Which books belong to the Old Testament?
Earliest statement of each found so far: Hebrew canon only, Origen (anthology by Basil & Gregory), c. 254.
What the early Church said, in their own words →
- Oriental Orthodox placements rest mainly on Coptic and Ethiopian church texts. The Armenian texts checked so far are brief, and Syriac and Indian Orthodox texts are not yet checked.
The positions
Hebrew canon only ReformedMethodistBaptist
What it holds: The Old Testament consists only of the books of the Hebrew canon; the others are not inspired.
The books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the canon of the ScriptureWestminster Confession of Faith, 1.3 (1646)
The names of the canonical books are: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, The First Book of Samuel, The Second Book of Samuel, The First Book of Kings, The Second Book of Kings, The First Book of Chronicles, The Second Book of Chronicles, The Book of Ezra, The Book of Nehemiah, The Book of Esther, The Book of Job, The Psalms, The Proverbs, Ecclesiastes or the Preacher, Cantica or Songs of Solomon, Four Prophets the Greater, Twelve Prophets the Less.Articles of Religion of the Methodist Church (UMC Book of Discipline, para. 104)
by which we understand the 66 books of the Old and New TestamentsChurch of the Nazarene, Articles of Faith (Manual 2023)
Formally defined: Westminster Confession (1646)
Earliest statement: Origen (anthology by Basil & Gregory), c. 254
Read for example of life, not for doctrine LutheranAnglican
What it holds: The extra books are read in church for example and instruction, but are not used to establish doctrine.
And the other Books (as Hierome saith) the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrineThirty-Nine Articles, Article VI (1571)
Formally defined: Thirty-Nine Articles, Article VI (1563/1571)
No early passage in the works searched so far states it yet.
Wider canon as full Scripture CatholicOrthodoxOriental Orthodox
What it holds: Books such as Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch and Maccabees are inspired Scripture on the same footing as the rest.
Tobias, Judith, Esther, Job, the Davidical Psalter, consisting of a hundred and fifty psalms; the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Canticle of Canticles, Wisdom, EcclesiasticusCouncil of Trent, Session 4 (1546)
For we judge these also to be with the other genuine Books of Divine Scripture genuine parts of Scripture.Confession of Dositheus (Synod of Jerusalem), Question 3 (1672)
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has 46 books of the Old Testament and 35 books of the New Testament that will bring the total of canonized books of the Bible to 81.Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Canonical books
Formally defined: Councils of Hippo (393) and Carthage (397), local; Council of Trent (1546); Synod of Jerusalem (1672)
No early passage in the works searched so far states it yet.
Common ground
These are affirmed by more than one position, so a passage saying only this counts for none of them.
- The books of the Hebrew canon are Scripture (all positions)
- The 27 books of the New Testament are Scripture (all positions)
- Quoting Wisdom or Sirach as wise or edifying without calling it Scripture
Every deciding passage, earliest first
Origen (anthology by Basil & Gregory), c. 254
In the passage on numbers, each number has a certain power among the things that exist, which the Maker of all used in composing sometimes the whole and sometimes some particular kind; so we must pay attention and trace out from the Scriptures what concerns them and each one of them. We should not overlook that the covenant books, as the Hebrews hand them down, are twenty-two, the same number as the letters of their alphabet, and this is not without reason. For as the twenty-two letters seem to be an introduction to wisdom and to the divine teachings stamped on people in these characters, so t…
- Teaches: Hebrew canon only
- Rejects: Wider canon as full Scripture
Translation in progress
Origen of Alexandria, c. 254
You objected that I used Susanna as if unaware some call it uncanonical. I answer from the wider fact: in many holy books we find more or less than the Hebrews transmit — in Job and elsewhere verses stand with us that are absent there, and the church’s edification has long received these books. Still I do not refuse to search the Jewish copies; I refuse to move the ancient landmarks set for the churches.
- Rejects: Hebrew canon only
Translation in progress
How this was made
Every whole work in the library on 21 October 2026 was searched for this question. Works added since then are not searched yet. The short excerpts on the topic pages (many from Tertullian, Justin, Irenaeus and Ignatius) join the search once their English has been checked against the Greek or Latin original: 94% of them (1,814 of 1,925) have passed that check, and the rest are still held out, so an early witness may occasionally be missing from these lanes. Two AI models from different labs judged each passage against all the positions at once, seeing them only as letters, without names or churches. A third model settled disagreements, and Claude reviewers then checked every deciding verdict against the passage and, for the earliest dates, against the Greek or Latin. A writer's silence is never counted.
The evidence is only as deep as the works searched: 1st century: 5 writers, 2nd century: 23 writers, 3rd century: 22 writers, 4th century: 18 writers, 5th century: 11 writers, 6th century: 5 writers, 8th century: 1 writer. The lanes are redrawn when the search is run again.