The writings of the apostles (and those closely associated with them) were combined with the writings of the Old Testament to form the “Canon” or list of books that are contained in the modern Bible. The “Canon” is a technical term which means “the list of books contained in scripture, the list of books recognized as worthy to be included in the sacred writings of a worshipping community.” Or, again, “the list of the writings acknowledged by the Church as documents of the divine revelation.” It is important to know something of the process by which books became part of our modern Bible.
The books in the New Testament were all written before the end of the first century (100 A.D.). Soon, however, these writings were not the only ones which were being circulated in the churches. In order to protect Christians from false teaching after the death of all the apostles, the early leaders had to delineate those writings which were authoritative from those which were not. By 170 A.D. (at the latest) the concept of the New Testament Canon was firmly established, and the main contents were set in place. The early Christians recognized as authoritative those books which met three key criteria: 1) they had apostolic authors (or were closely associated with apostles), 2) they taught the orthodox faith of the apostles, and 3) they had been widely accepted in the churches from the beginning.
As the early church clarified the final list of authoritative books, they affirmed that the church itself had been established by words and work of Jesus communicated by the apostles (Ephesians 2:20). The written works associated with the apostles were the objective norm by which the church was to measure and evaluate herself. Though the concepts and the main contents of the Canon were established hundreds of years earlier, it wasn’t until 367 A.D. that the final list of books which comprise our modern Bible was agreed upon.
In doing this, the early church itself recognized that it was subject to the objective record of the apostles’ teachings as its final authority. As Oscar Cullman said, “the early church did not fix a norm for others, but for itself, and committed the church for all future centuries to this norm.” In affirming which books were authoritative and inspired, the early Church recognized that without a superior written norm it could not keep itself or the apostolic teachings pure. Clark Pinnock summarized the meaning of the early church’s actions:
In opting for the canon, the church seemed to say that the criteria of truth lay outside herself in a text that stood over her and at times even against her. By accepting the norm of Scripture, the church declared that there was a standard outside herself to which she intended to be subject for all time . . . . . The church can fall into error and needs the Bible to measure herself by. In turn, the church serves the canon by continuing in the truth and faithfully proclaiming the Word of God.
Under God’s hand, the apostolic teachings and the Old Testament writings were fixed as the “Canon.” They are the foundational documents and the standard for the church of all time.
1 comments:
this is good Bob. Thanks
Post a Comment