Lost Books of the Bible, Part 1 and 2

Mark Dunagan
07/13/08 - Sunday Morning

Part 1

 

Josh McDowell writes, “Many students remark: ‘Sure, I know about the canon (the officially accepted list of books). The leaders got together in a council and decided which books best helped them and then forced the followers to accept them”(Evidence that Demands a Verdict. p. 32). In addition, some in the New Age Movement claim that various books which taught reincarnation were eliminated---a claim that immediately breaks down when one realizes the Bible has always contained the clearest possible teaching against reincarnation, see Hebrews 9:27.

 

• The Bible Has Nothing To Hide

The Bible itself mentions various books that did not end up in the collection of books which were viewed as inspired of God. Numbers 21:14 mentions “The Book of the Wars of the Lord”, which was “apparently an ancient collection of stories and poems dealing with Israel's struggle for the possession of Canaan” (Numbers. A. Noordtzij p. 188). Joshua 10:13 reads “Is it not written in the book of Jashar?”; 2 Samuel 1:18 and 1 Kings 11:41 mention “in the book of the acts of Solomon”; and 2 Chronicles 12:15 says “the records of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer”. Willis J. Beecher lists 25 extracanonical books mentioned in Chronicles alone in his article on "Chronicles", ISBE, rev. ed., Volume 1, p. 630. In the New Testament we find a similar note when Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5:9 “I wrote you in my letter” indicating that Paul had corresponded with the Corinthians before the 1 Corinthian letter.

 

Yet just because the Bible mentions a book or even quotes from it does not mean God intended it to be in the Bible. The Bible itself points out that some of its events are also recorded in secular sources, for example, Esther 10:2 “and the full account of the greatness of Mordecai--are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia?” This refers to the official diary and record of the Persian court (2:23; 6:1). The Biblical writers also quoted secular authors as in Acts 17:28 “even some of your own poets have said”, the precise expression is found in the writings of Aratus (270 B.C.); and Titus 1:13 “One of themselves, a prophet of their own said”, Paul's quotation of such authors is not to be viewed as an endorsement of everything they said or taught.

 

• The Power of God

I like what McGuiggan said about the supposed "lost" letter to the Corinthians. “Paul mentions a letter to the Corinthians we don't have. We don't have it because we don't need it. It isn't ‘lost’. ‘Lost’ gives the impression we were supposed to have it and can't because it's ‘lost’. The God who graciously preserved for us the 66 books we have could have preserved more had it been His will. He didn't, therefore He decided not to. There are other books alluded to in the Scriptures but there are no ‘lost’ books” (First Corinthians. p. 64). Therefore any "lost" book view of the Bible, can be reduced down to the following argument: "God was only able to preserve 66 books, not 67,68,69, and so on. Now does that make sense? Compare with Genesis 18:14 “Is anything too difficult for the Lord?”; and Luke 1:37.

 

• Jesus and the Old Testament

If any books had been deleted from the collection of Scripture that the Jews possessed, the coming of Jesus Christ into the world provided an excellent opportunity for God to set the record straight, yet Jesus never condemned or rebuked the Jews for not having the right number of books in their Old Testament.

"He considered every section, ‘Law and Prophets’ and ‘Law, Prophets, and Psalms’ (Luke 24:27,44), to be prophetic of Him. He believed that inspiration extended from Genesis through Chronicles (Matthew 23:35; tantamount to saying ‘Genesis to Malachi’, seeing that the Hebrews placed Chronicles at the end of their O.T. instead of Malachi). This indicates that Jesus considered the O.T. revelation of God complete and finished after Malachi wrote. He personally authenticated persons and events from Eden (Matthew 19:5) Jonah in the ‘whale’ (Matt. 12:40), Daniel the prophet (24:15), Noah and the flood (Luke 17:27), and the destruction of Sodom (Luke 17:29). Jesus not only defined the limits of the canon (inspired books of the Jews) but He laid down the principle of canonicity, namely, the canon consists of that which is the ‘word of God’. Illustrative of this point are Jesus' references to the Old Testament as the ‘word of God’ (Mark 7:13), as that which ‘God said’ (Matthew 19:5), or as that which was uttered ‘by the Spirit’ (Matthew 22:43)” (A General Introduction to the Bible. Geisler/Nix p. 134). In addition, someone has pointed out that most of the passages of the Old Testament that unbelievers and critics consider “controversial” or “questionable” are referred to by Jesus Himself or the Apostles. This moved the following writer to conclude, "If these major miraculous events are authentic, there is no difficulty in accepting the rest of the events of the Old Testament" (Geisler/Nix p. 86). Yet in all this "commentary" upon the Old Testament, Jesus never once mentions or quotes from a book that we do not possess.

 

• Pseudepigrapha:

This is the name given to a number of false writings, written between the period of 200 B.C. and 200 A.D. These are books that were rejected by virtually everyone. Again, we need to note, they were never "lost", both Jews and Christians knew about the existence of these books.

 

• Apocrypha:

This title applies to a group of books, mainly written during the inter-testamental period.

• I ESDRAS (about 150 B.C.) draws considerably from Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah, and tells of the restoration of the Jews to Palestine after the Babylonian exile, and contains a lot of legendary material.

• II ESDRAS (100 A.D.), contains seven visions.

• TOBIT (2nd cent. B.C.), emphasizes the Law, clean foods, ceremonial washings, charity, fasting, prayer, and states that almsgiving atones for sin. It is claimed that Tobit was alive when the Assyrians conquered Israel (722 B.C.) as well as when Jeroboam revolted against Judah (931 B.C. time span 209 years), yet his total life-span was only 158 years (14:11; cf. 1:3-5).

• JUDITH (middle 2nd cent. B.C.), contains some sub-biblical teachings, for example Judith was assisted by God in a deed of falsehood (9:10,13); with regard to historical error, Judith speaks of Nebuchadnezzar as reigning in Nineveh instead of Babylon (1:1) "William H. Green concisely summarizes this evidence, as he writes, 'The books of Tobit and Judith abound in geographical, chronological, and historical mistakes, so as not only to vitiate the truth of the narratives which they contain, but to make it doubtful whether they even rest upon a basis of fact’” (Geisler/Nix p. 174).

• ADDITIONS TO ESTHER (about 100 B.C.), the additions have long prayers attributed to Moredecai and Esther, with a couple of letters supposedly written by Artaxerxes.

• THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON (about A.D. 40).

• ECCLESIASTICUS also called the Wisdom of Sirach (about 180 B.C.), is somewhat like Proverbs and contains much practical advice. Yet it and the "Wisdom of Solomon" both teach a morality based on experience.

• BARUCH (about A.D. 100) claims to be written by the scribe of Jeremiah.

• BEL AND THE DRAGON an added chapter to the book of Daniel.

• SONG OF THE THREE HEBREW CHILDREN-follows Daniel 3:23, and borrows heavily from Psalm 148.

• THE PRAYER OF MANASSEH- is supposedly the prayer of the wicked king Manasseh.

• 1 MACCABEES (1st cent. B.C.), records the exploits of the three Maccabean brothers. 2 MACCABEES. This is not a sequel, but a parallel account, treating only the victories of Judas Maccabeus, this book teaches the practice of praying for the dead (12:45-46), which contradicts the Scriptures (Hebrews 9:27; Luke 16:25-26).

 

• How Israel Viewed Such Books:

Philo an Alexandrian Jewish philosopher (20 B.C.-A.D. 40), quoted the Old Testament extensively but he never quoted from the Apocrypha as inspired. Josephus (A.D. 30-100), a Jewish historian, excludes the Apocrypha in numbering the books of the Old Testament. The Babylonian Talmud says, "After the latter prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, the Holy Spirit departed from Israel" (Tractate "Sanhedrin" VII-VIII 24). In Jewish circles these "outside books" were known as "writings which do not defile the hands", i.e. were not considered as "holy". One writer said, "Interestingly enough, the apocryphal writings of Judaism survived more as the result of the activities of Christians than through any serious interest on the part of the Jews" (Zond. Ency. "Apocrypha" p. 205).

 

• What the Books Do Not Claim:

Unlike many of the books in the Bible (1 Corinthians 14:37; Galatians 1:11-12; Ephesians 3:3-5; there is no claim within the Apocrypha that it is the Word of God.

 

• Their Acceptance in Catholicism:

"The Council of Trent (1545-1563 A.D.), was the first official proclamation of the Roman Catholic Church on the Apocrypha, and it came a millennium and a half after the books were written, in an obvious polemical (argumentative) action against Protestantism. Furthermore, the addition of books that support ‘salvation by works’ and ‘prayers for the dead’, at this time, only twenty-nine years after Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses, is highly suspect" (Geisler/Nix p. 172). "It had been quoted against Luther in support of the Roman Catholic position (e.g. 2 Macc. 12:45-46, which favors prayers for the dead), and then added a few years later in a counter-Reformation attempt to refute Luther" (p. 176). In addition, we need to note that the Roman Catholic Church didn't accept "all" of the Apocrypha. Only 12 of the 15 books were accepted, and at least one of these omitted books (2 Esdras) is AGAINST prayers for the dead (cf. 7:105). Now the above presents an interesting dilemma for the advocates of the "Catholic Church edited and removed books from the Bible", position. If that is true, then why do Catholic Bibles have more books in them than Protestant Bibles? How can the charge of "removing books from the Bible" be seriously entertained when the facts are that Catholics have more "books" in their Bibles than anyone else?

Part 2

 

In the first lesson we examined the scriptural status of various religious books written during the testaments. There also exists a large group of "Apocrypha" books which were written during the first few centuries after Christ. In this lesson we want to examine some of those writings, but before we proceed, we need to consider some foundational facts.

 

• These Books Were Never "Lost"

By the ninth century A.D., Photius listed some 280 uninspired writings. Many of these books were very popular among Christians. The Epistle of Pseudo-Barnabas (c. A.D. 70-79) was widely circulated and the Shepherd of Hermas (c. A.D. 115-40) was the most popular of all the non-canonical books. In addition, many of those who lived and wrote after the lifetime of the apostles quoted from these books. The Apocalypse of Peter (c. 150 A.D.) enjoyed a great popularity in the early church and was a source from which Dante's Inferno was derived.

 

• Popularity Doesn't Equal Inspiration

Obviously popular but uninspired books still exist among Christians today. Many Christians have a Vine's, Strong’s, or some popular book written by a member of the Church. In the last lesson we pointed out that quoting from a document obviously does not mean that one considers the source to be inspired. The Apostle Paul quoted from secular sources at times (Acts 17:28; Titus 1:12). We must also note that some books that compromise our New Testament were disputed by some. For various reasons Hebrews, James, II Peter, II and III John, Jude and Revelation were books that some questioned. The Epistle of Hebrews was questioned by some because of its anonymity (the author's name isn't given). James was suspect because some erroneously supposed that it conflicted with Paul's teaching on justification by faith. Second Peter raised an eyebrow because it differs in style from First Peter. Others were skeptical of Second and Third John, due to their private nature and limited circulation. Jude was doubted mainly because of its reference to an uninspired source (14-15), and Revelation, because certain "millennial" sects were using it (perverting it) to support false doctrine.

 

• Lost Books: A Warning Jesus Never Gave His Disciples

Personally and through His Apostles Jesus gave His followers many warnings concerning the future trials the church would face: (1) False Teachers who looked innocent: Matthew 7:15. (2) Various forms of persecution: Matthew 10:17-28. (3) Corrupt elders: Acts 20:30. (4) Smooth talkers: Romans 16:18. (5) Specific false teachings: 1 Timothy 4:1-3. (6) False letters: 2 Thessalonians 2:2. (7) Unfaithful members: 2 Timothy 4:2-3. (8) Those who teach a false view of God's grace: 2 Peter 2:19; Jude 4 and (9) Those who teach a false view of Jesus: 1 John 4:1-3. Yet in all these warnings, and many of them very specific, never does Jesus or any New Testament writer warn about a time when the Bible would not be complete, because someone had deleted certain books from it. Yet if this situation was going to happen then it would be the worse possible scenario, and far more dangerous than all others combined, for as long as one has a perfect and complete New Testament any false teaching can be exposed and corrected, and one can always get back on track if they one loves the truth. But if whole books are missing from the Bible, then how does one repair that damage?

 

• Church Councils Did Not Remove Books

Many Christians and non-Christians are unaware that various "lists" of inspired books were in existence long before the Church Councils of later centuries. "The earliest list of New Testament books of which we have definite knowledge was drawn up at Rome by the heretic Marcion about 140 A.D. Another early list dated about the end of the second century, is that commonly called the 'Muratorian Fragment'--it evidently mentioned Matthew and Mark, because it refers to Luke as the third Gospel; then it mentions John, Acts, Paul's nine letters to churches and four to individuals, Jude, two Epistles of John, and the Apocalypse of John. It adds that other letters circulating under Paul's name were not accepted by the Church. The Shepherd of Hermas is mentioned as worthy to be read (i.e. in the church) but not to be included in the number of prophetic or apostolic writings. Eusebius (c. 265-340) mentions as generally acknowledged all the books of our New Testament except James, Jude, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, which were disputed by some, but recognized by the majority. Athanasius in 367 lays down the twenty-seven books of our New Testament as alone canonical; shortly afterwards Jerome and Augustine followed his example in the West. The first ecclesiastical councils to classify the canonical books were both held in North Africa--at Hippo Regius in 393 and at Carthage in 397--but what these councils did was not to impose something new upon the Christian communities but to codify what was already the general practice of those communities" (The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? F.F. Bruce, pp. 22-27).

 

• Pseudepigrapha

"During the first few centuries, numerous books of a fanciful and heretical nature arose that are neither genuine nor valuable as a whole. Eusebius called these 'totally absurd and impious'--they have historical value only, indicating the heretical teachings of Gnostic, Docetic and ascetic groups, as well as the exaggerated fancy of religious lore" (A General Introduction To The Bible. Geisler/ Nix, p. 199). "The primarily significance of all these documents is that they serve as a foil to set off the comparative sobriety and restraint of the canonical gospels and reveal what can happen when imagination and legendary embellishment are allowed free play. Often they take over and expand or elaborate canonical material" (Zond. Ency. "Apocryphal New Testament", p. 212). Paul warned us concerning false letters bearing his name (2 Thessalonians 2:2) and that even some members would be drawn into myth and fable (2 Timothy 4:4). What many of these books have in common is the desire to fill in the supposed gaps found in the biblical record, especially concerning the childhood of Jesus and the lives of the apostles. One writer made the point that by just reading these books you can tell they are not Scripture. It doesn't take a genius to soon discover that such writings are uninspired. For example, the Gospel of Thomas is a Gnostic view of Jesus' childhood miracles. The Gospel of the Egyptians contains ascetic teaching against marriage and meat (which Paul said is false doctrine 1 Timothy 4:1-4). The Gospel of Joseph the Carpenter, were the writings of a cult that glorified Joseph. ThePassing of Mary contains an advanced stage of Mary worship. When John wrote his epistles, the error that he was vigorously opposing was the false teaching known as Gnosticism, which included the belief that Jesus really had not come really in the flesh (1 John 1:1-3; 4:1-3). Paul had also argued against such false teachings, especially in his letter to the Colossians (Colossians 2:9; 18-23). Quite a stir was caused when the Gospel of Thomas was discovered in Upper Egypt in 1945 or 1946, along with 48 other documents. "The great majority of them proved on examination to be Gnostic in character, that is to say, they represent a more developed form of the sort of heresy which Paul refutes in the Epistle to the Colossians" (The Books and the Parchments. F.F. Bruce p. 261). Seeing that around 280 of these false writings exist, no wonder that John warned Christians that (1) "Many antichrists have arisen" (1 John 2:18), and (2) "Do not believe every spirit" (1 John 4:1), evidently, this warning even including messages in written form.

 

• Apocrypha

In distinction from the writings that fit in the above category, the documents that have been labeled "New Testament Apocrypha" contain writings that for a short period of time gained some form of acceptance among "Christians" who lived after the apostles. F.F. Bruce has some interesting details to share with us concerning some of these books: "They themselves recognize the superior authority of the apostolic writings. Ignatius, author of seven epistles, says in his Epistle to the Romans (4.3): 'I do not enjoin you, as Peter and Paul did. They were Apostles'. The 'Epistle of Barnabas' among other improbable fancies, tells us that the hyena changes its sex year by year. Clement of Rome, writing to the Corinthian Church about A.D. 95, adduces the fable of the phoenix in illustration of the resurrection" (The Books and the Parchments pp. 259-260). Instead of these books discrediting the New Testament, they are a witness to the authenticity of New Testament books. These writings were written between the years 80-180 A.D., and contain many quotations from the writings of the Apostles. One writer summed up the situation with the following words, "Today no one would put in a plea for its recognition as Scripture (Clement's letter to the Corinthians), yet from a historical point of view the Epistle has no little interest to us. It contains explicit references to Paul's first Epistle to the Corinthians, and gives several quotations from the Epistle to the Hebrews, and so proves that these books were widely circulated and recognized before the close of the first century" (Hebert T. Andrews, An Introduction to the Apocryphal Books of the Old and New Testaments. p. 102). In fact the Epistle to the Laodiceans is just a collection of Pauline phrases strung together without any definite connection or aim.

 

• Modern Day Forgeries

Even in relatively recent times forgeries continue to arise, for example, The Unknown Life of Christ, published in 1894, and written by a Russian named Nicolas Notovitch, on the basis of information he said he received from the chief lama of a Tibetan monastery. It is claimed that Jesus spent the years between thirteen and twenty-nine in India, Tibet, and Persia, and then returned to Palestine. The monks at Tibet denied ever seeing Notovitch or knowing anything about the ancient MSS about Christ they allegedly showed to him. Concerning this view of the young adult life of Jesus I have the following questions: (1) Why didn't the people in Jesus' own hometown know about such supposed travels? Mark 6:2-3 (2) Why did the Son of God need to go to India to learn anything? The Lost Books of the Bible: This book, published in 1926, is claimed by the publishers to include religious books deliberately kept out of the New Testament by the early bishops of the Church. It is actually nothing more than a reprint of an edition of the apocryphal New Testament, which had been published in 1820, and an edition of the Apostolic Fathers, which had appeared in 1737" (Zond. Ency., pp. 213-214).

 

"Recently the sands of Egypt have yielded even earlier copies of New Testament books from about A.D. 200-250--these copies preserve large portions of the New Testament, Luke, Acts, much of the Pauline Epistles and Revelation. What do these copies look like? They differ from the text of the King James Version only in details. It may be said in general that these earliest manuscripts show a text practically the same as that used in the American Revised Version. Anyone can therefore test for himself approximately how much variation there is among these manuscripts by comparing these two versions. (The KJV and ASV) There is one fragment of John called the Rylands Papyrus dated about A.D. 125. Particularly interesting is the fact that it is extremely early, being written within thirty years of the original copy. A translation of it reads exactly like the American Revised Version. These facts reinforce the famous dictum of Westcott and Hort that not one-tenth of one per cent of the text of the New Testament is in dispute, and none of this concerns any doctrine of faith" ("The Problem of Communication". R. Laird Harris. In: "The Bible The Living Word of Revelation, p. 97).