As we look at Yeshua's canon (Bible), we must examine its foundation first through the study of history, culture, & language. Yeshua did not intend to create a new religion. Yet we have one. In fact, we have thousands of different sects all claiming "authority" by his name.
Let us examine undeniable facts that will go a long way in proving this point:
Today we have three canons or Bibles that are in existence: Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant. Each Bible consists of a group of books, which have been selected as authoritative by "the powers that be". The books that are found in Bibles, whether Jewish, Catholic, or Protestant), all fall into 3 basic categories:
From this you can quickly see that there are three levels of authority to be recognized today: Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant.
Answer for yourself: Which does God stand behind? Does He condone all three?
Answer for yourself: If God intended three authorities, how do we account for the differences, conflicts, and contradictions that exist when compared against themselves?
Answer for yourself: Which is correct and which is in error? Is God schizophrenic?
Answer for yourself: If God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow; then why can't He make up His mind and have all three authorities agree?
The Jewish canon has existed for over 1900 years. This is the Bible Yeshua used! It is called the "Tanakh" and consists of three major groups which consist of 39 books.
The canon, or officially accepted list of books in the Hebrew Bible, consists of 24 books according to Jewish reckoning and is divided into three parts: the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. The Law (Torah), often called the Pentateuch, comprises five books, GENESIS through DEUTERONOMY. The Prophets (Nevi'im) are divided into three parts: the earlier prophets (Joshua, JUDGES, 1 and 2 SAMUEL, and 1 and 2 KINGS); the later prophets (ISAIAH, Jeremiah, and EZEKIEL); and twelve books called the Minor Prophets because of their brevity. The 11 Writings (Ketuvim) include three poetic books (PSALMS, PROVERBS, and Job); the five scrolls (SONG OF SOLOMON, RUTH, LAMENTATIONS, Ecclesiastes, and ESTHER); an apocalyptic work, DANIEL; and EZRA-NEHEMIAH and 1 and 2 CHRONICLES.
Christian Bibles arrange the books differently. The Law, or Pentateuch, comes first, then all the historical books. These are followed by the poetical, or wisdom, books and finally the prophetic books. Thus Ruth, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther appear in the second group and Daniel and Lamentations in the fourth.
The Jews never ceased writing religious books. Several books composed in Hebrew or Greek after 300 BC are part of the SEPTUAGINT (LXX), or Old Greek versions, and were regarded as Scripture by many Christians. Roman Catholics and the Orthodox include these books, called APOCRYPHA or Deuterocanonical books, in the Bible. Protestants omit them or print them as an appendix to the Bible.
Torah: (Law):
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
Nevi'im (Prophets):
Joshua, Judges, I & II Samuel, I & II Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zachariah, and Malachi.
Ketuvim (Writings):
Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther, Daniel, Nehemiah, and I & II Chronicles.
It is important to note that the Jewish Religious Belief System gives different levels of authority to each of these three divisions. The Torah is the most authoritative, followed by the Nevi'im (Prophets) which are followed by the Ketuvim (Writings). Whenever there are two possible courses of action for a particular situation and one is found in the Torah and the other in one of the lesser two divisions, the one in the Torah is considered as the most authoritative. The Torah is the focus of the Tanakh (The Jewish Bible).
Marcion is the first person known to us who published a fixed collection of what we would call New Testament books. Others may have done so before him; if so, we have no knowledge of them. As stated before, he rejected the Old Testament totally, as having no relevance or authority for Christians; his collection was therefore designed to be the "first Bible". I wonder what Yeshua thought of Marcion's endeavors since Marcion threw out the Bible Yeshua (Yeshua) used.
It is amazing that before Marcion we find no evidence of the "church" using or even having a need for any writings other than the Jewish Bible of Yeshua! Think about that for a minute. Before Marcion, no apostle or disciple of Yeshua even considered making a new canon!
The Messianic community did not have a need for a new canon for over 110 years.
Answer for yourself: How did they manage? How is it that Yeshua would send them into all the world and command them to teach mankind to observe those things he commanded without a "New Canon" to teach from?
To counteract the authority of Marcion and his canon the proto-Catholic Church (in its infancy) responded with a canon of their own to validate their own Religious Belief System and refute Marcion's Religious Belief System. The Catholic Canon consisted of two major divisions which contain 75 books instead of the original 39 of Yeshua's Bible. Notice very carefully that those who were in charge of creating the Catholic canon chose to alter the Bible of Yeshua:
Ask yourself these questions:
Answer for yourself: And what gave them the authority?
You guessed it, a NEW REVELATION. It would be this "new revelation", based upon the "old" revelation, that would be added to, deleted, changed, & reinterpreted into the replacement canon of the Catholic Church which would give them power and authority to replace the religion of Yeshua with the religion of Jeroboam (Gentile religions which oppose God). It is this religion of Jeroboam which has come down to us today as a mixture of Gentile Paganism and Judaism. Literally it is contemporary "calf-worship" and we worship what we know not most often (John 4-the Samaritan woman at the well was half Gentile and half Jew, with a faith that was mixed between Gentile paganism and Judaism).
Yeshua most assuredly taught that the Jewish Bible was his Bible and that the words of that Bible should not be changed (Matt. 5:17). Read it for yourself!
From the time of Yeshua's crucifixion, around 33 C.E. (A.D.), through the lifetime of the last Apostle (John in 96 C.E.), Yeshua's followers and disciples continued to use the Jewish Bible as their canon. This continued for another 44 years until approximately until 140 C.E. when Marcion set about to set in motion the stirrings for replacing the religion of Yeshua with the religion of Gentiles. Marcion desired to undo the work of Paul by divorcing the emerging Gentile Church (proto-Roman Catholic Church) from second Temple Judaism (the religion of Yeshua).
Think for a moment, it was the Roman Catholic Church that should be built upon the teachings of Yeshua the Jew (church is to be built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets-not Popes and Cardinals), not replacing Yeshua's foundations of Moses and Judaism with Gentile paganism that mixes in false religious teachings. Marcion's attempt to replace Yeshua's religion was the first known attempt of the proto-Roman Catholic Church as a fully Gentile institution to create a canon to replace the Jewish Bible & the Jewish Church.
This new canon of Marcion, as stated above, eliminated all of Yeshua's Bible! Marcion's canon included only Paul's epistles and selected portions of Luke's Gospel. Marcion was in the middle of a grown anti-Jewish movement which was sweeping through the Roman Empire in the second century. It would be this aberration which the Roman Catholic Church would build their "replacement Canon" upon.
Although the Gentile Roman Catholic Church rejected Marcion's canon, they quickly adopted his idea. Soon they decided to draft their own canon (Bible) to help support and give authority to their further diverging theological persuasions and further cause the separation of their Gentile organization from its Jewish Roots and the religion of Yeshua. If they were to stand apart and claim validity as a replacement faith and avoid the persecutions coming upon their Jewish brothers by Rome, then they had to show they had the authority to do so, and what could be better authority for such a "revelation" but a new canon. Around 180 C.E., forty years after Marcion and 150 years after Yeshua we see the emergence of a new canon for the Gentile Roman Catholic Church. Gentile replacement religion was off and running!
Thus began an ongoing struggle that would last over 1000 years over which books should be included in the new Catholic Canon. There were at least 19 additional writings that the Roman Catholic leadership refused to include. Thomas was one of the original 12 Apostles whose Gospel of Thomas was accepted as Canon at first, only to later be rejected by others. A book entitled Third Corinthians appeared in an early Armenian canon. By the year 200 C.E. numerous new canons were in use. Some were fairly well defined, while others were much more informal. What we find upon examination is that each canon which was accepted in different regions reflected local beliefs and traditions unique to that region. Different canons reflected different beliefs in other areas. Thus we find great diversity. What does this have to say for inspiration in the gathering of a universal canon as given by God in the New Testament? Simply, inspiration in gathering the canon was non-existent!
The many variations in canons produced very erratic religious practices and inconsistencies. The Roman Catholic leaders felt they had better quickly take action concerning such diversity if they were every to have uniformity. They quickly went to work to decide and identify which writings were "sacred or inspired." This confusion and chaos continued in Christianity for over 300 years. Finally, the official canon of the Roman Catholic Church was agreed upon in 380 C.E., over 240 years after Marcion and 350 years after Yeshua.
Stop & think about this for a moment. It was 350 years after the death of Yeshua before the need arose for a new revelation to replace the revelation given to men by God at Sinai and confirmed by His prophets! Wow! Even after the Catholic Canon was officially closed, new writings continued to appear. The last two books to be admitted to the Catholic Canon were Hebrews and Revelation. The debate over inclusion of Revelation lasted over 600 years.
Answer for yourself: What was the Holy Spirit's role in the selection, addition, deletions, and re-additions of these books to the accepted canon?
Conveniently, the newly created Catholic Canon provided the authority to the Catholic Church to propagate their anti-Yeshua & anti-Jewish doctrines and dogmas. The power of the Roman government gave the Roman Church the power to deal with those who opposed them. At last the embarrassment could stop; there was a single Catholic Canon and it would remain the sole authority for the next 700 years. Important questions should be asked:
The anti-Jewish Roman Catholic Church had achieved its goal; it established itself as "The Absolute Authority" over a Jewish movement whose origins, canon, and beliefs were Hebraic. Idolatrous Gentiles now interpreted for all men a "Jewish Religious Belief System". The long awaited and prophesied Jewish Messianic Movement had now become a Gentile replacement faith based on a mixture of truth and lies (see John 4 for a mixture religion and notice the response toward it by Yeshua). The Jewish Messianic Movement of Yeshua was totally recreated into a new Catholic Religious Belief System that was, and still is, in direct opposition to the original Jewish Belief System of Yeshua.
Just because you are a Protestant or non-denominational believer you have no right to feel comfortable and insulated from such a tragedy, because we are nothing more than quasi-Catholics ourselves. Unknowingly, you have adopted the Roman Catholic replacement Bible as well as their modified Religious Belief System which is a false religious system in our day. How did we get here? There is nothing new under the sun. Let's reiterate:
More to follow in next article.