Bible Question: How come the HOly Bible has 66 books but the Catholics' bible has 73? |
Bible Answer: Hi, Joe... welcome to the forum... The books and collections of sayings listed below are considered Apocryphal. Some of them are in the Catholic Bible and some are accepted by the Eastern Orthodox Churches. None are part of the Hebrew Canon -- consequently they are excluded from the Protestant Bible. (IMHO, this occured when people started reglarly reading -- and carrying around -- their Bibles. Why add the weight of these books if they weren't divinely inspired?) Tobit Judith The Greek version of Esther The Wisdom of Solomon Ecclesiasticus Baruch The Letter of Jeremiah The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Jews Susanna Bel and the Dragon 1 Maccabees 2 Maccabees 1 Esdras The Prayer of Manasseh 2 Esdras 3 Maccabees 4 Maccabees Psalm 151 The Council of Trent (December 1546) made these part of the Roman Catholic Bible, except for the Prayer of Manasseh, 1 and 2 Esdras, 3 Esdras 4, Maccabees, and Psalm 151. Most Protestant confessions put it something like this: "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 than other human writings." Now, that doesn't mean they are "bad" or shouldn't be read. It is just that, from a Protestant perspective, they should not be used for deriving doctrine. Thus, the following would apply to the 66 books while NOT applying to the Apocrypha: "The supreme judge, by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Scripture delivered by the Spirit, into which Scripture so delivered, our faith is finally resolved." I hope this gives you a better understanding of the differences in what are considered canonical and what are considered apocryphal. In Him, Doc |
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Questions and/or Subjects for Bible general Archive 2 | Author | ||
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Carlos Alvira | ||
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maroon | ||
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womanofgod2 | ||
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bootybat | ||
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joelno1rb | ||
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DocTrinsograce | ||
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JCrichton | ||
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JCrichton | ||
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LSmith |