Did The Catholic Church Give Us The Bible? - Part One - The Early Church, The Bible Alone As The Final Authority, The Canon Of Scripture, Sola Scriptura, Apostles And Pastor-Teachers Series

PART ONE

Not too long ago, I was accused of following man-made doctrines and making decisions based on my interpretations and definitions because I consider the Bible alone as the final authority (Sola Scriptura) in my life as a Born-Again Christian. I was told that "according to the Bible, I was not of Christ and did not belong to His Church, but rather I was following a different religion and a different god." I was also told that "Christ didn't come down and give us a Bible. He came down and gave us a church and died for our sins. It is the Bishops of the Catholic Church who are the successors to the Apostles, and they gave us the Bible with the table of contents determined by a Catholic council in Rome in AD 382 until Luther took out seven books in the 1500s. The books called the "New Testament" were the books read at the Catholic Eucharist for the first 300 years of Christianity and are still practiced at Catholic masses. The Eucharist is the new covenant, the new Passover. Without the Catholic Eucharist, you don't have the Bible." This message will address the early church, the authority, and history of the New Testament, the offices of Apostle and Pastor-Teacher, as well as Transubstantiation in Communion.

THE EARLY CHURCH

The early Church was all-embracing of everything in the Bible, which is the definition of 'catholic.' For the first 280 years of Church history, the Roman Empire banned Christianity, and Christians were horribly persecuted. There was no official organized 'church,’ just the Bride of Christ, THE Church.

The Roman Emperor Constantine decided to provide religious tolerance with the Edict of Milan in AD 313, which lifted the ban on Christianity. Constantine called the Council of Nicea in AD 325 in an attempt to unify Christianity as a religion that could unite the fracturing Roman Empire. Constantine did not fully embrace the Christian faith. He continued many pagan beliefs and practices, including turning the Temples of the dozens of false Roman goddesses and gods into Christian churches while keeping their statues, which facilitated the Christian churches to become a mixture of true Christianity and Roman paganism. Some attribute this leading to the worship of, and prayer to, Mary and the Saints.

Constantine was instrumental in the compromise of Christianity with pagan religions. Instead of presenting the saving message of the Gospel, the ever-expanding Catholic Church compromised and incorporated pagan beliefs in the church to make itself attractive to the lost people of the Roman Empire. As a result, the Catholic Church became the dominant religion in the world for centuries.

"For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths." (2 Timothy 4:3-4 ESV)

THE BIBLE ALONE IS THE FINAL AUTHORITY

The foundation of Christianity is the Bible. It is the only dependable source for humankind to know God's voice. It has the answers to all eternal questions. The focus of all Scripture is ultimately on Jesus. It is the blueprint of Heaven and the only reliable source of truth for all moral and spiritual information by which humans can successfully live each day and build a foundation for any endeavor. In its original text, the Bible is the all-inclusive, inerrant, divinely inspired word of God (2 Timothy 3:16).

The Bible was written with a consistent theme by about 40 authors over an approximately 1,500-year period in three languages on three continents with no evident contradictions. Its writers were scholars, ranchers, shepherds, and fishermen.

The Bible is comprised of 66 books, of which about 40 scribes wrote over roughly 1,500 years by various individuals as the Holy Spirit moved them in three languages on three continents with no evident contradictions when thoroughly exegeted using the rules of biblical Hermeneutics. Its writers were scholars, ranchers, tax collectors, shepherds, and fishermen. The books themselves fall into different categories, which are determined by their literary structure. There is often some overlap between categories. Prophecy is not restricted to the prophetic books but is found in other historical writing, and much that is within the prophetic books themselves is in the form of poetry (Isaiah is an excellent example of prophecy in poetic form).

The Bible Timeline

The historic church has had the complete written Word "logos/graphe" since before AD 100. Below is the majority consensus of Bible-believing Born-Again Scholars for the timeline in which each book was written.

The Book of Job is considered the oldest book in the Bible. 2000-1500 BC

The stone tablets of the Ten Commandments given to Moses. 1500-1400 BC

The original 39 books were completed. 1400–400 BC