s help, they would succeed. 

A corrupted church would not thwart God’s purposes to have His Word made available to all mankind.

The Development of the First Testament Canon (Genesis – Malachi)

There is disagreement among scholars as to the state of completion of the First Testament canon in the first century CE.  During Jesus’ time, there were several collections of scriptures circulating among the Jews both inside and outside of Israel.  Although these collections did not agree completely, there was an appreciation for the idea of inspired Scripture.  We see references to these writings, quoted as Scripture, by Jesus himself.

*** Luke 24:44 ***

44 He now said to them: “These are my words which I spoke to YOU while I was yet with YOU, that all the things written in the law of Moses and in the Prophets and Psalms about me must be fulfilled.”

Although Jesus does not specify all of the individual books of the FT, he does bear witness to the fact that there was a body of FT literature that was considered Scripture by the early Christians, although it may not have been completely fixed at that time.

H.E. Ryle, in The Canon of the Old Testament, argues that the First Testament developed in three stages.  The first stage was the Torah, or the Law, by 400 BCE.  The second was the Prophets, being accepted as scripture by 200 BCE at the latest.  Finally, the Hagiographa, or sacred Writings, comprised the rest of the FT.  He puts the date of completion for this final stage at the council of Jamnia in 90 CE.  Ryle’s view has tended to prevail among scholars.

There is evidence that the canonical status of Ecclesiates and Song of Songs was discussed at Jamnia, but there is no conclusive proof that the entire FT canon was formally closed as a result.  Some scholars have questioned whether Jamnia settled the issue of canonicity of the third part of the FT at all, arguing that the FT canon was closed prior to Jamnia.  Discussion about the FT canon was still going on by rabbis some 200 to 400 years after the Jamnia meeting, which suggests that a generally accepted and definitive FT canon was not completely decided then, however it must be emphasized that scholars are not in agreement on this issue.

The earliest list of the FT books is attributed to Josephus, a Jewish historian writing near the end of the first century.  He speaks of a three-part canon composed of 22 books, but he does not specify which books are included specifically.  We can safely assume that Josephus included Genesis to Deuteronomy, Joshua to Kings, and the Psalms.  However, we cannot say for sure if his list includes the books we consider part of our modern FT.  Some scholars believe that Josephus specified the exact books found later in the Talmud, but this has not been proven.

Melito, near the end of the second century, was the first Christian to suggest a list of the books that make up the FT canon.  He cites 22 books in total, including the Wisdom of Solomon, an Apocryphal book, but excluding Esther.  The number 22 is the number of characters in the Hebrew alphabet.  Many rabbis felt this number was significant, and as a result, many FT canon lists, although differing in content, had 22 books cited.  The other common number was 24. 

While compiling these lists, it was common to combine books that today we keep separate, in order to preserve the total number at 22 or 24.  The 12 minor prophets, if included, were referred to as one book, the Twelve.  Judges was often combined with Ruth and Lamentations with Jeremiah.  First and Second Kings, First and Second Samuel, Ezra-Nehemiah, as well as First and Second Chronicles were often combined.  As well, books that are not included in our modern FT canon appeared on several early canon lists.  Our modern FT has 39 books, and separates all of the above mentioned titles into their own books.

Preserved in the Babylonian Talmud is a passage known as a baraita, or rabbinic tradition, generally dated before the end of the second century.  In this passage, all of the books of the FT are referenced, along with their respective writers.  It was this biblical canon that was finally recognized by rabbinic Judaism.

The modern Jewish bible, known as the Tanakh, contains the same books as our modern FT, but in a different order.  It categorizes the books into three parts: the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings.  The Tanakh also combines the books of Kings, Chronicles, Samuel, and Ezra-Nehemiah.

The Development of the Second Testament Canon (Matthew – Revelation)

In the second and third centuries, even among true Christians, there was as yet no precise agreement on what the bible canon should be.  For example, Iranaeus (125 – 202 CE), considered the four gospels only as canon, although he quoted from other Christian sources as well, including the Shepherd of Hermas, which is not part of our modern canon.  Clement of Alexandria (150 – 215 CE) referred to many books in our modern Second Testament, but made no mention of 2 Peter, James, or 3 John.  He also quoted from other non-canonical sources.  Origen (185 – 254 CE), who wrote thousands of works well into the third century, accepted the four gospels, many if not all of Paul’s epistles, 1 John, Revelation and Hebrews.  He also tentatively considered 2 Peter and 2 and 3 John.  He made use of James and Jude, but with some reservation.

Tertullian (160 – 225 CE) suggested a principle for defining what should be included in the bible canon.  For him, apostolicity was the chief criterion.  Writings considered Scripture must be written by the apostles themselves, or by those whose masters were the apostles.  Tertullian considered the gospel of Luke of less authority than John or Matthew, since Luke was not an apostle, but a disciple of Paul, yet he rigorously defended Luke against the mutilating edits of Marcion.  For Tertullian, the Second Testament consisted of the four Gospels, thirteen letters of Paul, Acts, 1 John, 1 Peter, Jude, and Revelation.  Interestingly, Tertullian’s definition of canonicity is the same as John Stott’s of our time5.

Eusebius was an early church historian, who lived from 260 – 340 CE.  He was first to create a defined list of Christian writings.  He grouped this list into Scriptural or canonical writings, Disputed writings, Not Genuine, and Heretical.  To him, the Scriptural writings consisted of the Gospels, Acts, all of Paul’s letters, 1 John, 1 Peter and Revelation.  He considered James, Jude and 2 John to be disputed books.  By Eusebius’ time there was widespread agreement on the canonicity of 20 of the 27 books of our modern Second Testament.

The recognition of canonicity tended to come from grassroots acceptance.  That is, the actual use of the books by practicing Christians in the community.  Although various religious councils would declare official canon lists, they did so, in general, only in response to community acceptance.  And here is where we see the hand of God.  Since institutional Christianity was corrupted, we would expect that false Christians would be working against God’s purpose to establish the bible—the very pages therein which condemn false Christian practices.  Yet we see a convergence of canon lists, and finally, agreement.  We would not expect this in a spiritually divided environment.

In 1738 – 1740, Lodovico Antonio Muratori discovered a partial document, referred to as the Muratorial Fragment, dated 180 – 200 CE, although the exact date is disputed.  It contains references to our modern bible books, but also to books like the Wisdom of Solomon, which is considered part of the Apocrypha, outside the modern bible canon.  Although the Muratorial fragment was initially hailed as proof of a second century closed canon, scholars are not in complete agreement.  However, it does demonstrate the convergence of canon, if not the closure of it.

Finally, Athanasius (296 – 373 CE), in his 39th Festal Letter from Alexandria, defines the books to be included in the First Testament, along with the 27 books in the Second Testament.  This ST list is the same as the list we consider to be canon today.  Although not all church leaders agreed with Athanasius’ list, it is his list that survived the centuries, which is significant.  General agreement would have to wait until the Reformation.  Of interest is the fact that the theology of Athanasius led to general church corruption, yet his proposed canon survived.  This in itself is a clear demonstration of the unstoppable power of God’s will.  He would allow the prophesied corruption of the church, but not the corruption of His Word.

So we see then, that our modern biblical canon did not develop in an orderly, progressive manner.  It was not decided by a church council or by unanimous agreement among its readers and practitioners.  We note that true champions of the faith, like Iranaeus, did not have a canon list identical to our own.  We also note, with some trepidation, that Athanasius, who led a corrupted state church, had a canon list identical to ours.  We must conclude then, that the development of the canon, like the bible itself, was not the work of man.  It was God’s unseen hand ensuring His Word was written, complete, and distributed in the manner of His choosing.  It was His will that mankind should have access to this knowledge.

*** Daniel 12:4 ***

4 “And as for you, O Daniel, make secret the words and seal up the book, until the time of [the] end. Many will rove about, and the [true] knowledge will become abundant.”

We must accept that our modern bible, in its hundreds of languages and millions of copies, has arrived on our doorstep by the will of God Almighty.  If left to mere human forces, it would never have survived in its current form, if at all.  The enemies of this book far outnumbered, and possessed much greater worldly power, than its supporters.

Should Other Books Be Included in the Bible Canon?

In early canon lists, several books appear that are not part of our modern bible canon.  In FT lists, 1-2 Esdra, the Epistle of Jeremiah, Baruch, Tobit, the Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, and others often appear.  These books are commonly referred to today as the Apocrypha, and were composed by Jewish writers between 200 BCE and 100 CE.

In ST lists, it was common to see the Shepherd of Hermas, Barnabas, the Revelation of Peter, the Didache, and others included.  In both FT and ST lists, many of the books that we accept today were omitted.

Interestingly, some of the books we don’t accept as canon are referenced or alluded to in the books we do accept.  For example, in the book of Jude, we e see a reference to the book of Enoch.

*** Jude 14-15 ***

14 Yes, the seventh one [in line] from Adam, E'noch, prophesied also regarding them, when he said: “Look! Jehovah came with his holy myriads, 15 to execute judgment against all, and to convict all the ungodly concerning all their ungodly deeds that they did in an ungodly way, and concerning all the shocking things that ungodly sinners spoke against him.”

It was thought that the book of Enoch was lost.  However, in the late eighteenth century, copies of this book were discovered in the possession of the Ethiopian church, and subsequently translated into English.  Enoch offers some interesting insights into the lives of the fallen angels prior to the flood, as well as a vision of some of the architecture of heaven itself.  It also describes the then-future Christ who is referred to by Enoch as the Elect One of God.  There were times that the book of Enoch was considered part of the canon, but eventually it was excluded.

There also appears to be references to several of the Apocryphal writings in the ST.  However, just because a book is referenced does not mean it should be part of the bible canon.  For example, in 1 Kings there is a reference to “the book of the affairs of Solomon,” “the book of the affairs of the days of the kings of Judah” and “the book of the affairs of the days of the kings of Israel.”—1 Ki. 11:41; 14:19; 15:7, 23; 16:14.  These books have not survived.  We assume these were works of history that were referenced during the writing of 1 Kings.  However, there is no reason to believe that these, should they surface somewhere, should be included as part of the bible canon, just because they were used as references by bible writers.

Other early Christian writings, such as 1 Clement, the Letter of Barnabas, the letters of Ignatius, the Letter of Polycarp , and the writings of Iranaeus, can provide valuable insight into early Christianity.  These and other works can help sincere Christians gain knowledge and appreciation of the Christian walk.  However, to consider including any of these in our modern canon would be presumptuous.  The bible is the unique and true Word of God.  These other writings are the counsel of sincere but imperfect men.

The Reexamination of Canon In Modern Times

There is a trend in our time to reexamine the bible canon.  The Jesus Seminar, for example, was established in 1985 to examine all the sayings of Jesus, with the intention of screening out those that were deemed spurious.  The idea was to assemble a group of bible scholars and have them decide what Jesus may or may not have said.  It was also their intention to suggest revisions to the bible canon.  In the Jesus Seminar’s inaugural speech, Robert Funk, the founder, makes the following remarks:

“…we are having increasing difficulty these days in accepting the biblical account of the creation and of the apocalyptic conclusion in anything like a literal sense.”

“It is in this formal sense that the Bible is said to form a narrative and to embrace in its several parts a coherent and continuous structure. And it is also in this same sense that the Bible, along with all our histories, is a fiction.”

“What we need is a new fiction that takes as its starting point the central event in the Judeo-Christian drama and reconciles that middle with a new story that reaches beyond old beginnings and endings. In sum, we need a new narrative of Jesus, a new gospel, if you will, that places Jesus differently in the grand scheme, the epic story.”6

Although Robert Funk claims that “we are having increasing difficulty these days in accepting the biblical account of creation”, the apostle Paul had no such difficulty.  He makes reference to man’s creation as well as the fall into sin as factual history in his writings.

*** 1 Timothy 2:13 ***

For Adam was formed first, then Eve.

*** 2 Corinthians 11:3 ***

But I am afraid that somehow, as the serpent seduced Eve by its cunning, YOUR minds might be corrupted away from the sincerity and the chastity that are due the Christ.

Luke, in the genealogical list in his gospel, specifies Adam as a direct descendent of God Himself, since he was God’s creation, and predecessor to Seth and Enosh.

*** Luke 3:38 ***

38 [son] of E'nosh,

[son] of Seth,

[son] of Adam,

[son] of God.

Thus, Luke demonstrates that he believes Adam was a real person, the father of the  human race.

The suggestion by Funk that the bible is a fiction that needs rewriting is, in the view of this writer, pompous and arrogant.  It demeans the Word of God, suggesting it is nothing better than the collective writings of well-meaning but ignorant men.  He also demeans God Himself, by suggesting that He is incapable of providing a truthful, complete source of spiritual guidance to man.  It begs the question: If God needs Robert Funk to tell man what He said or didn’t say, then why does man need God?

So who are we to believe--Robert Funk and the Jesus Seminar and those like them, or the bible writers themselves?  Are we to accept that the apostles were mistaken or deluded in their writings, and needed to be corrected by the Jesus Seminar and its band of “esteemed” scholars some 2000 years later, by casting their votes with little colored beans upon the sayings of Jesus7?  Are we now to discard entire sections of the bible that reference the account of creation because some scholars declare it unscientific?

Nonsense!

The bible has survived the corruption of the church.  It has lived through the dark ages, when scholarly Catholic Bishops burned it and those that read it.  The bible will survive the Jesus Seminar and other such movements.  But it is unlikely that these will survive the bible.

*** Romans 1:21-22 ***

…although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God nor did they thank him, but they

became empty-headed in their reasonings and their unintelligent heart became darkened. 22 Although asserting they were wise, they became foolish

*** 1 Corinthians 1:20-21 ***

Where is the wise man? Where the scribe? Where the debater of this system of things? Did not God make the wisdom of the world foolish? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not get to know God, God saw good through the foolishness of what is preached to save those believing.

Opening the bible canon in our time is not a course we should pursue.  Pure Christianity was taught by Jesus and his apostles.  There is no such authority on earth today, so there is no authority to add to or subtract from their teachings.  We are now many centuries past the formation of the canon, and many more past the days of Jesus and his apostles.  If the bible has satisfied the spiritual needs of Christians for all these years, what right do we have to tamper with it?

Conclusion

We have seen the bible evolve to a universally agreed-upon canon and distributed globally in over 1000 languages.  Behind all the intrigue and power struggles of men we have discerned the hand of God, ensuring His Word was preserved and made available throughout the world.  The bible, in its final form, supplies all the needs of the modern day Christian.  It is the complete Word of God, and contains everything we need to know to draw close to Jesus Christ, and through him, to our God and Heavenly Father.  True Christians are in no need of either a mutilated canon or spurious additions.  Everything we need for salvation is contained in God’s Word in its final form.  Wisely selected non-canonical writings can supplement the bible, but they cannot replace it.

We can be confident that the bible is a complete and satisfying source of spiritual truth; a fountain of cool, clear, spiritual water in the desert that is our doubt-filled and wicked world.  Let us drink our fill of God’s Word and endeavor to serve Him to the best of our ability.