The New Testament 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).

The Old Testament is the largest part of the bible nestled behind the leather binding in the front of the book. Unlike most books, told from one-person or even two this is comprised of multiple, some stories even having two different versions in another point of view; over time it has become a large collection of ancient texts written and re-written by different authors and editors over the many years. The stories show the ancient Israelites, they show the laws, and rituals, which make up their religion and the small embers, which will one day, turn to a flame that is Christianity. The Jewish people view these stories as collected in what they call the Torah, is the collection for what makes up their history and the promise that God gave to them, as well as their laws and what they worship today. For the Christians the Old Testament is still seen as sacred, but most place a stronger importance to the New Testament.

The Bible is a sacred book of scriptures that Christians and people of the Jewish faith believe is the written account of the word of God. Many different authors composed the works that make up the Bible. It is said that Jesus Christ is the son God who was sent to be the Lord and Savior of all people. Many Christians and Jewish people believe the Bible is the way of life. Those who believe and follow the beliefs of the Bible and God’s word will have eternal life if they accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. The Bible has been in print and given to others for hundreds of years. The first King James Bible was published back in the year 1611. Within the King James Version, it used to contain what are now known as the canons. A biblical canon is a set or series of related books. The canons, within the King James Version, these were called the books of the apocrypha. Apocrypha means ‘hide away’ in Greek. The apocrypha is a collection of books that were located in between the Old Testament and the New Testament. For over 270 years, the books of the apocrypha were published in the King James Version of the Bible.

Bruce makes it clear that this volume is dedicated to Christian students throughout the world. However, in the “Preface to the Fifth Edition,” he sets the tone by identifying the target audience for his work: “non-theological students” who are studying the New Testament documents, and who are more inclined to tolerate a source which has historical relevance as opposed to a source that does not (xiv). Thus, Bruce sets out with the goal of melding theology and history in an attempt at answering the question posed in the title, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? Bruce uses 124 pages and 10 chapters in an attempt to prove that the New Testament documents are reliable. He provides ample

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

For as long as records have been maintained, the Bible remains the bestselling book worldwide, year after year (Jeynes, 2012). One might be curious about the reasons it is popular, or more importantly, how did it come about. Called the canon of Scriptures, or a ‘list’, it is the compilation of biblical books regarded by Christians as “uniquely authoritative” (Klein, Blomberg, & Hubbard, Jr., 1993, p. 103). It includes 66 books encompassing thousands of years of history, written in multiple genres, and authored by many individuals. Inclusion into the canon required the necessity of scripture to meet specific criteria. Careful study dictated what became standard for believers (Klein, Blomberg, & Hubbard, Jr., 1993). A person’s understanding of the canonization of the Bible will affect how they will view the validity and authoritativeness of God’s Word.

[1] With all these various locations, facts, perspectives, identities, and languages that compile the Christian biblical text how can Christians know that the 27 books are the right 27 books? Again, the question of the canon, therefore, is at the very center of how biblical authority is established. [2] Even though the Bible has been established and authenticated for several centuries, the Christian community continues to circulate debate on the New Testament canon. In the introduction of the book (pp 15-24) Kruger states there are various reasons why this conversation is still happening. First, modern critical scholarship has continued to raise doubts about the authorship and date of numerous New Testament books, attributing them to later, pseudonymous authors. Throughout the text many of the models date the completed canon to the fourth century. Second, the later century and a half have been filled with sensational discoveries of apocryphal materials that have raised new questions about which books should be included in the canon. The discoveries of apocryphal gospels such as the Gospel of Peter, the Gospel of Thomas, the Secret gospel of Mark, and most recently, the Gospels of Judas have raised questions about the state of

Steve: Nonetheless, the New Testament in the Bible is the direct tradition from the Apostles because all they learned from Jesus is recorded in their Gospels and books. As well as their direct sight of the Resurrection of Jesus, this is the center belief of the Catholic Faith that is also stated.

So what is the criterion for determining whether or not certain writings were to be included in the New Testament canon? In the process of determining the inclusion some books were immediately received while others when through much scrutiny before they were accepted. We can see that some books were accepted into the canon of Scripture and others were not.

A letter of Pope St. Innocent I officially listed these books in 405. (Saunders) The King James version, printed in 1611, printed these books in between the Old and New Testament. (Saunders) The Council of Florence, 1442, established the official canon as 46 books in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament, (Saunders)

14. The Protestant Old Testament does not include the books of the Apocrypha because they have Jewish origins that preceded Christianity, which will not be the case with the Pseudepigrapha (Tullock & McEntire, 2006, p. 356). Books not included in the Jewish, and Protestant canons, but that are in the Catholic, and Orthodox canons, may be described as; additions to or extensions of biblical books, apocalyptic literature, short stories or novellas focusing on Jewish piety, wisdom literature, and historical/narrative books.

We can’t really be expected to lump books like “The Quran”(632 CE), “Don Quixote”(1605 CE), and “The Hobbit”(1937) together, right? There should be a couple more words so we know what’s what. After a classic has stood the test of time and been praised for centuries it enters a new, much smaller, “group”; it’s now part of the canon. The greatest literary works humanity has ever written are included as part of the canon, like “The Epic of Gilgamesh”, “Hamlet”, and “Beowulf”. You could even go a step further, brining all religious texts into the most highly regarded and smallest “group” of all, The Testament. I know this might be a bit confusing; have a look at the chart below to visualize the different

The most known books of the New Testament are the Gospels. These four books are written by four different people, yet they all align with the same content. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John present the good news as eyewitnesses. Although the canon was not yet formed, the agreement by the four men on the actual occurrence of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus aligned to the others. The Gospel had been known in the churches. Alexander Souter states, The Gospel was something well known in the churches, a document or body of documents, to which it was sufficient to appeal without further specification.” The letters written by Paul in the New

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).

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