Their omission in Protestant Bibles leaves a chronological gap in salvation history. Why did Protestants remove books from the Bible? If you (or anyone else) can identify this book for me I’d be very grateful. Uh… I think you must be referring to the publication of the (English) Revised version (1881–1885), although that didn’t “remove” books from the Bible. A Protestant Bible is a Christian Bible whose translation or revision was produced by Protestants.Such Bibles comprise 39 books of the Old Testament (according to the Hebrew Bible canon, known especially to non-Protestants as the protocanonical books) and 27 books of the New Testament for a total of 66 books… (In 1947, however, fragments in Hebrew of Tobit and Sirach were discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls. One of these books that is particularly interesting, is the “Wisdom of Solomon”. The early Church continued to accept the books of the LXX version, although some debate about these books continued through the 5th century. My position, based on the research presented here, is thus: both Protestant and Catholic Christians erred by adopting extreme positions relative to each other, spurred by the tension of the Counter-/Reformation. Do you know of a good searchable on line bible that contains all the books that protestant omit? Please check out Gary Michuta’s book “Why Catholic Bibles are Bigger”. Jan 13, 2010 Updated Nov 2015 Is The Apocrypha Inspired? While we can perhaps view them as historical works, they are not actually parts of the Bible. For the majority of my career I’ve been a Writer/Editor. They did this at the Council of Jamnia (about 100 A.D.), at which they rejected the seven Deuterocanonical books because they believed that they were not written in Hebrew. For Catholics it is not a matter of scoring but a matter of authority. This means that Jerome’s idea of “Hebrew truth” (I.e., only that which is found in the Hebrew MT is true) has been demonstrated to be an error. I have two questions I hope you can help me with. Care was taken not to over- or under-represent sources of inclusion or exclusion, especially in cases where information is not complete (i.e. But in the long run, it really came down to Jerome’s rejection. What Jerome could not have known was that there were many different Hebrew manuscripts in circulation during the first century and that the Greek Septuagint, a translation made by the Jews around 200 BC, at least in parts, appears to be a very literal translation of a more ancient Hebrew text tradition that is now lost. Kindly research into the quest of Dan; and please, send me a copy. These were the last books of the Old Testament written, composed in the last two centuries B.C. No, the Catholics did not add these books to the canon during the Reformation. I call these explanations "myths" because they are either incorrect or simply inadequate reasons for rejecting these books Are there any (other) sources you can recommend on the history of Sacred Scripture? (Joshua 1:7-8, Numbers 33:2). I do appreciate you getting back to me and I definitely didn’t want to waste your time about which magazines to submit things to- I can research that, I just thought if you had experience with any magazines you could recommend them. Some of the people who were instrumental in leading and associated with the reformation were Catholics who were seeking reformation. I needed an answer, and you have given it. Do you know of, or have had experience with Catholic publishers that would be open to submissions from a relatively unknown writer? use it to write articles promoting and defending the Catholic faith. Without the authority of the Catholic Church, how does a Protestant know which books belong in the New Testament? https://www.catholicconvert.com/blog/2018/05/23/sola-scriptura-and-the-canon-of-scripture/, https://www.catholicconvert.com/resources/michuta-vs-white-debate/. This was the version of the Old Testament used by the New Testament authors and by Christians during the first century A.D. With the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in the year 70 A.D. and because the Christians were seen as a threat, the Jewish leaders saw a need to get their house in order. Why Did Martin Luther Remove 7 Books From The Bible? Here is his very helpful reply: Why Protestants Reject the Deutero-canonical Books – Short Answer. The NT makes many allusions and references to the OT. The Old Testament books … I love it. It is a tremendous help to Catholics like me. These books did not meet the criteria for being included in scriptural canon. I understand since you don’t write articles for print you aren’t familiar with that so I will continue to do research on that- no problem. This version of the Bible included the seven Deuterocanonical books. They have many bibles and multiple catholic versions for free. It is most helpful. They didn't delete anything. With Jerome’s position no longer tenable, Protestantism really doesn’t have a historical leg to stand on in regards to their OT canon. From then on, Luther (and all Protestants) have been trying to justify this removal. Hence this freelancing thing I’d like to try. Thread Status: Not open for further replies. These include 1 and 2 Maccabees , Judith , Tobit , Baruch, Sirach, and Wisdom, and additions to the books of Esther and Daniel. @onewordghost on twitter Hello writer, The reformation was not a simple black and white line. Luther in 1534 thought Baruch was “too skimpy” and not lofty enough to be from the scribe of Jeremiah. He did this for doctrinal reasons (for example: 2 Maccabees 12:43-46 supports the doctrine of purgatory, Hebrews supports the existence of the priesthood, and James 2:24 supports the Catholic doctrine on merit). I too need to get this book! These include 1 st and 2 nd Maccabees, Judith, Tobit, Baruch, Sirach, and Wisdom, and additions to the books of Esther and Daniel. Reformed theologian R. C. Sproul honestly admits that the Protestant position can at best claim “a fallible collection of infallible books” (Essential Truths of the Christian Faith [Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House, 1992], 22). Always enjoy when you are a guest on Relevant Radio. One thing that might be of interest are the dates when the books of scripture were divided into chapters and then, later, when the individual verses were determined and assigned numbers. STEVE RAY HERE: Thanks. I manage content for my parish FB page and I evangelize on my own so this is exactly what I look for. To understand the question, and the answer, it jomafro.tumblr.com. All Rights Reserved. See what you will gain if you pray the Holy Rosary today. I developed this site to highlight a few key points about the development of the canon. Seven books of the Bible, all in the Old Testament, are accepted by Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox, but are not accepted by Jews or Protestants. Thank you for your suggestion to contact the Augustine Institute. I also don’t publish articles in magazines so I’m not aware of which ones do and don’t. The site uses Adobie Flash so you will cannot open it in Apple products. Defenders of the Catholic Faith | Hosted by Stephen K. Ray. I’m sure I can find out how to reach them online. Catholics erred first, diverting from apostolic and church tradition, when they pronounced the deuterocanon inspired by God and suitable for doctrine. These include 1 and 2 Maccabees, Judith, Tobit, Baruch, Sirach, and Wisdom , and additions to the books of Esther and Daniel . 50 Days With The Holy Spirit (My Greatest Friend), Three Day Miracle Prayer To The Blessed Virgin Mary, A Comprehensive List of All the Mortal Sins You Must Know and Avoid as a True Catholic, The "War Cry" Of Archangel Michael And Lucifer Just Before The Battle In Heaven Between The Angels At The Beginning Of Creation, Which Bible Should I Use? Start at Matthew … there won’t be much of a NT left. I am interested in how we got to this mess today. So no problem at all and God Bless your work. Answer The canon of the Catholic Bible was established before the canon of the Hebrew Bible was known, and included a number of Old Testament books, … My question to you is- Where? Someone has to close the canon – in other words, some authority has to say “these books are inspired and these books are not inspired.” It was the Catholic Church that made that determination. These include 1 and 2 Maccabees, Judith, Tobit, Baruch, Sirach, and Wisdom, and additions to the books of Esther and Daniel. On this page I am attempting to answer a question - this is what we do in the Feedback section of CH101. The writing of Scripture continued until the first century A.D., when Revelation was complete. I don’t know why God commanded it this way, but that’s what He did. Due to health reasons, I am unable to work but on good days I’m able to write, as long as there is no time restriction. This list, as accepted by the Catholic Church, was affirmed by the Council of Hippo in 393 A.D., by the Council of Carthage in 397 A.D., and by Pope Innocent I in 405 A.D. At the Ecumenical Council of Florence in 1442, the Catholic list was again restated, against those who wanted to include even more books. Jun 10, 2008 Jun 10, 2008 #316 vanshan A Sinner 3,982 +313 Eastern Orthodox Married stumpjumper said: ↑ I'm not sure why you are confused. > Why did the Protestants delete some books from the Catholic Bible? Thanks and I will but I meant apart from that book. In my own studies, I have come to realize that this was NOT a “Protestant” decision, but a financial and popular one that “evolved” mostly in the early 19th Century with the rise of “Bible Societies.” Discussion in 'General Theology' started by SecretOfFatima, Jun 3, 2008. Why is 1 and 2 Esdras( or 3 and 4 in the Vulgate) and the Prayer of Manasseh among their apocrypha? Since the Deuteros were not part of the MT, he rejected them as not being of the canonical Scripture. Next post: JP II Center in Kraków, Divine Mercy Center for the Decade and Mass, Tour of Krakòw. God has given me the talent to write and I want to God Bless. Sorry to be long-winded but I want you to be well-informed on what I want to write and publish. An answer to a Catholic friend about why the so called apocrypha was removed from the Bible In the 16th century, Martin Luther adopted the Jewish list, putting the Deuterocanonical books in an appendix. Well, let’s examine the logical consistency because consistency reveals/betrays one’s stupidity, or worse, dishonesty. He couldn’t remember the name, only that it was published by the Augustine Institute I believe. This is an excellent short answer. These include allusions/references to the books which the Protestants reject. Protestants offer various explanations to explain why they reject the deuterocanonical books as Scripture. Everything is there; from Genesis to the Book of the Apocalypse. Thank you! A List of Approved Catholic Translations, The 15 Promises Of The Blessed Virgin Mary To Catholics Who Devoutly Pray The Rosary Daily, Rosary Of Liberation: For Deliverance, Healing & Breakthrough. This strongly suggests He did not consider the books of the Apocrypha as part of Old Testament Scripture as with the books from Genesis to 2 Chronicles. Seven books of the Bible, all in the Old Testament, are accepted by Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox, but are not accepted by Jews or Protestants. There seems to be a lot of misinformation being taught to today's Protestants: including the idea that Catholics "added" books to the Bible. While other replies have fully listed Luther’s beliefs and situations, I really fragmented codexes) or when an author lists a book (i.e. God bless. End Time Prophecies Of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich. My aim was to simplify things as much as possible but also draw out some facts that I was not aware of until i did some research e.g there was no universally accepted Hebrew canon when Jesus lived, the Council of Jamnia was a theory – not fact, etc. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1rFKBCDu7ob6QidUbioA5lhVS_GVf480yBxczNQkEj5A, https://drive.google.com/open?id=1xVzqAjGgixbxrQy5X1On8BhvhKeFhUnm. You to it here! If one rejects Text X, then it logically follows that every subsequent work which sources Text X as if nothing is wrong should also be questioned if not rejected. Why Protestants should care about the Pope First Thanksgiving was Catholic Sebastian alleges no Catholic Church in history. The version of the Bible in use at the time of Jesus was the Septuagint (abbreviated LXX, for the 70 men who translated it from Hebrew into Greek by the beginning of the first century B.C.). Luther was forced to say that Second Maccabees could not be allowed in the debate because it wasn’t canonical. Open this link NOW. Open this link NOW. STEVE RAY HERE: MT is an abbreviation for Masoretic Text which was used in the sentence above. Bruce’s “The Canon of Scripture.”* So why do Later Lutherans followed Luther’s Old Testament list and rejected the Deuterocanonical books, but they did not follow his rejection of the New Testament books. Frank, that is a very interesting site you’ve assembled. 1. It is the preeminent authorized Catholic Bible. Thank you again for this incredible website! Why did the Protestants remove these books from the Holy Bible? One thing that they did was to decide officially the list of books that were to compose their Scriptures. This chart https://drive.google.com/open?id=1rFKBCDu7ob6QidUbioA5lhVS_GVf480yBxczNQkEj5A is a representation and interpretation, "in sum," of the information that I have compiled in this infographic https://drive.google.com/open?id=1xVzqAjGgixbxrQy5X1On8BhvhKeFhUnm which I created ©2018 after much reading, particularly of F.F. I’ve looked, and I can’t find it. Daniel) but does not clarify if the additions are included as well. The early Church did not require all Scripture to be written in Hebrew, and the New Testament books were written in Greek. Recently a friend asked Gary for the short answer as to why the Protestants removed seven books from the Bible. A look at Christian and secular history obviously reveals the opposite. I have just discovered your site — I’m very impressed with the size as well as the scope of information. *A note about the chart and infographic: it is not meant to absolutely prove anything, but is useful to summarize and provide context for the conclusion I outline above. As someone who was raised in the Protestant camp, I have always found Protestant arguments to be annoying because of their stupid inconsistencies. For example 1 & 2 Maccabees were written after Similarly, Protestants erred by adopting anti-Catholic sentiment and removing the Apocrypha from the printed Bible entirely, diverting from 1600 years of church practice and abandoning the historical, liturgical, and edifying qualities of the deuterocanon. Thank you. Lv 7 1 decade ago Favourite answer They were following the Jews. They just assigned a different status to some of the books. Why did the Church accept the other books Protestants call apocrypha (The word “Bible” means “the Book.”) The earliest writings of the Bible were likely composed in the 10th century B.C. I don’t know when these events occurred, but I believe I read that the chapters and verses were determined by monks as they copied the scriptures. The last 14 books that made up the end of the Old Testament were as follows: 1 Esdras 2 He did say that Wisdom, Sirach, Judith, and Tobit (books accepted by Cathodox, rejected by Protestants) were "not included in the canon, but appointed by the Church … STEVE RAY HERE: Why Protestants Reject 7 Books of the Bible – the Short Answer by Steve Ray on August 19, 2016 Gary Michuta is an expert on the canon of Scripture, especially in regards to the Deutero-canonical books, what the Protestants call the Apocrypha. I’ve been having a discussion with a Mormon, who seems to think that Catholics took books out of the Bible! Why do the Protestants Reject The Apocrypha? Why did the Vatican remove 14 secret books from the Bible in 1684? { 19 comments… read them below or add one }. Thanks for this! Seven books of the Bible, all in the Old Testament, are accepted by Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox, but are not accepted by Jews or Protestants. These books are called Deuterocanonical by Catholics and Orthodox and Apocryphal by Jews and Protestants. To be He also put the letter of James, the letter to the Hebrews, the letters of John, and the book of Revelation from the New Testament in an appendix. Open this link NOW, You have a miracle waiting for you. Conclusion: Some people are just snobs who want to be different and would make up some pseudo-academic excuse to back it up. There Was More Testimony From Jesus Jesus gave further testimony of the extent of the Old Testament canon in the day of His resurrection. Gary Michuta is an expert on the canon of Scripture, especially in regards to the Deutero-canonical books, what the Protestants call the Apocrypha. You can read his book Why Catholic Bibles Are Bigger to see what I mean. The priest himself found it so helpful that he recommends the book to all his parishioners. 2. Scott Butler, 500 ordained ministers … Finally, in 1546, the Council of Trent reaffirmed the traditional list of the Catholic Church. You’re an inspiration to many people. Wouldn’t we both agree these three are apocrypha? Copyright © 2000–2021 Stephen K. Ray. For those who don’t know Solomon is one of the most legendary characters from the Bible. The question IS WHY did Protestants remove the Apocrypha from the King James Bible? Say this simple miracle prayer if you need a miracle today. Desidrius Erasmus was a May God Bless you and your endeavors. The canon of Scripture is the list of 73 books that belong to the Bible. As a side note, Jerome rejected it because he thought that a Hebrew manuscript tradition, known as the Masoretic Text, was identical to the inspired originals and all other copies were made from this text. In addition, most Scripture scholars believe that 1 Maccabees, Judith, Baruch and parts of Wisdom were also originally written in Hebrew.) Thank you for developing this site! Your friends can disagree all they want, but history shows that they are wrong. My scoring methodology awards +2 points when a source affirms the canonicity of one of the deuterocanon, -2 points for explicitly excluding the deuterocanon, and -1 point when a book is excluded by absentia (an implied exclusion based on the assumption that they left it off the explicit list for a reason). He also had problems with certain historical elements in Baruch. In the year 1611 the Holy Bible was translated from Latin to English; and at that time the Bible contained a total of 80 books. Wonderful piece of work, Frank. Hi Steve. By appealing to Jerome, he also rejected all the other books Jerome rejected (Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, Tobit, Judith, 1st and 2nd Maccabees, Daniel 13, and sections of Esther). The short answer is this: When Luther was cornered in a debate over Purgatory, his opponent, Johann Eck, cited 2 Maccabees against Luther’s position. For 1500+ years, these books were considered sacred, then all of a sudden a bunch of people rock up and think they know better. During Confession a few months ago, the priest and I ended up discussing the different orders in which a person might read the Bible as opposed to Genesis to Apocalypse. Thank you very much for your time! Answer Save 17 Answers Relevance? I wish to write articles about faith in this modern age within a sociological, psychological, and philosophical framework, as well as how political climates come into play and finally, to show readers what tradition and authority really mean, I hope to do this by, among many other things, making relevant again Pope Pius XII’s encyclical “Humani Generis,” Previous post: Walking in the Footprints of St. Pope John Paul II’s Childhood and much more! Nothing is more important to me than my faith. I recommend the Douey Rheims Holy Bible. I apologize for the late response - I had to pull out John Piper and Jonathan Edwards to get the full backstory on this particular question (See ending sources). God bless you! Sorry I’m not of more help. Well done. Later in the debate, Luther appealed to St. Jerome for rejecting Maccabees (the councils of Carthage, Hippo, and Florence all included Macabees as canonical Scripture). I am glad I was raised as some sort of Christian but I don’t appreciate being denied data by people who reject data without proper examination. JP II Center in Kraków, Divine Mercy Center for the Decade and Mass, Tour of Krakòw. Walking in the Footprints of St. Pope John Paul II’s Childhood and much more! Books are either Holy Scripture or not; this is the way it’s been since He told Moses to write the first Scriptures. STEVE RAY HERE: I am not aware of the book that you’re referring to but I would suggest you contact Augustine Institute and ask them. A researcher’s dream! Hey Joe Jersey check out Youversion Bible app. Protestants removed books from the bible more than a thousand years after it was first compiled by the Catholic Church in the late 4th century. Thank you and God bless you! The short answer is, yes, the Protestants removed, or rejected, the Apocryphal books as non-canonical. The church would do well to look at the example of Luther and Calvin to begin reassessing the status of the deuterocanon, who held in tension the edification and inspiration of books, since the early days of the church, adopted for use and instruction. Can you recommend any magazines, papers, or journals that accept submissions on those topics? I enjoy finding short posts like these, although I know it’s challenging to do theology posts in less than 400 words. Thanks Steve. It can be found on YouTube and free to download. Seven books of the Bible, all in the Old Testament, are accepted by Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox, but are not accepted by Jews or Protestants. The priest suggested I read a book which promotes a specific order in which to read and explains why it helps people better understand it, historical and other contexts I’m guessing. However, I think the work you’ve done is very helpful and nicely presented. My prayer is for the universal church, that it may find a way to reconcile a unified canon, based on Apostolic and traditional church practice, that neither over- or under-values, in doctrine and deed, those books since ancient times called Apocrypha. Joe, I am sorry but I don’t know of one off the top of my head, but I think if you search Google for “Catholic Bible on line” I think you will find plenty. So why then does everyone continue to call him Jesus, when the letter J did not even being used at the time? In his best-selling novel, "The Da Vinci Code," Dan Brown wrote that the Bible was assembled during the famous Council of Nicea in 325 C.E., when Emperor Constantine and church authorities purportedly banned problematic books that didn't conform to their secret agenda. Why did Protestants remove books from the Bible?