Who decided which books were to be included in the Bible?

Question

My niece asked me this a few minutes ago and I can't find anything yet. She needs it for Sunday school tomorrow so any help with be appreciated. If you find something please include your online source as I'm sure she'll get grilled if her response doesn't match what her Sunday School teacher believes..haha

Answer 1

Question: "How and when was the canon of the Bible put together?"
Answer: The term "canon" is used to describe the books that are divinely inspired and therefore belong in the Bible. The difficult aspect of determining the Biblical canon is that the Bible does not give us a list of the books that belong in the Bible. Determining the canon was a process, first by Jewish rabbis and scholars, and then later by early Christians. Ultimately, it was God who decided what books belonged in the Biblical canon. A book of Scripture belonged in the canon from the moment God inspired its writing. It was simply a matter of God convincing His human followers which books should be included in the Bible.
Compared to the New Testament, there was very little controversy over the canon of the Old Testament. Hebrew believers recognized God’s messengers, and accepted their writings as inspired of God. There was undeniably some debate in regards to the Old Testament canon. However, by 250 A.D. there was nearly universal agreement on the canon of Hebrew Scripture. The only issue that remained was the Apocrypha…with some debate and discussion continuing today. The vast majority of Hebrew scholars considered the Apocrypha to be good historical and religious documents, but not on the same level as the Hebrew Scriptures.
For the New Testament, the process of the recognition and collection began in the first centuries of the Christian church. Very early on, some of the New Testament books were being recognized. Paul considered Luke’s writings to be as authoritative as the Old Testament (1 Timothy 5:18; see also Deuteronomy 25:4 and Luke 10:7). Peter recognized Paul’s writings as Scripture (2 Peter 3:15-16). Some of the books of the New Testament were being circulated among the churches (Colossians 4:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:27). Clement of Rome mentioned at least eight New Testament books (A.D. 95). Ignatius of Antioch acknowledged about seven books (A.D. 115). Polycarp, a disciple of John the Apostle, acknowledged 15 books (A.D. 108). Later, Irenaeus mentioned 21 books (A.D. 185). Hippolytus recognized 22 books (A.D. 170-235). The New Testament books receiving the most controversy were Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2 John, and 3 John. The first “canon” was the Muratorian Canon, which was compiled in (A.D. 170). The Muratorian Canon included all of the New Testament books except Hebrews, James, and 3 John. In A.D. 363, the Council of Laodicea stated that only the Old Testament (along with the Apocrypha) and the 27 books of the New Testament were to be read in the churches. The Council of Hippo (A.D. 393) and the Council of Carthage (A.D. 397) also affirmed the same 27 books as authoritative.
The councils followed something similar to the following principles to determine whether a New Testament book was truly inspired by the Holy Spirit: 1) Was the author an apostle or have a close connection with an apostle? 2) Is the book being accepted by the Body of Christ at large? 3) Did the book contain consistency of doctrine and orthodox teaching? 4) Did the book bear evidence of high moral and spiritual values that would reflect a work of the Holy Spirit? Again, it is crucial to remember that the church did not determine the canon. No early church council decided on the canon. It was God, and God alone, who determined which books belonged in the Bible. It was simply a matter of God convincing His followers of what He had already decided upon. The human process of collecting the books of the Bible was flawed, but God, in His sovereignty, despite our ignorance and stubbornness, brought the early church to the recognition of the books He had inspired.

Answer 2

Go to http://www.greatsite.com and click on history of the Bible. The people that determined which books were a group of men at different councils that voted what belongs and what doesn't. The most recent was the Council of Vatican 2. 1965. What is really interesting is that all Bibles always had 80 books in them with the exception of a few rare printings until the 1880's. At this point the protestants removed 14 of them regardless of the councils decisions. This even includes the KJV, yes the 1611 had 80 books in it.


Most people will say the council of Nicea but this is incorrect. The council of nicea had nothing to do with books of the Bible but this is where Constantine incorporated pagan beliefs into Christianity such as the celebration of Easter and the trinity and Sunday worship instead of the sabbath. Many true Christians were executed for not accepting those beliefs. The councils that voted on books are;

Council of Rome 382 AD
Council of Hippo 393 AD
Council of Carthage 397/419 Ad
2 Council of Nicea 787 AD
Council of Florence 1422 AD
Coucil of Trent 1545-1563 AD (also called the anti-reformation)
Council of Vatican 1 1870 AD
Coucil of vatican 2 1965 AD The last council

Each and every one voted 80 books yet we today only have 66


500 BC completion of all hebrew texts
200 BC completion of the Septuagint Greek manuscripts which contain 39 OT and 14 Apocrypha books.
1st Century AD completion of all Greek NT books.
315 AD Athenasius the Bishop of Alexandria identifies the 27 NT as canon of scripture.
382 AD Jeromes latin Vulgate containing 80 books, this is the foundation of all translations with the exception of the Geneva and Youngs.
1385 Wycliffes first handwritten English Bible.
1516 Erasmus translates a Greek/Latin parallel NT Bible
1522 Martin Luther German NT
1526 William Tyndale NT printed in English the source of all English translations.
1535 Coverdale Bible 80 books
1537 Tyndale/ Matthews 80 books
1539 Great Bible chained to the pulpits due to theft 80 books.
1560 Geneva Bible 80 books, the first Bible to number verses and add commentry notes. This was the bible brought to America on the Mayflower and was the Bible of Shakespeare.
1568 Bishops Bible this was the Bible of which the King James was a revision
1609 Douay OT
1611 King James
1629 King James revision
1769 King James Baskerville version which is what is read today in a modernized English not the 1611 like churches say.

Hope there is something in here you can use. You can e-mail me through my website if you have any other questions but I will not be able to respond until late tonight since I teach Bible History classes every Saturday night.

Answer 3

467 bishops at the Council of Nicea, under the auspices of the Bishop of Rome (pope), spent more than 3 years reading, assessing and praying about more than 2,000 texts.

It was finally decided that the Jewish testament would be in accordance with the Jewish Council of Alexandria.

The New Testament took longer. Dumping all the Gnostic texts was the easy part. After all none of them were written any sooner then the second century AD, more than a hundred years after the fall of Jerusalem (70AD).

It was the ones that COULD be dated to within the lifetimes of the Apostles that took the longest. But they finally decided on the ones we now know.

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

What most Christians believe is that the Bible was written by men, authored by God, through the leadership of the Holy Spirit. So the answer would be that God decided which books to include. While this answer will be acceptable to most Christian denominations, the Catholic Church will claim that which books to include were chosen by the Church with the leadership of the Pope and the Vatican council.

Answer 5

The council of Nicea in the 300's.

Answer 6

Check this answer to the question. It might also help -

//www.new-life.net/faq000.htm. If you have difficulty to get it - just go to www.new-life.net and click FAQ. Good luck!!!

Answer 7

the council of nicea

Answer 8

Which bible? the catholic one or the Protestant?

Answer 9

or check this out.

Answer 10

GOD