The Bible/Lost scripture

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This page is based on an answer to a question submitted to the FAIR web site, or a frequently asked question.

Question

I've heard about "lost scripture" mentioned in the Bible. What is this about, and what implications does it have for the doctrine of Biblical inerrancy and sufficiency?

Answer

So called "lost scripture" is in reference to writings mentioned or cited within the present Biblical record, but which are not in the Bible itself. Some of these writings are known from other sources, and some are not.

Examples of "lost scripture"

Lost writing	Biblical citation to the lost writing
Book of the Wars of the Lord	Numbers 21꞉14
Book of Jasher	Joshua 10꞉13, 2 Samuel 1꞉18
Book of the Acts of Solomon	1 Kings 11꞉41
Book of Samuel the Seer	1 Chronicles 29꞉29
Book of Gad the Seer	1 Chronicles 29꞉29
Book of Nathan the Prophet	1 Chronicles 29꞉29, 2 Chronicles 9꞉29
Prophecy of of Ahijah	2 Chronicles 9꞉29
Visions of Iddo the Seer	2 Chronicles 9꞉29, 2 Chronicles 12꞉15, 2 Chronicles 13꞉22
Book of Shemaiah	2 Chronicles 12꞉15
Book of Jehu	2 Chronicles 20꞉34
Sayings of the Seers	2 Chronicles 33꞉19
Paul's epistle to Corinthians before our "1 Corinthians"	1 Corinthians 5꞉9
Paul's possible earlier Ephesians epistle	Ephesians 3꞉3
Paul's epistle to Church at Laodicea	Colossians 4꞉16
1 Enoch and The Assumption of Moses	Jude 1꞉14
1 Enoch	"It influenced Matthew, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, Hebrews, 1 John, Jude (which quotes it directly) and Revelation (with numerous points of contact)…in molding New Testament doctrines concerning the nature of the Messiah, the Son of Man, the messianic kingdom, demonology, the future, resurrection, the final judgment, the whole eschatological theater, and symbolism."[1]

Examples of canonical differences among Bibles

The picture is further complicated by the fact that Christians have not always agreed on the "canon"—that is, they have not always agreed upon which writings were "scripture" and which were not.

Some examples of these variations:

Christian Person or Group	Difference in canon from Protestant Bible (eg KJV)
Catholics	Apocrypha is canonical
Orthodox	Apocrypha is canonical
Clement of Alexanderia (A.D. 200)	Included in canon: Epistle of Barnabas Epistle of Clement The Preaching of Peter[2]
Origen (date)	Included in canon: Epistle of Barnabas Shepherd of Hermas[3]
Martin Luther	Considered Epistle of James "a right strawy epistle."[4] Also didn't agree with Sermon on the Mount because didn't match his "grace only" theology.

Implications for inerrancy and sufficiency doctrine of the Bible

 ^{[needs work]}

Endnotes

1. [note]  E. Isaac, "1 (Ethiopic Apocalypse of) Enoch," in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, ed. J. H. Charlesworth, 2 vols, (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1983), 1:10; cited in Daniel C. Peterson and Stephen D. Ricks, "Comparing LDS Beliefs with First-Century Christianity, (Provo, Utah: FARMS, no date). off-site
2. [note]  Daniel C. Peterson and Stephen D. Ricks, "Comparing LDS Beliefs with First-Century Christianity, (Provo, Utah: FARMS, no date). off-site
3. [note]  Daniel C. Peterson and Stephen D. Ricks, "Comparing LDS Beliefs with First-Century Christianity, (Provo, Utah: FARMS, no date). off-site; citing Clyde L. Manschreck, A History of Christianity in the World, 2d. ed. (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1985), 52.
4. [note]  Timothy George, "'A Right Strawy Epistle': Reformation Perspectives on James," The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology (Fall 2000), 20–31. PDF link

Further reading

FAIR web site

FAIR Holy Bible materials

• John A. Tvedtnes, "The Bible Code and Biblical Inerrancy," (Mesa, Arizona: FAIR) FAIR link

External links

On-line Holy Bible materials

• Alma Allred, "Coin of the Realm: Beware of Specious Specie (Review of: "Scripture," In The Counterfeit Gospel of Mormonism)," FARMS Review of Books 12/1 (2000): 137–174. off-site
• Danel W. Bachman, "The Other Side of the Coin: A Source Review of Norman Geisler's Chapter (Review of: "Scripture," In The Counterfeit Gospel of Mormonism)," FARMS Review of Books 12/1 (2000): 175–214. off-site
• John Gee, "The Old Testament as Reliable History, Review of On the Reliability of the Old Testament by Kenneth A. Kitchen," FARMS Review 18/1 (2006): 425–430. off-site wiki
• William J. Hamblin and Daniel C. Peterson, "The Evangelical Is Our Brother (Review of How Wide the Divide? A Mormon and an Evangelical in Conversation)," FARMS Review of Books 11/2 (1999): 178–209. off-site
• Blake T. Ostler, "Bridging the Gulf (Review of How Wide the Divide? A Mormon and an Evangelical in Conversation)," FARMS Review of Books 11/2 (1999): 103–177. off-site
• Daniel C. Peterson and Stephen D. Ricks, "Comparing LDS Beliefs with First-Century Christianity, (Provo, Utah: FARMS, no date). off-site
• Stephen E. Robinson, Are Mormons Christians? (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1993). off-site FAIR linkoff-site
• John A. Tvedtnes and Matthew Roper, "'A Bible! A Bible!' The Canon and Ongoing Revelation (Review of Luke P. Wilson's "Lost Books & Latter-Day Revelation: A Response to Mormon Views of the New Testament Canon")off-site

Printed material

Holy Bible print materials

• Alan Denison & D.L. Barksdale, Guess Who Wants To Have You For Lunch?, 2nd edition, (Redding, California: FAIR, 2002[1999]), 37–57. ISBN 1893036057. FAIR link
• Emanuel Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 2nd Rev edition (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 2001[1999]), 1. ISBN {{{isbn}}}.
• Leon Vaganay and Christian-Bernard Amphoux, An Introduction to New Testament Criticism, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 1. ISBN {{{isbn}}}.