Who decided what would be in the Bible and what would not? How did they decide? When?
Why these 66 books? What about “all the other books”? The Apocrypha? Pseudepigrapha? The Gospels of Thomas, Peter, and Judas? Why didn’t they make it in? Says who? People told me things like, “Yeah, a bunch of guys in the fourth century got together and decided what to include and exclude from the Bible . You can’t really trust it.” I didn’t know what to think. Recently we began a series addressing fundamental questions surrounding the Bible. What is it? Where did we get it? Who decided what would, and would not be, in the Bible? How can it be said that the 66 books alone are the inerrant , infallible words of God ? These questions concern the topic of bibliology. First, we studied the topic of revelation , answering the question, “What is the Bible?” From there, looked at inspiration , answering the question, “Where did the Bible come from?” Then, we observed the logical conclusion, namely, that the 66 books of the Bible are the inerrant and infallible words of God.