In what year were the 66 books of the protestant Bible finally settled upon?

Question

When was it decided to include the 66 books found in the protestant Bible?

Who made the decision to accept some books and reject others?

What was the basis of their decisions?

Why are these books not in synch with the Bible used by the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church?

Answer 1

1647. It was drawn up by Calvinists at the Westminster Confession of Faith is the one that specifically made a list of 66 books.

As to why they aren't in synch, the answer is complex but also surprisingly simple: the apocryphal texts didn't jive with Protestant theology. Though, canonicity constantly fluctuates. Look at the Song of Solomon. There are bibles printed today that leave it out due to its sensual nature. I would not be surprised to learn that Esther is also left out occasionally as it is the only book of the bible to never mention god.

Answer 2

The date of the decision is imprecise because it spans a period of time. But the Westminster Confession of Faith in 1647 cited our current 66 books as official. The rejection of the Deuterocanonical books used by Roman Catholics started with Martin Luther. Yet it should be noted that many of those books he rejected had not "officially" been canonized by the Catholic church either; they made no haste in doing so later.

One reason for rejecting the books is the New Testament never quotes from the any of the apocryphal books written between 400 - 200 BC. What is significant here is that none of the books within the "apocryphal collection" are every quoted. So the Catholic argument that "the apocryphal books cannot be rejected as uninspired on the basis that they are never quoted from in the New Testament because Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon are also never quoted in the New Testament, and we all accept them as inspired." The rebuttal to this Catholic argument is that "Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther" were always included in the "history collection" of Jewish books and "Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon" were always included in the "poetry collection".

Answer 3

Not all Protestant churches have thrown out the Deuterocanon, although most have. I would go with Martin Luther, but the belief was there before that they didn't belong, and he himself is not entirely responsible (in fact, Luther also wanted to throw Revelations out, another book which was controversial about inclusion as far back as the 4th Century). My personal opinion is that they should have been left in.

The arguments for removing them were three:
1. They supported Purgatory, a belief Protestantism rejected.
2. They were not in the Jewish Tanakh (which the Christians call the "Old Testament").
3. They were written in Greek, though this is wrong. Scholars now know that these books were in fact written in Hebrew and even have very old copies of some of them in that language. But people at the time did not know that.

Answer 4

I don't know the first answer to the first question. To the second, it was many people in the Church who decided. Some books simply did not pertain to how to live your life, which was the goal of the Bible, to show how Jesus lived, and how to live, and how to get to Heaven. They excluded many of them because they were just stories, not very important about Jesus' ministry. As a result, some specific Churches have chosen to keep several of those books that were more debateable. Most people don't believe they need to be in the Bible, but some do. It's really not all too contraversial, as people make it out to be. Especially with the Da Vinci Code out.

Answer 5

that's type of of a narrative to describe why, so undergo with me. the hot testomony is an similar for protestants and Catholics. purely the OT differs. 2000 years in the past, this OT, the Jewish canon, replaced into nevertheless open. it really is to say, Jewish scholars nevertheless considered it problem to regulate. So at the same time as this Jesus dude got here alongside and they did not count on him, they sought to strive against the tremendous volume of conversions occurring. to attempt this, they took out seven books from their scripture - the seven they idea supported Christianity too a lot. undergo in concepts - their canon replaced into no longer yet closed, so it replaced right into a superbly proper element to do. notwithstanding, it did not provide up the Christians, as they basically persisted to apply those 7 different books. 1500 years later, some scholars got here alongside, Martin Luther one in all them, and chanced on that Jewish scholars bumped off seven books 1500 years in the previous, yet did not on the time comprehend why, and began to doubt even if Christians should be utilising them both, and so as that they declared them of questionable authenticity. The Catholic Church, on the council of Trent, reaffirmed what that they had already declared interior the councils of the previous due 4th century - that those seven books were certainly area of the Christian scriptures. This, like the moves of the Jewish scholars, replaced into finished to help strive against the increasing dissent in this example interior the Church. yet like at the same time as the Jewish scholars tried it, it did not paintings and the Protestant reformation got here to finish stress. The seven books, observed as the deuterocanon through those who use them and apocrypha through those who do not, replaced into saved in Protestant bibles in a separate area till the mid 1800's at the same time as it replaced into determined that it replaced into no longer rather well worth the further value to print something they did not believe replaced into actual.

Answer 6

The Council of Nicea in 325 AD took up this issue, with many others, because of a man named Marcion, who had issued a list of accepted books. But Marcion rejected the Old Testament because he did not like the OT view of God. He also rejected the Gospel of Luke and the miracles of the NT. Marcion even declared himself to be the Holy Spirit, and his two women assistants as prophets of God.

Because of this, and more, the Council of Nicea examined the accepted books, using commonly used criteria. 1) The book had to be written by an Apostile, or a known close associate of an Apostile; e.g. Luke was not an Apostile, but was the doctor of Paul, & Jude and James were not Apostiles, but were the brothers of Jesus. 2) The book had to be in wide and common usage among the churches, thus 2 & 3 John, 2 Peter, and Jude had some dispute because their "range" was not as wide as other books. 3) The book had to accord with the rest of Scripture and with "the rule of faith," i.e. it could not contradict the teachings of Jesus or the OT. 4) The book had to be known to be true among the churches, false teachings could not be accepted just because they were easier or more popular.

The Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD took up the some of the same issues, esp. the list of the Canon and confirmed the list of 66.

Later books, The Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Peter, the Gospel of Mary, and others were rejected on the same basis that the 66 were accepted; by both Councils. E.g. the Gospel of Thomas has Jesus as a child turning other children to stone because they wanted to play with some of His toys; this is completely out of character for Jesus, at any age. The Gospel of Mary has salvation earned by good works, and not by faith.

Answer 7

The King James Version was first puplished in 1611

Answer 8

When John wrote Revelation The very last part said, It is done, don't add anything else to it. 100 CE
But no one listens and everyone decided to add stuff.
Until there was a bunch of books added that wasn't supose to be.
Look we have the book of morman, Quaran and Catholics have a bunch of apocrital books.
They in King James time added stuff that wasn't in the original writings. So when they found the original manuscrips they took out stuff that was added later. So from 100CE it was done and decided upon and it was others who keep trying to add stuff.
I got a bible from this Church it had all kinds of stuff added to explain what I was reading and it wasn't even close in my estimation. So people want you to believe their interpertation and so add stuff.
So they went back to the original, not using stuff that was added later. By the Catholic Church, or any other organization.