The following two essays on Scripture and the Church were written by Ken Litchfield in response to a question posed on Facebook, “Where in the Bible does it list the books which should be part of the Bible?” The Protestant position is clearly and irrefutably debunked.
The Short History of the Bible by Ken Litchfield
The Bible is the collection of writings that the Catholic Church decided were inspired and could be read at Mass. It is a collection of books written by different authors in different writing styles, over thousands of years, for different audiences. The Bible contains historical events, but it is not written like a history book. It is not a manual on how to run a religion or build a church. Those things already existed before the Bible was assembled. The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles called the Didache is the earliest manual on how to run a Church. In modern times the Catholic Church is governed by Canon Law and the Catechism which are based on Scripture.
At the time of Jesus, the Sadducees, that taught and worshiped at the Temple in Jerusalem, considered only the 5 books of Moses to be the word of God. The Pharisees and Rabbis that taught and worshiped in the Synagogues, considered the 5 books of Moses, the writings of the Prophets, the Psalms, and some of the historical writings as Scripture. They grouped these writings in sets of 22 or 24 books. The Essene Jews had another set of writings that they used in their community. The Jews of this time did not have a standardized Old Testament.
Jews living outside of Jerusalem used a Greek Translation of the Old Testament called the Septuagint. This translation has the 46 books of the Catholic Old Testament in it, and various others that did not make it into the Catholic Old Testament. The 7 books that are in the Catholic Old Testament but not the Protestant Old Testament are 1st and 2nd Maccabees, Wisdom, Baruch, Sirach, Tobit, and Judith.
The Early Christians considered the Greek Septuagint version of the Hebrew writings as Scripture. The New Testament quotes from the Greek Septuagint version of the Old Testament more than 80% of the time. All the books that made it into the New Testament were written in the first century. This is a basic history of the Bible.
Around 90 AD a rabbinic school in Jamnia had a debate on which books were sacred and generally concluded that the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes were inspired texts.
Rabbi Akiba Ben Joseph started standardizing the writings that the Jews would use in their Synagogues between 100 and 130 AD. This collection is known as the Tanakh. He declared that the book of Sirach and all others written after that do not defile the hand which means they were not sacred texts that could not be touched after they were written. He established a canon of 22 or 24 books depending on how they were organized. The current Protestant Old Testament of 39 books is a reorganization of the 24 books. The Jews that rejected Jesus settled their Old Testament 100 years after Christianity had been started by Peter and the Apostles.
The Hebrew Masoretic Text commonly used today was developed between 500 and 900 AD. The Hebrew scholars took the consonant only Hebrew text and added vowels to make whole words as we have them in modern books.
The oldest list of the New Testament books is on incomplete scrap of parchment known as the Muratorian fragment from around 170 AD. It lists the Gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John, Acts of the Apostles, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Galatians, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, Romans, Philemon, Titus, 1st and 2nd Timothy, Jude, 1st and 2nd John, Wisdom of Solomon, Revelation of John, and Revelation of Peter as scripture. This list does not include 1 and 2 Peter, James, 3 John and Hebrews.
In 180 AD Irenaeus writes that there are only 4 Gospels and lists their authors as Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
In 200 AD Origen considered the 4 Gospels, the Book of Acts, the 14 letters of Paul 1 Peter, Jude, 1 John and the Book of Revelation as Scripture. Origen expressed reservations concerning James, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John. Origen also considered Gospel of Peter, Gospel of the Hebrews, Acts of Paul, I Clement, Epistle of Barnabas, Didache, and Shepherd of Hermas as divinely inspired.
Around 315 AD Eucebius of Caesarea wrote about the Canon of Scripture based on what he learned from Origen’s library and the libraries in Alexandria and Jerusalem. He wrote that the universally recognized books are the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Book of Acts, the 14 Epistles of Paul (including Hebrews), 1 Epistle by Peter, 1 Epistle by John and the Revelation (Apocalypse) of John. Eusebius writes that these writings are accepted by some Churches but not all Churches: 2 Epistle of Peter, 2 and 3 Epistles of John, James and Jude. He writes that the Church in Rome rejects the book of Hebrews and many Churches read the Shepherd of Hermas during the Divine Liturgy. Eusebius writes that these books are non-Apostolic writings but useful for teaching: Acts of Paul, Shepherd of Hermas, Apocalypse of Peter, Epistle of Barnabas, Didache-Teaching of the 12 Apostles, Gospel of the Hebrews, and the Apocalypse of John.
Eucebius writes that these writings are heretical: Gospel of Peter, Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Mathias, Acts of Andrew, and Acts of John. This shows that the New Testament list we have today was not finalized at this time.
Around 325 AD the Codex Vaticanus, the Codex Sinaicticus and the Codex Alexandria were assembled. They are likely from the 50 copies of Scripture in Greek commissioned by the Roman Emperor Constantine. Between these 3 ancient books we have the fully accepted 66 book Old Testament, the books of the Deuterocanon (aka the apocrypha) including 3 Esdras, Wisdom, Prologue to Ecclesiasticus, Ecclesiasticus, Esther (with additions), Judith, Tobit, Baruch, Epistle of Jeremiah, Daniel (with additions), and the 1-4 Maccabees. They contain the New Testament Four Gospels, Book of Acts, 1 and 2 Peter, 1,2 and 3 John, Jude, James, the Epistle to the Hebrews the 13 Pauline Epistles, and The Book of Revelation.
In 360 AD the Council of Laodicea listed a canon of scripture that had 26 of the 27 books of the New Testament leaving off the Book of Revelation.
In 367 AD Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria listed the 27 books of the New Testament in his Church Calendar letter sent to his Churches.
In 382 AD Pope Damasus at the Council of Rome listed the 27 books of the New Testament and 46 books of the Old Testament as the Canon of Scripture for use in Churches.
In 383 AD Pope Damasus commissioned St. Jerome to make a Latin translation of the New and Old Testament Scriptures. Jerome used the Hebrew Masoretic texts for his Old Testament translation and Greek writings for the New Testament translation. The Hebrew texts didn’t include the Old Testament books that were in the Greek Septuagint because the Jews had rejected them. Jerome made a Latin translation of these books after they were confirmed by the Councils of Hippo and Carthage.
In 386 AD the St. Augustine guided the Council of Hippo in North Africa which established the same list of 46 Old Testament books and 27 New Testament books.
In 397AD the Council of Carthage under Augustine came up with the same list and sent it to Rome for approval after another council in 419AD.
In 405 AD Pope Innocent I listed the 27 books of the New Testament and 46 books of Old Testament in his Church Calendar letter to the Bishop of Lyon in France.
In 434 AD Vincent of Lerins “Since the canon of Scripture is complete, and sufficient for everything, what need is there to join with it the authority of the Church’s interpretation? Because all do not accept it in one and the same sense. One understands its words in one way, another in another way producing various interpretations. Therefore the right understanding should be in accordance with the standard of Ecclesiastical interpretation."
In 787 AD the Second Council of Nicaea accepted the decrees of previous smaller Councils. This included the Canon of Scripture determined in 397 by the Council of Carthage.
In 1441 the Council of Florence approved the list of 46 Old Testament books and 27 New Testament books accepted by the Councils of Rome, Hippo and Carthage.
In 1550 the list of 46 Old Testament books and 27 New Testament books were made official at the Council of Trent.
This is why there is a difference today between the Catholic and Protestant Bibles. It wasn't until the end of the 300s that list of Old and New Testament Scriptures were established.
The Didache, the Shepherd of Hermas, 1st Clement to the Corinthians, and the Epistle of Barnabas were read in many early Churches. The Book of Revelation, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Jude, James and the Book of Hebrews were considered questionable by many.
The Catholic Church that teaches that baptism forgives sins, that Jesus is present in the Eucharist, and that the Bishop of Rome is the head of the Church, is the Church that decided which books are the divinely inspired words of God. The Early Church Synods of Rome, Hippo and Carthage are the first Church councils that established the list of divinely inspired books. This list was confirmed at the Ecumenical Councils of 2nd Nicaea and Florence. The Catholic Church hand copied the Bible for over 1000 years before moveable type was developed by Gutenberg. For the first 1500 years of Christianity the Bible was interpreted based on the Tradition handed on by the Apostles. This Tradition can be understood through the writings of the Early Church Fathers who had an overall majority understanding of their interpretation.
The Bible contains divinely inspired writings. But they need to be interpreted. The thousands of different Protestant churches have different interpretations of these divinely inspired writings. The Catholic Church has the oldest and original understanding of these writings. The Pope is the successor of the minister that Jesus left behind to feed His sheep and tend His flock. This same Jesus promised to be with His Church to the end of time (Matt28:20). Jesus didn't leave us a book as an authority; He left us a Church to teach us what He taught the Apostles. Catholics put their trust in the Church that Jesus founded not a man’s interpretation of the Bible that the Catholic Church assembled.
No Protestant church has a record of how they decided which books make up the New Testament; even Martin Luther said “What would we know of the Scriptures if it wasn’t for the papists (Catholic Church)”.
The Church That Jesus Left Behind to Carry on His Mission by Ken Litchfield
Many people assume that Jesus left us a book as an authority and not a teaching Church. The writings of the New Testament, that both Protestants and Catholics agree are Scripture, tell us that Jesus didn't leave us a book.
In Matthew chapter 16 we learn that Jesus said “You are Peter and on this Rock I will build my Church”. He gives Peter the keys to the kingdom indicating his authority in the kingdom and that it would be handed on to successors like ministers that served the Jewish kings (Isiah ch 22). This is a transfer of authority from the seat of Moses in the Old Covenant to the new seat of authority in the New Covenant, the Chair of Peter. Jesus gives Peter and the Apostles the power to bind and loose, showing that they had authority to make and discontinue laws and the fellowship of members of the Church. After His resurrection Jesus gives the Apostles the authority to forgive or retain sins (John ch 20).In Matthew chapter 28, before ascending into Heaven, Jesus tells the Apostles that all the authority that God gave Him, he passes onto the Apostles. Jesus also told the Apostles to go out and teach the world everything that He taught and to Baptize them in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus promises to be with them until the end of the age.
In John’s Gospel chapter 17 Jesus prays that we would all be one as He and the Father are one. This tells us that Jesus wants there to be unity in the Church, not thousands of conflicting denominations. The end of John's Gospel chapters 20 and 21 tells us that everything is not in what we now call the Bible because no book could hold it all.
The Bible is the collection of books that the Catholic Church assembled and declared these are the inspired texts that can be read at Mass. This tells us that Jesus left a Church not a book.
In the Book of Acts chapter 1, Peter and the rest of the Apostles meet to replace Judas as one of the 12 Apostles. The King James Bible tells us that they referred to Judas’ office as a ‘Bishopric’. The understanding from the beginning is that the Apostles hold an office that has successors.
In the Book of Acts chapter 2 Peter preaches to the Jews and 3,000 are added to the Church through Baptism. This shows that the Church that Jesus left behind to carry on His mission existed before the New Testament was written. Jesus left a Church not a book.
The Book of Acts chapter 9 uses the Greek phrase, "ekklesia kath holos," which means "the Church throughout all". From this we derive the name Catholic Church meaning the whole group of called out people that believe the same universal thing.
The Book of Acts chapter 15 tells us at the Council of Jerusalem, the Apostles, and those they had appointed called presbyters (bishops), held a Council that made a decision that went against what was then considered Scripture (the Old Testament required circumcision) and gave a binding decree on all Christians. This shows that the Apostles knew that they had authority from Jesus that could bind and loose the laws of the old covenant before there was a Bible. Their decree to the Church says that it seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us …. This shows that the Church had binding authority and was protected by the Holy Spirit as Jesus promised. They sent the decree out with Paul, Barnabas and other appointed messengers, showing how the authority came from the Apostles not a private interpretation of individuals.
When the Apostles went out and founded Churches, they would appoint successors that we now call Bishops by laying hands on them. In 1 Timothy chapter 3 Paul tells Timothy that the Church is the Pillar and Foundation of Truth not the Bible which was still being written. In chapter 4 Paul tells Timothy to be a good minister, to teach soundly and to not neglect the gift he was given through the laying on of his hands. Paul reminds him again in 2 Timothy 1:6 “Remember the gift you received with the laying on of my hands” referring to when he made Timothy a Bishop. Paul also warns Timothy to be careful about whom he lays hands on and be sure they know and follow the Faith before laying hands on them. This shows how the Faith was passed on through the teachers not just a book. In Ephesians chapter 4, Paul also lists the different positions in the Church like Prophets, teachers, readers etc. In Titus chapter 1, Paul reminds Titus that he left him in Crete to teach the people rightly and appoint presbyters in every town to properly hand on the Faith. Paul also tells Titus that the men he appoints should teach and appoint other men following the Tradition of Apostolic Succession. In 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and 11, Paul tells the Corinthians of the Church practices and that we have no other practices and neither do the Churches of God. Unity in practice was expected among the Christians then and now.
These Bible passages speak of the Unity that God desires for His Church.
Romans 12:4-5 “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another”
1 Corinthians 1:10 “I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.”
Acts 4:32 “Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.”
Hebrews 13:11 “Let brotherly love continue”
Ephesians 4:5-6 “One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
All of these verses speak about the unity that God wants for His Church.
In 90 AD the Church in Corinth had a dispute, so they wrote a letter to the Bishop of Rome. Pope Clement, Bishop of Rome wrote back that the Apostles received their authority from Jesus and the Bishops received their authority from the Apostles. We call this handing down of authority Apostolic Succession. When the Corinthians had a dispute they wrote to the Church in Rome and not Jerusalem, Antioch, another nearby major Church or the Apostle John, because they knew that Rome had the Authority.
In 107 AD Ignatius Bishop of Antioch writes that the teachings of the Church are passed on through the Bishops not a book. Ignatius also tells us that wherever the Bishop is, there is the catholic Church. In his letter to the Church in Rome, Ignatius writes that he doesn’t command them like Peter and Paul, but asks them not to try and rescue him when he gets there. This is early evidence that the Church in Rome had the teaching of Peter and Paul because this was the last place that they lived and taught.
In 150 AD the early Church historian Hegesippus took a trip from Jerusalem to Rome by land. He recorded that everywhere he traveled the Church taught the same thing. This shows that from the beginning there was unity in the Church teaching and practice not the ‘variety’ that some propose.
In 180 AD Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyon in Gaul (France), wrote a 5 volume book against Heresies. Irenaeus learned the Faith from Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, who learned the Faith from the Apostle John. Irenaeus writes that if two Churches have a doctrinal dispute they need to see which Church can trace its history back to an Apostle. Or he says, all you have to do is find out what the Church in Rome teaches, because all Churches have to be in agreement with that Church because Peter and Paul taught there.
All of this tells us that the Church that Jesus left behind was known as the Catholic Church and was headquartered in Rome by the end of the first century. The Catholic Church has the Authority from Jesus and is protected from error, through the Holy Spirit, like Jesus said it would be (Matt ch 28). Unity can only be maintained through authority.
The Catholic Church offers the authority of the Chair of Peter, the Church Councils and the Bible to guide us as we grow in our Faith in Jesus Christ.
