Jesus affirmed which books were indeed the Word of God.* Jesus did not include the extra books found in the Catholic Bible.
(Jesus) said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.”
The oldest canon of the Jewish OT I can find is 2 Esdras (Vg:4 Esdras):
It claims 24 OT books (Vulgate & Peshitta)
Flavius Josephus: [37- 100 ] claims 22 books, but doesn’t name them only the categories: 5 Law, 13 History, 4 Hymns.
Melito of Sardis (d 170 ad) also claims 22 books.
The Catholic Encyclopedia says: " St. Jerome, speaking of the canon of Melito, quotes Tertullian’s statement that he was esteemed a prophet by many of the faithful."* and* “St. Melito, Bishop of Sardis (c. 170), first drew up a list of the canonical books of the Old Testament While maintaining the familiar arrangement of the Septuagint, he says that he verified his catalogue by inquiry among Jews; Jewry by that time had everywhere discarded the Alexandrian books, and Melito’s Canon consists exclusively of the protocanonicals minus Esther. It should be noticed, however, that the document to which this catalogue was prefixed is capable of being understood as having an anti-Jewish polemical purpose, in which case Melito’s restricted canon is explicable on another ground (Reid G. Canon of the Old Testament. Transcribed by Ernie Stefanik. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume III. Copyright © 1908 by Robert Appleton Company. Online Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. Knight. Nihil Obstat, November 1, 1908. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York).”
*
That means Melito’s canon consisted of these books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel; Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi; Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiaste, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles.
Also, if Melito was considered a prophet, how could he be wrong about the canon???
**
NOTE: **The appearance of a discrepancy in the number of books is due to the way the books were counnted, not a difference in opinion as to which books were included.
The Old Testament existed in complete form before Jesus was born.*
There is no evidence a council was ever held at Jamnia to decide the Jewish canon.
Josephus wrote twenty years before Jamnia* He had actually temple scrolls in his possession.
Josephus’ canon was the same canon as the Protestant Bible (some books were together counting as one )
The Jews were given the OT. They would not have disposed of known inspired writings to disprove Jesus.* We know this as they acknowledge books like Isaiah. There was no need to dispose of Sacred writings as Jews demonstrated by simply rejecting the idea Jesus fit the prophesies or stating the verses pointed to by Christians are not prophecies of the Messiah. .
The apocryphal books admit that prophetic succession had already ended.
(I Macc. 9:27)* *14:41). Thus there was great distress in Israel, such as had not been since the time that prophets ceased to appear among them.
(1 Macc. 14:41)And the Jews and their priests decided that Simon should be their leader and high priest for ever, until a trustworthy prophet should arise,
This means the Apocrypha were not written under the inspiration of God.
Catholic Encyclopedia states:
Canon of the Old Testament
“The terms protocanonical and deuterocanonical, of frequent usage among Catholic theologians and exegetes, require a word of caution. They are not felicitous, and it would be wrong to infer from them that the Church successively possessed two distinct Biblical Canons. Only in a partial and restricted way may we speak of a first and second Canon. ]Protocanonical (protos, “first”) is a conventional word denoting those sacred writings which have been always received by Christendom without dispute. The protocanonical books of the Old Testament correspond with those of the Bible of the Hebrews, and the Old Testament as received by Protestants. [The deuterocanonical (deuteros, “second”) are those whose Scriptural character was contested in some quarters, but which long ago gained a secure footing in the Bible of the Catholic Church, though those of the Old Testament are classed by Protestants as the “Apocrypha”. These consist of seven books: Tobias, Judith, Baruch, Ecclesiasticus, Wisdom, First and Second Machabees; also certain additions to Esther and Daniel.”
The Catholic Church admits the Protestant OT, which agrees closely with the Hebrew Bible, has always been accepted and the Apocrypha were disputed at first, but later added.
Jerome separated them from the inspired books - if they were truly set in stone at that time, why was he allowed to make heretical statements and deny the apocrypha had authority?
Still more evidence is the many varying lists that followed Hippo and Carthage. No one could agree - even after Jerome completed his Vulgate.*
The Anglican Article VI says of them: “the Church does read (the books of the Apocrypha) for an example of life and instruction of manners; but yet does not apply them to establish any doctrine”]
The Eastern Orthodox recognizes more apocrypha books than the RC. They split from the Catholic Church in the 11th century - 500 years before the Council of Trent. Why is it that they have more books? There is no record the EO added them after the split, so does that mean the RC removed them at Trent???
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THE NEW TESTAMENT:**
First century Christians knew who the Apostles were and that they were indeed spokesmen for God and what they wrote was indeed inspired of God. There was no question as the miracles testified to the truth.
ALSO
The Apostle Paul claimed inspiration* 1Galatians 1:11-12 Now I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin.
For I did not receive it from a human being, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
1 Cor 14:37 If anyone thinks that he is a prophet or a spiritual person, he should recognize that what I am writing to you is a commandment of the Lord.
Peter acknowledges Paul’s writings are indeed God’s written Word.
2 Peter 3:15-16 …as also our most dear brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, hath written to you: As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are certain
things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also
the other scriptures, to their own destruction.
I think that covers most of it.
Which would probably be a bit too much to ask.
