Canon of the New Testament
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CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
1. Title.The Greek word canon, meaning originally a rod and so a rule for measuring, is used in a variety of senses by the Patristic writers, among the most familiar instances being the expressions rule of truth and rule of faith for the doctrinal teaching officially recognized by the bishops. Hence, since we meet with the phrase canonical books in Origen, as rendered by Rufinus translation, before we see the substantive canon applied to the list of NT books, it has been argued that the adjective was first used in the sense of regulative, so that the phrase means the books that regulate faith or morals. But the substantive must mean the list of books, and in Athanasius we have a passive participle in the phrase canonized books, i.e. books belonging to the Canon; soon after which the actual word canon is applied to the books of the NT by Amphilochius, the bishop of Iconium (end of 4th cent. a.d.). The NT Canon, then, is the list of NT books, and this simple meaning, rather than the regulative books, is the more likely Interpretation of the expression to have occurred to people who were in the habit of using the term for lists of officials, lists of festivals, etc. The question of the Canon differs from questions of the authenticity, genuineness, historicity, inspiration, value, and authority of the several NT books in concerning itself simply with their acceptance in the Church. Primarily the question was as to what books were read in the churches at public worship. Those so used became in course of time the Christian Scriptures. Then, having the value of Scripture gradually associated with them, they came to be treated as authoritative. The first stage is that of use in the form of Church lessons; the second that of a standard of authority to be employed as the basis of instruction, and to be appealed to in disputed cases of doctrine or discipline.
2. The Formation of the Canon in the 2nd Century.The very earliest reading of NT books in the churches must have occurred in the case of epistles addressed to particular churches, which of course were read in those churches; next come the circular letters (e.g. Eph_1:1-23 Petereter), which were passed round a group of churches. Still this involved no repeated liturgical use of these writings as in a church lectionary. During the obscure period of the sub-Apostolic age we have no indication of the use of epistles in church worship. Clement of Rome assumed that the church at Corinth was acquainted with 1 Corinthians, although he was writing nearly 40 years after St. Paul had sent that Epistle to the church, and a new generation had arisen in the interval; but there is no proof or probability that it was regularly read at the services. The earliest references to any such reading point to the Synoptic Gospels as alone having this place of honour, together with the OT prophets. This was the case in the worship described by Justin Martyr (1 Apol. lxvii.). A little later Justins disciple Tatian prepared his Harmony (Diatessaron) for use in the church at Edessa. This was constructed out of all four Gospels; i.e. it included John, a Gospel probably known to Justin, though not included in his Memoirs of the Apostles. As yet no epistles are seen in the place of honour of church reading side by side with OT Scriptures. But long before this a collection had been made by Marcion (c [Note: circa, about.] . a.d. 140) in his effort to reform the Church by recalling attention to the Pauline teaching which had fallen into neglect. Marcions Canon consisted of a mutilated Gospel of St. Luk_10:1-42 Epistles of St. Paul (the 3 Pastoral Epistles being omitted). Although other early Church writers evidently allude to several of the Epistles (e.g. Clemens Rom., Ignatius, Polycarp, Barnabas), that is only by way of individual citation, without any hint that they are used in a collection or treated as authoritative Scripture. Marcion is the earliest who is known to have honoured any of the Epistles in this way. But when we come to Irenæus (180) we seem to be in another world. Irenæus cites as authoritative most of the books of the Christian Scriptures, though he does not appear to have known Hebrews. We now have a NT side by side with the OT; or at all events we have Christian books appealed to as authoritative Scripture, just as in the previous generation the LXX [Note: Septuagint.] was appealed to as authoritative Scripture. Here is evidence of a double advance: (1) in the addition of the Epistles to the Gospels as a collection, (2) in the enhancement of the value of all these books for the settlement of questions of doctrine.
This is one of the most important developments in the thought and practice of the Church. And yet history is absolutely silent as to how, when, where, and by whom it was brought about. Nothing is more amazing in the history of the Christian Church than the absence of all extant contemporary references to so great a movement. The 30 years from Justin Martyr, who knew only a collection of 3 Gospels as specially authoritative, and that simply as records of the life and teaching of Christ, to Irenæus, with his frequent appeals to the Epistles as well as the Gospels, saw the birth of a NT Canon, but left no record of so great an event. Irenæus, though bishop of Lyons and Vienne in Gaul, was in close communication with Asia Minor where he had been brought up, and Prof. Harnack conjectures that bishops of Asia Minor in agreement with the Church at Rome deliberately drew up and settled the Canon, although we have no historical record of so significant an event. It may be, however, that Irenæus was himself a pioneer in a movement the necessity of which was recognized as by common consent. Some authoritative standard of appeal was wanted to save the essence of Christian teaching from being engulfed in the speculations of Gnosticism. The Gospels were not sufficient for this purpose, because they were accepted by the Gnostics, who, however, interpreted them allegorically. What was needed was a standard of doctrinal truth, and that was found in the Epistles.
Near this time we have the earliest known Canon after that of Marcion, the most ancient extant list of NT books in the Catholic Church. This is named the Muratorian Fragment, after its discoverer Muratori, who found it in a 7th or 8th cent. monks commonplace book in the Ambrosian Library at Milan, and published it in 1740. The fragment is a mutilated extract of a list of NT books made at Rome probably before the end of the 2nd cent., since the author refers to the episcopate of Pius as recent (nuperrime temporibus nostris), and Pius I., who died in a.d. 157, is the only bishop of Rome of that name in the early age to which unquestionably, as internal evidence indicates, the original composition must be assigned. The fragment begins in the middle of a sentence which appears to allude to St. Peters connexion with our Second Gospel, and goes on to mention Luke as the Third Gospel and John as the Fourth. Therefore it evidently acknowledged the 4 Gospels. Then it has Acts, which it ascribes to Luke, and it acknowledges 13 Epistles of Pauladmitting the Pastorals, but excluding Hebrews, though it subsequently refers to an Epistle to the Laodiceans, and another to the Alexandrians forged under the name of Paul, as well as many others which are not received in the Catholic Church because gall ought not to be mixed with honey. Further, this Canon includes Jud_1:2 Epistles of John, and the Apocalypse, which it ascribes to John. It also has the Book of Wisdom, which it says was written by the friends of Solomon in his honour, and the Apocalypse of Peter, although acknowledging that there is a minority which rejects the latter work, for we read we receive moreover the Apocalypses of John and Peter only, which [latter] some of our body will not have read in the church. This indicates that the authors church as a whole acknowledges the Apocalypse of Peter, and that he associates himself with the majority of his brethren in so doing, while he candidly admits that there are some dissentients. Lastly, the Canon admits Hermas for private reading, but not for use in the church services. We have here, then, most of our NT books; but, on the one hand, Heb_1:1-14; Heb_2:1-18 Petereter, James, and one of the 3 Epistles of John are not mentioned. They are not named to be excluded, like the forged works referred to above; possibly the author did not know of their existence. At all events he did not find them used in his church. On the other hand, Wisdom, without question, and the Apocalypse of Peter, though rejected by some, are included in this canon, and Hermas is added for private reading.
Passing on to the commencement of the 3rd cent., we come upon another anonymous writing, an anti-gambling tract entitled Concerning dice-players (de Aleatoribus), which Prof. Harnack attributes to Victor of Rome (a.d. 200230). In this tract the Shepherd of Hermas and the Didache are both quoted as Scripture. The author refers to three divisions of Scripture: (1) Prophetic writingsthe OT Prophets, the Apocalypse, Hermas; (2) the Gospels; (3) the Apostolic WritingsPaul, 1 John, Hebrews.
Neither of these Canons can be regarded as authoritative either ecclesiastically or scientifically, since we are ignorant of their sources. But they both indicate a crystallizing process, in the Church at Rome about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd centuries, that was tending towards our NT, though with some curious variations. The writings of the Fathers of this period agree in the main with Irenæus in their citations from most of the NT books as authoritativea condition very different from that of Justin Martyr half a century earlier. Two influences may be recognized as bringing this result about: (1) use in churches at public worship, (2) authoritative appeals against heresyespecially Gnosticism. It was necessary to settle what books should be read in church and what books should be appealed to in discussion. The former was the primary question. The books used at their services by the churches, and therefore admitted by them as having a right to be so employed, were the books to be appealed to in controversy. The testing fact was church usage. Canonical books were the books read at public worship. How it came about that certain books were so used and others not is by no means clear. Prof. Harnacks theory would solve the problem if we could be sure it was valid. Apart from this, (1) traditional usage and (2) assurance of Apostolic authorship appear to have been two grounds relied upon.
Turning to the East, we find Clement of Alexandria (a.d. 165220) acknowledging the 4 Gospels and Act_14:1-28 Epistles of Paul (Hebrews being included), and quoting 1 and 2Jn_1:1 Petereter, Jude, and the Apocalypse. He makes no reference to Jam_2:1-26 Petereter, or 3 John, any of which he may perhaps have known, as we have no list of NT books from his hand, for he does not name these books to reject them. Still, the probability as regards some, if not all, of them is that he did not know them. In the true Alexandrian spirit, Clement has a wide and comprehensive idea of inspiration, and therefore no very definite conception of Scriptural exclusiveness or fixed boundaries to the Canon. Thus he quotes Barnabas, Clement of Rome, Hermas, the Preaching of Peter, the Apocalypse of Peter, and the Sibylline Writings as in some way authoritative. He was a literary eclectic who delighted to welcome Christian truth in unexpected places. Still he had a NT in two volumes which he knew respectively as The Gospel and The Apostle (see Euseb. HE vi. 14). Origen (a.d. 184253), who was a more critical scholar, treated questions of canonicity more scientifically. He acknowledged our books of the OT and some parts of the Apocrypha, such as 1 Mac.; and in the NT the 4 Gospels, Act_13:1-52 Epistles of Paul, Hebrews (though the latter as of doubtful authorship; nevertheless in his homily on Joshua he seems to include it among St. Pauls works, since he makes them 14, when he writes that God, thundering on the 14 trumpets of his [i.e. Pauls] Epistles, threw down even the walls of Jericho, that is all the instruments of idolatry and the doctrines of the philosophers), 1Peter , 1 John, Revelation. He does not directly mention the Epistles of James or Jude, although he seems to refer to them once in a rhetorical way, classing Peter, James, and Jude with the 4 Evangelists as represented by Isaacs servantsif we are to trust Rufinus version. He mentions 2Pe_2:1-22 and 3 John as of disputed genuineness, and refers to the Gospel of the Hebrews in an apologetic tone, the Gospels of Peter and James, and the Acts of Paul, and quotes Hermas and Barnabas as Scripture, while he admits that, though widely circulated, Hermas was not accepted by all. It is a significant fact, however, that he wrote no commentaries on any of those books that are not included in our NT.
3. The Settlement of the Canon in the Fourth and Fifth Centuries.An important step towards the settlement of the Canon on historical and scientific lines was taken by Eusebius, who, with his wide reading and the great library of Pamphilus to resort to, also brought a fair and judicious mind to face the problems involved. Eusebius saw clearly that it is not always possible to give a definite affirmative or negative answer to the question whether a certain book should be in the Canon. Therefore he drew up three lists of books(1) The books that are admitted by all, (2) the books which he is disposed to admit although there are some who reject them, (3) the books that he regards as spurious. A fourth class, which really does not come into the competition for a place in the Canon, consists of heretical works which are to be rejected as altogether absurd and impious (HE iii. 25). The first class, consisting of the books universally acknowledged, contains the 4 Gospels; Acts; the Epistles of Paulwhich in one place (iii. 3) are reckoned to be 14, and therefore to include Hebrews, although in another place (vi. 14) Hebrews is placed in the second class, among the disputed books; 1Peter ; 1 John; and Revelation (doubtfully). The second class, consisting of books widely accepted, though disputed by some (but apparently all admitted by Eusebius himself), contains James; Jud_1:2 Petereterregarded in another place (iii. 3) as spurious; 2 and 3 John. The third class, consisting of spurious works, contains the Acts of Paul; the Shepherd of Hermas; the Apocalypse of Peter; the Didache; and perhaps, according to some, the Revelation. Under the orders of Constantine, Eusebius had 50 copies of the Scriptures sumptuously produced on vellum for use in the churches of Constantinople. Of course these would correspond to his own Canon and so help to fix it and spread its influence. After this the fluctuations that we meet with are very slight. Athanasius in one of his Festal Letters (a.d. 365) undertakes to set forth in order the books that are canonical and handed down and believed to be Divine. His NT exactly agrees with our Canon, as does the NT of Epiphanius (c [Note: circa, about.] . a.d. 403). Cyril of Jerusalem (who died a.d. 386) gives a list of Divine Scriptures which contains all the NT except the Revelation; and Amphilochius of Iconium (a.d. 395) has a versified catalogue of the Biblical books, in which also all our NT books appear except the Revelation, which he regards as spurious; Amphilochius refers to doubts concerning Hebrews and to a question as to whether the number of Catholic Epistles is 7 or 3. Even Chrysostom (who died a.d. 405) never alludes to the Revelation or the last 4 Catholic Epistles. But then he gives no list of the Canon. One of the Apostolical Canons (No. 85), which stand as an appendix to the 8th book of the Apostolical Constitutions (85), and cannot be dated earlier than the 4th cent. in their present form, gives a list of the books of Scripture. Sirach is here placed between the OT and the NT with a special recommendation to take care that your young persons learn the wisdom of the very learned Sirach. Then follow the NT booksthe 4 Gospels, 14 Epistles of Paul (Hebrews therefore included in this category), 2 Epistles of Peter, 3 of John, James, Jud_1:2 Epistles of Clement, the 8 books of the Constitutions, Acts. Thus, while Clement and even the Apostolical Constitutions are included, the Revelation is left out, after a common custom in the East. Manifestly this is an erratic Canon.
Returning to the West, at this later period we have an elaborate discussion on the Canon by Augustine (a.d. 430), who lays down rules by which the canonicity of the several books claimed for the NT may be determined. (1) There are the books received and acknowledged by all the churches, which should therefore be treated as canonical. (2) There are some books not yet universally accepted. With regard to these, two tests are to be applied: (a) such as are received by the majority of the churches are to be acknowledged, and (b) such as are received by the Apostolic churches are to be preferred to those received only by a smaller number of churches and these of less authority, i.e. not having been founded by Apostles. In case (a) and (b) conflict, Augustine considers that the authority on the two sides is to be looked upon as equal (Christian Doctrine, II. viii. 12). Thus the tests are simply Church reception, though with discrimination as to the respective authority of the several churches. The application of these tests gives Augustine just our NT.
Jerome (a.d. 420) also accepts our NT, saying concerning Hebrews and the Revelation that he adopts both on the authority of ancient writers, not on that of present custom. He is aware that James has been questioned; but he states that little by little in course of time it has obtained authority. Jude was even rejected by most people because it contained quotations from Apocryphal writings. Nevertheless he himself accepts it. He notes that 2 and 3 John have been attributed to a presbyter whose tomb at Ephesus is still pointed out. The immense personal influence of Augustine and the acceptance of Jeromes Vulgate as the standard Bible of the Christian Church gave fixity to the Canon, which was not disturbed for a thousand years. No General Council had pronounced on the subject. The first Council claiming to be (Ecumenical which committed itself to a decision on the subject was as late as the 16th cent. (the Council of Trent). We may be thankful that the delicate and yet vital question of determining the Canon was not flung into the arena of ecclesiastical debate to be settled by the triumph of partisan churchmanship, but was allowed to mature slowly and come to its final settlement under the twofold influences of honest scholarship and Christian experience. There were indeed local councils that dealt with the question; but their decisions were binding only on the provinces they represented, although, in so far as they were not disputed, they would be regarded as more or less normative by those other churches to which they were sent. As representing the East we have a Canon attributed to the Council of Laodicea (c [Note: circa, about.] . a.d. 360). There is a dispute as to whether this is genuine. It is given in the MSS variously as a 60th canon and as part of the 59th appended in red ink. Half the Latin versions are without it; so are the Syriac versions, which are much older than our oldest MSS of the canons. It closely resembles the Canon of Cyril of Jerusalem, from which Westcott supposed that it was inserted into the canons of Laodicea by a Latin hand. Its genuineness was defended by Hefele and Davidson. Jülicher regards it as probably genuine. This Canon contains the OT with Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremy, and all our NT except the Revelation. Then in the West we have the 3rd Council of Carthage (a.d. 397), which orders that besides the Canonical Scriptures nothing be read in the Church under the title of Divine Scriptures, and appends a list of the books thus authorized in which we have the OT, the Apocrypha, and just our NT books. Here we have a whole province speaking for those books; when we add the great authority of Augustine, who belongs to this very province, and the influence of the Vulgate, we can well understand how the Canon should now be considered fixed and inviolable. Thus the matter rested for ten centuries.
4. Treatment of the Canon at the Renaissance and the Reformation.The question of the Canon was revived by the Renaissance and the Reformation, the one movement directing critical, scholarly attention to what was essentially a literary question, the other facing it in the interest of religious controversy. Erasmus writes: The arguments of criticism, estimated by the rules of logic, lead me to disbelieve that the Epistle to the Hebrews is by Paul or Luke, or that the Second of Peter is the work of that Apostle, or that the Apocalypse was written by the Evangelist John. All the same, I have nothing to say against the contents of these books, which seem to me to be in perfect conformity with the truth. If, however, the Church were to declare the titles they bear to be canonical, then I would condemn my doubt, for the opinion formulated by the Church has more value in my eyes than human reasons, whatever they may bea most characteristic statement, revealing the scholar, the critic, the timid souland the satirist (?). Within the Church of Rome even Cardinal CajetanLuthers opponent at Augsburgfreely discusses the Canon, doubting whether Hebrews is St. Pauls work, and whether, if it is not, it can be canonical. He also mentions doubts concerning the five General Epistles, and gives less authority to 2 and 3 John and Jude than to those books which he regards as certainly in the Holy Scriptures. The Reformation forced the question of the authority of the Bible to the front, because it set that authority in the place of the old authority of the Church. While this chiefly concerned the book as a whole, it could not preclude inquiries as to its contents and the rights of the several parts to hold their places there. The general answer as to the authority of Scripture is an appeal to the testimony of the Holy Spirit. Calvin especially works out this conception very distinctly. The difficulty was to apply it to particular books of the Bible so as to determine in each case whether they should be allowed in the Canon. Clearly a further test was requisite here. This was found in the analogy of faith (Analogia fidei), which was more especially Luthers principle, while the testimony of the Holy Spirit was Calvins. With Luther the Reformation was based on justification by faith. This truth Luther held to be confirmed (a) by its necessity, nothing else availing, and (b) by its effects, since in practice it brought peace, assurance, and the new life. Then those Scriptures which manifestly supported the fundamental principle were held to be ipso facto inspired, and the measure of their support of it determined the degree of their authority. Thus the doctrine of justification by faith is not accepted because it is found in the Bible; but the Bible is accepted because it contains this doctrine. Moreover, the Bible is sorted and arranged in grades according as it does so more or less clearly, and to Luther there is a NT within the NT, a kernel of all Scripture, consisting of those books which he sees most clearly set forth the gospel. Thus he wrote: Johns Gospel, the Epistles of Paul, especially Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, and 1Peterthese are the books which show thee Christ, and teach all that it is needful and blessed for thee to know even if you never see or hear any other book, or any other doctrine. Therefore is the Epistle of James a mere epistle of straw (eine rechte stroherne Epistel) since it has no character of the gospel is it (Preface to NT, 1522; the passage was omitted from later editions). Luther places Hebrews, James, Jude, and the Apocalypse at the end of his translation, after the other NT books, which he designates the true and certain capital books of the NT, for these have been regarded in former times in a different light. He regards Jude as indisputably an extract or copy from 2Peter. Nevertheless, while thus discriminating between the values of the several books of the NT, he includes them all in his translation. Luthers friend Carlstadt has a curious arrangement of Scripture in three classes, viz. (1) The Pentateuch and the 4 Gospels, as being the clearest luminaries of the whole Divine truth; (2) The Prophets of Hebrew reckoning and the acknowledged Epistles of the NT, viz. 13 of Paul, 1Peter , 1 John; (3) the Hagiographa of the Hebrew Canon, and the 7 disputed books of the NT. Dr. Westcott suggested that the omission of Acts was due to its being included with Luke. Calvin is more conservative with regard to Scripture than the Lutherans. Still in his Commentaries he passes over 2 and 3 John and the Revelation without notice, and he refers to 1 John as the Epistle of John, and expresses doubts as to 2Peter; but he adds, with regard to the latter, Since the majesty of the Spirit of Christ exhibits itself in every part of the Epistle, I feel a scruple in rejecting it wholly, however much I fail to recognize in it the genuine language of Peter (Com. on 2Peter, Argument). Further, Calvin acknowledges the existence of doubts with respect both to James and to Jude; but he accepts them both. He allows full liberty of opinion concerning the authorship of Hebrews; but he states that he has no hesitation in classing it among Apostolical writings. In spite of these varieties of opinion, the NT Canon remained unaltered. At the Council of Trent (1546) for the first time the Roman Catholic Church made an authoritative statement on the Canon, uttering an anathema (anathema sit) on anybody who did not accept in their integrity all the books contained in the Vulgate. Thus the Apocrypha is treated as equally canonical with the OT books; but the NT Canon is the same in Roman Catholic and Protestant Canons. Translations of the Bible into the vernacular of various languages laid the question of the Canon to rest again, by familiarizing readers with the same series of books in all versions and editions.
5. The Canon in Modern Criticism.In the 18th cent. the very idea of a Canon was attacked by the Deists and Rationalists (Toland, Diderot, etc.); but the critical study of the subject began with Semler (17715), who pointed out the early variations in the Canon and attacked the very idea of a Canon as an authoritative standard, while he criticised the usefulness and theological value of the several books of the NT. Subsequent controversy has dealt less with the Canon as such than with the authenticity and genuineness of the books that it contains. In the views of extreme negative criticism canonicity as such has no meaning except as a historical record of Church opinion. On the other hand, those who accept a doctrine of inspiration in relation to the NT do not connect this very closely with critical questions in such a way as to affect the Canon. Thus doubts as to the authorship of the Pastoral Epistles, 2Peter, James, etc., have not given rise to any serious proposal to remove these books from the NT. The Canon rests mainly on tradition and usage. But the justification for it when this is sought is usually found (1) in the Apostolic authorship of most of the NT books; (2) in the Apostolic atmosphere and association of the remaining books; (3) in the general acceptance and continuous use of them in the churches for centuries as a test of their value; (4) in their inherent worth to-day as realized in Christian experience. It cannot be said that these four tests would give an indefeasible right to every book to claim a place in the Canon if it were not already theree.g. the small Epistle of Jude; but they throw the burden of proof on those who would disturb the Canon by a serious proposal to eject any of its contents; and in fact no such proposalas distinct from critical questions of the dates, authorship, historicity, etc., of the several booksis now engaging the attention of scholars or churches.
W. F. Adeney.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
"The prophets" in the Christian church, speaking themselves under inspiration, and those having the Spirit's gift," the discerning of spirits," acted as checks on the transmission of error orally before the completion of the written word. Secondly it was under their inspired superintendence that. the New Testament Scriptures were put forth as they were successively written. 1Co_14:37; "if any man ... be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write ... are the commandments of the Lord." Thus by the twofold sanction of inspiration, that of the authors and that of the judges, the canonicity of each book is established. By God's gracious providence most of the books of the New Testament were in the church's possession years before the death of leading apostles, all of them before the death of John. If spurious books had crept into the cycle of professedly inspired books, they would have been at once removed by apostolic authority.
The history of the New Testament canon in its collected form is not so clear as the evidence for the inspiration of its separate books. Probably each leading church made for itself a collection of those books which were proved on good testimony to have been written by inspired men, and sanctioned as such originally by men having the "discerning of spirits," as well as by uninspired men in the several churches. See 1Co_12:10; 1Jn_4:1. Thus, many collections would be made. Their mutual accordance in the main, as that of independent witnesses, is the strongest proof of the correctness of our canon, especially when we consider the jealous care with which the early churches discriminated between spurious and authentic compositions. This view is confirmed by the doubts of some, churches at first concerning certain New Testament books, proving that each church claimed the right to judge for itself; while their mutual love led to the freest communication of the inspired writings to one another.
At last, when the evidence for the inspiration of the few doubted ones was fully sifted, all agreed. And the third council of Carthage (A.D. 397) declared that agreement by ratifying the canon of the New Testament as it is now universally accepted. The earliest notice of a collection is in 2Pe_3:16, which speaks of "all the epistles" of Paul as if some collection of them then existed and was received in the churches as on a par with "the other Scriptures." The earliest uninspired notice is that of the anonymous fragment of "the canon of the New Testament" attributed to Caius, a Roman presbyter, published by Muratori (Ant. Ital., 3:854). It recognizes all the books except Epp. Hebrew, James, the 2 Epp. Peter, and perhaps 3 John. It condemns as spurious "the Shepherd, written very recently in our own times at Rome by Hermes, while his brother Plus was bishop of the see of Rome," i.e. between A.D. 140 and 150.
Thus the canon in far the greater part is proved as received in the first half of the 2nd century, while some of John's contemporaries were still living. In the same age the Peshito or Syriac version remarkably complements the Muratorian fragment's canon, by including also Hebrew and James. In the latter part of the 2nd century Clement of Alexandria refers to "the gospel" collection and that of all the epistles of "the apostles." The anonymous epistle to Diognetus still earlier speaks of "the law, the prophets, the gospels, and the apostles." Ignatius of Antioch, a hearer of John (Ep. ad Philad., section 5), terms the written gospel "the flesh of Jesus," and the apostles, i.e. their epistles, "the presbytery of the church." Theophilus of Antioch (Ad Autolycum, 3:11) and Irenaeus (Adv. Haer., 2:27) term the New Testament writings "the Holy Scriptures." Tertullian (Adv. Marc, 4:2) uses for the first time the term" New Testament," and calls the whole Bible "the whole instrument of both Testaments."
Thus, there is a continuous chain of evidence from the apostles down to the 3rd century. The quotations by the fathers (of whom Origen quotes at least two thirds of New Testament), and the oldest versions, the Syriac, Latin, and Egyptian, prove that their Scriptures were the same as ours. Eusebius the ecclesiastical historian (A.D. 330) mentions (3:25) all the 27 books of the New Testament, dividing them into the universally acknowledged and the debated; the latter the epistles of James, Jude, 2 Peter, 2 John, and 3 John, and Apocalypse, "received by the majority," and at last received by all the churches when the evidence had been more fully tested. A third class he calls "the spurious," as "the Shepherd of Hermas," "the Epistle of Barnabas," "the Acts of Paul," which all rejected. Moreover all our oldest Greek manuscripts of the epistles contain those epistles once doubted by some; so do all the versions except the Syriac; see above.
The church of Rome was certainly not infallible when it once rejected the Epistle to the Hebrew. Afterward it acknowledged its error and accepted it. Rome says we received the canon from the church (meaning herself), and that therefore we are bound to receive her authority as infallible in interpreting it. But we did not receive her original view of the spuriousness of the Epistle to the Hebrew. Nor have we received most of our manuscripts, testimonies of fathers and versions, from Rome, but, from the Greek, Syrian, and African churches. Further, even if the premises were true the conclusion is false. Because a body of men witness to and transmit a work deriving all its authority from God, it does not follow they are its infallible interpreters. If the argument were true the Jews could use it with tenfold power against all Christians, for the Jews unquestionably are the witnesses and transmitters of the Old Testament to us (Rom_3:2); and on Rome's principle we should be bound to accept the Jews' interpretation of it, renounce Christianity and become Jews.
Nothing but almighty Providence could have constrained both the Jews (in the case of the Old Testament) and the Roman and Greek apostate churches (in the case of the New Testament) to witness for the very Scriptures which condemn them. It utterly disproves the infidel allegation of collusion and corruption of the Scriptures. Again Rome argues, since the rule of faith must be known, and since some books of Scripture were not universally received until the 4th century, Scripture cannot be the rule of faith. The answer is: those portions of Scripture are not the rule of faith to those to whom they are not given with full means of knowing them as such. But all Scripture is the rule of faith to all to whom it is given, and who may, if they will, know it. That could not become a portion of inspired Scripture in the 4th century which was not so before. Man can never make that inspired which God has not; nor can the doubts of some divest of inspiration that which God has inspired.
The council of Carthage did not make aught part of Scripture which was not so before. It merely sealed by declaration the decision which the churches previously came to by carefully sifting the testimony for each book's inspiration. Even at the council of Nicea (A.D. 325) Constantine appeals to "the books of the evangelists, apostles; and prophets" as "the divinely inspired books for deciding their controversies." Accordingly in the Nicene Creed, "according to the Scriptures," quoted from 1Co_15:4, implies their being recognized as the standard. The Diocletian persecution (A.D. 303) was directed against the Christian Scriptures; whoever delivered them were stigmatized as "traitors" (tradilores), so that they must have then existed as a definite collection. They were publicly read in the churches (Col_4:16) as an essential part of worship, just as the law and the prophets were in the synagogue (Justin Martyr, Apol., 1:66).
Practically, as soon as they were severally thus read and accepted in the apostolic age by men in the churches having the discernment of spirits, they were canonized, i.e. immediately after having been written. The transition from oral to written teaching was gradual. Catechizing, i.e. instructing by word of mouth, was the mode at first, and "faith" then "came by hearing" (Luk_1:4; Rom_10:17), in which however there was always an appeal to Old Testament Scripture (Act_17:11). But that the orally taught might know more fully "the (unerring) certainty ten asphaleian of those things wherein they had been instructed," and to guard against the dangers of oral tradition (illustrated in Joh_21:23-24), the word was committed to writing by apostles and evangelists, and was accredited publicly by the churches in the lifetime of the writers.
The approach of their death, their departure to foreign lands, their imprisonment, and the need of a touchstone to test heretical writings and teachings in their absence, all made a written record needful. The cessation of miracles and personal inspiration was about the same time as the written inspired word was completed. Bishop Kaye (Ecclesiastes Hist., 98-100) observes that Justin Martyr, Theophilus, etc., only make general assertions of miracles still continuing, being loath to see what seemingly weakened their cause, the cessation of miracles; but they give no specific instance. The cessation was so gradual as hardly to be perceived at first. The power probably did not extend beyond those younger disciples on whom the apostles conferred it by laying on hands (Act_8:17; Act_8:19). Thus miracles would cease early in the 2nd century, shortly after John's death and the completion of the canon.
The scantiness of direct quotations from Scripture in the apostolic fathers arises from their being so full of all they had seen and heard, and so dwelling less on the written word. But they take it for granted, and imitate the tone and salutations of the apostolic epistles. All four make some express references to New Testament Scripture. With much that is good in the apostolic fathers, their works "remind us what the apostles would have been, had they not been inspired, and what we ourselves should be, if we had not the written word" (Wordsworth, Canon Scr., p. 137). So far from there being a gradual waning of inspiration from the writings of the apostles and evangelists to those of succeeding Christian writers, there is so wide a chasm (the more remarkable as the early fathers had the apostolic writings to guide them) that this alone is a strong proof that the Scripture writers were guided by an extraordinary divine power.
Their previous habits (as being some of them illiterate, and all bigoted Jew) prove that nothing but divine power could have so changed them from their former selves as to be the founders of a spiritual and worldwide dispensation (see Luk_24:25; Luk_24:49), utterly alien to their Jewish prejudices. Their style accords with their supposed position, simple and unlearned (except Paul's), yet free from aught offensive to the polished. If it be asked why we do not receive the epistles of Barnabas and of Clement, the Acts of Paul and Thecla (one of the earliest apocryphal writings), etc., we answer not because (as Rome would have us say) the churches could not err in judgment in rejecting them, but because as a matter of evidence we believe they did not err. These works were not received by contemporary Christians who had the best opportunity of knowing evidences of authenticity and inspiration. If one or two cite them it is the exception, not invalidating the otherwise uniform testimony against them.
The internal evidence of their style is fatal to their pretensions. So "The Acts of Paul"; Tertullian (De Bapt., 17) testifies its author was excluded by John from the office of presbyter for having written it. The New Testament is a complete organic whole, so that even one book could not be omitted without loss to the completeness of the Christian cycle of truth. As the Old Testament is made up of the law, and the doctrinal, historical, and prophetical books; so in the New Testament the four Gospels are the fundamental law, based, as in the Pentateuch, on the included history; the Acts unfold the continued history; the Epistles are the doctrinal, the Apocalyptic revelations the prophetical, elements. Canonical is sometimes used in the Christian fathers, not in the sense divinely authoritative, but proper for public reading in church. Thus Gregory of Nazianzum calls the Apocalypse the last work of grace, and yet apocryphal, i.e. fit for private not public reading in church.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.
1. Title.The Greek word canon, meaning originally a rod and so a rule for measuring, is used in a variety of senses by the Patristic writers, among the most familiar instances being the expressions rule of truth and rule of faith for the doctrinal teaching officially recognized by the bishops. Hence, since we meet with the phrase canonical books in Origen, as rendered by Rufinus translation, before we see the substantive canon applied to the list of NT books, it has been argued that the adjective was first used in the sense of regulative, so that the phrase means the books that regulate faith or morals. But the substantive must mean the list of books, and in Athanasius we have a passive participle in the phrase canonized books, i.e. books belonging to the Canon; soon after which the actual word canon is applied to the books of the NT by Amphilochius, the bishop of Iconium (end of 4th cent. a.d.). The NT Canon, then, is the list of NT books, and this simple meaning, rather than the regulative books, is the more likely Interpretation of the expression to have occurred to people who were in the habit of using the term for lists of officials, lists of festivals, etc. The question of the Canon differs from questions of the authenticity, genuineness, historicity, inspiration, value, and authority of the several NT books in concerning itself simply with their acceptance in the Church. Primarily the question was as to what books were read in the churches at public worship. Those so used became in course of time the Christian Scriptures. Then, having the value of Scripture gradually associated with them, they came to be treated as authoritative. The first stage is that of use in the form of Church lessons; the second that of a standard of authority to be employed as the basis of instruction, and to be appealed to in disputed cases of doctrine or discipline.
2. The Formation of the Canon in the 2nd Century.The very earliest reading of NT books in the churches must have occurred in the case of epistles addressed to particular churches, which of course were read in those churches; next come the circular letters (e.g. Eph_1:1-23 Petereter), which were passed round a group of churches. Still this involved no repeated liturgical use of these writings as in a church lectionary. During the obscure period of the sub-Apostolic age we have no indication of the use of epistles in church worship. Clement of Rome assumed that the church at Corinth was acquainted with 1 Corinthians, although he was writing nearly 40 years after St. Paul had sent that Epistle to the church, and a new generation had arisen in the interval; but there is no proof or probability that it was regularly read at the services. The earliest references to any such reading point to the Synoptic Gospels as alone having this place of honour, together with the OT prophets. This was the case in the worship described by Justin Martyr (1 Apol. lxvii.). A little later Justins disciple Tatian prepared his Harmony (Diatessaron) for use in the church at Edessa. This was constructed out of all four Gospels; i.e. it included John, a Gospel probably known to Justin, though not included in his Memoirs of the Apostles. As yet no epistles are seen in the place of honour of church reading side by side with OT Scriptures. But long before this a collection had been made by Marcion (c [Note: circa, about.] . a.d. 140) in his effort to reform the Church by recalling attention to the Pauline teaching which had fallen into neglect. Marcions Canon consisted of a mutilated Gospel of St. Luk_10:1-42 Epistles of St. Paul (the 3 Pastoral Epistles being omitted). Although other early Church writers evidently allude to several of the Epistles (e.g. Clemens Rom., Ignatius, Polycarp, Barnabas), that is only by way of individual citation, without any hint that they are used in a collection or treated as authoritative Scripture. Marcion is the earliest who is known to have honoured any of the Epistles in this way. But when we come to Irenæus (180) we seem to be in another world. Irenæus cites as authoritative most of the books of the Christian Scriptures, though he does not appear to have known Hebrews. We now have a NT side by side with the OT; or at all events we have Christian books appealed to as authoritative Scripture, just as in the previous generation the LXX [Note: Septuagint.] was appealed to as authoritative Scripture. Here is evidence of a double advance: (1) in the addition of the Epistles to the Gospels as a collection, (2) in the enhancement of the value of all these books for the settlement of questions of doctrine.
This is one of the most important developments in the thought and practice of the Church. And yet history is absolutely silent as to how, when, where, and by whom it was brought about. Nothing is more amazing in the history of the Christian Church than the absence of all extant contemporary references to so great a movement. The 30 years from Justin Martyr, who knew only a collection of 3 Gospels as specially authoritative, and that simply as records of the life and teaching of Christ, to Irenæus, with his frequent appeals to the Epistles as well as the Gospels, saw the birth of a NT Canon, but left no record of so great an event. Irenæus, though bishop of Lyons and Vienne in Gaul, was in close communication with Asia Minor where he had been brought up, and Prof. Harnack conjectures that bishops of Asia Minor in agreement with the Church at Rome deliberately drew up and settled the Canon, although we have no historical record of so significant an event. It may be, however, that Irenæus was himself a pioneer in a movement the necessity of which was recognized as by common consent. Some authoritative standard of appeal was wanted to save the essence of Christian teaching from being engulfed in the speculations of Gnosticism. The Gospels were not sufficient for this purpose, because they were accepted by the Gnostics, who, however, interpreted them allegorically. What was needed was a standard of doctrinal truth, and that was found in the Epistles.
Near this time we have the earliest known Canon after that of Marcion, the most ancient extant list of NT books in the Catholic Church. This is named the Muratorian Fragment, after its discoverer Muratori, who found it in a 7th or 8th cent. monks commonplace book in the Ambrosian Library at Milan, and published it in 1740. The fragment is a mutilated extract of a list of NT books made at Rome probably before the end of the 2nd cent., since the author refers to the episcopate of Pius as recent (nuperrime temporibus nostris), and Pius I., who died in a.d. 157, is the only bishop of Rome of that name in the early age to which unquestionably, as internal evidence indicates, the original composition must be assigned. The fragment begins in the middle of a sentence which appears to allude to St. Peters connexion with our Second Gospel, and goes on to mention Luke as the Third Gospel and John as the Fourth. Therefore it evidently acknowledged the 4 Gospels. Then it has Acts, which it ascribes to Luke, and it acknowledges 13 Epistles of Pauladmitting the Pastorals, but excluding Hebrews, though it subsequently refers to an Epistle to the Laodiceans, and another to the Alexandrians forged under the name of Paul, as well as many others which are not received in the Catholic Church because gall ought not to be mixed with honey. Further, this Canon includes Jud_1:2 Epistles of John, and the Apocalypse, which it ascribes to John. It also has the Book of Wisdom, which it says was written by the friends of Solomon in his honour, and the Apocalypse of Peter, although acknowledging that there is a minority which rejects the latter work, for we read we receive moreover the Apocalypses of John and Peter only, which [latter] some of our body will not have read in the church. This indicates that the authors church as a whole acknowledges the Apocalypse of Peter, and that he associates himself with the majority of his brethren in so doing, while he candidly admits that there are some dissentients. Lastly, the Canon admits Hermas for private reading, but not for use in the church services. We have here, then, most of our NT books; but, on the one hand, Heb_1:1-14; Heb_2:1-18 Petereter, James, and one of the 3 Epistles of John are not mentioned. They are not named to be excluded, like the forged works referred to above; possibly the author did not know of their existence. At all events he did not find them used in his church. On the other hand, Wisdom, without question, and the Apocalypse of Peter, though rejected by some, are included in this canon, and Hermas is added for private reading.
Passing on to the commencement of the 3rd cent., we come upon another anonymous writing, an anti-gambling tract entitled Concerning dice-players (de Aleatoribus), which Prof. Harnack attributes to Victor of Rome (a.d. 200230). In this tract the Shepherd of Hermas and the Didache are both quoted as Scripture. The author refers to three divisions of Scripture: (1) Prophetic writingsthe OT Prophets, the Apocalypse, Hermas; (2) the Gospels; (3) the Apostolic WritingsPaul, 1 John, Hebrews.
Neither of these Canons can be regarded as authoritative either ecclesiastically or scientifically, since we are ignorant of their sources. But they both indicate a crystallizing process, in the Church at Rome about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd centuries, that was tending towards our NT, though with some curious variations. The writings of the Fathers of this period agree in the main with Irenæus in their citations from most of the NT books as authoritativea condition very different from that of Justin Martyr half a century earlier. Two influences may be recognized as bringing this result about: (1) use in churches at public worship, (2) authoritative appeals against heresyespecially Gnosticism. It was necessary to settle what books should be read in church and what books should be appealed to in discussion. The former was the primary question. The books used at their services by the churches, and therefore admitted by them as having a right to be so employed, were the books to be appealed to in controversy. The testing fact was church usage. Canonical books were the books read at public worship. How it came about that certain books were so used and others not is by no means clear. Prof. Harnacks theory would solve the problem if we could be sure it was valid. Apart from this, (1) traditional usage and (2) assurance of Apostolic authorship appear to have been two grounds relied upon.
Turning to the East, we find Clement of Alexandria (a.d. 165220) acknowledging the 4 Gospels and Act_14:1-28 Epistles of Paul (Hebrews being included), and quoting 1 and 2Jn_1:1 Petereter, Jude, and the Apocalypse. He makes no reference to Jam_2:1-26 Petereter, or 3 John, any of which he may perhaps have known, as we have no list of NT books from his hand, for he does not name these books to reject them. Still, the probability as regards some, if not all, of them is that he did not know them. In the true Alexandrian spirit, Clement has a wide and comprehensive idea of inspiration, and therefore no very definite conception of Scriptural exclusiveness or fixed boundaries to the Canon. Thus he quotes Barnabas, Clement of Rome, Hermas, the Preaching of Peter, the Apocalypse of Peter, and the Sibylline Writings as in some way authoritative. He was a literary eclectic who delighted to welcome Christian truth in unexpected places. Still he had a NT in two volumes which he knew respectively as The Gospel and The Apostle (see Euseb. HE vi. 14). Origen (a.d. 184253), who was a more critical scholar, treated questions of canonicity more scientifically. He acknowledged our books of the OT and some parts of the Apocrypha, such as 1 Mac.; and in the NT the 4 Gospels, Act_13:1-52 Epistles of Paul, Hebrews (though the latter as of doubtful authorship; nevertheless in his homily on Joshua he seems to include it among St. Pauls works, since he makes them 14, when he writes that God, thundering on the 14 trumpets of his [i.e. Pauls] Epistles, threw down even the walls of Jericho, that is all the instruments of idolatry and the doctrines of the philosophers), 1Peter , 1 John, Revelation. He does not directly mention the Epistles of James or Jude, although he seems to refer to them once in a rhetorical way, classing Peter, James, and Jude with the 4 Evangelists as represented by Isaacs servantsif we are to trust Rufinus version. He mentions 2Pe_2:1-22 and 3 John as of disputed genuineness, and refers to the Gospel of the Hebrews in an apologetic tone, the Gospels of Peter and James, and the Acts of Paul, and quotes Hermas and Barnabas as Scripture, while he admits that, though widely circulated, Hermas was not accepted by all. It is a significant fact, however, that he wrote no commentaries on any of those books that are not included in our NT.
3. The Settlement of the Canon in the Fourth and Fifth Centuries.An important step towards the settlement of the Canon on historical and scientific lines was taken by Eusebius, who, with his wide reading and the great library of Pamphilus to resort to, also brought a fair and judicious mind to face the problems involved. Eusebius saw clearly that it is not always possible to give a definite affirmative or negative answer to the question whether a certain book should be in the Canon. Therefore he drew up three lists of books(1) The books that are admitted by all, (2) the books which he is disposed to admit although there are some who reject them, (3) the books that he regards as spurious. A fourth class, which really does not come into the competition for a place in the Canon, consists of heretical works which are to be rejected as altogether absurd and impious (HE iii. 25). The first class, consisting of the books universally acknowledged, contains the 4 Gospels; Acts; the Epistles of Paulwhich in one place (iii. 3) are reckoned to be 14, and therefore to include Hebrews, although in another place (vi. 14) Hebrews is placed in the second class, among the disputed books; 1Peter ; 1 John; and Revelation (doubtfully). The second class, consisting of books widely accepted, though disputed by some (but apparently all admitted by Eusebius himself), contains James; Jud_1:2 Petereterregarded in another place (iii. 3) as spurious; 2 and 3 John. The third class, consisting of spurious works, contains the Acts of Paul; the Shepherd of Hermas; the Apocalypse of Peter; the Didache; and perhaps, according to some, the Revelation. Under the orders of Constantine, Eusebius had 50 copies of the Scriptures sumptuously produced on vellum for use in the churches of Constantinople. Of course these would correspond to his own Canon and so help to fix it and spread its influence. After this the fluctuations that we meet with are very slight. Athanasius in one of his Festal Letters (a.d. 365) undertakes to set forth in order the books that are canonical and handed down and believed to be Divine. His NT exactly agrees with our Canon, as does the NT of Epiphanius (c [Note: circa, about.] . a.d. 403). Cyril of Jerusalem (who died a.d. 386) gives a list of Divine Scriptures which contains all the NT except the Revelation; and Amphilochius of Iconium (a.d. 395) has a versified catalogue of the Biblical books, in which also all our NT books appear except the Revelation, which he regards as spurious; Amphilochius refers to doubts concerning Hebrews and to a question as to whether the number of Catholic Epistles is 7 or 3. Even Chrysostom (who died a.d. 405) never alludes to the Revelation or the last 4 Catholic Epistles. But then he gives no list of the Canon. One of the Apostolical Canons (No. 85), which stand as an appendix to the 8th book of the Apostolical Constitutions (85), and cannot be dated earlier than the 4th cent. in their present form, gives a list of the books of Scripture. Sirach is here placed between the OT and the NT with a special recommendation to take care that your young persons learn the wisdom of the very learned Sirach. Then follow the NT booksthe 4 Gospels, 14 Epistles of Paul (Hebrews therefore included in this category), 2 Epistles of Peter, 3 of John, James, Jud_1:2 Epistles of Clement, the 8 books of the Constitutions, Acts. Thus, while Clement and even the Apostolical Constitutions are included, the Revelation is left out, after a common custom in the East. Manifestly this is an erratic Canon.
Returning to the West, at this later period we have an elaborate discussion on the Canon by Augustine (a.d. 430), who lays down rules by which the canonicity of the several books claimed for the NT may be determined. (1) There are the books received and acknowledged by all the churches, which should therefore be treated as canonical. (2) There are some books not yet universally accepted. With regard to these, two tests are to be applied: (a) such as are received by the majority of the churches are to be acknowledged, and (b) such as are received by the Apostolic churches are to be preferred to those received only by a smaller number of churches and these of less authority, i.e. not having been founded by Apostles. In case (a) and (b) conflict, Augustine considers that the authority on the two sides is to be looked upon as equal (Christian Doctrine, II. viii. 12). Thus the tests are simply Church reception, though with discrimination as to the respective authority of the several churches. The application of these tests gives Augustine just our NT.
Jerome (a.d. 420) also accepts our NT, saying concerning Hebrews and the Revelation that he adopts both on the authority of ancient writers, not on that of present custom. He is aware that James has been questioned; but he states that little by little in course of time it has obtained authority. Jude was even rejected by most people because it contained quotations from Apocryphal writings. Nevertheless he himself accepts it. He notes that 2 and 3 John have been attributed to a presbyter whose tomb at Ephesus is still pointed out. The immense personal influence of Augustine and the acceptance of Jeromes Vulgate as the standard Bible of the Christian Church gave fixity to the Canon, which was not disturbed for a thousand years. No General Council had pronounced on the subject. The first Council claiming to be (Ecumenical which committed itself to a decision on the subject was as late as the 16th cent. (the Council of Trent). We may be thankful that the delicate and yet vital question of determining the Canon was not flung into the arena of ecclesiastical debate to be settled by the triumph of partisan churchmanship, but was allowed to mature slowly and come to its final settlement under the twofold influences of honest scholarship and Christian experience. There were indeed local councils that dealt with the question; but their decisions were binding only on the provinces they represented, although, in so far as they were not disputed, they would be regarded as more or less normative by those other churches to which they were sent. As representing the East we have a Canon attributed to the Council of Laodicea (c [Note: circa, about.] . a.d. 360). There is a dispute as to whether this is genuine. It is given in the MSS variously as a 60th canon and as part of the 59th appended in red ink. Half the Latin versions are without it; so are the Syriac versions, which are much older than our oldest MSS of the canons. It closely resembles the Canon of Cyril of Jerusalem, from which Westcott supposed that it was inserted into the canons of Laodicea by a Latin hand. Its genuineness was defended by Hefele and Davidson. Jülicher regards it as probably genuine. This Canon contains the OT with Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremy, and all our NT except the Revelation. Then in the West we have the 3rd Council of Carthage (a.d. 397), which orders that besides the Canonical Scriptures nothing be read in the Church under the title of Divine Scriptures, and appends a list of the books thus authorized in which we have the OT, the Apocrypha, and just our NT books. Here we have a whole province speaking for those books; when we add the great authority of Augustine, who belongs to this very province, and the influence of the Vulgate, we can well understand how the Canon should now be considered fixed and inviolable. Thus the matter rested for ten centuries.
4. Treatment of the Canon at the Renaissance and the Reformation.The question of the Canon was revived by the Renaissance and the Reformation, the one movement directing critical, scholarly attention to what was essentially a literary question, the other facing it in the interest of religious controversy. Erasmus writes: The arguments of criticism, estimated by the rules of logic, lead me to disbelieve that the Epistle to the Hebrews is by Paul or Luke, or that the Second of Peter is the work of that Apostle, or that the Apocalypse was written by the Evangelist John. All the same, I have nothing to say against the contents of these books, which seem to me to be in perfect conformity with the truth. If, however, the Church were to declare the titles they bear to be canonical, then I would condemn my doubt, for the opinion formulated by the Church has more value in my eyes than human reasons, whatever they may bea most characteristic statement, revealing the scholar, the critic, the timid souland the satirist (?). Within the Church of Rome even Cardinal CajetanLuthers opponent at Augsburgfreely discusses the Canon, doubting whether Hebrews is St. Pauls work, and whether, if it is not, it can be canonical. He also mentions doubts concerning the five General Epistles, and gives less authority to 2 and 3 John and Jude than to those books which he regards as certainly in the Holy Scriptures. The Reformation forced the question of the authority of the Bible to the front, because it set that authority in the place of the old authority of the Church. While this chiefly concerned the book as a whole, it could not preclude inquiries as to its contents and the rights of the several parts to hold their places there. The general answer as to the authority of Scripture is an appeal to the testimony of the Holy Spirit. Calvin especially works out this conception very distinctly. The difficulty was to apply it to particular books of the Bible so as to determine in each case whether they should be allowed in the Canon. Clearly a further test was requisite here. This was found in the analogy of faith (Analogia fidei), which was more especially Luthers principle, while the testimony of the Holy Spirit was Calvins. With Luther the Reformation was based on justification by faith. This truth Luther held to be confirmed (a) by its necessity, nothing else availing, and (b) by its effects, since in practice it brought peace, assurance, and the new life. Then those Scriptures which manifestly supported the fundamental principle were held to be ipso facto inspired, and the measure of their support of it determined the degree of their authority. Thus the doctrine of justification by faith is not accepted because it is found in the Bible; but the Bible is accepted because it contains this doctrine. Moreover, the Bible is sorted and arranged in grades according as it does so more or less clearly, and to Luther there is a NT within the NT, a kernel of all Scripture, consisting of those books which he sees most clearly set forth the gospel. Thus he wrote: Johns Gospel, the Epistles of Paul, especially Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, and 1Peterthese are the books which show thee Christ, and teach all that it is needful and blessed for thee to know even if you never see or hear any other book, or any other doctrine. Therefore is the Epistle of James a mere epistle of straw (eine rechte stroherne Epistel) since it has no character of the gospel is it (Preface to NT, 1522; the passage was omitted from later editions). Luther places Hebrews, James, Jude, and the Apocalypse at the end of his translation, after the other NT books, which he designates the true and certain capital books of the NT, for these have been regarded in former times in a different light. He regards Jude as indisputably an extract or copy from 2Peter. Nevertheless, while thus discriminating between the values of the several books of the NT, he includes them all in his translation. Luthers friend Carlstadt has a curious arrangement of Scripture in three classes, viz. (1) The Pentateuch and the 4 Gospels, as being the clearest luminaries of the whole Divine truth; (2) The Prophets of Hebrew reckoning and the acknowledged Epistles of the NT, viz. 13 of Paul, 1Peter , 1 John; (3) the Hagiographa of the Hebrew Canon, and the 7 disputed books of the NT. Dr. Westcott suggested that the omission of Acts was due to its being included with Luke. Calvin is more conservative with regard to Scripture than the Lutherans. Still in his Commentaries he passes over 2 and 3 John and the Revelation without notice, and he refers to 1 John as the Epistle of John, and expresses doubts as to 2Peter; but he adds, with regard to the latter, Since the majesty of the Spirit of Christ exhibits itself in every part of the Epistle, I feel a scruple in rejecting it wholly, however much I fail to recognize in it the genuine language of Peter (Com. on 2Peter, Argument). Further, Calvin acknowledges the existence of doubts with respect both to James and to Jude; but he accepts them both. He allows full liberty of opinion concerning the authorship of Hebrews; but he states that he has no hesitation in classing it among Apostolical writings. In spite of these varieties of opinion, the NT Canon remained unaltered. At the Council of Trent (1546) for the first time the Roman Catholic Church made an authoritative statement on the Canon, uttering an anathema (anathema sit) on anybody who did not accept in their integrity all the books contained in the Vulgate. Thus the Apocrypha is treated as equally canonical with the OT books; but the NT Canon is the same in Roman Catholic and Protestant Canons. Translations of the Bible into the vernacular of various languages laid the question of the Canon to rest again, by familiarizing readers with the same series of books in all versions and editions.
5. The Canon in Modern Criticism.In the 18th cent. the very idea of a Canon was attacked by the Deists and Rationalists (Toland, Diderot, etc.); but the critical study of the subject began with Semler (17715), who pointed out the early variations in the Canon and attacked the very idea of a Canon as an authoritative standard, while he criticised the usefulness and theological value of the several books of the NT. Subsequent controversy has dealt less with the Canon as such than with the authenticity and genuineness of the books that it contains. In the views of extreme negative criticism canonicity as such has no meaning except as a historical record of Church opinion. On the other hand, those who accept a doctrine of inspiration in relation to the NT do not connect this very closely with critical questions in such a way as to affect the Canon. Thus doubts as to the authorship of the Pastoral Epistles, 2Peter, James, etc., have not given rise to any serious proposal to remove these books from the NT. The Canon rests mainly on tradition and usage. But the justification for it when this is sought is usually found (1) in the Apostolic authorship of most of the NT books; (2) in the Apostolic atmosphere and association of the remaining books; (3) in the general acceptance and continuous use of them in the churches for centuries as a test of their value; (4) in their inherent worth to-day as realized in Christian experience. It cannot be said that these four tests would give an indefeasible right to every book to claim a place in the Canon if it were not already theree.g. the small Epistle of Jude; but they throw the burden of proof on those who would disturb the Canon by a serious proposal to eject any of its contents; and in fact no such proposalas distinct from critical questions of the dates, authorship, historicity, etc., of the several booksis now engaging the attention of scholars or churches.
W. F. Adeney.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
"The prophets" in the Christian church, speaking themselves under inspiration, and those having the Spirit's gift," the discerning of spirits," acted as checks on the transmission of error orally before the completion of the written word. Secondly it was under their inspired superintendence that. the New Testament Scriptures were put forth as they were successively written. 1Co_14:37; "if any man ... be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write ... are the commandments of the Lord." Thus by the twofold sanction of inspiration, that of the authors and that of the judges, the canonicity of each book is established. By God's gracious providence most of the books of the New Testament were in the church's possession years before the death of leading apostles, all of them before the death of John. If spurious books had crept into the cycle of professedly inspired books, they would have been at once removed by apostolic authority.
The history of the New Testament canon in its collected form is not so clear as the evidence for the inspiration of its separate books. Probably each leading church made for itself a collection of those books which were proved on good testimony to have been written by inspired men, and sanctioned as such originally by men having the "discerning of spirits," as well as by uninspired men in the several churches. See 1Co_12:10; 1Jn_4:1. Thus, many collections would be made. Their mutual accordance in the main, as that of independent witnesses, is the strongest proof of the correctness of our canon, especially when we consider the jealous care with which the early churches discriminated between spurious and authentic compositions. This view is confirmed by the doubts of some, churches at first concerning certain New Testament books, proving that each church claimed the right to judge for itself; while their mutual love led to the freest communication of the inspired writings to one another.
At last, when the evidence for the inspiration of the few doubted ones was fully sifted, all agreed. And the third council of Carthage (A.D. 397) declared that agreement by ratifying the canon of the New Testament as it is now universally accepted. The earliest notice of a collection is in 2Pe_3:16, which speaks of "all the epistles" of Paul as if some collection of them then existed and was received in the churches as on a par with "the other Scriptures." The earliest uninspired notice is that of the anonymous fragment of "the canon of the New Testament" attributed to Caius, a Roman presbyter, published by Muratori (Ant. Ital., 3:854). It recognizes all the books except Epp. Hebrew, James, the 2 Epp. Peter, and perhaps 3 John. It condemns as spurious "the Shepherd, written very recently in our own times at Rome by Hermes, while his brother Plus was bishop of the see of Rome," i.e. between A.D. 140 and 150.
Thus the canon in far the greater part is proved as received in the first half of the 2nd century, while some of John's contemporaries were still living. In the same age the Peshito or Syriac version remarkably complements the Muratorian fragment's canon, by including also Hebrew and James. In the latter part of the 2nd century Clement of Alexandria refers to "the gospel" collection and that of all the epistles of "the apostles." The anonymous epistle to Diognetus still earlier speaks of "the law, the prophets, the gospels, and the apostles." Ignatius of Antioch, a hearer of John (Ep. ad Philad., section 5), terms the written gospel "the flesh of Jesus," and the apostles, i.e. their epistles, "the presbytery of the church." Theophilus of Antioch (Ad Autolycum, 3:11) and Irenaeus (Adv. Haer., 2:27) term the New Testament writings "the Holy Scriptures." Tertullian (Adv. Marc, 4:2) uses for the first time the term" New Testament," and calls the whole Bible "the whole instrument of both Testaments."
Thus, there is a continuous chain of evidence from the apostles down to the 3rd century. The quotations by the fathers (of whom Origen quotes at least two thirds of New Testament), and the oldest versions, the Syriac, Latin, and Egyptian, prove that their Scriptures were the same as ours. Eusebius the ecclesiastical historian (A.D. 330) mentions (3:25) all the 27 books of the New Testament, dividing them into the universally acknowledged and the debated; the latter the epistles of James, Jude, 2 Peter, 2 John, and 3 John, and Apocalypse, "received by the majority," and at last received by all the churches when the evidence had been more fully tested. A third class he calls "the spurious," as "the Shepherd of Hermas," "the Epistle of Barnabas," "the Acts of Paul," which all rejected. Moreover all our oldest Greek manuscripts of the epistles contain those epistles once doubted by some; so do all the versions except the Syriac; see above.
The church of Rome was certainly not infallible when it once rejected the Epistle to the Hebrew. Afterward it acknowledged its error and accepted it. Rome says we received the canon from the church (meaning herself), and that therefore we are bound to receive her authority as infallible in interpreting it. But we did not receive her original view of the spuriousness of the Epistle to the Hebrew. Nor have we received most of our manuscripts, testimonies of fathers and versions, from Rome, but, from the Greek, Syrian, and African churches. Further, even if the premises were true the conclusion is false. Because a body of men witness to and transmit a work deriving all its authority from God, it does not follow they are its infallible interpreters. If the argument were true the Jews could use it with tenfold power against all Christians, for the Jews unquestionably are the witnesses and transmitters of the Old Testament to us (Rom_3:2); and on Rome's principle we should be bound to accept the Jews' interpretation of it, renounce Christianity and become Jews.
Nothing but almighty Providence could have constrained both the Jews (in the case of the Old Testament) and the Roman and Greek apostate churches (in the case of the New Testament) to witness for the very Scriptures which condemn them. It utterly disproves the infidel allegation of collusion and corruption of the Scriptures. Again Rome argues, since the rule of faith must be known, and since some books of Scripture were not universally received until the 4th century, Scripture cannot be the rule of faith. The answer is: those portions of Scripture are not the rule of faith to those to whom they are not given with full means of knowing them as such. But all Scripture is the rule of faith to all to whom it is given, and who may, if they will, know it. That could not become a portion of inspired Scripture in the 4th century which was not so before. Man can never make that inspired which God has not; nor can the doubts of some divest of inspiration that which God has inspired.
The council of Carthage did not make aught part of Scripture which was not so before. It merely sealed by declaration the decision which the churches previously came to by carefully sifting the testimony for each book's inspiration. Even at the council of Nicea (A.D. 325) Constantine appeals to "the books of the evangelists, apostles; and prophets" as "the divinely inspired books for deciding their controversies." Accordingly in the Nicene Creed, "according to the Scriptures," quoted from 1Co_15:4, implies their being recognized as the standard. The Diocletian persecution (A.D. 303) was directed against the Christian Scriptures; whoever delivered them were stigmatized as "traitors" (tradilores), so that they must have then existed as a definite collection. They were publicly read in the churches (Col_4:16) as an essential part of worship, just as the law and the prophets were in the synagogue (Justin Martyr, Apol., 1:66).
Practically, as soon as they were severally thus read and accepted in the apostolic age by men in the churches having the discernment of spirits, they were canonized, i.e. immediately after having been written. The transition from oral to written teaching was gradual. Catechizing, i.e. instructing by word of mouth, was the mode at first, and "faith" then "came by hearing" (Luk_1:4; Rom_10:17), in which however there was always an appeal to Old Testament Scripture (Act_17:11). But that the orally taught might know more fully "the (unerring) certainty ten asphaleian of those things wherein they had been instructed," and to guard against the dangers of oral tradition (illustrated in Joh_21:23-24), the word was committed to writing by apostles and evangelists, and was accredited publicly by the churches in the lifetime of the writers.
The approach of their death, their departure to foreign lands, their imprisonment, and the need of a touchstone to test heretical writings and teachings in their absence, all made a written record needful. The cessation of miracles and personal inspiration was about the same time as the written inspired word was completed. Bishop Kaye (Ecclesiastes Hist., 98-100) observes that Justin Martyr, Theophilus, etc., only make general assertions of miracles still continuing, being loath to see what seemingly weakened their cause, the cessation of miracles; but they give no specific instance. The cessation was so gradual as hardly to be perceived at first. The power probably did not extend beyond those younger disciples on whom the apostles conferred it by laying on hands (Act_8:17; Act_8:19). Thus miracles would cease early in the 2nd century, shortly after John's death and the completion of the canon.
The scantiness of direct quotations from Scripture in the apostolic fathers arises from their being so full of all they had seen and heard, and so dwelling less on the written word. But they take it for granted, and imitate the tone and salutations of the apostolic epistles. All four make some express references to New Testament Scripture. With much that is good in the apostolic fathers, their works "remind us what the apostles would have been, had they not been inspired, and what we ourselves should be, if we had not the written word" (Wordsworth, Canon Scr., p. 137). So far from there being a gradual waning of inspiration from the writings of the apostles and evangelists to those of succeeding Christian writers, there is so wide a chasm (the more remarkable as the early fathers had the apostolic writings to guide them) that this alone is a strong proof that the Scripture writers were guided by an extraordinary divine power.
Their previous habits (as being some of them illiterate, and all bigoted Jew) prove that nothing but divine power could have so changed them from their former selves as to be the founders of a spiritual and worldwide dispensation (see Luk_24:25; Luk_24:49), utterly alien to their Jewish prejudices. Their style accords with their supposed position, simple and unlearned (except Paul's), yet free from aught offensive to the polished. If it be asked why we do not receive the epistles of Barnabas and of Clement, the Acts of Paul and Thecla (one of the earliest apocryphal writings), etc., we answer not because (as Rome would have us say) the churches could not err in judgment in rejecting them, but because as a matter of evidence we believe they did not err. These works were not received by contemporary Christians who had the best opportunity of knowing evidences of authenticity and inspiration. If one or two cite them it is the exception, not invalidating the otherwise uniform testimony against them.
The internal evidence of their style is fatal to their pretensions. So "The Acts of Paul"; Tertullian (De Bapt., 17) testifies its author was excluded by John from the office of presbyter for having written it. The New Testament is a complete organic whole, so that even one book could not be omitted without loss to the completeness of the Christian cycle of truth. As the Old Testament is made up of the law, and the doctrinal, historical, and prophetical books; so in the New Testament the four Gospels are the fundamental law, based, as in the Pentateuch, on the included history; the Acts unfold the continued history; the Epistles are the doctrinal, the Apocalyptic revelations the prophetical, elements. Canonical is sometimes used in the Christian fathers, not in the sense divinely authoritative, but proper for public reading in church. Thus Gregory of Nazianzum calls the Apocalypse the last work of grace, and yet apocryphal, i.e. fit for private not public reading in church.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.
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