No Bible book became canonical by action of some church council.Ģ. People and councils only recognized and acknowledged what is true because of the intrinsic inspiration of the books as they were written. Their canonicity was inherent within them, since they came from God. It was not necessary to wait until various councils could examine the books to determine if they were acceptable or not. In other words, the books were canonical the moment they were written. It is essential to remember that the Bible is self-authenticating since its books were breathed out by God (2 Tim. Ryrie summarizes these issues as follows:ġ. There are a number of important considerations that must be kept in mind when considering the issue of canonicity or how the books of the Bible came to be recognized and held to be a part of the Bible. In view of this, the logical question is: “Would it not be unreasonable for God to fail to providentially care for these inspired documents to preserve them from destruction and so guide in their collection and arrangement that they would all be present with none missing and none added that were not inspired?” 62 Important Considerations 3:16) and that “no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (2 Pet. The evidence declares that “all Scripture is God breathed and profitable …” (2 Tim. The evidence shows that the Bible is unique and that God is its author. Because of man’s obvious condition in sin and his obvious inability to meet his spiritual needs (regardless of all his learning and technological advances), special revelation revealed in a God-breathed book is not only possible, logical, and probable, but a necessity. If we believe in such a God, it is also probable that He would, out of love and for His own purposes and designs, reveal Himself to men. If we believe that God exists as an almighty God, then revelation and inspiration are clearly possible. That God would provide and preserve a Canon of Scripture without addition or deletion is not only necessary, but it is logically credible. Roman Catholics have a total of eighty books because they recognize the Apocrypha as semicanonical. Evangelical Protestants have recognized the twenty-seven books of the New Testament as inspired. Jews and conservative Christians alike have recognized the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament as inspired. … It is important to note that religious councils at no time had any power to cause books to be inspired, rather they simply recognized that which God had inspired at the exact moment the books were written. had given the word a quasi-technical religious meaning, applying it to the Bible, especially to the Jewish books.” 60 “Greek Christians by the fourth century A.D. In the course of time, the terms canon and canonical came to be applied to the catalogue or list of sacred books distinguished and honored as belonging to God’s inspired Word. All these employ the word in the metaphorical sense of a rule, norm, or standard. The term came to be applied to the decisions of the Councils as rules by which to live. Historically, the word was first used by the church of those doctrines that were accepted as the rule of faith and practice. Literally, it means (a) a straight rod or bar (b) a measuring rule as a ruler used by masons and carpenters then (c) a rule or standard for testing straightness. The word comes from the Greek kanwn and most likely from the Hebrew qaneh and Akkadian, qanu. The word canon is used to describe those books recognized as inspired of God. This page lists abbreviations for books of the Bible that are recognized by Logos Bible Software.The fact of the inspiration of the Bible as God’s special revelation to man naturally leads to the question (since many other religious books were written during both the Old and New Testament periods) what particular books are canonical, that is, what books are inspired and should be recognized as a part of God’s authoritative revelation? Are any inspired books missing? Are any books included that should not be in our Bible? Is our Old Testament Bible the same as the Lord’s and is our New Testament the same as the Bible of the church fathers? These are obviously vital questions for the people of God to determine.
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