Cannon and Purgatory
1. Why does the Catholic Bible have more books in it than the Protestant Bible, and what is the difference?
The simplest explanation for the reason the Catholic Bible has books the Protestant Bible doesn’t is that they were both selected by separate groups. Up until the Reformation the Church had not released a dogmatic statement on what books constituted the Bible. The seventy three books of the Catholic Bible were generally considered to be the Bible, but there was no official Church teaching on this. One of the actions of the Council of Trent was to lay out what Scripture was henceforth to be called cannon.
Some argue that the difference in the Bibles depends on theology, that Luther wanted to get rid of something or the Church wanted to add something. This to a degree is the case (as evident that Luther did not like the book of James and it’s discussion of works and considered deleting it), but it is more based on the source of the Bible. The books of the Old Testament (where all the questioned books reside) are found in primary two forms: first, the Hebrew, and second, a Greek translation known as the Septuagint (named for the seventy scholars who translated it). The Septuagint included the deuterocanonical seven books (know to Protestants as the Apocrypha) while some other versions do not (namely one known as the Palestinian Canon.
The seven deuterocanonical books are Tobit, Judith, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach, and Baruch, as well as part of Esther and Daniel. They are as varied as the Bible itself, covering History to Poetry to Prophecy. There is no one distinct thing which separates these books from any other besides tradition.
2. Why do the Catholics believe in purgatory and other Christian faiths don't?
The reason Protestants do not believe in purgatory are likely numerous and varied. Reason’s for not believing are always harder to pin down than reasons for believing, so I will concentrate on the first half of your questions and try to touch on the latter if I can.
The Catholic understanding of purgatory extends from an understanding of sin. Adam and Eve began their lives with no sin, as they were created before sin entered into the world. Thus they were Holy. After they sinned however, they lost their holiness because perfect holiness and sin cannot coexist. This is why we cannot enter heaven on our own strength and we need the saving and cleansing Blood of Christ to purify us. After Christ first cleanses are sin, he does not continue to wipe it out the moment it appears. If that was the case, we could sin with no repercussions. Rather, he tackles the sin as we come to him, using our free will. “If we confess our sins he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
The key to understanding this is the beginning of the above quoted verse. “If we confess our sins . . .” God will cleanse us of our unrighteousness if we confess. What, then, if we don’t confess? Imagine for a moment a man who has lived a righteous life, confessing when he sins and trying not to sin. One day he tells a lie (for whatever reason) and then immediately there after is hit by a car and dies. He did not have the chance to confess the sin, thus he has unrighteousness in him, something that cannot exist before a Holy God. Thus one of two things must come to pass: he must either be separated from God or be purged of his wrong doing. God would not suffer us to hell for a single lie, so how are we made holy? In a word, purgatory. It is the cleansing of sin from our souls, leaving us pure to stand in the reverence of God. The greatest Biblical support for this is found in Isaiah 6:7, where the Seraphim placed the live coal on Isaiah’s lips, thus cleansing him of his iniquity. The coal is a simple of the purifying fire of purgatory.
Protestant opposition to purgatory is centered primarily around one of the two pillars of the Protestant faith (if I can call them that), Sola fide. The idea of faith alone, that works in no way contribute to man’s entrance to heaven (which would allow a mass murderer entrance with no repentance, but that is for another discussion), does not allow for the position of our good deeds effecting how Holy we are, and thus purgatory is lost in favor of a more ambiguous idea of sanctification.
The simplest explanation for the reason the Catholic Bible has books the Protestant Bible doesn’t is that they were both selected by separate groups. Up until the Reformation the Church had not released a dogmatic statement on what books constituted the Bible. The seventy three books of the Catholic Bible were generally considered to be the Bible, but there was no official Church teaching on this. One of the actions of the Council of Trent was to lay out what Scripture was henceforth to be called cannon.
Some argue that the difference in the Bibles depends on theology, that Luther wanted to get rid of something or the Church wanted to add something. This to a degree is the case (as evident that Luther did not like the book of James and it’s discussion of works and considered deleting it), but it is more based on the source of the Bible. The books of the Old Testament (where all the questioned books reside) are found in primary two forms: first, the Hebrew, and second, a Greek translation known as the Septuagint (named for the seventy scholars who translated it). The Septuagint included the deuterocanonical seven books (know to Protestants as the Apocrypha) while some other versions do not (namely one known as the Palestinian Canon.
The seven deuterocanonical books are Tobit, Judith, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach, and Baruch, as well as part of Esther and Daniel. They are as varied as the Bible itself, covering History to Poetry to Prophecy. There is no one distinct thing which separates these books from any other besides tradition.
2. Why do the Catholics believe in purgatory and other Christian faiths don't?
The reason Protestants do not believe in purgatory are likely numerous and varied. Reason’s for not believing are always harder to pin down than reasons for believing, so I will concentrate on the first half of your questions and try to touch on the latter if I can.
The Catholic understanding of purgatory extends from an understanding of sin. Adam and Eve began their lives with no sin, as they were created before sin entered into the world. Thus they were Holy. After they sinned however, they lost their holiness because perfect holiness and sin cannot coexist. This is why we cannot enter heaven on our own strength and we need the saving and cleansing Blood of Christ to purify us. After Christ first cleanses are sin, he does not continue to wipe it out the moment it appears. If that was the case, we could sin with no repercussions. Rather, he tackles the sin as we come to him, using our free will. “If we confess our sins he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
The key to understanding this is the beginning of the above quoted verse. “If we confess our sins . . .” God will cleanse us of our unrighteousness if we confess. What, then, if we don’t confess? Imagine for a moment a man who has lived a righteous life, confessing when he sins and trying not to sin. One day he tells a lie (for whatever reason) and then immediately there after is hit by a car and dies. He did not have the chance to confess the sin, thus he has unrighteousness in him, something that cannot exist before a Holy God. Thus one of two things must come to pass: he must either be separated from God or be purged of his wrong doing. God would not suffer us to hell for a single lie, so how are we made holy? In a word, purgatory. It is the cleansing of sin from our souls, leaving us pure to stand in the reverence of God. The greatest Biblical support for this is found in Isaiah 6:7, where the Seraphim placed the live coal on Isaiah’s lips, thus cleansing him of his iniquity. The coal is a simple of the purifying fire of purgatory.
Protestant opposition to purgatory is centered primarily around one of the two pillars of the Protestant faith (if I can call them that), Sola fide. The idea of faith alone, that works in no way contribute to man’s entrance to heaven (which would allow a mass murderer entrance with no repentance, but that is for another discussion), does not allow for the position of our good deeds effecting how Holy we are, and thus purgatory is lost in favor of a more ambiguous idea of sanctification.
posted by J.M.R. Burgard | 6:49 PM
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