THE FOUNDATION OF ORTHODOXY AND THE CANON

When one thinks of the origin Bible normally one of the first thoughts that come to mind is a

highly regarded ancient document that has been passed down for ages. It is by far the most popular

selling book ever, even to this day. Modern best sellers don‟t come close to the quantity of books

sold throughout history. Usually an individual doesn‟t consider how the Bible came about or if one

does it is assumed that a group of old wise apostle-like men assembled it and began the printing in

one day. Unfortunately the canon wasn‟t determined quite so smoothly.

Before the early church had a completed the assemblage of New Testament scriptures the

apostles were functioning with the traditional verbal method of passing on the “rule of faith” (Lat.

regula fidei) as well as writing single letters to churches. The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:3

writes, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins

according to the Scriptures”. Paul was verbally passing on what was “delivered” to him which was

the Gospel (vs. 1-4).

Many believers and skeptics both consider the question of why are there exactly sixty-six

books collected in the Bible. During the 1st and 2nd century church age many began to write about

experiences, and religious practices. Many of these letters began to circulate from person to person

throughout the churches in the Roman Empire. Most of them were very important for teaching and

instruction for the growing yet still fragile and persecuted believers.

During these times questions arose about which manuscripts should be accepted as divine

authority. Which letters are authentic and should be included in the canon and which should not?

The importance of this topic began to increase during the lives of the 3rd and 4th generation Christians
and on. Also, during this time it became even more essential for theologians and apologists to begin

outwardly voicing their doctrinal positions and to intellectually explain and defend their faith.

The church needed a rule or „Canon‟ (a Greek word literally meaning “measuring stick”) by

which to approve which letters and books to include and which to reject. Tertullian wrote

Prescription against the heretics which explained that the apostolic church received sources of faith

from the Apostles who received it from Jesus Christ who received it from God.1 Norman Geisler

explains, “Canonicity is determined by God. A book is not inspired because men made it canonical;

it is canonical because God inspired it. It is not the antiquity, authenticity, or religious community

that makes a book canonical or authoritative.”2

The word of God is inspired (2 Timothy 3:16) therefore, as God spoke through his prophets

and apostles they were speaking and writing the inspired word of God. That is the standard or “rule”.

The early church‟s role was to “determine” which writings were inspired and then include them

while disputing and excluding non-inspired writings. This however, was often debated and still is

even to today.

One of the early heretics was a man by the name of Marcion of Sinope who followed a

somewhat Gnostic thinking. He separated the God of the Old Testament from the Father of Jesus

Christ in the New Testament and also rejected most scriptural writings. Marcion‟s Canon consisted

of the Luke‟s gospel and ten of Paul‟s letters. Bacon writes, “Marcion accordingly organizes his

churches about 140 A. D. on a new Scripture intended to take the place of "Moses and the prophets."

It consists of a "gospel" and an "apostle," the former a mutilated Luke, the latter the ten epistles of

1 Hill, Jonathan. Zondervan Handbook to the History of Christianity. Michigan: Lion Publishing, 2006. pg 67

2 Geisler, N. L., & Nix, W. E. A general introduction to the Bible (Rev. and expanded.) Chicago: Moody Press. (1996).
220–221
Paul”3. The trouble that Marcion caused with his heresy launched a need to determine the concrete

canon of Scripture.

A generation later, many of the early church fathers recognized that Marcion was a heretic

and wrote to condemn him as such,

“The church was quick to condemn Marcion as a heretic. Justin Martyr (ca. 100–165), for
example, rejected Marcion‟s dualism and defended the unity of the Testaments. Both
Irenaeus (ca. 130–200) and Tertullian (ca. 160–220) considered Christ to be the link between
the Testaments. Finally, Origen (ca. 185–254) defended the Old Testament against Marcion.
Thus orthodoxy won the day, and the Old Testament was preserved as part of Christian
Scripture.”4

These same early church fathers mentioned or referred to many of the 27 books that we use

still today as scripture. For example, Polycarp (150 AD), a disciple of the Apostle John, refers to 18

of the books which include the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of John. Apologist Justin Martyr

(140 AD) refers to the Gospels which Polycarp doesn‟t and also the book of Revelation which, at that

time, was within the last 100 years.

Irenaeus the Bishop of Lyons (170 AD) refers to almost all of the 27 books except four;

Philemon, James, 2 Peter, and 3 John. He also wrote about the four gospel canon which helped

popularize the acceptance of all four gospels in opposition to Marcion‟s one gospel cannon. Norman

Geisler wrote that Irenaeus was “The first early Father who himself quoted almost every book of the

New Testament was Irenaeus.”5 Clement of Alexandria (200 AD) almost had the same list of books.

Although the 27 books of the N.T. were not declared official they all seemed to agree on

most of the same New Testament writings, the fundamental teachings of the Apostles and understood

3 Bacon, Benjamin W. “The Canon of the New Testament." The Biblical World Vol. 21 no. 2 (Feb. 1903): pp. 115-119.
4 Dockery, D. S., Butler, T. C., Church, C. L., Scott, L. L., Ellis Smith, M. A., White, J. E., & Holman Bible Publishers
(Nashville, T. (1992). Holman Bible Handbook (23–24). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
5
Geisler, N. L., & Nix, W. E. A general introduction to the Bible (Rev. and expanded.) Chicago: Moody Press. (1996).
292
that they were inspired by God. We can be assured that all of the writings that are included in the

canon of scripture were already written by the close of the 1st century A.D. as most biblical scholars

would agree.

The Muratorian Canon is probably the earliest list of canon dating at about 170 A.D. It is

named after historian Ludovico Muratori who published it in 1740. They include all the books of the

N.T. except five of them (Hebrews, James, 1 and 2 Peter, and 1 John). Although this too was not an

official declaration it is almost an answer to Marcion‟s heretical canon 30 years earlier. We can see

by about the end of the 2nd century the gospels and most of the epistles are accepted as the core of the

New Testament by most of the early church fathers.

Origen of Alexandria (185-254 A.D.), was a theologian who authored many book and wrote

several commentaries during the third century. He accepted many of the modern N.T. books with the

small exception of 2nd and 3rd John, 2nd Peter and Hebrews however; he included many writings not

included today such as the Epistle of Barnabas.

Eusebius of Caesarea (260-340 A.D.) was the first known church historian writing The

Church History (or Ecclesiastical History) which compiled about the first three hundred years of the

young church‟s beginnings. Galli explains, “For this ten-volume work, Eusebius is known as “the

father of church history.” But in his day, he was as much a maker of history as a recorder of it.”6 He

named 22 of the 27 N.T. books as authentic and excluding and disputed James, 2nd Peter, 2nd and 3rd

John and Jude.

During the life of Eusebius, Christianity was declared fully legal by Constantine in 313 A.D.

By the year 367, Athanasius of Alexandria (295–373) was the first to finally compile a list of all 27

6
Galli, M., & Olsen, T. 131 Christians everyone should know. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers. (2000)
pg. 335
books which we now recognize today as the New Testament. Concerning Athanasius‟s Festal Letter

Brakke states,

“Not only is this letter the earliest extant Christian document to list precisely the twenty-
seven books that eventually formed the generally accepted canon of the New Testament, but
Athanasius is also the first Christian author known to have applied the term "canonized"
specifically to the books that made up his Old and New Testaments. Athanasius's canon is
explicitly closed: "In these books alone," the bishop declares, "the teaching of piety is
proclaimed.‟Let no one add to or subtract from them' (LXX Deut 12:32).”7

Athanasius the bishop of Alexandria declared that the canon is closed. This means that no

additional books could be added to the 27 in the future. Still it is not official nevertheless, after

nearly four hundred years the early church was coming closer to determining which books of

scripture are inspired. It appeared that the core of Gospels and letters had been accepted repeatedly

but the battle was hardly over.

The church conducted several Councils or “Synods” to officially solve many doctrinal issues

as well as other disputes. Some of the most important, concerning canon of scripture, was held in

Hippo in 393 A.D. and Carthage in 397 A.D. These councils however, were not universal councils

but rather were regional councils under the regulation of Augustine. The Council at Carthage in 397

A.D. officially closed the canon not allowing or accepting any new writings into the scriptures

whether new or ancient.

A later council at Carthage in 414 A.D. again reaffirmed the same 27 books as authentic.

They agreed with the former individuals who accepted the 27 book of the New Testament as

authentic and declared them official and ratified them.

7
Brakke, D. Canon formation and social conflict in fourth-century Egypt: Athanasius of Alexandria's thirty-ninth Festal
Letter. Harvard Theological Review, 87, n4. (Oct 1994). pg.395
 Bibliography

Bacon, Benjamin W. “The Canon of the New Testament." The Biblical World Vol. 21 no. 2 (Feb.
1903): pp. 115-119.

Brakke, D. Canon formation and social conflict in fourth-century Egypt: Athanasius of Alexandria's
thirty-ninth Festal Letter. Harvard Theological Review, 87, n4. (Oct 1994). pg.395

Dockery, D. S., Butler, T. C., Church, C. L., Scott, L. L., Ellis Smith, M. A., White, J. E., & Holman
Bible Publishers Holman Bible Handbook. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers. (1992)
pg. 23–24

Galli, M., & Olsen, T. 131 Christians everyone should know. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman
Publishers. (2000) pg. 335
Geisler, N. L., & Nix, W. E. A general introduction to the Bible (Rev. and expanded.) Chicago:
Moody Press. (1996). 220–221

Geisler, N. L., & Nix, W. E. A general introduction to the Bible (Rev. and expanded.) Chicago:
Moody Press. (1996). 292

Hill, Jonathan. Zondervan Handbook to the History of Christianity. Michigan: Lion Publishing,
2006. pg 67