"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.. (2 Timothy 3:16) The Apostle Peter included Paul's writings as "scripture" (2 Peter 3:15-16) and Paul proclaimed scripture to be "God-breathed." A powerful witness.

Stages of Canon Development

The development of the scripture canon can be perceived as occurring in stages: 1) Old Testament Scripture/Septuagint, 2) oral tradition in the Church and the first Apostolic writings, 3) examining the sources and "separating the wheat from the chaff," and finally, 4) the closing of the canon. In this teaching essay, I will generally follow this order.

From its inception, the church claimed the Jewish scriptures as its own, but with Jesus as the center of their faith, they were always looking to interpret the Old Testament in reference to His teachings: "Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. Then He [Jesus] opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures" (Luke 24:44). And His disciples interpreted the scriptures according to the way Jesus interpreted them: "...they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken..." (John 2:22), "the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3:15).

The Septuagint: The Greek OT and Apocrypha

The Septuagint (or LXX) is the ancient Greek translation of Hebrew writings. The process began in the 3rd century BC in Alexandria, Egypt and was completed by 132 BC. By legend, it was accomplished by a group of 70 scholars, hence the name Septuagint. It incorporated the oldest of the most valued of the Hebrew writings and translated them into Koine Greek. This everyday Greek had become the common cross-cultural language of the Eastern Mediterranean from the death of Alexander the Great (323 BC) until the development of Byzantine Greek (around 600 AD).

The Septuagint was held in great respect in ancient times. The Hellenistic Jewish philosopher Philo and the historian Josephus both ascribed divine inspiration to its translators. Besides the Old Latin versions, the LXX is also the basis for the Slavonic, the Syriac, Old Armenian, Old Georgian and Coptic versions of the Old Testament. Of significance for all Christians and for Bible scholars, the LXX is quoted in the New Testament and by the early church fathers. Because very few of the early Christians could read Hebrew, they used this Greek translation almost exclusively until the late 2nd Century, when some works in Latin and Syriac are known.

Greek was even the language of the church in Rome until the middle of the 3rd Century AD. The LXX was later translated by various scholars into Latin and in the late 4th century Pope Damascus commissioned Jerome and his colleagues to revise these translations (vetus latina) into a more acceptable and unified form. By the 13th century this revision had come to be called the versio vulgata, that is, the "commonly used translation," and is still known today as the Latin Vulgate, the official Latin translation used by the Roman Catholic Church.

The influence of the LXX cannot be over-estimated. The OT Bible now became available to educated people, because if you did not know Greek, you were not considered educated. This set the stage for the spread of the Christian Gospel throughout the Mediterranean world through the writing and propagation of the New Testament.

It should be noted that the LXX translators had no concept of a Hebrew "canon" (an established set of writings regarded as "holy scripture") as we do, and in fact the Jews themselves did not develop an established canon until after 500 AD as a response to the Christian canonization process. If pushed by early Christians, they tended to call only the Mosaic Law (Pentateuch) and perhaps the writings of the prophets as scripture. Not that the other Jewish writings were not an important part of their culture, they were just not regarded as "holy scripture" by the majority. When they finally did develop their canon, it did not include the RCC or Orthodox deuterocanonical books (which Protestants call the Apocrypha).

The LXX translators had endeavored to translate as much of the Hebrew religious writings available until they ran out of time. Both Jews and Protestants agreed that just because a Jewish writing was translated by the LXX translators did not necessarily commend it as scripture, especially those books written during the 400 'silent years' before Jesus Christ when there were no prophets and no clear word from God.

We read from the 39 Articles of Religion of the Church of England, 6th Article (1563): "In the name of Holy Scripture we do understand those canonical books of the Old and New Testament, of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church. . . And the other books [Apochrypha], as Jerome saith, the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners: but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine." I believe that this was a wise decision by Thomas Cranmer and company, that is, don't exclude any of the LXX, but categorize these books as less important and less reliable in terms of divine inspiration. But intelligent and faithful Christians and Jews have argued about the proper place of the apochryphal writings since early times, and it is easy to predict that they are not going to agree anytime in the near future. Note that even the NT books have been regarded by the Church with differing relative importance and validity, easily determined by their order in the canon, first the Gospels, then Acts, then Paul's epistles and so forth.

New Testament Canon Development

The words of Jesus were first passed around orally. They were slow to be written because few people could write and because it was hard to obtain the proper materials for lasting manuscripts. But they gradually began to be written down and copied for everyday use, especially in Greek, the "universal language" of that day. The words of the Apostles began to be treated in a similar way.

The process of the recognition and collection of inspired writings began fairly soon after the death of all the Apostles, but we do not have the earliest manuscripts, some of which may have been in Aramaic as well as Greek. We have no New Testament manuscripts that go back to the time of Jesus, only some partial manuscripts (copies) that are dated from about 100 years later. Early on, some of the New Testament pastoral letters were being recognized as scripture. As I have noted, Peter recognized Paul's writings as Scripture (2 Peter 3:15-16).

Some of the books of the New Testament were being circulated among the churches quite early. Paul wrote to the Colossians: "After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea" (Colossians 4:16, cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:27).

Clement of Rome mentioned at least eight New Testament books (A.D. 95). Polycarp, a disciple of John the apostle, acknowledged 15 books (A.D. 108). Ignatius of Antioch acknowledged about seven books (A.D. 115). Later, Irenaeus mentioned 21 books (A.D. 185). Hippolytus recognized 22 books (A.D. 170-235). The most controversial New Testament books were Hebrews (because the author was unknown), James (because Jesus was not mentioned by name and because of the emphasis on deeds rather than faith), 2 Peter, 2 John, and 3 John (because of doubts about authorship and the lateness of their appearance). The first clear list of books that we accept today was found in the Muratorian Canon, which was compiled in A.D. 170. The Muratorian Canon included all of the New Testament books except Hebrews, James, and 3 John.

Closing the Canon

In principle, the idea of canon (authoritative scripture) was established by about 150 AD, promoted by the heretic Marcion and orthodox church fathers such as Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian. "By the end of the second century, there was a core canon recognized virtually everywhere in the great church: four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, 13 letters of Paul and varying other apostolic writings" (Everett Ferguson, Church History, Vol. 1, p.117).

In A.D. 363, the Council of Laodicea stated that only the Old Testament (along with the Apocrypha) and the 27 books of the New Testament were to be read in the churches. The Council of Hippo (A.D. 393) and the Council of Carthage (A.D. 397) also affirmed the same 27 NT books as authoritative.

The councils used the following criteria to determine whether a New Testament book was truly inspired by the Holy Spirit: author authenticity (especially apostolicity), early origin, consensus of acceptance and usage in the churches, applicability to the whole church, and orthodoxy as measured by consistency with the whole body of scripture (especially with the Gospels, Acts, and Paul's letters).

Again, it is crucial to remember that although the church made a consensual decision regarding the canon (a process that took a couple hundred years), it is improper to say that the early church actually "decided" on the canon. We can appropriately believe that it was God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, who determined which books belonged in the Bible. It was simply a matter of God's imparting to His followers what He had already decided. The human process of collecting the books of the Bible was flawed, but God, in His sovereignty, and despite our ignorance and stubbornness, brought the early church to the recognition of the books He had inspired.

The process that began with the early recognition of certain writings as divinely inspired and ended with the final drawing of the limits of what would be accepted as Scripture was not smooth and easy. Initially, there was considerable disagreement of what writings to accept beyond the four Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, the clear letters of Paul (not including Hebrews), 1 John, and 1 Peter. The other books were disputed, especially James, Jude, 2 Peter, 2 & 3 John, and Revelation. Other books that came close to being accepted included The Shepherd of Hermes, the Didache, the Apocalypse of Peter, and Barnabas. These were ultimately not included because of their more recent authorship and unlikely direct apostolic influence.

Other works that were considered but ended up being regarded as Gnostic or otherwise heretical (and written much later) include: the "Gospels" of Peter, Thomas, and Matthias, and the "Acts" of Andrew and John. Everyone had their favorite writings that they wanted included and their least favorites that they want excluded. Athanasius' canon (367 AD) was the first written evidence of clear Church acceptance of the New Testament exactly as it is accepted today in almost all churches. However, canonicity of the Old Testament continues to be disputed.

Summary and Spiritual Perspectives

As I have indicated, the development of the New Testament canon was a long continuous process. It was not only a task of collecting, but also of sifting and rejecting. The collection of New Testament books took place through pressure from various kinds of circumstances and influences, some external and others internal to the life of the early churches. Different factors operated at different times and in different places. Probably the strongest factor toward the motivation to define the NT canon was the same as that of the purpose of the historic creeds, that is, as a public defense of the faith due to the rise of heresies. Thus NT canon development was a reaction to early attempts by heretics to decide their own canon, such as the intensely anti-semitic Marcion.

According to professor F.F. Bruce, "the New Testament of 27 books does not represent the more or less arbitrary selection of some ecclesiastical synod or other which sat around a table with a pile of Christian documents on it, and said: 'Now let us decide which of these are to be set apart as having divine authority.' It was not until the 27 books had been generally accepted by Christians throughout the known world that they were first made the subject of decree by an ecclesiastical council -- the Synod of Carthage in 397. When at last a church council gave a ruling on the matter, all that it did was to ratify the general consensus of Christians, who (we may well believe) had been guided in this respect by a wisdom higher than their own."

Note that the Gospels themselves were not dependent upon mere human memory. Jesus told his disciples: "All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you." (John 14:25-26, cf. John 15:26). The New Testament has apostolic authority: first-hand witnesses who were chosen personally by God for their roles of remembering and writing His words. Since this is so, then this same Holy Spirit would also certainly direct the process of establishing the canon.

From the book God Has Spoken (Chapter 5, "God's Word Written," subheading The Church and the Canon, pp. 118-124), J.I. Packer has written: "The Church no more gave us the New Testament canon 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 NT canon, by inspiring the individual books that make it up. Newton did not create gravity, but recognized it, by considering (so it is said) the fall of an apple; similarly, the various churches of Christendom, through an un-coordinated, seemingly haphazard and erratic process covering several centuries, came to recognize the extent and limits of the God-given canon, by checking and cross-checking the pedigree and contents of the many books that bore apostolic names, or were alleged to proceed from the apostolic circle, to find out which of them could make good their claim to be genuine apostolic products, embodying the revealed truth of which the apostles were trustees. .... All that the churches were trying to do [in determining an inspired canon] was to see which of the books claiming to be in some sufficient sense apostolic really were so -- a question primarily of historical fact, though one on which character and content were also held to bear, both positively and negatively." (p. 119)

For believers, the crucial point is that we do not lose sight of the reality that God was actively involved and in charge of this process. The final decision of which writings would be included (and which rejected) and the timing of closing the canon was God's alone. Would not a sovereign God (whose word was inviolate and always true) value the accuracy and authorize with spiritual power the book that would forever represent Him, the book that would be regarded as the "Word of God" written? So of all things in God's universe, this process of determining the canon of Holy Scripture had to have very high priority. God made sure that the book attributed to Him came out exactly as He had planned. Despite the human failings and the human controversies over centuries, the canon, our Holy Bible, in most of its versions has the authority of God stamped all over it.

Resources

Bettenson, Henry, editor. Documents of the Christian Church, 2nd Ed., Oxford University Press, 1963.

Brown, Colin. Explanation of the term "canon" (from the Greek κανών) in The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Vol. 3, Zondervan, 1978..

Chadwick, Henry. The Early Church. The Pelican History of the Church, Vol 1, 1967.

Ferguson, Everett, Church History, Vol. 1: From Christ to Pre-Reformation. Zondervan, 2005.

Latourette, Kenneth Scott. A History of Christianity, Vol. 1, Beginnings to 1500. Revised Ed., Harper and Row, 1975.

Packer, J. I. God Has Spoken. InterVarsity Press, 1979 (especially chapter five, "God's Word Written", subheading, 'The Church and the Canon,' pp. 118-124) ).

Ridderbos, Herman. "The Canon of the New Testament" in C.F.H. Henry: Revelation and the Bible, Tyndale Press, London, 1959.

Dr. Atkinson is a graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary with a doctorate in clinical psychology and an M.A. in theology. He is a licensed psychologist in clinical practice in Atlanta and also works as a clinical supervisor training Christian counselors for Richmont Graduate University. He is a founding member of Trinity Anglican Church (ACNA) in Douglasville, Georgia