Found this in my drafts and going to go ahead and publish it due to the amount of work that went into this.
How do we know the Bible is the inherent word of God?
In this series of studies from The Confused Christian, I have considered and studied some of the history of how the books of the Bible were assembled. I am curious, and have heard, read and seen on TV there were other books considered to be included in the Bible.
The Devil likes to cause doubt. When it comes to the Bible and the books that make up the Bible, there is a common core of books, with some bibles having more books included than others. For the Old Testament, I think I have read most.
In a documentary I watched, the Holy Bible has been associated with being the bloodiest book in history. At one point in Christian history, it was illegal for a layman to posses or read a bible with the penalty of death. Even today is some countries, possession of a Bible can lead to imprisonment and/or death.
What is the Bible, but a collection of books, a library, deemed sacred, being the inspired word of God. Being in the Protestant denomination, we currently revere the Holy Bible with 66 books; 39 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament. The Bible was assembled in the following manner, but not in the timeline of authorship.
The Old Testament spans over a period of roughly 4,000 years, yet the New Testament spans over approximately 60 years.
In compiling the New Testament, there were many books. A website exists, where one can find the early writings of Christian books. Here is a link to the website: Early Christian Writings
Before 1666, the Protestant bible contained other books classified as Apocrypha, or “hidden books.” Orthodox and Catholicism faiths include these books, but the one I find containing the most is the Bible used by the Ethiopians:
In doing this exercise, I learned of two letters by Clement to the church at Corinth. Clement is mentioned by Paul, and according to Catholicism, he was the 2nd or 4th head of the church. In going through early documents researching the beginning of infant baptism, I found the following verses concerning salvation.
1Clem 7:4
Let us fix our eyes on the blood of Christ and understand how
precious it is unto His Father, because being shed for our salvation
it won for the whole world the grace of repentance.
1Clem 36:1
This is the way, dearly beloved, wherein we found our salvation,
even Jesus Christ the High priest of our offerings, the Guardian and
Helper of our weakness.
1Clem 36:2
Through Him let us look steadfastly unto the heights of the heavens;
through Him we behold as in a mirror His faultless and most excellent
visage; through Him the eyes of our hearts were opened; through Him
our foolish and darkened mind springeth up unto the light; through
Him the Master willed that we should taste of the immortal knowledge
Who being the brightness of His majesty is so much greater than
angels, as He hath inherited a more excellent name.
Biblical Word Studies 