As indicated in my earlier article, knowing the canonical story behind the Holy Bible helps us to defend the Christian Faith. The term canon comes from the Greek word kanōn, meaning “measuring rod” or “measuring stick”, and was applied in the ancient church to the collection of texts that informed their beliefs and practices. Canonization as understood earlier is the process by which the books or texts of the Bible were discovered as authoritative or inspired. It is therefore important to establish that human beings did not necessarily canonize Scripture, but rather, they simply recognized the authority of the books that have been inspired by God. In the earlier article, I sought to establish the three main criteria used in determining the canonicity of the Bible – apostolicity, orthodoxy, and widespread use. In this article, we shall dwell on the canonicity of the Old Testament.
Compared to the New Testament, there was much less controversy over the canon of the Old Testament. By A.D. 250 there was nearly universal agreement on the canon of Hebrew Scripture. The only outstanding issue was the Apocrypha. The debate on the inclusion of the Apocrypha in the OT canon continues even today. Most Hebrew scholars considered the Apocrypha to be good historical and religious documents, but not on the same level as the Hebrew Scriptures.
In fact, one can say that the foundation of the Old Testament and if you like the entire Bible is the Pentateuch – the first five books of the Old Testament (i.e., Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy). According to some Bible scholars (with which I totally agree), “the strongest evidence for the validity of the Pentateuch is the history and traditions of Israel”. They argue that these five books were written by Moses at the beginning of Israel’s history after the Exodus from Egypt. They are thus considered the “ruling documents” for Israel, rather like the Constitution is the ruling document for any modern nation. As the history and existence of a nation validate the Constitution of that nation; so too does the history and existence of Israel validate the Pentateuch. So, they further argue that the issue of the Pentateuch being Moses’ words from God to Israel is no more of a question than the Constitution being the founding fathers’ words from their hearts and minds to the government of a nation.
After the Pentateuch, comes the Histories and the Poetic/Wisdom literature. These texts were believed to have been canonized alongside the Pentateuch by the scribe Ezra. Their content can be trusted because the prophets trusted and used them. The writings of the prophets were the last addition to the Old Testament, having been in the canon for several centuries before the time of Jesus.
It is worth noting that Jesus quoted the Old Testament with frequency and surety indicating His approval of it. He completely affirms the Old Testament in these words as captured in Luke 24:44, which reads: “He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
In fact, going through the New Testament, apart from Jesus, we can see several examples of the apostles referring to the Old Testament books as the very Word of God. The number of references to the Old Testament by New Testament writers attests to the fact that there was an established canon of the Hebrew scriptures at the time of their writing.
The first-century Jewish historian Josephus offers a list of 22 Old Testament books accepted by the Jews which appears to match our current 39-book collection we have today. It is important to note that the works of Josephus are one of the most-quoted resources about the world during Bible times. For Josephus, at least, the OT canon seems quite settled. This comment of Josephus finds confirmation in another first-century Jewish source, namely Philo of Alexandria.
References
Becerra, D. (2019). “The Canonization of the New Testament,” in New Testament History, Culture, and Society: A Background to the Texts of the New Testament, ed. Lincoln H. Blumell (Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2019), 772-786.
Cook, B. H. (2020, November 8). Is Josephus Reliable? | Answers in Genesis. Answersingenesis. https://answersingenesis.org/bible-history/is-josephus-reliable/
Duvall, J. S., and J. Daniel Hays, J. D. (2001). Grasping God’s Word: A Hands-On Approach to Reading, Interpreting, and Applying the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
How and when was the canon of the Bible put together? | GotQuestions.org. Gotquestions. https://www.gotquestions.org/canon-Bible.html
Raymond B. and Longman III (1994). An Introduction to the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Soroski, J. (2019, January 31). What Does “Bible” Mean and How Did it Get That Name?. Biblestudytools. https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/explore-the-bible/what-does-bible-mean.html
The Content and Extent of the Old Testament Canon | Bible.org. Bible. https://bible.org/article/content-and-extent-old-testament-canon
Apostle Benedict Eghan is a Minister of the Gospel with The Church of Pentecost and is currently the Resident Minister of Pentecost International Worship Centre (PIWC), Tesano. He also doubles as the Personal Assistant to the Chairman of The Church of Pentecost, Apostle Eric Kwabena Nyamekye. Read More…