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askthepastors
Posts:4
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Posted:04/11/2006 10:05 AM |
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ATRYON wrote Ask the Pastors:
"Dear pastor,
Please explain why some Bibles have extra books. (then he listed them)
I was raised to believe that the entire Bible was written by human men but inspired by God.Basically that God told humans what to write, but they did not think them up themselves.
Are these books inspired by the Holy Spirit? Did God tell humans to write these books, and if so, why aren't they in every Bible?
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askthepastors
Posts:4
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Posted:04/11/2006 10:06 AM |
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The books you inquired about were written in the 400-year period between the Old and the New Testaments, what we often call the "silent period." It is regarded as a period of time in which God did not speak through a prophet or prophets as he had done in the period recorded n the Old Testament. The rabbi's often said God's word only came through "the daughter of a voice" - that is, a whisper, because no teacher arose who had "schmiha" to which you may have heard Pastor Doug refer in some of his sermons. That is, there was no authoritative voice. Jesus affirmed as much in his complaint against the Pharisees in Matthew 23:35: "And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar." Jesus basically affirmed the order of the accepted Old Testament canon of that day, which was the same 39 books we recognize, but in the order of the Hebrew writings (beginning with Abel's murder in Genesis 4 and concluding with Zechariah, the last prophet mentioned in 2 Chronicles 24:21). They arrange the books in a different pattern than our Christian Bibles.
The Apocryphal books were not widely accepted as scripture by Jews nor Christians. Some of the books were read popularly, but do not qualify as legitimate scripture for a few reasons:
They were never quoted by the New Testament writers. (The pseudepigraphical Enoch is quoted by James and Jude, but so are pagan philosophers by Paul in Acts 17)
They contain doctrinal or historical errors. (In Maccabees Antiochus Epipahanes IV dies 3 different ways 3 different times)
They give internal evidence that they were written by someone other than who they cleim to be and at different time periods. (e.g., parts of the addtions to Daniel make plays on Greek words, rather than the Aramaic it should have been written in.)
Even the translators who included them in their manuscripts placed them after the O.T. or between the Testaments, rather than identify them as scripture.
Some of the books state plainly they are not without error (e.g., Ecclesiasticus: “Ye are intreated therefore to read with favour and attention, and to pardon us, if in any parts of what we have laboured to interpret, we may seem to fail in some of the phrases”) and thus do not qualify as the inerrant Word of God.
I guess you've noticed how many people are looking for new revelation and claiming "cover-ups" by the church of other purported "gospels." The Davinci Code and The Gospel of Judas have been in the headlines lately and causing a lot of confusion. This is all part of what Jesus prophesied that false prophets would arise in the last days.
It helps also to understand in what context we say writings are "inspired by God." Are the books of Max Lucado and the songs of Chris Tomlin "inspired by God"? We would say "yes" in a limited way. They are helpful to us and inspirational. But when 2 Timothy 3:16 says: "All scripture is inspired by God..." it is using a special word that means "God-breathed." Max Lucado, Chuck Swindoll, and others would not dared to claim THAT kind of inspiration. Listen to what Peter says about scripture in 2 Peter 1:16-21 NLT
For we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and his coming again. We have seen his majestic splendor with our own eyes. And he received honor and glory from God the Father when God's glorious, majestic voice called down from heaven, "This is my beloved Son; I am fully pleased with him." We ourselves heard the voice when we were there with him on the holy mountain. Because of that, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. Pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a light shining in a dark place--until the day Christ appears and his brilliant light shines in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophets themselves or because they wanted to prophesy. It was the Holy Spirit who moved the prophets to speak from God.
I would recommend several books for you that answer this question of the Bible's authority: Evidence that Demands a Verdict (Parts 1 & 2) by Josh McDowell, and The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? by F.F. Bruce.
Pastor George
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gfike
Posts:230
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Posted:04/11/2006 1:32 PM |
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Pastor Brent also recommends the books:
The Canon of Scripture by F.F. Bruce
How Did We Get our Bible? by Bruce Metzger
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gfike
Posts:230
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Posted:04/14/2006 5:12 AM |
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Concerning the recent discovery of a papyrus fragment from "The Gospel of Judas," Reasons to Believe" recently discussed this on their segment "Creation Update." Copy this link to hear the discussion on RealAudio.
pnm://broadcast.reasons.org/rtbradio/cu20060411.rm?start=01:09:44.0
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