Cannon Of Scripture Research Paper

In fact, the presence and identification of errors within the texts of Scripture do not serve to weaken the doctrine of preservation; rather it serves to strengthen preservation by the recognition and elimination of textual error. DEVELOPING THE NEED FOR A CANON

Bruce offers a solid explanation of the formation of the canon chronologically starting with the Hebrew scriptures (p. 21) until the 4th century where church councils started to present the first spoken finished canon (p. 97). Bruce shows the importance of the Old Testament scriptures, but writes most about the New Testament. He not only shows how the New Testament came to be a canon but offers a deep analysis of non-canonical scripture called the Apocrypha (pp. 48, 90-93).

Evidence for OT and NT canonicity and tests for canonicity are for the OT canonicity is seen in “the Law” originating from the Old Testament in Law of Moses is seen as being “authoritative”. Examples of scripture that supports this are “1 Kings 2:3; 2 Kings 14:6 and Ezra 6:18”. These writings help justify the first five books of the Old Testament that Moses contributed in writing. Second “from the prophets” is another example of evidence seen where the prophets were inspired with the word from God. The gospels of Joshua, Chronicles, and Daniels are examples of supportive books in the gospel. Third example is “from Malachi 4:5” where the prophecy ends with Malachi and resumes with John the Baptist. Evidence for the NT is “quotations of the old testament to the new”, which shows “250 quotes from the old testament” being used. Second, “Matthew 5:17” shows the Law and the Prophets holding power as spoken by the Lord. Third, “Luke 11:51” the condemnation of Jewish leaders for murdering the Lord's messengers throughout time. The tests for canonicity are first “the test for authority” where the books of the canon were backed up by an authoritative prophet or apostle. Second, “the test for uniqueness” where evidence had to be unique to be placed in the canon. Third, “the test of acceptance by the churches”, where the books had to gain acceptance by the

As we move further into the research of this paper, defining some terms under the viewpoints of the selected authors is necessary. Millard Erickson defines inspiration as “that supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit upon the Scripture writers which rendered their writings an accurate record of the revelation or which resulted in what they wrote actually being the Word of God.” While inspiration primarily concerns the quality of the finished product rather than the process of that period of time in which the entirety of the Scriptures came into being, the divine-human authorship raises the tension as to how those Scriptures came into being. The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy states: “We affirm that inspiration, strictly speaking applies only to the autographic text of Scripture.” The leads to the question “What constitutes an autograph or the autographs?” In general, scholars use the term autographs to refer to the first or original copies of the biblical documents which is the material the author actually wrote himself. One customary definition of the term “autographa” in a theological discussion refers to the unchanging form of text whereby the original document is identical to the final canonical form of a given OT biblical book. Since canon involves the list of all books that belong in a bible or those reckoned as Holy Scriptures which

The term scribe gave them authority over the information because it was they who passed it down in the first place. The authority is not ownership because passing down certain information is not claimed it as one's own. it wasn't until "The age of Hellenism brought with it the concept of authorship." The authority of a text came to be associated with its author. Jewish tradition wanted to find authors for its books, however there was little evidence about who wrote the Bible. " The earliest Jewish text that identifies its author is the Wisdom of Ben-Sira, dating from the early second century B.C.E. In some places, the bible indirectly would contradict later ascription of authorship." (From How the Bible Became a Book) it also states that Moses could have been an author and many other possible theories of who is the

DeYoung says, “through the Scripture we can hear and read. … Special revelation is God 's self-disclosure through the spoken and written words of divinely inspired messengers. Both means of revelation are important, and both are taught in Scripture.? (DeYoung, p.78) The CRC’s position is therefore accurate on the inspired and infallible Word of God.

Baptism in (or with) the Holy Spirit is a very important, distinctive Christian experience in the life of the believer. The basis is found in the book of Acts, specifically the event of Pentecost.

This method examines the unique literary features and the social function of the genre, canon, paying particular attention to the way in which once historically conditioned literature is given a new authoritative function as the comprehensive word of God to later communities of faith.

Bill Warren and Archie W. England (Holman Bible Dictionary, 2003: 200) write how canon developed, they say the “Bible” is the Greek term for “books” and this refers to OT and NT. The 39 OT books and 27 NT books form the “canon” of Holy Scripture and it is originally meant “reed” which signifies a ruler or a measuring stick.

A canon is a way of measuring, and a rule or standard. The New Testament is made up 27 cannons throughout the book. There were four criteria's that accepted the Gospels as as canonical. The first criteria was the Gospel written by an apostle. The second criteria was the Gospel written orthodox. The third criteria was the items written considered to be relevant. The last criteria of the Gospel was whether the church could use a widespread and longstanding usage of the Gospel. With each of these particular criteria they were able to accept the Gospel of Luke. The Gospel of Luke was accepted because it was used in scripture in another book which validates multiple of the criteria needed to be met. Since Luke received his information from an apostle

The Scriptures were written under the inspiration of God and are sufficient for faith and life (PCF I.1). The Philadelphia Confession views Scripture as infallible and written through men by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. There is nothing outside of the written Scriptures that are to be acknowledged as authoritative. The Philadelphia Confession rejects the Apocrypha or any other writing by man to be approved by the church of God (PCF I.3).

The New Testament was canonized over a period of approximately four hundred years (Stotesberg). From AD 50-125, the books which in the end constitute the New Testament were written. Simultaneously, other books, which did not end up being included in the final canon, were produced. These books are the Epistle of Barnabas, the Didache, I Clement, the seven letters of Ignatius of Antioch, etc. (“Development of the Difficult Canon”). As more and more books were written, Christians realized that it was imperative that they gather and consolidate this material before it became lost. Sometime before AD 100, ten of Paul’s letters were gathered and combined into their own canon. The Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) were combined to form another canon soon after the canonization of Paul’s letters. The Gospels and Paul’s letters became the main body of a new group of Scriptures that would soon become the New Testament. Soon Acts, I Peter, I John, and Revelation were inserted into this body of Scripture. Following this, the rest of the books were added to the New Testament (Barker).

18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.

The New Testament is a collection of books which contains the writings concerning the significant events in the life of Jesus of Nazareth. These books appeared after the physical death of Jesus Christ. In this regard, Jesus had left no records concerning him, and all that is written about him depends wholly on what other people have written about him. The first four books of the New Testament are part of the several biographies of Jesus which were written by the end of the first century of the era of Christianity. Then before any of these biographies have been drafted, there were Christian communities which were being instructed through epistles on how to live like Jesus and how to solve their problem like Christians. A good number of these letters were written by a man called Paul. After Paul death, some other new leaders of the Christian movement continued to write letters to the churches to encourage and strengthen them. As Christians grew in number persecution arose, and some letters have been drafted to support them and also to counter the false doctrines. These letters are part of the New Testament. The twenty-seven books of the New Testament were selected from the list of writings in that period (Bruce, 1988)

During the early history of the church, there was no such thing as a New Testament “canon.” The selection of books that were to be included or excluded from the texts used by the church was the responsibility of each individual church body, and thus varied greatly from location to location. Because there was no canon – (books considered