You’ve probably encountered the claim at some point. It’s often made by those who can sound authoritative and knowledgeable, for they are “enlightened”. The problem with the claim is simple: it isn’t true. The claim is this: “the church” removed books from the Bible early on so as to prevent people from having the full truth. Among these books claimed to have been removed from the Bible are the book of Enoch, the book of Jubilees, The Gospels of Thomas, Mary, Judas, and Philip, the Shepherd of Hermas, the Apocalypse of Peter, the Acts of Paul, and the book of Giants.
Some of these may sound familiar to you. You’re likely to have heard of the book of Enoch. The book of Jude quotes from it and 1 Peter makes an allusion to it. I’ve referenced it in sermons. Enoch is similar to Jubilees: both were Jewish writings from the Second Temple period (between the exile and the coming of Jesus). Both have another significant feature in common: neither were part of the Jewish canon of Scripture. While they valued and read these works, they never included them as part of the Scriptures. In short, they were never part of the Bible and so when the church started Christians could not have removed them from it, since they had never been part of the canon of Scripture. To be fair, they were often placed alongside them, but never as sacred Scripture.
The Shepherd of Hermas is an early Christian writing, but it was also never received by the church as Scripture. There were some local churches that questioned whether it were Scripture, but it was never received by the whole church as such. It cannot, then, have been removed from the Bible for it was never in the Bible.
The Gospels of Thomas, of Mary, of Judas, of Philip, along with the Acts of Paul and the Apocalypse of Peter were all written in the second century. These also were never regarded as Scripture. The book of Giants is older. Fragments have been found at Qumran, but this work was also never regarded by the Jews as holy Scripture. It cannot, then, have been removed from a thing of which it was never part.
This gets us to the real question. How did we get our Bible? Christians inherited the Old Testament canon from our Jewish forebears. All the early Christians, including the apostles, were Jews. The Jews in the first century had an established canon. The word canon means “rule”. It refers to a fixed rule of books regarded as sacred Scripture. This Jewish canon is our Old Testament, made up of 39 books. In the Jewish counting there are 24 books because they combine 1 & 2 Samuel as one, and 1 & 2 Kings as one, etc. The Twelve Minor Prophets are counted as one. It’s all the same text, though. The 39 books that make up our Old Testament are the same as the 24 books we inherited from the earliest Christians.
There were, of course, lots of other books written. The Apocrypha is made up of books such as Tobit, Judith, the Wisdom of Solomon, 1 & 2 Maccabees, etc. These Jewish writings were highly regarded in the ancient world but, and this is crucial, they were never regarded as Scripture. The Roman Catholic church calls them deuterocanonical—a second canon, indicating they aren’t the same as the 39 inspired books.
Some Catholic apologists will make a similar claim about Protestants, namely, that we removed books from the Bible. The problem is these books were never included in the canon. In fact, they weren’t officially included in the Roman Catholic canon until the Council of Trent in the 1500s! Protestants did not remove these books as they had never been included prior to this!
At the Council of Carthage in 397 these books were said to be included in the canon. This was a regional council in North Africa and so was not binding. It was not an ecumenical council. Jerome, who is highly regarded in church history by Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism alike, coined the term “Apocrypha”. He acknowledged the value of these books: Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Barcuh, and 1–2 Maccabees. He recognized these books had ecclesiastical value. They were good to read in to the church, but he also denied they were on the same level as the inspired Hebrew Scriptures. He would include them in his Latin translation—the Vulgate—but this inclusion does not mean he thought they were inspired Scripture. They were valuable and so were worth translating so all could read them. This leaves the 39 books of the Old Testament as the inspired canon of Scripture.
The New Testament is made of 27 books, including the four Gospels, the book of Acts, various letters from Paul, Peter, James, Jude, John, and the unknown author of Hebrews. Each of these authors were either apostles or close associates of the apostles. These letters and writings were recognized very early as inspired Scripture and began to be added to the canon of Scripture. For example, when the church in Ephesus received the letter from the apostle Paul, it is clear Paul expected them and future generations to read his letter. It is also clear they recognized its authority and source, and given it came from an apostle, it was a word from the Lord himself. Peter recognized Paul’s letters as Scripture (2 Peter 3:15–16)! Peter expected his own letters to be received as holy Scripture (see 2 Peter 1:12–15).
The process of canonization was fairly simple and straightforward. The early church received copies of various letters and recognized them as holy Scripture. If they were not recognized by the original recipients as holy Scripture, they were not included in the canon. For example, Paul told the Colossians they should also read the letter he had written to the church in Laodicea. Why don’t we have a book called “Laodiceans” but we have a book called “Colossians”? Paul’s letter to the Colossians was recognized to be Scripture when they received it. Therefore it was copied and passed on, and most importantly, preserved for future generations. While the Colossians may have received a copy of Paul’s letter to Laodicea, that letter was not received as holy Scripture, and so it was never preserved.
We also don’t have the other two letters Paul wrote to the church in Corinth. He mentions a previous letter in 1 Corinthians 5:9. Since that statement is in First Corinthians, there must have been a letter prior. In 2 Corinthians he mentions another letter, but that letter is almost certainly not 1 Corinthians, which indicates at least four letters were written. Why do we only have two? The church only recognized two of these letters as inspired Scripture and so only 1 & 2 Corinthians were preserved for future generations.
We see a similar pattern with Christian-era writings that we see in pre-Christian Jewish writings. Not everything written during that time was regarded as Scripture and therefore were not included in the canon of Scripture. The writings that were distributed among the churches and regarded as Scripture became what we call the New Testament. These 27 books were simply placed alongside the 39 books Christians had already received from our Jewish forefathers as Scripture.
In the mid to late second century we have document called the Muratorian Fragment. This text lists most of the New Testament books: the four Gospels, Acts, the thirteen letters of Paul, Jude, 1–2 John, and Revelation. It doesn’t mention Hebrews, James, or Peter’s letters. The canon was still being recognized at this point, so the fragment shows a significant part of this process. It indicates the Shepherd of Hermas was useful, but not Scripture. This shows the early church had begun really thinking through which books were inspired Scripture and which books were not.
Origin comes a generation of so after the Muratorian Fragment. He acknowledges most of the New Testament as the canon of Scripture and indicates books like Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2–3 John, Jude, and Revelation were still questioned by some. He explicitly rejected writings that were not apostolic (“apostolic” includes apostolic associates like Mark and Luke). He rejected writings that had not been part of the church’s received tradition. He rejected writings that were not used as Scripture.
Any writing that was post-apostolic was rejected as Scripture, though they could be received as ecclesiastical writings. Irenaeus, writing in the second century, acknowledged the value of the Shepherd of Hermas, but because it had been written recently from his perspective, that is, in the second century, it could not be holy Scripture, even if useful.
We see glimpses of this process with 2 Peter. Peter’s first letter was widely accepted as Scripture, but 2 Peter took more time. Its earliest acceptance was in the east of the empire, at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, and was rarely used in the western half of the empire in the early church. We know this early acceptance of the letter by its inclusion in 𝔓72, a papyrus manuscript from the early 200s and in a Coptic translation around AD200. This papyrus and the Coptic translation were in the eastern end of the Mediterranean. What does this mean, and why is it significant?
Second Peter does not directly identify its recipients. It claims to be from Peter and in chapter 3 verse 1 Peter says, “This is now the second letter that I am writing to you”. We only know of one other letter Peter wrote, which suggests he’s writing this letter to the same elect exiles as 1 Peter. Where are they? They are at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, the very region 2 Peter was first received as Scripture.
It took time for 2 Peter to gain wide recognition as inspired Scripture, but it was eventually included in the canon, along with 26 other books of our New Testament. What this illustrates for us is the original recipients of a New Testament document recognized its authority as inspired Scripture, yet not all apostolic writings were received in this way. Those that were received as Scripture were copied and kept and distributed.
This is how we received a 66-book canon of Scripture. Remember, canon means “rule”. Our rule of faith is the 66 books of the Bible. There are many other documents written that are useful, such as the Apocrypha. I find the Apostolic Fathers’ writings to be useful. These include books such as 1 Clement, the letters of Ignatius, the letters of Barnabas and Diognetus, the Shepherd of Hermas, and others. While these books are quite helpful, like Ireneaus’ standard, they were written after the apostles and so cannot be inspired Scripture.
There are some documents that are clearly not Scripture. The so-called Gnostic Gospels are among these works. These are writings that were discovered in the 1940s in Egypt. These are all much later than the apostles and—this is key!—were never received as holy Scripture. Skeptics often focus on these documents in their claim that the church removed books from the Bible. They were all written far too late to have been apostolic, and therefore cannot have been removed. They were never accepted.
The claims of skeptics that “the church” later removed some books from the Bible so as to “control the narrative”, so to speak, are simply false. This is not how the Bible came to be. The 66 books included in the canon of Scripture were self-authenticating works and it simply took some time for the whole church to recognize their authenticity and inclusion in the canon.
Here is the interesting part. Protestants hold to this 66-book canon. All the major traditions within Christianity recognize these 66 books as inspired. Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Assyrian Church of the East, and Protestantism all recognize the 39 books of the Hebrew Old Testament are inspired Scripture. All five branches of Christianity recognize the 27 books of the Greek New Testament are inspired Scripture. The differences between the five major branches are not over these 66 books! The Roman Catholic Church, since the Council of Trent, formally includes the Apocrypha in the canon, along with a few other additions to existing books such as Daniel and Esther, for a 73-book canon. Eastern Orthodoxy also includes 3 Maccabees, Psalm 151, and the Prayer of Manasseh, for a 76–81-book canon, depending on the specific jurisdiction. Part of the Coptic Orthodox church adds books such as Enoch and Jubilees, for roughly a 76-book canon, though in Coptic Orthodoxy it’s less rigidly standardized. The Assyrian Church of the East developed separately from the Eastern and Western churches and so was much slower to include all the books of the New Testament, but today they have a 66-book canon, the same canon as Protestants.
This means the real debate is not whether the Protestant canon—our canon—has books that are not Scripture. The debate is whether additional books should be added. Everyone, all Christian church traditions, acknowledge the 66 books Protestants acknowledge. The debate is concerning other additions to that canon.
There is one other argument that is sometimes made. When the Bible began to be translated into English, the Apocrypha was usually included. This does not mean the translators believed these books were inspired Scripture. Rather, like Jerome in the late 300s they recognized these books to be useful even in a worship service, so they included them. In fact, the first editions of the King James Version included the Apocrypha! It wasn’t until the 1800s that Protestants stopped including the Apocrypha in printed Bibles, and they only did so to reduce the expense of printing the Scriptures. Because these books had never been included in the canon, not including them in a printed edition is not the same as removing them from the Bible. They were never in the Bible, even though they were often printed with the Bible. For example, on my desk I keep a Bible and a few commentaries. This does not mean I view the commentaries as Scripture, even though I keep them with the Bible.
Still today the Anglican tradition often includes readings from the Apocrypha in its lectionaries. What is interesting is that rather than end an Apocryphal reading with the proclamation “The Word of the Lord”, the reading ends with the declaration, “Here ends the reading”. It’s not hard to notice the difference! When the reading is from, say, Ezekiel, it ends with “The Word of the Lord!” but when the reading is from Baruch, it ends with “So ends the reading”. This is the distinction Jerome made in the fourth century. It is the distinction that Protestants continue to hold.
What does all this mean? It means we have the inspired Scriptures! These Scriptures are recognized by all Christian traditions. That is, the 66 books in our Bibles are recognized as Scripture by the whole church. We have the word of God. Skeptics are wrong when they claim the church removed books in order to control people. Other traditions are wrong when they claim Protestants removed books from the canon. All recognize the Protestant Bible is inspired from beginning to end, even if they might say we’re missing some books. Roman Catholicism disagrees with Eastern Orthodoxy. Eastern Orthodoxy disagrees with Coptic Orthodoxy. Coptic Orthodoxy disagrees with Roman Catholicism. All traditions recognize the 66 books in our Bibles.
Here’s why this is significant. As Protestants we do not reject church tradition. We believe in “Sola Scriptura”—Scripture alone. This doesn’t mean we reject tradition out of hand. What Sola Scriptura means is we believe the 66 books of the Bible are the only infallible rule of faith and practice. This doesn’t mean there aren’t other rules! Church history informs our understanding of Scripture but only Scripture is an infallible rule of faith and practice. Only Scripture infallibly teaches us what is true and only Scripture infallibly teaches us how to live. Only Scripture is without error, for it is the direct word of the Lord.
The whole point of Scripture is to reveal God. The Bible is the written record of the revelation of Jesus. From beginning to end the Bible records this revelation of Jesus, from the Son of God sacrificing animals in order to cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve to the Son of God portrayed in the Passover lamb to the death and resurrection of Jesus to his coming again to recreate the world and dwell with his people forever, the Bible is about the Lord Jesus and his glory. The 66 books God inspired the authors to write are sufficient to reveal the Lord. As Peter wrote in his second inspired letter, God’s divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, and this includes the canon of holy Scripture.
Read your Bible, y’all.