The Origin of the Bible - Flipbook - Page 14
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THE ORIGIN OF THE BIBLE
graphas), by which the Old Testament writings and probably also
the Gospels are meant.
CONTENT & AUTHOR IT Y ______________________________
Among Christians, for whom the Old Testament and New Testament together constitute the Bible, there is not complete agreement on their content. Some branches of the Syriac church do
not include 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Jude, and Revelation in the
New Testament. The Roman and Greek communions include a
number of books in the Old Testament in addition to those that
make up the Hebrew Bible; these additional books formed part
of the Christian Septuagint.
While they are included, along with one or two others, in the
complete Protestant English Bible, the Church of England (like
the Lutheran church) follows Jerome in holding that they may
be read “for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet
doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine” (Article VI).
Other Reformed churches give them no canonical status at all.
The Ethiopic Bible includes 1 Enoch and the book of Jubilees.
In the Roman, Greek, and other ancient communions the Bible,
together with the living tradition of the church in some sense,
constitutes the ultimate authority. In the churches of the Reformation, on the other hand, the Bible alone is the final court of
appeal in matters of doctrine and practice. Thus Article VI of the
Church of England affirms: “Holy Scripture containeth all things
necessary to salvation; so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor
may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it
should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation.” To the same effect the Westminster
Confession of Faith (1.2) lists the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament and the twenty-seven of the New Testament as “all . . . given
by inspiration of God, to be the rule of faith and life.”