The mere absence of God's name is not sufficient reason to deny its status, especially when His providential hand is so evident. Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes was sometimes objected to because of its skeptical tone. The writer of the book exclaims. The problem here is a matter of understanding the author's intent. Solomon, the writer of the book, is demonstrating that no one can experience ultimate satisfaction in this world.
He shows that all people need God. Song of Solomon The Song of Solomon was sometimes criticized as being too sensual. It inspiration, however, was never really been in doubt. The misdirected criticisms of sensuality do not understand the purpose of the book, which is to emphasize the nobility of marriage.
However, no specific examples were ever provided. The problem was again one of interpretation, not inspiration. Proverbs Proverbs had some who doubted it because of certain supposed inner contradictions.
Yet a proper interpretation of the book will show this is not the case. Some of the books that are now in the New Testament canon have been, at times, questioned as being inspired of God.
They are known as the antilegomena, "the books spoken against. The reasons vary from book to book. Hebrews The main problem that some of the early church members had with the Book of Hebrews was that it was written anonymously. Yet Hebrews is not the only anonymous New Testament book; the four Gospels, for instance, do not name their authors either.
From the earliest times, the letter to the Hebrews was accepted everywhere but in Latin Christianity. The problem still was lack of a stated author. However, it was soon realized that the Book of Hebrews was orthodox in its content and deserved a place in the New Testament. James The main problem some had with James was the content. James put more emphasis on works than do the other New Testament writings.
But James is not so much theological as it is practical and fits a much-needed gap between the doctrine and practice of Christianity. Second Peter The most suspect of all the books is 2 Peter. Basically, the reasons for questioning its authorship are the stylistic differences between it and 1 Peter. However, these stylistic differences can be explained by Peter's use of an amanuensis, or secretary, to do the writing for him.
First, the author was not specifically stated he is called merely "the elder. Because of these factors there were not too many early writers who would quote from them. Jude Jude is a brief letter that gained immediate acceptance everywhere except Parthia, modern-day Iran. Jude was questioned for his use of the apocryphal Book of Enoch.
Revelation It is no surprise that the Book of Revelation would meet some opposition due to the apocalyptic nature of the work. However, it had almost instant recognition everywhere except in Parthia. The great biblical scholar R. Charles wrote concerning the Book of Revelation:. Throughout the Christian church during the second century, there is hardly any other book in the New Testament so well received as Revelation R. We must remember that Jesus promised His disciples would be guided into all truth.
The authority of Jesus' disciples matched that of Himself. Those whose writings were accepted by them would share the same authority. These seven books were only questioned by some of the church, not all of it. They were eventually recognized by the whole church to be included in the New Testament canon. There are a group of writings which are considered part of Old Testament Scripture by the Roman Catholic church but are not accepted as inspired by the Protestant church and Judaism.
These are known as the Apocrypha. The word Apocrypha means "hidden. Eleven of these fourteen books are considered Holy Scripture by the Roman Catholic church. When added to the Old Testament, they constitute only seven extra books because the others are attached to existing books.
The Apocrypha is about the size of the New Testament. Apocrypha and Apocryphal Sometimes people confuse the terms Apocrypha and apocryphal. The term apocryphal is also applied to other books that are New Testament forgeries. An example of this would be the Gospel of Thomas, which claims to have been written by Jesus' disciple Thomas.
The book, however is a forgery. The word Apocrypha is a specific term used to refer to the particular books that are considered Scripture by the Roman Catholic Church. History The Protestant reformers, particularly in the sixteenth century, pointed out many abuses in the Roman Catholic church at that time. From to a church council met at Trent to answer some of their charges. Among their decisions was the pronouncement of these books as Holy Scripture.
Before that time they were not regarded by the Roman Catholic church as sacred Scripture. The Protestant church rejects them for the following reasons:. No Claim The primary reason for rejecting the Apocrypha as Scripture is that there is no claim within the books that they are inspired by God. This is in contrast to the canonical Scriptures which claim to record the revelation of God.
If the Apocrypha were considered Scripture by the people living in the first century, we would certainly expect them to refer to it in some way. It cites the works the same way Paul cited heathen poets Acts This demonstrates that the New Testament writers were familiar with the Apocrypha but did not consider them to be upon the same level as Old Testament Scripture.
Rejected by the Jews The Jews have never considered these works to be inspired. On the contrary, they denied their inspiration. At the time of Christ we have the testimony of the Jewish writer Flavius Josephus that they were only twenty-two books to be inspired by God. The books of the Apocrypha were not among these. Not on Early Lists In the early years of the church it drew up various lists of the books it considered to be Scripture. The books of the Apocrypha do not appear on any list until the fourth century.
There was no unanimity of opinion among them that these books should be considered Scripture. Demonstrable Errors The Apocrypha also contains demonstrable errors. For example, Tobit was supposedly alive when Jereboam staged his revolt in B. This means that he lived over two hundred years! However, the Book of Tobit says he lived only years Tobit ; This is an obvious contradiction. Other examples could be cited.
Those who believe in an inerrant Scripture cannot accept the Apocrypha as God's Word. No Evidence of Inspiration The books of the Apocrypha do not contain anything like predictive prophecy that would give evidence of their inspiration.
If these books were inspired by God, then we should expect to see some internal evidence confirming it. But there is none. The Hebrews accepted the same thirty-nine books, although divided differently that the Protestant church does today. Jesus put His stamp of approval on these books but said nothing concerning the Apocrypha. However, He did say that the Scriptures were the authoritative Word of God and could not be broken.
Any adding to that which God has revealed is denounced in the strongest of terms. Therefore, we have the testimony of Jesus against the authenticity of the Apocrypha. We conclude that the Apocrypha should not be considered canonical because the books do not demonstrate themselves to be upon the same level as Scripture.
Jesus did not consider it part of His Old Testament and we are told not to add or subtract anything from God's Word. The Book of Jude seemingly contains a quotation of the intertestamental Book of Enoch. The question results from a citation found in Jude Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men saying, 'Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints' Jude Jude records a prophecy made by Enoch, who lived before the flood of Noah.
Enoch predicted the coming of the Lord to judge wicked individuals. The Apostle Paul wrote of this same judgment 2 Thessalonians This prophecy made by Enoch is not recorded in the Old Testament. Two questions arise: 1 Where did Jude obtain his information? During the period between the testaments the Book of Enoch was written. It contains this prophecy. Some assume that Jude obtained this prophecy from the Book of Enoch, but this is not the case.
Jude does not quote from the Book of Enoch but rather directly from Enoch. This could have been by means of special revelation from God or from some now unknown written source.
The source of Jude's quotation was the person Enoch. Where the Book of Enoch derived his information is another matter. It is possible that the source of the quotation found in the Book of Enoch was Jude, since there is no evidence as to the precise contents of the Book of Enoch until several centuries after Jude was written. Whatever the answer may be. It is not necessary to assume that Jude considered the Book of Enoch as authoritative.
Since we believe that Jude's writing was inspired by God, we take this information as being correct. It is not essential to know how Jude obtained this information. Jesus had promised that His disciples would be indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who would guide them into all truth. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak John Because of Jesus' promise, the words of the New Testament writers were safeguarded from error.
We conclude that Jude did not quote from the Book of Enoch, but received the information in some other way. Throughout the history of the church many documents surfaced that claimed to have been written by the apostles or those intimately familiar with the life of Christ.
However these works were written by someone other than the named author. These fraudulent works are known as the pseudepigrapha forgeries. They are also known as apocryphal works, and were rejected by all. The early church father, Eusebius, called these books "totally absurd and impious.
Other Gospels Among the forgeries were a large number of apocryphal or false gospels. Origen, a third century writer, testified to the existence of other gospels when he wrote,"There are many who have tried to write gospels, but not all have been accepted.
The apocryphal gospels are non-canonical writings of a motley variety about the purported deeds and revelations of Jesus Christ. Though the Greek word apocrypha originally meant "hidden," the church fathers used it to describe spurious writings foisted as gospels.
Irenaeus refers to 'an unspeakable number of apocryphal and spurious writings, which they themselves i. Gnostic Influence Many of these works were influenced by gnosticism. The word gnostic means "one who has knowledge. The gnostic view of God is contrary to the Bible. In addition, the gnostics considered that all matter is evil.
An example of gnostic writing can be found in the Gospel of Philip. The original Gospel of Philip was probably written sometime during the second century A. The canon of Scripture gives us confidence that the Bible we study today is truly the inspired and complete Word of God. Get more information about what we do here at Ethnos Bible Institute by clicking the button below:.
Anna Wishart is a graduate of Ethnos Bible Institute and continues to seek ways to be involved with missions through writing. She currently lives in Winchester, Virginia, and enjoys biking, art, friends, the mountain views, and attending Fellowship Bible Church. How Is Canonicity Determined? How Were Canonical Books Discovered?
We can ask these questions of the biblical texts given to us : Is it prophetic? Was the book written by a prophet of God? Were the authors Apostles or Prophets? God put His words in the mouths of the prophets and they declared what God had revealed to them. Therefore, books written by a prophet were immediately accepted. Is it miraculous?
Both the Old Testament and the New Testament have undergone changes over the centuries, including the the publication of the King James Bible in and the addition of several books that were discovered later. The Old Testament is the first section of the Bible, covering the creation of Earth through Noah and the flood, Moses and more, finishing with the Jews being expelled to Babylon. The exact beginnings of the Jewish religion are unknown, but the first known mention of Israel is an Egyptian inscription from the 13th century B.
The earliest known mention of the Jewish god Yahweh is in an inscription relating to the King of Moab in the 9th century B.
It is speculated that Yahweh was possibly adapted from the mountain god Yhw in ancient Seir or Edom. It was during the reign of Hezekiah of Judah in the 8th century B. During the reign of Josiah in the 6th century B. The final form of the Hebrew Bible developed over the next years when Judah was swallowed up by the expanding Persian Empire.
Known as the Septuagint, this Greek translation was initiated at the request of King Ptolemy of Egypt to be included in the library of Alexandria. The Septuagint was the version of the Bible used by early Christians in Rome. The Book of Daniel was written during this period and included in the Septuagint at the last moment, though the text itself claims to have been written sometime around B.
It collects 27 books, all originally written in Greek. The sections of the New Testament concerning Jesus are called the Gospels and were written about 40 years after the earliest written Christian materials, the letters of Paul, known as the Epistles. Scribes copied the letters and kept them in circulation. As circulation continued, the letters were collected into books. Some in the church, inspired by Paul, began to write and circulate their own letters, and so historians believe that some books of the New Testament attributed to Paul were in fact written by disciples and imitators.
The oral traditions within the church formed the substance of the Gospels, the earliest book of which is Mark, written around 70 A. It is theorized there may have been an original document of sayings by Jesus known as the Q source, which was adapted into the narratives of the Gospels.
Matthew and Luke were next in the chronology. Both used Mark as a reference, but Matthew is considered to have another separate source, known as the M source, as it contains some different material from Mark. The Book of John, written around A. All four books cover the life of Jesus with many similarities, but sometimes contradictions in their portrayals.
Each is considered to have its own political and religious agenda linked to authorship. The Gospel of Mary : Combs says that some apocryphal texts reflected theological and doctrinal debates going on within the early church, such as the role of women. In the Gospel of Mary discovered in the late 19th century , Mary Magdalene is not only referred to as one of Jesus's disciples, but perhaps his favorite one. In this text, after Jesus is resurrected, he relays esoteric teachings to Mary, who then tells the other disciples.
Peter asks why they should listen to a woman, to which another disciple Levi [Matthew] responds:. Surely the Savior knows her full well. That is why he has loved her more than us. The text is famous for its description of the "Watchers," fallen angels mentioned briefly in the Old Testament book of Genesis.
These angels lusted after human women and came down to Earth to be with them, creating giant offspring. In 1 Enoch, these angels also introduce evil into the world in the form of weapons, magic and sexy makeup. If you're curious, you can read English translations of dozens of New Testament apocrypha and Old Testament apocrypha online. Sign up for our Newsletter!
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