THE FORMATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT CANON

Introduction

            Today every believer enjoys a Bible that fills the soul with hope and joy because of Father God’s faithfulness in teaching His children all about Himself. Believers are given first hand insight into the history, persecution, and triumph of Jesus Christ in the greatest story ever told; all with a very clear purpose, to teach His little ones how to live and love now and forevermore. Unbelievers alike are granted access to the Bible’s unending drama, comedy, love, and genuine kindness as expressed through a myriad of unforgettable characters that are truly breathtaking – if of course one takes the time to delve into its many marvelous anecdotes.

The New Testament provides an account of Christ’s glorious redemptive work on the Cross, methods for living the Christian life, and teaches most of all about love. Not only is it the greatest story ever told, by far it is the greatest love story ever told. But let us for a moment imagine what life would be like without the luxury of having such uncomplicated access to God’s New Testament. God’s providence and His Holy Spirit, has made it so that people all around the world can receive His word unadulterated. It was however, a series of events throughout the annals of Church history and the use of godly people that has made what we have today in the way of the New Testament possible. It was not without its challenges, and it certainly was due to necessity that we have the canon.

Formation of the New Testament Canon

            So what is the New Testament canon? It is a compilation of twenty-seven books to include gospels, epistles, Acts, and a book of revelation. These were written by Jesus Christ’s apostles and half brothers, with one book written by an unknown author (maybe Paul); this collection of books was established to be canonical (in the fourth century by an Alexandrian Bishop named Athanasius) meaning they are the “rule or standard” of Scripture.[1] These books were chosen in order that they might convey to the Church the teachings of Jesus Christ, and how to live the Christian life in accordance to God’s will.

According to Donald W. Riddle, we should not think of the New Testament when approaching the completed work as having been a “steady, progressive selection of books until the final number contained in “the” New Testament was attained.” [2] Rather, the end result was compiled from a series of “New Testaments” taken from collections of writings[3] from authority figures such as Ignatius, who “wrote seven letters that are among the most valuable documents informing our knowledge of early Christianity.”[4] There were other works written considered New Testaments as well, for example, the Didache (c AD 70)[5], 1 Clement (c. 96) and the Epistle of Barnabas (c. 100).[6] The point here is that, apparently the New Testament had already been written; it would be a matter of defense that would cause the final compilation to take root.

This list of course is not exhaustive, there were more written works considered valuable and necessary for Church growth and instruction; authors and Scholars such as Irenaeus of Lyons a Pastor whose main purpose was “leading his flock in Christian life and faith”;[7] Clement of Alexandria, “main Christian instructor in Alexandria”; [8] Tertullian of Carthage, defender of “the faith against pagans, and defender of orthodoxy against various heresies”; [9] and Origen of Alexandria, “whose genius was exceptional” and “literary output was enormous.”[10] And yet none of the works by any these influential men were added to the final canon, which is interesting when we consider “some of these books were prized even more highly than those which eventually found an entrance into the authoritative collection.”[11] Why?

            Before we consider why the works of some of the most influential leaders of early Church history was not included in the New Testament canon, let us consider why there needed to be a canon in the first place. Was it not enough for the Old Testament canon to meet the needs of the early Church? It was in there that most, if not all, of the early writers got their knowledge base. The Septuagint (LXX)[12] was the most widely used reference of the early Church, and the New Testament or New Covenant was believed to be the fulfillment of the Old Testament “promises of salvation that were continued for the new Israel, the church, through the Holy Spirit, which had come through Christ, upon the whole people of God.”[13] The Church believed they were on the cusp of the “age to come” and set out to establish the New Testament as “qualitatively different” from the Old Testament because of it.[14]

            The need then to establish a work that corresponds to this new age in the form of Scripture comes not only from its advent but also because of other factors; factors such as the lack of reliability of oral traditions. In the post-apostolic age, many of the witnesses to Jesus and the Apostles work had passed away and much of the tradition was being marred in its translation.[15] The translation then of the oral tradition was, by its very nature, able to be manipulated so much so, that even the words of Jesus Christ could be taken and molded to conform to what the Church needed instead of being used for what Christ meant. At this point gospels were also being written but some of these writings which were claiming to be the teachings of Christ were deemed heretical by the Church. This is one of the reasons they felt the need to found the canon.[16] According to Homer A. Kent Jr.:

As the Christian era progressed it was inevitable that a variety of literature would soon appear. Much of this Christian writing was entirely orthodox. But some was issued to promote special interests of heretical groups. Many of these documents were well-intentioned but factually inaccurate.[17]

In order to guard against such things discussion of a canon takes place.

Heretical text was fast becoming one of the main reasons for a New Testament canon. Many writings deemed heretical by the Church were vying for the Christians attention and subsequently the Church was making moves to protect itself. Gnosticism was a religious faction that leaned toward “speculation” and basically got rid of “historical revelation.”[18] This faction attempted to use the Gospel of Truth[19] and the Gospel of Thomas as instruments of influence but the Church quickly judged these heretical. Montanism was another heresy as deemed by the Church that caused a move toward a canon. This was “an ecstatic enthusiastic movement claiming special revelation and stressing “the age of the spirit.”[20] And lastly, and probably the most defining of the heresies to cause a move toward canonicity was Marcion and his version of a canon that “repudiated the Old Testament and anything Jewish.”[21] Without a doubt, the Church considered this to be the most damaging heresy and necessitated a decisive action before things got so out of hand, they may never regain momentum. Marcion attempted to rewrite Christian history by excluding books such as Hebrews and I and II Timothy. He omitted anything Jewish from the Pauline letters. He wanted nothing more than to get rid of true Old Testament Scripture to change the face of orthodox Christianity. This, in essence, forced the Church to compile Testaments to refute Marcion’s canon.

Many New Testaments were considered before Athanasius decided on the final version of the canon. He got involved to squelch division between the East and West ends of Christianity. In the fourth century, Athanasius decided that the twenty-seven books of the New Testament to include Revelation and Hebrews would be the final canon.

Conclusion

            Without question the New Testament has undergone an amazing journey into being. Many issues and concerns raised the question of need for a canon. Many defensive postures were taken in defense of true orthodoxy, and ultimately, God’s providence won the day by establishing a inerrant Word that feeds many millions of Christians around the world. There is one issue that I would be remiss not to mention, and that is the glorious power of Holy Spirit at work in the formation of the New Testament Canon. He helped write the Word, He would help establish it.

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[1] Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "New Testament," http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/412114/New-Testament (accessed September 09, 2012).

[2] Riddle, Donald W. 1939. Factors in the Formation of the New Testament Canon. The Journal of Religion, Vol. 19, no. 4:330-345, http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/stable/1198364?seq=2 (accessed September 09, 2012).

[3] Riddle, 331.

[4] Justo L. Gonzalez. The Story of Christianity, Vol. 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation (New York: Harper Collins Publishing, 2010), 51.

[5] The Didache is a collection of writings given by Jesus through the twelve Apostles for the instruction of Gentile converts prior to Baptism. It is important literature in that in provides a first look into the life of the early Jewish Christian community and its leadership structure.  Draper, Jonathan. 2006. The Apostolic Fathers: The Didache. The Expository Times, Vol. 117, no. 5:177-181, http://ext.sagepub.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/content/117/5/177.full.pdf+html (accessed September 10, 2012). 

[6] Hahn, Paul. 1995. Development Of The Biblical Canon: Development of the New Testament Canon, http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/a/canon.html (accessed September 10, 2012).

[7] Justo L. Gonzalez. The Story of Christianity, Vol. 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation (New York: Harper Collins Publishing, 2010), 84.

[8] Gonzalez, 86.

[9] Gonzalez, 88.

[10] Gonzalez, 92.

[11] George Hooper, The Formation of the New Testament (Philadelphia: Griffith & Rowland press, 1907), http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=yale.39002051123975;page=root;view=image;size=100;seq=19;num=15 (accessed September 10, 2012).

[12] “a Greek version of the Jewish Scriptures redacted in the third and second centuries b.c. by Jewish scholars and adopted by Greek-speaking Christians.” Miriam-Webster Online Dictionary, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/septuagint (accessed September 10, 2012).

[13] Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "New Testament,",

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/412114/New-Testament (accessed September 09, 2012).

[14] Encyclopædia Britannica Online.

[15] Encyclopædia Britannica Online.

[16] Encyclopædia Britannica Online.

[17] Kent Jr., Homer A. 1967. How We got Our New Testament. Grace Theological Journal 8.2:22-26, http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/Ted_Hildebrandt/NTeSources/NTArticles/GTJ-NT/Kent-HowNT-GTJ-67.pdf (accessed September 10, 2012).

[18] Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "New Testament,",

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/412114/New-Testament (accessed September 09, 2012).

[19] The text of the Gospel of Thomas is understood to be a rolling corpus, or aggregate of sayings that represent different moments in the life and history of the early Thomasine community. Deconick, April D. 2007. The Gospel of Thomas. The Expository Times, Vol. 118 no. 10 469-479, http://ext.sagepub.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/content/118/10/469, (accessed September 10, 2012).

[20] Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "New Testament,",

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/412114/New-Testament (accessed September 09, 2012).

[21] Encyclopædia Britannica Online.

Bibliography

Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "New Testament,"

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/412114/New-Testament.

Donald W. Riddle, 1939. Factors in the Formation of the New Testament Canon. The Journal of Religion, Vol. 19, no. 4:330-345, http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/stable/1198364?seq=2.

Justo L. Gonzalez. The Story of Christianity, Vol. 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation (New York: Harper Collins Publishing, 2010).

Jonathan Draper. 2006. The Apostolic Fathers: The Didache. The Expository Times, Vol. 117, no. 5:177-181, http://ext.sagepub.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/content/117/5/177.full.pdf+html.

Paul Hahn. 1995. Development Of The Biblical Canon: Development of the New Testament Canon, http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/a/canon.html.

George Hooper. The Formation of the New Testament (Philadelphia: Griffith & Rowland press, 1907), http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=yale.39002051123975;page=root;view=image;size=100;seq=19;num=15.

Miriam-Webster Online Dictionary, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/septuagint.

Homer A Kent Jr. 1967. How We got Our New Testament. Grace Theological Journal 8.2:22-26, http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/Ted_Hildebrandt/NTeSources/NTArticles/GTJ-NT/Kent-HowNT-GTJ-67.pdf.

April D. Deconick. 2007. The Gospel of Thomas. The Expository Times, Vol. 118 no. 10 469-479, http://ext.sagepub.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/content/118/10/469.