Are There Missing Books of the Bible?

Amazon Delivery Service Partners are hiring full-time delivery drivers to meet growing customer demand. Receive compensation of at least $20 per hour at select stations, plus benefits, and a sign-on bonus of $2 ,000 from participating DSPs if you apply now.

No delivery experience required. Must be 21 years or older. Terms apply. Apply today at amazon .com forward slash driver. That's amazon .com forward slash driver.

Okay, round two. Name something that's not boring. Laundry? Ooh, a book club. Computer solitaire, huh? Ah, sorry, we were looking for Chumba Casino. That's right. ChumbaCasino .com has over 100 casino-style games.

Join today and play for free for your chance to redeem some serious prizes. ChumbaCasino .com.

The Canon of Scripture and the So-Called Missing Books

Welcome to The Rapid Bull, daily edition, where we provide a quick biblical interpretations and applications. This is a ministry of striving for eternity.

Why the Gospel of Thomas, Judas, and Mary Are Not Scripture

Are there missing books to the Bible? You'll often hear this argued that there's books of the Bible that have been left out, they're missing. Books like the Gospel of Thomas, or maybe things like the Gospel of Judas, or the Gospel of Mary Magdalene.

There's all kinds of books that people claim should have been in the Bible, and they were left out. Well, the reason they were left out is not because they're missing, or actually even that they're left out.

Paul’s Letters and the Test of Canonical Authority

They're left out because they were never scripture. There's actually four letters that Paul wrote to Corinthians. We know that because in 1st and 2nd Corinthians, he refers to these other letters. And we don't have those as scripture either.

So not everything that Paul wrote was scripture, not everything about Jesus was scripture. But we recognize that in the 1st century, they knew, Peter recognized what Paul wrote as scripture. So they knew what was scripture.

There was a canon, a measurement of what is scripture. That was basically, it had to be accepted at the time of its writing. It had to be copied and seen as scripture, had to be consistent. So that these missing books aren't consistent.

They have errors in them. And there's not many copies. They weren't seen as being scripture. They weren't used as scripture. So they're not missing. And that is the misnomer. When people say missing books of the Bible or lost books of the Bible, that word itself makes you think that they're missing, when there's no evidence that they were ever part of the canon.

They're not missing because they were never part of it.

Ministry Sign-Off and Sponsorships

This podcast is part of the Striving for Eternity ministry. For more content or to request a speaker or seminar to your church, go to strivingforeternity .org.

Every day you can find us. Whether we're out in the trucks, up on the lines, or working the phones, through the seasons and around the clock. At National Grid, we never stop the work of making our systems smarter, stronger, cleaner, to keep energy reliable and affordable.

Because after all, we're customers too. Visit ngrid .com and see how we can help you right now.

Lucky Land Casino, asking people what's the weirdest place you've gotten lucky?

Lucky? In line at the deli, I guess. In my dentist's office. More than once, actually. Do I have to say? Yes, you do. In the car before my kids' PTA meeting. Really?

Yes. Excuse me, what's the weirdest place you've gotten lucky? I never win Intel. Well, there you have it. You can get lucky anywhere playing at luckylandslots .com. Play for free right now. Are you feeling lucky?

No purchase necessary. Fully reprohibited by law. 18 plus. Terms and conditions apply. See website for details.