Lesson 1 – Development of Holy Scripture

Give two pieces of evidence that the Old Testament was widely used at the time of Jesus.  Jesus reads Isaiah in His hometown synagogue  During the Emmaus encounter, Jesus explained His ministry using passages from Old Testament The above evidences show that Old Testament was widely used at the time of Jesus

Why was Marcion of Sinope excommunicated from the Church and how did it help in developing the Holy Scripture ? Marcion did not accept that Christ is the Messiah predicted in the Old Testament and he rejected the Old Testament. He rejected all Gospels except St. Luke and edited St. Luke by removing all connections of Jesus and the Old Testament. He considered God in the Old Testament as jealous. Although he believed in Jesus as 'Son of God', he denied Jesus' physical birth, death, and resurrection. He was excommunicated from Church for these false teachings. However, his false teachings and his attempts showed the need for the canonization of the scripture.

What is the Muratorian Fragment and why it is called so Muratorian Fragment is the oldest list of New Testament books. This was discovered and published by Father Antonoio Muratori.  It is called fragment rather than a canon because its beginning is missing. Muratorian Fragment and similar works clearly show that the early Church Fathers made many efforts to compile the New Testament.

What is meant by the Canonization of the Bible? Explain the role of the Holy Synod in it. Canonization describes the process by which the Church accepts certain scriptures as divinely inspired and authoritative. When the Holy Fathers of the Church started the work of canonization of Scripture, there were considerable significant disagreements regarding which books should be part of the Scripture. Hence it became necessary for a strong authority to finalize the Canon. Holy Synod became that authority. The Synod carefully examined the authority of each book by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. For example, Holy Synod acknowledged the epistle to Hebrews as a Pauline epistle even though it does not clearly state the author. The Holy Syriac Orthodox Church believes that Holy Synod is the sole authority to decide the books to be included in Scripture.

TaNaKh - The Jew's script in Hebrew https://www.goconqr.com/en-US/p/18952297

A.C.I.D.H.E - Standards on which selection of 27 books we based by Synod of Carthage. Apostolic - The book must be written by an Apostle or a direct companion of Apostle Dogmas - The book must agree to the universally accepted dogmas (unalterable truths) of the Church ChristoCentric- The book must be centered on Christ and His work Inspirational - The book must have high moral and spiritual values to inspire one Witness of Holy Spirit - The members should feel the inner witnessing of Holy Spirit in the books Early Acceptance - The book should have been already accepted.