Luke 24:44 - The Old Testament Canon

Luke 24:44
Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

Message: The Old Testament Canon

Time: The Gospel according to Luke was probably the last Synoptic Gospel to be written, thus penned around 60 AD. The words salvation are in Luke, though not in Matthew and Mark. Luke, a gentile physician, wrote more than any other NT writer, writing primarily of redemptive history.

What the Lord is Saying:

The Tabletalk magazine is a guide for me in studying scripture. I have used it since 2013 as a guide to sort of keep me accountable to the reading of God's word. In the process I have gotten behind in my study as I have not always had time in the Word every day since then. But, I've stayed with it, just gotten behind in the readings. Thus, here on 2019-01-18 I am going through February 2017 issue and for 2017 they decided to focus on the doctrines that came about chiefly 500 years ago from the Reformers. The Reformers sought to return to the Word of God as the only revelation from God. There had been a tendency to allow bishops and other leaders of the Roman Catholic church to take their interpretation of the Bible and turn that interpretation into a law, what students of theology term as oral law. Thus their was a written law and an oral law. A basic example of this is the teaching of purgatory or that there is some sort of waiting place prior to going to heaven. This is an extra-biblical idea.

The issue that is raised today comes back to this idea of the Canon of scripture and what is considered sacred text. When Paul wrote the word of 2 Timothy 3:16-17 - All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work -- his understanding of Scripture at that time was the books of the Old Testament. Jesus very often quoted from the Law, Prophets and Psalms. And as Paul was writing the letters to various churches it wasn't that he was self-promoting his words necessarily as scripture or perhaps he was. What occurred then is later into the 5th century a Canon of Scripture was performed in which a decision was made as to what was to be called Scripture and the writings of those witnessing Jesus, the man of God sent by God, was then included in Scripture.

Because of the 95 Thesis from Luther that challenged the thinking of the Catholic Church, the Roman Catholics responded with a gathering called the Council of Trent from 1545 to 1563 in which they codified Roman Catholic doctrine. When it comes to defining scripture they determined that the books of the Apocrypha were part of the Canon. The argument from the Protestants is Jesus never quoted from these books and any time he quoted from the Old Testament books he stated them as "it is written" or "Scripture says" and any quotes from Apocrypha never included those words. Thus, Bible scholars did not affirm the Apocrypha as scripture.

In this passage today from Luke 24:44 Jesus upholds My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” He was speaking specifically here about prophecy fulfillment but as he does he focuses on the Law of Moses (Genesis - Deuteronomy), the Prophets (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, and Isaiah to Malachi minus Daniel and Lamentations and then the writings are everything else in the Old Testament to which many called these the Psalms (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations). Thus, their conclusion is the Apocrypha is not included in these books.

Promise: The Apocryphal books can be useful as historical works, but they are not divinely inspired and not to be followed as Holy Scripture.

Prayer: Lord again, I thank you for Your word and inspiring the writers but also those that came together to decide what we view as Scripture today. Thank you for the consistency of Your Word. Help me to uphold it. Help me today even as I write this gentleman who has a different understanding of scripture and its application, specifically that of the Sabbath. I pray Lord that even in our differences you would bring unity to us.

Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional, though I am a little behind and working through 2017 devotionals. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines with February being about the doctrine of revelation and the various aspects of the doctrine of Scripture that sola Scriptura seeks to preserve.