Jesus
Jesus, the head and founder of Christianity was a Jew Who believed in the Jewish scriptures, we know what books He believed in specifically because He often quoted from the Hebrew Bible. In fact more than half of all Jesus's teaching are based off the Hebrew Scriptures. But what books did Jesus believe in? Well, here's a chart:
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What Book He used
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Reference
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Deuteronomy
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Luke 4, Matthew 4
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Isaiah
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Luke 4, Mark 4
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Exodus
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Matthew 5
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Leviticus
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Matthew 5
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Numbers
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Matthew 5
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Hosea
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Matthew 9, 12
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Micah
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Matthew 10, Luke 12
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Malachi
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Matthew 11, Luke 7
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Genesis
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Matthew 19, Mark 10
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Jeremiah
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Matthew 21
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Psalms
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Matthew 21-22, 27, Mark 12,
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Daniel
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Matthew 24
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Zechariah
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Matthew 26, Mark 14
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The bold ones show the Books that would be accepted solely based on Jesus's words:
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Job
Psalms
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Solomon's Song of Songs
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Haggai
Zephaniah
Zechariah
Malachi
The Early Church
The early church (by which I mean the Christian community living between 33 and 100 AD.) discovered that the Hebrew scriptures such as Isaiah (chapter 53) were about Jesus, in making speeches and in their letters they understand certain other books to be inspired by God Himself.
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What Book they used
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Reference
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Joel
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Acts 2
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2 Samuel
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Acts 2
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Joshua
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Acts 7
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Amos
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Acts 7
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1 Kings
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Acts 7
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1 Samuel
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Acts 13
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Hanukkah
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Acts 13
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Nehemiah
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Romans 10
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Job
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1st Corinthians 3
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Confirms Ezekiel’s visions
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Revelations 5
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Which means that at the end the first century the following books were accepted as inspired by God (specially The Holy Spirit):
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Job
Psalms
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Solomon's Song of Songs
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations (Assumed because Jeremiah is accepted as a Prophet)
Ezekiel (Assumed because his visions relate to those in Revelations.)
Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Haggai
Zephaniah
Zechariah
Malachi
At the end of the first century it is unclear that the twenty-seven books of the New Testament were written. Certainly those letters of Paul (an important Christian evangelist), Peter (an Apostle), John (another Apostle) and James (Jesus's human brother) as well as any verifiable records about Jesus would be deemed as sacred, but not necessarily inspired by God in the same sense that God spoke through the Prophet Isaiah for example.
Christian tradition
Christian tradition over the next two hundred years would allow the inclusion of Judges, Ruth, Ezra, Esther, Ecclesiastes, Solomon's Song of Songs, Obadiah, Nahum, Haggai, Zephaniah along with the twenty seven books of the New Testament. (Although it is very likely that many Old Testament books were accepted because the early church was mostly Jewish.)
Christians then began to believe that Paul's words in 2 Timothy 3:16-17: All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." Even though it is very possible that Paul was only thinking of the Hebrew Scriptures when he wrote this.
Books such as the Song of Solomon was argued against canonization because of it's sexual content, and the protestant Reformer Martin Luther expressed concern about the book of Esther (which never mentions God's Name even once) and Reformer John Calvin hardly wrote about it in commentaries.
To this day Esther is hardly preached on.
Books such as the Song of Solomon was argued against canonization because of it's sexual content, and the protestant Reformer Martin Luther expressed concern about the book of Esther (which never mentions God's Name even once) and Reformer John Calvin hardly wrote about it in commentaries.
To this day Esther is hardly preached on.
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