1 Tim. 5:17-20; 2 Pt. 3:14-16, The Authority of Scripture (2)

Was their an identifiable rule or rules that guided men in a decision as to what books belongs in the Bible? 

Applied to Scripture, The Sacred Canon is the name given to those genuine, authentic, and inspired books which, taken together, form the Holy Scriptures.  Each book of this Sacred Canon must be canonical.  There were generally three steps in the complete canonization of the Scriptures:

     1)      Divine inspiration and authority. Let me quote from Rene Pache (The Inspiration and Authority of Scripture).

...the canon, in principle, existed from the time these books were written; and it was added to with successive appearances of new inspired works.  It happened that the church was a long time in expressing its unanimous acknowledgment of certain of the writings, but when it finally came to it, all it did was bow in recognition of that which already existed. (p161)

What he is saying was that, for example, the Gospel of Matthew was generally read and treated in the early Church as Scripture.  But it took a much longer time for the Church as a whole to agree as to which books comprised Scripture.  The early Church had already been treating it as of Divine origin.

     2)      Human recognition of this inspiration and authority. 

John MacArthur, in his statement about the unchallenged acceptance of all four of the Gospels, quotes Eusebius (ca. A.D. 265–339) who in turn quotes Origen (ca. A.D. 185–254):

Among the four Gospels, which are the only indisputable ones in the Church of God under heaven, I have learned by tradition that the first was written by Matthew, who was once a publican, but afterwards an apostle of Jesus Christ, and it was prepared for the converts from Judaism.

As various books were being treated as “Scripture” in the churches it became a concern for some that there be something more official, which leads to …

     3)      Collection.

The earliest known attempt at identifying those New Testament books that were inspired by God came around 140AD by Marcion.  His canon included part of Luke and several letters of Paul.  This was generally rejected but it was not until the time of Constantine that Eusebius and then others sought to identify what we know of the NT canon with twenty-seven books (late 300s). 

There came to be a fairly standard for Canonicity.

     1)      Divine authorship: Was it inspired?

     2)      Human authorship: Was it written, edited, or endorsed by a prophet, or spokesman for God (apostle)?

     3)      Genuineness: Can it be traced back to the writer and the time from which it professes to have come?

     4)      Authenticity: Is it a record of actual facts?

     5)      Testimony: (applied primarily to the NT) Does it have the testimony of early Christians that it was so received?

In today’s reading you might have noticed (it was very easy to see if your Bible has the words of Jesus in red) that Paul quoted from Luke 10:7. Peter, on the other hand, spoke of Paul’s epistles.  This shows the beginnings of a “New Testament” before all the books and letters had been completed.