Which Bible Is the Most Accurate? My Journey into the Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Canons

Which Bible Is Most Accurate? Protestant, Catholic, or Orthodox?

I grew up in the Catholic Church, but in high school I became Protestant. For a long time, I never thought to question the Bible itself. I assumed every Christian read the same one. Recently, though, I’ve started studying the differences between Bibles, and what I’ve discovered surprised me: there are actually three main versions of the Christian canon, the Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox. And they don’t all contain the same books. Side note; later, it did come to me that I did remember hearing my mom quote books that I didn't recognize, and it reminded me that I do remember the extra books.

This has opened a whole new set of questions for me. Which Bible is the most accurate? Should certain books have been left out? And why? Since I’ve been accepted into a Protestant Bible school, I’m hoping to get even more clarity there. But for now, here’s everything I’ve been learning and why I’m beginning to wonder if the Catholic Bible might be the most historically faithful of them all.

The Three Canons at a Glance

• Protestant Bible: 66 books (39 Old Testament, 27 New Testament).

• Catholic Bible: 73 books (46 Old Testament, 27 New Testament).

• Orthodox Bible: 76–81 books, depending on the tradition (includes the Catholic canon plus books like 3 Maccabees, Psalm 151, and sometimes 1 Enoch).

The New Testament is the same in all three canons. The differences are entirely in the Old Testament.

How Accurate Is the New Testament We Have Today?

One common question about the Bible is whether what we read today matches what the apostles and early Christians originally wrote. After all, we don’t have Paul’s actual parchment letters or John’s original scrolls. So how do we know the New Testament is reliable?

The short answer is: remarkably reliable! More so than any other ancient writing.

The original manuscripts (called autographs) have not survived. But what we do have is an unparalleled wealth of ancient copies. The earliest known fragment, called Papyrus 52, is a tiny piece of John’s Gospel dated around 125 AD — just a few decades after John likely wrote it. Other early papyri like P46, P66, and P75 from the late 100s–200s contain large portions of the New Testament.

Then come the great codices:

• Codex Sinaiticus (~350 AD) — a nearly complete New Testament.

• Codex Vaticanus (~325 AD) — one of the best-preserved Bibles.

• Codex Alexandrinus (~400 AD).

In total, we have over 5,800 Greek manuscripts, plus more than 10,000 Latin manuscripts and thousands more in Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, and other languages. This massive manuscript tradition allows scholars to compare copies across centuries and locations.

The result? Experts agree the New Testament text can be reconstructed with over 99% accuracy. The small variations that exist are mostly spelling differences or minor word shifts, nothing that changes core Christian beliefs.

For perspective: Julius Caesar’s Gallic Wars survives in about 10 manuscripts, the earliest nearly 900 years after Caesar. Homer’s Iliad exists in fewer than 700 manuscripts, with a gap of centuries from the original. By comparison, the New Testament stands alone as the most well-attested text of antiquity.

This mountain of evidence assures us that when we open the New Testament today, we are reading with confidence the same words that circulated in the earliest churches, the same gospel that transformed the world.

Why the Old Testaments Differ

Jewish Roots

By Jesus’ time, there were two main versions of the Jewish Scriptures:

1. The Hebrew Bible (Tanakh): 39 books in Hebrew/Aramaic, the official Jewish canon.

2. The Greek Septuagint (LXX): a Greek translation produced in Alexandria (3rd–2nd century BC), which included additional Jewish writings: Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, Baruch, 1 & 2 Maccabees, plus expansions to Esther and Daniel.

Catholics and Orthodox follow the Septuagint tradition. Protestants follow the Hebrew Bible.

The “400 Silent Years”?

Protestants teach that the Old Testament prophetic era ended with Malachi (~400 BC). Since the Deuterocanonical books were written after this, they are excluded from the Protestant canon.

Catholics and Orthodox, on the other hand, say God was still working in this period. Books like Wisdom and Sirach foreshadow Christ, and Maccabees tells the powerful story of Jewish resistance against pagan oppression, setting the stage for the New Testament world.

Which Bible Did Jesus Use?

This is where things get fascinating.

• In synagogues, Jesus likely read Hebrew scrolls (Luke 4:16–21).

• But the New Testament (written in Greek) overwhelmingly quotes from the Septuagint; the very version that contained the Catholic “extra” books.

Clear Examples:

• Matthew 1:23 (Isaiah 7:14)

  • Hebrew: “young woman” shall conceive.

  • Septuagint: “virgin” shall conceive.

  • Matthew quotes “virgin.”

  
  

• Luke 4:18 (Isaiah 61)

  • Hebrew: omits “recovery of sight to the blind.”

  • Septuagint: includes it.

  • Jesus reads the Septuagint version.

  
  

• Matthew 21:16 (Psalm 8:2)

  • Hebrew: “out of the mouths of infants… you established strength.”

  • Septuagint: “…you prepared praise.”

  • Jesus says “praise.”

  
  

The Apostles follow the same pattern: Paul in Romans 1 echoes Wisdom of Solomon, Hebrews 11 describes martyrs from 2 Maccabees, and James sounds almost identical to Sirach. This is all from the "extra books"

The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Deuterocanon

In 1947, shepherds near Qumran discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls; ancient manuscripts (250 BC–AD 70) including almost every Old Testament book, plus fragments of several Deuterocanonical writings (Tobit, Sirach, Baruch).

Not every Deuterocanonical book was found. Judith, Wisdom, and 1 & 2 Maccabees are missing. But that’s not unusual: even Esther (always part of Jewish and Protestant canon) wasn’t among the scrolls.

Just like Esther, the absence doesn’t prove rejection, it could simply mean they weren’t preserved in the caves. The important point is that some Deuterocanonicals were there, proving they were in circulation before Christ.

This shows the “Catholic extras” weren’t late inventions. They were valued by some Jewish communities during the very time of Jesus and the Apostles.

The Canon Debate Through History

• 100–400 AD: Early Christians widely used the Septuagint. Local councils (Hippo 393, Carthage 397, Rome 382) listed the Catholic canon (73 books).

• Jerome (400s): Translated the Latin Vulgate. He leaned toward the Hebrew canon but included the Deuterocanon because the Church used it. His hesitation shows the tension and it’s here that I personally begin to struggle more. If Jews didn’t believe Jesus was the Messiah, why should Christians rely on their version of the canon over the one that Jesus himself and the Apostles actually used?

• Council of Florence (1442): Reaffirmed the canon.

• Council of Trent (1546): In response to the Reformation, the Catholic Church officially and permanently fixed the canon at 73 books.

Meanwhile:

• Protestant Reformers (1500s): Over 1000 years later, Martin Luther moved the Deuterocanon into an “Apocrypha” section.

• Westminster Confession (1647): Reformed churches officially limited the canon to 66 books.

• 1800s: Most Protestant Bibles stopped printing the Apocrypha altogether.

The Orthodox Church never formally trimmed its canon and still uses a slightly larger Old Testament today.

Theological Tensions

Here’s where the canon really matters: doctrine.

• Tobit 12:9 — “Almsgiving saves from death and purges away every sin.”

  • Protestants: Contradicts salvation by grace alone (Ephesians 2:8–9).

  • Catholics: Complements James 2:17 (faith without works is dead).

  
  

• 2 Maccabees 12:45–46 — Describes prayers for the dead.

  • Protestants: Contradicts Hebrews 9:27 (“man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment”).

  • Catholics: Fits with 1 Corinthians 3:15 (“saved, but only as through fire”).

This is exactly where the doctrine of purgatory comes in.

For Catholics, purgatory is biblical because it flows from their canon (with 2 Maccabees included). For Protestants, purgatory is unbiblical because 2 Maccabees isn’t in their Bible at all.

This shows why the canon question is foundational. It doesn’t just affect how many books are in the Bible, it affects what Christians believe the Bible teaches.

What About Enoch and the “Lost Gospels”?

People (often new age followers) often ask: what about Enoch, Thomas, or Mary?

• Book of Enoch — Written ~300–100 BC, quoted in Jude 14–15. Never included in Protestant, Catholic, or Orthodox Bibles (except the Ethiopian Church).

• Gnostic Gospels (Mary, Thomas, Judas, etc.) — Written 2nd century AD or later, long after the Apostles. Claimed “secret knowledge” and contradicted the gospel. They were also not written by Mary, Thomas, Judas, etc. thmselves, therefore not reliable.

• Other early writings (Didache, Shepherd of Hermas, etc.) — Respected but not canonized because they weren’t apostolic.

So Which Bible Is Most Accurate?

• If “accurate” means faithful to the Jewish Hebrew canon → Protestant Bible.

• If “accurate” means faithful to what Jesus and the Apostles actually used → Catholic Bible.

• If “accurate” means preserving every tradition ever considered Scripture → Orthodox Bible.

For me personally, I can’t ignore that Jesus and the Apostles quoted the Septuagint. The version that contained the Catholic “extras.” And now, with the Dead Sea Scrolls confirming those books were in circulation at the time, the Catholic position feels even stronger.

I’ve still not fully landed. Growing up Catholic, then becoming Protestant, I’ve seen both sides. Now, as I prepare to enter a Protestant Bible school, I know I’ll be challenged even more to think critically and prayerfully about which canon most truly reflects God’s Word.

But if I’m honest, I find myself leaning toward the Catholic Bible as the most historically faithful. After all, if Jesus and the Apostles used the Septuagint, and the Dead Sea Scrolls confirm those books were in circulation at the time, shouldn’t I?

I’d love to hear your thoughts: Which Bible do you think is the most accurate? Protestant, Catholic, or Orthodox?