Tag Archives: God

Bible Q&A – Lost Books of the Bible?

Question: I keep hearing about “Lost Books of the Bible.”  Should these books be in our Bibles?—anonymous.

Thanks for the question!  I, too, once had the same question.  I have a book in my library that claims to be “Lost Books of the Bible.”  It sounds sensational, but the title is misleading.  When you hear about supposed “lost books of the Bible” on TV, radio, magazines, or internet, that’s also quite misleading.  Here’s why:

First, these books were never part of the Bible to begin with.  Books like The Gospel of Peter, or The Gospel of Judas, or any of a hundred more with similar titles were never considered part of the Bible.  There is no historical record—none whatsoever—that these books were ever put on equal standing with the Bible.  No Christian in history ever believed these books were actually part of God’s word.

Second, these books were written far too late to be an actual part of the Bible.  With only a few possible exceptions, every one of these supposed “lost books of the Bible” were written in the mid-second century or later.  Jesus told the apostles that He would guide them (the apostles) into all truth by means of the Holy Spirit (John 16:13).  When we read what the apostles wrote, we will have the same knowledge that they had (Ephesians 3:3-5).  The apostles were all dead for close to 100 years before these so-called “lost books of the Bible” were written.  Any books written after the apostles died are not inspired by God.

Third, these “lost books” weren’t ever really lost.  They were known and mentioned by writers for hundreds of years after they were written.  The fact is, they weren’t really of any value, so people eventually stopped reading them or even mentioning them.  So, after a while people basically forgot they existed.  Then hundreds of years later, some archaeologists found some of these books in Egypt.  They were never “lost.”  They just got put away and never used again.

Something else you might find interesting regarding these no-so-“lost books” is this: One of the reasons Christians knew these books weren’t really from God is that a lot of them are ridiculous.  Take, for example, this quote from the book called The Gospel of Thomas:

Simon Peter said to them, “Mary should leave us, for females are not worthy of life.” Jesus said, “Look, I am going to invite her to make her male so that she too might become a living spirit like you males. For every female that makes itself male will enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Women must become men in order to get to heaven?  Now you can see why it was never considered to be from God.

So, the things that people claim as the “Lost Books of the Bible” weren’t ever really lost, and they were never part of the Bible to begin with.

—Bradley Cobb

Bible Q&A – Lord of Sabaoth

This is the first of what will (Lord willing) be an ongoing feature of TheCobbSix.com.  We plan on posting a new Bible Q&A each Friday.  Now, on to the question!

Why is God called “The Lord of Sabaoth” (James 5:4, Romans 9:29)?  I’m sure it means something, but I’m not sure what.–Anonymous

That’s a great question, and the answer may not be what you expect.  The word Sabaoth only appears twice in the Bible, James 5:4 and Romans 9:29.  Many people look at the word Sabaoth, and assume it is another spelling of the word Sabbath.  And so, most people just think that this is another way of saying “Lord of the Sabbath,” like in Matthew 12:8, Mark 2:28, and Luke 6:5.  But just because the words look similar doesn’t mean they’re the same thing.

The word Sabaoth means armies.  The best way to show this is to look at one of the places where it is used.  Romans 9:29 says, “And as Isaiah said before, ‘Except the LORD of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we’d been like Sodom and made like Gomorrah’.”  Here, the apostle Paul quotes from Isaiah 1:9.  Except that, in Isaiah 1:9, it says “the LORD of hosts.”

“The Lord of Sabaoth” in the New Testament is the same as “the LORD of hosts” in the Old Testament.

In the Old Testament, the phrase “the LORD of hosts” appears 245 times.  This phrase describes God as the one who has the power to destroy anyone who gets in His way.  It means He’s the military God who can control the armies of heaven and earth.  When you understand this, and understand what was meant when God is called “the LORD of hosts,” it helps you get a better picture of what’s going on in the Bible.

“For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘As My anger and My fury have been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so will My fury be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. And you shall be an oath, an astonishment, a curse, and a reproach; and you shall see this place no more.’” (Jeremiah 42:18).

Do you see there how God identifies Himself as “the LORD of hosts” right before He promises to bring destruction?  Now, let’s go back to the New Testament and look at the other place where “the Lord of Sabaoth” is mentioned: James 5:4.

“Behold, the wages of the laborer who have reaped down your fields (which you have kept back by fraud) cries, and the cries of the reapers have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.”

Here, God is telling the ones who were oppressive to the poor that the God of destruction is coming.  He’s heard the cries of the poor.  And if you read the whole chapter, you’ll see that it was going to be bad.  Just a few years after this was written, Jerusalem was destroyed, and the people who had been oppressing the poor Christians were killed or made into slaves by the Roman armies, led by God.

–Bradley Cobb