Most of Christians take it for granted to have a copy of Bible and the question how the books of the Bible was determined hardly comes to our mind. Looking at the Old Testament books, Catholic's Old Testament is longer by seven books than that of the Protestant. Those seven books are: Tobith, Judith, Baruch (with letter of Jeremiah), Sirach (or Ecclesiasticus), Wisdom and 1 and 2 Maccabees. It has also extra chapters and verses in the books of Daniel and Esther. The total number of Catholic Old Testament books is 46 (or 45 if we combine Jeremiah and Lamentation) while that of Protestant is 39. Based on this difference, some might say that the Catholic Church added those seven books in sixteenth century at the Council of Trent. Hence a knowledge of historical background of our Old Testament is necessary to really understand what really happened.

During Jesus time, the Jews did not officially have a list of inspired books or canon. The word "canon" comes from Greek "kanon" meaning a measuring rod. The Hebrew speaking Jews in Palestine are generally known to use 24 books (known as the Hebrew Bible ) which they divided in three divisions: the Law (5 books of Moses or Pentateuch), the Prophets (4 former and 4 latter prophets) and the Writings (11 books). The Sadducees did not accept Daniel as inspired because Dan 12:2 supports resurrection which they denied (Mark 12:18). Notice that Jesus did not quote from Daniel 12;2 but from Exodus 3;6 when He debated with them about resurrection. Others like Samaritans accept only (their version of) Pentateuch as Scripture to this day. Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus , wrote (c. AD 90) that the Jews recognized 22 books, divided in three divisions: 5 books of Moses, 13 books of the Prophets and the remaining 4 books. Notice the difference in the number of books in second and third divisions and since he did not name them one by one, one can only speculate whether they are the condensed form of 24 Hebrew books or not. The Essenes at Qumran community, who lived at the same time with our Lord might not accept Esther. On the other hand Greek speaking Jews used a longer Scripture which is known as Septuagint. The word Septuagint means "seventy" which (according to legend) was the number of elders of Israel who did the translation into Greek at Alexandria, Egypt around 300 BC. It differs textually with Hebrew Bible. Compared to the Hebrew Bible, it has extra books of which some now exist in Catholic Old Testament (refer to Appendix 3 for detail).

It is commonly believed that after the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in AD 70, the Jews under the leadership of Yohanna ben Zakkai decided at Jamnia (or Javneh) to adopt the Hebrew Bible as their canon. Whether Jamnia council really happened is still under debate and even if it did, the Jewish Canon was not settled down in the first century. The Encyclopedia of Judaism, page 117 says that the limit of the third part (Writings) was not finalised until mid of second century (see also Ref. 1 page xxxiv and the Encyclopaedia Judaica Vol. 4 page 822-5). In addition, the Jamnia canon was also not accepted by Ethiopian Jews who accept Septuagint (minus Ecclesiasticus) to this day (Encyclopaedia of Religion, Vol. 2, page 174 and the Encyclopaedia Judaica Vol. 6 page 1147).

Jesus, His followers and the first Christians knew both Hebrew Bible and Septuagint. Greek speaking Jews also lived in Palestine and known as Hellenists (Acts 6:1). However all New Testament writers mostly used Septuagint whenever they quoted from Old Testament. It is not a matter of convenience (the New Testament was also written in Greek), because at few places they still quoted from Hebrew Bible (translated into Greek). As mentioned above, Septuagint has textual difference compared to Hebrew Bible. A good example is the famous prophecy about Jesus virgin birth in Isaiah 7:14 quoted in Matthew 1:23. The Hebrew Bible does not say "virgin" but "young woman" while the Septuagint does say "virgin" (note that both Hebrew and Greek have different words for virgin and young woman).

While the Jews might already decide their canon in the first century, the first Christians may and may not share the same view. Justin Martyr (c AD 160) regarded Septuagint as Scripture and so did his counterparts Iranaeus and Tertullian. Tertullian also considered the book of Enoch (not part of Septuagint) as inspired. On the other hand Melito, bishop of Sardis (c AD 170) recognized Hebrew Scriptures minus Esther. Origen (AD 185-254) list of Old Testament books comprises of Hebrew Bible but also includes Letter of Jeremiah from Septuagint. The fact that Origen considered the deuterocanonical books inspired by God is evident by his many other writings. For example in his letter to Julius Africanus, Origen writes that "History of Susanna" - a portion of the book of Daniel that is found only in the longer deuterocanonical text - "is found in every Church of Christ." In the same letter Origen also refers to the books of Tobit and Judith as well as the other deuterocanonical additions of Daniel and Esther. He defends his use of these books on the basis that the Church accepts them. In his other works he also quoted from Wisdom and Sirach. Athanasius , bishop of Alexandria in AD 367 gave the same list as Origen but he included Baruch and omitted Esther. He considered other extra books from Septuagint as having inferior grade. The list of Old Testament books given at Council of Laodicea (c AD 362) follows that of Athanasius with Esther put back again in the list. Cyril , bishop of Jerusalem from AD 348 to 386 follows Origen list but included Baruch while Gregory of Nazianzus (c AD 330 - 390) followed that of Athanasius. Jerome (AD 346 - 420) gave us the well known Latin translation of Bible known as Vulgate. He also had doubt on extra books from Septuagint but he included them in his Latin translation and referred them as apocrypha. On the other hand his younger contemporary, Augustine (AD 354 - 430) followed Septuagint and listed 44 books which agreed with today's Catholic Old Testament of 46 books. The difference in total number is because he combined Lamentation and Baruch (with Letter of Jeremiah) with Jeremiah. In AD 382 Pope Damasus I approved his list at Council of Rome. It was then declared at Church Council in Hippo (Augustine's see) in AD 393 and subsequently reaffirmed at third Council of Carthage, another provincial council in AD 397. The fourth council of Carthage in AD 419 again confirmed the same list of Old Testament. The same councils also declared the canonicity of the 27 books of the New Testament. The ecumenical Council of Florence (14th century) also listed the same number of books of the Old Testament.

The above historical facts show that the Catholic Old Testament was determined in 4th century AD, not in the sixteenth century. Whilst the 7 books were first disputed and came into canon at later state, the same also applies to Esther and to seven New Testament books (2 Peter, 2 & 3 John, Jude, James, Hebrews, Revelation). It is also a fact that the councils at Hippo and Carthage are African synods not ecumenical councils , hence they did not speak for the whole church. This is shown by the difference of some of the manuscripts (in the form of Codex ) of the Bible made in and after 4th century. Yet it also shows that the issue of canon of Bible is not an issue which divided Christianity which requires an ecumenical council.

Some (or all) seven books which are found in some of Bible manuscript made in and after 4th century. The Old Testament part of Codex Sinaiticus (4th century) has Tobith, Judith, 1 & 4 Maccabees, Wisdom and Sirach. While that of Codex Vaticanus (4th century) has Wisdom, Sirach, Judith, Tobit, Baruch and Letter of Jeremiah. On the other hand the Old Testament part of Codex Alexandrinus (6th century) has Baruch, Letter of Jeremiah, Tobit, Judith, 1-4 Maccabees, Wisdom and Sirach. Note that those manuscript (except Codex Vaticanus) also have different number books (i.e. not 27) of their New Testament parts.

After about one thousand one hundred years, the issue of Christian canon of Bible re-surfaced during Reformation in sixteenth century. Martin Luther in his German translation placed those seven books as appendix and did not considered them (following Jerome) equal to the other 39, but they are still useful and good to read. He also disliked Esther and also did not consider 4 books of New Testament (Jude, James, Hebrews and Revelation) equal to the other 23. Most of Protestant Old Testament now excludes those 7 books, while some may still have them inserted between the Old and New Testaments. The majority of Protestants do not regard them as inspired and call them Apocrypha (a term introduced by Jerome in 4th century which means hidden). Thus Protestants consider only 39 books as inspired which agrees with 24 books of Hebrew Bible (the difference in number comes from different way of dividing books). As a response to Reformation, the Catholic Church held an ecumenical Council at Trent where one of the decision was reaffirming the canonicity of those 46 books. Those 7 disputed books are now known to Catholics as deuterocanonical (second canon) books, while the other 39 are protocanonical (first canon) books. The names proto (first) and deutero (second) do not indicate that the Catholic Church recognises two sets of canon of the Old Testament. They only indicate that the second part become part of the Old Testament after some dispute. Note that Catholics also have apochryphal Old Testament books which Protestants call as pseudo-graphical books.

To Catholics, the canon of Bible was finalised in this (ecumenical) council of Trent. No one, not even the Pope or other Church ecumenical councils, can add or drop any book into or from the Bible.

Reference

1. Brown, R.E.: An Introduction to the New Testament , Doubleday, New York, USA, 1997.
2. Bruce, F.F.: The Canon of Scripture , InterVarsity Press, Illinois, USA, 1988.