I got another question in regards to the differences between a Catholic Bible and a Protestant Bible. I know that when I was a Protestant I had no clue that there was even a difference, but there is–seven books to be exact.
Question: Is there a difference between a Catholic Bible and a Protestant Bible?
Short answer: Yes, there is a difference.
Longer answer:
Back when I was a Protestant, I thought all Bibles were the same. Then, I heard that Catholics have seven books that Protestant Bibles don’t have. What gives?
I think it is important to remember that when the Apostles and their first successors were going around spreading the Good News, they did not have a full and complete Bible. When the Apostles were alive, there wasn’t even a New Testament–not all the books had been written and compiled yet. The Apostles and the first Christians worked without a Bible–they worked off of Sacred Oral Tradition and the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. “By the 5th century, the New Testament as we know it today was decided upon and settled.”*
The Canon of Scripture that the Catholic Church still has today was compiled by the Catholic Church right before the 400s. Nothing changed until the 1500s when Martin Luther decided to remove books. By his own authority, he removed Tobit, Judith, 1st & 2nd Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach and Baruch of the Old Testament. Martin Luther also wanted to remove Hebrews, James, Jude, and Revelations. He moved them to an appendix in the back of the Bible, with the hopes that they would eventually be removed. Later on, followers of Luther (Lutherans) didn’t even follow their leader and put the four appendixed books back into the New Testament. “He also added the word (in his German translation) only in Romans 3:20 and Romans 4:15, and he inserted the word alone in Romans 3:28.”
It has been said by some in Protestant circles that Catholics added books to the Bible, but this is inaccurate. Remember, the Canon of Scripture used by the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox had been around for over a millennium when Luther decided to change things. It must be asked what gives one man the authority to remove books? The biggest reason he rejected these books is that they contain doctrines that Martin Luther did not support.
There is nowhere in the Bible that tells us which books of the Bible are to be used. In fact, that would be a very difficult thing for the Bible to touch upon. The Bible was first compiled by the Catholic Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit given to the Church by Christ. It was the Magisterium of the Catholic Church that gave us the Bible. There were a lot of discussions, debates, and discernment that went into compiling the books of the Bible. It seems very unlikely that one man, over a thousand years later, would have the authority to decide that the authority of the Church was wrong. What is to stop someone else from coming along and saying they have discerned the “true books of the Bible”?
*From the book The Protestant’s Dilemma by Devin Rose. pg. 69
