Canonical and non-canonical books

It is interesting that there seems no disagreement about which books belong to the canon of the New Testament.

Each Christian profession seems to recognize the 27 divinely inspired books of:
1. Matthew
2. Mark
3. Luke
4. John
5. Acts
6. Romans
7. 1 Corinthians
8. 2 Corinthians
9. Galatians
10. Ephesians
11. Philippians
12. Colossians
13. 1 Thessalonians
14. 2 Thessalonians
15. 1 Timothy
16. 2 Timothy
17. Titus
18. Philemon
19. Hebrews
20. James
21. 1 Peter
22. 2 Peter
23. 1 John
24. 2 John
25. 3 John
26. Jude
27. Revelation

This is significant and important, as Christians are by definition followers of Christ. We can be assured then that what we have in the New Testament is the teaching of Jesus; either from his own mouth, as found in the Gospels (transcribed by his disciples and followers), or transmitted by his aposltes and disciples, as found in the Letters. Obviously without forgetting the vision of John, given to him by the Lord Jesus, as recorded in Revelation.

However there is still not complete agreement on the Old Testament.

All Protestant Churches recognise 39 inspired books in the Old Testament, based on the Herbew Bible.
1. Genesis
2. Exodus
3. Leviticus
4. Numbers
5. Deuteronomy
6. Joshua
7. Judges
8. Ruth
9. 1 Samuel
10. 2 Samuel
11. 1 Kings
12. 2 Kings
13. 1 Chronicles
14. 2 Chronicles
15. Ezra
16. Nehemiah
17. Esther
18. Job
19. Psalms
20. Proverbs
21. Ecclesiastes
22. Song of Songs
23. Isaiah
24. Jeremiah
25. Lamentations
26. Ezekiel
27. Daniel
28. Hosea
29. Joel
30. Amos
31. Obadiah
32. Jonah
33. Micah
34. Nahum
35. Habakkuk
36. Zephaniah
37. Haggai
38. Zechariah
39. Malachi

These books are not arranged in alphabetical order (obviously!) nor are they in chronological order. They are arranged in the following order : The Law, History, Poetry, Prophecy.

The Roman Catholic versions of the Bible contain additional books, called either Apocryphal by Protestants, or Deuterocanonical by Roman Catholics. These include( to the best of my knowledge and based on the collection in the French Traduction Oecuménique de la Bible):
1. Esther (From the Greek version)
2. Judith
3. Tobias
4. 1 Macabees
5. 2 Macabees
6. Wisdom
7. Sirach
8. Baruch
9. Epistle of Jeremiah


So far, to explore the various reasons for the inclusion or exclusion of these books, I've been reading Vine's Expostitory Dictionary of Biblical Words by W.E.Vine, Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem, The Lion Encyclopedia of the Bible, notes and introductions from the Traduction Oecuménique de la Bible, Not By Bread Alone by Steven W. Watherhouse.

According to the Traduction Oecuménique de la Bible these additional books were not officially recognised as part of the canon until after the reformation, at the council of Trent in the 16th century.

Ces livres font partie du canon officiellement fixé dans l'Eglise catholique depuis le concile de Trente. . . Les réformateurs protestants du XVIe siècle, sans les considérer comme canoniques, les ont placés en appendice de la Bible, estimant qu'ils ne pouvaient servir à fonder la foi, mais demeuraient utiles pour nourrir la piété des chrétiens.

My own belief at this time is that the Deuterocanonical books are not divinely-inspired, and so are of limited value. I do not recognise them as Scripture, and so they do not come under the scope of 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

But it's not my intention to just try and prove my own point of view. The point of this blog is to delve a bit deeper into how the Bible came to us, why it is trustworthy as the Word of God. Also I want to look at why it would be important to include or disclude the Deuterocanonical books.