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Okay then Magenta, Can you show where yourself or this Christian historian Phillip Schaff find a Bible before Martin Luther (16th century) that excludes the 7 Sacred Books he removed from the Canon of Scripture? I am willing to bet not. What does tell us logically? All Christians before Luther's version of the Bible, accepted the 73 books (verse 66 books) as inspired Holy Writ. Luther created the very first Bible in the history of Christianity to exclude 7 of these sacred books. Actually he apportioned them to an "uninspired but good for reading" appendix in his translation. In fact every Protestant Bible carried the 7 books in an appendix until 1826 when the English Bible Society began omitting them from their publications. Soon every other Protestant translation followed suit. It is of note that even William Tyndale, (who was a precursor to the first Protestants), in his English version of the Bible, *included* 73 books as opposed to the 66 held by Protestants today.
One cannot find a Bible that precedes Luther that EXCLUDES the 7 sacred books. What does that tell you? It tells you that every single Bible (and every single Christian) before Luther held these 7 books as inspired.
The following link (
from the Protestant website at Calvin College) provides the
[/B]official declaration at the Council of Carthage in the 4th century when the OT/NT canon was FIRST defined. This same canon remained unchanged for 1000+ years until Luther deemed (by his own authority) 7 OT books "uninspired." (He did so because these 7 sacred books contradicted his new theology). This 24th Canon from the 4th century Council of Carthage was used by all Christians as the only canon of Scripture. It was again
reaffirmed in its entirety at the Council of Trent in the 16th century in response to the Protestant Reformation and the deletion of 7 sacred books from the Holy Bible.
The closing of the Christian canon in the 4th century. From Protestant Calvin College website:
NPNF2-14. The Seven Ecumenical Councils - Christian Classics Ethereal Library
This Protestant site above lists Canon 24 of the Council of Carthage in the 4 century that lists the
7 missing books Luther removed from the Bible. All Bibles contained these 7 books until their removal by Luther in the 16 century:
Tobias, (Listed in the 4th century as
Tobit)
1.
Wisdom, listed as one of the 5 Books of Solomon.
2. Sirach (known as Ecclesiasticus) listed as one of the 5 Books of Solomon.
3. Baruch listed as one of
the Twelve Books of the Prophets. (Protestant Bibles only have 11 books of the prophets)
4.
Tobias, (Listed in the 4th century as Tobit)
5. Judith
6. Maccabees book 1
7. Maccabees book 2
So Magenta, you need to ask yourself, why does every Bible without exception before Martin Luther have 73 inspired books? By what right and under whose power did Luther removed Scripture from Scripture? Does not the Holy Bible caution:
"I warn everyone who hears the prophetic words of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words in the prophetic book, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city described in this book." Rev. 22:18-19
Test this as the Holy Bible commands.
"Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil."
1 Thessalonians 5:21-22
I just want to believe as the Apostles taught Christ's early Church, no matter where it leads me and no matter what it costs me. Don't you?
Pax Christi