How Were The Bible Books Chosen

A Muslim once questioned me; "how many Bibles do you Christians have?"

I thought he was referring to the different versions of the Bible, so I quickly explained that we have one Bible source(the original manuscript written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek) from which all the different versions translate to English using their own words. Then he quickly informed me:

"There are two kinds of Bibles: one has 66 Books and the other has 73 Books."

My Pastor hadn't taught me that; so, instead of debate over something I didn't know, I asked for time to study about that.

My search led me to discover; there were so many other books written in the Bible days and, not every Bible character's writings reached the standard(canon) of the Scriptures.

From my study, I define the Bible as;

"a collection of canonical books."

A canonical book is one which measures up to the standard of the Holy Scripture. Canon is an English word derived from the Greek "kanon" which means, "rule", "standard" or "measurement".

Criteria for choosing Bible Books

1. Apostolic or Prophetic authorship:

For a Book to be considered canonical, it had to be written by a recognised Prophet or Apostle.

Peter the Apostle had this to say:

"Because of that experience, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place--until the Day dawns, and Christ the Morning Star shines in your hearts. Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet's own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God." (2 Peter 1: 19-21 NLT).

2. Associates of Apostles:

This is another criterion used; as Luke(the author of Luke and Acts) was never referred to as an Apostle(in the Bible) but, was in a special relationship with Apostle Paul. Therefore, his writings are canonical because he was an associate of Apostle Paul.

3. Aligning with already ascertained canonical books:

For a book to be considered canonical, it must agree with already accepted canonical books, not a complete deviation from what was already on ground. This explains why the Bible agrees with itself. The latter books always have connections to, and agreements with the older books.

4. Acceptance:

It must be accepted by the people of God. Since the Spirit of Truth indwells the believers: the Holy Spirit guides the believers in the way of truth by helping us recognise what's true and what's not. Like several others, I've gone through so many writings; which 'supposedly' claim canonical status, they always fall short in one way or the other.

Apocrypha:

Primarily refers to the Books in the Old Testament added by the Roman Catholic Church; which are rejected by the Hebrew Scripture and the Protestant Bible(as seen in the yellow cover Good News Bible).

The books which fall short of the canon of Scriptures are also termed apocrypha or apocryphal.

As Christians, we must learn to defend our faith. Knowing this will help you defend your faith, this is also part of our duties as Christians:

"They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News." (Philippians 1:16 NLT).

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God Bless You.