The second installment deals with the authenticity and subsequently the authority of the Bible, received in an acceptable translation, off course.

We will discuss the above at the hand of seven (7) topics, each presented individually in order to ensure that we stay on track with what we would like to ultimately achieve.

Please navigate to our apologetics section to view a list of these topics.

Let’s proceed and investigate the question whether the Bible contains the correct books… or not?

One thing that is clear throughout Scripture is that the 66 books, presumably making out the canon, all have one thing in common. They reflect the fingerprint or blueprint of God.

This simply means that the characteristics of God is consistently revealed from Genesis right through to the book of Revelation – The God of the Bible is a Just and Righteous God – as much in the New as in the Old Testament, just as the God of the Bible is a Loving and Gracious God, looking after the needs of His People through many various means – ultimately allowing the sacrifice of His Son as penance for our sins.

Books were collectively added as they were written, based on the following criteria:

·         Was it written by a prophet of God?
·         Was it confirmed by acts of God?
·         Did it have the power of God to edify?
·         Was it accepted and collected by the people of God?

The apocrypha or missing books do not qualify to stand alongside the canonical books due to the following reasons:

·         These books do not claim to be inspired by God
·         They were written during a time, according to Judaism, when the spirit of prophecy had already departed from Israel
·         The authentic Jewish Old Testament corresponds with the 39 books of our Old Testament and over and above that Judaism has never accepted the apocrypha into the Hebrew Scriptures
·         Neither Jesus, nor His disciples every quoted the apocrypha as inspired by God
·         Majority of the Church fathers of the first four (4) centuries did not accept these writings as inspired Word.

Perhaps the issue is not whether the books have been copied down correctly, and if so, were they inspired by God, but more so a matter of how the Bible has been interpreted over the centuries…

Over and above the reasons mentioned, why the apocrypha have been rejected, the following confirms they cannot be considered inspired works:

·         These books were not written by the apostles they were attributed to, seeing that the apostles no longer lived during that time
·         There are numerous heresies and doctrinal errors contained in these books
·         The acclaimed childhood miracles of Jesus are false as His ministry only started when He was an adult
·         Official Christendom rejects these books

We can therefore conclude without a doubt that only the canonical books prove to be the inspired and infallible Word of God as they meet all the criteria mentioned to qualify as inspired Word of God, written by prophets of God and preserved for centuries as the Bible (in an acceptable translation) we read today…

In the next installment
Has the original meaning of the Scriptures been retained throughout history?