The New Testament wasn’t delivered to the church in a leather-bound booklet. When it came time for the early churches to determine which books made the “canon,” there were multiple pieces of literature in circulation. Which ones belonged in Scripture?
Background and Summary
As Christianity spread, it became necessary to identify what books comprised its foundation. Many works of Christian literature abounded, but which ones were to be authoritative for all Christians everywhere for all time? The long process of canonization did not determine the books of the New Testament nearly as much as it recognized those books which already had their authoritative stamp on individual congregations.
With the threat of heresy, it became necessary to determine which books could be used to diagnose heresy. With the imperial persecutions against the scriptures, it became necessary to determine which books ought to be protected even at the cost of life. Furthermore, with the passing away of the apostolic generation, it became necessary to encapsulate their teachings in a single body for all generations.[1]
“With the passing away of the apostolic generation, it became necessary to encapsulate their teachings in a single body for all generations.”
The following criteria were used primarily to recognize certain books as canonical[2]:
- Was this book written by or overseen by an apostle?
- Is this book read publicly in the churches?
- Does this book conform to the “Rule of Faith”?
A brief history of the canonization process goes as follows[3]:
- In 140, Marcion published his anti-Jewish canon (some of Luke and ten Pauline epistles).
- Around 200, the Muratorian Canon listed the four Gospels, thirteen letters of Paul, Acts, two letters of John, Jude, and Revelation, along with the Wisdom of Solomon and the Revelation of Peter.
- By the early third century, only a handful of books were still debated. Hebrews was unpopular in the West, and Revelation was unpopular in the East.
- By the early fourth century, Eusebius wrote that the following were accepted by most but disputed by some: James, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, and Jude.
- By 367, Athanasius in the East listed the final twenty-seven.
- In the West, Councils at Hippo (393) and Carthage (397) produced canon lists; the West eventually followed the East in accepting Hebrews.
“By 367, Athanasius in the East listed the final twenty-seven.”
Proponent of the Historic New Testament Canon
Athanasius, in his Easter Letter 39, in the year 367, gave us the oldest surviving list of the twenty-seven books in our canon today.[4]
Opponent of the Historic New Testament Canon
Marcion, a Gnostic, gave us the oldest surviving canon, an anti-Jewish truncated New Testament.[5]
Biblical Basis for Determining the New Testament Canon
“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit—the Father will send Him in My name—will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.” (John 14:26)
“I found it necessary to write and exhort you to contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints once for all.” (Jude 1:3)
Excerpt
Irenaeus on the Gospels:
“Matthew published his gospel among the Hebrews in their own tongue, when Peter and Paul were preaching the Gospel in Rome and founding the church there. After their departure Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, himself handed down to us in writing the substance of Peter’s preaching. Luke, the follower of Paul, set down in a book the gospel preached by his teacher. Then John, the disciple of the Lord, who also leaned on his breast, himself produced his gospel, while he was living at Ephesus in Asia.”[6]
[1] Earle Cairns, Christianity through the Centuries: A History of the Christian Church (Grand Rapids: Academie Books, 1981), 118.
[2] Cairns, 118.
[3] David F. Wright, “What the First Christians Believed,” in Introduction to the History of Christianity, ed. Tim Dowley (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002), 106-108.
[4] Everett Ferguson, “Athanasius,” in Introduction to the History of Christianity, ed. Tim Dowley (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002), 145.
[5] Wright, “What the First Christians Believed,” 108.
[6] Irenaeus, “The Evangelists and Their Sources,” in Documents of the Christian Church, ed. Henry Bettenson and Chris Maunder (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), Bettenson, 30.
