The Westminster Confession is a set of religious beliefs written by a group of Protestant scholars in the 17th century. One of their main goals was to create a clear list of books that should be considered as the official and authoritative parts of the Bible. They worked under the principle of "sola scriptura," which means they believed that the Bible alone should be the ultimate authority for Christian faith and practice.
However, finding a definitive list of these sacred books was not straightforward. The scholars had to depend on historical sources and decisions made by earlier religious groups. For example, the Jamnia Council was a gathering of Jewish scholars around the year 90 AD, which made important decisions about which Jewish texts were considered authoritative. Additionally, important figures like Akiva and Jerome also contributed to these decisions, but their writings and opinions were not exclusively Christian; they reflected Jewish or broader perspectives. (Ed. Mainly Pharisees and influenced by Jewish non-Christians)
Because the Bible itself does not explicitly list which books should be included as canonical, the Westminster scholars had to rely on these historical sources to decide. This means they had to interpret and use information that was not purely Christian. This reliance on historical and external sources adds complexity to the process of establishing the Bible's authoritative list.
The process of determining which books were included in the Bible affects how Christian teachings and doctrines are formed and understood. It highlights the importance of carefully examining how these decisions were made and the sources used, as these factors can influence the perceived authority and completeness of the Bible.
The main point here is that if we, as humans, are going to establish a list of books to include in the Bible (a canon) for the purpose of building sound Christian doctrine, then it is crucial that this list has a basis in Scripture itself. However, no such basis exists in the Bible. The Scriptures do not provide any list of books that should be considered canonical, nor do they suggest that any specific list should be created.
This leads to an irony: the only sources we have for deciding which books should be included in the Bible come from non-Christian traditions. These sources are certainly not inspired by God. For instance, the list that eventually became accepted as the canon was heavily influenced by Jewish Pharisees, a group whose predecessors outright rejected Jesus as the Messiah. Relying on their decisions for something as important as the Bible's canon is, in essence, forming an alliance with the world, which the Bible warns against as being enmity towards God.
Jerome, an early Christian scholar, was once brought before a church court for being too closely aligned with worldly Roman philosophy. Given this, it would not be surprising if his decisions about what books to include in the Bible were similarly influenced by his friendships, particularly with Jewish scholars in Bethlehem, where he lived. This connection to non-Christian sources raises concerns about the integrity and spiritual foundation of the canon that was established.
(Generated by AI, ChatGPT)
