Bible Canon: Can Scripture Solve the Problem?

[Michie]

Christians sometimes argue about canonicity, i.e., which books should be in the Bible (see “Bible Canon: What Is the Problem?”). One potential solution is to appeal to Scripture.

1. Appealing to Scripture​

In 1562 the Church of England said:

HOLY Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man. (Thirty-nine Articles, #6)

Scripture is to solve the question of canonicity, then the contents of the Biblical canon must be “read therein” or “proved thereby.”

Christians agree that Scripture contains no contents list. Physical Bibles often contain a contents page, but that is an editorial aid, provided by Bible publishers. It is not part of Scripture itself. This means that the Biblical canon cannot be “read therein” in Scripture.

If Scripture is to resolve the question of the Biblical canon, then it needs to provide a principle (i.e., a premise) which enables a particular canon to be argued and “proved thereby” from Scripture.

2. Appeal to Judaism​

One Scriptural principle for deriving an Old Testament canon from Scripture arises from St. Paul’s claim that

they [the Jews] were entrusted with the utterances of God. (Romans 3:2)

This led Andreas Karlstadt (d. 1541) to argue that

the books which the Church, but not the Jews hold to be canonical, are doubtful (dubiosum). (De Canonicis Scripturis, 1520, Secundus Ordo, page E2b)

Continued below.

Bible Canon: Can Scripture Solve the Problem? - Catholic Stand

One potential solution to the question of canonicity, or to which books should be in the Bible, is to appeal to Scripture.

catholicstand.com

 

[Diamond7]

Christians sometimes argue about canonicity, i.e., which books should be in the Bible (see “Bible Canon: What Is the Problem?”). One potential solution is to appeal to Scripture.

No one adds to what we receive from Moses and Jesus in the Red Letters. So I just go back to Moses to see what he says. If you can not find anything then I would say people are quoting the bible out of context.

 

[Michie]

Over the centuries Christians have disagreed about which texts constitute Scripture, and about what the contents of the Bible should be. This is the problem of Biblical canon, also known as the problem of canonicity.

On the surface it looks like a straightforward question. But, actually, it is a set of different, overlapping problems. Clarifying the scope of the issues is the first step towards beginning to resolve the problem of canonicity.

1. Old Testament Protocanonicals​

core of Biblical canonical texts is provided by the Protocanonicallist of Old Testament books. This is a list of 39 Biblical books, which almost all modern Christians accept as canonical. The list is enumerated as 24 books in the Jewish Hebrew Bible, and the first-century writer Josephus even recorded the list as 22 books.

The table below shows why the set of books can be numbered differently. It shows that Christians and Jews counted the books differently because they separated and joined Biblical books in different ways (see also Bible Canon in Jewish Encyclopedia).

Continued below.

Bible Canon: What Is the Problem? - Catholic Stand

The problem of the Biblical canon, or canonicity, appears to be straightforward, but instead is a set of different, overlapping problems.

catholicstand.com

 

[65James]

Don’t have my Bible with me, but do believe that Malachi 3:1 speaks of the Messenger of the Covenant coming to Israel, so what was the Message without the completed New Testament/Covenant there is not a message. Jeremiah also reveals this in Jeremiah 31:31-34.

Unbeknown to many Christian the complete subject of Daniel 9:24-27 is Jesus Christ. The Jewish Messiah who brought everyone complete salvation. So what happened in the midst of the week, will the Son of God shed His Blood and died for our sins only to rise 3 days later from the dead, I Corinthians 15:3-4. While the remaining 3 and half years the Gospel Message was solely to the Jewish people. God completely fulfilled His promise to Israel. Then we read in the New Covenant/Testament Acts 10-11 the story of Cornelius whom all the Jews were amazed as a Gentile was saved just take a look at Acts 11:18 the Gospel was now universal that is all people could receive the gift. But without the full New Covenant much of Jesus story is incomplete.