How were the current books in our Bible selected as those that should belong there? Find out in this study.

Teaching Notes:

The Canon Of Scripture

Introduction: The word “Bible” is the English form of the Greek word “biblia” which means “books.” The term “Bible” began to be used in the 5th century as a shorthand way of referring to the “Library of Divine Revelation.” The Bible consists of 66 different books, written over 1,600 years, by over 40 authors in 3 different languages. Its authors were of almost every social rank, statesmen and peasants, kings, herdsmen, fishermen, priests, tax-gatherers, tentmakers; educated and uneducated, Jews and Gentiles – most of them unknown to each other. Yet, in all these books we hear one voice uttering God’s very words!

1. What is the Canon of the Bible? The official list of all the books which belong in the Bible. If there are any books in our Bible we have doubts about whether they are God’s Word or not, we will not consider them to absolute divine authority. We need to know with certainty which writings are God’s Word and which are not.

2. How Did We Get The OT Canon?
10 Commandments – Ex.31:18; 32:15-16
Book of Deuteronomy – Deut.31:24-26
God’s Law For Israel – Ex.24:4 (Ex. 21-23)
Additional Words from God – Ex.17:14; 34:27; Num.33:2; Deut.31:22 (song in Deut.32)
Joshua Added to Word of God – Josh.24:26
Prophets Added to Word of God – 1Sam.10:25; 1Chronicles 29:29; 2Chronicles 20:34; 32:32; Jer.30:2.
After 435 B.C. there were no further additions to the OT Canon. Josephus (A.D. 37-38) wrote “From Artaxerxes (435 B.C.) to our own times, a complete history has been written, but has not been deemed worthy of equal credit with the earlier records, because of the failure of the exact succession of the prophets”.
History of Israel from 435 B.C. on was written in the books of the Maccabees, but these writings were not thought worthy to be included in the OT Canon.

3. Should the Apocrypha be Included in the OT Canon?

The NT never records a dispute between Jesus and the Jews over the extent of the OT Canon.

Jesus and the NT authors quote various parts of the OT Scripture as divinely authoritative over 295 times, but not once do they cite any statement from the books of the Apocrypha or any other writings as having divine authority. No book of the Apocrypha is even mentioned in the NT.

The Apocrypha includes the following writings: 1 and 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, the Rest of Esther, the Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch (including the Epistle of Jeremiah), the Song of the Three Holy Children, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, the Prayer of Manasseh, and 1 and 2 Maccabees. These writings are not found in the Hebrew Bible, but they were included with the Septuagint (Greek Translation of the Hebrew OT). These books were never accepted by the Jews as Scripture, but throughout the early history of the church were was a divided opinion on whether they should be part of Scripture or not. The earliest Christian evidence is decidedly against viewing the Apocrypha as Scripture, but the use of the Apocrypha gradually increased in some parts of the church until the time of the Reformation. The fact that these books were included by Jerome in his Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible (completed in A.D. 404) gave support to their inclusion, even though Jerome himself said they were not “books of the canon” but merely “books of the church” that were helpful and useful for believers.

The earliest Christian list of OT books that exists today is by Melito, bishop of Sardis, writing about A.D. 170. In his list he names none of the books of the Apocrypha, but includes all of our present OT books except Esther.

Eusebius also quotes Origen as affirming most of the books of our present OT canon (including Esther), but no book of the Apocrypha is affirmed as canonical, and the books of Maccabees are explicitly said to be “outside of these canonical books.”

In A.D. 367, when the great church leader, Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, wrote his Paschal Letter, he listed all the books of our present NT canon and all the books of our present OT canon except Esther. He also mentioned some books of the Apocrypha such as the Wisdom of Solomon, the Wisdom of Sirach, Judith and Tobit, and said these are “not indeed included in the Canon, but appointed by the Fathers to be read by those who newly join us, and who wish for instruction in the word of godliness.”

However, other early church leaders did quote several of these books as Scripture.
E.J. Young writes: “There are no marks in these books which would attest a divine origin… both Judith and Tobit contain historical, chronological and geographical errors. The books justify falsehood and deception and make salvation to depend upon works of merit…Ecclesiasticus and the Wisdom of Solomon inculcate a morality based upon expediency. Wisdom teaches the creation of the world out of pre-existent matter (11:17). Ecclesiasticus teaches that the giving of alms makes atonement for sin (3:30). In Baruch it is said that God hears the prayers of the dead (3:4), and in 1 Maccabees there are historical and geographical errors.”

It was not until 1546 at the Council of Trent, that the Roman Catholic Church officially declared the Apocrypha to be part of the canon (with the exception of 1 and 2 Esdras and the Prayer of Manasseh). It is significant that this Council was the response of the Catholic church to the teachings of the Reformers and the books of the Apocrypha contain support for the Catholic teaching of prayers for the dead and justification by faith plus works.

Summary:

1) the books of Apocrypha do not claim for themselves the same kind of authority as the OT writings

2) the books of the Apocrypha were not regarded as God’s words by the Jewish people from whom they originated

3) the books of the Apocrypha were not considered to be Scripture by Jesus or the NT authors

4) the books of the Apocrypha contain teachings inconsistent with the rest of the Bible.

4. How Did We Get The NT Canon?

1) Jesus Promised that the Holy Spirit would remind, teach, and guide them into all the truth: Jn.14:26; 16:13

2) The apostles claim an authority equal to OT prophets – an authority to speak and write words that are God’s very words.

2Pet.3:2 “remember the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles”.

1Cor.14:37 “If anyone thinks that he is a prophet or spiritual, he should acknowledge that what I am writing to you is a command of the Lord.”

Rom.2:16 “when according to my gospel God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.”

Gal.1:8-9 “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!”

1Thess.2:13 “For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.”

1Thess.4:15 “For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord…”

1Thess.5:27 “I adjure you by the Lord to have this letter read to all the brethren.”

2Thess.3:6 “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother…”

2Thess.3:14 “If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that person and do not associate with him, so that he will be put to shame.”

5) The apostles confirm that the writings we have in our NT are Scripture.

2 Peter 3:15-16 “just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.” Note: The word translated “scriptures” here is graphe, a word that occurs 51 times in the NT and refers to OT Scripture in every one of those occurrences.

1 Timothy 5:17-18 “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing,” and “the laborer is worthy of his wages.” Note: the first quotation from “Scripture” is found in Deut.25:4, but the second quotation, “the laborer is worthy of his wages” is found nowhere in the OT. It does occur, however, in Luke 10:7. Paul, here quotes a portion of Luke’s gospel and calls it Scripture – something that is to be considered part of the canon.

6) The Church came to consensus over time about which books belong in our NT Canon over time.

Mark, Luke, and Acts were acknowledged very early, probably because of the close association of Mark with Peter, and Luke with Paul. For some books (Mark, Luke, Acts perhaps Hebrews and Jude) the church had the personal testimony of some living apostles to affirm the absolute divine authority of these books. For example, Paul would have affirmed the authenticity of Luke and Acts, and Peter the authenticity of Mark as containing the gospel which he himself preached.

In other cases and in some geographical areas, the church simply had to decide whether it heard the voice of God Himself speaking in the words of these writings. In these cases, the words of these books would have been self-attesting; they would have born witness to their own divine authorship as Christians read them. This seems to have been the case with Hebrews.

The early church probably used a combination of factors, including apostolic endorsement, consistency with the rest of Scripture, and the perception of a writing as “God-breathed” on the part of an overwhelming majority of believers, to decide that a writing was in fact God’s words and worthy of inclusion in the canon. The church used this process over a period of time as writings were circulated to various parts of the early church and finally came to a completely correct decision, without excluding any writings that were in fact God-breathed and without including any that were not.

The earliest evidence of an official list of NT writings is the Muratorian Canon, an 8th century copy of a document written in Rome about A.D. 180. The Muratorian Canon listed 22 of our 27 books, omitting only Hebrews, James, 1-2 Peter, and 3 John. Although it includes Wisdom of Solomon and the Apocalypse of Peter, it mentions that the latter is controversial and specifically rejects a number of forged epistles attributed to Paul by the followers of Marcion. The Shepherd of Hermas was not acceptable because it was written too recently. There was the strong belief that only writings from the apostolic age only could be considered sacred.

Tertullian, bishop of Carthage (A.D. 200) first used the Latin term “New Testament.” Omitting only the general epistles, James, 1 Peter, 1-2 John and Jude, he accepted as fully authoritative the other 22 books and no others.

Origen of Alexandria (A.D. 203) made a careful study of the status of the Canon in the various churches around the Mediterranean. His conclusion as to the accepted and disputed books agreed almost exactly with Tertullian’s list. Gradually, but certainly, evidence of substantial consensus was increasing. All noncanonical books except The Shepherd had been relegated to a place of secondary authority.

2 developments – one technical, the other political – hastened the process of canonization. During the 2nd century, the scroll gave way to the book or codex. Writings like Matthew or Luke took about 30 feet of scroll, the maximum length practical. The codex, in contrast, with pages sewn together as in a book, offered a compactness which made it possible for numbers of writings to be bound together. The permanent nature of this collection prompted the scribes to careful decision about the contents and thus contributed to the fixing of the Canon.

The political development was the bitter persecution unleashed against the Church by the emperor Diocletian in A.D. 303. When he confiscated and burned the sacred writings, Christians had to decide which books were worth dying for.

In A.D. 367 the 39th Paschal Letter of Athanasius contained an exact list of the 27 NT books we have today. This was the list of books accepted by the churches in the eastern part of the Mediterranean world. 30 years later, in A.D. 397 the Council of Carthage, representing the churches in the western part of the Mediterranean world, agreed with the eastern churches on the same list. These are the earliest final lists of our present day canon.

7. How Do We Know We Have The Right Books in our NT Canon?

1) Our confidence is ultimately based on the faithfulness of God. We know that God loves His people and it is supremely important that God’s people have His own words, for they are our life. They are more precious to us than anything else in this world. We also know that God is in control of all history, and He is not the kind of Father who will trick us or fail to be faithful to us or keep from us something we absolutely need. Can we believe that God, who controls history, would allow all of His church for almost 2,000 years to be deprived of something He Himself values so highly and is so necessary for our spiritual lives?

2) It has been the testimony of Christians throughout the ages that as they read the books of the Bible, the words of Scripture speak to their hearts as no other books do. Year after year Christians find that the words of the Bible are indeed the words of God speaking to them with an authority, power, and persuasiveness that no other writings possess.

3) Even those writings thought for a time to be worthy of inclusion in the canon contain doctrinal teaching contradictory to the rest of Scripture. “The Shepherd of Hermas” teaches the necessity of penance and the possibility of the forgiveness of sins at least once after baptism. The author seems to identify the H.S. with the Son of God before the Incarnation, and to hold that the Trinity came into existence only after the humanity of Christ had been taken up into heaven”

The Gospel of Thomas ends with this absurd statement: “Simon Peter said to them: “Let Mary go away from us, for women are not worthy of life.” Jesus said: “Lo, I shall lead her, so that I may make her a male, that she too may become a living spirit, resembling you males. For every woman who makes herself a male will enter the kingdom of heaven.”

4) Today there exist no strong candidates for addition to the canon and no strong objections to any book presently in the canon. Of those writings that some in the early church wanted to include in the canon, it is safe to say that there are none that present-day evangelicals would want to include.

All other existing documents that had any possibility of inclusion in the canon either contain explicit disclaimers of canonical status or include some doctrinal aberrations that clearly make them unworthy of inclusion in the Bible.

5) Does the NT Canon Derive Its Authority From the Church?

The Roman Catholic church claims the authority to give certain books infallibility and authority (i.e. the books of the Apocrypha). However no church through its councils made the canon of Scripture. No church – in particular the Roman Catholic Church – by its decrees gave to or pronounced on the books of the Bible their infallibility. The Bible owes its authority to no individual or group – but to God alone. The authority inherent in the Bible is not derived from the church, but is in the books themselves. A police investigator can recognize counterfeit money as counterfeit and can recognize genuine money as genuine, but he cannot make counterfeit money to be genuine, nor can any declaration by any number of police make counterfeit money to be something it is not. Only the official treasury of a nation can make money that is real money; similarly, only God can make words to be His very words and worthy of inclusion in Scripture.