Who decided what to include in the Bible?

The “writings or letters” were first collected because:

1. ---since they were written by an apostle or prophet of God, they must be valuable, and if valuable, they should be preserved.

2. The churches needed to know which books should be read, revered, and applied

3. To weed out heretics – false teachers – as early as 140 A.D. the heretic Marcion developed his own incomplete canon and began to propagate it.

4. Eastern churches were using definitely counterfeit books

5. Christianity was spreading rapidly and there was a need to begin translating the Bible into other languages

6. PERSECUTION- the edict of Diocletian (A.D. 303) called for the destruction of the sacred books of the Christians. The Christians needed to know which books were truly sacred. (3) This list was accepted and circulated by by Jerome, Augustine, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus. (4)

 

There WERE

several CHURCH COUNCILS called "Synods" which ONLY CONFIRMED THE LIST WE STILL HAVE TODAY

The Synod of Hippo A.D. 393 – listed the same 27 books and simply recorded their established canonicity. (5)

Council of Jamnia A.D. 90 – discussed questions surrounding certain books and whether they should remain in the canon. No formal decisions were made

There were a total of 21 "Ecumenical" Councils -21 Ecuminical Councils ADDITIONAL CHURCH COUNCILS:

( Websters on line defines the word "Ecumenical" as meaning 1. worldwide or general influence 2. Relating to or representing the whole body of churches.)

Here are 7 councils and what they discussed taken from Wikipedia

Councils and Topics

First Council of Nicaea 325 A.D	Nature of God the Son and his relation to God the Father, Church Doctrine
First Council of Constantinople 381 A.D.	Doctrine of the Trinity and theological issues
Council of Ephesus 431 A.D.	a church father Nestorius was arguing that Mary was beginning to be deifyed (which she was and he lost)
Council of Chalcedon 451 A.D.	Nature of Christ
Second Council of Constantinople 553 A.D.	Condemed certain Nestorian writings about the nature of Christ and Mary
Third Council of Constantinople 680-681	Nature of Christ
Second Council of Niceae 787 A.D. wikipedia Second Council of Nicaea	Restored the "veneration" of Idols after they had been banned twice and denouned by the very first church leaders

These councils were ALL concerned with organizing Church standards and doctrine for all the Churches to follow.

Note about the Old Testament Books:

" no council of rabbis ever made an Old Testament book authoritative,” “These books were inspired by God and had the stamp of authority on them from the beginning. Through long usage in the Jewish community their authority was recognized , and in due time they were added to the collection of canonical books.” (7) (Ewert. ATMT,72)

Quick note about the "Lost Books" or books that were "Left out" of the Bible:

There aren't any!!

THEY DIDN'T PASS ANY KIND OF COMMON SENSE VERIFICATION

1. was the book written by a prophet of God?
2. Was the writer confirmed by acts of God?
3. Did the message tell the truth about God?
4. Does it come with the power of God?
5. Was it accepted by the people of God?

Of course other documents were surely written during this time, but they "abound in historical and geographical inaccuracies.." They teach false doctines and practices that contradict inspired scripture." 8 (Unger, NUBI) 85

The book "The Lost Books of the Bible" is actually the translations of these manuscripts which it says were "suppressed" by the Church. I read many of these - they are fantasy and myth, and were never circulated by the early churches as the teachings of Jesus and the Disciples and Paul. Its the same as saying - I'm going to research and put together a book on "Exactly how to Make a $1000 dollars a week" and when its done......someone comes up to you and says, "why didn't you include this paper I wrote on how to make money by: sleeping with a dime under your pillow, or setting a dove free at dawn?" LL

 

FACT: there are more existing manuscripts of the New Testament than of the writings of most ancient scholars that not questioned whatsoever (Josh McDowell lists approximately 15 different sources were he gathered this information page 34 and 35 in his book "Evidence that Demands a Verdict.")