* The notes I used for a brief lesson on the canon of Scripture.
The Canon of
Scripture
1.
Definition of “canon” of scripture
a.
“The canon of Scripture is the list of all the
books that belong in the Bible.”[1]
b.
“Canon
refers to the body of writing that God has given to rule the church.”[2]
2.
Two different ideas of canon
a.
“When applied to the New Testament, two similar,
though different, answers are given to the question [of the canon]: either the
New Testament is ‘a collection of authoritative books or an authoritative
collection of books.’ That is,
either the twenty-seven books of the New Testament were discovered to be
authoritative because of their intrinsic worth, ‘ring of truth,’ and obvious
authority (thus, a collection of authoritative books), or those were determined
to be authoritative by some other
authority (thus, an authoritative collection).”[3]
b.
“Fundamentally, the Roman Catholic approach ends
up confusing the instrument God uses
to produce the Bible (human beings who are part of the community of faith) with
the ultimate cause of the Bible
(namely God himself). Thus, it is
misleading to say that the church ‘caused’ the Bible. Sure, they were the means God used, but it is ultimately God
who is producing the Bible through human authors.”[4]
3.
Old Testament Canon
a.
TaNaK = Torah (Law), Nebi’im
(Prophets), and Kethubim (Writings)[5]
|
Law
(Torah)
|
Prophets
(Nebi’im)
|
Writings
(Kethubim)
|
|
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
|
The Former Prophets
Joshua
Judges
Samuel
Kings
The Latter Prophets
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Ezekiel
The Book of the
Twelve
(Minor Prophets)
|
Poetic Books
Psalms
Job
Proverbs
Five Scrolls (Megilloth)
Ruth
Song of Solomon
Ecclesiastes
Lamentations
Esther
Historical Books
Daniel
Ezra-Nehemiah
Chronicles
|
b.
“This three-fold division of the Old Testament
can be traced as far back as the Prologue to Ecclesiasticus dated to about 132
B.C. When addressing his
disciples, Jesus used similar terminology for the Old Testament: ‘Everything
must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets,
and the Psalms’ (Luke 24:44). The
designation ‘Psalms’ here most likely refers to the entire third section of the
Old Testament since it is the first and largest book of that part.”[6]
c.
Canon of the Roman Catholic Church includes the
39 Old Testament books as well as the following additions known as the Apocrypha
i. 1
and 2 Esdras
ii. Tobit
iii. Judith
iv. Additions
to Esther
v. Wisdom
of Solomon
vi. Ecclesiasticus
[Sirach]
vii. Baruch
(including the Epistle of Jeremiah)
viii.
Song of the Three Children
ix. Susanna
x. Bel
and the Dragon
xi. Prayer
of Manasseh
xii. 1
and 2 Maccabees
d.
Roman Catholic: Council of Trent in 1546 officially declared the Apocrypha to be part of canon
of Scripture
i. “It
is significant that the Council of Trent was the response of the Roman Catholic
Church to the teachings of Martin Luther and the rapidly spreading Protestant Reformation,
and the books of the Apocrypha contain support for the Catholic teaching of
prayers for the dead and justification by faith plus works, not by faith
alone.”[7]
e.
Why do Protestants reject the Apocrypha? Wayne Grudem summarizes the case:
“Thus
the writings of the Apocrypha should not be regarded as part of Scripture: (1)
they do not claim for themselves the same kind of authority as the Old
Testament writings; (2) they were not regarded as God’s words by the Jewish
people from whom they originated; (3) they were not considered to be Scripture
by Jesus or the New Testament authors; and (4) they contain teachings
inconsistent with the rest of the Bible.”[8]
4.
New Testament Canon
a.
“The development of the New Testament canon
begins with the writings of the apostles.
It should be remembered that the writing of Scripture primarily occurs
in connection with God’s great acts in redemptive history.”[9]
b.
Jesus promised empowering work of the Spirit to
apostles: John 14.26; 16.13-14
c.
In the New Testament some of the writings are
already being recognized and placed on the same level as the Old Testament
Scriptures
i. 2
Peter 3.16: writings of Paul and “the rest of the Scriptures”
ii. 1
Timothy 5.17-18: “the Scripture says” and then quotes from Deuteronomy 25.4 and Luke 10.7
5.
Historical Matters
a.
Early church did not have a New Testament canon
i. Gospel
message was preached verbally
ii. Paul’s
letters were seen as authoritative
iii. Difficult
to make into a book form. The
Codex (earliest book-like technology) comes into bloom in 2nd
century
b.
First canon list we have is from heretic Marcion
around A.D. 140
i. Denied
Old Testament Scripture and was anti-Semitic
ii. Docetist—Jesus
only appeared to be human
iii. Canon
: Edited Gospel of Luke, 10 letters of Paul
iv. Responding
to Marcion gave the early church impetus to publish more appropriate lists of
the Scripture
c.
Muratorian Canon (later part of 2nd
century)
i. List
includes: Four Gospels, Acts, Paul’s 13 letters, Jude, Revelation, 1 John and
either 2 or 3 John (or both): 21/22 out of our current 27
ii. Author
of Muratorian Canon also mentions the categories: disputed books, edifying but
not authoritative books, and books to be rejected as heretical
iii. “What
is really remarkable … is that, though the fringes of the New Testament canon
remained unsettled for centuries, a high degree of unanimity concerning the
greater part of the New Testament was attained within the first two centuries
among the very diverse and scattered congregations not only throughout the
Mediterranean world but also over an area extending from Britain to
Mesopotamia.”[10]
d.
Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 260-340)
i. “At
this point it seems reasonable to summarize the writings of the New Testament
which have been quoted. In the
first place should be put the holy tetrad of the Gospels. To them follows the writing of the Acts
of the Apostles. After this should
be reckoned the Epistles of Paul.
Following them the Epistle of John called the first, and in the same way
should be recognized the Epistle of Peter. In addition to these should be put, if it seems desirable,
the Revelation of John, the arguments concerning which we will expound at the
proper time. These belong to the
Recognized Books . Of the Disputed
Books which area nevertheless known to most are the Epistle called of James,
that of Jude, the second Epistle of Peter, and the so-called second and third
Epistles of John which may be the work of the evangelist or of some other with
the same name.”[11]
ii. “By
the early fourth century, then, all twenty-seven books of the New Testament
were tentatively considered canonical, with twenty-two of them definitely so.”[12]
e.
Athanasius’ Thirty-ninth Festal Letter in 367
pronounced all 27 books as canonical.
6.
Criteria the Early Church Used to Assess
Canonicity
a.
Apostolicity: Was a book written by an apostle
or an associate of an apostle?
b.
Orthodoxy: Did it conform to the teachings of
other books known to be by apostles?
c.
Catholicity: Was it accepted early and by a
majority of churches?
7.
What About Other “Gospels?”
a.
Their dates are too late to be considered as
coming from an apostle
“It is also noteworthy that not a single document written after about
A.D. 120 was considered for inclusion, not least because such documents
couldn’t claim to be in direct contact with the apostolic tradition. This may explain in part why none of
the Gnostic documents came up for debate.
In all likelihood they are from a later date (the possible exception is
the Gospel of Thomas).
“The Gnostic documents weren’t deleted from the canon, rather they were
never serious contenders for inclusion in it.”[13]
b.
They portray a faulty theology of Christ à docetistic or Gnostic
8.
Summary
a.
The Protestant view of the canon is that it is
discovered not determined by the church.
b.
Jesus endorsed the 39 books of the Old
Testament.
c.
There are historical and theological reasons to
reject the Roman Catholic claims for the inclusion of the Apocrypha.
d.
The New Testament demonstrates a continuing of
written Scripture by the apostles and those associated with them.
e.
The full recognition of the New Testament canon
took time but very early the vast majority of the books were recognized as
Scripture.
f.
Other “Gospels” fail to fulfill the basic tests
of apostolicity, orthodoxy, and catholicity.
9.
Resources:
a.
J. Ed Komoszewski, M. James Sawyer, and Daniel
B. Wallace, Reinventing Jesus: How
Contemporary Skeptics Miss the Real Jesus and Mislead Popular Culture
(Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel, 2006), 121-166.
b.
Michael Kruger’s website Canon Fodder: http://michaeljkruger.com/
i. “Ten
Basic Facts About the NT Canon That Every Christian Should Memorize” http://michaeljkruger.com/the-complete-series-ten-basic-facts-about-the-nt-canon-that-every-christian-should-memorize/
ii. “Ten
Misconceptions About the NT Canon” http://michaeljkruger.com/the-complete-series-10-misconceptions-about-the-nt-canon/
c.
Simon Gathercole’s lectures on Youtube: “Did We
Get Jesus Right?” (Deals with the
Four Gospels in contrast to other “Gospels” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HO-b6_AKxME&list=PLxkd8bruxmihq40NWdk291do1tF9TTd-a
[4]
Michael Kruger in “Rethinking the Canon of Scripture: An Interview with Michael
Kruger—by Matthew Barrett” Credo Magazine
(February 2015), 15-16. Available
online at: www.credomag.com.
[5]
Chart is taken from Paul D. Wegner, “How Did We Get the Old Testament?” Credo Magazine (February 2015), 20. Available online at: www.credomag.com.
