Isn’t There Bible Texts That Are “Lost”?

When we talk about “How We Got Our Bible”, one of the questions that I’ve been asked is:

“I’ve heard there are books that should have been included in the Bible, but were excluded. How do we know we have ALL of the Bible available to us – that portions weren’t taken away or hidden.”

God gave us the Scripture through the Prophets and the Apostles. The “Prophets” were specifically chosen by God to carry His Word to the people. God said of the Prophets:

Numbers 12:6-8 … Hear now my words: If there be a prophet (Hebrew nāḇî’, pronunciation naw-bee’) among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. 7 My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. 8 With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?

Moses was a prophet of God, a Premier Prophet. God spoke to Moses not in dreams, but in an audible voice. God spoke to the Prophets through dreams and visions, but Moses directly. The Prophets wrote the Old Testament as God gave them direction – and Moses wrote the Pentateuch, also called the Torah or the Books of the Law. These first five Books, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy give the history of the founding of creation and the founding of Israel. These Books also set out the ceremonial, civil, and sacrificial laws that are unique to Israel, as well as the moral laws that apply to all people.

The office of the Prophet elevated and glorified God. The Prophet did not exist to make people feel good about themselves, but to point them to God as Savior and Lord.

God told His people:

Deuteronomy 13:1-3 If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, 2 And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; 3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

If a Prophet rises up who tries to draw God’s people away from God, that Prophet is to be ignored. The Prophet existed to glorify God, not man. God went on to say:

Deuteronomy 13:5 And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.

God raised up a number of Prophets to write Scripture, the Old Testament that we have in our Bible. But Moses was a special Prophet of God. As Moses life came toward it’s end on this earth, he prophesied:

Deuteronomy 18:15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto Him ye shall hearken;

God would raise up another Prophet like Moses. This Prophet would hear God audibly – not in visions and dreams, but directly. Moses went on to prophesy:

Deuteronomy 18:18-19 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. 19 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

Who was this unique Prophet Who was like Moses in how God approached Him? It is none other than Jesus Christ. We are told in:

Hebrews 1:1-2 (NKJV) God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds…

Jesus is the Prophet Who spoke to God face to face. Jesus told us:

John 8:28 … (ESV) I do nothing on My own authority, but SPEAK JUST AS THE FATHER TAUGHT ME.

John 12:49-50 (ESV) … I have not spoken on My own authority, BUT THE FATHER WHO SENT ME has Himself given Me a commandment – WHAT TO SAY AND WHAT TO SPEAK … What I say, therefore, I SAY AS THE FATHER HAS TOLD ME

When Jesus began His ministry, He hand picked men whom He called “Apostles” (Matthew 10:2). Apostles (the Greek apostolos, pronunciation

ap-os’-tol-os) were delegates or messengers specifically chosen by Christ, commissioners of Heaven. Apostles were “called or appointed by God, just as Old Testament Prophets were called of God” (Romans 1:1; 1 Corinthians 1:1; 9:1).

Apostles And Prophets Wrote Scripture. False Apostles And Prophets Wrote Pseudepigrapha, or false scripture.

When early Christians were gathering the Scriptures – the Old Testament writings and the New Testament letters that the Apostles had written to the Churches – the devil tried to flood the Word of God with the word of man. He did this in the Garden of Eden when he questioned God’s Word to Eve. “Has God really said”? The devil asked (Genesis 3:1). The devil tried flooding both Old and New Testament Scriptures with false scripture, technically called Pseudepigrapha (meaning “false writings”). Some people have said that these are “lost books of the Bible”. That’s untrue. These books were rejected because they taught false doctrines rejected by the Biblical text. Some of these books are:

3 Maccabees
4 Maccabees
Assumption of Moses
Ethiopic Book of Enoch (1 Enoch)
Slavonic Second Book of Enoch
Book of Jubilees
3 Baruch

and so on. There are many more false writings that were rejected from the Canon of Scripture. One false writing called The Gospel of Thomas contains statements like:

Saying 114: Simon Peter said to him, “Let Mary go forth from us, for women are not worthy of life.” Jesus said, “Look, I myself will lead her in order to make her male, so that she too might become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who makes herself male will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”

That is absolute nonsense, and not something that the Jesus represented in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John would have said. Another false writing called …

“The Infancy Gospel of Thomas is a narrative account of periods in Jesus’ childhood, including legendary episodes in which Jesus strikes dead another boy who bumps into him, miraculously lengthens a wooden beam to help his stepfather, Joseph, with his carpentry, raises from the dead his friend who falls off a roof on which they were playing, and makes live sparrows out of clay. ”

Another false scripture called “Acts of John” tell the reader that Jesus is only a spirit who left no footprints when He walked, could not be touched, and did not really die on the Cross but just appeared to die. The Acts of John taught the false doctrine called Docetism, which claims that Jesus’ earthly form was just an illusion.

When the Apostle Paul wrote to the Churches, he had to deal with forgeries that were going out in his name. One false writing that went out, a forgery with Paul’s name on it, claimed that the Rapture had already occurred:

2 Thessalonians 2:1-2 (ESV) Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.

The devil has actively sought to twist, dilute, or counterfeit the Word of God from the beginning of human history. To counter the evil, Paul would write:

2 Thessalonians 3:17 (ESV) I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. This is the sign of genuineness in every letter of mine; it is the way I write.

Though Paul had a secretary that wrote for him as he dictated, he always closed the letters with his own signature (see 1 Corinthians 16:21; Galatians 6:11; & Colossians 4:18).

Determining “Canon” Or The Rule Of Scripture

The false writings or Pseudepigrapha were rejected by the early Church as Scripture because they did not fit the “canon” or “rule” of Scripture. My commentary notes:

“The term pseudepigrapha comes from the Greek pseudo, meaning “false,” and epigraphein, meaning “to inscribe,” thus, “to write falsely.” The pseudepigraphical books were written anywhere from 200 BC to AD 300. They are spurious works written by unknown authors who attempted to gain a readership by tacking on the name of a famous biblical character. Obviously, a book called the “Testament of Abraham” has a better chance of being read than the “Counterfeit Testament of an Unknown Author.”

Rules Of Canon

There are three basic rules that determine the Canon or Rule of Genuine Scripture:

1 Scripture is clearly INSPIRED OF GOD. It is not the opinion of man, but a direct Word from the Creator. For instance, in

Exodus 24:3-4 (NKJV) So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which the Lord has said we will do.” 4 And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

2 Once a clear Word of God was received through the Prophet, that Word is recognized by other men of God.

Deuteronomy 31:24-26 (NKJV) So it was, when Moses had completed writing the words of this law in a book, when they were finished, 25 that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying: 26 “Take this Book of the Law, and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there as a witness against you …

Joshua 1:7-9 (NKJV) Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

God’s people are led by God our Savior. God leads His people to affirm His Word.

2 Kings 23:3 (NKJV) Then the king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people took a stand for the covenant.

God’s people knows what is right and wrong, for God stays with His people. “The LORD is My Shepherd, I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1). The Shepherd makes sure His sheep hear His Voice. “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). God makes sure that His people can hear His Word, and not a false word.

3 The Word of God was collected and preserved by the people of God. Every Book included in the Canon of Scripture was carefully scrutinized. Was the Book written by a Prophet of God? Did that Prophet do acts that only God could have done? Did the Book speak truthfully about God, and have through its text the power of God? What the unbelieving world has called “The Lost Books Of The Bible” were routinely rejected by the early Church.

The Canon of Scripture the Church accepts as Biblical, the Word of God, is:

• Books of the Law (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy)
• Historical Books (Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I & II Samuel, I & II Kings, I & II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther)
• Poetic Books (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon)
• Major Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel)
• Minor Prophets (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obediah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi). These are called “Minor” because the books are comparatively short, though just as important as the “Major” prophets.

These all comprise our OLD Testament, or books written under the Old Covenant that God gave to Israel. The last Old Testament Book was written about 400 BC, 400 years before Christ became incarnate, perfect Man.

The NEW Testament, books written when the Prophet Who would succeed Moses came – our Lord Jesus Christ. The New Testament Canon that the Church agreed on is:

• The Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John)
• The History (Acts)
• The Church Letters (Romans, I & II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I & II Thessalonians, I & II Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, I & II Peter, I, II, & III John, Jude
• The Future (Revelation)

The Devil Wants To Deny The Church God’s Word

The early Church was heavily persecuted by both religious Jews as well as Roman Emperors. The Church flourished under persecution. However, in 325 AD Roman Emperor Constantine called together the Council of Nicaea (the modern Turkish city of Iznik). The purpose of the Council was to establish a state religion – Roman Catholicism. As with anything that is politicized, it wasn’t long until corruption crept into the Catholic Church. As the priests began to drift away from the Scripture, they began to hide the drift by forbidding the masses access to the Scripture.

This was absolutely foreign to the teaching of the Bible. Moses organized public reading of the Scripture:

Exodus 24:6-8 (NKJV) Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.” 8 And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.”

In Deuteronomy 31 God commands the Israelites to read the entire Law every seven years:

Deuteronomy 31:10-12 (NKJV) Moses commanded them, saying: “At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of release, at the Feast of Tabernacles, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Gather the people together, men and women and little ones, and the stranger who is within your gates, that they may hear and that they may learn to fear the Lord your God and carefully observe all the words of this law

When Joshua led Israel into the Promised Land, the Bible says:

Joshua 8:34-35 (ESV) {Joshua} read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. 35 There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them.

When King Josiah was reigning in Israel the Word of God – thought to be lost – was found in the Temple. As soon as it was found Josiah …

2 Kings 23:2 … (ESV) read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord

When Jesus started His public ministry, He went to the Synagogue in Nazareth and read Scripture:

Luke 4:16 (ESV) as was His custom, {Jesus} went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and He stood up to read.

God has always wanted His Word to be shared with His people. He specifically commanded this in Deuteronomy 6:1-9 when He told His Israel “these Words I command you shall be in your heart. You shall teach them to your children, talk of them while at home whether at rest or at work. You shall even put these Words on the doorposts of your homes.” God wants His Word to be given to His people. He wants His people to know what He has said, and to DO what he says.

As the Catholic Church became corrupted, it began to hide the Scripture from the people. Services were held, and preachers read scripture in Latin, a language the people did not know. People were not allowed to have Bibles. The Decree of the Council of Toulouse (1229 AD) stated:

“We prohibit also that the laity {those that are not priests}should be permitted to have the books of the Old or New Testament; but we most strictly forbid their having any translation of these books.”

The Ruling of the Council of Tarragona (1234 AD) decreed:

“No one may possess the books of the Old and New Testaments in the Romance language, and if anyone possesses them he must turn them over to the local bishop within eight days after promulgation of this decree, so that they may be burned”

In 1380 AD Oxford Professor and Theologian John Wycliffe translated the New Testament into English. He wrote that this would “helpeth Christian men to study the Gospel in that tongue in which they know best Christ’s sentence.” Though Wycliffe was deceased when they met, the Ecumenical Council of Constance (1415 AD) said that he was a heretic. His bones were dug up and publicly burned, and the ashes were thrown into the river!

English Bible Scholar and Linguist William Tyndale translated most of the Bible into English, though forbidden to do so by the Catholic Church. Tyndale was burned at the stake in 1536 AD for the sin of making the Scripture available to the people in their own language.

The devil tried twisting the Word of God. Then he tried counterfeiting the Word of God. Then the devil got religious leaders to forbid the Word of God to the people. They hid the Word of God in languages the people could not understand, so they could control the people and have power over the so called Church.

The Protestant believers rose up against Catholicism, and stood strong against the false teachings of that Church. Martin Luther, one of the first Protestants, was a Catholic Monk that was troubled over the Catholic Priests selling of “Indulgences”. An “Indulgence” is when you gave the Priest money to “forgive” the sins of a loved one, so they could go to Heaven. No one has the power to forgive sin but God, and there is no forgiveness of sin outside of faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Once believers separated from the then false church, people began to translate the Bible into the language of the people.

Though today we have the whole Bible translated in 736 languages, and the whole New Testament is available in 1658 languages. There are portions of Scripture in 1264 languages. This means that there are 3658 languages with at least some access to the Bible – about 49.5% of all languages. Many still have no access to the Bible, as there are7394 living languages in the world. In America, most people have more than one Bible. They are not restricted from the Scripture. But the devil encourages people to ignore the Word of God and the Biblical Church.

That is very sad, as the only way to grow as a Christian is through study and reading of the Word of God. God has – in His love – provided us with various translations of the Scripture in our language in North America. May God lead us to cherish the Word He has given us. Next session we shall discuss Bible Translations. May God touch your hearts with His Word!