Canon of the Bible.

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Iraneaus

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This question is mostly aimed at non-Catholics. However if any Catholics would like to provide some insight, please feel free.

Anyway my question is, from a protestant veiwpoint, if there was another book mentioned by name in the bible or even directly quoted from by the apostles, why would it not be in the bible? Why would it not be added?

Please note: I am not referring to the deuterocanonicals.
 
Actually I am not referring to a particular book. There are several listed in the bible that are not in the bible. The one I had in mind when I made this thread though was the book of Jasher.
 
Iraneaus said:
This question is mostly aimed at non-Catholics. However if any Catholics would like to provide some insight, please feel free.

Anyway my question is, from a protestant veiwpoint, if there was another book mentioned by name in the bible or even directly quoted from by the apostles, why would it not be in the bible? Why would it not be added?

Please note: I am not referring to the deuterocanonicals.
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I don’t know. Paul quotes Epimenides when he says “all Cretans are liars” and elsewhere he quotes an unknown pagan to say of God “in Him we live and move and have our being”.

I don’t think his quotation of these works necessarily entails their canonicity, just that these particular quotations, in context, bear a point.
 
Steadfast said:
I don’t know. Paul quotes Epimenides when he says “all Cretans are liars” and elsewhere he quotes an unknown pagan to say of God “in Him we live and move and have our being”.

I don’t think his quotation of these works necessarily entails their canonicity, just that these particular quotations, in context, bear a point.
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I actually agree with this.

There’s also passages which quotes a decree from King Artaxerxes to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Although I’m sure this decree was ultimately directed by God’s Spirit through this king, there also remains the credible possibility that not all things within the decree are inspired of God.
 
Iraneaus said:
???

Please elaborate I am not following.
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It would seem self-evident that in order for a book to be canonical, the author would, at the very least, have had to believe in the God of the Bible.
 
I am referring to books where that is the case. Such as the book of Jasher.
 
I have to assume that the Book of Jasher was just simply lost.
If it were indeed inspired, it would have been preserved. (Yes, I know, that’s a circular argument, too).
On the other hand, it is also possible that whatever was needed from Jasher has been preserved in the books that we do have. In other words, that it was redundant…
 
Zooey said:
I have to assume that the Book of Jasher was just simply lost.
If it were indeed inspired, it would have been preserved. (Yes, I know, that’s a circular argument, too).
On the other hand, it is also possible that whatever was needed from Jasher has been preserved in the books that we do have. In other words, that it was redundant…
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I don’t know that you could really call it redudant although I understand what your saying. If anything its more of an elaboration. Stories that you can find elsewhere in the bible, Jasher goes further into detail on those same stories.

Take for instance Joseph and the coat of many colors. It has the same story, many parts of it almost verbatim. However it gives further details you won’t find elsewhere. Like who took the bloodied coat back to Jacob, what the brothers said when they plotted the story up, and most inrestingly about a wolf that God opened its mouth to speak to Jacob.

The story of Cain and Able also goes into further detail, like some of the conflicts they had.

Even though its not canonical, it makes for an intresting read.
 
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