Canon of Scripture

Introduction

According to second Timothy all Scripture is the “inspired” Word of God. The text reads, “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16 NRSV). The early church understood that Scripture was inspired by God, passed on from God to the Apostles and from the Apostles to the church. Because the doctrine came from God, the church trusted and believed that the doctrine was authoritative and therefore unchangeable. However, as Christianity grew other doctrines appeared that contradicted the teachings of the apostles. These doctrines attacked the core beliefs of the Christian faith. Because of these attacks, the church responded by establishing a list of inspired books which the Church regarded as organizing Holy Scripture. The list of books is called the canon of Scripture. Canon means rule or straight rod, it is a list of inspired writings that are considered the authoritative scripture of Christianity. The list also distinguishes the writings of the apostles from the writings of heretics.

Christian Doctrine Challenged

Christian doctrine is based on a belief in one God and Jesus the Son of God. Christians also believe that God created the universe and that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary. Additionally, Christians believe that Jesus became human to save humankind. According to John 1, verses 1 through 3 Jesus and God are one and everything that was created was created by Him. Scripture confirms that Jesus became flesh and lived among His people. The text reads, “The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son” (John 1:14 NRSV). Most importantly, Christi...

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...tament included the Muratorian canon which is the oldest list of New Testament writings. It was discovered by L. A. Muratori in an eighth century Ambrosiana library. The Muratorian list included the four Gospels, Acts, Paul’s letters, John 1, Two and Three, Jude and Apocalypse. Thomas C. Oden noted that:

The New Testament went through a complex process to verify apostolic authorship. It was read in public worship, studied avidly, interpreted through preaching, and analyzed. After a long process of transcribing, reviewing, and certifying them as apostolic the New Testament documents were regarded as credible apostolic witness.”

Accordingly, by the end of the second century the New Testament was regarded as Scripture equal to the Old Testament.

Relationship between the “rule of faith” and the Scriptural canon

The rule of faith and the Scriptural canon