Criteria Which May Be Used To Legitimately Judge The Authenticity Of Claimed Godly Texts

As I indicated here, the only essential criterion provided by God to make sound judgments about the godliness of texts, is that a person has faith correctly. Beyond that, under the guidance a person obtains from the proper pursuit of faith (Philippians 2:13), a person should look at the characteristics of a work, to see if is godly. That is what Christ meant when He said, “Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.” (See Matthew 7:20.)

Please look at the following scriptures:

2 Timothy 3   

16 Every Scripture is God-breathed (given by His inspiration) and profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, [and] for training in righteousness (in holy living, in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose, and action),
17 So that the man of God may be complete and proficient, well fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Now if a text is inspired / God-breathed, it means that it is the work of God / the Holy Spirit. The following scriptures outline the characteristics of the works of the Spirit.

Galatians 5

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

1 Corinthians 13

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

(Amplified Bible)

1 Corinthians 2

7 But rather what we are setting forth is a wisdom of God once hidden [from the human understanding] and now revealed to us by God--[that wisdom] which God devised and decreed before the ages for our glorification [to lift us into the glory of His presence].
8 None of the rulers of this age or world perceived and recognized and understood this, for if they had, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 But, on the contrary, as the Scripture says, What eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, [all that] God has prepared (made and keeps ready) for those who love Him [who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed].
10 Yet to us God has unveiled and revealed them by and through His Spirit, for the [Holy] Spirit searches diligently, exploring and examining everything, even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God [the divine counsels and things hidden and beyond man's scrutiny].

The above indicates that the characteristics of the works of the Spirit are: great wisdom, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, truthfulness, self-control, ever protecting, ever trusting, ever hopefulness, ever perseverance, non-rudeness, non-envy, non-boastfulness, non-pridefulness, non-self-seeking, not easily angered. Therefore when you examine texts that purport to be of God, it is important that they exhibit the above characteristics of God / the Holy Spirit, before you determine them authentic. For example, when you look at the Gospel of Judas, you see where Jesus is portrayed as mean-spirited to his disciples. This is an important indicator that the document is false, since it is inconsistent with Christ’s depiction in the Bible and other texts.

Logical consistency (an aspect of wisdom) within a document, and among all other documents determined to be of God, is another important attribute which must be found in texts allegedly inspired by God.

Orthodox Church's Exclusion of Many Holy Texts, Amounted To Adding To And Subtracting From The Word of God

The Orthodox Church likes to label many texts it disapproves of as heresy. However, the Orthodox Church comes to its conclusions by adding criteria to the means Christ gave to make judgments about the soundness of scriptures.

Please note the following scriptures:

(Amplified Bible)

1 Corinthians 2

12 Now we have not received the spirit [that belongs to] the world, but the [Holy] Spirit Who is from God, [given to us] that we might realize and comprehend and appreciate the gifts [of divine favor and blessing so freely and lavishly] bestowed on us by God.
13 And we are setting these truths forth in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the [Holy] Spirit, combining and interpreting spiritual truths with spiritual language [to those who possess the Holy Spirit].
14 But the natural, nonspiritual man does not accept or welcome or admit into his heart the gifts and teachings and revelations of the Spirit of God, for they are folly (meaningless nonsense) to him; and he is incapable of knowing them [of progressively recognizing, understanding, and becoming better acquainted with them] because they are spiritually discerned and estimated and appreciated.
15 But the spiritual man tries all things [he examines, investigates, inquires into, questions, and discerns all things], yet is himself to be put on trial and judged by no one [he can read the meaning of everything, but no one can properly discern or appraise or get an insight into him].
16 For who has known or understood the mind (the counsels and purposes) of the Lord so as to guide and instruct Him and give Him knowledge? But we have the mind of Christ (the Messiah) and do hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of His heart.

Given the fact that someone receives the Spirit by having faith (Galatians 3:14), 1 Corinthians 2:15 indicates that  having faith is the only essential criterion needed to make successful judgments about the soundness of scriptures. (No other scripture in the Bible provides additional essential criteria.)  Therefore when the Orthodox Church uses additional essential criteria to include or exclude texts as being scripture (e.g. that a text must have been written by an apostle or be based on eyewitness testimony), it actually violates an extremely important command of God.

(Amplified Bible)

Deuteronomy 12

32 Whatever I command you, be watchful to do it; you shall not add to it or diminish it.

(Amplified Bible)

Proverbs 30

5 Every word of God is tried and purified; He is a shield to those who trust and take refuge in Him.
6 Add not to His words, lest He reprove you, and you be found a liar.

As I indicated here, the pursuit of God is a dangerous enterprise, for which the only security you have rests in the practice of having faith correctly. A person must see that he never wavers from this, and search for God’s truth in this world from this vantage point.

Therefore when the Orthodox (and also Protestant) churches point to the Bible and claim that it is the only word of God that exists, keep in mind that their claim is not supported by scripture, and worse, they seriously violate God’s law in order to come up with their statement.

(Please read here for further information.)