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		<td valign="top" >"You hear the cry of my heart. Only Jesus! Lord I am tired of all the rest when my heart knows you are best. Only Jesus." Big Daddy <em>Only Jesus </em>(song 2006)</td>
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													<h3>Recommendations</h3>
											<p><a href="/Audio/music-store-manager.html">Only Jesus</a> (great song by Big Daddy)</p>
<p><a href="http://astore.amazon.com/justjesus0ece-20">Just Jesus: His Living Words (2011)</a></p>
<p><a href="http://astore.amazon.com/jesusonchurchstructure-20">Jesus' Words on Church Structure</a> by S. Rives</p>
<p><a href="http://www.jesusfocusedpublishers.com/"></a></p>
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<h2>Does Paul's Long Acceptance in NT Prove God's Will?</h2>
<h3>Hasn't God Implicitly Approved Our NT List?</h3>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464113"></a>Some raise an intriguing response to the entire notion of testing  Paul's canonicity. If God intended for us to exclude Paul, why has it  taken this long to address the issue? Would not God have corrected us  earlier? If God is truly <a name="marker=464114"></a> sovereign, then <a name="marker=464115"></a> He would not have allowed this to happen. As Felgar has said,  "Is God not powerful enough to preserve the sanctity of His  word?"</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464116"></a> This has superficial appeal, but it is at odds with the Bible itself.</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464117"></a> For example, if a correct argument, then no true book of the Bible could  long be separate from the Bible. God would have to supernaturally  intervene promptly to re-affix the lost book to where it belongs.</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464119"></a> Yet, the story in <a name="marker=464118"></a> 2 Kings <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%2022:8&amp;version=ASV">22:8</a> et seq. refutes that God's sovereignty works this way. The  Book of <a name="marker=464120"></a> <a name="marker=464121"></a> Deuteronomy was originally part of the inspired writings of Moses. He  wrote it by hand. Yet, it was put in a corner of the Temple. It was then  forgotten and lost. No one had made a copy. For 300 years Temple  practices deteriorated. These practices bore no resemblance to what  Deuteronomy required. Then Deuteronomy was found in a corner of the  Temple. King Josiah had it read aloud. He realized how far Temple  practices had fallen below the Bible standard. He tore his clothes in  repentance. Deuteronomy was re-affixed to canon. Reformation began.</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464122"></a> Thus, the inspired book of Deuteronomy was lost for hundreds of years at  great damage to the community. If God's sovereignty means He must act  as we suppose, then how could He not have acted sooner in supernatural  ways to preserve His word? Why would generations lack His revealed word?  Apparently, God's sovereignty does not work in the way we assume.  Rather, the Israelites had a responsibility not to "diminish" the Law  given to them (Deut. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deut.%204:2&amp;version=ASV">4:2</a>). This meant, among other things, they had to  preserve it properly in back-up print copies.</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464123"></a> Furthermore, the Bible even tells us that inspired writings have been  permanently lost. In <a name="marker=464124"></a> 1 Chronicles<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20chron.%2029:29&amp;version=ASV"> 29:29</a>, we read of three inspired writings which have been  lost: "Now the acts of David the king, first and last, behold, they are  written [in] a <a name="marker=464125"></a> Book of Samuel the Seer, and in the Book of Nathan the Prophet, and in  the Book of Gad the Seer...." Adam Clarke admits these books are "now  lost."</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464126"></a> The Bible tells us the word Seer was the word used at one time to mean  Prophet. (1 Samuel <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20sam.%209:9&amp;version=ASV">9:9</a>, "Beforetime in Israel...he that is now called a  Prophet was beforetime called a Seer" ASV.)</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464127"></a> The way these three books are described, Chronicles intends for us to  understand they are all written by true prophets. <a name="marker=464128"></a> Clarke resolves the dilemma of how any prophetic work could be lost by  asserting these were all uninspired, and not true prophets. Yet, that  can only be based on (a) a willingness to deny the Bible's express claim  that these were prophetic works and (b) a willingness to make an  unsubstantiated presupposition about how God's sovereignty works. For  the Bible says they are prophets/seers.</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464130"></a> Thus, <a name="marker=464129"></a> Clarke is obviously assuming that works described by the Bible as  written by prophets nevertheless must be uninspired simply because these  works are now lost. Clarke is grounding this upon a presupposition that  God's sovereignty would not allow a truly inspired work to be lost.  This is pure supposition used to negate the plain meaning of the Bible  itself. Chronicles clearly points to Nathan as a Prophet, and Gad and  Samuel as Seers. To repeat, 1 Sam. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20sam.%209:9&amp;version=ASV">9:9</a> say the word seer has the same  meaning as Prophet. The clear reading of Chronicles is that these  prophetic titles were accurate. Thus, these three lost works were  inspired by God because written by true Prophets. Otherwise the Bible  would not have referred to them as such. Despite these works being  prophetic, everyone must concede these three prophetic works have been  lost. God's sovereignty did not protect us as we assume it should.  Humans have personal responsibility to guard His word from loss.</p>
<h3><a name="pgfId=464131"></a>
<div></div>
What About the Dilemma Caused by the Ethiopian Christians' Inclusion of  the Book of Enoch?</h3>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464132"></a> Furthermore, if we hold to the view that God's failure to block Paul's  inclusion in canon means God approves Paul, we have a dilemma posed by  the Book of <a name="marker=464133"></a> Enoch. This is a book that has been included for 2000 years as inspired  canon of the Ethiopian Christian Orthodox church. <a name="marker=464134"></a> Ethiopia went through long periods of being run by Christian Kings. Its  church body consists today of 20,000 churches in a land of 58 million.  The Book of Enoch was also part of universal Christianity's canon until  363 A.D. It was actually quoted by <a name="marker=464135"></a> Jude in our New Testament as the words of true prophecy (Jude <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=jude%2017&amp;version=ASV">17</a>). This  gives strong support for the Ethiopian Christians' claim that the Book  of Enoch belongs in canon.  <a class="footnote" href="file://///tsclient/C/Writings%20in%20Process/JWO%20Redo%20Formatting/Final%20Framemaker%20Archive/chapter%202html.html#pgfId=464139">1</a> [FN below/ or online <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=3VFnsDuxBPcC&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;dq=jesus%20words%20only&amp;hl=en&amp;ei=oNTXTaCLIoLWtQP59cm0Bw&amp;sa=X&amp;oi=book_result&amp;ct=result&amp;output=reader&amp;pg=GBS.PA28.w.1.2.0.1">link</a>.] However, in 363 AD at the <a name="marker=464140"></a> Council of Laodicea, the Book of Enoch was dropped by the Roman Catholic  Church from the canon list for the `Old Testament.' No explanation was  offered. It then disappeared in the Western Church while it remained  canon in the Eastern church.</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464634"></a> If God's sovereignty works the way Paulinists suppose, and they reject  the Book of Enoch as non-canonical (as they frequently do by saying  `canon is closed'), then they have a problem. They have to insist the  Ethiopian Christians for 2000 years wrongly have added to Scripture.  Likewise, the early universal Christian Church must have wrongfully  treated the Book of Enoch as canon for over 300 years. Then if their  position is that Christians in the early church and in Ethiopia have for  long periods wrongfully added to Scripture, why cannot the Paulinists  consider it possible that Paul's writings for 1,970 years were added  wrongly to canon?<a class="footnote" href="file://///tsclient/C/Writings%20in%20Process/JWO%20Redo%20Formatting/Final%20Framemaker%20Archive/chapter%202html.html#pgfId=464144"> 2</a> [Fn below or onlin <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=3VFnsDuxBPcC&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;dq=jesus%20words%20only&amp;hl=en&amp;ei=oNTXTaCLIoLWtQP59cm0Bw&amp;sa=X&amp;oi=book_result&amp;ct=result&amp;output=reader&amp;pg=GBS.PA28.w.1.2.0.1">link</a>.]</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead">If you assume Enoch is non-canonical, God in His sovereignty allowed  large communities (<em>i.e.</em>, Ethiopia &amp; early universal Christianity)  wrongfully to add the Book of Enoch for very long periods of time. So if  Enoch was wrongly added, then God for 2000 years has not yet intervened  to correct the Ethiopians. Accordingly, the Paulinist must concede it  is equally possible that a mistake was made about adding Paul to canon.  If God did not prevent the Ethiopians from adding the Book of Enoch,  there is no reason to believe God always prevents human error in  assembling canon lists. Paulinists cannot infer our decisions on canon  have God's sanction by the mere lapse of time or God's failure to act  supernaturally.</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464145"></a> If, on the other hand, Paulinists try to shift positions, and claim they  now admit the Book of Enoch is canonical because Jude quotes it as  prophetic, then they still have a similar dilemma. They would have to  explain how God allowed the church of the West from 363 A.D. to the  present era to diminish God's word by wrongfully excluding the Book of  Enoch. God did not protect us in the West from a wrongful subtraction of  the Book of Enoch from Scripture, contrary to how some suppose that  God's sovereignty works.</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464146"></a> Thus, regardless of how the Paulinist tries to escape the dilemma posed  by the Book of Enoch, it defeats their position. The sovereignty of God  does not dictate that He would prevent wrongful addition or wrongful  diminishment of Scripture even for as long as 2000 years. God has left  the question of canonicity in our hands. We can obey Him by testing  claims that something is prophetic or we can disobey God and not test  each book we add to His word. The history of the Book of Enoch proves  God does not intervene to fix our errors. The fact we have a book that  our Western tradition calls the New Testament does not prove God's  agreement with our list.</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464147"></a> Thus, we cannot infer a long presence of Paul in canon makes it God's  choice rather than our own.</p>
<h3>
<div></div>
<a name="27395"></a> What About the Additions to the End of Mark's Gospel?</h3>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464150"></a> It is now recognized among most evangelical Christians that the verses  after Mark 16:8 were improperly added. The last page of the folio in  Greek was lost. In <em>The Westminster Study Edition of the Holy Bible</em> (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1948), the authors explain regarding  this passage:</p>
<p class="Quote" style="padding-left: 30px;"><a name="pgfId=464151"></a> [T]his section is a later addition. The original ending appears to be  lost. The best and oldest manuscripts of Mark end with ch. 16:8. [See this<a href="http://www.bible-researcher.com/endmark.html"> link</a>.]</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464152"></a> Beginning in the 400s, two different endings were employed after Mark  16:8. One is called the Longer Ending, which appears in the KJV. This  includes a verse often used as a proof text that baptism is vital for  salvation. We read in Mark 16:16: "He that believes and is baptized  shall be saved; but he that believes not shall be condemned." Catholic  authorities believe this section is canonical but admit the "vocabulary  and style indicate it was written by someone other than Mark."</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464153"></a> The other ending to Mark is known as the Shorter Ending. It exists in  many other manuscripts and goes back in its tradition to the 400s as  well, having been known to Jerome.<a class="footnote" href="file://///tsclient/C/Writings%20in%20Process/JWO%20Redo%20Formatting/Final%20Framemaker%20Archive/chapter%202html.html#pgfId=464156"> 3</a> [Fn below or online <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=3VFnsDuxBPcC&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;dq=jesus%20words%20only&amp;hl=en&amp;ei=oNTXTaCLIoLWtQP59cm0Bw&amp;sa=X&amp;oi=book_result&amp;ct=result&amp;output=reader&amp;pg=GBS.PA30.w.1.5.0">link</a>.]</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464157"></a> Thus, from approximately 400 A.D. to our 20th Century, we have had an  addition to Scripture that has gone undetected and treated as canon even  though it was certainly written three hundred years after Mark died.</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464158"></a> If God's sovereignty works the way we suppose, God would not have  permitted this addition to Scripture all these centuries. If God's  sovereignty must protect us as we assume, God certainly would not allow  an addition on a point so crucial as salvation, misleading numerous  souls that water baptism was essential for salvation. However, obviously  God's sovereignty does not work in the way we suppose. A long period of  our tradition to include something as canon does not prove it belongs  in inspired canon.<strong><a name="pgfId=464159"></a></strong></p>
<h3>
<div></div>
Tradition Is Invalid Grounds To Justify A Canon List</h3>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464160"></a> This inference of canonicity from long acceptance, furthermore, violates  Scripture itself. It is a lazy man's way to permit ongoing violation of  God's commands. The fact is that the Bible presumes we can make  mistakes in joining wrong books to canon. <em><strong>The Bible's command to not do  so assumes we can add a non-prophetic work to Scripture.</strong></em> That is why God  imposes on us the rigid tests to determine valid prophecy. Why else  would such verses even exist in Deuteronomy chapters 4, 12-13 and 18  unless God intended for us to exercise the decision of what to add to  canon? If God were going to do this work for us, He would not give us  tests to do it ourselves. The commands would be pointless if we did not  have to worry about them because God would anyway protect His word.</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464161"></a> In fact, if God protected His word supernaturally, it would defeat God's  purpose in allowing false prophets to even exist. God explains why He  left it up to us to sift the true prophets from the false:<strong> it tests  whether we love Him with our whole heart and mind</strong>. (<a name="marker=464162"></a> Deut. 13:3.) If God sovereignly intervened, and prevented mistakes  regarding false prophets, God would thereby avoid the tests of our faith  that God expressly says is His intention. God uses such tests and  trials to strengthen, not weaken, our faith. (<a name="marker=464163"></a> James <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=james%201:3&amp;version=ASV">1:3</a>.)</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464165"></a> We should also remember this <a name="marker=464164"></a> Sovereignty of God argument was speciously used to resist the  Reformation. The papacy argued, in effect: how could the church be so  wrong on indulgences if for so long God permitted it to err? <a name="marker=464166"></a> Luther in his <em>Epistle on Galatians </em>(1535) put his opponent's arguments  this way: "Do you suppose that God would have left His Church  floundering in error all these centuries?" [See this <a href="http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/gal/web/gal1-01.html">link</a>.] Luther called this sophistry.  Luther said it fundamentally misunderstands the correcting nature of  Scripture itself if applied. Tradition means nothing. The true Bible  text means everything, Luther replied.</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464167"></a> Luther was correct. The false teacher will set up his teaching as a  tradition that you must not allow others to contradict. To protect  themselves, they will tell you to "avoid" or "stay away" from those who  might bring correction to their doctrine. False teachers are afraid you  will use Scripture to examine their teaching, claiming it is divisive  and destructive of the faith of many. Of course it would be, because  Scripture's correcting nature is destructive of false faiths. Rather  than avoid others who come with doctrines contrary to what you believe,  <em><strong>Apostle John tells you to try them</strong></em> whether they are from God (i.e.,  compare them to God's word):</p>
<p class="Quote" style="padding-left: 30px;"><a name="pgfId=464169"></a> Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits, whether they  are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world. (<a name="marker=464170"></a> 1 John <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20john%204:1&amp;version=ASV">4:1</a>.)</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464171"></a> You are to remain engaged in a dialogue with those whom you share  disagreement. You can never know you have the truth if your  teacher/leader frightens you to "avoid" or "stay away" from others who  have different teachings. Only false prophets/teachers can benefit from  instilling such fear among Christians.</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464172"></a> Thus, tradition means nothing. The Sovereignty of God idea that makes  tradition into dogma rests upon a false assumption of how God should  protect His canon supernaturally. The Bible only supports that God  expects us to protect and guard His word after delivered to us. We  cannot avoid applying the tests of Deuteronomy chapters 4, 12-13 and 18  of what constitutes a false prophet on the assumption that God will  always intervene to prevent erroneous inclusion of books into canon. A  long period of acceptance by a large group of Christians proves nothing  about God's divine plan. The history attached to the Book of Enoch for  2000 years stands as a constant reminder of the <a name="marker=464173"></a> folly of such a notion, whether one believes Enoch is canonical or not.</p>
<h3>Luther &amp; Calvin Both Rejected the Sovereignty of God Argument on  Canon Inclusion</h3>
<p class="BodyAfterHead">Finally, both <a name="marker=464175"></a> Luther and Calvin would reject the idea God's sovereignty has protected  the New Testament canon for all these thousands of years. They both  claimed various books that now have been attached for 2000 years to the  NT canon were erroneously included. Thus, nothing put forth in the JWO  proposition runs afoul of the Sovereignty of God, even as Luther and  Calvin understood that doctrine.</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464177"></a> First, Luther in his 1522 <em>Preface to the New Testament</em> clearly said two  books do not belong in the New Testament canon: the Book of Revelation  and the Epistle of James. Luther said he could not see "the Holy Spirit"  in the Book of Revelation. (See infra <a class="XRef" href="file://///tsclient/C/Writings%20in%20Process/JWO%20Redo%20Formatting/Final%20Framemaker%20Archive/chapter%2015.#21699"> </a> at page <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=3VFnsDuxBPcC&amp;lpg=PP1&amp;dq=jesus%20words%20only&amp;pg=PA354#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">354</a>.) As to James' Epistle, because it "contradicts Paul," Luther said it  could not possibly be inspired. (See <a class="XRef" href="file://///tsclient/C/Writings%20in%20Process/JWO%20Redo%20Formatting/Final%20Framemaker%20Archive/chapter%2011.#42313"> </a> infra at<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=3VFnsDuxBPcC&amp;lpg=PP1&amp;dq=jesus%20words%20only&amp;pg=PA238#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false"> 238</a>.) Luther printed both books as part of his New Testament simply  for historical reasons. Thus, Luther did not regard almost 2000 years of  inclusion<em> ipso facto</em> proves inspiration. Luther rejected the idea that  God's sovereignty implies approval of our New Testament list on the  assumption God would not have delayed so long to fix things.</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464184"></a> Likewise, Calvin insisted that Second Peter was wrongfully included in  canon. (See Appendix B; see also this <a href="/Recommended-Reading/second-peter-reference-to-paul.html">link</a> at www.jesuswordsonly.com.) The Second Epistle of Peter has a verse that troubled  Calvin's doctrine of predestination. This probably motivated Calvin's  antagonistic viewpoint. Calvin rested his disavowal Peter wrote this because it criticizes Paul as "one difficult to be understood." (<em>Id.</em>) Regardless of Calvin's motives, Calvin's  position is valid. The inclusion of Second Peter is one of the most  universally recognized flaws in the New Testament. This epistle was  never recognized fully in any canon list until 367 A.D. It was expressly  rejected by Eusebius in 325 A.D. as a pseudograph. It has several  internal evidences of its pseudograph nature. Thus, Calvin's view that it is not true canon was  legitimate.</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464188"></a> More important, Calvin's view proves Calvin did not regard almost 2000  years of inclusion<em> ipso facto</em> proves inspiration. God's sovereignty does  not imply approval merely by God not having supernaturally intervened  for 2000 years to reassemble the canon list.</p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464190"></a> Thus, even though <a name="marker=464189"></a> Calvin and Luther surely would not want Paul excluded from canon, both  Calvin and Luther would concede it is correct to test Paul's canonicity.  There is no presumption that Paul belongs in the NT list merely by  passage of time and a long tradition. The Bible demands testing Paul's  inclusion by humans. The Bible sets forth those tests we humans are to  apply. However, we humans love to shirk responsibility by attributing  all events that support our errors to God. However, our Lord does not  tolerate such a lazy servant. Let's get to work now and do the job that  God commanded us to do: test Paul.</p>
<h3><strong><a name="24965"></a></strong><strong> Regardless, The Earliest Tradition Excluded Paul as Inspired Canon</strong></h3>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464193"></a> Furthermore, the actual history of <a name="marker=464192"></a> canon formation suggests God did tell the early Church that Paul was  uninspired. The Ebionites of 65 A.D. asserted Paul was an apostate  because of his position on the Law of Moses. The Ebionites insisted  Paul's writings must be deemed heretical. Only the Hebrew version of  Matthew's Gospel should be canon. (No other NT writing yet existed in 65  A.D.) The evidence strongly suggests that Ebionites was a term used for  the Apostolic Jerusalem Church under James. The word Ebionites is an  Hebraism meaning The Poor. Paul twice refers to collecting funds for The  Poor at Jerusalem. However, this link between The Poor at Jerusalem and  the Ebionites was obscured in our <a name="marker=464194"></a> New Testament by printing the poor in lowercase letters and not  transliterating it to Hebrew as Ebionites.<a class="footnote" href="file://///tsclient/C/Writings%20in%20Process/JWO%20Redo%20Formatting/Final%20Framemaker%20Archive/chapter%202html.html#pgfId=464203"> 4</a></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464207"></a> Next, Paul was expressly identified by recognized Christian leaders as  uninspired when Marcion caused a crisis in 144 A.D. <a name="marker=464208"></a> Marcion insisted Paul alone had the true gospel, not the twelve  apostles. In response, the early universal Christian church said Paul is  not an inspired author. This is clearly set forth in <a name="marker=464209"></a> Tertullian's <em>Against Marcion</em> from 207 A.D.<a class="footnote" href="file://///tsclient/C/Writings%20in%20Process/JWO%20Redo%20Formatting/Final%20Framemaker%20Archive/chapter%202html.html#pgfId=464215"> 5</a></p>
<p class="BodyAfterHead"><a name="pgfId=464216"></a> Thus, from 65 A.D. to 207 A.D., God apparently did tell the church  through James and Tertullian to reject Paul as lacking inspiration. God  did not leave us ignorant. We may have simply chosen to ignore God's  early messages through His agents. However, there is no time like the  present to make amends for errors in our past. We must stop trying to  shift responsibility to God for our decisions when we fail to obey God's  commands to test the words of alleged prophets.</p>
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<p class="CellHeading"><a name="pgfId=464460"></a> <em> Historical Note: Has Adding An Edifying Work To Canon Ever Been Mistaken  As Proof of Inspiration?</em></p>
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<h6 class="CellBody"><a name="pgfId=464462"></a></h6>
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<p><a name="pgfId=464430"></a> Tertullian in <em>Against Marcion</em> (207 A.D.) thought Paul's words should be  treated as edifying rather than as inspired material. Unfortunately,  this original purpose for reading Paul along with the Gospels was  forgotten in the ensuing centuries. Has the notion of inspired canon  ever been shaped by a misunderstanding of the original intent in  joinder? Yes. A similar oversight led Catholics in 1546 to decree the  <em>Apocrypha</em> was inspired. However, when it was added to canon eleven  centuries earlier, it was solely as edifying but non-inspired material.  Catholic scholars now recognize that the original purpose by Jerome of adding the  Apocrypha to the Bible's canon was forgotten over time. Its joinder originally did  not mean to imply it was inspired material. Yet, confusion set in and  now it is regarded as inspired material by Catholic authorities.<a class="footnote" href="file://///tsclient/C/Writings%20in%20Process/JWO%20Redo%20Formatting/Final%20Framemaker%20Archive/chapter%202html.html#pgfId=464433"> 6</a></p>
<p> </p>
<div class="footnotes">
<div class="footnote">
<hr />
<p class="Footnote"><span class="footnoteNumber">1.</span> <a name="pgfId=464139"></a> Indeed, an argument exists that the Book of <a name="marker=464138"></a> Enoch was wrongfully excluded in the West after 363 A.D. It is a book  filled with Messianic prophecies that Jesus fulfilled. For discussion,  see What About the Canonicity of the Book of Enoch? (2005) available  on-line at this <a href="/Recommended-Reading/recommendedreading.html">link</a>.</p>
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<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote"><span class="footnoteNumber"> 2.</span> <a name="pgfId=464144"></a> This number of 1,970 years reflects the evidence that the earliest  apostolic church known as The Poor (Ebionites) rejected Paul's writings  from the 40s though 70 A.D. See Appendix B: How the Canon Was Formed.</p>
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<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote"><span class="footnoteNumber"> 3.</span> <a name="pgfId=464156"></a> For this background, see Notes to New American Bible at  <a href="http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/mark/mark16.htm">http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/mark/mark16.htm</a> (last accessed 2005).</p>
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<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote"><span class="footnoteNumber"> 4.</span> <a name="pgfId=464203"></a> See infra page <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=3VFnsDuxBPcC&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;dq=jesus%20words%20only&amp;hl=en&amp;ei=oNTXTaCLIoLWtQP59cm0Bw&amp;sa=X&amp;oi=book_result&amp;ct=result&amp;output=reader&amp;pg=GBS.PA284.w.1.2.0">287</a> (evidence why Ebionites were the Jerusalem Church  under James).</p>
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<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote"><span class="footnoteNumber"> 5.</span> <a name="pgfId=464215"></a> For extensive quotations from Tertullian, see <a class="XRef" href="file://///tsclient/C/Writings%20in%20Process/JWO%20Redo%20Formatting/Final%20Framemaker%20Archive/chapter%2016.#42229"> </a> et seq.</p>
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<div class="footnote">
<p class="Footnote"><span class="footnoteNumber"> 6.</span> <a name="pgfId=464433"></a> Has overlooking Tertullian's writings on Paul led to a crucial  misunderstanding on Paul's supposed inspiration? A similar lapse in  memory happened among Catholics regarding Jerome's view of the Apocrypha  which he combined with the inspired Bible text. The Apocrypha  represented seven books within the Vulgate Bible prepared by Jerome in  411 A.D. Why did Jerome include this section? Jerome in a commentary on  Solomon explained the Apocrypha was "for the edification of the people,  not for the authoritative confirmation of doctrine." However, the memory  of Jerome's original purpose faded in time. In 1546, the Catholic  Council of Trent affirmed the Apocrypha as sacred, and it belonged to  the Bible. The Apocrypha still is considered an official inspired  portion of the Catholic Bible. Thus, the memory of the purpose of  joining a noninspired writing to inspired texts was, after eleven  centuries, forgotten. However, the scholars who wrote the "Canon"  article for the New Catholic Encyclopedia concede what really happened:  "The latter [i.e., the Apocrypha] he [Jerome] judged were circulated by  the Church as good spiritual reading but were not recognized as  authoritative Scripture. The situation remained unclear in the ensuing  centuries...." Thus, in other words, such close association between  edifying material and inspired material caused confusion among Catholic  authorities over the centuries. Meanwhile, Catholics later adopted  doctrines about Purgatory that solely had support in the Apocrypha.  Hence, it became embarrassing for Catholicism to later eject this  section as noninspired. And thus it stands. A joinder to edify the  reader became conclusive proof the writing was inspired! Yet, we cannot  judge the Catholics too harshly for this error. It appears identical to  what we did with Paul. If Tertullian was a voice of orthodoxy on Paul,  as it appears he most certainly was, then as of approximately 200 A.D.,  the church which first added Paul to canon close in time must have done  so with Tertullian's views in mind. This would mean that such close  association of Paul with inspired canon later caused us confusion. The  early church's original purpose became "unclear [to us] in the ensuing  centuries...." Then we, like the Catholics, superimposed our belief  system about what canon means today on a prior era which viewed canon  quite differently. This is apparently how Paul went from an edifying  writer who had virtually no impact on doctrine in both the Eastern and  Western church for fifteen centuries (see <a class="XRef" href="file://///tsclient/C/Writings%20in%20Process/JWO%20Redo%20Formatting/Final%20Framemaker%20Archive/chapter%2016.#34087"> </a> et seq.) to a figure today whose every word is now hung upon by many as  inspired text. Also, this episode of how the Apocrypha went from  edifying material to inspired writ should remind us that the concept of  canon has varied over time. We must not regard the mere fact something  was joined as canon for centuries as proof that the item is anything  more than reading material in church. Only if a writing is objectively  prophetic material can it stand on its own and be deemed validly  inspired.</p>
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