The Word of God has been under attack from its adversaries from time immemorial. Today is no different, but, in many ways, the attacks appear greater in number and intensity. One of the most frequent criticisms of the Bible has to do with its content: Is it all there? Is something missing? If so, we do not have a complete Bible and, thus, may mislead someone due to critical parts missing. Or, do we have more in the Bible than what should be there? If so, we may be getting dangerous and erroneous information that never was from God but slipped into the record by misguided or mischievous men. In either case, whether we have more than what is real Bible or less than what is real Bible, where does this place the whole? It places the whole under a great cloud of unresolvable doubt and suspicion, which is precisely where the adversary and its human critics want it. A Bible deficient of things that should be in it, or a Bible containing things that do not belong in it, is perhaps worse than no Bible at all, especially when the issue of authority is addressed.
The canon of Scripture refers to the Bible containing all it is supposed to have and nothing it is not supposed to have in it. The end product is content actually inspired of God. Lengthy arguments and debates have been held by religious bodies, church counsels and the like, with the idea of determining which books should be in or out. It goes without saying that there were scores of religious writings created by mere human origin over several centuries, so the actual content of Scripture we call the whole Bible is comprised of only a small number of the host of religious writings that were available. But we may be certain of one thing: it is folly to think that God would inspire men to write the Holy Scripture, there being the very God-breathed words from Himself, and, then, be dependent upon mere men to see they were included in the Bible, while those He did not originate were omitted? Men, in their arrogance and over-estimation of their wisdom, have taken this task to themselves, but it never was the purview of men, no counsel or pope, to ever decide what was holy writ and what was not.
Man could and did acknowledge and accept the writings of Scripture as authentic and inspired of God, but it was never man’s responsibility to determine the canon. Were God to leave the decision of determining the holy canon of Scripture to mere mortals, no matter how astute, would be to place the preservation of the Bible at great peril. If God Himself did not personally oversee and directly determine the canon via His own inspiring of the content, the entire purpose of revelation would have been compromised, if not defeated entirely. The Holy Spirit of God who inspired men to pen the Scriptures would most certainly see to it that it was preserved intact, nothing missing and nothing extraneous. Canonicity, inspiration, and divine authority are inseparable, and all are the work of the Holy Spirit.
CC 07-05
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