Didn t Make the Cut: Books that Didn t Make the Bible Session 1

Transcription

1 Didn t Make the Cut: Books that Didn t Make the Bible Session 1 Scripture is vitally important and as 2 Timothy 3:16-17 reminds us: All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work. How did Christians decide on which books went into the Bible? And what about the ones left out? We will explore this topic for the next several weeks, but before we can say much about this, we need to look at the process by which any book became a part of the Bible. This was a lengthy process that didn t end until the 5 th century when churches reached almost universal agreement about which books made up the New Testament. Of course, during this 400 year period, some books were like ping pong balls going back and forth, in and out on the list of accepted books. Tonight's study will focus on human elements in this process, but we should remember that our Christian tradition affirms the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit in this process. We may not be able to easily identify the Spirit at work in every situation, but we nonetheless believe the Spirit was at work. Display a yardstick, measuring tape, and a level. What do we use these things for? We use them to make sure things are straight or the right length. Like these tools, we have a canon of scripture, which does its own kind of measuring. What do I mean by the word canon? What is a canon of scripture? The word canon comes from a Greek word meaning standard of measurement. When we use it about the Bible, we re talking about the books that are the standard for scripture the approved books of the OT and NT. The earliest Christians probably felt no need to have a NT canon. Jesus and his disciples were a people of the book, but their book was the Hebrew Scriptures that we call the OT. That part of the canon was settled. The OT told the story of God s acts of salvation through the centuries. But the early church also had the words of Jesus to remember. These words were handed down orally. And they didn t write these down at first (and thus didn t expect to need a canon) because they expected Jesus to return at any time and establish his kingdom. There was no need for a written record. 1

2 It was only when the first generation of Christians began to die that the church realized it had better have some written records. So the process of writing the NT was begun, but this wasn t a conscious effort, like one might sit down a write out a book. Instead, leaders wrote letters to believers. People wrote down stories about the life and sayings of Jesus. And sermons were circulated among the churches. There were dozens of gospels and acts written. So that s the big picture but then one of the first steps toward the formation of the NT was the publication of Paul s letters. Other letters were written at about the same time or shortly after but they didn t receive the same attention. Shortly after this, the Gospels were written. Scholars tell us they were written in the period between AD. We know that by the year 150AD, the Gospels were read in worship. This is important because if a book was read in worship, it was given higher status than one that was not read in worship. A prominent preacher at the time named Marcion played a significant role in the formation of the NT. He was from Asia Minor but went to Rome. He built his canon on Paul s letters and the Gospel of Luke, but edited these works to take out all the Jewish ideas. He also rejected other Christian writings for being too Jewish and even rejected the OT. But the general consensus in the church was that s not right. So Christians began talking about what should be accepted and what was accepted was the Hebrew Scriptures and the four Gospels we have today. If Marcion s view had won, what would we miss today? Gnostics were another important group that led to the formation of the NT. Gnostic means one who knows. The name comes for the Greek word gnosis, knowledge. Gnosticism was a movement in the early church that embraced a wide range of beliefs. Some of the more notable Gnostic teachings include that they did not believe the God of the OT was the Father of Jesus Christ, or that Jesus was truly human (and thus, did not truly suffer...he only seemed to be human). This belief was known as Docetism. The church reacted to this by forming statements about the faith such as, I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ the only Son our Lord. What the church was doing was saying that there are limits within which one can speculate about God and still be Christian. What happens when you speculate beyond the limits of what you know, as the Gnostics did? The NT canon was also formed through some very practical steps. There was a group of writings from orthodox Christians, whom we call the Apostolic Fathers. 2

3 These writings came from 2 nd and 3 rd generation Christians, people who did not personally know Jesus or Paul but whose writings made a huge difference in the life of the church. Some churches considered these writings to be scripture, but they were ultimately left out of the canon. The Apostolic Fathers include Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp, and the Didache (the teaching of the Twelve). Read examples from Documents: p.29 (Ignatius) and p. 64 (Didache). The question is how did this happen? How were some writings elevated to the level of scripture while others were not? Well, it happened like this. Some books like the Gospels and Paul s letters were read in worship. Others were good books but reserved for private reading at home, like what we might do with theology books or devotional books. What was used in worship ultimately became scripture. Another practical step that led to the formation of the NT was the development of the codex what we know as bound books. Originally, scriptures were written on scrolls, with one book per scroll. Christian communities could select which scrolls they wanted it was a pick and choose mentality. But when bound books came into common use, collections of authoritative books were bound together and were more permanent. This meant that people had to make conscious choices about what they included in the canon. Another factor that led to the formation of the NT was the Emperor Diocletian, who ruled from He pushed this process along through his widespread persecution of the church. Two things he did: he imprisoned and executed clergy (this attempted to eliminate church leadership), and he forced Christians to surrender their Scriptures (this attempted to eliminate the source of authority for Christians). Some Christians handed over writings of heretics, but the faithful did not hand over books we now call Scripture. These were books they were willing to die for. And the ones they died for were the ones that became scripture. I ve probably over simplified this process, but remember it was a long road and the formation of the NT was not an easy one. There were different lists of Scripture in different churches. There were a number of books that appeared to be on the fence, as to whether or not they would be included as scripture. James, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Jude and Revelation were in and out of various lists. Some questioned the gospel of John because the Gnostics loved it. 3

4 It was not until the Easter Letter of Athanasius of Alexandria in 367 that we have an official list of the books that we today consider the NT. And even then, there were still different lists of scripture. Books that didn t make the official list did so for a variety of reasons. Some books were written too late to be considered as written by one of the apostles. Some books were too fanciful. Some were just popular paperbacks of the day, which dealt with many of the questions we ask today: what did Jesus do as a little boy? Or what happened to the Twelve? People read these books but didn t take them as seriously as they did with the NT books. Other books pushed the meaning of Jesus too far books like the Gospels of Truth, Philip, and Mary Magdalene. And then there are books like the Gospel of Thomas which just sounded very strange. Some of the books that didn't make it include: The Gospels of: Thomas Philip Mary Magdalene Truth The Egyptians The Acts of: Peter and the Twelve Apostles John Peter Paul Andrew Thomas Barnabas Pilate The Secret Gospel of Mark The Infancy Gospel of James The History of Joseph the Carpenter The Martyrdom of Matthew The Preaching of Peter The Passion of Paul 4

5 Another set of books that I will say more about next week are the Apocrypha. These are the books that appear in some Bibles between the OT and NT, and often thought of as belonging to the Catholic Bible. These books included 1 & 2 Maccabees, Tobit, Judith, the Prayer of Manasseh, Psalm 151, Ecclesiasticus, Wisdom of Solomon, 2 Esdras. There are also additions to Esther, Jeremiah, and Daniel. The term Apocrypha is a Greek adjective meaning hidden. The early Fathers of the Church referred to them as special or secret teachings. The early church treated them as canonical. Roman Catholics and Greek Orthodox churches use them as part of their Bible. But the Protestant reformers took the view that they are not canonical, but useful for reading. Read Ecclesiasticus 2:7-9. Closing Prayer O God, we thank for the gift of these Holy Scriptures. The instruction, guidance, and stories within this good book draw us closer to you and help form us into the people you would have us be. May we always remember to enact what we learn because scripture is much more than just information. Its words are meant to be lived. Amen. 5