Old Testament Intro. (OTI) - part 5b: What OT Books are In/Out?

In the previous post, we looked at the relationship between salvation and scripture. When God saves, He speaks. He tells us what He does so we know how to respond with love, obedience, and worship. We see this pattern when God rescued his people out of slavery in Egypt and when He brought them into the Promised Land. We see this pattern continue until the coming of Christ, the ultimate act of salvation.

When we talk about the Old Testament (OT) canon, we should ask ourselves, “What was the OT recognized by Jesus and the people of God?” What did Jesus recognize as scripture and what was rejected? Was the Apocrypha (extra books in the Catholic OT) recognized?

JESUS AND THE PHARISEES

Remember that Jesus often clashed with the Jewish leaders. Though Jesus and the Pharisees disagreed on the meaning of scripture, both sides searched, quoted, and read the same scripture, though they came to different conclusions. Jesus rebukes the Pharisees because they refused to come to Him as Savior and Lord:

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me” (John 5:39)

When Jesus was defending himself against the accusation that He was breaking the Sabbath, Jesus cites a somewhat obscure passage (Psalm 82) and asserts that “scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35). Again, both the Jewish religious leaders and Jesus are using the same Hebrew OT as their Bible.

What was the Hebrew OT at that time? It is the OT that the Protestants have today. Neither Jesus nor the Jewish leaders recognized the Apocrypha. After the resurrection, when Jesus walks with 2 disciples on the Road to Emmaus, Jesus opens up God's word to show them that He fulfills all the OT prophecies for the coming Messiah. Jesus actually provides the 3 broad categories for scripture, and they don't include the Apocrypha.

"These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” (Luke 24:44-47).

Is there evidence that the Protestant OT is right? For evidence, we can look at the OT used by the different groups in Judaism during the time of Jesus. The groups included the Pharisees and Sadducees. But they also included a group called the Essenes (the ones who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls). The Essences quoted the Hebrew OT in their writings. The Essences never cited the books in the Apocrypha as God's word. They only recognized the books of the Hebrew OT. The same can be said about the Pharisees, Sadducees, and the Samaritans. None of these groups ever recognized the extra books as scripture. And most of all, Jesus never recognized these extra books either.

JEROME'S HEBREW PRINCIPLE

In the 4th century, St. Jerome was asked by the Pope to make a new Latin translation of the Bible. His completed work was called the Latin Vulgate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_Vulgate). When he worked on his translation, he had to determine which books to include and which ones to leave out.

For Jerome, the Hebrew Bible should be the OT for Christians. The books from the Apocrypha were put in the back of the Bible in a separate category. Jerome left them in because he thought they could be helpful. His decision to separate what was God's word and what wasn't is known as “Jerome's Hebrew Principle.” The Protestant Reformation followed Jerome, and their conclusion was this: Jesus' canon is our canon too. But, they went a step further by taking them out. This would eliminate any confusion on what was God's word. The reformers wanted to be absolutely clear that the Bible is true and must be obeyed, while nothing else, including the Apocrypha, has no such authority. Unfortunately, the Catholic church reversed Jerome's Hebrew Principle and added the Apocrypha into their Bible.

TAKEAWAY

What does this mean for us? We need to receive God's word as it is. Scripture warns us against adding or taking away from God's word:

"You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you" (Deu 4:2)

"I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book." (Rev 22:18-19)

To change God's word by adding or removing things is nothing short of lying- those who do it claim that God has said something when He hasn't:

“Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.” (Proverbs 30: 6)

The issue of the OT canon isn't something we can just brush aside as a minor point of doctrine.

On the flip side, the OT canon is a source of comfort for Christians. It is our duty and delight to meditate on God's Word day and night, that we may be careful to obey everything written in it. And, we have freedom to take or leave any other human writings because they aren't God's Word. We have clarity on our final standard of truth for our faith, a standard that we can use to evaluate everything else in this world. We do this with humility towards God and others, yet with confidence. God has spoken, and His Word is trustworthy and true!

“Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.” (Pro 30:5).