Importance Of The New Testament Canon

There is not one universal Bible, just as there is not one universal Christian church. There is actually a separate canon for each major division of the church such as, Catholic, Protestant and Eastern Orthodox, however each has the same New Testament of 27 books. The New Testament canon is the compilation of four books called gospels, one book that is the foundation of the early church, twenty-one letters, and one book of prophecy. This paper focuses on some of the contributing factors to creating this compilation. These twenty seven books were not the only testimonies written in the first century about the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, however their importance anchored their inclusion into the New Testament canon.

The word canon comes from

70. The inclusion of thousands of Gentiles also created an irreparable divide with those following Jewish laws. As Hebrews, the first century believers had the example of the Hebrew Bible. In the following centuries, Christians had the letters and books of the apostles to use as their guide through the new faith and the Hebrew Bible as a canon to model the New Testament after. Rules had to be established to determine which books and letters would be included during the events listed

The Gospel of Mark was included however, the Gospel of Thomas (discussed earlier) was not. Mark wrote his book as told to him from the apostle Peter, meeting the requirement of apostolic authorship. As the Baker Handbook points out, the Gospel of Thomas, was not even in the early list of the Marcion Canon so it may not have yet been written during that time or because it was determined it was written “recently.” As such, the Gospel of Thomas did not meet the apostolic authorship or divine inspiration requirement of the