Page 83 - Doctrine and History of the Preservation of the Bible revised

Testament was written basically in Hebrew with some Aramaic, while the New Testament was written in
Greek. The Greeks, not the Jews, were given the New Testament to preserve. However, God used the
apostles to make the decision as to which books the Greek world would preserve.

When the New Testament is placed side by side with the Old Testament, the Bible is complete with
seven divisions: The Law, Prophets, Psalms, Gospels, Acts, Epistles and Revelation. Seven is the number
of completion throughout the Bible. The number seven has made its mark in the canonization of both
the Old and New Testaments. Here is how.

The complete Old Testament is actually comprised of 22 scrolls (books), categorized under three
divisions.

The Law included five books—Genesis through Deuteronomy.

The Prophets were organized in a special way. The books of Joshua through 2 Kings, excluding Ruth, are
known as former prophets and were written on two scrolls. Joshua and Judges shared one scroll. 1 and 2
Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings shared one scroll. The 12 minor prophets were also written on one scroll.
Adding in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel there are a total of seven books.

The Writings total 10 books. The books included are Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth,
Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Ezra/Nehemiah (one book) and 1 and 2 Chronicles (one book).
Together with the 27 books of the New Testament, there are actually 49 books of the Bible. The number
49 is a significant number that carries divine meaning. This number is seven times seven, showing
absolute completion. The seven divisions of the Bible and the number of books is no accident. They are
clearly there by design to show that the revelation of God is complete with 49 books.

The Apocrypha
Roman Catholic Bibles have several more books in the Old
Testament than Protestant Bibles. These books are referred to
as the Apocrypha or Deuterocanonical books. The
word apocrypha means “hidden.” The Apocrypha was written
primarily in the time between the Old and New Testaments.
The books of the Apocrypha include 1 Esdras, 2
Esdras, Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of
Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, the Letter of Jeremiah, Prayer
of Manasseh, 1 Maccabees, and 2 Maccabees, as well as
additions to the books of Esther and Daniel. Not all of these
books are included in Catholic Bibles.

The nation of Israel treated the Apocrypha books with respect, but never accepted them as true books of
the Hebrew Bible. The early Christian church debated the status of the Apocrypha, but few early
Christians believed they belonged in the canon of Scripture. The New Testament quotes from the Old
Testament hundreds of times, but nowhere quotes or alludes to any of the Apocryphal books. Further,
there are many proven errors and contradictions in the Apocrypha.

The Apocrypha books teach many things that are not true and are not historically accurate. While many
Catholics accepted the Apocrypha previously, the Roman Catholic Church officially added the Apocrypha
to their Bible at the Council of Trent in the mid-1500s A.D., primarily in response to the Protestant

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