Prophets, Priests, Kings, Shepherds, Publicans, Laborers; some were astute, educated in the finest institutions, and others were as common as a modern day “blue collar” employee. Yet these were the vessels an All-Mighty incomprehensible God chose to use as He revealed, in written form, His expectations for human behavior, His character and person, passions and dislikes, and His unfolding drama that would set the backdrop of all world history – His personal entrance onto the planet. Although this process of recording would cover some fifteen hundred years (1450 B.C. – A.D. 90 approximate) and be accomplished through over forty different authors, today we hold sixty-six books together in the single most controversial and life changing compilation of all time, the Bible. As James M. Boice states, this is, “…in short, a single story of divine redemption begun in Israel, centered in Jesus Christ and culminating at the end of history.”[1]
Looking at such a grandiose work and its impact on mankind, any thinker a step above naïve would formulate the question “how?” How did this piece of literature come into existence and with what proof does it have to carry such a respected weight on issues of life and morality? To examine this topic in full is not the intention here; however, in light of the central person of history, Jesus the Messiah, along with His immediate followers and birth of the Christian movement, the issue of authoritative writings will be discussed. It would seem natural to think followers of this movement would have set a criteria or methodology in which they could discern truly inspired writings from those less than, or downright deceptive.[2] This was not the case. Not a single writing of early church fathers reveals an actual method in which the church filtered Scripture, nor did any council meeting address this issue prior to the late fourth century.[3] With that said, what does seem to be clear is how throughout those first few hundred years a “progressive assessment” process seems to have taken place. This is revealed in myriad examples but for the sake of time this paper will address the apostolic writers, a few early church fathers, and the eventual councils which sealed the New Testament canon.
It would seem obvious for the foundation of a new movement to be accompanied by teachings, procedures, and, for lack of better terms, formulas for success. These instructions as well would eventually be best preserved through written documentation. Therefore a conclusion is drawn that subsequent to the Hebrew books in which God revealed Himself to the world, an additional work must be provided in order to expand the teachings and revelation God is offering mankind. Forty days after Christ’s ascension the “ecclesia” of Jesus’ disciples exploded with new members. Jesus had promised that the Holy Spirit would teach them “all things” and even declared “He (the Holy Spirit) would take what is Mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:13-14) This is used as a proof text for apostolic authority in writing new Scripture,[4] which would clearly be needed to help guide new converts to Jesus’ lordship. Grudem states it plainly in his Systematic Theology that “The apostles, then, have authority to write words that are God’s own words, equal in truth status and authority to the words of the Old Testament Scriptures.”[5]
An immediate disciple of Christ, Peter, is recognized throughout the church as one having apostolic authority. In reference to Paul’s writings, Peter states quite clearly, “There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do other scriptures”. (2 Peter 3:16) This very clear recognition of Paul’s writings by such a one as Peter indicate God’s continued revelation of Holy Scripture. To advance the supposition, in Paul’s writings one can see how he quotes from Luke’s gospel directly. (Compare 1 Timothy 5:17,18 with Luke 10:7) In this instance Paul couples together Luke’s statement with that of one from Deuteronomy 25:4, thereby elevating Luke’s work side by side with God’s ancient holy text. It is only a matter of time before additional writings enter into circulation and although the original apostles may have affirmed certain texts, the church is still in its infancy, desperate for the authoritative word of God.
In recent years, 1945 to be exact, a discovery was made called the Nag Hammadi. This discovery shed light on what was happening during the early stages of gospel development. Because books such as the Gospel of Thomas were found within the thirteen ancient books of the Nag Hammadi, it shows how the early church was forced to wrestle through some skewed literature purported to be inspired. By the dawn of the second century John the apostle had just completed letters fending off Gnostic heresies. It is now within these next one hundred years the issue of authorship and inspiration become critical.
Later regarded as a heretic, Marcion, developed his own type of canon during the 140’s. The list was compiled by himself and certain books were kept or cast out, nonetheless, in his attempt to sort through inspired teaching others recognized the need for just such an authoritative list of inspired writings.[6] Over the course of this century the three synoptic gospels and the Gospel of John seemed to be first to make the grade. Paul’s epistles to the churches and his pastoral letters were also widely accepted as divine. Turning the corner into the third century church fathers such as Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian utilized the bulk of modern New Testament texts. It has been noted that “One can take the citations from Clement and Tertullian and reconstruct the entire New Testament excluding the four or five small epistles which they neglect.”[7] These two gentlemen carried such a mantle in ecclesiastical leadership, whenever subsequent written works come into query church leaders would literally ask the question, “Did Clement and Tertullian cite from this writing?”[8] Although at this time in history the church faced a web of imitation documents appearing to look like New Testament books, and many of which claimed apostolic authority, fortunately church fathers had settled on a core collection. Of this core, twenty-one of the twenty-seven current books were agreed upon: four Gospels, Acts, 13 epistles of Paul, 1 Peter, 1 John, and Revelation (Hebrews being accepted by Turtullian).[9]
The controversial issues of keeping heretical teachings separate from orthodox Christian faith paved the way for official meetings wherein the process of canonizing inspired books could take place, however this would come many years later.
People throughout the church seemed to be drawing the same conclusions as to which books should be kept sacred. For those writers with an obvious aberration towards the gospel message and clear teachings of Jesus their letters were more easily discarded, however. In Caesarea in Palaestine, Origen was acknowledging, with some reservations, that twenty-seven was the accurate number of works compiling an additional testament to God’s word. This was merely 100 years after Marcion made his list. Origen was similarly in line with what is now known as the Muratorian Canon, written somewhere between A.D. 170-200, in which all but a handful of New Testament books were listed. The books causing the most consternation to scholars were Hebrews and Revelation. These of course were accepted eventually but still undergo various criticisms, even until today.
All of this movement towards an authorized compilation of books for the church would not be officially addressed until mid forth century. Apparently somewhere in the back and forth of discussions, determining inspired writing, fending off false teachers, and avoiding martyrdom, the officials within the church agreed upon twenty-seven books as divine. The first glimpse we catch of this is found in an annual letter from a bishop from Alexandria. Athanasius wrote in A.D. 367 a letter during the time of Easter in which he specifies the exact twenty-seven New Testament books and emphasizes how these alone are to be used during church services.[10] Within a few years a Synod of Hippo, A.D. 393, confirmed the same list found in the bishop’s letter. Four years later the matter was discussed again at Carthage, and then thrice when in 419 the influential African bishop Augustine affirmed the twenty-seven book canon.
From that point in time we know many areas of God’s word have come under attack and will continue to do so for the remainder of humanity. If the adage is true how Satan has no new tricks in his bag why would the same argument cease that has been held from the beginning of time, “Did God really say?”
Beginning with Adam, and following God’s revelation of Himself through history, the question of His existence and what He wants to communicate is most likely never to be found in the data alone, this is a living faith with a living God. If He could reveal Himself to Abraham with no texts, no pastors to seek counsel, no forerunners and faith-filled-fathers, certainly our God can reveal Himself to mankind through many ways. What a privilege to have these documents aiding the church today as it too walks out a life of faith.
1. Boice, James Montgomery. Foundations of the Christian Faith, A Comprehensive & Readable Theology (Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 1986) 58.
2. Baker, R.A. “How the New Testament Canon was Formed” 2008 http://www.churchhistory101.com/docs/New-Testament-Canon.pdf (accessed Sept.12,2010)
3. Ibid
4. Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology, An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. (Leicester, England: Inter- Varsity Press, 1994) 60.
5. Ibid 61
6. Baker, R.A. “How the New Testament Canon was Formed” 2008 http://www.churchhistory101.com/docs/New-Testament-Canon.pdf (accessed Sept.12,2010)
7. Ibid 6
8. Ibid 6
9. Hill, Charles E. “The Canon of the New Testament,” (Article) ESV Study Bible. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, 2008
10. Ibid
Bibliography
Baker, R.A. “How the New Testament Canon was Formed” (Essay) 2008 http://www.churchhistory101.com/docs/New-Testament-Canon.pdf (accessed Sept.12,2010)
Boice, James Montgomery. Foundations of the Christian Faith, A Comprehensive & Readable Theology. Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 1986
Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology, An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994
Hill, Charles E. The Canon of the New Testament, (Article) ESV Study Bible. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, 2008
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