As far as the Old Testament is concerned, the early church recognized those books that were recognized by the Jews at that time. Christ speaking in Luke 24:44 references the Jewish Bible at that time and refers to the divisions as the Law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms. In our English Bible, the law of Moses is Genesis through Deuteronomy; the Psalms is the poetical books (Job-Song of Solomon) and the prophets is our historical and prophetic books (Joshua-Esther and Isaiah-Malachi). Also another passage (Luke 11:51) mentions from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zacharias being the time frame of the Old Testament. This doesn't just mean our English understanding of A-Z, but a time frame. Abel is mentioned in Genesis; Zacharias was the last recorded book of the Old Testament.
As far as the New Testament, these were a little more difficult for pastors in the first century to determine. Most followed these general rules:
Had to be written by an apostle or someone closely associated with an apostle
Had to match other Scripture (could not contradict the OT, or anything already recognized as Scripture in the NT)
As for the Apocrypha, that was not introduced in any Bibles nor recognized as part of The Bible until centuries later (don't have the exact date with me). The Catholics introduced it sometime around 800 AD. The early church pastors never recognized it as Bible, neither did the Jews. It was merely a historical record used to fill in the gap in history between the Old and New Testaments.
I think you refer to the Apocrypha, a collection of 10 or 11 books that were never accepted as Bible books in the first few centuries when the Bible books were chosen, though our Roman Catholic brethren accept them in their Bible. They were not chosen because they were sometimes contradictory to the general Bible doctrine.
73 books in the Bible There are 67 books in the Protestant Bible.
No. In Christian Bible there is 73 books - but Protestant Bible have 66 books.
In the Bible, the Israelites are considered to be God's chosen people.
God called the Israelites to be His chosen people in the Bible.
There are 66 books of the bible.
Any BIBLE found at any book store has a list of books included in the bible. Most people do not understand most of the new testement is letters. Often written to fellow followers of CHRIST, REVALATION of John is often considered the only book of NT.
no there is 66 books of the bible
there are 66 books in the bible
The bible has 66 books.
There are 66 books within the bible.
When? Somewhere around 382 AD at the Council of Rome, also 390's at Councils of Carthrage and Hippo. It was the Catholic Church Councils that decided which books were to make up the books of the New Testament. If they were infallible to give us the Bible, as we have today, they must be the Divine interpreter that they still claim to be.