The Canon of the Bible: Who Decided What Made It In?

Michie · Sep 22, 2024

Despite the multitude of Christian denominations that have sprung up over the last 500 years, there seem to have been few, if any, important divisions among Christians about the authenticity of the canon of the New Testament since the Catholic Church promulgated it at the Council of Rome more than 1,600 years ago.

I. The Genesis of this Topic

St. John Henry Newman, the great 19th century English churchman, scholar and convert to Catholicism, famously once said, “To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant.”[1] That seems like a fitting way to begin because the genesis of this essay was my hearing a Catholic convert quote the New Testament passages he references when explaining to his Protestant family and friends why he became Catholic.[2] I noticed that in the dialogue he described, all parties acknowledged the authoritativeness of the Bible as the inspired Word of God. Given this common ground, it occurred to me that the more fundamental questions at issue were: 1) Where did the Bible itself come from? 2) How was it put together? And 3) who decided which books made it into the original group that came to be known as the canon of the Christian Bible?

II. The Nature of the Topic: Historical as well as Theological

Continued below.

The Canon of the Bible: Who Decided What Made It In?

Despite the multitude of Christian denominations that have sprung up over the last 500 years, there seem to have been few, if any, important divisions among Christians about the authenticity of the canon of the New Testament since the Catholic Church promulgated it at the Council of Rome more...

theimaginativeconservative.org

Diamond72 · Oct 1, 2024

Michie said:
1) Where did the Bible itself come from? 2) How was it put together?

The question is, where did Christians get the Hebrew Bible from.

Christians adopted the Hebrew Bible, which is also known as the Tanakh or the Old Testament, from Jewish tradition. The Hebrew Bible was originally written in Hebrew (with some parts in Aramaic) and was compiled over many centuries, reaching its final form around the 2nd century CE 1.

One significant factor in the adoption of the Hebrew Bible by Christians was the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures. This translation was created by Hellenized Jews in Alexandria around the 3rd century BCE 2. Early Christians, many of whom spoke Greek, used the Septuagint as their primary version of the Old Testament 3.

The Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament contain the same books, but they are organized differently. Additionally, some Christian traditions include extra books known as the Apocrypha, which are not part of the Hebrew Bible 4.

Love Fountain · Oct 26, 2024

Michie said:
1) Where did the Bible itself come from?

Hello,

The Bible comes from God, written through the hands of many Hebrew people from various walks of life by the Holy Spirit over many many years.

Michie said:
2) How was it put together?

The Bible was first put together through Hebrew people which came to be known as the Hebrew Bible or TaNaKh. The Hebrew Bible was put together by the Holy Spirit of God through the Hebrew people. It was put into three sections Law, Prophets and Writings(Psalms) and precisely ordered according to subjects.

The English Bibles of today embraced a translation of the OT/Hebrew writings into Greek that not only changed which books are included but they even changed most of the order of the writings the Holy Spirit had already put together. Even today our English Bibles are still out of order showing forth the work of mixed up men who don't follow what God orders.

Here following is the ordering and books in the correct precise order that God intended with the correct books included, notice the extra books that men added to the Catholic OT are not included because they don't belong and never have.

Hebrew Bible Canon

Michie said:
And 3) who decided which books made it into the original group that came to be known as the canon of the Christian Bible?

Well we know the men of the Roman Catholic Denomination didn't decide which books would be in the Christian Bible because they don't even get the OT books correct as evidenced above by the link to the Hebrew Bible Canon which shows the correct books that should belong in the OT and their correct precise ordering. Clearly it was God through his Hebrew people by His Holy Spirit that inspires which books are in the Bible, in both the OT and NT. God has particular styles of writing and ordering His words which can be seen in the Hebrew Bible Canon link above, these styles and orderings appear throughout the biblical text but are seriously lacking in the minds of people today.

Blessings,
Love Fountain

Michie · Oct 26, 2024

Love Fountain said:
Hello,

The Bible comes from God, written through the hands of many Hebrew people from various walks of life by the Holy Spirit over many many years.

The Bible was first put together through Hebrew people which came to be known as the Hebrew Bible or TaNaKh. The Hebrew Bible was put together by the Holy Spirit of God through the Hebrew people. It was put into three sections Law, Prophets and Writings(Psalms) and precisely ordered according to subjects.

The English Bibles of today embraced a translation of the OT/Hebrew writings into Greek that not only changed which books are included but they even changed most of the order of the writings the Holy Spirit had already put together. Even today our English Bibles are still out of order showing forth the work of mixed up men who don't follow what God orders.

Here following is the ordering and books in the correct precise order that God intended with the correct books included, notice the extra books that men added to the Catholic OT are not included because they don't belong and never have.

Hebrew Bible Canon

Well we know the men of the Roman Catholic Denomination didn't decide which books would be in the Christian Bible because they don't even get the OT books correct as evidenced above by the link to the Hebrew Bible Canon which shows the correct books that should belong in the OT and their correct precise ordering. Clearly it was God through his Hebrew people by His Holy Spirit that inspires which books are in the Bible, in both the OT and NT. God has particular styles of writing and ordering His words which can be seen in the Hebrew Bible Canon link above, these styles and orderings appear throughout the biblical text but are seriously lacking in the minds of people today.

Blessings,
Love Fountain

Please familiarize yourself with Christian history and the rules of the forum.

RileyG · Oct 26, 2024

The Council of Rome and Synod of Hippo.

The Catholic Church gave us the Bible.

RileyG · Oct 26, 2024

Love Fountain said:
Hello,

The Bible comes from God, written through the hands of many Hebrew people from various walks of life by the Holy Spirit over many many years.

The Bible was first put together through Hebrew people which came to be known as the Hebrew Bible or TaNaKh. The Hebrew Bible was put together by the Holy Spirit of God through the Hebrew people. It was put into three sections Law, Prophets and Writings(Psalms) and precisely ordered according to subjects.

The English Bibles of today embraced a translation of the OT/Hebrew writings into Greek that not only changed which books are included but they even changed most of the order of the writings the Holy Spirit had already put together. Even today our English Bibles are still out of order showing forth the work of mixed up men who don't follow what God orders.

Here following is the ordering and books in the correct precise order that God intended with the correct books included, notice the extra books that men added to the Catholic OT are not included because they don't belong and never have.

Hebrew Bible Canon

Well we know the men of the Roman Catholic Denomination didn't decide which books would be in the Christian Bible because they don't even get the OT books correct as evidenced above by the link to the Hebrew Bible Canon which shows the correct books that should belong in the OT and their correct precise ordering. Clearly it was God through his Hebrew people by His Holy Spirit that inspires which books are in the Bible, in both the OT and NT. God has particular styles of writing and ordering His words which can be seen in the Hebrew Bible Canon link above, these styles and orderings appear throughout the biblical text but are seriously lacking in the minds of people today.

Blessings,
Love Fountain

Please learn actual Christian history.

Blessings

Diamond72 · Oct 26, 2024

RileyG said:
The Catholic Church gave us the Bible.

The Catholic Bible, also known as the Canon of the Holy Scriptures, was developed over centuries. The core of the Old Testament is based on the Septuagint, a Greek translation of Hebrew Scriptures, while the New Testament texts were written by early Christians.

A significant milestone was the Council of Carthage in 397, which played a key role in determining the canon of the Bible. The Latin Vulgate, translated by St. Jerome in the late 300s, became the standard Bible for the Western Church.

Michie · Oct 27, 2024

Who Compiled the Bible and When?

The Old Testament books were written well before Jesus’ Incarnation, and all of the New Testament books were written by roughly the end of the first century A....

www.catholic.com

Catholics and the Bible

Catholics put the Church before the Bible because the Church existed first and wrote and compiled the Bible. The authority of the Bible depends on that of the Church.

www.catholic.com

RileyG · Oct 27, 2024

Diamond72 said:
The Catholic Bible, also known as the Canon of the Holy Scriptures, was developed over centuries. The core of the Old Testament is based on the Septuagint, a Greek translation of Hebrew Scriptures, while the New Testament texts were written by early Christians.

A significant milestone was the Council of Carthage in 397, which played a key role in determining the canon of the Bible. The Latin Vulgate, translated by St. Jerome in the late 300s, became the standard Bible for the Western Church.

Thanks for the info.

May God bless you abundantly.

RileyG · Oct 27, 2024

****Protestants have 66 books
****Catholics have 73 books
****Eastern Orthodox 74 books
****Oriental Orthodox....depending on jurisdiction...have over 74 books

Markie Boy · Oct 27, 2024

I know there is dispute over the Old Testament Cannon - but does anyone find it inspiring that we all agree on the New Testament?

Given that there can be so much dispute over the Old - the fact that those same people have zero dispute over the New - is something to smile about in my book!

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