JWsHowCanonicalBooksCompleted
Early Catalogues and the Christian Greek Scripture Canon
3
Articles
IT
The
word “canon” itself shows why it is important to have the right books in our
Bible. Originally it referred to a reed used as a measuring rod if a piece of
wood was not at hand, and then to a tool, a carpenter’s level or a scribe’s
ruler. The apostle Paul referred to a “rule (Greek: kanōn)
of conduct” as well as to a literal rule or boundary line. (Gal. 6:16; 2 Cor. 10:13) So canonical books are those
that are true and inspired and worthy to be used as a straightedge in
determining the right faith and doctrine. If we use books that are not
“straight” as a plumb line, our “building” will not be true and it will fail
the test of the Master Surveyor.
The
Roman Catholic Church claims responsibility for the decision as to which books
should be included in the canon, and reference is made to the Councils of Hippo
(A.D. 393) and
THE
EVIDENCE OF EARLY CATALOGUES
A
glance at the accompanying chart reveals that several fourth-century catalogues
agree exactly with our present canon, or omit only Revelation. Before the end
of the second century there is universal acceptance of the four Gospels, Acts
and twelve of the apostle Paul’s letters. Only a few of the smaller writings
were doubted in certain areas.
The
most interesting early catalogue is the fragment discovered by L. A. Muratori in the Ambrosian
Library,
The
majority of the catalogues in the chart are specific lists showing which books
were accepted as canonical. Those of Irenaeus,
Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian and Origen are completed from the quotations they made, which
reveal how they regarded the writings referred to. These are further
supplemented from the records of the early historian Eusebius. But why do we
not find exact lists earlier than the Muratorian
fragment?
It
was not until men like Marcion came along in the middle
of the second century that the need arose to catalogue the books Christians
should accept. Marcion constructed his own canon to
suit his doctrines, taking only certain of the apostle
Paul’s letters and an expurgated form of the Gospel of Luke. This, together
with the mass of apocryphal literature by now spreading throughout the world,
made it imperative to pronounce a clear-cut distinction between what could be
received as Scripture and what could not. So we need to work back from the
lists at the end of the second century in order to fill the remaining gap of
about a hundred years.
COLLECTION
OF GOSPELS
It
should not be thought that the early Christians lacked vigor in the collecting
of inspired writings, or were all too poor to afford copies. Since false
writings worth nearly £3,000 ($8,400) were burned on one occasion by those
embracing Christianity, it is certain that they would be replaced by copies of
the Scriptures as soon as opportunity afforded. (Acts
Early
writers show their familiarity with a Gospel collection. Justin Martyr, about
A.D. 150, speaks of “the memoirs, composed by them (the apostles), which are
called Gospels.” (1 Apology 66) On another occasion he refers to “the memoirs
which I say were drawn up by His apostles and those who followed them”
(Dialogue with Trypho 103), the last remark referring
to Mark and Luke. Ignatius, who died A.D. 115, also refers to “gospel” in the
singular, though he has knowledge of more than one.—Ignatius’ Letter to the Smyrnaeans 5.1; 7.2.
Irenaeus argues, about A.D. 190, that there were just
four Gospels. His term ‘fourfold gospel’ shows that he knew the Gospels as a
collection, and he recommended these writings as the rule or canon of truth.
(Against Heresies
A
unique work of the second century was Tatian’s “Diatessaron,” meaning “of the four.” This was an early
harmony, weaving together into one narrative the various sections of the four
canonical Gospels. This again indicates the acceptance of the four as a
collection and testifies to their undisputed authority as the authentic record
of Jesus’ life and words. Because Acts was associated with Luke it may often
have been circulated with the four Gospels, as in the early third-century
Chester Beatty manuscript P45.
Just
as the early Christians would be anxious to collect together the four Gospels,
so they would desire to have all of the apostle Paul’s
letters. Upon its receipt, a letter would be read to all in the congregation
and then the original or a copy would often be sent to another congregation in
exchange for their epistle. (1 Thess. 5:27; Col.
4:16) If it was addressed to a number of congregations, it might be copied many
times. (Gal. 1:2) Though Paul addressed two letters specifically to
How
soon a complete collection was formed we do not know, but scholars generally
agree that at least ten Pauline epistles were widely known as an established
collection by A.D. 90-100.2 Early writers show
acquaintance with such a collection, for they would weave quotations and
extracts into their works. Among these can be named Polycarp,
Ignatius and Clement of Rome.3 Clement of Alexandria uses the collective term “Apostolos” and Irenaeus uses
“Apostles,” quoting Paul as authoritative more than two hundred times and using
all the epistles except possibly Hebrews and Philemon.3 The third-century
Chester Beatty manuscript P46 originally contained in one codex ten epistles,
including Hebrews (some say eleven, adding in Philemon), so that the united
evidence of the entire period prior to formal catalogues testifies both to the
canonicity and collected form of Paul’s letters.
The
authority of all these books is further confirmed by such phrases as the
well-known “it is written,” found some forty times in the Gospels alone. Not
only do the Gospel writers use this expression when referring to the inspired
Hebrew Scriptures, but the phrase is used about A.D. 125 when quoting Paul’s epistles.4
Barnabas (not the same as Paul’s companion) and Justin both use it in quoting
from Matthew. (The Epistle of Barnabas, Chapter 4; Dialogue with Trypho 49) A writing ascribed to Clement of Rome also
refers to the Gospels and the epistles as “Scripture.” (The Second Epistle of
Clement, Chapter 2) More important still is Peter’s testimony, “Paul . . . wrote you, speaking about these things
as he does also in all his letters. In them, however, are some things hard to
understand, which the untaught and unsteady are twisting, as they do also the
rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.”
(2 Pet. 3:15, 16) Peter here refers to ‘all of Paul’s letters’—an early
collection.
Not
only were the “Gospel” and the “Apostle” placed on the same footing as collected
Scripture by Clement of Alexandria, but they were equated with the Hebrew
Scriptures. (Miscellanies, Book 4) Justin tells us that at the meetings of the
early Christians “the memoirs of the apostles or the writing of the prophets
are read, as long as time permits.” (1 Apology 67) Ignatius, Theophilus and Tertullian also
spoke of the Prophets, the Law and the Gospel as equally
authoritative.—Ignatius’ Letter to the Smyrnaeans,
5.1; Theophilus to Autolycus,
Book 3, chap. 12; On Prescriptions Against Heretics,
chap. 36.
THE
CANON COMPLETED
Having
established the canonical position of the major part of the Christian Greek
Scriptures, we can consider the books marked in the chart as disputed by some.
Because
Hebrews did not bear Paul’s name and seemed to be written in a different style,
it was rejected by certain ones, especially in the West, although Clement of
Rome used it as a work of authority. (E.g., 1 Clement 36; Heb. 1:3, 4) It was
accepted completely in the East, however, and at
The
book of Revelation is attested to by a unanimity of
early commentators including Papias, Justin, Melito and Irenaeus.6 (Fragments of Papias
8) It was rejected by some in the East because its teachings were unacceptable
to certain schools of thought. But this did not disturb its general reception
Even at this early date due regard was also paid to having a correct text, as Irenaeus informs us in referring to Revelation
This
leaves James and Jude and the epistles of Peter and John. There was never any
difficulty with First Peter and First John, Papias
and Polycarp being among the early testimonies for
their authority. (Fragments of Papias 6; The Epistle of Polycarp to the
Philippians 2, 7) When it is remembered how small each of the remaining five
writings is, we are not surprised to find a paucity of
references to them, comprising as they do only
PRESENCE
OF APOCRYPHAL WORKS
But
why does the manuscript Codex Sinaiticus include
after the book of Revelation the epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas, and the Codex Alexandrinus
add the two Clementine epistles? Many similar writings have been discovered
recently claiming apostolic status, and among these the so-called Gospel of
Thomas has evoked much discussion. Should some of these works be included in
our Bible today?
The
historian Eusebius, in summing up the position, sets out three categories of
writings. First the acknowledged ones are enumerated and then the disputed
ones, both classes being considered canonical. The third group, in which he
names the Shepherd of Hermas, Barnabas and others, he
calls spurious, although they were read in various congregations at times.
(Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius, p. 110) The Muratorian
fragment states that the Shepherd could be read but was never to the end of
time to be recognized as canonical.4
When
it was found that the apocryphal Gospel of Peter was being read publicly at the
end of the second century, it was ordered to be rejected as false.
(Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius, p. 231) Tertullian
tells us that the author of the “Acts of Paul” was punished for posing as a
first-century writer. (De Baptismo 17) In a letter
written by Theodore of Egypt in the fourth century the apocryphal writings are
referred to as “the lying waters of which so many drank,”7 and the Muratorian list speaks of them as gall which should not be
mixed with honey.4 So the Christian community was careful to protect the
integrity of its writings.
It
was often a matter of convenience to bind into a codex an apocryphal work, for
it might be read by some, though they would have in mind the distinction shown
by the fact that in the two codices cited (the Sinaitic
and the Alexandrine) the apocryphal writings followed Revelation, the last of
the canonical books. Or we might possess a manuscript today that belonged to an
apostate congregation giving too much attention to such works, just as in the
case that Serapion of Antioch discovered at the end
of the second century.
Internal
evidence confirms the clear division made between the inspired and the spurious
works. The apocryphal writings are much inferior and often fanciful and
childish. They are frequently inaccurate. Note the following statements by
scholars on these noncanonical books:
“There
is no question of any one’s having excluded them from the New Testament: they
have done that for themselves.”—M. R. James, The Apocryphal New Testament, p.
xii.
“We
have only to compare our New Testament books as a whole with other literature
of the kind to realise how wide is
the gulf which separates them from it. The uncanonical
gospels, it is often said, are in reality the best evidence for the
canonical.”—G. Milligan, The New Testament Documents,
p. 228.
“Much
of the Gospel of Thomas is plainly later and untrustworthy tradition
. . . of no use for determining what Jesus said and did.”—F.
V. Filson, The Biblical
Archaeologist, 1961, p. 18.
“There
is no known extra-cononical Gospel material which is
not (when it can be tested at all) in some way subject to suspicion for its
genuineness or orthodoxy.”—C. F. D. Moule, The Birth of the New Testament, p. 192.
“It
cannot be said of a single writing preserved to us from the early period of the
Church outside the New Testament that it could properly be added today to the
Canon.”—K. Aland, The
Problem of the New Testament Canon, p. 24.
INSPIRED
OF GOD
The
true test of canonicity is the evidence of inspiration. (2 Tim. 3:16) The
twenty-seven books of the Christian Greek Scriptures found their place, not by
the mere caprice of men, but by the spirit of God. Nothing is missing and
nothing extra has been added. John could already see the beginning of a vast
additional literature in his old age, but was it needed? (John 21:25) Even if a
genuine saying of Jesus could be found in one of these works,
that would not make it an inspired writing. God’s Word in its sixty-six
books is our guide and its complete harmony and balance testify to its
completeness. All praise to Jehovah God, the Creator of this incomparable Book!
It can equip us completely and put us on the way to life. Let us use it wisely
while we yet have time.
REFERENCES
1
The Problem of the New Testament Canon, by Kurt Aland,
1962, page 18.
2
The Text of the Epistles, by G. Zuntz, 1946, pages
14, 279.
3
Early Christian Doctrines, by J. N. D. Kelly, 1958, page 58.
4
The New Testament Documents, G. Milligan, 1913, pages 214, 290, 291.
5
The Epistle to the Hebrews, Greek Text and Notes, by B. F. Westcott, 1889, page
lxxi.
6 Historic Evidence of the Authorship and Transmission of the Books
of the New Testament, by S. P. Tregelles, 1852, pages
61-63.
7
The New Archaeological Discoveries, 2d Ed., by C. M. Cobern,
1917, page 334.
[Footnotes]
Translated by C. F. Crusé, Tenth
Edition, 1856.
[Chart
on page 252]
(For
fully formatted text, see publication)
Chart
of Outstanding Early Catalogues
Name
Approximate
and
Place
Date A.D.
Irenaeus,
Clement
of
Tertullian,
Origen,
Eusebius,
Cyril
of
Athanasius,
Epiphanius,
Gregory
Nazianzus,
Amphilocius,
Augustine,
Third Council of
Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
Acts
Romans
1 Cor.
2 Cor.
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
1 Thess.
2 Thess.
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon
Hebrews
James
1 Peter
2 Peter
1 John
2 John
3 John
Jude
Revelation
A – Accepted without query as Scriptural and Canonical.
D – Doubted in certain quarters.
DA
– Doubted in certain quarters but cataloguer accepted as Scriptural and
Canonical.
?
– Scholars uncertain of the reading of the text.
Article Two
The
Bible Is Not a Catholic Book!
The Bible. No book has had more loyal and ardent friends
or more bitter enemies. Who deserves credit for it? And is it indispensable for
salvation or expendable?
“THE
Bible Is a Catholic Book.” “No . . . the
Bible Is Not Our Sole Guide.” “The Church Came First, the Bible Followed.” The
foregoing are typical headings of advertisements that appeared in the
newspapers and magazines of the
Among
other things these advertisements state: “Catholics have a genuine love and respect
for the Bible. It could not be otherwise, for the Catholic Church is the Mother
of the Bible.” “Between the time of the Crucifixion and the time the Scriptures
were gathered into a single Book, millions had received and accepted the
teachings of Jesus Christ . . . and had died
without ever seeing the complete Bible.” “It was 1400 years before printing was
invented and the mass distribution of the Scriptures became possible. If Christ
had intended the Bible to be the sole guide to His teaching, would he have
allowed this delay—permitting millions of people to die in ignorance of the
printed Word?”
Is
the Catholic Church the “Mother of the Bible”? And what about
Christians’ not having seen a complete Bible before the end of the fourth
century? And about no mass distribution of the Bible being possible
before Gutenberg invented printing? Let us calmly and soberly reason on this
very controversial subject in the light of the Bible and the facts of history.
The
Catholic Church claims to be the “Mother” of the Bible by reason of her Council
of Carthage, 397, at which she set the canon of the Bible as far as she was
concerned. In this canon she listed not only the sixty-six books generally
accepted but also seven books of the pre-Christian Apocrypha, which “hidden”
books had been rejected by the Great Sanhedrin at
The
claim is made that Jesus and his apostles used the Septuagint version of the
Hebrew Scriptures and that it contained these apocryphal books. However, the
Septuagint did not always contain these books, as they had not even been
written at the time the Septuagint began to be translated, in 280 B.C. Therefore
it is open to question as to whether the copies of the Septuagint that Jesus
and his apostles used did contain these books or not. One thing is certain,
however, not a single reference to or quotation from the Apocrypha is to be
found in the Christian Greek Scriptures. The Bible, therefore, that the Roman
Catholic Church “mothered” certainly was not in its entirety the Word of God.
Nor is that all. According to modern Bible scholars such as Goodspeed, collecting of the letters of Paul began before
the year A.D. 100, and in a few more decades the four Gospels were also being
circulated as a group. Six of the ten ancient catalogues dating long before
A.D. 397 list the same canon as we have today, and early in the third century,
or some 175 years before A.D. 397, Origen gave the
same canon in his Hexapla (six Bible versions in
one). So, in view of the fact that there was general agreement on what
constituted the Bible canon long before the year A.D. 397, and in view of the
Catholic Church’s adding seven apocryphal books thereto, it is clear that she
cannot lay claim to being the “Mother” of the Bible.
THE COMPLETE BIBLE?
To
say that millions died during the first four centuries who had accepted Christ
Jesus without ever seeing a “complete” Bible is to make use of a jesuitism or dishonest argument. From the time of Moses
onward the canon of the Bible kept growing until John wrote his gospel and
letters about A.D. 98. Whatever had been produced under inspiration up to any
certain time was all that was needed for God’s approval and constituted God’s
complete Word up to that time. It therefore also follows that the Bible came
before the church, because when Jesus, the head and first one of the true
church, came to earth, the Bible, the Hebrew Scriptures, were in existence.
Although
himself the Son of God, Jesus continually appealed to the authority of the
Bible, repeatedly saying, “It is written.” He censured his opponents because
they knew “neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.” They had access to
God’s Word. And Paul commended the Beroeans for
checking with the Hebrew Scriptures on what he, an apostle, had told
them.—Matt. 21:13; 22:29; Acts 17:11, NW.
Likewise
Paul told Timothy—not regarding the “complete Bible” of the year 100—but
regarding the Hebrew Scriptures: “From infancy you have known the holy writings
which are able to make you wise for salvation through the faith in connection
with Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for
teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in
righteousness, that the man of God may be fully competent, completely equipped
for every good work.” Note that God’s Word was able to equip the Christian
completely for every good work, long before it became “complete” in the Catholic
use of the term.—2 Tim. 3:15-17, NW.
NO
“PRINTED” BIBLE?
The
Knights of Columbus advertisements speak of no “printed” Bibles for more than a
thousand years, as though it made any difference whether they were manuscript copies
or printed ones. The fact, however, is that early Christians were great
publishers of the Bible even though they lived a thousand years before printing
was invented. They published, they produced multiple
copies for circulation. While pagan religions made much of mysteries and the
oriental holy books are purposely kept from the common people, such was not
true of Christianity, for within fifty years of its birth it became a
publishing faith, not only exhausting or using to the full the scroll but pioneering
in the use of the codex, a manuscript in book form with pages and a cover. We
are told that the early Christians were a book-buying and book-reading people
as well as a book-translating and book-publishing people.
However,
when apostate Christianity fused with pagan religion, worldly philosophy and
religious traditions to form the Catholic Church, a change took place.
Concerning this Goodspeed says: “In the Middle Ages
publication as a business practically disappeared. The copying of manuscripts was
still carried on to some extent in the Scriptoriums of some convents and
palaces, but for the most part it was single copies that were made, and there
seems to have been none of the old wholesale production; copies were not from
dictation, as they had been in the ancient book factories.”—Christianity Goes
to Press.
Yes,
the much advertised copying credited to the monks was not for the benefit of
the common people but for the rich and the clergy. They made highly ornamented
copies and took their time in copying, often taking two years to complete one
copy they could have completed in a month had they worked at it steadily. Some
produced only one copy in a lifetime. Incidentally, so little were the monks
interested in Bible distribution that they viewed the invention of printing as
a threat to their Bible-copying monopoly!
Most
censurable, however, was the fact that all this was done in Latin, not in the
language of the common people. Wycliffe and his associates produced a Bible in
English toward the end of the fourteenth century and it was the only Bible in
English the common people had access to for 150 years. His followers made as
many as they could, for the common man and in his tongue. So publishing of the
Bible did not have to wait until printing was invented; common people were
gaining access to manuscript copies.
And
far from aiding in this work the self-proclaimed Bible’s “Mother” did all she
could to hinder it, destroying all the copies she could lay hold on and
imprisoning and burning at the stake Bible translators, copyists and readers,
her destruction of Bibles continuing even to this twentieth century.
The
advertisements of the Knights of Columbus also claim credit for the Catholic
Church for having preserved the Bible. Is mankind today indebted to her for the
Bible? No, it is not. In the first place, two of the most valuable Bible
manuscripts in existence were found in non-Catholic lands, the Sinaiticus and the Alexandrine. She cannot claim to have
preserved these. And secondly, the Catholic Church can no more be credited with
preserving the Bible than the faithless Jews of Jesus’ day could have been
credited with preserving the Hebrew Scriptures.
The
great Author of the Bible has also been its great Preserver. Regardless of what
its enemies have tried to do to destroy it, be such enemies deists, agnostics,
atheists, pagans or professed Christians, Jehovah God saw to it that his
promise would be fulfilled that stated: “The vegetation becomes withered, and
the flower falls off, but the word spoken by Jehovah endures forever.” Yes, the
Bible is NOT a Catholic book! It is God’s Book.—1 Pet.
He
that sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he that sows bountifully will
also reap bountifully. Let each one do just as he has resolved in his heart,
not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. In
everything you are being enriched for every kind of generosity, which produces
through us an expression of thanks to God.—2 Cor.
9:6, 7, 11. NW.
Article Three
Do
Catholic Bible Claims Fit the Facts?
OCTOBER
1952 marks the five hundredth anniversary of the production of the first
printed book, Gutenberg’s Bible. That month will see a drive of Protestant
religious organizations of the
Roman
Catholic Bible claims, as listed in their Bible-week literature, can be
summarized as follows: (1) The Catholic Church made the Bible.
(2) The Catholic Church preserved the Bible. (3) The Catholic Church
encourages the reading of the Bible.
THE BIBLE A CATHOLIC BOOK?
Does
the claim that the Catholic Church made the Bible fit the facts? In answering
that question let us first note that the Bible is God’s Word. That being so,
then ever since Moses completed the Pentateuch (the five books, Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) God’s Word has been available to
his servants. As other inspired servants wrote it grew and grew so that by the
time Malachi penned his prophecy God’s Word, the Bible, had grown to 39 books.
These 39 books constituted the sacred Scriptures that Jesus and his disciples
used and which they encouraged others to study.—John
With
the writing of the accounts of Jesus’ life by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the
letters of Paul, Peter, James, Jude, and John and the Acts of the apostles and Revelation (or the Apocalypse), God’s Word grew
to 66 books. As these were written down and circulated among the early
Christians they became recognized as part of the Bible. (2 Pet. 3:15, 16)
The last of these writings, John’s three letters and his Gospel, were completed
about A.D. 98. Shortly thereafter began the compiling of these writings, and
there is evidence to indicate that as early as A.D. 170 the canon or catalogue
of the Bible we have today was recognized. Both Origen
and Eusebius list these same books, and of ten early catalogues extant six
likewise give the same list as is recognized today, three others omitting
Revelation and one omitting both Hebrews and Revelation. In view of these
facts, which show that the canon of the Bible was settled among the Christians
in the second and early third centuries after Christ, can the Catholic Church
claim to have made the Bible, simply because some 150 to 200 years later her Council
of Carthage announced what writings she considered canonical?
If
the Catholic Church made the Bible, is it not strange that she failed to
include any word about the assumption of Mary, her immaculate conception and
about the efficacy of praying to her; about the veneration of relics, images
and saints; about the use of holy water; about the ceremony of the mass; about
a pope’s being the vicar of Christ; about monsignors, archbishops and
cardinals; about purgatory; about a celibate clergy; about not eating meat on
Friday or during Lent; about making novenas; about infant baptism; etc.? Is not
the fact that the Bible is silent on all these outstanding points of the
Catholic religion strong circumstantial evidence that the Catholic Church did
not make the Bible? that it is not a Catholic book?
Who
made the Bible is very clear from its own pages. God is its author. “Thy word
is a lamp to my feet.” “The spirit of the Lord hath spoken by me: and his word
by my tongue.” “Thy word is truth.” “For the word of God is living and
effectual.” “The holy men of God spoke, inspired by the Holy Ghost.”—Douay Version at 2 Ki. 23:2;
Ps. 118:105; John 17:17; Heb. 4:12; 2 Pet. 1:21.
The
Catholic Church further states: “There can be no doubt that the world must
thank the Catholic Church for the Bible—if only for the 1,500 years which
elapsed before the first Reformers appeared on the scene. Who spanned the gulf?
We ask that the monks who copied for centuries, . . .
be given their due. But for them we would have no Bible.” Does this claim fit
the facts? Let us see.
The
facts are that not one of the oldest, most reliable and most valuable
manuscripts of the Bible was found in territories
under Catholic domination. Even her prized
Bible
copying may have been largely limited to the monks, but that was primarily due
to the Catholic Church’s keeping the Bible in a dead language. When Wycliffe
translated the Bible into English his followers made many, many copies, and that without the assistance of monks. And as for
giving these monks any credit, they dared to take liberties with the inspired
text. That is why we have in the King James and the
Not
only can no credit go to the Catholic Church for preserving the Bible but the
facts of history show that she has been the chief destroyer of the Bible.
Copies of Wycliffe’s Bible were hunted out by her from one end of
Endeavoring
to justify such Bible-burning Our Sunday Visitor,
“To
call it any longer the
No,
the claim that the Catholic Church burned Bibles because of their being faulty translations does not fit the facts. There must have been
some other motives. What these were we will let the reader judge. Incidentally,
note that such Bible-burnings are not a thing of the distant past. Many Bibles
were publicly burned on
ENCOURAGE
BIBLE
According
to Pope Leo XIII the Catholic Church “has never failed to take due measures to
bring the Scriptures within the reach of her children”. Again we ask, do the facts fit the claim that the Catholic Church has
encouraged and does encourage Bible-reading? If so, how?
and to what extent?
At
the time when England was under Catholic domination, for anyone to be found
guilty of reading the Bible in English meant the forfeiting of “land, cattle,
life and goods from his heirs forever”. Many were the followers of Wycliffe,
the Lollards, who were imprisoned and even burned at
the stake because of having thus read the Bible in their native tongue.
If
the Catholic Church really had wanted to encourage Bible-reading would she have
kept that sacred volume in the shroud of dead languages? Would Pope Gregory of
the eleventh century have publicly thanked God that the Bible was in a dead
language if he had wanted the people to read it? And why should it have been
necessary for Thomas Stitny, “father of Bohemian
prose,” to complain about the efforts of the Catholic Church to keep the Bible
from being translated into the Bohemian language if she was interested in
having the common people read the Bible? Would Pope Pius
The
picture of a chained Bible is a familiar one. Catholic apologists tell us that it
was chained merely to keep it from being stolen or knocked down on the floor
and that such Bibles were “placed open on a table in the churches to be
consulted”. But who would be consulting a Bible written in a dead language at a
time when the great majority of the people could not even read their native
tongue, not to say anything about the dead or classical languages?
The
fact is that the only reason the Catholic Church finally did give the people
the Bible in their native tongue, as she herself confesses, was to counteract
Protestant versions. Says the Catholic Encyclopedia (Vol. 5, page 140, 1913
ed.) on this subject: “It [the Douay Bible] owed its
existence to the religious controversies of the sixteenth century. Many
Protestant versions had been issued and were used largely by the Reformers for
polemical purposes. The rendering of some of the texts showed evident signs of
controversial bias, and it became of the first importance for the English
Catholics of the day to be furnished with a translation of their own, on the
accuracy of which they could depend and to which they could appeal in the
course of argument.”
How
reluctant the world’s greatest religious organization which “made and preserved
the Bible” was to do this may be gathered from the fact that she waited two
hundred years after one of her excommunicated doctors of divinity (Wycliffe)
had pioneered the task on his own initiative, to give to her people this much
needed instrument! The above quotation also effectively silences the claims that
the Catholic Church and not the Reformers pioneered the work of giving the
people the Bible in their native tongues.
But
surely today the Catholic Church encourages Bible-reading. Did not Pope Leo
XIII grant ‘an indulgence of 300 days to the faithful for every time they read
at least a quarter hour the books of the Sacred Scripture’? True, but how much
encouragement to read the Bible that represents non-Catholics do not know. But
a Catholic knows that he can gain the like amount of indulgence, 300 days, for
just repeating once “Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse
to Thee”. And that takes only five seconds to repeat! Why spend 15 minutes
reading the Bible to gain an indulgence that is yours for just five seconds of
praying? Use that fifteen minutes in unscriptural repetitious praying and gain
54,000 days’ indulgence! So it might be argued. But even if the Bible is read,
how much benefit can be expected to be gotten from such reading done merely to
gain some other benefit and that for a specified time? Where would the mind,
one’s thoughts, be?
Indicative
of the way the Catholic Church really feels about the Bible is the following
excerpt taken from current Catholic Bible tracts: “The Christian is not bound
to read the Bible since it is the Church who proposes to us for our belief
Divine Revelation as contained in Scriptures and Tradition.”
CIRCUMSTANTIAL
EVIDENCE
If
Catholics are encouraged to read the Bible why is it necessary for Catholic
publications to tell Catholics, “No, Catholics Are Not Forbidden to Read It”
(showing a picture of the Bible) and to state that “some Catholics have the
idea that Bible reading is strictly ‘Protestant’”? What more damaging
confession could the Catholic Church make as to her failure to encourage Bible
reading than to admit that some of her children think that Bible reading is
‘strictly Protestant’?
During
World War II there was complaint in the Catholic press of
Further
circumstantial evidence along this line appeared in the book Religious Beliefs
of Youth, published in the
Nor
are such observations as the following, taken from The Holy Bible, The Heritage
of Catholic Family Life, likely to make Catholic youth want to do more Bible
reading: “Can the six days of which Moses speaks be those long periods
described by the geologists? Certainly they are not. Moses knew nothing of
modern science; his picture of the universe is quite naïve, not further
advanced, in fact, than that of the people among whom he lived three thousand
years ago.” Yes, poor Moses! He just did not know any better, according to this
Catholic publication. How much faith in the inspiration of the Bible does such
an appraisal of its account of creation indicate? And how
much encouragement to read the Bible?
In
view of the foregoing what conclusions must we reach? That the Catholic Church
did not make the Bible, she has not preserved it, she
does not genuinely encourage the reading of it. Her Bible efforts are merely
window dressing and propaganda to meet competition. Just as she is content to
let her people remain illiterate so long as the states do not try to educate
them, so she is willing to let her people be without the Bible so long as there
is no danger of their obtaining Bibles from other sources. And just as she has
her greatest school systems where secular education is at its best, just so she
publishes the Bible in the native tongue if there is a likelihood of her
people’s obtaining a Bible from other sources. Compare
From
JW’S Publications