01/05/2022
Catholics (the very first kind of Christian) wrote the New Testament, Catholics of the Catholic Church discerned and added the 27 Books (not more or less) to the Old Testament.
The almost 2,000 year old Catholic Church CLOSED the Canon of Sacred Scripture.
Jesus Christ (God) never instructed His followers to go and write the New Testament and add it to the Old, Jesus Christ and his Apostles did not leave a list of what the new testament should comprise of, His almost 2,000 year old Catholic Church did that.
Various Catholic Bishops developed lists of inspired books that became the New Testament:
• Mileto, Bishop of Sardis, c. AD 175
• St. Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, AD 185
• Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea, c. AD 325
• Pope Damasus in 382 AD prompted by the Council of Rome, wrote a decree listing the 73 Old and New Testament books of the Bible.
• At the Council of Hippo, in North Africa, 393 AD the same 73 Books of the Old and New Testament were approved or canonized.
• Again at the Council of Carthage, (North Africa) 397 AD approved the same 73 books of sacred scripture that the Catholic Church uses today.
• Finally, in 405 AD Pope St. Innocent I approved the same 73 books of the canon and closed the canon of the Bible.
Up until the close of the canon there was much debate among faithful Catholics. That is probably why it took four official decisions to close the canon: Two Councils and Two Papal decisions.
From AD 405 until 1529, this was the Bible for the whole Christian world, the inspired, inerrant Word of God. In 1529, Martin Luther removed seven books of the OT and added the word "alone" in his German translation of Romans 3:28. He also tried to remove several books from the New Testament...u
The Decree of Pope St. Damasus I, Council of Rome. 382 AD.....
ST. DAMASUS I, POPE, THE DECREE OF DAMASUS:
It is likewise decreed: Now, indeed, we must treat of the divine Scriptures: what the universal Catholic Church accepts and what she must shun. The list of the Old Testament begins: Genesis, one book; Exodus, one book: Leviticus, one book; Numbers, one book; Deuteronomy, one book; Jesus Nave, one book; of Judges, one book; Ruth, one book; of Kings, four books; Paralipomenon, two books; One Hundred and Fifty Psalms, one book; of Solomon, three books: Proverbs, one book; Ecclesiastes, one book; Canticle of Canticles, one book; likewise, Wisdom, one book; Ecclesiasticus (Sirach), one book; Likewise, the list of the Prophets: Isaiah, one book; Jeremias, one book; along with Cinoth, that is, his Lamentations; Ezechiel, one book; Daniel, one book; Osee, one book; Amos, one book; Micheas, one book; Joel, one book; Abdias, one book; Jonas, one book; Nahum, one book; Habacuc, one book; Sophonias, one book; Aggeus, one book; Zacharias, one book; Malachias, one book. Likewise, the list of histories: Job, one book; Tobias, one book; Esdras, two books; Esther, one book; Judith, one book; of Maccabees, two books. Likewise, the list of the Scriptures of the New and Eternal Testament, which the holy and Catholic Church receives: of the Gospels, one book according to Matthew, one book according to Mark, one book according to Luke, one book according to John. The Epistles of the Apostle Paul, fourteen in number: one to the Romans, two to the Corinthians, one to the Ephesians, two to the Thessalonians, one to the Galatians, one to the Philippians, one to the Colossians, two to Timothy, one to Titus one to Philemon, one to the Hebrews. Likewise, one book of the Apocalypse of John. And the Acts of the Apostles, one book. Likewise, the canonical Epistles, seven in number: of the Apostle Peter, two Epistles; of the Apostle James, one Epistle; of the Apostle John, one Epistle; of the other John, a Presbyter, two Epistles; of the Apostle Jude the Zealot, one Epistle. Thus concludes the canon of the New Testament. Likewise it is decreed: After the announcement of all of these prophetic and evangelic or as well as apostolic writings which we have listed above as Scriptures, on which, by the grace of God, the Catholic Church is founded, we have considered that it ought to be announced that although all the Catholic Churches spread abroad through the world comprise but one bridal chamber of Christ, nevertheless, the holy Roman Church has been placed at the forefront not by the conciliar decisions of other Churches, but has received the primacy by the evangelic voice of our Lord and Savior, who says: "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it; and I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you shall have bound on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall have loosed on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
Even Martin Luther knew this much:
"We are compelled to concede to the Papists that they have the Word of God, that we received it from them, and that without them we should have no knowledge of it at all."
~ Martin Luther, Commentary on St. John.
