What's God's Inspired Word? And What Isn't?

In recent years, some people have questioned the Bible’s completeness. They claim the modern English Bible of 66 books is incomplete, and that it ought to contain many other books as well, such as the book of Enoch, the book of Jasher, the book of Jubilees, and even other gospels and epistles in the New Testament. They assert that human beings, of their own accord and without God’s direction, chose to slash and burn those other books out of the Bible.

In this post, I won’t argue about the truth of the Bible itself or any of its 66 books. Any discussion of that is a topic for another day. Today, I’m going to assume you already know and accept that the Bible is God’s inspired Word, and work from there.

When wondering whether books of inspired Scripture have been slashed and burned out of the Bible, let’s ask ourselves this: Would God allow puny humans to thwart His purpose? To mutilate His inspired Word and chop vital sections out of it?

Let’s consider that God used the Jews, often unconverted and idolatrous though they were, to preserve the Old Testament: “To them were committed the oracles of God” (Rom. 3:2). Indeed, Jews and Christians, working independently of each other and hating and distrusting each other for centuries, came to identical conclusions about which books belonged in the Old Testament as inspired Scripture. Though Christian Bibles have 39 books in the Old Testament and the Jewish Tanakh has 22 books arranged in a different order, the content is identical. The difference is in organization, not content.

Even in the first century AD, the Jewish historian Josephus wrote, “We have not an innumerable multitude of books among us, disagreeing from and contradicting one another, but only twenty-two books, which contain the records of all the past times; which are justly believed to be divine” (Against Apion 1.8). Those 22 books form the present Tanakh, and are identical in content to the 39 books of the Old Testament.

God preserved His Word through the ages, even through the hands of unconverted and sinful men. “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever” (Isa. 40:8). Our Savior Yeshua (Jesus Christ) Himself said that “Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35). Men can burn books and kill prophets, but they cannot destroy what God wishes to preserve.

Furthermore, the Bible quotes from and references several other books, such as Jasher (Josh. 10:13; 2 Sam. 1:18), The Wars of the Lord (Num. 21:14), the chronicles of the kings of Judah, the chronicles of the kings of Israel, and the chronicles of the kings of the Medes and Persians. Those works, for the most part, are long gone. Why? Because they weren’t part of God’s Word! Their survival had no bearing on the salvation of humanity.

Though it should be obvious, I also must point out that a book bearing the name of a Biblical author isn’t necessarily genuine. The Apostle Paul warned us about such deceptions, writing, “Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come” (2 Thes. 2:2). Deceivers and forgers used Biblical names, even Paul’s name, in attempts to pass their works off as inspired Scripture!

Nevertheless, some apocryphal books contain useful historical information, such as the books of Maccabees. In fact, the books of Maccabees, and many other apocryphal books, make no claim of Divine inspiration. The non-Biblical writings quoted by the Bible itself fell into a similar category of historically useful but not Divinely inspired.

How, then, should we judge writings claiming Divine inspiration? Are they on par with accepted Scripture? Are they false? How can we know?

God gives His people the wisdom and discernment to distinguish between truth and falsehood. Yeshua, Jesus, said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).

Just as 1 John 4:1 commands us “do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world,” so we ought to do the same for any other writings purporting to be part of the Bible.

How do we test scriptures? God’s Word itself gives us guidelines! God commanded His priests to “teach My people the difference between the holy and the unholy, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean” (Ezek. 44:23). What were the priests to teach the people? God’s Word (Lev. 10:11)! Therefore, God’s Word itself helps us discern between holy and unholy, between unclean and clean.

To begin our investigation, let’s turn over to Deut. 13:1-3: “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” 

Likewise, the Apostle Paul wrote in Gal. 1:8, “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.” What gospel was this? The one contained in the New Testament, of course.

These two passages in Deuteronomy and Galatians give us our first test to use to evaluate writings outside of accepted Scripture: do they agree with accepted Scripture?

The Bible, though written by many authors over many centuries, agrees in perfect harmony with itself from beginning to end. God is the same forever; He does not change (Mal. 3:6; Heb. 13:8). If any other supposed scriptures contradict the Bible, change the meaning of anything within it, or change God’s attributes or character in any way (thereby proclaiming a different God), then they are falsehoods.

Let’s look at another test God tells us to use. In Deut. 18:21-22, we find, “And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’ — when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.”

This is the second test: does the writing in question predict or teach things that simply are not so? The Bible itself teaches no falsehoods. Not in the realm of history, science, human nature, or any other field of study. Many great scientists, such as Sir Isaac Newton, Galileo, Louis Pasteur, Werner von Braun, and countless others, have held God’s Word in high esteem and known it to be true. Scripture cannot be broken. If any other book proclaims things that are known to be false, then it cannot be God’s Word!

Our next test is inspired by Yeshua/Jesus’ statement, “You will know them by their fruits” (Mat. 7:15-20). Here’s some additional context: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them” (Mat. 7:15-20).

So we can determine which scriptures are true and which are false by their fruits. The first two tests involved fruits already, but God’s Word lays out some additional fruits of inspired Scripture: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

This is our third test. Is the writing in question profitable for doctrine, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness? Does it promote the development of Godly character, as laid out in accepted Scripture? If not, then it isn’t part of God’s Word!

These, then, are our three tests for writings claiming Divine inspiration or putting themselves on the same plane as the Bible:

1. Do they agree with the Bible and its teachings? Or, on the contrary, do they teach other doctrines not found in the Bible?

2. Do they make any predictions or claims that are demonstrably false?

3. Are they profitable for doctrine and instruction, in agreement with inspired Scripture?

Let’s be very cautious about giving any other writings the weight of inspired Scripture, and heed the warnings given in the Scriptures themselves!

“You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you” (Deut. 4:2).

“For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book” (Rev. 22:18-19).

As always, let us “prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 Thes. 5:21).