Christian Holy Scriptures
and Traditions

Images in the Bible

Scriptures and Traditions:

     1- The Bible
            - The Original Documents we have: Septuagint, Masoretic, Death See Scrolls...
                    - Deutero-canonical and Apocrypha Books - Gospel of Judas
            - Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Bibles
            - Books of the Old Testament
            - Books of the New Testament
            - How do we now what Books belong to the Bible?... CANON of the Bible
            - Bibles in several languages, commentaries, dictionary, concordance, encyclopedia, apocrypha and deutero-canonical

    2- Traditions: Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants, Cults... many good and bad Traditions, as many good and bad interpretations of the Bible.                        
  
    Some denominations claim "only the Bible"!... but it is not true: Every denomination has its own way of organization, worship, and specific ethical and moral standards, due to their "Tradition", to the way their founders or leaders interpret the Bible. The Lutherans have different organization than the Pentecostal or Presbyterians, with different church services... and it is due to their own "Tradition".
 

1- THE BIBLE:

    The "Bible" ("books") is the most sacred book, the "Word of God", for the Christians... the whole Bible has been translated into 275 languages, and substantial parts into 1,720.
    Bibles in different languages, commentaries, dictionary, concordance, encyclopedia

    It contains two main parts: The Old and the New Testament; both are the "Testaments" left by God for you and me, and we should read them with as much care and love as we would read the Testament of our father, or the one of the rich uncle who left a fortune for us... God, our Father, left us an immense fortune in his Testaments.

    The Original Documents of the Bible:

   1- The "New Testament":
        - All books written in Greek, with the quotations from the Old Testament taken from the Septuagint.
        - We have 4,500 manuscripts in Greek, 67 papyrus, 2,578 parchment, 1,600 lectionaries mainly in the Codex of the Vatican, London, Paris, Cambridge, and Washington.

    2- The "Old Testament":
    It was written mostly in Hebrew and Aramaic, some in Greek... and we don't have any of the "original documents"; what we have today mainly are the "Greek Bible", the "Hebrew Bible", and the "Dead See Scrolls":

           A- The "Greek Bible", the "Septuagint":
            From the 3rd century before Christ, it is the oldest document we have. It is the Greek translation made in Alexandria by a Group or 72 rabbis (6 from each one of the 12 tribes), and hence the name of "Septuagint" given to the translation. It has 46 books like the actual Catholic Bibles, and it was the common version of the Bible among the Jews during Christ and well after Christ ; the one used and quoted by the Evangelists and Apostles when they wrote the New Testament.
    - It was translated to Syriac, Coptic, and Latin in the 4th century (the "Vulgate" of St. Jerome).

           B- "Hebrew Bible", Masoretic Text":
            Written in the 6th to 10th centuries after Christ, by a Group of scholars from Babylon and Palestine, introducing vowels and accent signs to the Hebrew. They, of course, used the Septuagint to produce it. It has 39 books, like the Protestant Bibles.

            C- The "Dead See Scrolls":
            They are very important, because they are in Hebrew, dating from the 3rd century "before Christ", when the oldest Hebrew Bible we had, the Masoretic, is from 700 "after Christ"... it pushed back the curtain 1,000 years! on the earliest Hebrew document we had.
           Every book of the Bible is represented. 7 scrolls are in Israel, but most of them are in Jordan, with a remarkable similarity to the ones we have in Greek and Hebrew. A most important discovery on the OT.!.         

    Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Bibles:

        A total of 73 books in the Catholic and Orthodox Bibles, and 66 in the Protestant Bibles.

    1- The Old Testament: It is he same as the Jewish Tanakh.
                - The Catholic Bibles have 46 books, as the Bible of the Jewish of Alexandria, who wrote the Septuagint, the version quoted by the Apostles in the Gospels and Epistles.
                - The Protestant Bibles have 39 books, as the Bible of the Jews from Palestine.
                   They do not have:
                         - 4 Historic Books: Tobit, Judith, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees. (and Additions to Esther)
                         - 2 Wisdom Books: Wisdom of Solomon, and Ecclesiasticus of Ben Sirach.
                         - 1 Prophetic Book: Baruch. (and parts of Daniel: The Prayer of Azariah, the Song of the Three Young Men, Bel and the Dragon, and Susana).

   2- The New Testament: With 27 Books in all the Bibles.
        The "Four Gospels", are the heart of the Bible:
        The Old Testament prefigures and characterizes the Christ of the Gospels and His Church; and the books after the Gospels show the development and expansion of the Church of Christ, and clarify important points of the Gospels... every page of the Old Testament talks about Christ and his Church... so, if when you read any book of the Bible you don't see there Christ or his Church, you have missed the main message of that book, read it again after praying! (Lk.24:27,44, Jn.1:45, 5:39).    

Bibles:
 Bibles in several languages, commentaries, dictionary, concordance, encyclopedia, apocrypha and Deutero-canonical
Audio Bible

Deutero-canonical and Apocrypha Books

    1- Deutero-canonical (second canon):
    It is the term used in 1566 by the Roman Catholic Church, meaning that their canonicity was recognized only after a period of time. They are included in the Greek Septuagint scriptures of the third century before Christ, but they are not included in the Hebrew Masoretic scriptures of the 7th century after Christ. Some fragments of these books have also been discovered among the Dead See Scrolls.
    They are included in the Catholic and Orthodox Bibles, and usually not included in the Protestant Bibles.
    The Deutero-canonical  include the following books and parts of books:
        - Historical: Tobit, Judith, First and Second Maccabees, Additions to Esther
        - Wisdom: Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (also called Ecclesiasticus).
        - Prophets: Baruch, the Letter of Jeremiah (in Baruch), and parts of Daniel: The Prayer of Azariah, the Song of the Three Young Men, Bel and the Dragon, and Susana.

    2- Apocrypha (hidden things):
    It is a collection of books written by Jews but not included in any Bible, attributed to persons in the Old Testament or in the Gospels, and dealing with Christian and Biblical themes:. Some of them are from the times of the Old Testament, others from the times of the New Testament.
        1- Apocrypha of the Old Testament times:
        There are over 25 books: Acts of Adam, Apocalypse of Adam, Abraham, Testament of Adam, Book of Enoch, Enoch II (Book of the Secrets of Enoch),  Book of Noah, Apocalypse of Barach (I), Apocalypse of Barach (II), Apocalypse of Daniel, Apocalypse of Elijah, Apocalypse of Enoch, Apocalypse of Ezra (Esdras), Apocalypse of Solomon, Odes of Solomon, Testament of Isaac, Martyrdom of Isaiah, Apocalypse of Zephaniah, Paralipomena of Jeremiah, Apocryphon of Ezekiel, Ascension of Isaiah, Assumption of Moses, Baruch III, Baruch IV, Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, Acts of Solomon, Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, Maccabee III, Maccabee IV,  
        2- Apocrypha of the New Testament times, Christian Apocrypha:
        There are over 40 books: 14 Gospels, by Thomas, James, Peter, Bartholomew...15 Acts, by Andrew, Peter, Matthew, John, Thomas, Paul...6 Revelations, by Paul, Thomas, John, Virgin Mary, Stephen, Peter...Acts of John, Acts of Paul, Acts of Paul and Thecla, Acts of Peter, Apocalypse of James (I), Apocalypse of James (II), Apocalypse of Peter, Apocalypse of Philip, Apocalypse of Stephan, Apocalypse of Thomas, Apocryphon of John, Epistle of Pontius Pilate, Gospel of Nicodemus, Gospel of Perfection, Gospel of Philip, Gospel of Peter, Revelation of Peter, Protevangelium of James, Gospel of the Birth of Mary, Gospel of the Hebrews, Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ, Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Truth, History of Joseph, Letter of Paul to the Alexandrians, Testament of the Lord, Wisdom of Jesus.
    The Gospel of Judas: It has been found lately and contains discrepancies with the Gospels of the Bible. The "Gospel of Judas" is an apocrypha book, it is not "the Word of God", it is not in the Bible. As all apocrypha, contains discrepancies with the real Gospels of the Bible, like the 0ther 40 apocrypha books above mentioned. All of them are used to try to discredit the Bible, mainly by Gnostics and atheists. It does not bather me, I stay with the teachings of the "Word of God ", of the "Bible".
    Look at   Bibles in several languagesapocrypha and deutero-canonical
    Christian apocrypha and Early Christian Literature   Deutero-canonical Apocrypha
                           

The Books of the Old Testament: 46 books:

   1- Historic: 21 Books:
   From Genesis to Maccabees. Narrate the formation and development of the "People of God" with his glories and tribulations.

   2- Wisdom or Poetic: 7 Books: On the golden period of the nation:
    Job; Psalms of David; the 4 of Solomon: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom; and Ecclesiasticus of Ben Sirach.

   3- Prophetic: 18 Books: On the darkest days of the nation.
    - The 4 great prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel... plus the Lamentations of Jeremiah, and Baruch.
    - The 12 minor prophets: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.

The Books of the New Testament: 27:

   1- The 4 Gospels: The heart of the Bible, just commented.

   2- Acts of the Apostles:
   Also called the "Gospel of the Holy Spirit", narrate the life and acts of the primitive Church, and its expansion to the whole world known at that time, from Jerusalem to Rome... in 32 years!.

  3- Epistles of St. Paul: 14:
   - The 4 theological: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians.
    - The 3 Christological, written in prison: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians.
    - The 2 Scatological, on the end of times: 1 and 2 Thessalonians.
    - The 3 Pastoral, organization of Church: 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus.
    - 1 Social: Philemon, Amos of the N.T.
    - The 1 on Apostasy: Hebrews.

  4- Universal or Catholic Epistles: 7:
   - St. James: The Proverbs of the N.T.
    - 1 and 2 St. Peter: 1- The enemies from outside the Church. 2- The enemies from inside the Church, and the "fire" that will consume the world.
    - The 3 of St. John: Each one dealing with the "way", the "truth", and the "life"... the way of "love", and the "Antichrist".
    - St. Judas: The pure faith, the Spirit.

   5- Revelation or Apocalypse:
   The total and eternal triumph of Christ in his Church, for his Church, to his Church... and the total and eternal failure of Satan and his friends.

How do we know what Books belong to the Bible?: CANON of the Bible:

    Because the Church tells us so!, says St. Augustine, "if the Church won't tell me these Books are the Bible, I won't believe it".

    The "Canon" of the Bible is the list of the books of the Bible. People needs to know without error (i.e., infallibly) what the books of the Bible are, the Canon of the Bible..
     But God did not explicitly reveal what books are the inspired books of the Bible, title by title, to anyone... Jesus did not write the Bible, and he did not give us a list of the books of the Bible... In fact, all the books of the New Testament were not even written when Jesus died...

    But Jesus founded "his Church" (Matt.16:18-19), and he gave her the greatest power on earth: "whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Matt.16:19, 18:18)... and he gave to his Church an order: Go and preach the Good News of Redemption, the Gospel, to the whole world... and one of the ways she is doing it, is by giving us the Bible... The Church of Christ is the one who gives us the Bible, the number of books of the Bible, the Canon... without the Church, there is no Bible.

    The Bible is the book of the Church; she is not the Church of the Bible. There was no canon of scripture in the early Church; there was no Bible. It was the Church--her leadership, faithful people--guided by the authority of the Spirit of Truth which discovered the books inspired by God in their writing... the one who gave us the list of the books of the Bible in the fourth century

    The Church, gave us the list of the Books that form the Bible:
    The Council of Laodicea, in 360, produced a list of books of the Old Testament similar to today's canon. This was one of the Church's earliest decisions on a Canon.
    Pope Damasus I in the Council of Rome, in 382, gave us the complete list of the books of the Bible, including the New Testament... and the same Bible was confirmed by Pope Paul III at the Ecumenical Council of Trent (1545).

    There are another 35 good books, dealing with themes of the Old and New Testament, and attributed to Enoch, Moses, Salomon, St. Paul, St. Thomas, St. James, St. Peter, Virgin Mary... and they are not in the Bible, because the Church says so!. Deutero-canonical and Apocrypha Books  

    - The Catholic and Orthodox Bibles have the 46 books of the Old Testament listed by the Councils of the Church, which are the same list as the Bible of the Jewish of Alexandria, who wrote the Septuagint, of the 3rd century before Christ, the version quoted by the Apostles when they wrote the Gospels and Epistles.
    - The Protestant Bibles have 39 books in the Old Testament, as the Hebrew Bible of the Jews from Palestine, of the 7th century after Christ.
    - The 27 books of the New Testament are accepted by Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants.

    Many Protestants do not realize that the New Testament they cherish was given to them by a Pope, the Spaniard holy and wise Pope St. Damasus, at the times of St. Jerome and St, Augustine, in the Council of Rome, they the same Books used in all Protestant Bibles.

     When Luther broke with the Pope, he kept the same New Testament as the one Pope Damasus I had given us... if the Pope is no good, then, the Bible is no good!.

    However, Martin Luther, in accord with his posture of supreme self-importance as restorer of Christianity, even presumed, inconsistently, to judge various books of the Bible, God's holy Word.

- On the Old Testament: Of the Pentateuch he says: 'We have no wish either to see or hear Moses.... Job is merely the argument of a fable... Ecclesiastes ought to have been more complete. There is too much incoherent matter in it, Solomon did not, therefore, write this book... The book of Esther I toss into the Elbe. I am such an enemy to the book of Esther that I wish it did not exist, for it Judaizes too much and has in it a great deal of heathenish naughtiness . . . The history of Jonah is so monstrous that it is absolutely incredible . . .'

- The books of the New Testament fared no better. He rejected from the canon Hebrews, James, Jude and the Apocalypse. These he placed at the end of his translation, after the others, which he called 'the true and certain capital books of the New Testament.' . . . 'St. John is the only sympathetic, the only true Gospel and should undoubtedly be preferred to the others. In like manner the Epistles of St. Peter and St. Paul are superior to the first three Gospels.' The Epistle to the Hebrews did not suit him: 'It need not surprise one to find here bits of wood, hay, and straw.' The Epistle of St. James, Luther denounced as 'an epistle of straw.' 'I do not hold it to be his writing, and I cannot place it among the capital books.' He did this because it proclaimed the necessity of good works, contrary to his heresy. 'There are many things objectionable in this book,' he says of the Apocalypse, . . . 'I feel an aversion to it, and to me this is a sufficient reason for rejecting it' . . . See Luther and the Canon of the Bible

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