The Results Of A Decision Long Ago

The Results Of A Decision Long Ago

Why do Roman Catholic Bibles have more books in them than Protestant Bibles?

THE ANSWER comes from the work of a man who died on September 30, 420. His name was Sophronius Eusebius Hieronymus, but history knows him as Jerome. Born of Christian parents in northeastern Italy, he went to Rome at the age of twelve to study. He was baptized there at the age of nineteen and resolved to devote himself single-mindedly to the service of his Lord.

Jerome became attracted to monasticism, spending time in both Gaul (modern-day France) and Syria. He lived a life of self-denial in the desert near the ancient town of Chalcis, Syria. During this time he began mastering Hebrew and perfecting his Greek. He was ordained in Antioch and recognized as a bishop without pastoral responsibilities. He next studied in Constantinople under Gregory of Nazianzus, one of the Cappadocian fathers who had a profound influence on Christian theology in general and on the doctrine of the Trinity in particular.

In 386 Jerome moved to Bethlehem and spent the rest of his life there. He was the overseer of a monastery and the spiritual adviser to a local convent.

Jerome spent most of his time writing. His linguistic ability and scholarship were unsurpassed in the early church. He carried on a voluminous correspondence, compiled a bibliography of Christian authors, and wrote a commentary on virtually every book of the Bible.

But Jerome’s greatest contribution to the Christian world was his translation of the Bible. In 382 Pope Damasus commissioned Jerome, then no more than thirty-five years of age, to produce a uniform text of the Latin Bible. He was to standardize the texts then in circulation. This was a daunting task, for according to Jerome, there were almost as many Latin texts as there were manuscripts.

Jerome first translated the Gospels and then the rest of the New Testament, although others may have had a hand in the translation of Acts to Revelation. Jerome next turned to the Psalms, producing three successive translations. The second one was based on the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament called the Septuagint. This translation of the Psalms became the standard Latin version from Jerome’s day to the present.

Between 390 and 404 Jerome translated the rest of the Old Testament into Latin. In addition to the thirty-nine books of the Hebrew Old Testament, Jerome also translated fourteen Jewish religious books that the translators of the Septuagint had also included. These fourteen books were never part of the Jewish Bible and were called the Apocrypha, which came to mean “spurious” or “not genuine.” Even though Jerome included the Apocrypha with the Old Testament as the Septuagint had done, in speaking of the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament, he wrote, “Anything outside of these must be placed within the Apocrypha,” the noncanonical books. In other words, Jerome saw a definite distinction between the thirty-nine inspired books and the Apocrypha.

Jerome’s translation became known as the Vulgate. At the time of the Reformation, the pope called the Council of Trent to attempt to stem the tide of Protestantism. There in an attempt to differentiate the Roman Catholic Church from the Reformers, the Council declared the Latin Vulgate, including the Apocrypha, to be the authoritative Bible in matters of doctrine, while the Reformers recognized only the New Testament and the original thirty-nine books of the Old Testament.

Whereas Jerome had included the Apocrypha in the Vulgate as uninspired books, the Council of Trent declared them to be inspired. And so the difference between the Roman Catholic and the Protestant Bible was born.

Reflection

What difference does it make which books are in the Bible? How important is it that our Old Testament is the same as that of the Jews? When Jesus and the New Testament writers spoke of the Old Testament as authoritative, why is it important to know to which books they were referring?

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right.

2 Timothy 3:16