About the Scriptures~

[yeshuasavedme]

Just thought some might like to know this, by way of information only.
This is not about those modern sects which change and alter the Scriptures, nor about modern books which claim to be revelation continuing [which is not [possible, as Jesus is the Last Word from God for all mankind], but is about the eastern Churches, Western Churches, and the Scriptures.

" http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/bible/canon2.stm


Whose Canon? Which Bible?

Protestants tend to think there is only one Bible--ours.
Actually different religious groups of the Judeo-Christian tradition have different biblical canons.

Different Inside Books

Some canons are smaller than the Protestant Bible; others are larger:

• The smallest Bible is claimed by the Samaritans, who recognize only the first five books of the Bible (the Pentateuch).
• The largest Bible is that of the Ethiopian Orthodox church, which has 81 books

New Testament

Protestants, Roman Catholics, and Greek Orthodox Christians agree on the same 27 books for the composition of the New Testament; however some smaller groups of Christians do not. The Nestorian, or Syrian church, recognizes only 22 books, excluding 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Jude and Revelation.
On the other hand, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church includes the same 27 books in its "narrower" canon but adds 8 books to its "broader" canon: "four sections of church order from a compilation called Sinodos, two sections from the Ethiopic Books of Covenant, Ethiopic Clement, and Ethiopic Didascalia."1
Old Testament

The Jewish Bible and the Protestant Old Testament contain the same books but they are arranged in a different order. Additionally, books that Protestant Christians divide into two parts (Kings, Chronicles, Samuel, and Ezra-Nehemiah) are only one book in the Hebrew Bible.
In terms of the Old Testament, Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox, and other Eastern Christians claim more "inside books".
The books of the "second canon" are considered "inside" by Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Ethiopic Christians; the latter group adds even more books beyond the deuterocanonicals. Protestants consider the same books "outside" however they give the Apocrypha high status, considering them valuable for instruction and spiritual edification.
The Ethiopian Orthodox church's narrower Old Testament canon includes the books of the Hebrew Bible, all of the Apocrypha, and "Jubilees, 1 Enoch, and Joseph ben Gurion's (Josippon's) medieval history of the Jews and other nations." 2

 

[Tychicum]

... and exactly how is this related to dispensationalism?

 

[yeshuasavedme]

... and exactly how is this related to dispensationalism?

I thought it was interesting.

It is related only to Mid Acts dispensationism in the fact that the accepted Canon by the Ethiopian Coptic Church includes the book of Enoch, which was treated as Scripture by early church 'Fathers" so to speak, also, and was found in the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 1900's, dating it back to before the New Testament times -at least.

The book of Enoch completely refutes the doctrine of MAD, in that Jesus Christ is shown to be the "Hidden in God Son of Man -from the beginning- who was to come as Messiah, who was God and with God, and who had a secret name which the rebel angels desired to know, but which name was kept secret until the appointed time, when He was to "be revealed" to the elect.

There is so much about that Son of Man which is is in the New Testament, taken directly from Enoch and also from the Old Testament, which totally refutes the doctrineof MAD, that you who have believed what someone has told you Paul meant, should actually go read what was already written, thousands of years before the doctrine of MAD came into being; and which Paul himself was very well acquainted with -and says many things which he took directly from Enoch's writings, as Peter, James, and John also did.

Someone has counted at least 128 references to Enoch's writings in the New Testament -but I haven't counted. I just know that the concealed, hidden Son of Man who was with God and was God, from the beginning, is Jesus Christ, come in human flesh and "revealed" to the elect -which elect Enoch defines as "all who choose to live the elect life".

The Son of Man has all judgment committed to Him -taken from Enoch- and is returning on His throne of glory to judge the world and destroy the wicked from it and set up His kingdom: Jesus believed Enoch's writings, as He also said quite a few things which He knew were written there, first, about Himself and the end times.

 

[yeshuasavedme]

Jesus referred to Himself as the One whom the Father "kept shut up, hid, kept silent", in John 6, who was represented by the "what is it" -"Manna"- which fed the children of Israel in the wilderness for forty years. He is the Hidden Manna, the Bread of Life, He says, come down from God, the sent One.

Jhn 6:27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.

[sealed b) since things sealed up are concealed (as the contents of a letter), to hide, keep in silence, keep secret] http://www.blueletterbible.org/tmp_dir/words/4/1163736295-1105.html

Rev 2:17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth [it].

He was laid in a feeding trough at His birth, which was a symbol of His being the Bread of heaven, sent down as our Life.
He also was born in Bethlehem, the "House of Bread", as a symbol of His coming into the world as our Bread from heaven, which gives Life.

 

[Tychicum]

I thought it was interesting.

On that too you are wrong ...

 

[LamorakDesGalis]

Thanks yeshuasavedme, it is informative.

The books of the "second canon" are considered "inside" by Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Ethiopic Christians; the latter group adds even more books beyond the deuterocanonicals. Protestants consider the same books "outside" however they give the Apocrypha high status, considering them valuable for instruction and spiritual edification.

By "inside" and "outside" they mean placed within the OT canon or at the end of the Bible, depending on how they see their status. For RC for example, most of the deuterocanonical books are placed in the OT section of the Bible with a few after the end of the NT.

In times past, most Protestants knew and read the deuteroncanonicals or apocrypha. But these days not many are even aware of them, much less read them.


LDG