If we agree that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, and that the Bible is the Word of God, we then come to another question: what is the Bible? In the last post, I defined the Bible as the Old Testament (Tanakh) and the New Testament. If these books are to govern our lives, it would be best to have a defined list of them. Thankfully, the Tanakh, the “oracles of God” which Romans 3 tells us were given to the Jews, is a set of books agreed upon by Jews everywhere and throughout all recorded history.
The Tanakh is composed of twenty-four Hebrew books, divided into thirty-nine in today’s Bibles. First in the Tanakh are the five books of the Law: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Next in line are the eight Prophetic books: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve. Today, Samuel and Kings are divided into two books each, and the Twelve is divided into twelve books, one each for its authors: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. And the third group is the Writings: Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, and Chronicles. Today Ezra and Nehemiah are two separate books.
The New Testament is divided into four groups, which are agreed upon by the Churches throughout the world: Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox. First among the books are the four gospels, biographies of Jesus’ life: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Next is a book that is the sequel to Luke: Acts, a book of early Church history. Following Acts are two groups of letters, the General Epistles, which include James, First Peter, Second Peter, First John, Second John, Third John, and Jude. The other group of letters is the Pauline Epistles, letters by the apostle Paul: Romans, First Corinthians, Second Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, First Thessalonians, Second Thessalonians, First Timothy, Second Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. It is debated whether the book of Hebrews is part of the Pauline or General category. Finally, the New Testament is ended with the book of the Revelation, by John.
This is the canon: an official count of what books are a part and what books aren’t. But there’s still more to discuss concerning the limits of what is and what is not scripture. More on that later.
The canon
If we agree that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, and that the Bible is the Word of God, we then come to another question: what is the Bible? In the last post, I defined the Bible as the Old Testament (Tanakh) and the New Testament. If these books are to govern our lives, it would be best to have a defined list of them. Thankfully, the Tanakh, the “oracles of God” which Romans 3 tells us were given to the Jews, is a set of books agreed upon by Jews everywhere and throughout all recorded history.
The Tanakh is composed of twenty-four Hebrew books, divided into thirty-nine in today’s Bibles. First in the Tanakh are the five books of the Law: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Next in line are the eight Prophetic books: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve. Today, Samuel and Kings are divided into two books each, and the Twelve is divided into twelve books, one each for its authors: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. And the third group is the Writings: Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, and Chronicles. Today Ezra and Nehemiah are two separate books.
The New Testament is divided into four groups, which are agreed upon by the Churches throughout the world: Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox. First among the books are the four gospels, biographies of Jesus’ life: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Next is a book that is the sequel to Luke: Acts, a book of early Church history. Following Acts are two groups of letters, the General Epistles, which include James, First Peter, Second Peter, First John, Second John, Third John, and Jude. The other group of letters is the Pauline Epistles, letters by the apostle Paul: Romans, First Corinthians, Second Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, First Thessalonians, Second Thessalonians, First Timothy, Second Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. It is debated whether the book of Hebrews is part of the Pauline or General category. Finally, the New Testament is ended with the book of the Revelation, by John.
This is the canon: an official count of what books are a part and what books aren’t. But there’s still more to discuss concerning the limits of what is and what is not scripture. More on that later.
Related Posts: