Martin Luther took out 7 books from the Bible for the Protestants........was that under inspiration from GOD ?

Question

Tobit
Judith
1 Maccabees
2 Maccabees
Wisdom
Sirach
Baruch

MAKE A SPECIAL NOTE OF THE ANSWER BY : spiritroaming


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Answer 1

There are very good reasons why the Apocrypha (and I thought it was 16, not 7; these are: 1 Esdras, 2 Esdras, Additions to Esther, 1 Macabees, 2 Macabees, Tobias, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, Epistle of Jeremiah, Susanna, Prayer of Azariah, Prayer of Manasseh, Bel and the Dragon, and Laodiceans.) are not included in the Protestant Bible.

Jesus said, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you-that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms had to be fulfilled." (Luke 24:44)

Notice that Jesus discussed the law, the prophets, and the psalms. In the Hebrew Bible (which Jesus would have used), there are twenty-two books, which are broken into those three sections. Another ancient witness to this fact is the first century Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus. In his writings, he speaks of the Hebrew Scriptures as having twenty-two books with the same three divisions as well. If you compared the Hebrew Scriptures to our Protestant Old Testament, you would see that the twenty-two books of the Hebrew Scriptures are equivalent to the thirty-nine books in the Protestant Old Testament.

The difference is in the breakdown. For example, in the Hebrew Scriptures, I and II Samuel are considered one book. As are I and II Kings. Joshua, Judges and Ruth are one book. Isaiah, Jeremiah and Lamentations are also one book. Ezekiel and the minor prophets are one book. Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah are one book. I and II Chronicles are one book.

Nine of these books are called writings, four are called the latter prophets, four are called the former prophets, and five are called the Law of Moses, for a total of twenty-two books. Therefore, none of the Apocryphal books are considered Scripture in the Hebrew Bible. Our Protestant Bible follows this same pattern.

Another thing that Jesus said was, "...this generation will be charged with the blood of all the prophets that was shed since the foundation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who died between the altar and the sanctuary..." (Luke 11:50-51)

Jesus had been speaking to the religious leaders of His day, and called them into account for all of the righteous blood shed from Abel to Zechariah. Abel's blood was the first to be shed (in Genesis) and Zechariah's blood was shed in Chronicles (the last book of the Hebrew Scriptures). Although Zechariah's blood is not the last to be shed chronologically, it is when you look at it in the order of the books of the Hebrew Scriptures. Therefore, Jesus was speaking of the first and the last blood being shed according to the order they appear in the Hebrew Scriptures. In effect, Jesus was calling the Old Testament complete (without the Apocrypha).

Answer 2

I thought it was pretty much accepted that the church fathers knew that the Apocrypha was not to be accepted as cannon. Read Bel and the Dragon and tell me that is an inspired book.
Dusty Scribe makes some very valid points.
I have always thougtht the Didache to be a very good book, but I recognize that and I&II Clement while being good book did not meet the criteria for cannonization.


Spirit Roaming-
1. I have 2,559 quotations and allusions of the Old Testament in the New Testament. About 32% of the New Testament is the Old Test.
2. It would be interesting to see, of the quotes of Jesus that come from the Septuagint, how many come from each book of the New Testament. I wonder if you will find that certain NT writers used the Septuagint over the Hebrew text.
3. First you say Martin Luther removed the 7 books of the Apochrapha, then you say Protestants in 1826 removed the books and then you say in 90-95AD that the Jews removed the books? Which is it?
4. While we are on the subject of the number of references of books in the Bible:
a. There are 20 source books cited in the Old Testament. I guarantee you have probably never heard of them.
b. The Greek (Pagan) writers Aratus, Cleanthes, Epimedies Menander were all either quoted or alluded to in the New Testament.
c. The Apocrypha is quoted or alluded to in the New Testament 87 times.
d. The Pseudepigrapha is quoted or alluded to in the New Testament 30 times.
My point, there are a lot of extra biblical references to in the Old and New Testament, shall we give certain sources more credence over others? Just because the New Testament quotations and allusions to the Old Testament come from the Septuagint does not necessarily mean we have to accept the Apocrypha. I take comfort in the fact that while there may be 87 quotation and allusions to the Apocrypha in the New Testament, the top 10 Old Testament books quoted and alluded to in the New Testament have none of the Apocryphal books:
1. Isaiah- 419
2. Psalms- 414
3. Exodus- 240
4. Genesis- 238
5. Deuteronomy- 196
6. Ezekiel- 141
7. Daniel- 133
8. Jeremiah- 125
9. Leviticus- 107
10 Numbers- 73

But for your reference, the number of quotations and allusions of the Apocrypha in the New Testament:
1 Esdras- 1
Tobit- 8
Judith- 3
The Wisdom of Solomon- 26
Ecclesiasticus- 34
Baruch- 2
Sasanna- 1
1 Maccabees- 6
2 Maccabees- 5

Answer 3

Good question.

The books missing from Protestant Bibles are: Tobit, Judith, Baruch, Wisdom, Sirach, 1 and 2 Maccabees, and parts of Esther and Daniel.

Martin Luther, without any authority whatsoever, removed those seven books and placed them in an appendix during the reformation. They remained in the appendix of Protestant Bibles until about 1826, and then they were removed altogether.

Hellenistic Greek was the language of the day during the time of Christ. This was due to the fact that Alexander the Great had conquered the region several hundred years before. The Hebrew language was on its way out, and there was a critical need for a translation of the Hebrew Old Testament for dispersed Greek speaking Jews. This translation, called the Septuagint, or LXX, was completed by Jewish scholars in about 148 B.C. and it had all of the books, including the seven removed by Martin Luther over 1650 years later. The New Testament has about 350 references to Old Testament verses. By careful examination, scholars have determined that 300 of these are from the Septuagint and the rest are from the Hebrew Old Testament. They have shown that Jesus Christ Himself, quoted from the Septuagint. Early Christians used the Septuagint to support Christian teachings.

About 90-95 A.D., or several decades after the beginning of Christianity, the Jews called a council to deal with the matter. In this council, called the "Council of Jamnia", Jewish Pharisees, who survived the devastating destruction of Jerusalem and of their temple in 70 A.D., decided to remove books that were helpful to Christians. They removed the seven books, using various reasons as their "authorization" to do so. Keep in mind, that the Greek speaking Jews had been using the Septuagint for well over two centuries by this time. It was the Bible of the Greek speaking "Bereans" of Acts 17:10-15 for which Protestants like to quote to try to "prove" their false man-made doctrine of "Sola Scriptura".

Some non-Catholics charge that the seven books were not added to the Septuagint until the fourth century. If that were true, how could the Council of Jamnia have removed them in the first century if they were not there?

Answer 4

if im not wrong, they were taken out because they over-emphasized the spiritual nature of God without taking into account that Jesus was also fully man.

think about it, why would anyone who wants to spread a religion want to make it sound less spiritualistic? the appeal of a religion is often in the supernatural unknown.

it's because these books did not give an accurate reflection of who God really was (fully man and fully God), thus they were taken out, through the wisdom of God.

Answer 5

No, it was under inspiration of Martin Luther.

God bless,
Stanbo

Tobit
Judith
1 Maccabees
2 Maccabees
Wisdom
Sirach
Baruch

Answer 6

They were taken out because the books were not inspired by God.

Answer 7

Can you name them? And make sure that your source includes the idea that Martin Luther took them out, okay? I'll check back later. ( :

Answer 8

i've read those 7 books that were not a part of the original Jewish law and prophets anyway... he did the right thing.

but just in case it might bother an atheist that he did it... i have a Bible in my library that includes them.
...

Answer 9

He almost pulled Revelation, too.

Good thing he didn't or I would have missed all sorts of comical justifications on Answers.

Answer 10

Did he? I wasn't aware of that. Which seven did he take out?