The Old Testament of the King James Bible has thirty nine books, while the New Testament has twenty seven books. Which books of the Bible are right and belong in the accepted canon of scripture? How does one know which authoritative books are approved by God?
In this lesson, Dr. Kim outlines the criteria by which biblical canons have been carefully scrutinized and found to be sacred books and are put together in the Holy Scripture (King James Bible).
God Approves the Book
The canonical lists found in the sacred scripture (KJV) are approved by God.
- Jesus referred to Isaiah as the scriptures and therefore approved of his writings as reliable.
Luke 4:17,21: “And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written… And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”
- Jesus called Daniel and Jonah prophets. A prophet is one who speaks out God’s words.
Jonah:Matthew 12:39: “But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet” Jonas:”
Daniel:
Matthew 24:15: “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)”
- Jesus Christ quoted Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Psalms, and Zechariah as authoritative and reliable.
Matthew 4:1-10: “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.”
Deuteronomy, Leviticus
John 8:17: “It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true.”
Zechariah
Mark 14:27: “And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.”
- Jesus said the scriptures were the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms.
Luke 24:44: “And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.”
Josephus, the first-century Jewish historian, agreed with Genesis through Deuteronomy being “the law of Moses”. He also said that “the prophets” were indeed Joshua through Daniel and the 12 minor prophets (after Daniel). Lastly, he (and Jews alike) accepted “the psalms” to be the book of Psalms through the Songs of Solomon.
The Hebrew Old Testament is based on the Masoretic text (Genesis to 2 Chronicles). While in a different order based on the timeline, the Masoretic text has the same books as the King James Bible.
Matthew 23:35: “That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.”
Abel (Genesis) to Zechariah (2 Chronicles) follows the Hebrew order of the Old Testament.
- Jesus said His words would be passed on to His disciples
One can believe that God’s words can be found in the New Testament because they are written by Jesus’ disciples.John 14:26: “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
John 16:13: “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” - Peter called Paul’s writings the scriptures.
2 Peter 3:15-16: “And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.”
Evidence that Supports the Bible
- The Dead Sea scrolls contain all Old Testament books except for Esther.
- The Jews were in charge of the Old Testament scriptures.
Deuteronomy 31:25-26: “That Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying, Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee.”
Nehemiah 8:7: “Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place.”Paul said to other New Testament Christians that the Jews were given the oracles of God.
Romans 3:2: “Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.”
- In his book, “Believing Bible Study”, Dr. Edward F. Hills gives a historical case for all books in the King James Bible being inspired by God, while the non-canonical (non-reliable books) are corrupted.
4. Early churches knew that they had the words of God.
Acts 13:49: “And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.”
5. A second-century list of manuscripts contains all twenty-seven New Testament books.
Long-Lasting Availability of the Book
God promised that He would preserve His words and that they would not return to Him void. Non-canonical books are called “lost books” because for centuries they were lost and not read by the public.
Isaiah 55:11: “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”
God will protect His word and cause them to be read through all generations. No generation will be able to wipe out the word of God. It is His divine authorship.
Psalm 12:6-7: “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.”
Jesus said that His words are never going to be gone or lost.
Matthew 24:35: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”
The Blessing of God Upon the Book
God curses people who change His words.
Revelation 22:18: “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:”
Jesus blessed those that hear and keep the word of God.
Luke 11:28: “But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.”
Problems with the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha
Here is not a complete list of contradictions that occur within these contested books:
1.Witchcraft
Tobit 6:5-7: “So the young man did as the angel commanded him; and when they had roasted the fish, they did eat it: then they both went on their way, till they drew near to Ecbatane. Then the young man said to the angel, Brother Azarias, to what use is the heart and the liver and the gal of the fish? And he said unto him, Touching the heart and the liver, if a devil or an evil spirit trouble any, we must make a smoke thereof before the man or the woman, and the party shall be no more vexed.”
2. Alms cleanse all sins.
Tobit 12:9 contradicts 1 John 1:7
3. Babylon’s captivity for 7 generations.
Baruch 6:2 contradicts Jeremiah 29:10 (captivity in Babylon is 70 years)
4. Nonsense of Antiochus’ death and glorification of suicide.
2 Maccabees 9:5-6,18
5. Wrong calculation of year and age.
Tobit 1:3-5, 14:11 claims that he is alive during 931 BC (Israel revolt) and 722 BC (Assyria conquers Israel) which is more than 200 years apart, but he is recorded as only living 185 years.
6. Contradiction with Jude.
Jude 1:14 against Enoch 1:9
Objections to the Canon
- There are different early church fathers that claim some apocryphal books and pseudepigraphic writings are scriptures.
Ask them to name a book. Any book they give will contradict one of the points from this teaching. - Some early Christian churches did not approve of some of the books in the King James Bible.
Ask them to name a book. Even if those early churches did think that the books in the King James Bible weren’t right, the majority of early churches and Christians did think so. Regardless, evidence proves every single book in this Bible.
Man cannot be dependable as the final authority. (All the previous sections show that all the books are right) - The Catholic Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. (3rd century) gave the books in the Bible.
This is a partial truth.
If the Catholic church gave the Bible and its Catholic epistles, why don’t they follow its teachings?
For further study, please refer to:
– Biblical manuscript (Why KJV Only)
– Why scholars studying Hebrew scripture makes us KJV only
– How did this collection of scriptures come to be?