Sola Scriptura Part Six The Old Testament Canon
The Old Testament Canon Sola scriptura is the Christian doctrine that says that the Bible is the ultimate authority in a believer s life. There can be no higher authority and every other authority in life must be subjected to the Scriptures.
The Old Testament Canon We can t just point to one single passage that teaches the doctrine of sola scriptura. However, this doctrine is clearly taught in the Bible.
The Old Testament Canon 2 Timothy 3:16-17 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
The Old Testament Canon Canon refers to all the books that are included in the Bible. However, there are different opinions about which books should be included. Protestants recognize 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament, for a total of 66 books.
The Old Testament Canon The Roman Catholic Church recognizes 46 books in its Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament, for a total of 73 books. The apocryphal books were books that were added to the Jewish Scriptures.
The Old Testament Canon However, they were never actually accepted by the Jewish people as inspired by God. There are several other good reasons why Protestants reject the apocryphal books.
The Old Testament Canon One of the reasons they are rejected is because they are not found in the Jewish Scriptures. There aren t any valid reasons for Christians to reject the Jewish canon (our Old Testament).
I. New Testament Evidence By the time of Jesus ministry on earth, the canon of what we call the Old Testament had already been clearly established. For thousands of years, the Jews have called the books of our Old Testament the Word of God. We have no record of Jesus and the Jewish leaders having any dispute over the extent of the Jewish canon.
II. The Canon s Beginning The earliest collection of the written Word of God was the Ten Commandments. Exodus 31:18 When He had finished speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God.
II. The Canon s Beginning Exodus 32:16 The tablets were God s work, and the writing was God s writing engraved on the tablets.
II. The Canon s Beginning Deuteronomy 9:16-17 16 And I saw that you had indeed sinned against the LORD your God. You had made for yourselves a molten calf; you had turned aside quickly from the way which the LORD had commanded you. 17 I took hold of the two tablets and threw them from my hands and smashed them before your eyes.
II. The Canon s Beginning God instructed Moses to place the stone tablets into the Ark of the Covenant. Deuteronomy 10:5 Then I turned and came down from the mountain and put the tablets in the ark which I had made; and there they are, as the LORD commanded me. This is what we would consider to be the first canon of the Jewish people.
III. The Torah The original Hebrew canon grew in size throughout Israel s history.
III. The Torah Deuteronomy 31:24-26 24 It came about, when Moses finished writing the words of this law in a book until they were complete, 25 that Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying, 26 Take this book of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may remain there as a witness against you.
III. The Torah Other writings were eventually placed alongside the Ten Commandments in the Ark of the Covenant. There are multiple places in the Old Testament where Moses was instructed to record the words of the God.
III. The Torah Exodus 24:3-4 3 Then Moses came and recounted to the people all the words of the LORD and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice and said, All the words which the LORD has spoken we will do! 4 Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. Then he arose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.
III. The Torah Exodus 34:27 Then the LORD said to Moses, Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.
III. The Torah Numbers 33:1-2 1 These are the journeys of the sons of Israel, by which they came out from the land of Egypt by their armies, under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. 2 Moses recorded their starting places according to their journeys by the command of the LORD, and these are their journeys according to their starting places.
III. The Torah The Old Testament clearly indicates that the Israelites viewed the book of the covenant as a sacred writing from God.
III. The Torah 2 Kings 23:3 The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant.
III. The Torah In Nehemiah chapters 8 and 9, Ezra read publicly from the book of the law of Moses which he had brought from Babylon to Jerusalem. Clearly there were particular writings that were, from the beginning of their existence, considered to be the Word of God.
IV. The Canon Continues to Grow After the death of Moses, Joshua added to the collection of the written Word of God. Joshua 24:26 And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God Deuteronomy 4:2 You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.
IV. The Canon Continues to Grow Joshua wouldn t have added anything to the sacred writings that the Israelites already possessed if he had not been commanded by God to do so. There are also over 100 passages in the Old Testament that contain the phrase The word of the LORD came
IV. The Canon Continues to Grow Genesis 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great. Zechariah 7:8 Then the word of the LORD came to Zechariah saying, Malachi 1:1 The oracle of the word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi.
IV. The Canon Continues to Grow Anytime those individuals recorded that encounter with God, those writings would be considered sacred writings, because they were a record of God s own words.
IV. The Canon Continues to Grow Zechariah 7:7 Are not these the words which the LORD proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous along with its cities around it, and the Negev and the foothills were inhabited?
IV. The Canon Continues to Grow Daniel 9:2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. There is clear evidence that throughout the history of Israel, the Jews continued to add to their sacred writings.
V. Closing the Canon When did the Jews close out their canon? Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi are considered to be the last of the Old Testament prophets. Haggai and Zechariah were written around 520 B.C., and Malachi was written around 435 B.C.
V. Closing the Canon The timeframe of those books roughly coincide with the historical books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Ester. After approximately 435 B.C. there were no further additions to the Jewish canon. The Jews didn t consider any writings after that time to be inspired (or sacred).
V. Closing the Canon First-century Jewish historian, Josephus, wrote, From Artaxerxes to our own times a complete history has been written, but has not been deemed worthy of equal credit with the earlier records, because of the failure of the exact succession of the prophets
V. Closing the Canon Josephus also stated how highly the Jews esteemed their Scriptures: We have given practical proof of our reverence for our own Scriptures. For, although such long ages have now passed, no one has ventured either to add, or to remove, or to alter a syllable.
V. Closing the Canon The Babylonian Talmud says, After the latter prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi had died, the Holy Spirit departed from Israel. The evidence of the Scriptures lines up with the historical evidence outside of the Bible.
V. Closing the Canon We can very confidently say that the Jewish Scriptures contain the exact books that God wants in them.