Jesus Café Ministries - Scripture Squad - Why where the 66 books of the Bible chosen?

The Scripture Squad responds...

From: Kelly
1) How was it decided that the 66 books in the Bible were in fact God-inspired, but the other books like the ones found in the Catholic Bible (Apocrypha) didn't make the cut? Were there certain tests to determine this? Were all books scrutinized and the books left out were found to have discrepancies or inconsistencies?

2) What about the Dead Sea Scrolls? Should they be considered as part of the Bible?

3) Does the caution/warning written in Revelation 22:18-19 pertain to the whole Bible or just the Book of Revelation? It seemed that it was referring particularly to the Revelation.

If you could refer me to some other sources/ scripture/ readings/ etc to help answer these questions that would be awesome!

1) How was it decided that the 66 books in the Bible were in fact God-inspired, but the other books like the ones found in the Catholic Bible (Apocrypha) didn't make the cut?
Tests for Canonicity paraphrased from "A Survey of Bible Doctrine," C. C. Ryrie:

I. There was the test of the authority of the writer. In relation to the New Testament (NT), a book had to be written or backed by an apostle in order to be recognized. In other words, it had to have an apostolic signature or apostolic authorization. Peter, for instance, was the backer of Mark, and Paul of Luke.

II. The books themselves should give some internal evidences of their unique character, as inspired and authoritative. The content should commend itself to the reader as being different from an ordinary book in communicating the revelation of God.

III. The verdict of the churches as to the canonical nature of the books was important. There was in reality surprising unanimity among the early churches as to which books belonged in the inspired number. Although it is true that a few books were temporarily doubted by a minority, no book whose authenticity was doubted by any large number of churches was later accepted.

The first church council to list all 27 books of the NT was the Council of Carthage in 397 AD. The selection of the canon was a process that went on until each book proved its own worth by passing the tests of canonicity.

The 12 books of the Apocrypha were never accepted by the Jews or by our Lord on a par with the books of the OT. They were revered as historical but were not considered Scripture. Jerome (c. AD 340-420) in translating the Vulgate distinguished the canonical books (our bible) from the ecclesiastical books (the Apocrypha), which had the effect of according them a secondary status. The Council of Trent (1546) recognized them as canonical, though the Reformers rejected this decree. In our English Bibles the Apocrypha was set apart in the Coverdale, Geneva, and KJVs. The first English Bible to exclude it entirely as a matter of policy was an Amsterdam edition of the Geneva Bible published in 1640, and the first English Bible printed in America (the Aitken Bible, 1782) omitted it.

2) What about the Dead Sea Scrolls? Should they be considered as part of the Bible?

The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of manuscripts discovered between 1947 and 1956 close to the Dead Sea. They date back to two or three centuries B.C. They were from a library of people known as the Essenes. The manuscripts amounted to fragments of 500 documents. 100 of these are biblical texts and contain all of the Hebrew Bible with the exception of the Book of Esther so they are authentic.

3) Does the caution/warning written in Revelation 22:18-19 pertain to the whole Bible or just the Book of Revelation? It seemed that it was referring particularly to the Revelation.

This warning or curse probably pertained only to the Book of Revelation. The canon or collection of books inspired by God had not been compiled. Possibly the Book of Revelation was not the last book written by the Apostles. One of the reasons for the warning was to prevent people from adding to or taking from this revelation by Jesus for their own ends. Remember that these messages were read to groups of believers and John didn't want people to embellish what had been revealed to him. God was clear in the Old Testament that people were not to add or subtract from His commands. Deuteronomy 4:2 says "Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you." (See also Proverbs 30:6). Because all Scripture is inspired by God we should always guard against adding to it or subtracting from it.

- The Scripture Squad :
TCCaleb, TCCaff, RuthCCC & DawnCCC