Articles
The Holy Word of God (part I)
The Holy Word of God (part I)
“Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth”
How many books are there in the biblical text? If you confidently answered 66, you would be in agreement with many people in the world who do not profess to be Catholic. In the current Catholic tradition there are 72, or 73 if you separate Lamentations from Jeremiah. Why the discrepancy? There are even many in the non-Catholic world who ask why Maccabees is not included yet we still include Ruth for context?
The argument stems from the fact that the Holy Bible that we cherish so is not a single book at all. I, myself, even hold it up in sermons and speak of it as a single volume work for reference when it is not that at all. Note that when we make reference to the bible, we ask for the book, chapter, and verse. The bible is actually a collection of books written across nearly 2,000 years of time, penned by over 40 different individuals, and in three different languages. Originally, these were kept in separate scrolls and combining them into one volume was impractical due to the nature of the scrolls and the difficulties associated with their storage and handling. The scrolls would be stored in a cabinet, and each scroll would be taken out when required. These scrolls were expensive to make and to house, so typically it was only seen in houses of worship or of affluent individuals.
It is not far to understand how, given the day, some scrolls might be missing from a collection, or some scrolls may be fraudulent, such as the Gnostic Gospels. Individual churches were starting to see a rift in the fourth century as to what texts were cannon since some churches were starting to see differences in their collection of texts. Bible scholars from around the known world went to different churches all around and examined the biblical texts available and compared. The false Gnostic Gospels were identified and these scholars met in Hippo in 393 to finalize the 66 books we know today in some form (examples: Nehemiah was part of Ezra and Kings was one volume) plus Maccabees. Other books were shelved as either blasphemous, such as the Gnostic Gospels, or as uninspired. This topic has been re-examined numerous times over the centuries, consistently leading to the same conclusion. With the Word of God as guide, the conclusion is that there should be 66 books and two honorable mentions, Maccabees, for the sake of historical context.
The adjudication process for each book involves an extensive discussion of the entirety of Christian doctrine, which is beyond the scope of this article. However, it raises the question of why the Catholic tradition includes more books. Next week’s article, we will discuss the origin of the Bible and from where does it draw its authority.
Lance Byers
2/1/2024
- The_Holy_Word_of_God_Part_I_2-1-24.pdf (49.12 kB)
