How do we know that the 27 books of the New Testament are the right ones? How do we know that we haven’t left out any books that should be in the New Testament? What would happen if we found a lost epistle of Paul?
These questions have to do with the canon of Scripture. The word canon comes from the Greek kanon, which means a “standard or ruler.” In early Christianity the word came to mean “the established list of authoritative Scriptures.”
Characteristics of the Canon
The early church didn’t create a black and white list of criteria for determining which books belonged in the New Testament. The books that were generally accepted by the church, however, did have certain characteristics. The early church believed that the 27 books of the New Testament were inspired by God because of these intrinsic characteristics.
Apostolicity: The most important characteristic is that the books had to have apostolic authority. This means that each book had to be written by an apostle or by an associate of an apostle. During Jesus’ ministry, he gave the apostles authority to carry on his teaching (Mark 3:14-15). Also, the books had to be written during the apostolic age, i.e. before the end of the first century.
Orthodoxy: This characteristic has to do with the teaching in the book. The book’s teaching had to cohere and agree with the doctrines of Jesus and the other apostles. For example, the book of Hebrews was included into the canon because it’s teaching agreed with the Scriptures that were undisputed by the church.
Widespread Usage: Inspired books had to be widely used in the church. These books would have been read in church services and considered to be relevant to the church at the time. If only one church regarded a book as authoritative while the majority rejected it, then the book wouldn’t have made it into the canon.
Inward Authority: The early church recognized that the New Testament books had a self-authenticating quality to them. This quality differentiated them from all of the other books that were written at the time. This means that neither the church nor the church councils determined which books were authoritative. Instead, the church discovered the books that were already inspired by God.
The Biblical Witness
Were the New Testament authors aware that they were writing God’s inspired words? There are three lines of reasoning to think that they were.
Jesus expected his disciples to remember and record his life and teachings. Referring to the Holy Spirit, Jesus said
“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning” (John 15:26-27).
Jesus told his disciples that they would later testify of what he did and said. This would include the disciples’ speech as well as their writings.
NT Authors Themselves:
Certain passages indicate that the authors themselves believed that they were writing Scripture. For example, Paul claims
“The things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized” (1 Corinthians 14:37-38).
Paul considered his own writing to be a direct command from the Lord. Paul also believed that if someone rejected his words, then they shouldn’t be recognized as believers. Also, the author of Revelation includes a blessing (1:3) and a curse (22:18-19) from God Himself, indicating His divine approval of the book.
Other NT Authors:
In two places, the New Testament writers quote other New Testament writers as Scripture. In 1 Timothy 5:18, Paul writes
“For the Scripture says, ‘You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,’ and, ‘The laborer deserves his wages.’”
The first quotation is from Deuteronomy 25:4 and the second is from Luke 10:7. Here we have Paul putting Luke’s Gospel on the same level as Deuteronomy and labeling them both as “Scripture.”
The second example comes from 2 Peter 3:15-16, which reads
“And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.”
In this passage, Peter confirms that multiple letters of Paul are equivalent to the other authoritative Scriptures.
Early Lists of New Testament Scripture
What did the early church have to say about the New Testament writings? From very early on, Christians began to quote from these books and considered them to be authoritative. Norman Geisler and William Nix chart out this information in their book From God to Us: How We Got Our Bible. I have shortened the chart to include the information that I find most important:
(Note: The chart places Jerome to the left of Athanasius even though his list comes later. The authors originally ordered the chart based on the first date in each section, which in Jerome’s section is around the year he was born).
As you can see, the testimony of these books is very widespread in the writings of the early church:
- In the first century, one of Paul’s letters was already considered to be inspired by God, and nine other books were alluded to or cited.
- The Muratorian Canon, a fragment dated around AD 170-200, lists 22 of the 27 books as authoritative.
- In the second century, Irenaeus considered 17 of the 27 books to be inspired. In addition, he alludes to or cites from 6 of the other books. This leaves only four that he doesn’t mention.
- By the second century, a core collection of books was already functioning as Scripture. Most of the debates on which books were canonical centered around a few books like James and 3 John.
Dr. Michael J. Kruger has argued that the earliest complete list of the New Testament books comes from the writings of Origen (dated around AD 250). The list is not accepted by some modern scholars, but Dr. Kruger argues that we have good reasons to affirm its historicity.
If Origen’s list is not authentic, then the first complete list of all 27 books comes from the church father Athanasius in AD 367. In one of his letters he wrote:
“Again it is not tedious to speak of the [books] of the New Testament. These are, the four Gospels, according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Afterwards, the Acts of the Apostles and Epistles (called Catholic), seven, viz. of James, one; of Peter, two; of John, three; after these, one of Jude. In addition, there are fourteen Epistles of Paul, written in this order. The first, to the Romans; then two to the Corinthians; after these, to the Galatians; next, to the Ephesians; then to the Philippians; then to the Colossians; after these, two to the Thessalonians, and that to the Hebrews; and again, two to Timothy; one to Titus; and lastly, that to Philemon. And besides, the Revelation of John.”
The finalized list of the 27 New Testament books was also confirmed by the council of Hippo in AD 393 and the council of Carthage in AD 397.
In summary, the vast majority of the 27 New Testament books weren’t disputed from the beginning. The few books that were doubted by some believers came to be accepted as Scripture by the universal church. These 27 books alone found a permanent place in the New Testament canon. Ever since then the books have been closed.
5 Points to Remember
- The early church didn’t decide which books made it into the canon. Instead, the church recognized that certain books were already inspired because of their intrinsic characteristics.
- Jesus expected his disciples to record his life and teachings and the NT authors considered their writings to be Scripture.
- By the end of second century, the church recognized a core collection of NT books as Scripture. Ultimately, the few disputed books also came to be accepted as Scripture.
- The first two complete lists of the 27 NT books come from Origen around AD 250 and from Athanasius in AD 367.
- The universal church came to recognize that the 27 NT books alone were inspired by God.
Geisler, Norman L., and William E. Nix. From God to Us: How Got Our Bible. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers. Print
Kruger, Michael J. “Another Look at the Earliest Complete List of the Canon of the New Testament.” Canon Fodder. 12 July 2016. Web. 14 July 2016.
Powell, Doug. Holman QuickSource Guide to Christian Apologetics. Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2006. Print.
Schaff, Philip. “NPNF2-04. Athanasius: Select Works and Letters.” Christian Classics Ethereal Library. Web. 14 July 2016