Biblical canon

====Protestant confessions====
{{see also|Protestant Bible}}
Several [[Protestant confessions of faith]] identify the 27 books of the New Testament canon by name, including the [[French Confession of Faith]] (1559),<ref>[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/creeds3/Page_361.html Schaff, Philip. ''Creeds of the Evangelical Protestant Churches'', French Confession of Faith, p. 361]</ref> the [[Belgic Confession]] (1561), and the [[Westminster Confession of Faith]] (1647). The [[Second Helvetic Confession]] (1562), affirms "both Testaments to be the true Word of God" and appealing to [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]]'s ''[[De Civitate Dei]]'', it rejected the canonicity of the Apocrypha.<ref>The [[Second Helvetic Confession]], Chapter 1, Of The Holy Scripture Being The True Word of God</ref> The [[Thirty-Nine Articles]], issued by the Church of England in 1563, names the books of the Old Testament, but not the New Testament. The Belgic Confession<ref>[http://creeds.net/belgic/ Belgic Confession 4. Canonical Books of the Holy Scripture]</ref> and the Westminster Confession named the 39 books in the Old Testament and, apart from the aforementioned New Testament books, expressly rejected the canonicity of any others.<ref>The Westminster Confession rejected the canonicity of the Apocrypha stating that "The books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the canon of the Scripture, and therefore are of no authority in the Church of God, nor to be any otherwise approved, or made use of, than other human writings." [[s:The Confession of Faith of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster#Chapter 1|Westminster Confession of Faith, 1646]]</ref>

The Lutheran [[Epitome of the Formula of Concord]] of 1577 declared that the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures comprised the Old and New Testaments alone.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://bookofconcord.org/fc-ep.php |title=The Epitome of the Formula of Concord – Book of Concord |access-date=19 August 2020 |archive-date=31 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031063041/http://bookofconcord.org/fc-ep.php |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Luther's canon|Luther himself did not accept the canonicity of the Apocrypha]] although he believed that its books were "Not Held Equal to the Scriptures, but Are Useful and Good to Read".<ref>Brecht, Martin. Martin Luther. Volume 3, p. 98 James L. Schaaf, trans. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985–1993. {{ISBN|0-8006-2813-6}}</ref> Lutheran and Anglican lectionaries continue to include readings from the Apocrypha.<ref name="Forward1981"/>