  The title Bible, from Ta Biblia, meaning The Book, or more properly The Books, was given to the sacred book of Christians, it is claimed, by Chrysostom in the fifth century. For a period of one hundred and fifty years the sacred books of the Jews alone constituted the Christian Bible. They consisted of the following three collections of books which form the Old Testament. The Law.
The Prophets.
Hagiographa.
To the above thirty-nine books of the Old Testament were subsequently added the following twenty-seven books of the New Testament.
The books of the Old Testament were called The Scripture, or Scriptures, by early Christians. After the books of the New Testament were recognized as canonical and inspired, the terms Old and New Testaments were employed to distinguish the two divisions. Tertullian, at The proper arrangement of the books of the Old Testament is in the order named in the foregoing list. Both Jews and Christians, however, have varied the order. The books of the Hagiographa, with the exceptions of Ruth which follows Judges, Lamentations which follows Jeremiah, and Daniel which appears among the Prophets, have been placed between the Earlier and Later Prophets. In later Jewish versions the Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther, called the five rolls, come immediately after the Pentateuch. In the Christian Bibles of the Eastern churches, including the two most noted ancient manuscripts, the Vatican and Alexandrian, the seven Catholic Epistles, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, and Jude, follow Acts and precede the Pauline Epistles. In the accepted Hebrew the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament formed but twenty-two, corresponding to the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Judges and Ruth formed one book, First and Second Samuel one, First and Second Kings one, First and Second Chronicles one, Ezra and Nehemiah one, Jeremiah and Lamentations one, and the twelve Minor Prophets one. The books of the Pentateuch (Pente, five; teuchos, volume) now bear the Greek names given them by the Septuagint translators, with About one-half of the books of the Bible, Joshua, Isaiah, Matthew, etc., are named after their alleged authors. A few, like Ruth and Esther, take their names from the leading characters of the books. The Pauline Epistles bear the names of the churches, people, or persons to whom they are addressed. The titles of Judges, Kings, Chronicles, Psalms, Proverbs, and a few others, indicate the subjects of the books. The division of the books of the Bible into chapters was made in the thirteenth century; the division into verses, in the sixteenth century. These divisions are to a great extent mechanical rather than logical. Paragraphs are frequently divided in the formation of chapters, and sentences in the formation of verses. Canonical and Apocryphal Books of the Old and New Testaments.In addition to the canonical books of the Bible, there are many Jewish and Christian 1.Books accepted as canonical and divine by all Jews and Christians.Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. 2.Books accepted as canonical and divine by a part of the Jews and by all Christians.Joshua, Judges, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. 3.Books accepted by a part of the Jews as canonical, but not divine; by most Christians as canonical and divine.Ruth, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Lamentations, Daniel. 4.Books accepted as canonical by some Jews, and for most part by the Greek and Roman Catholic churches, but rejected by the Protestants.Baruch, Tobit, Judith, Book of Wisdom, Song of the Three Children, History of Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, Prayer of Manasseh, Ecclesiasticus, 1 Esdras, 2 Esdras, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, 3 Maccabees, 4 Maccabees, 5 Maccabees. 5.Lost books cited by writers of the Bible.Book of the Wars of the Lord, Book of Jasher, Book of the Covenant, Book of Nathan, Book of Gad, Book of Samuel, Prophecy of Ahijah, Visions of Iddo, Acts of Uzziah, Acts of Solomon, Three Thousand Proverbs of Solomon, A Thousand and Five Songs of Solomon, Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, Book of Jehu, Book of Enoch. 6.Books which formed the original canon of the New Testament and which have always been accepted by Christians.Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, 1 John. 7.Books which are now generally accepted by Christians, but which were for a time rejected.Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, Revelation. 8.Books now excluded from the canon, but which are found in some of the older manuscripts of the New Testament.Shepherd of Hermas, Epistle of Barnabas, 1 Clement, 2 Clement, Paul’s Epistle to Laodiceans, Apostolic Constitutions. 9.Other Apocryphal books of the New Testament which are extant.Gospel of the Infancy, Protevangelion of James, Acts of Pilate, Nativity of Mary, Fifteen Epistles of Ignatius, Epistle of Polycarp, Gospel of Marcion (in part), Clementine Recognitions, Clementine Homilies. 10.Apocryphal books of the New Testament which are lost.Oracles of Christ, Gospel According to the Hebrews, Gospel According to the Egyptians, Gospel of Peter, Gospel of Paul, Gospel of Philip, Gospel of Matthias, Gospel of Andrew, Gospel of Perfection, Gospel of Tatian, Gospel of Basilides, Gospel of Apelles, Gospel of Cerinthus, Gospel of Bartholomew, Acts of Paul, Acts of Peter, Revelation of Paul, Revelation of Peter, Preaching of Peter, Memoirs of the Apostles. Here is a list of one hundred and fifty books. In the apocryphal groups have been included only the most important of this class. To these In the mind of the devout Protestant there is as great a difference between the canonical and apocryphal books of the Old and New Testaments as there is between light and darkness. The former he regards as the work of a wise and good God, the latter, with a few exceptions, as the work of ignorant and wicked men. And yet there is no such difference. The two classes are of much the same character. The worst canonical books are, perhaps, better than the worst apocryphal books; while, on the other hand, the best apocryphal books, if not equal to the best canonical books, are far superior to a majority of them. Circumstances rather than merit determined the fate of these books. Books of real merit and of high authority in some of the early churches were cast aside because these churches either ceased to exist or changed their creeds; while books of little merit survived as authorities because their teachings supported the doctrines which survived. The religion of the primitive churches underwent many radical changes. The Christianity of the second century was not the Christianity of the first. Books teaching the new theology superseded those which taught the old; and thus the |
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