Bible, Inpsired, Accurate, Enduring Forever.

(Ex 31:18) Later we read, "And Jehovah went on to say to Moses: 'Write down for yourself these words.'" (Ex 34:27) Jehovah, therefore, was the one who communicated with Moses and instructed him to write down and preserve the first books of the Bible canon. No council of men made them canonical; from their inception they had divine approval.

"As soon as Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book, "he commanded the Levites, saying: "Taking this book of the law, you must place it at the side of the ark of the covenant of Jehovah your God, and it must serve as a witness there against you." (De 31:9, 24-26) It is noteworthy that Israel acknowledged this record of God's dealings and did not deny these facts. Since the contents of the books in many instances were a discredit to the nation generally, the people might well have been expected to reject them if possible, but this never seems to have been an issue.

Like Moses, the priestly class were used by God both to preserve these written commandments and to teach

them to the people. When the Ark was brought into Solomon's temple (1027 B.C.E.), nearly 500 years after Moses began writing the Pentateuch, the two stone tablets were still in the Ark (1Ki 8:9), and 385 years after that, when "the very book of the law" was found in the house of Jehovah during Josiah's 18th year (642 B.C.E.), the same high regard for it was shown. (2Ki 22:3, 8-20) Similarly there was "great rejoicing" when, after the return from Babylonian exile, Ezra read from the book of the Law during an eight-day assembly.----Ne 8:5-18.

Following Moses' death, the writings of Joshua, Samuel, Gad, and Nathan (Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel) were added. King David and Solomon also made contributions to the growing canon of Holy Writings. Then came the prophets from Jonah to Malachi, each contributing to the Bible canon, each endowed with miraculous prophetic ability from God, each in turn meeting the requirements of true prophets as outlined by Jehovah, namely, they spoke in the name of Jehovah, their prophecy came true, and they turned the people toward God. (De 13:1-3; 18:20-22) When Hananiah and Jeremiah were tested on the last two (both spoke in Jehovah's name), only the words of Jeremiah came to pass. Thus Jeremiah proved to be Jehovah's prophet.---- Jer 28:10-17.

Just as Jehovah inspired men to write, it logically follows that he would direct and watch over the collecting and preserving of these inspired writings in order that mankind would have an enduring canonical straightedge for true worship. According to Jewish tradition, Ezra had a hand in this work after the exiled Jews were resettled in Judah. He was certainly qualified for the work, being one of the inspired Bible writers, a priest, and also "a skilled copyist in the law of Moses." (Ezr 7:1-11) Only the books of Nehemiah and Malachi remained to be added. The canon of the Hebrew Scripture, therefore, was well fixed by the end of the fifth century B.C.E., containing the same writings that we have today.

Christian Greek Scriptures

The writing as well as the collecting of the 27 books comprising the canon of the Christian Greek Scriptures was similar to that of the Hebrew Scriptures. Christ "gave gifts in men," yes, "he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelizers, some as shepherds and teachers." (Eph 4:8, 11-13) With God's holy spirit on them they set forth sound doctrine for the Christian congregation and, "by way of a reminder," repeated many things already written in the Scriptures.---- 2Pe 1:12, 13; 3:1; Ro 15:15.

Outside the Scriptures themselves there is evidence that, as early as 90-100 C.E., at least ten of Paul's letters were collected together. It is certain that at an early date Christians were gathering together the inspired Christian writings.

We read that "near the close of the 1st century, Clement bishop of Rome was acquainted with Paul's letter to the church at Corinth. After him, the letters of both Ignatius bishop of Antioch and Polycarp bishop of Smyrna attest the dissemination of the Pauline letters by the second decade of the 2nd century." (The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, edited by G.W. Bromiley, 1979, Vol. 1, p. 603) These were all early writers ---Clement of Rome (30?-100? C.E.), Polycarp (69?-155? C.E.), and Ignatius of Antioch (late 1st and early 2nd centuries C.E.)--- who wove in quotations and extracts from various books of the Christian Greek Scriptures, showing their acquaintance with such canonical writings.

Justin Martyr (died c. 165 C.E.) in his "Dialogue With Trypho, a Jew" (XLIX), used the expression "it is written" when quoting from Matthew, in the same way the Gospels themselves do when referring to the Hebrew Scriptures. The same is also true in an earlier anonymous work, "The Epistle of Barnabas" (IV). Justin Martyr in "The First Apology" (LXVI, LXVII) calls the "memoirs of the apostles" "Gospels."---- The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, pp. 220, 139, 185, 186.

Theophilus of Antioch (2nd century C.E.) declared: "Concerning the righteousness which the law enjoined, confirmatory utterances are found both with the prophets and in the Gospels, because they all spoke inspired by one Spirit of God." Theophilus then uses such expressions as 'says the Gospel' (quoting Mt 5:28, 32, 44, 46; 6:3) and "the divine word gives us instructions" ( quoting 1Ti 2;2 and Ro 13:7,8). -----The Ante-Nicene Fathers, 1962, Vol. II, pp. 114, 115, 'Theophilus to Autolycus" (XII, XIII).

By the end of the second century there was no question but that the canon of the Christian Greek Scriptures was closed, and we find such ones as Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian recognizing the writings comprising the Christian Scriptures as carrying authority equal to that of the Hebrew Scriptures.

Dispute

The canonicity of certain individual books of the Christian Greek Scriptures has been disputed by some, but the arguments against them are very weak. For critics to reject, for example, the book of Hebrews simply because it does not bear Paul's name and because it differs slightly in style from his other letters is shallow reasoning. B.F. Westcott observed that "the canonical authority of the Epistle is independent of its Pauline authorship." (The Epistle to the Hebrews, 1892, p. lxxi) Objection on the grounds of unnamed writership is far outweighed by the presence of Hebrews in the Chester Beatty Papyrus No. 2 (P46) {dated within 150 years of Paul's death}, which contains it along with eight other letters of Paul.

Sometimes the canonicity of small books such as James, Jude, Second and Third John, and Second Peter is questioned on the grounds that these books are quoted very little by early writers. However, they make up all together only one thirty-sixth of the Christian Greek Scriptures and were therefore less likely to be referred to. In this connection it may be observed that Second Peter is quoted by Irenaeus as bearing the same evidence of canonicity as the rest of the Greek Scriptures. The same is true of Second John. (The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, pp. 551, 557, 341, 443, "Irenaeus Against Heresies") Revelation, also rejected by some, was attested to by many early commentators, including Papias, Justin Martyr, Melito, and Irenaeus.

The real test of canonicity, however, is not how many times or by what nonapostolic writer a certain book has been quoted. The contents of the book itself must give evidence that it is a product of holy spirit. Consequently, it cannot contain superstitions or demonism, nor can it encourage creature worship. It must be in total harmony and complete unity with the rest of the Bible, thus supporting the authorship of Jehovah God. Each book must conform to the divine "pattern of healthful words" and be in harmony with the teachings and activities of Christ Jesus. (2Ti 1:13: 1Co 4:17) The apostles clearly had divine accreditation and they spoke in attestation of such other writers as Luke and James, the half brother of Jesus. By holy spirit the apostles had "discernment of inspired utterances" as to whether such were of God or not.