The Holy Bible is the church's great treasure and is the standard of its faith and life. The Old Testament bears testimony to the Triune God's revelation of Himself to the fathers through the prophets (Hebrews 1:1). It bears witness to God’s works of salvation and judgment, God’s request for obedience to the believer, and His promise of a Savior coming to the world. The New Testament bears testimony that God the Father sent His Son into the world to become a human being, born of Mary (Luke 1:30-31 and Galatians 4:4) and that God raised him from the dead by the power of the Spirit. Jerusalem (Romans 1:3). Thus, the Triune God opened the door to eternal life for all believers from all nations. The one Church of Jews and Gentiles, filled with the Holy Spirit as the body of Christ, overturned the Hebrew writings that St. Paul called “the Old Testament” and “the Old Testament” (2 Corinthians 3:14), and “the Holy Writings” (Romans 1:2, “the Book” John 2: 22 Mark 8:32 “The Writings”, Mark 12:24, 1 Corinthians 15:3...) and later established the law of the books of the New Testament. The Old and New Testaments together make up the Bible, the book of the church.
A - Biblical law:
1- The book of our Lord Jesus Christ and his apostles was the same as the Holy Books of Israel (Luke 4:16-31). It included the Law and the Prophets and contained other writings, such as the Psalms, which had superiority over them. Thus, from the beginning, the Church had the nucleus of the Old Testament law. Regarding the inclusion of some writings of Jewish origin, there were several uses that existed side by side in the church. Council 2/691 (V-VI Quinisextum) approved the different usages of the local churches, which adopted the Short Canon, the Intermediate Canon, and the Comprehensive Canon.
2- According to the common faith of the Church, God’s revelation in the sacred writings of the Old Testament refers to the incarnation of His Son, Jesus Christ, who was crucified and rose from the dead for our salvation. The Church teaches that the Son of God was the inspiration to the prophets even before his incarnation (1 Corinthians 10:4; John 8:58). The Trinitarian work of God (Oikonomia) was completed by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost and in the meeting of the church (Acts 2:1, 17), which awaits completion. The traditions concerning the incarnate Lord Himself and the message of the Apostles were included in the sacred writings of Israel as their completion and fulfillment (Hebrews 10:11, 2 Corinthians 3:3-18). These new writings, the deposit of the oral apostolic tradition, became the New Testament.
3 - The beginning of the New Testament law goes back to the time of the apostles. Its basic sections were developed around the end of the second century: the four Gospels, the Acts, the Pauline Epistles, and most of the catholic letters. The Church defended the law for the reason that it heard in these writings the divine declaration in the authentic voice of the apostles, as they were chosen witnesses of Jesus Christ. Later, the Church established in councils the precise boundaries of the New Testament.
4- Getting to know the sacred writings of the Old and New Testaments, the Christian book, which is one of the most important decisions of the Church on its path from Pentecost to the Final Judgment. We believe and know together that the Church was led by the Holy Spirit in this decision.
5- The early church recognized in these writings the promise of the prophets and the original apostolic gospel by which the church lives. I recognized the standard authority of these writings. The consensus of the Church, under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, decided once and for all on the legality of the books of the Bible. This consensus is valid among us and independent of the rulings reached by contemporary historical research regarding the authorship of individual writings. With regard to the canon of the New Testament, there is no difference between our two churches.
6- The Old Testament includes the following 39 canonical books:
Genesis - Exodus - Leviticus - Numbers - Deuteronomy - Joshua bin Nun - Judges - Ruth - 1 Kings (1 Samuel) - 2 Kings (2 Samuel) - 3 Kings (1 Kings) - 4 Kings (2 Kings) Chronicles 1 - Chronicles 2 - 2 Ezra (Ezra) - Nehemiah - Esther - Psalms - Job - Proverbs of Solomon - Ecclesiastes - Song of Solomon - Isaiah - Jeremiah - Noah Jeremiah - Ezekiel - Daniel - Obadiah - Joel - Jonah - Amos - Hosea - Micah - Nahum - Zephaniah - Habakkuk - Haggai - Zechariah - Malachi.
And the second ten canonical writings, which correspond to the “Apocryphal Books” of the Lutherans. In the Orthodox tradition, these writings are: Judith - 1 Ezra - 1 Maccabees - 2 Maccabees - 3 Maccabees - Tobit - The Wisdom of Sirach - The Wisdom of Solomon - Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah.
7- The New Testament includes the following 27 books:
Matthew - Mark - Luke - John - Acts of the Apostles - Zomia - 1 Corinthians - 2 Corinthians - Galatians - Ephesians - Philippians - Colossians - 1 Thessalonians - 2 Thessalonians - 1 Timothy - 2 Timothy - Titus - Philemon - Hebrews - James - 1 Peter - 2 Peter - 1 John - 2 John - 3 John - Judas - Revelation.
8- We have one common Bible, which we read in our worship service, and use for teaching. In liturgy, the reading of the Gospels is the permanent conclusion and culmination of a series of biblical texts. Jesus Christ is the center of the Bible, the key to understanding it, and the fulfillment of all of God's promises.
9- From the beginning, the Old Testament existed in the Church in both Hebrew and Greek. The New Testament was written in Greek. The Church has also translated the Bible into the languages of several peoples, and the many languages in which the Bible appeared express the life of the one Church in different languages and divisions. This also reveals that the canon of the Bible is the fruit of the life of the Church and is a special gift to her.
B- The revelation of the book
10- All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Theo 3:16...)
Every prophecy in the Bible is not of any particular interpretation. For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:20...).
To talk about the inspiration of (Theopneustis) the Bible is to talk about the work of the Holy Spirit. When Christians declare the Bible to be inspired, they are declaring the means God has chosen to work among his people. The Bible is one way through which the Holy Spirit bears witness to the truth and inspires and supports the faith of believers.
11- The issue related to the inspiration of the books of the Bible refers back to the work of the Spirit in writing them, that is, to the inspiration of the writers. It also points forward to the work of this Spirit in the Church, who teaches how the Scriptures should be understood and leads believers to their goal.
12 - According to the apostolic testimony and the teaching of the fathers, this goal is to participate in the glory of God. And those whom he justified, whom he also glorified. (Romans 8:30 and John 3:2). Perhaps the subject of all divine revelation is that the Triune God Himself saves His creation from its loss and distance and leads it to true life. The Bible is the divinely inspired and canonical testimony of revelation which, however, transcends all the wishful thinking of concepts and expressions. Being a witness to revelation, the Bible is the Word of God. Inspiration is the process of the Holy Spirit in the authors of the Bible, in order to bear witness to the coming (John 5:39). Without making mistakes about God and His ways and means for the salvation of the human race. Thus, the authors of the Bible describe God's ways with His creation and people and thus bear witness to the glory of God that is hidden from the eyes of unbelievers.
Revelation comes from the experience of God's revealed glory, through the Holy Spirit. God revealed His glory to the prophets of the Old Testament, to the apostles, and to the prophets of the New Testament (Ephesians 2:20, 3:5).
It is worth mentioning that glorification is inseparable from crucifixion and suffering. This does not apply only to our Lord Jesus Christ (John 12: 23, 32), but also to his followers (Galatians 2: 19-20). Glorification is the transformation and renewal of the entire person (Romans 12:2). It gives power to the authors of the Bible to proclaim and write the Word of God.
13- The prophets, apostles, and saints who experienced the glory of God and bore witness to Him in the Holy Bible declare the truth of God and the ways to fellowship with Him. Regarding these same people, Paul wrote: “But my spirit... let no one judge it, for he who knows the mind of the Lord knows it. But we said the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:15-16). Orthodox and Lutheran theologians agree that there is no similarity or entity analogy (analocia entis) between God and creation, knowing that the creature depends on God. For this reason, Saint Gregory the Theologian wrote: It is impossible to express God and even more impossible to imagine (understand) Him (Ovatio Theologica 2,4).
14- Those who experienced the glory of God - this same experience cannot be expressed in words or understood in concepts - were inspired to use expressions and concepts from ordinary language in order to lead others to the same experience. Saint Paul writes: “Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying out, Abba, Father (Galatians 4:6). The coming of the Holy Spirit to the heart is the natural form of revelation in the believer (Romans 8:14-17, 26-27). The Holy Spirit accomplishes this through preaching, teaching, and through the lives of those he inspired (Romans 10:13-15, 1 Corinthians 4:16, 11:1).
15- The Old Testament period paved the way for accepting the incarnation of the Son of God through the prophetic tradition represented by Saint John the Baptist, Mary the Mother of God, and other believers who found their places in the first Christian community. Christ revealed Himself through His teachings and miracles, especially by declaring His glory in baptism, transfiguration, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and Pentecost, that He possesses by nature the same glory with the Father. At Pentecost, the Church became the body of Christ and was thus led into all truth.
16- Interpretation of the declaration and revelation completed on the Day of Pentecost continued in the life of the Church. Within the life of the Church, Christians were led and became “temples of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:11). And thus, members of the Body of Christ, to the whole truth through the experience of glorification (glorification) as the Lord prayed to the Father: “O Father, I want those whom you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they may see my glory which you have given me, because you answered me before the foundation of the world (John 17:24).
18- The biblical authors’ teachings and concepts about God are inspiring because they are infallible evidence of communion with God. But the authors did not accept revelation about created facts other than that God created the world from nothing (……) Christ’s human words are also evidence of the glorification that occurred on the day of Pentecost, but they are not. This is the upholstery itself, since God, as revealed in the incarnation, cannot be perceived or expressed. For this reason, the Bible should not be used as a substitute for practical research. Some of the books of the book were written by those who recognized glorification, while other books were written around them and historical events.
19 - The original interpreters of the Bible are people who had the same experience of revelation and revelation within the body of Christ as the writers did. Therefore, it is necessary for easier understanding that everyone who reads and hears the book be inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Orthodox believe that this authentic interpretation is the service of the Church Fathers, which was expressed especially in the Ecumenical Councils. Lutherans agree with the principle. The confessional writings of the Lutherans confirm that no one can believe in Jesus Christ through his own mind and capabilities, but rather that the Holy Spirit calls, gathers, and enlightens believers through the Gospel, just as he calls, gathers, and enlightens the entire church on earth, preserving its unity with Jesus Christ through the one true faith (Summary of Luther’s Teaching ).
footnote
The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church does not contain a list of biblical books because the canon of Scripture was accepted from the Reformation as a complete unit. Therefore, there is no specification of the Old Testament canon that is binding on all Lutheran churches. In Martin Luther’s translation, which has become a standard for German speakers, we know the following books: “useful and good to read” as apocryphal books (this name here does not mean writings rejected by the church): (Judith - The Wisdom of Solomon - Tobit - The Wisdom of Sirach - Baruch - 1 Maccabees - 2 Maccabees - Addition to Esther - Susanna - Bel and the Dragon - Azariah's Prayer - The Three-Year Hymn - Manasseh's Prayer.
Father John Romanides
Translated into Arabic by Father Antoine Melki
Quoted from Orthodox Heritage Magazine
