Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20041114.htm

ANSWERING OTHERS WITH REASONS FOR OUR FAITH
Part III: Defending The Bible's Divine Inspiration And Authority
A. Defending God's Inspiration And Transmission Of The Bible's Text
3. Canonicity - WHICH Books GOD Wants Us To Have IN The Bible
(1 Peter 5:3-4; John 17:14, 20 et al.)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Even within Christendom where people hold to the authority of the Bible, a debate has existed as to what BOOKS we are to consider comprise the true Bible that GOD wants us to use as His Word:

(1) While looking on page 20 of the February 9, 1998 issue of the magazine, Forbes one day, I was surprised to read that the "Bible" allegedly read: "The greater thou art, the more humble thyself."

I had never recalled reading such a verse in the decades I had studied the Bible, so I turned to what I initially thought was the reference -- Ecclesiastes 3:18 -- to check it out. When I got there, I read these words in the King James Version: "I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts."

As I noticed a dramatic difference existed between what I had read in the magazine and what I had just seen in my Bible, I checked the magazine quote again and noted the book of the "Bible" that it cited was NOT EcclesiastES, but EcclesiastICUS, a book from the Apocrypha that is part of the Roman Catholic Bible! So, I later turned to a copy of the Apocrypha I had purchased for reference and read the full verse from Ecclesiasticus that states: "The greater thou art, the more humble thyself, and thou shalt find favour before the Lord." (The Apocrypha [Cambridge, at the University Press], p. 72)

(2) Besides the Old Testament's Apocryphal books, books written close to the time of the New Testament 27-book Protestant canon of Scripture have also been penned, including: 1 Clement; the Didache; the Epistle of Barnabas; the Shepherd of Hermas; the Revelation of Peter; The Acts of Paul, Apocryphal; and the Apocryphal Gospels of Peter, Matthias, James and the Nativity (Rene Pache, The Inspiration and Authority of Scripture, p. 180)

(3) Also, Liberal Theology scholars, in doubting the divine inspiration of the New Testament writings, came to doubt the right of all but Paul's two Corinthian epistles and Galatians even to belong to the New Testament canon (Ibid., p. 182)!

How may we then KNOW what BOOKS GOD wants us to VIEW as His authoritative Word so we know what to DO to please God, and how can we even EXPLAIN to those who question us WHICH books comprise the RIGHT BIBLE or "canon" to USE?

(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "Though Christians hold the Bible is God's Word, they differ over over WHICH books should BE there! So, WHAT books does GOD want us to include in Scripture, and how can we be SURE?!"
  1. On the SUBJECTIVE level of historical precedent, God arranged for the Bible to consist of the 66-books we use at Nepaug Church:
    1. History shows our canon was initially set only at the grassroots level:
      1. The Babylonian Captivity Jewish Talmud writers sorted O. T. books from the Apocrypha, saying the latter was not canonical (DTS Class Notes by Prof. Waltke, Th. D., DTS: Ph. D., Harvard).
      2. Though Liberal Theology scholars claim Jews who fled Babylon to Egypt put the Apocrypha in the Septuagint (Greek trans. of the O. T.) as canonical, Philo of Alexandria of the 1st cent. A. D. who often cited O. T. books never cited the Apocrypha in his works, cf. Gleason Archer, Survey of O. T. Introduction, p. 65-68.
      3. The Qumran writers (B.C. 110-A.D. 68) included the 39 O.T. books minus Esther, and never cite the Apocrypha as canonical; their Book of Rules and Manual alludes to Esther! (Ibid., Waltke)
      4. Secular Hebrew historian, Josephus, who was given the captured temple scroll by the Roman general, Titus in 70 A.D. reported that much of the O. T. was canonical while denying the same for the Apocrypha, (Against Apion, I. 8., 861-862 as noted by Rene Pache, The Inspiration and Authority of Scripture, p. 163-164).
      5. Thus, the 90 A.D. rabbinical assembly at Jamnia only discussed the 39-book O.T. canon minus the Apocrypha, showing what Jews had already universally accepted as being canonical, Ibid., p. 171.
      6. At the A.D. 325 Church Nicean Council, the 66-book canon of the O.T. & N.T. was so accepted by grassroots level Christians that the canon was not even debated in the gathering, Ibid., p. 175-179!
    2. Yet, to uphold its purgatory doctrine against Protestant Reformers, the 1546 Roman Catholic hierarchical Council of Trent with internal dissension opposed its OWN former stand, decreeing the Apocrypha to be Scripture, Loraine Boettner, Roman Catholicism, p. 83.
    3. So, as heeding 1 Peter 5:3-4 leads us to see such lordship over God's people is wrong, history with Scripture reveals Christ led His flock to adopt the 66-book canon of Scripture that we use at Nepaug Church!
  2. On the level of OBJECTIVE fact, God arranged for the Bible to consist of the 66-books we use at Nepaug Bible Church:
    1. As Aramaic expressions in John's Gospel are related to those used by Quman writers of B.C. 110-68: A.D., its claim that Jesus is God and Messiah is true, for, (1) John's Gospel was thus written AFTER the Qumran Isaiah scroll dated 150 B.C. by paleographers [Z.P.E.B., v. 3, p. 321], and that scroll predicts a Messiah would arrive and heal the blind (35:5) and preach the gospel to the poor (61:1); (2) John 9:1-7 and 4:1-42 report Jesus did this, and John 20:31 claims Jesus is God via such prophecy fulfilled and Peter's testimonial death, Jn. 21:17-19.
    2. Then, this Jesus taught the words of His apostles would be canonical, John 17:14, 20. Thus, Peter, who is named as Christ's disciple in John 1:40-42 has his two epistles of Peter certified by God to be canonical.
    3. 2 Peter 3:15-16 in turn claims all Paul's (13) epistles are Scripture.
    4. Paul cites Lk. 10:7 & Dt. 25:4 in 1 Tim. 5:18, calling both Scripture. Thus, by way of Luke 1:3 with Acts 1:1, Luke and Acts are canonical!
    5. Luke 6:13-15 with Matthew 13:55 along with Jude v. 1 show the Gospels of Matthew, John, John's Revelation and the epistle of Jude were all canonical! (Jude was apparently a later disciple; anyway, his relation to James as his sibling gave his epistle canonical weight!)
    6. Matthew 23:35 cites Jesus as naming all the prophets to be those from Abel Gen. 4 down to Zacharias in 2 Chron. 24, the last book of the differently-arranged Hebrew text's 39-book O. T.! As Jesus did not mention a later Maccabean, but Zacharias as the last prophet, Jesus showed He approved the 39-book O. T. canon minus the Apocrypha !
    7. Paul approved Mark's ministry in 2 Tim. 4:11, and Mark's Gospel by his close relation to Peter (cf. 1 Pet. 5:13) was very early viewed by the Church as Scripture (Ibid., Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, p. 1397).
    8. In the context, Jesus at Rev. 3:19 refers to Hebrews 12:6 and at Rev. 3:20 to James 5:9b (see our lessons on Christ's Prophecy On Contemporary Evangelicalism), so Hebrews and James are canonical!
Application: (1) May we accept the 66-book canon of Scripture that we use at Nepaug Bible Churchas the RIGHT Bible that GOD wants us to have. (2) May we then (a) heed its Gospel of salvation by believing in Christ (John 3:16), (b) may we believe all the OTHER teachings it provides and (c) APPLY this 66-book canon of Scripture as GOD'S authoritative rule for man's faith and practice, cf. 2 Timothy 3:15-4:2.

Lesson: History, archaeological finds and Scripture reveal the 66-book canon we have at Nepaug Church is the Bible GOD wants us to have!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 One of the best evidences for whether a certain book or compilation of books should be included in the Bible is the testimony from the words that are found within the book or compilation itself .

Well, one of the books of the Apocrypha that was put into the canon of Scripture at the Roman Catholic Church's 1546 Council of Trent repeatedly implies the book ITSELF should not be canonical:

(1) 1 Maccabees is one of the books in the Apocrypha, and in chapter nine, verse 27 it states, and I quote: "So was there a great affliction in Israel, the like whereof was not since the time that a prophet was not seen among them." ( The Apocrypha [Cambridge at the University Press], p. 127)

In this verse, the author of 1 Maccabees actually admits that a prophet speaking the divine oracles of God was NOT existing in Israel in the era that 1 Maccabees was penned, an admission that shows the work was not considered by its own author to be on the same plane of divine inspiration that the 39-book Old Testament canon was.

(2) Again, the same author writes at 1 Maccabees 14:41 these words: "Also that the Jews and priests were well pleased that Simon should be their governor and high priest forever, until there should arise a faithful prophet;" (Ibid., p. 137)

The same author thus repeated his admission that his work was NOT canonical in noting a prophet speaking God's oracles was not then in Israel, that a prophet might or could yet arise in the future!

Thus, on the basis of the witness of BOTH verses, the Roman Catholic Church's 1546 Council of Trent that asserted the Apocrypha, including 1 Maccabees, should be authoritative Scripture on par with the other 39-books of the Old Testament essentially disqualified its own claim! In doing so, the leaders of the Council of Trent ERRED in FAILING to certify that they ACCURATELY exalted God's will!



Our 66-book canon of Scripture is testified by historical precedent and by the authoritative words of our Lord Jesus Christ to be the canon that GOD wanted to comprise HIS Bible. May we thus TRUST and USE the words of the 66-book canon of Scripture as God's written, authoritative Word to us!