The Book of Jubilees: The Torah Calendar eBook - Book - Page 25
T
H
Is Jubilees Scripture,
Inspired and Canon?
E
T RAH
T
E
S
Criteria set forth by Blue Letter Bible
with our additions. [1]
T
1. Prophetic Authorship
“For a book to be considered canonical, it must have been written by a prophet or apostle or by
one who had a special relationship to such (Mark to Peter, Luke to Paul). Only those who had
witnessed the events or had recorded eyewitness testimony could have their writings considered
as Holy Scripture.” (Note, Luke and Paul especially record the eyewitness accounts of others).
2. Witness of the Spirit
“The appeal to the inner witness of the Holy Spirit was also made to aid the people in
understanding which books belonged in the canon and which did not.” BLB quotes Pinnock
who claims the canon is a matter of “historical process” (Clark Pinnock, Biblical Revelation,
Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1973, p. 104). [2] We would agree but Pinnock ignores
the most obvious such history. The Levite Library or Bible canon found in Qumran serves
as a time capsule for the Old Testament canon long before the Catholic Church nor councils.
Every book in the modern Old Testament canon was found there except Esther. It is Levite
Priests who were the keepers of scripture and the Qumran community identifies as such over
100 times.
3. Acceptance
“The final test is the acceptance of the people of God.” BLB notes this is to accept Jesus and
the Apostles which we agree for New Testament but this would also be to accept His people
in the time of Jubilees which is the same as Genesis and Exodus – Israel. It still prophesies
of Messiah though.
4. Quoted As Doctrine In Scripture (Our Addition)
Our added test in which we will apply to Jubilees will assess whether or not this book is
quoted in scripture for doctrine. This is not some arbitrary word or phrase but does doctrine
derive from Jubilees which one does not find specifically in other Old Testament writings?
This is the ultimate exam.
5. In Agreement With the Whole of Scripture (Our Addition)
Does it agree with scripture in whole? Even the Gospels have minor details to iron out in
understanding, but how does Jubilees compare to Torah especially? The conclusion may
surprise many.
23
