By H. Lynn Gardner
ABOUT THIS SERIES:
Last Week””God”s Word Written. How did God communicate through prophets and Scripture writers?
This Week””God”s Word Collected. What is the canon and how can we be sure our Bibles contain the right books?
Next Week””God”s Word Preserved. How close to the original are the Bible manuscripts we have today?
February 10″”God”s Word Translated. How true to God”s Word are the English words available for us to read?
What are we to think about books entitled Lost Scriptures and Lost Christianities? Who decided and how did they decide which books would be included in the Bible? Was the decision of human or divine authority?
These questions concern the canon of Scripture. The word canon comes from a cane or measuring rod, and came to be used for a standard. In regard to Scripture, canon means a list of authoritative normative books of Scripture. When God”s Word was written it became Scripture.
God”s people recognized the inspired Scriptures and later collected them together.
Confidence in the canon gives assurance of our knowledge of God and his will for our lives. A normative standard safeguards us from being led astray by false teachers and enables us to answer seekers and critics.
The Canon of the Old Testament
As the Old Testament books made their appearance, they were recognized as the Word of God. Moses, a prophet (Numbers 12:6-8 and Deuteronomy 34:10), wrote the first five books of the Old Testament. Accepted as Scripture, the Law of Moses was put with the ark of the covenant (Joshua 1:7, 8; 2 Kings 18:6; and Deuteronomy 31:26). Joshua was also a prophet (1 Kings 16:34), and his book was added with the Law (Joshua 24:26). Samuel”s books and others followed (1 Samuel 10:25).
God told Moses he would send prophets leading to the great Prophet, that is, Christ (Deuteronomy 18:15-22). These prophets spoke and wrote with authority, expecting to be obeyed as the voice of God. They declared that Israel had fallen because she disobeyed the Law and their words.
Old Testament authors cite other books as the Word of the Lord (2 Chronicles 36:21; Jeremiah 25:1-14; and Daniel 9:2). Jeremiah quotes Micah as prophetic (Jeremiah 26:18). Daniel possessed Moses” and Jeremiah”s books (9:2, 10, 11). The Law and prophets stand equal in authority (2 Kings 17:13 and Nehemiah 9:26).
For the Christian, Jesus” acceptance of the Old Testament as the infallible, authoritative Word of God settles the issue. Jesus said, “Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35)1; “It is written” (Matthew 4:4, 6, 7); and “Everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44). In that last instance, Jesus refers to the entire Old Testament as he does in Luke 11:51. The New Testament refers to the Old Testament as authoritative Scripture (John 7:38; Matthew 21:42; and Romans 1:2).
All of the books in our Old Testament were recognized as canonical before the New Testament era. Josephus, a Jewish writer (a.d. 95), states, “Our books, those which are justly accredited, are but twenty-two.” His books are the same as the English Bible”s 39.2 He considers the canon as complete, “For, although such long ages have now passed, no one has ventured either to add, or to remove, or to alter a syllable; and it is an instinct with every Jew, from the day of his birth, to regard them as the decrees of God, to abide by them, and, if need be, cheerfully to die for them.”3
Liberal scholars date the close of the Old Testament canon at the council of Jamnia in a.d. 90. However, no person or council canonized the books. They were accepted as canonical from their first appearance by virtue of being inspired. The so-called council of Jamnia in ad 90 did not establish the canon. Discussions were held but no official decisions were made and no changes were made from what had been established earlier.
In 1546 the Roman Catholic Church declared the Apocrypha to be inspired Scripture. These were Jewish books written from 200 b.c. to 200 a.d. However, the Jews did not accept them as inspired Scripture. Christ, the apostles, and the early church did not regard them as Scripture. The New Testament contains no direct quotation of an apocryphal book. The books of the Apocrypha do not claim to be inspired or prophetic. They contain historical errors and contradictions to the Old Testament. Not being inspired, the Apocrypha is not Scripture.
The Canon of the New Testament
Without assuming its inspiration, the New Testament provides credible historical evidence to establish the deity of Jesus. Accepting the authority of Jesus, we have a basis for accepting the Old Testament canon and the New Testament canon. Jesus promised Holy Spirit inspiration to the apostles enabling them to recall his words, teaching them all things, and guiding them into all truth (John 14:26 and 16:13). Jesus told the apostles, “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me” (Matthew 10:40). As Jesus” authorized spokesmen, the apostle”s teaching provided the foundation for the church (Ephesians 2:20, 21).
The apostles claimed inspiration (Galatians 1:12; Ephesians 3:3, 5; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; and 1 Corinthians 14:37) and the church recognized their writings as inspired and authoritative. New Testament writers considered each other”s books as Scripture. Paul quoted from Luke as “Scripture” (1 Timothy 5:18). Peter puts Paul”s letters on a par with “the other Scriptures” (2 Peter 3:16). Church assemblies read their writings (Colossians 4:16 and 1 Thessalonians 5:27).
The inspired books by apostles or apostolic associates were written in the last half of the first century.
The apostolic eyewitnesses guaranteed the content of the tradition they handed down with authority (1 Corinthians 15:1-3). From Heaven Jesus clothed the word of the apostles with his authority. Their word was the Word of God (1 Thessalonians 2:13). The New Testament books were authoritative from the beginning.
Early the church began collections of books recognized as Scripture. In addition to his Gospel and Acts of the Apostles, if Luke kept a copy of all of Paul”s letters, this would have constituted a collection of well over one-half of the New Testament by a.d. 68.4
As the apostles died, their living voice of authority was gone. A normative list was needed to protect against false teaching and as a basis for sound doctrine and unity. Christians needed to know what books to read in the assembly and what books to refuse to surrender when persecuted.
Clement of Rome (c. a.d. 96) referred to 1 Corinthians as written “under the inspiration of the Spirit.” He said the apostles received the gospel from Jesus and preached fully assured by the Holy Spirit.5 Irenaeus (a.d. 180) says, “The Lord of all gave to His apostles the power of the Gospel . . . handed down to us in the Scriptures.”6 Ignatius (a.d. 115) speaks of the Gospel. Justin Martyr (a.d. 140) puts “The Memoirs of the apostles and those who followed them” on a par with “the writings of the prophets.”7 Tatian”s Diatessaron (a.d. 170) was an early harmony of the Gospels. The Muratorian Fragment (a.d. 170) lists most of the New Testament books.
Collections of the New Testament books were made in various locations in the empire. Questions were raised about a few books not because they contradicted the gospel but because they were not well known in a particular location. Uncertainty about authorship, for example in the case of Hebrews, slowed universal acceptance. Most books were recognized as Scripture from the time of writing. The few exceptions gained recognition on their own merits as genuinely canonical. The church was cautious and wanted to be certain that books were apostolic.
Some allege the canon was not complete until 367 when Athanasius listed the 27 books and stated, “Let no one add anything to them or take anything away from them.”8 However, the New Testament books were authoritative by virtue of inspiration long before they appeared in a list.
The so called “lost books” were never lost. They were never Scripture. Some have unbiblical teachings and historical inaccuracies. The books that advocated a different gospel from that proclaimed by Jesus and the apostles were not accepted as authoritative.
Church and Canon
Roman Catholics say the church created the canon and has authority over the canon. However, the apostolic preaching of the Word of God brought the church into existence. The apostle”s word interpreted and applied the gospel and corrected the church. The canon controls the church; the church does not control the canon.
J. I. Packer rightly says, “The Church no more gave us the New Testament than Sir Isaac Newton gave us the force of gravity. God gave us gravity, by His work of creation, and similarly He gave us the New Testament canon, by inspiring the individual books that make it up.”9
F. F. Bruce states, “The New Testament books did not become authoritative for the Church because they were formally included in a canonical list; on the contrary the Church included them in her canon because she already regarded them as divinely inspired, recognizing their innate worth and generally apostolic authority, direct or indirect.”10
Bart Ehrman”s books and the The Da Vinci Code have tried to undermine confidence in the canon. They maintain that Constantine and the Catholic Church eliminated competing versions of Christianity. These alternative gospels were not written by eyewitnesses and were false gospels. Critics rewrite history overlooking the evidence that the canonical books were used and cited as authoritative Scripture from the time of their writing.
The authority of Christ leads to accepting the authority of Scripture. He viewed the Old Testament as true, prophetic, and authoritative. He promised to guide the apostles into all truth. We can trust that he kept that promise and the New Testament has fulfilled this promise.
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1All Scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version.
2The 12 Minor Prophets are counted as one book, as are Judges”“Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra”“Nehemiah, and Jeremiah”“Lamentations. Some count 24, but they are the same as our 39.
3Josephus, Against Apion, 1.8.
4Lewis Foster, “The Earliest Collection of Paul”s Epistles,” in Studies in Early Christianity: The Bible in the Early Church, ed. Everett Ferguson (New York: Garland Publishing, 1993), 150-161.
5Clement of Rome, First Epistle of Clement, 47, 42.
6Irenaeus, Against Heresies, III, preface, 1, 1.
7Justin Martyr, First Apology, 66.3; 67.3.
8Athanasius, Festal Epistle, 39.
9J. I. Packer, God Has Spoken (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1979), 119.
10F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? 6th ed. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1981), 27.
H. Lynn Gardner is retired after serving many years on the faculty and as academic dean of Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri.
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