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Ginger2 - RE post 524 your conclusions are False
St. Jerome, expressly rejected the deuterocanonical books as canonical Scripture. The same may
be said for St. Gregory the Great. This is what they said respectively: “Just as the Church reads Judith and Tobias and the Books of Maccabees, but does not accept them as belonging among the canonical Scriptures, so too let her read these two volumes for the edification of the people but not for the purpose of confirming the authority of the Church’s teachings.”
8 “…we are not acting irregularly, if from the books, though not canonical, yet brought out for the edification of the Church, we bring
forth testimony. Thus Eleazar in the battle smote and brought down an elephant, but fell under the very beast that he killed.”
9 First, it must be recognized that no Father is the Church or infallible in all he says. Pope St. Gregory the Great did not promulgate the above quotation as Church teaching, but as a private work, which he had begun before being elected Bishop of Rome. For many centuries, it remained open to all and sundry to express private opinions about the deuterocanonicals. The overwhelming majority of early Christian writers quoted from them as
inspired Scripture without question, as, for example:
the author of the Didache; St. Clement I,
author of the Epistle of Barnabas;
the author of The Shepherd of Hermas; St. Polycarp of Smyrna;
Athenagoras of Athens;
St. Irenaeus of Lyons; St. Clement of Alexandria; Tertullian; St. Hippolytus
of Rome; Origen; St. Cyprian of Carthage; Dionysius of Alexandria and St.
Augustine of Hippo. Other Fathers did not accept the deuterocanonicals as
canonical but considered them ecclesiastical, and useful for edification and
instruction in doctrine. These included Sts. Athanasius, Cyril of Jerusalem,
Basil, Gregory Nazianzus and Epiphanius of Salamis. Sts. Jerome and Pope
St. Gregory the Great fall into this latter category. St. Jerome calls Judith
and deutero-Esther ‘holy books’. Later Doctors and Saints also questioned
the canonicity of the deuterocanon. Those who favored their inclusion
included Gratian, St. Stephen Harding, Stephen Langton, St. Bonaventure,
St. Albert the Great, St Thomas Aquinas; those against included Hugh of
St. Victor, Nicholas of Lyra, Cardinal Ximenes and Cardinal Cajetan.
8
St. Jerome, On the Three Solomonic Books, Preface (c. 398 AD).
9
Pope St. Gregory the Great, Moral Teachings Drawn from Job, Bk 19, 34 (inter
578-595 AD).
There is a distinction between inspiration and canonization, although the two are co-extensive. Inspiration precedes canonization in order of time and causality. It is only God who inspires, and this occurs simultaneously
with the book’s composition. Canonization (being put into the canon) takes place after the book’s composition and presupposes inspiration. Therefore, all canonical books are known to be inspired; and now—since the final
judgment of the Church—all inspired books are canonical. The canon is closed; there are no inspired books that we do not know of.
Who then determines with certainty which books should form part of canonical Scripture, and by what criteria? This question applies to both the Old and New Testament canons. The Holy Spirit did not promise a revelation to any individual Christian concerning the authentic canon.
Anglican Church historian, J. N. D. Kelly offers one possible solution:
“Unless a book could be shown to come from the pen of an apostle,
or at least to have the authority of an apostle behind it, it was
peremptorily rejected, however edifying or popular with the faithful
it might be.”
10
But how could early Christians know whether a book was Apostolic?
Certainly not simply by a book’s claim to be so, since the Gospels were
anonymous and there were numerous spurious gospels and epistles in
circulation.
11
Protestant Scripture scholar F. F. Bruce writes that:
“[The early Fathers] had recourse to the criterion of orthodoxy …
This appeal to the testimony of the churches of apostolic foundation
was developed especially by Irenaeus … When previously unknown
Gospels or Acts began to circulate … the most important question to
ask about any one of them was: What does it teach about the person
and work of Christ? Does it maintain the apostolic witness to
him…?”
12
In other words, a book was reckoned as Apostolic only if its contents were
consistent with the teachings of the Apostles (Apostolic paradosis, or
10
Early Christian Doctrines, 5th ed. rev., Harper & Row, New York, 1978, p. 60.
11
For example, the Gospel of Thomas, the Secret Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of
the Hebrews, the Acts of Peter, the Acts of John, etc.
12
The Canon of Scripture, p. 260.
tradition) as handed on by the Church. Who, however, was to make such a
determination? To assert that this was the Holy Spirit alone without men
who determined such is neither historical nor honest. The Holy Spirit did
do all the work of inspiration and collection but it was through men who
were leaders and pillars of the Church divinely founded, that is, the
infallible voice of the successors to St. Peter and the Apostles. Thus came
about the decrees of Popes St. Damasus (382 AD) and St. Innocent I (405
AD), and the Councils of Hippo (393 AD) and Carthage (397 AD), which
accepted as canonical the Greek Septuagint and all the books of the New
Testament. In these pronouncements the Catholic has the way to certainty.
Without such a voice the Protestant has a fallible collection of infallible
books. continued at…
lumenverum.org/apologetics/DefendtheFaith/page48.html
St. Jerome, expressly rejected the deuterocanonical books as canonical Scripture. The same may
be said for St. Gregory the Great. This is what they said respectively: “Just as the Church reads Judith and Tobias and the Books of Maccabees, but does not accept them as belonging among the canonical Scriptures, so too let her read these two volumes for the edification of the people but not for the purpose of confirming the authority of the Church’s teachings.”
8 “…we are not acting irregularly, if from the books, though not canonical, yet brought out for the edification of the Church, we bring
forth testimony. Thus Eleazar in the battle smote and brought down an elephant, but fell under the very beast that he killed.”
9 First, it must be recognized that no Father is the Church or infallible in all he says. Pope St. Gregory the Great did not promulgate the above quotation as Church teaching, but as a private work, which he had begun before being elected Bishop of Rome. For many centuries, it remained open to all and sundry to express private opinions about the deuterocanonicals. The overwhelming majority of early Christian writers quoted from them as
inspired Scripture without question, as, for example:
the author of the Didache; St. Clement I,
author of the Epistle of Barnabas;
the author of The Shepherd of Hermas; St. Polycarp of Smyrna;
Athenagoras of Athens;
St. Irenaeus of Lyons; St. Clement of Alexandria; Tertullian; St. Hippolytus
of Rome; Origen; St. Cyprian of Carthage; Dionysius of Alexandria and St.
Augustine of Hippo. Other Fathers did not accept the deuterocanonicals as
canonical but considered them ecclesiastical, and useful for edification and
instruction in doctrine. These included Sts. Athanasius, Cyril of Jerusalem,
Basil, Gregory Nazianzus and Epiphanius of Salamis. Sts. Jerome and Pope
St. Gregory the Great fall into this latter category. St. Jerome calls Judith
and deutero-Esther ‘holy books’. Later Doctors and Saints also questioned
the canonicity of the deuterocanon. Those who favored their inclusion
included Gratian, St. Stephen Harding, Stephen Langton, St. Bonaventure,
St. Albert the Great, St Thomas Aquinas; those against included Hugh of
St. Victor, Nicholas of Lyra, Cardinal Ximenes and Cardinal Cajetan.
8
St. Jerome, On the Three Solomonic Books, Preface (c. 398 AD).
9
Pope St. Gregory the Great, Moral Teachings Drawn from Job, Bk 19, 34 (inter
578-595 AD).
There is a distinction between inspiration and canonization, although the two are co-extensive. Inspiration precedes canonization in order of time and causality. It is only God who inspires, and this occurs simultaneously
with the book’s composition. Canonization (being put into the canon) takes place after the book’s composition and presupposes inspiration. Therefore, all canonical books are known to be inspired; and now—since the final
judgment of the Church—all inspired books are canonical. The canon is closed; there are no inspired books that we do not know of.
Who then determines with certainty which books should form part of canonical Scripture, and by what criteria? This question applies to both the Old and New Testament canons. The Holy Spirit did not promise a revelation to any individual Christian concerning the authentic canon.
Anglican Church historian, J. N. D. Kelly offers one possible solution:
“Unless a book could be shown to come from the pen of an apostle,
or at least to have the authority of an apostle behind it, it was
peremptorily rejected, however edifying or popular with the faithful
it might be.”
10
But how could early Christians know whether a book was Apostolic?
Certainly not simply by a book’s claim to be so, since the Gospels were
anonymous and there were numerous spurious gospels and epistles in
circulation.
11
Protestant Scripture scholar F. F. Bruce writes that:
“[The early Fathers] had recourse to the criterion of orthodoxy …
This appeal to the testimony of the churches of apostolic foundation
was developed especially by Irenaeus … When previously unknown
Gospels or Acts began to circulate … the most important question to
ask about any one of them was: What does it teach about the person
and work of Christ? Does it maintain the apostolic witness to
him…?”
12
In other words, a book was reckoned as Apostolic only if its contents were
consistent with the teachings of the Apostles (Apostolic paradosis, or
10
Early Christian Doctrines, 5th ed. rev., Harper & Row, New York, 1978, p. 60.
11
For example, the Gospel of Thomas, the Secret Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of
the Hebrews, the Acts of Peter, the Acts of John, etc.
12
The Canon of Scripture, p. 260.
tradition) as handed on by the Church. Who, however, was to make such a
determination? To assert that this was the Holy Spirit alone without men
who determined such is neither historical nor honest. The Holy Spirit did
do all the work of inspiration and collection but it was through men who
were leaders and pillars of the Church divinely founded, that is, the
infallible voice of the successors to St. Peter and the Apostles. Thus came
about the decrees of Popes St. Damasus (382 AD) and St. Innocent I (405
AD), and the Councils of Hippo (393 AD) and Carthage (397 AD), which
accepted as canonical the Greek Septuagint and all the books of the New
Testament. In these pronouncements the Catholic has the way to certainty.
Without such a voice the Protestant has a fallible collection of infallible
books. continued at…
lumenverum.org/apologetics/DefendtheFaith/page48.html
