The Canon of Christ

An Overview of The Canon of Christ

What the Bible is not.

• The Bible was not written by the hand of Jesus.• The Bible was not a book that literally fell out

of heaven.• There is no ‘first edition’ of the Bible.

Defining Canon

• The word Canon simply means a rod, rule or measuring stick

How did we decide which were worthy of canonization?

• Apostolic authority or associate of apostle– The canon has an intrinsic authority, which is

in contrast to the gnostic or other gospels which asserted authority.

• Orthodoxy or true doctrine, which is measured by the teachings of Christ

• Catholicity- accepted by the church

How did the ancient church deal with forgeries?

• Once authorship was in question, the text was discarded

• Some scriptures might be orthodox, but failed on apostolic authority. Ex. The epistle of Barnabas, 3 Corinthians, Pauls letter to the Laodiceans.

When was the ‘first’ canon?

• Some credit the heretic Marcion for deriving the notion of a canon.

• Muratorian Canon or Muratorian Canon was written in approximately 170 A.D.

• Discovered by Ludovico Muratori in 1740

When was the ‘first’ canon?

• Included almost all NT text except Hebrews, James, and 3 John

• Mentions Paul’s epistles to the Laodiceans, the Alexandrians, and the Shepard by Hermas, however, acknowledges they are not to “be published for the people in the Church”– http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/mur

atorian-latin.html

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/muratorian-latin.html

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/muratorian-latin.html

When did we get the 27 books?

• “The New Testaments books are not the sort that people could actually determine that would be in the NT but rather the sort of books that no one could keep from getting into the NT.” -Dan Wallace

When did we get the 27 books?

• By the fourth century all 27 books were accepted to be canon

• The Council of Hippo 393 A.D.- John’s Revelation ‘officially’ accepted

• The Council of Carthage 397 A.D.(reaffirmed)

The Church Fathers and the Canon

• Clement of Alexandria (2nd century) Bruce Metzger “One finds in Clement's work citations of all the books of the New Testament with the exception of Philemon, James, 2 Peter, and 2 and 3 John. (p. 131)”

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• Origen (3rd century) -succeeded Clement- cites all new testament books in his writings

Image: http://www.heavenlyascents.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/origen.jpg


• Jerome- Commissioned by Pope Damasus in 382 to write a Latin version of the bible which would be used by the church for a 1000 years– Separated canonical works from

the apocryphal

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• Eusebius (3rd-4th century)- “divides early Christian documents into three categories: 1) universally acknowledged; 2) Disputed; and 3) Spurious.”– http://www.biblicaltheology.com/

Research/MartinezR01.html

Image: http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/uploadedImages/Home/Articles/Biography/Articles/Eusebius_of_Caesarea.jpg?n=1323


• Athanasius (4th century)- Attended the Council of Nicea- – wrote the 39th Festal Letter of Athanasius (367 CE)

which affirms the 27 book NT Canon – Disregarded the Apocrypha “the former are in the canon

and the latter serve as reading matter, yet mention is nowhere made of the apocrypha; rather they are a fabrication of the heretics, who write them down when it pleases them and generously assign to them an early date of composition in order that they may be able to draw upon them as supposedly ancient writings and have in them occasion to deceive the guileless.”

The Reformation and the Canon

• 1517 the Reformation “officially began”

• Reformers typically considered the Apocrypha as useful and edifying, but ultimately dismissed due to the lack of citation from the 27 NT books


• Martin Luther- possessed a low view of Hebrews (not written by Paul or any other disciples), Revelation (neither apostolic nor prophetic), James (unapostolic), and Jude (unapostolic).– Broke up the NT into generally

received (first 23 books) and controverted (last 4 books)

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• “It was not until 1546, at the Council of Trent, that the Roman Catholic Church officially declared the Apocrypha to be part of the canon (with the exception of 1 and 2 Esdras and the Prayer of Manasseh)”– Important to note, because of certain

doctrines the Catholics derive from these books

The King James Bible and the Canon

• Used only half a dozen later Greek manuscripts

• Since the first version of the King James bible there has been three revisions with more than 100,000 changes

• Originally included the Apocrypha, which was removed in 1885

Spiritual Gifts and the Canon

• Today the “speaking gifts” are emphasized when describing the use of spiritual gifts in the church

• However, one should use great discernment when being addressed by such people claiming to possess gifts.

• If whatever is being presented to you is from God, then it WILL (100%) align with the Bible– Paul tells the Corinthians, “If any one thinks that he is a

prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that what I am writing to you is a command of the Lord” (1 Cor. 14:37).

Spiritual Gifts and the Canon

• The apostle’s words are equated with that of the OT scriptures.

• Peter says, “So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures” (2 Peter 3:15–16).

Conclusions

• With so many additions, subtractions, alterations, and questions to the biblical texts, one’s faith ought not to be shaken. Fundamental and essential Christian doctrine are not effected by such variations.

• The miracle of the bible is not that we have one unchanged, unaltered Holy Book, like the Muslims claim about the Quran, but that God has spoken the same unified message through many men