The Bible

The word Bible is derived from the

Greek word biblia i.e. books
The books of the Bible are sacred
because they are inspired by God.
The books in the Bible are canonical.
They are definitively and solemnly
determined in 1546 by the Council of
Trent.

Divine Inspiration
Signifies the origin of the Bible
All scriptures are inspired by God and is useful for
teaching (2 Tm 3:16)
God so moved the inspired writers by His
supernatural operation that he incited them to write,
and assisted them in their writing so that they
correctly conceived, accurately wrote down and
truthfully expressed all that He intended and only
what He intended; and only thus can God be the
author of the Bible

What Divine Inspiration is not?

1. It is not Divine Dictation
2. It is not Negative Assistance
theory
3. It is not Subsequent Approbation

Divine Inspiration
Two Elements:
1. God is actively present in a unique
manner in the composition of the
biblical books.
(cf. 2 Tim 3: 13-17; 1 Pt. 1:20-21)
2. The freedom of the human authors
in making use of their own talents,
and resources in cooperation with
the Spirit of God
( Lk. 1:1-4, Jer. 36: 17-18)

Inerrancy
Basic principles:
1. The words of the Bible are true only in the
sense in which human authemhors
conveyed them. Therefore we must
determine how they thought,what
influenced them etc.
2. The human author was not necessarily
without error. But Inerrancy means that
the authors opinion, and convictions did
not affect the message

Inerrancy : Basic Principles

5. Inerrancy applies to those essential
religious affirmations which are made
for the sake of salvation.
The Books of the Scripture must
acknowledged as teaching firmly,
faithfully, and without error that truth
which God wanted put into the
Sacred Writings for the sake of our
salvation .

The Biblical canon

Canon refers to the list of books
considered as inspired writings.
Old Testament canon is based on the
Jewish canon.
There are 46 OT books considered by
the Catholic Church as inspired
writings.

Development of OT canon
621 BC Finding of Deuteronomic code in the
temple
400 BC The Pentateuch is published as the
Torah or Law and later accepted as the
word of God written.
200 BC prophetic writings become part of the OT .
After 70 AD - Two Jewish canons were formed
1. Palestinian canon (Jamnia by Johanan
ben Zakkai) accepted 39 books
2. Alexandrian canon accepted 46 books

Catholic OT canon
Other Christians follow the Palestinian canon
Catholics follow the Alexandrian canon
which includes 1& 2 Maccabees, Tobit,
Judith, Sirach, Wisdom, and Baruch and
some additional parts of Esther and Daniel.
These books are called Deutero-canonical
books in the Catholic tradition while other
Christians regarded these books as
apocryphal writings

Earliest OT Writings
The song of Miriam in Exodus 15. It is
dated at the time of exodus from
Egypt in 1280 BC

The song of Deborah in Judges 5. It is

composed after the battle at Taanach
in 1125 BC

Development of NT canon
30-40 AD collection of Jesus sayings now
called Q Quelle in German i.e. source
50 -51AD - 1 &2 Thessalonians
54-59 AD Doctrinal Letters of Paul:
1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians and Romans
- Pastoral Letters: 1&2 Timothy, Titus
- Captivity letters: Philemon, Eph, Col,
Phil

Bases for Canonization

Apostolic origin
The importance of the community
addressed
The centrality of the doctrine
contained
The community of believers saw their
own faith in these books as in a
mirror.

The Gospel according

to

1.Matthew 2.Mark
3.Luke
4.John
-

28
16
24
21

Symbols of the 4 Gospels

by Fr. Felix Just. S.J. PhD

Historical Writing

5. The Acts of the

Apostles - 28

Doctrinal Letters of Paul

6.
7.
8.
9.

Romans
- 16
1Corinthians- 16
2 Corinthians -13
Galatians
- 6

Captivity Letters of Paul

10.
11.
12.
13.

Ephesians - 6
Philippians- 4
Colossians- 4
Philemon - 1

Pastoral Letters of Paul

14. 1 Timothy
15. 2 Timothy
16. Titus

-6
-4
-3

Earliest Writings

17. I Thessalonians
-5
18. 2Thessalonians
-3

The Catholic Epistles

20.
21.
22.
23.

James -5 24. 2 John - 1

1Peter - 5 25. 3John - 1
2Peter - 3 26. Jude - 1
I John - 5

Apocalyptic Writing

27. Revelation - 22