A. What were the inspired Old testament writings according to Jesus? See Lk. 24:44. Here Jesus identifies the Old Covenant as the Law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, which is harmonious with our text .

    B. Lk. 11:51 also supports our canon of scriptures because here Jesus lists the first Old Testament martyr (Abel) and the last Old Testament martyr (Zechariah). Keep in mind that the Jewish order of the Old Testament differs from ours, and that the death of Zechariah (II Chron. 24:20-21) comes at the end of the Hebrew Bible.

    C. The point is this: The Old Testament which Jesus recognized was a collection of writings reaching from Genesis to Chronicles, with all the other books in between,- a collection which embraces the same books found in our Old Testament today.

    D. Josephus, a well-known Jewish writer of the first century also supports our Old Testament canon. He writes, "We have not 10,000 among us, disagreeing with and contradicting one another, but only twenty-two books which contain the records of all time, and are justly believed to be divine." The Jews categorized their books differently than we do. For example, the 12 minor prophets were considered as one book, and their 22 books were equal to our 39.

III. When the first-century church was first established, there was no thought of a New Testament. Its new teachings were based on the authority of Christ as personally mediated through the apostles. Jesus clearly explained that the apostles' doctrine carried the weight of divine authority (John 14:26, John 16:13, Matt.28:19-20).

    A. As Inspired men wrote divine regulations which were directed to the First Century churches and individuals, their work was preserved, copied, and spread among the churches. Collections of these writings were made at different times and in different places, with each book in the collection being judged on its own merits.