The Debate On The Canon Of Scripture

Over the past week I have listened to several Youtube videos of ministers talking about how we got our Bible, or "canon" of holy books. More ministers are talking about this because many in today's younger generation want to know about "lost books of the Bible," about why the Catholic Bible has more books than the Protestant Bible, and have questions about why a particular book is not in the Bible, like the Book of Enoch, and how does one determine whether a book of the Bible is inspired and thus should be in the canon of inspired writings, etc.

I was surprised that none of these ministers really gave the average Christian the rule by which to measure all books in regard to inspiration. The Catholic says it is "the church" that decides (through her bishops and pope) what book is canonical. Many Protestants affirm the same thing. Each denomination has its list of recognized books and 99% of the members of each simply accepts the books that their leaders tell them is the "accepted" books. The scriptural view, however, is that each individual Christian must decide this matter for himself and should not be rigid in his views on this topic until he has investigated the matter with the help of elders who are informed on the subject. But, would not that require each Christian to become a scholar and invest tremendous time in research? No, not necessarily.

In my posting "Rules of Canonicity" (here) I give five rules or tests to give any book that claims inspiration.

1. Messianic Test - does it witness to Christ per John 5: 39, Luke 24: 27, 44?

2. Profitability Test - Does it do the things scripture is said to do per II Tim. 3: 15, 16?

3. Origination Test - Did it originate by divine initiative and revelation? Is it cited by other scripture writers and consistent with other scripture? Is it from a prophetic or apostolic source? (Per II Peter 1: 20?)

4. Consistency or Truth Test - is it free of error and contradiction? (Per John 10: 35?)

5. Does it contain the oracles or utterances of God per Rom. 3: 2?

It is because of these that I reject the Book of Esther as being inspired. It has had a history of non acceptance in Israelite and Christian history.