New Testament Books

These sixty-six books are termed the "Canonical books" or the Canon of Scripture. The word "canon" is derived from a Greek word meaning "a measuring rod or standard." The scriptural canon refers to those books which have been measured and passed by the standard (or test) of divine inspiration. The Canon is a listing, then, of all divinely-inspired writings. The sixty-six books which are included are therefore called "canonical" books.

Article VI of the Belgic Confession of Faith lists several additional books which, at times, have been included with the sixty-six canonical books as books of the Bible. These books are referred to as the "Apocrypha." The Apocrypha is a group of fourteen books which were written by Jews between the close of the Old Testament and the opening of the New Testament canon. The Roman Catholic Church includes eleven of the fourteen apocryphal books in its Bible.

The apocryphal books may be read and instruction received from them in so far as they do not contradict the canonical books. But they must never be treated as divinely-inspired writings, for they are not divinely-inspired.