The publishers of most Bibles include a title page before the book of Genesis with the designation “Old Testament.” The term “old” is relative, implying there is something newer; the term “testament” involves the expression of one’s will in a contract. “Old Testament” is a scriptural designation. God used this terminology in communicating through inspired men.
In writing about how most of his fellow Jews refused to see Jesus Christ’s fulfillment of Scripture, Paul stated, “But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ” (2 Cor. 3:14). Notice Paul used the phrase “the old testament” with the Corinthians. They were familiar with the expression. There was an understanding even among the earliest Christians that they were living under the New Testament of Jesus Christ; the former testament was thus old (cf. Heb. 8:13; 9:15-18). This is not surprising, since the weekly observance of the Lord’s Supper from its very establishment is to remind Christians of Jesus’ blood of the New Testament (Matt. 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20; 1 Cor. 11:25).
Just a few lines before Paul used the term “old testament” he wrote of God, “Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life” (2 Cor. 3:6). Thus, Paul and other apostles and prophets were aware that God was using them to reveal a new testament to replace His former testament (Eph. 3:4-5; 1 Cor. 14:37). In this context (2 Cor. 3), Paul is contrasting their ministry with the ministry of the Old Testament by Moses. It is evident from verses such as 2 Peter 3:16 and 1 Timothy 5:18 that New Testament writers considered each other’s writings Scripture, inspired by God as the Old Testament was (2 Tim. 3:15-17; 2 Pet. 1:20-21). When Christ came to earth, the Old Testament had been a closed catalogue of books for years. Jews would often refer to it by its twofold division: the Law and the Prophets (Matt. 5:17, 18; 7:12; 11:13; 22:40; Luke 16:16, 17; John 1:45; Acts 13:15; 24:14; 28:23; Rom. 3:21).
Christ Himself, in prophesying of the destruction of Jerusalem, said of that generation God would require the blood of all Old Testament martyrs, explaining, “That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar” (Matt. 23:35). The first one murdered was Abel in Gen. 4. The account of king Joash killing Zechariah is found in 2 Chronicles 24:17-22. Second Chronicles is not the latest stage of the recorded history of the Jewish people in the Old Testament; however, even though it was not the last book written, it did occupy the last place in the order of the inspired library of Hebrew Scriptures. The Hebrew Bible begins with Genesis and ends with Second Chronicles. Jesus is referring to the two ends of the Old Testament library in Matthew 23:35, the first book to the last book. The Jews accepted only these as divine.
Within these Old Testament books, God warned man not to add to His words (Deut. 4:2; 12:32; Prov. 30:5, 6). Obviously if God has gone to the care of expressing His will to man in a written testament, then He disapproves of anyone tampering with it. While additional books, sometimes known as the Apocrypha, can be found in Roman Catholic, Russian Orthodox and Greek Orthodox Bibles—each of these differ in what additional books they include—these were not considered inspired Scripture by Jesus or the Jews in general. Josephus, a first-century Jewish historian, mentioned what the Jews considered to be from God:
For we have not an innumerable multitude of books among us, disagreeing from and contradicting one another, [as the Greeks have,] but only twenty-two books, which contain the records of all the past times; which are justly believed to be divine; and of them five belong to Moses, which contain his laws and the traditions of the origin of mankind till his death. This interval of time was little short of three thousand years; but as to the time from the death of Moses till the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, who reigned after Xerxes, the prophets, who were after Moses, wrote down what was done in their times in thirteen books. The remaining four books contain hymns to God, and precepts for the conduct of human life. It is true, our history hath been written since Artaxerxes very particularly, but hath not been esteemed of the like authority with the former by our forefathers, because there hath not been an exact succession of prophets since that time; and how firmly we have given credit to these books of our own nation is evident by what we do; for during so many ages as have already passed, no one has been so bold as either to add anything to them, to take any thing from them, or to make any change in them; but it is become natural to all Jews immediately, and from their very birth, to esteem these books to contain Divine doctrines, and to persist in them, and, if occasion be willingly to die for them (Against Apion 1:8).
Though Josephus mentioned 22 books, he is referring to the same content of our 39 books of the Old Testament. The Minor Prophets were all one book known as “The Twelve;” First and Second Samuel were one book; so were First and Second Kings, as well as First and Second Chronicles. Ezra and Nehemiah were together as one book. Ruth was combined with Judges and Lamentations with Jeremiah.
The Apocrypha is not inspired of God. Apocryphal books have errors in them unlike inspired Scripture. Some of them also attest to not being divine. First Maccabees was written during an acknowledged time when God was providing no new revelation, “It was a time of great trouble for Israel, worse than anything that had happened to them since the time prophets ceased to appear among them” (I Macc. 9:27). What a contrast to the first-century apostles and prophets who were revealing the New Testament, inspired of God to replace His former testament. Jesus did not recognize the Apocrypha as part of God’s word and neither did His apostles.
Old Testament warnings about adding to God’s Word are complemented by a similar admonition at the end of the last book of the New Testament, “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book” (Rev. 22:18, 19). Clearly God has given us all the written revelation we need (2 Pet. 1:3), and we should not add to it.
— Mark Day