Day 6

Of The Holy Scriptures

Chapter 1, Paragraph 3

“The books commonly called Apocrypha not being of Divine inspiration, are no part of the Canon (or rule) of the Scripture, and therefore are of no authority to the Church of God, nor to be any otherwise approved or made use of, then other humane writings.”

Scripture Lookup

Luke 24:27, 44. Which books of the Bible are referenced in this passage?

Romans 3:2. What are these oracles of God with which the Jews were entrusted?

Reflection

Pop quiz:

The Bible that Roman Catholics use and Protestants use is the same. True or false?

Answer: false.

Surprised?

With Biblical illiteracy running rampant in our culture, it may be a bit of a shock to learn that while 66  books are in the Bible (39 Old Testament, 27 New Testament), a Catholic Bible contains 73 books. Also called “Deuterocanonical books”, they are considered by Roman Catholic Church to be divinely inspired. The books of Daniel and Esther have added material as well that Catholics consider to be Holy Scripture. They are part of the Catholic canon, and as such are a rule for faith and life.

Upon learning of the difference in what is considered Scripture, one has to ask,”Why?” The Roman Catholic Church declared them to be Scripture at the Council of Trent. These books, however, have never been considered Scripture by the Jews. Jesus and the apostles never gave them the authority that they do Scripture.

The books of the Bible we looked at yesterday are Holy Scripture. They are authoritative, and we can rest assured that they are the Word of God. We should be careful not to put any other writing on that level.

Questions to consider:

• Are there any writings that you (intentionally or not) put on par with Scripture?
• Want to know more why the Apocrypha are not Scripture? Listen to this debate.