One of the core beliefs of a Biblical Christian is that the Bible, in its original autographs, is the inspired, inerrant word of God. The theological concept is that God inspired the original writers, using their own personalities and experiences, to write what God wanted to be stated in the Holy Scriptures.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, – 2 Timothy 3:16

The underlying point remains that God wrote the Bible, not man, and therefore, it stands above and apart from anything mankind might believe or write. This trust in Scripture is the cornerstone of the Christian faith. The other ways some try to determine who God is (dreams, visions, feelings) are much more susceptible to corruption by our sin nature and Satan’s influences.

For Christianity to exist, the Bible is our primary, and some would say only, trusted conduit in understanding the Creator of the universe, which is why it is constantly under attack.

Thousands of books, lectures, Bible studies, sermons, Sunday School classes, seminary degrees, etc. have been based on confirming the miraculous nature of the Bible and validating its authenticity from an archeological and historical standpoint. Of course, for the skeptic, all that can be brushed aside with ease.

For many Christians, the memorized answer to their faith has been the trusted accuracy in the “original autographs”, coupled with a line such as, “and we hold today what is 99% of that original work, penned by God Himself”.

However, the fact is that Biblical Christians are missing a very significant void in our thinking if we end our faith at the point of the original autographs.

Beyond the Original

There is a huge gap between what the 1st Century scribes penned and the Bible we hold today. That void (ignoring for the moment the loss in translation credibility) is the question of who got to decide what authors had their writings chosen to become a part of the Bible?

Again, hundreds of books, papers, sermons, etc. have been written discussing when and how the Canon of Scripture became “closed”, but that is not the intent of this short article (an explanation here).

What is important is that Biblical Christians need to expand our faith-based coverage of the devine work of God, His word, beyond the original autographs, to include God’s intervention in the decision of what should go into the Biblical Canon, and what writings from the first century should be excluded.

We must accept not only what God inspired and the authors wrote in the first century, but also the process of discovery, all the way from the Jewish scholars and rabbis from the Old Testament through to the 4th Century early Christians finalizing what should be included in the New Testament. As protestant Biblical Christians, we must reject the Catholic and some Eastern Orthodox beliefs in the Apocrypha, and other writings supported by the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Biblical inerrancy is much broader than what God originally inspired. God was also active in determining, from a myriad of writings over thousands of years, what must be included in the sacred text we hold today. And finally, as we approach closer and closer to the prophesies found in Revelation and elsewhere, we need to insure that false teachers do not add to the closed Canon going forward, as well.

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy 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 of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. – Revelation 22:18-19