"We believe that the Holy Scriptures are contained in two books, namely, the Old and New Testament, which are canonical, against which nothing can be alleged. These are thus named in the Church of God." (And then follows a listing of the names of all the books of the Bible.)

In this article we find all the names of the Bible books, which we probably all know by heart. If we don't, I think it is time to begin learning them. As was mentioned in last month's article, God has revealed Himself in His Word. Therefore it is very important to know which books belong to the Bible, because it is possible that there is chaff among the wheat. Here we have a major difference with the Roman Catho­lic Church, which has more books in its Bible than we do. When writing about article six of the Confession, D.V., we hope to explain the difference between the canonical books contained in our Bible and the apocryphal books which they include in their Bible.

Canonical means "accepted as forming the canon of Scripture". They are of Divine origin, by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and so acknowledged by the church. Therein we find the rule of our life and we cannot say anything against its contents. The opposite must be said of the apocryphal books, as they are writings of dubious authenticity. The apo­cryphal books are included in the Septuagint and Vulgata, but were excluded from the Jewish and Protestant canons of the Old Testament and by the early Christian writers from the New Testament.

We know that the Bible is divided into two parts – the Old and the New Testaments. The Old Testament contains 39 books, of which 17 are historical books, 16 are prophetical books, and 6 are poetical books. The New Testament contains 27 books, 5 of which are historical books, 21 are epistles, and one is a prophetical book. In the days of the Lord Jesus the Jews divided the Old Testament into three parts - they spoke of the books of Moses, the books of the prophets, and the Psalms (from Job to the Song of Solomon). The Lord Jesus follows this same division in Luke 24:44.

The word "Bible" derives from the Greek word Biblos, which means book. Our whole Bible is God's Word and both testaments form an unity. The Old Testament points to Christ Who will come, and the New Testament speaks of Christ Who has come. It was not in one moment that the Holy Spirit revealed the Scriptures, but it was spread over a period of about 1600 years. Likewise the gathering (collecting) of the parts of the Bible was gradually brought about. It was before the time of King David that the books of Moses were finished and collected. The second collection was of the prophetical writings and probably took place in the days of Hezekiah. These prophecies had previously been spoken and written, as their Divine authority was acknowledged. In Proverbs 25:1 we read, "These are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out." Finally the third collection took place in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah by the scribes of Jerusalem. In this way the canon of the Old Testament took definite form about 300 years before Christ. The required condition which caused these books to be included and accepted in the canon was not because they were written in Hebrew, or that they were real old, or that they were written by famous persons, but because they were inspired by God – they were God's Word – they are the same books which we have in the Old Testament today.

And how did the New Testament come into being? We know that several of the epistles were originally written to one person or to one congregation. However, soon these epistles were spread also among the other people and congregations. This happened because of the tender love among the Christians and the authority of the writers who spake in the Name of God. As long as the ear and eye witnesses of the life of Christ and the apostles were still alive, it was not necessary to finalize the canon, since the readers knew the writers themselves. Later, false writings came into circulation to which the names of the apostles were connected, and then they began to feel the necessity of collecting the true writings. The gospels were first gathered and afterwards the apostolic epistles. Ignatius, who was one of the Apostolic Fathers and died about the year 115 at Rome, speaks of the collection of these different books. (Apostolic Fathers were pupils of the Apostles themselves or of their successors.) Only those books were accepted whereof they believed that they were inspired by the Holy Ghost and which by ecclesiastical tradition were known as writings of the apostles or evangelists. At the Synod of Hippo in the year 393 the twenty-seven books of the New Testament were acknow­ledged as the canon.

Originally each book was written without the divisions as we have them, that is, without chapters and verses. A certain Cardinal Hugo de Sancto-Caro in about 1250 divided the Bible into chapters, and in 1551 Robert Stefanus, a French printer, divi­ded the chapters into verses.

We know that the Old Testament was mostly written in Hebrew, with a small part in Aramaic, and the New Testament in Greek. How did the Bible then get into the English language. It was through the work of Wy­cliffe, Tyndale, Coverdale, and others, who translated it from the original languages into English. Wycliffe's Bible translation in 1383 was the first English Bible and was written by hand. Tyndale's New Testament translation in 1525 was the first printed English New Testament. And then in 1535 Coverdale's Bible translation was the first printed English Bible. The first two translations were not allowed to be distributed among the people by the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church; many who bought them were persecuted, and Tyndale himself was put to death as a martyr and his Bibles were sought out and publicly burned.

The Bibles of Wycliffe and Tyndale had greatly changed public opinion and paved the way for an open and free distribution of the Bible, so that in 1539, only a few years after Tyndale's death, the Bible was published by royal authority. In 1611 the King James Version appeared. This translation was made by fifty-four scholars, who were appointed by King James the First of England. It was based on Tyndale's translation, and is the best translation from the original languages. Today there are many, many versions of the Bible which are not at all pure, and therefore we must retain the King James Version in our congregations.

No doubt you know that the Bible has been translated into many other languages. There are about 3,000 languages and dialects in the world, but those in which not even one book of the Bible has been published represent less than three percent of the world's population. The complete Bible has now been published in the languages spoken by 90% of the people of the world, which consists of some 260 languages. The complete New Testament is in about 610 languages, and at least a Gospel or other complete book of the Bible is in over 1500 languages.

It is such a great gift which the Lord has given to us in His Word that we daily must seek and search the Word, praying that it may be blessed by the Lord to our conversion; John 5:39 says, "Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of Me." How must we search God's Word? Based on God's Word, Rev. Hellenbroek has advised us as follows: In the fear of God, (Psalm 110:10); with a praying heart, (Psalm 119:18); reverently, (Isaiah 66:5); attentively and with spiritual judgment, (2 Corinthians 2:13).

The Authenticity of the Old Testament⤒🔗

We have seen how the Lord took care that His Word was written, but also that men were given to assemble it, at the same time retaining its purity. It was in the year 285 B.C. that the Old Testament was translated into Greek, as many Jews in those days spoke only the Greek language. From this translation many things were quoted by the Lord Jesus, which shows the authenticity of those books. The fulfilment of the prophecies is another proof that the books are really the Word of God.

Masoretes were used by the Lord in His providence to keep His Word pure. Filo, a famous Jewish philosopher, gave assurance that all the Books of Moses were pure, without the change of one word in them; Josephus, the well known historian, writes that nobody dared to add or detract anything from God's Word. The Masoretes were learned Jewish men who did nothing else than copy the books of the Old Testament. They were required to do this literally, word for word.

They counted the words and letters of each book, and no corrections were permitted. If they had made a mistake, it was cut into pieces and thrown away; then they must start over again. In this way they knew that the letter A was used 42,377 times in the Bible, the letter B 38,218 times, etc. Although these men did not stand under the same leading of the Holy Spirit as the prophets and apostles, we may still see the hand of the Lord in their work to preserve the Truth.

The Authenticity of the New Testament←⤒🔗

We know that the books of the New Testament were written by persons who lived at the same time as when the events took place about which they wrote. The apostolic fathers and the church fathers often quote the books of the New Testament.

Matthew and John, two of the disciples of the Lord Jesus, had seen the miracles which the Lord performed, and had heard what He spoke; these things we find in their writings. Mark and Luke were not apostles, but lived during that same time. Some think that Luke was one of the seventy disciples of the Lord Jesus; of this we cannot be certain, but he has known the Lord himself. Later he accompanied the apostle Paul for many years on his mission journeys. Thus the Epistles and also the Revelation of St. John were written by ear- and eye-witnesses; they have all written that which they have seen and heard under the leading of the Holy Spirit.

The original documents were written in the Greek language; however, the transcript of the New Testament has not been as precise as was that of the Old Testament. It is possible that a few letters or syllables were left out. This does not mean that any doctrine, instruction or historical fact is falsified; the Lord Himself took care of and protected His Word. Therefore we can say with our Confession: We believe that the Holy Scriptures are contained in two books, which are canonical, against which nothing can be alleged.

From this fourth article we can learn many things, and, first of all, that we must acknowledge the Lord that He has given His Word to us, which, according to 2 Timothy 3:16, is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. We may also learn how necessary it is to search God's Word daily, that it might be for us a rule to life and a means to salvation. To the praise of Alfonsus, King of Aragon, we find written in the history books that he read God's Word and the margin 14 times; of Prince Gregorius Ragotski that he did the same 27 times. God's Word tells us that the inhabitants of Berea were more noble than those of Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

How can we read God's Word more fruitfully for ourselves? Above all it is necessary that we receive light from on high – otherwise it will be in vain. But on the other hand we must keep in mind certain things, such as:

1. we must ask and search as to the purpose of the writer:
2. we must give attention to the connection between a certain text or chapter and the context which surrounds it;
3. we must never forget the unity of God's Word sometimes the same things are worded differently, but the contents are the same;
4. we must search out the circumstances when the words were spoken; and
5. we must seek the meaning of the Holy Spirit, being careful to avoid our own exegesis, and explaining it after our viewpoint.

When we read the Bible more attentively, we find that several books are related to each other, such as –

The Psalms of David and the Books of Samuel;
The writings of the prophets and the Books of Kings and Chronicles;
The Epistles of the Apostles and the Acts of the Apostles;
The Revelation of St. John and the prophets Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zechariah; and
The Epistle to the Hebrews and the Books of Moses. (The Book of Hebrews cites many shadows of the ceremonial law and explains their spiritual meaning.)

These are the most important relationships among the Bible Books!

Also in our days it is very important to learn parts of the Bible by heart. When we know the main points of our doctrine, then it is so much easier to defend ourselves against the many attacks encountered in our days. The Lord says, "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths."

We must regularly read God's Word, not only with our meals, but also in our spare time and before we go to bed. The whole Bible is God's, but it is a good custom to daily read a portion of Proverbs and a portion of the Gospels. Proverbs teaches that we must live holy and cautious before God and men, while in the Gospels there is written of the great love of Christ toward His church.

Finally, we must read God's Word to glorify God, to edify our neighbor, and that we personally may receive a blessing from the Lord. We have the best proof of the divinity of God's Word when the Holy Spirit testifies of this in our heart. Then there are no longer any question marks, but it becomes the highest authority in our life. There we find an answer to the question - Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?

The four most important attributes of God's Word are:

1. It has Divine authority, because it is inspired by the Lord Himself.
2. It is plain in the things which are necessary to our salvation; (Psalm 119:105 – "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.")
3. It is sufficient; it is not necessary that human traditions are added to it. (Matthew 15:9 – "In vain do they worship Me, tea­ching for doctrines the commandments of men.")
4. It is necessary to salva­tion. (John 5:39 – "Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me.")