This lesson surveys the evidence that the ancient Jewish community, Jesus and the New Testament writers, and the Christian Church have recognized the 39 Old Testament books as divinely inspired revelation from which no Scriptures have been lost.

The Jewish community of Jesus' day recognized the 39 books in our Old Testament - and only these books - as divinely revealed Scripture. This fact is made clear by the first century Jewish historian Josephus (A.D. 37-100):

"For during so many ages as have already passed, no one has been so bold as either to add anything to them, or to take anything from them, or to make any change in them." (WORKS OF JOSEPHUS, Flavius Josephus, Against Apion, Book I, 8).

Thus, according to Josephus, the Jewish Scriptures (Old Testament) had survived until the time of Christ in carefully preserved condition, and were recognized as having unique and supreme authority.

There is no evidence that any representative body of Jews ever held the belief that there were "lost books" of sacred Scripture. Neither the mainstream Jewish rabbis nor the Jewish sectarians of Qumran (the Dead Sea Scrolls community), nor the Hellenistic Jews of Alexandria who produced an influential Greek translation of the Old Testament called the Septuagint, held the view that there were missing Scriptures. Nor did they give any

indication that the existing Scriptures were unreliable or incomplete.

QUESTIONS:

1)Read Romans 3:1,2 in your Bible. According to these verses, into whose care were the Old Testament Scriptures committed?

2) Since the nation of Israel is described by the Apostle Paul in Romans 3:2 as the divinely appointed custodian of the Old Testament Scriptures, doesn't it follow that their judgment as to which books belong in the Old Testament canon is of special importance?

Jesus' statement in Luke 11:50,51 shows that he accepted that traditional Jewish canon. Used in this sense, "canon" means a list of authoritative books that are the standard for measuring religious truth claims. This traditional Jewish canon consists of the same 39 books that we have in our Old Testament. Please read these verses (Luke 11:50,51). There Jesus speaks of all the martyred prophets from Abel to Zacharias. Abel's death is recorded in Genesis 4:8, and Zacharias' death is recounted in 2 Chronicles 24:20,21. In the Jewish Bible the 39 Old Testament books are ordered differently, with 2 Chronicles coming last. Thus, Jesus' expression "from Abel to Zacharias" is a way of saying "from the first book to the last book of Scripture." This shows that Jesus accepted the traditional Jewish canon as complete, with no lost books.

Yet, what about the 15 so-called "Apocryphal books" included in Roman Catholic Bibles as Scripture? These books are: Tobit, Additions to Esther, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus [Sirach], Baruch, Letter of Jeremiah, Prayer of Azariah/Song of the Three Jews, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, 1-2 Maccabees, 1-2 Esdras, Prayer of Manasseh. It is true that these books contain much interesting historical material, but they do not claim to be inspired. Is there evidence to help us make a determination of whether or not they were considered divinely inspired by Jesus or the Jewish nation?

Yes, there are two lines of evidence that point to the conclusion that the Apocryphal books are not authoritative, God-inspired Scripture. The first is internal to the Apocrypha, the second is external, coming from Jesus and his apostles. We will briefly examine both of these lines of evidence now and again in greater detail in Lesson 2 - The Nature of Old Testament Authority Claims.

The first line of evidence indicating that the Apocryphal books are not divinely inspired Scriptures is that the Apocryphal books themselves do not contain the same prophetic/Scriptural claim so noticeable in the Old Testament. For example, throughout the Old Testament we find the writers from Moses to Malachi introducing their message with the formula "Thus saith the Lord." This formula is used over 400 times in the Old Testament. Please read in your Bible the following 7 representative examples: Exodus 4:22; Joshua 24:2; Judges 6:8; 1 Samuel 15:2; Isaiah 44:6; Ezekiel 13:3 and Malachi 1:4.

QUESTION: Do you agree that these examples show the Old Testament Scriptures claim to be the divinely revealed Word of God?

By contrast, this formula ("Thus saith the Lord") is never used in the Apocryphal books. Instead, as Biblical scholar Bruce Metzger points out, the writers of the Apocrypha confess that the gift of prophecy had departed and express a hope that it might someday return. Metzger writes: "'Thus says the Lord,' which occurs so frequently in the Old Testament, is conspicuous by its absence from the Apocryphal /Deuterocanonical books." (New Oxford Annotated Bible, Oxford University Press, 1991, Introduction, p. v.). An example of an Apocryphal writer recognizing the loss of divine prophecy occurs in

1 Maccabees 9:27, "So there was great distress in Israel, such as had not been since the time the prophets ceased to appear among them."

The second line of evidence is external, and comes from Jesus and his apostles. They quote extensively and exclusively from the Old Testament as divine revelation. The few allusions to non-Biblical books are never identified as to their source, let alone as inspired Scripture. A very conservative estimate "discloses unquestionably at least 295 separate references to the Old Testament. These occupy some 352 verses of the New Testament" (Roger Nicole, "New Testament Use of the Old Testament," in REVELATION AND THE BIBLE, by Carl F. H. Henry, Baker, 1958, p. 137).

By comparison, how many times do Jesus or his apostles quote the Apocryphal writings? Not once. "It is to be noted that the whole New Testament contains not even one explicit citation of any of the Old Testament Apocrypha which are considered as canonical by the Roman Catholic Church" (Ibid.).

In a related issue, some might wonder about the Biblical references in Jude that appear to come from the Pseudepigraphal books of The Assumption of Moses and

1 Enoch. Jude mentions a dispute between Michael and the Devil over the body of Moses (verse 9), and refers to a prophecy of Enoch in verse 14. Yet, should Jude's brief use of these sources imply that they are inspired and equal to the books of the Old Testament? There is no warrant for doing so. First, Jude does not even mention the sources for these examples, much less attribute to them the authority of divine inspiration. Second, it is a logical fallacy to argue that because an inspired Biblical writer like Jude reports material from Jewish oral tradition or extra-Biblical sources, that those sources in their entirety must be considered accurate or theologically valid. It makes much more sense to recognize that Jude in these two brief instances simply utilized other sources to validate his writing. Third, Enoch and Assumption were not considered sacred Scripture by the ancient Jewish community, but instead were recognized as books that falsely claimed to be written by ancient worthies, but in fact dated to the period of 200 BC - AD 200. (Pseudepigrapha means "falsely attributed," so the very fact that these books bear this designation shows that they claim to be something they are not.)

QUESTION: Taking into account the combined testimony of Josephus, the Jewish community and Jesus Christ and the New Testament writers, is it reasonable for Christians today to conclude that our Old Testament contains accurate and reliable copies of all the books of Scripture given by God through his prophets up until the time of Christ?

IN OUR NEXT LESSON...

Jesus and the Apostles clearly accepted the Old Testament books as Scripture. Yet, what kind of claims does the Old Testament make for itself? Is it true that it purports to be nothing less than the very words of God? What practical implications does this have for us today? These questions will be covered in Lesson 2.

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