Not By Bread Alone - Steven W. Waterhouse

The following extract is from Not By Bread Alone by Steven W. Waterhouse, pp8-9, where he discusses the canon of the Old Testament.

Canonicity

From theGreek word canon we derive the word cane. By the terms canon of Scripture one refers to the books by which Christians are supposed to rule or measure their lives. Canonicity takes up the issue of which books belong in the Bible.

A. Old Testament Canon

The Roman Catholic Church recognizes eleven more books and the Eastern Orthodox Church four more books in the Old Testament canon than do Protestants or Jews. Protestants and Jews recognize the same material as belonging to the Old Testament although they count and order the books differently. The important issue for Christians ought to be which books did the Lord Jesus Christ recognize. It is clear that He adhered to the Jewish (and hence the Protestant) canon of the Old Testament.

"You worship that which you do not know; we worship that which we know, for salvation is from the Jews." [John 4:22]

The Samaritans in the Lord's day rejected all of the Old Testament except the Law of Moses. By saying, "Salvation is of the Jews", Jesus sides with the Jews in the debate against the Samaritans. Part of that debate was over which books belonged in the Old Testament.

"From the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged against this generation" [Luke 11:51]

(See parallel passage Matt 23:35)

To appreciate this verse we will have to know that the Hebrew canon begins with Genesis and closes with 2 Chronicles. Abel's death is recorded in Gen 4:8. Zechariah's death is recorded in 2 Chron 24:21. Abel was the first man of God to be slain. Zechariah, in the order of the Hebrew Old Testament, was the last man of God to be slain. Jesus is saying, "From Genesis to Chronicles you are guilty of killing the prophets." Therefore, Jesus delineates and implicitly endorses the limits of the Jewish Old Testament canon.

". . . These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and Psalms must be fulfilled . . ." [Luke 24:44]

There is some evidence that the modern three-fold division of the Hebrew canon predated Christ. If we remember that Psalms was the largest and probably the first of the section called "The Writings", then Jesus is perhaps referring to the three Jewish sections of the canon: the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. In the modern Hebrew Bible, the Kethubim, "The Writings", begins with Psamls.

Jesus answered them, "Has it not been written in your Law, 'I said, you are gods'? If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken . . . )''[John 10:34-35]

In these verses Jesus refers to "your law", meaning the official law of the Jews. He also calls this law "the Scripture". At no time did Jesus debate with the Jews over the books in the Old Testament. He accepted and used the Jews' authoritative books.

Extract of Not By Bread Alone by Steven W. Waterhouse, pp8-9.
ISBN 0-9702418-2-8; Westcliff Press 2000, Revised Edition 2003
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