Defining and Interpreting the Bible

The two questions behind this website are "What books comprise the Bible?" and "How do we interpret them?" The interpretation question assumes we can answer the canon question so we'll use the rest of this Home page to survey the issues around knowing what books comprise the Bible.

If you've hung around church for long or grew up attending Sunday school or attended a religious school than undoubtedly you've heard the Bible stories about Adam and Eve, Noah's Flood, the Tower of Babel, David and Goliath, Daniel and the Lion's Den, stories about Jesus and stories about Paul and his missionary journeys. You may have learned these stories online or seen them on TV or watched movies that spoof these and other well known Bible stories like the movie Bruce Almighty.

I learned these stories in Sunday school, relearned them later in youth group and eventually covered them again in depth in Bible College. Being raised Protestant and attending a Protestant Bible college meant the Bible I learned was a Protestant Bible. I was never exposed to the fact that other Christian traditions have other Bibles until I took a class in college with required reading in the Deutercanonical Books (sometimes called the Apocrypha). The Deuterocanonical books form a "second canon" in the Catholic Bible and are considered equal in status with the other writings in the Bible.

Being confronted for the first time with the realization that there are different Bibles in different Christian traditions troubled me. I was familiar enough with scripture to know the Bible makes certain claims about itself, such as being inspired by the Holy Spirit.

49 Second Timothy 3:16-17 16ܟܠ ܟܬܒ ܕܒܪܘܚܐ ܐܬܟܬܒ ܡܘܬܪܢܐ ܗܘ ܠܝܘܠܦܢܐ ܘܠܟܘܘܢܐ ܘܠܬܘܪܨܐ ܘܠܡܪܕܘܬܐ ܕܒܟܐܢܘܬܐ ܀ 17ܕܢܗܘܐ ܓܡܝܪ ܒܪܢܫܐ ܕܐܠܗܐ ܘܠܟܠ ܥܒܕ ܛܒ ܡܫܠܡܢ ܀ (SYP)

49 Second Timothy 3:16-17 16All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.(KJV)

49 Second Timothy 3:16-17 16All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.(KJV/NC)

49 Second Timothy 3:16-17 16Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness. 17That the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.(ASV)

49 Second Timothy 3:16-17 16All scripture written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness; 17So that God's people may become complete, thoroughly perfected for every good work. (LAM)

49 Second Timothy 3:16-17 16All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.(RSV)

49 Second Timothy 3:16-17 16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.(NIV)

49 Second Timothy 3:16-17 16Every writing inspired by God is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction which is in righteousness, 17that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.(WEB)

49 Second Timothy 3:16-17 16 Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, 17that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.(WEB/HNV)

49 Second Timothy 3:16-17 16All scripture written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness; 17So that God's people may become complete, thoroughly perfected for every good work. (BRB)

63 Second Peter 1:19-21 19ܘܐܝܬ ܠܢ ܕܫܪܝܪܐ ܐܦ ܡܠܬܐ ܕܢܒܝܘܬܐ ܗܝ ܕܫܦܝܪ ܥܒܕܝܢ ܐܢܬܘܢ ܟܕ ܒܗ ܚܝܪܝܢ ܐܢܬܘܢ ܐܝܟ ܕܒܫܪܓܐ ܕܡܢܗܪ ܒܐܬܪܐ ܥܡܘܛܐ ܥܕܡܐ ܕܐܝܡܡܐ ܢܢܗܪ ܘܫܡܫܐ ܢܕܢܚ ܒܠܒܘܬܟܘܢ ܀ 20ܟܕ ܗܕܐ ܠܘܩܕܡ ܝܕܥܝܢ ܐܢܬܘܢ ܕܟܠ ܢܒܝܘܬܐ ܫܪܝܐ ܕܟܬܒܐ ܕܝܠܗ ܠܐ ܗܘܝܐ ܀ 21ܠܐ ܗܘܐ ܓܝܪ ܒܨܒܝܢܐ ܕܒܪܢܫܐ ܐܬܬ ܡܢ ܡܬܘܡ ܢܒܝܘܬܐ ܐܠܐ ܟܕ ܡܢ ܪܘܚܐ ܩܕܝܫܐ ܡܬܢܓܕܝܢ ܡܠܠܘ ܩܕܝܫܐ ܒܢܝܢܫܐ ܕܐܠܗܐ ܀ (SYP)

63 Second Peter 1:19-21 19We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 20Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.(KJV)

63 Second Peter 1:19-21 19We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 20Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.(KJV/NC)

63 Second Peter 1:19-21 19And we have the word of prophecy made more sure; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts: 20knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of private interpretation. 21For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit.(ASV)

63 Second Peter 1:19-21 19¶ We have also a true word of prophecy; you do well when you look to it for guidance, as you look to the lamp that shines in a dark place until the dawn of day, when the sun will shine in your hearts, 20Knowing this first, that not every prophetic writing is made clear in its own book. 21For the prophecy did not come by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke when they were inspired by the Holy Spirit. (LAM)

63 Second Peter 1:19-21 19And we have the prophetic word made more sure. You will do well to pay attention to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, 21because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.(RSV)

63 Second Peter 1:19-21 19And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. 21For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.(NIV)

63 Second Peter 1:19-21 19We have the more sure word of prophecy; whereunto youP do well that youP take heed, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns, and the day star arises in your hearts: 20knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation. 21For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke, being moved by the Holy Spirit.(WEB)

63 Second Peter 1:19-21 19We have the more sure word of prophecy; and you do well that you heed it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns, and the morning star arises in your hearts: 20knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation. 21For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke, being moved by the Holy Spirit.(WEB/HNV)

63 Second Peter 1:19-21 19We also have a true word of prophecy; you do well when you look to it for guidance, as you look to the lamp that shines in a dark place until the dawn of day, when the sun will shine in your hearts, 20Knowing this first, that not every prophetic writing is made clear in its own book. 21For the prophecy did not come by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke when they were inspired by the Holy Spirit. (BRB)

The question that arose in my mind was how could I be sure the 66 book Protestant Bible I learned as a child and studied in college was the real Bible. What if the Catholic Bible was the real Bible. The Catholic Bible has the same books as the Protestant Bible plus 6 others. My desire was, "If the Holy Spirit inspired 72 writings, not just 66, I want to be familiar with all 72."

Unfortunately the class that introduced me to the difference between the Prostestant and Catholic Bibles did not resolve the question of which if either is the correct canon. With no strong evidence presented for one or the other I turned to prayer to ask Jesus whether I should treat the Deuterocanonical books as inspired by the Holy Spirit. The answer I received was "No." The answered settled how I would study, but it wasn't proof for the Protestant Bible nor something I could defend in public.

Several years passed without any obvious way to prove what I had heard in prayer. Over time I learned about other "Bibles" from other Christian traditions, including the Greek and Russian Orthodox Bibles and the Assyrian Church of the East Bible.

Whenever I read books on the subject of canon they all seemed to say the same things, but none of them seemed to solve the problem in a definitive and defendable way. I'm oversimplifying some, but these books would give reasons like, "because the Church says so" which is the logical fallicy of appealing to authority, or "because it's been this way a long time", which is the logical fallicy of appealing to tradition.

Finally, A Proof of Canon

About three years after graduating from Bible College I was studying the book of Isaiah and realized that each book in the Protestant Bible uniquely matches a chapter in the book of Isaiah. This discovery lead to reordering the books of the Bible based upon Isaiah. In the process of this work on book order I realized that if Isaiah defines the order of the books it simultaneously defines WHAT BOOKS belong in the canon in the first place. For the first time in my life I had a compelling strategy for settling what books really comprise the Bible.

Several years have passed since the original book order discovery and I'm still convinced the work in Isaiah and resulting studies that prove the book order simultaneously prove the canon. There could be other proofs, but I've never seen a strategy as efficient and robust as using a book accepted by all Christian and Jewish traditions to show which set of writings comprise the Bible.

Rather than reproduce the Isaiah study on this website you can read that study at biblebookorder.org. There's one page for each of the 66 chapter/book matches in the study. To the extent you agree with the matches you can be confident the 66 books in the study comprise the real Bible, though in a different book order then we learned in Sunday school.

Ryan Eaton
April 2, 2008

http://biblecanon.org/home/welcome/introduction/
Revision 1.2 on 2008-04-30 at 22:16:35 GMT

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