Classification of the books of the Holy Bible

Orthodox Outlet for Dogmatic Enquiries	Holy Bible

Hundreds of canons on the books of the Holy Bible have been recorded throughout history, by Christians and by others. In fact, the Christians’ canons have numbered more than one hundred differing ones between them, given that the process of canonizing of the books of the Holy Bible lasted over centuries. However, of all these canons, there are 6 Canons that stand out, following the rulings of Ecumenical Councils (Synods). It is on the basis of these Canons, that we are listing the classifications of the various books of the Holy Bible in the charts below.

Foreword

The Christian Canon of the Holy Bible can validate its books only through Synodic decisions, with a validity that is accepted by all Christians. In a previous article, we elaborated that there are 6 such Canons, all validated by the Quinisext Ecumenical Council, and we also presented their individual characteristics. We also explained and discerned in this article the various categories of canons and books of the Holy Bible.

In this article, we shall provide certain charts that are based on those 6 canons. These are charts that indicate the various “qualitative” classifications of the books of the Holy Bible, as surmised from those Ecumenically approved canons. The charts below have been taken from the remarkable book by Mr. Panagiotis Boumis, “The Canons of the Church pertaining to the Canon of the Holy Bible”.

In the first chart below, you will find the abbreviations that appear in the remaining three charts, what these abbreviations signify, and in the last column, a short description of the meaning of each classification (wherever necessary). In the second column titled “Signifies:”, there are links that will take you to a fuller explanation of that item, which we have expounded in another article.

You should take note of this chart, because it will prove helpful when assessing the three pursuant charts:

Abbreviations

Signifies:		Short description of what it signifies
H	= Holy	Auxilliary, beneficial books, not containing anything of dogmatic importance.
CR	= Church Reading	Books that can be read in Church.
PR	= Proposed Reading	Books that are proposed as useful reading.
V	= Venerable	Books that Christians have a duty to respect.
D	= Divine	Books written under the supervision of the Holy Spirit.
DI	= Divinely Inspired	Books that contain a revelation of the Holy Spirit.
C	= Canonized	Books that belong to a Canon, but have not yet been validated.
VC	= Canonical	That which is Validated and irrevocably belongs to a Canon.
G	= Genuine
( )	= accepted by some
]	= possibly found in
[ ]	= definitely found in
↓	= This also applies further down
—	= Indication that the remaining parts of the first book do not follow.

In the next two charts you will notice that a book is not usually characterized unilaterally. In other words, a book may have more than one classification, and indeed, certain classifications may even presuppose certain others. For example, a Divinely Inspired book is also classified as Divine; however a Divine book may not necessarily be classified as a Divinely Inspired one. Similarly, a Divinely Inspired book of the Holy Bible or a Divine book of the Holy Bible are also Canonized books.

Thus, you will find below the two charts that respectively list the books of the Old and the New Testaments, each one appropriately classified, in accordance with the validated canons of the 6 Ecumenical Councils:

Books of the Old Testament

		85^th Apostolic Canon	59^th and 50^th of Laodicea	24^th and 32^nd of Carthage	Athanasius the Great	Gregory the Theologian	Amphilochius of Ikonion
1	Genesis	V + H	PR+ VC	VC + D + PR	C + D + DI	G	DI
2	Exodus	V ↓	PR ↓	VC ↓	C ↓	G	DI
3	Leviticus	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
4	Numbers	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
5	Deuteronomy	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
6	Joshua	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
7	Judges	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
8	Ruth	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
9	Kings I	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
10	Kings II	V	PR	VC	C	[G]	DI
11	Kings III	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
12	Kings IV	V	PR	VC	C	[G]	DI
13	Chronicles I	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
14	Chronicles II	V	PR	VC	C	[G]	DI
15	Ezra I	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
16	Ezra II	V	PR	VC	C	[G]	DI
17	Nehemiah	V]	PR]	VC]	C]	G]	[DI]
18	Esther	V	PR	VC	CR—		(DI)
19	Judith			VC	CR—
20	Tobit			VC	CR—
21	Maccabees I	V		(Lat. VC.)
22	Maccabees II	V		(Lat. VC.)
23	Maccabees III	V
24	Psalms	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
25	Job	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
26	Proverbs of Solomon	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
27	Ecclesiastes	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
28	Song of Solomon	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
29	Wisdom of Solomon			VC	CR—
30	Wisdom of Sirah	(V)			CR—
31	Hosea	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
32	Amos	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
33	Micah	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
34	Joel	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
35	Obadiah	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
36	Jonah	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
37	Nahum	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
38	Habakkuk	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
39	Zephaniah	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
40	Haggai	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
41	Zacharias	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
42	Malachias	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
43	Isaiah	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
44	Jeremiah	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
45	Baruch		PR	[VC]	C	[G]	DI]
46	Lamentations		PR	[VC]	C	[G]	DI]
47	Jeremiah Epistle		PR	[VC]	C	[G]	DI]
48	Ezekiel	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
49	Daniel	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI

Books of the New Testament

		85^th Apostolic Canon	59^th and 50^th of Laodicea	24^th and 32^nd of Carthage	Athanasius the Great	Gregory the Theologian	Amphilochius of Ikonion
50	Gospel according to Matthew	V + H	PR+ VC	VC + D + PR	C + D + DI	G	DI
51	Gospel according to Mark	V ↓	PR ↓	VC ↓	C ↓	G	DI
52	Gospel according to Luke	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
53	Gospel according to John	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
54	Acts of the Apostles	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
55	Romans	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
56	Corinthians I	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
57	Corinthians II	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
58	Galatians	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
59	Ephesians	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
60	Philippians	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
61	Colossians	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
62	Thessalonians I	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
63	Thessalonians II	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
64	Timothy I	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
65	Timothy II	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
66	Titus	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
67	Philemon	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
68	Hebrews	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
69	James (Jacob)	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
70	Peter I	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
71	Peter II	V	PR	VC	C	G	(DI)
72	John I	V	PR	VC	C	G	DI
73	John II	V	PR	VC	C	G	(DI)
74	John III	V	PR	VC	C	G	(DI)
75	Judas	V	PR	VC	C	G	(DI)
76	Revelations			VC	C		(DI)
	2 Epistles of Clement	V
	Instructions of Clement	V (?)
	Teachings of the Apostles				CR—
	Poemen (Hermas				CR—

Comparative Canon of Divinely Inspired and Divine Books

By taking into account the information of the 6 validated canons (85th Apostolic, 60^th Laodicean, 24^th / 32^nd Carthaginian, Athanasios the Great, Gregory the Theologian and Amphilochios of Ikonion, and combining the information that they give us, we can conclude that the following books are either Divine (D) or Divinely Inspired (DI):

Old Testament						New Testament
1	Genesis	D, DI	28	Hosiah	D, DI	47	Matthew	D, DI
2	Exodus	D, DI	29	Amos	D, DI	48	Mark	D, DI
3	Leviticus	D, DI	30	Mica	D, DI	49	Luke	D, DI
4	Numbers	D, DI	31	Joel	D, DI	50	John	D, DI
5	Deuteronomy	D, DI	32	Obadiah	D, DI	51	Acts of the Apostles	D, DI
6	Joshua	D, DI	33	Jonah	D, DI	52	Romans	D, DI
7	Judges	D, DI	34	Nahum	D, DI	53	Corinthians I	D, DI
8	Ruth	D, DI	35	Abakkuk	D, DI	54	Corinthians II	D, DI
9	Kings I	D, DI	36	Zephonias	D, DI	55	Galatians	D, DI
10	Kings II	D, DI	37	Haggai	D, DI	56	Ephesians	D, DI
11	Kings III	D, DI	38	Zacharias	D, DI	57	Philippians	D, DI
12	Kings IV	D, DI	39	Malachias	D, DI	58	Colossians	D, DI
13	Chronicles I	D, DI	40	Isaiah	D, DI	59	Thessalonians I	D, DI
14	Chronicles II	D, DI	41	Jeremiah	D, DI	60	Thessalonians II	D, DI
15	Ezra I	D, DI	42	Baruch	D, DI	61	Timothy I	D, DI
16	Ezra II	D, DI	43	Lamentations	D, DI	62	Timothy II	D, DI
17	Nehemiah	D, DI	44	Epistle	D, DI	63	Titus	D, DI
18	Esther	D	45	Ezekiel	D, DI	64	Philemon	D, DI
19	Judith	D	46	Daniel	D, DI	65	Hebrews	D, DI
20	Tobit	D				66	James (Jacob)	D, DI
21	Psalms	D, DI				67	Peter I	D, DI
22	Job	D, DI				68	Peter II	D, DI
23	Proverbs	D, DI				69	John I	D, DI
24	Ecclesiastes	D, DI				70	John II	D, DI
25	Song of Songs	D, DI				71	John III	D, DI
26	Wisdom of Solomon	D				72	Judas	D, DI
27	Wisdom of Sirah	D				73	Revelations	D, DI

From the above, it is evident that for us Christians, the rough-cut Protestant distinction between “the divinely inspired Holy Scriptures” and “the other, non-divinely inspired writings” does not apply. Even in the Holy Bible itself, there are writings that not only are not divinely inspired, but are not even slightly divine, (just as there are Divinely Inspired writings which do not belong in the Holy Bible). The Holy Bible itself is an “amalgam” of books, of assorted “qualities” and characteristics, hence, the phrase that we use: “the Divinely Inspired Holy Scriptures”, is an over-simplification. The only reason that we refer to it in this way is because it contains books of Divine revelation, and not because it is Divinely Inspired in its entirety.

This can be ascertained in the preceding chart, where you can see that of the 76 books of the Holy Scriptures, only the 73 of them are Divine, and of these 73 books, only the 68 are Divinely Inspired. Thus, we have 3 books that are not Divinely Inspired, and 6 books that are not even Divine.

Given the incorrect use by Protestant groups of the above terms with respect to the Holy Scriptures and its characteristic books, it is wiser to be aware of these distinctions, so that we can discern properly and make proper use of the Holy Bible.

The information was borrowed from the excellent book by the esteemed Professor of the Athens University, Mr. Panayiotis Boumis, Dr of Theology, titled: "The Canons of the Church regarding the Canons of the Holy Bible". Αthens 1986.

Translation by A.N.