Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20040905.htm

APPLYING OUR CHURCH'S STATEMENT OF BIBLICAL FAITH
Article III, Part I Of The Nepaug Bible Church Bylaws: The Word Of God
A. Applying The Truth That The 66 Book Canon Of Scripture Is God's Sole Written Revelation To Us
(2 Timothy 3:16-4:2 And Scriptures On Canonicity)
  1. Introduction
    1. Today, some counter the belief that our 66-book Bible is either the true or sole revelation of God's Word.
    2. Our Church's Statement of Faith claims: "We believe that the Bible in its entirety of the sixty-six book canon of Scripture is God's sole written revelation to man," and our basis for this statement is as follows:
  2. Applying The Truth That The 66 Book Canon Of Scripture Is God's Sole Written Revelation To Us.
    1. The historical record supports the view the Protestant 66-book canon of Scripture alone is God's Word:
      1. By A. D. 101, seven-eighths of the Protestant New Testament was universally accepted as God's Word by all Christians, cf. Rene Pache, The Inspiration and Authority of Scripture, p. 176-177.
      2. Regarding the O. T. Apocrypha, (a) the Early Church never treated it as canonical; Jerome (5th cent. A. D.) said so in his Vulgate, Ibid., Pache, p. 172. (b) Only as Protestants rejected the Apocrypha's canonicity did the Catholic Church make it canonical in the 1546 Council of Trent, (c) and that even against the consent of leading Catholic scholars, Ibid., p. 173; Z.P.E.B., v. Four, p. 22. (d) To counter Protestantism, the Catholic Church wanted the Apocrypha made canonical to support its beliefs on prayers for the dead, the mass, the post-death expiation of sins by almsgiving, intercession of the saints, the worship of angels, purgatory and the post-death redemption of the soul, Ibid., Pache. (e) Incredibly, 1 Maccabees 9:27 and 14:41 in the Apocrypha actually witnesses the Apocrypha is NOT canonical!
    2. The subjective test of canonicity affirms the Protestant 66-book canon of Scripture alone is God's Word: All the ecclesiastical councils except the Council of Trent or later councils that mimic its stands (which council we have shown in II,A,2 above was errant) did not initiate their assertions of canonicity, but only ratified what lay level believers had universally approved was canonical, Ibid., Pache, p. 178-180.
    3. The words of Christ support the view the Protestant 66-book canon of Scripture alone is God's Word:
      1. Luke 11:51 - Jesus said God would avenge the martyrdom of the prophets from Abel in Genesis 4:8 to Zacharias in 2 Chronicles 24:20-22. Since the order of the 39-book O. T. canon in Jesus' era, the same books found in the Protestant O. T., began with Genesis and ended with 2 Chronicles, and as Jesus did not mention a Maccabean martyr of the Apocrypha in its 'post-2 Chronicles' era in place of Zacharias, He condoned the Orthodox Jewish view that only the 39-book canon was the O.T. Scripture.
      2. John 17:20 - Jesus here implied (an implication that is a fact via John 14:2) the canonicity of the words of His disciples. Thus, Matthew, Mark, John, 1 & 2 Peter, 1, 2 & 3 John, Jude and Rev. are canonical.
      3. 2 Peter 3:15-16 - Peter calls Paul's works Scripture, so Romans, 1 & 2 Cor., Gal., Eph., Phil., Col., 1 & 2 Thess., 1 & 2 Tim., Titus & Philemon are to be viewed as Scripture.
      4. 1 Timothy 5:17-18 - Paul cites Luke 10:7, calling it Scripture along with Deuteronomy 25:4 (that we know from Luke 11:51 is canonical); then, as Luke 1:1-4 with Acts 1:1 reveals Luke also wrote the book of Acts, we conclude that the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles are both Scripture.
      5. Revelation 3:20 - [In conjunction with our notes on Revelation 3:14-22] By here referring to hearing God's "voice" where believers are to avoid conforming to false religious pressures by others as in Heb. 3:7 & 4:7 (in Rev. 3:20 by Charismatics, cf. Rev. 3:19), and since James 5:9 states Christ stands as a Judge at the door ready to judge a matter of injustice done to an employee (Jas. 5:1-8) similar to the situation in Rev. 3:20 (cf. Luke 12:1-40), Christ thus condones the canonicity of Hebrews and James though we do not know who wrote Hebrews and we do not know which James wrote James.
      6. Then, 2 Timothy 3:15-17 of Scripture teaches the written Scriptures are so sufficient to equip the man of God for every good work, he needs no other revelation such as ongoing Charismatic revelations.
Lesson Application: (1) Our 66-book Protestant canon of Scripture is God's sole written revelation to us, for (a) the historical record shows it came to be very universally, very quickly and very confidently accepted by ALL Christians as Scripture, (b) Christ's own words certify it as canonical (c) and the Bible itself testifies no other revelation from God is necessary for the Christian to be fully equipped to do every good work. (2) May we then CONFIDENTLY trust its message and heed it to relate well to God.