Most of my posts lately seem trite or computer-oriented. Work has been keeping me busy and what study I have been doing is on topics that I have written enough on already. There are plenty of spare thoughts but those are not formulated enough to write about.

I was asked by a Muslim today how we can claim the Bible is divinely inspired when Catholics have more books in their Bible than Protestants have in theirs. It is a good question and many people do not know how the books of their Bible came to be collected together. Here is a good, concise explanation from Charles Hodge (Systematic Theology, Volume I, Introduction, Chapter VI, “The Canon”):

Before entering on the consideration of these points, it is necessary to answer the question, What books are entitled to a place in the canon,  or rule of faith and practice? Romanists answer this question by saying, that all those which the Church has decided to be divine in their origin, and none others, are to be thus received. Protestants answer it by saying, so far as the Old Testament is concerned, that those books, and those only, which Christ and his Apostles recognized as the written Word of God, are entitled to be regarded as canonical.  This recognition was afforded in a twofold manner: First, many of the books of the Old Testament are quoted as the Word of God, as being given by the Spirit; or the Spirit is said to have uttered what is therein recorded. Secondly, Christ and his Apostles refer to the sacred writings of the Jews — the volume which they regarded as divine —  as being what it claimed to be, the Word of God. When we refer to the Bible as of divine authority, we refer to it as a volume and recognize all the writings which it contains as given by the inspiration of the Spirit. In like manner when Christ or his Apostles quote the “Scriptures,” or the “law and the prophets,”  and speak of the volume then so called, they give their sanction to the divine authority of all the books which that volume contained. All, therefore, that is necessary to determine for Christians the canon of the Old Testament, is to ascertain what books were included in the “Scriptures” recognized by the Jews of that period. This is a point about which there is no reasonable doubt. The Jewish canon of the Old Testament included all the books and no others, which Protestants now recognize as constituting the Old Testament Scriptures. On this ground Protestants reject the so-called apocryphal books. They were not written in Hebrew and were not included in the canon of the Jews. They were, therefore, not recognized by Christ as the Word of God. This reason is of itself sufficient. It is however confirmed by considerations drawn from the character of the books themselves. They abound in errors,  and in statements contrary to those found in the undoubtedly canonical books.

The principle on which the canon of the New Testament is determined is equally simple. Those books, and those only which can be proved to have been written by the Apostles, or to have received their sanction, are to be recognized as of divine authority. The reason of this rule is obvious. The Apostles were the duly authenticated messengers of Christ, of whom He said, “He that heareth you,  heareth me.”

You can certainly delve deeper, but the rules that have guided what books are in the Bible are simple and easy to understand.