Walking in Faith

Canon is a term describing the collection of books called Scripture.

Whether the canon is closed or not is an argumentative point; however, for sake of argument, I hold to the view that the canon is currently closed. God has the ability to open that back up whenever He desires though. As is, the message of salvation has been captured and there is no need for further Scriptures to validate God or Christ’s message.

If you are interested in the Old Testament canonization notes, please refer to this link.

Development of the NT Canon

The Scripture was authored (Formation) between AD 40 and (roughly) AD 100. The NT Scripture was then recognized (Recognized) between AD 100 and AD 300. The Scripture was then declared (Declaration) between AD 300 and AD 400.

Formation Period (AD 40 – AD 100)

1. NT presents words of the apostles as being on par with that of God (2 Thes 2:15, 1 Cor 14:37, Gal 1:8-9, 1 Thes 2:13). Did the apostles know that they were writing Scripture? While they were speaking with the authority of the Lord, they most likely didn’t realize they were writing the letter assuming people would be reading the letter hundreds (even thousands) of years later.
2. NT attests to the acceptance of other NT books as Scripture (2 Peter 3:15-16, 1 Tim 5:18, Rev 1:3)Are there books that are more application to our situation today than other books? Certainly. Romans as compared to Philemon, as an example. The books still carry the same authority, but they do not have the same application in modern day society.

Recognition Period (AD 100 – AD 300)

1. Writings of early church fathers attest to the acceptance of many NT books
   • Quote them as Scripture
   • Draw a clear distinction between writings and that of Scripture
   • Marcion (c. 140), a Gnostic heretic, created his own canon — created a “different” view that was not accepted
   • Important because early church fathers were close to Christ (less important) and they were discipled by the apostles. They also set precedence (similar to a George Washington situation).
2. Origen (185-254 AD) writes commentaries on many of the NT books commenting on their inspiration.
3. Muratorian Canon (170 AD) attests to the canonization of all NT books except Hebrews, James, and 1 & 2 Peter.

Declaration Period (AD 300 – AD 400)

1. Diocletian persecutions (c. 302-305) — Christians were killed for possession of Scriptures
2. Eusibius (fourth century Church historian) speaks about condition of canon. Agreed upon books were Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Letters of Paul (including Hebrews), 1 Peter, 1 John and Revelation (Homologoumena). Mostly agreed upon books, but controversial to some were James, 2 Peter, 2 & 3 John and Jude (Antilogomena). Books that were not agreed upon where Acts of Paul, the Didache and the Shepherd of Hermas (Pseudepigrapha).
3. Athanasius (fourth century bishop of Alexandria) affirms the 27 books of NT (AD 367).
4. Council of Hippo (AD 393) and Council of Carthage (AD 397) both affirmed canon of NT.

Translation Theories

• Formal equivalence (word for word)
• Dynamic equivalence (thought for thought)
• Paraphrase

All translations are interpretations. The language does not translate word for word so every translation will have some level of interpretation (e.g. the “long nose” of the Lord instead of the anger of the Lord).

Study Bibles are closer to the original. The more literal translations, instead of the paraphrasing translations, are “better” for studying the Bible and memorizing Scripture. We should study (and memorize) the text closest to the original content.

A good site to read for more information can be found here.