The Lost Scriptures – books that did not make it into the New Testament.

The Canon of the Third Synod of Carthage

“It was also determined that besides the Canonical Scriptures nothing be read in the Church under the title of divine Scriptures. The Canonical Scriptures are these: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua the son of Nun, Judges, Ruth, four books of Kings, ³ two books of Paraleipomena, ⁴ Job, the Psalter, five books of Solomon, ⁵ the books of the twelve prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezechiel, Daniel, Tobit, Judith, Esther, two books of Esdras, ⁶ two books of the Maccabees. Of the New Testament: four books of the Gospels, one book of the Acts of the Apostles, thirteen Epistles of the Apostle Paul, one epistle of the same [writer] to the Hebrews, two Epistles of the Apostle Peter, three of John, one of James, one of Jude, one book of the Apocalypse of John. Let this be made known also to our brother and fellow-priest Boniface, or to other bishops of those parts, for the purpose of confirming that Canon. because we have received from our fathers that those books must be read in the Church. Let it also be allowed that the Passions of Martyrs be read when their festivals are kept.”

The New Testament canon was never ratified by an “ecumenical” council. An “Ecumenical Council” is a meeting of bishops from around the Christian World – a conference of ecclesiastical dignitaries and theological experts convened to discuss and settle matters of Church doctrine and practice. But there were several smaller councils who judged which books should be accepted as canonical Scripture. As I said in an earlier devotion, it took almost 400 years and the influence of St. Augustine of Hippo, at the Synod of Hippo for the list of 27 books of the New Testament to be widely accepted. However, no records of the proceedings of this Synod exist. But the proceedings of the Third Synod of Carthage, held four years later, summarize what had happened at the earlier meeting. And yet even these decisions were not held universally binding – and there are still disagreements on what books should be included in the bible. The Catholic canon includes books they call “Apocryphal” – the Lutheran canon does not include those books. Should, or should they not be included in the New Testament canon? I don’t think it really matters – if we all read those books as part of our yearly “scripture” reading – we will all be better for it.

Pastor Dave  

The Lost Scriptures – books that did not make it into the New Testament. 

The Canon of Athanasius of Alexandria.

“And without hesitation I should again speak of the books of the New Testament. For they are as follows:  the four Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Then after these the Acts of the Apostles and the seven books by the apostles called the Catholic Epistles: one of James, two of Peter, then three of John, and after them one of Jude. In addition to these are the fourteen epistles of the Apostle Paul, written in the following order: first to the Romans, then two to the Corinthians, and after these to the Galatians and next to the Ephesians; then to the Philippians and to the Colossians, two to the Thessalonians and then to the Hebrews; after these are two to Timothy, one to Titus, and finally, one to Philemon. In addition is the Apocalypse of John.”     

Athanasius was one of the most important figures in orthodox Christianity. He lived in the fourth century and he attended the first ecumenical council, the Council of Nicea in 325 C.E. This council was called by emperor Constantine to try to resolve differences in theology that was splitting the church of its day.

Athanasius became the bishop of the church of Alexandria in 328 C.E. He would determine the date of Easter for the churches under his jurisdiction. The most important letter he wrote came in 367 C.E., called the Thirty-Ninth Festal letter, in which he laid out for his churches the structure of the Old and New Testament canon. In this letter he indicates the books that are to be read in the church, and which should not be read in the church. It is Athanasius who first sets out the current twenty-seven books of the New Testament – though even with his letter, the matter still was not settled or resolved for all church leaders.  

One instruction Athanasius included were books he thought should be read by those who have recently come to faith and wish to be instructed in the word of piety: the Wisdom of Solomon, Judith, Tobit and the Didache to name just a few.

Have you ever read the Didache, also called The Teaching? Have you read any of the books of the Apocrypha? You should. Even though we do not include the Apocrypha in our canon for the Lutheran church, and even though we do not offer readings from the Gospel of Thomas, still they are books that help to enrich our understanding of the decisions that were made by people like Athanasius and Eusebius about scripture, and about practice.

There is more to come.

Pastor Dave