The Legitimacy of New Testament Canon

During my year and a half working at an art institute, I was often faced with direct accusation against my Christianity, and most of them were founded on supposed problems with the Bible. We as evangelical Christians hold the Bible in high regard, and it is important for us to know for ourselves why Scripture holds true. It is not simply literature for the soul, but it is the very written Word of God, living and active in its content. One of the things that is often assaulted is the canonicity of Scripture, or the collection of chosen books.

Canon: noun
1. A general law, rule, principle, or criterion by which something is judged.
2. A collection or list of sacred books accepted as genuine: the formation of the biblical canon.

Canon comes from the Greek word for reed, which was used as a measuring rod, and came to mean “standard.”

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The need for canonicity was significant in the face of false teachings facing the early church by heretics such as Marcion in A.D. 140, and further attempts to squeeze in spurious writings in some Eastern churches. In addition, an edict of Diocletian (A.D. 303) called for the destruction of the sacred books of the Christians. Christians needed to know which books were worth dying for.

It is of utmost importance to regard canon as a tool ordained by God, and used by the church. We did not invent it, but rather, it has been there all along. We do not dictate the canon of scripture, it instructs us. We handle it.

Right now, we are looking at New Testament canon. As stated earlier, there was developing a dire need to separate the God-ordained Scripture from the imposters. The questions arise, “How was it determined which authors were legit?” “How do we know so-and-so writer was authoring Scripture but this one was not?”

The ultimate (and simple) answer lies in Jesus Christ. Because we know that Jesus is God, we know that what He says is truth. It was Jesus Himself that decided on the writers of the New Testament (the Bible is after all, a revelation of Him), and He gave us guidelines for determining the legitimacy of the authors:
-First of all, Jesus made it clear that the New Testament would only be authored by his chosen apostles, and that they would be equipped by the power of the Holy Spirit to do so. He did this when He instructed them saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.”
-He gave the apostles His stamp of approval when He told them “It is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you,” and that the “Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”
-We know what the requirements are for being an apostle, because Jesus gives an examination by stating that it was those who walked with Him, and were witnesses to the things that He did, including especially the resurrection. Peter (Jesus’ right-hand man) put forth specific requirements, when Joseph and Matthias were considered for apostleship. They were to be men that had accompanied the twelve from Jesus’ baptism by John to when He was taken up from them. And they HAD to be witnesses to His resurrection. This was of utmost importance. We can see how imperative this was, as the resurrection of a dead man was a strong case to make to unbelievers, and needed to be attested to. As atheist Carl Sagan would declare, “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”

Paul who saw the risen Lord, is one of these apostles, and here he also affirms the canonicity of the New Testament. He points out that the revelation and mystery of Christ, has been revealed to His holy apostles (of which Paul is one) and prophets in the Spirit. He also tells us that while Christ is the cornerstone of the church, it was the apostles that the church was built on. We can also see evidence of the Holy Spirit upon this, as people were continually devoting themselves to the apostles teaching.
I have heard leaders and teachers say that they are apostles of God, but this is contrary to Scripture. The Word of God tells us that He gave some as apostles, but not all are apostles. It is impossible for any today to become apostles, given the requirements of the first chapter of Acts. These are false apostles.

The Apocrypha is a collection of 14 books of Jewish history and tradition that the Roman Catholic church decided to include into their version of the Bible at the Council of Trent in 1545. Why don’t Christians consider it to be canon? Simple…
-The Jews never even considered it to be Scripture, and never included it in their bible
-The acceptance it did enjoy was only local and temporary
-No major church council included it Scripture
-It contains errors
-Neither Jesus nor the New Testament quoted it even thought they quoted the Old Testament hundreds of times.
-The Christian churches that eventually accepted it, did not until many centuries later.
-Many of the Apocryphal writings were written after the end of the first century, including the Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians (A.D. 108), the Didache (A.D. 100-120), the seven Epistles of Ignatius (A.D. 110), the Second Epistle of Clement (A.D. 120-140), the Shepherd of Hermas (A.D. 115-140), the Apocalypse of Peter (A.D. 150), and the Epistle of the Laodiceans (4th century?).

The church preserved the whole New Testament
Luke refers to possibly Matthew and Mark.
Paul quotes the Gospel of Luke.
Peter refers to a collection of Paul’s letters.
Jude had access to Peter’s second letter.
John’s book of Revelation was circulated throughout Asia Minor.

The church fathers of the second to fourth century made some 36,289 citations from the New Testament, including every verse except for eleven of them!

Summary
And so we know that Jesus Christ limited the New Testament writings to A.D. 50 – 90 by the choosing of His apostles who walked with him during His ministry, and were all witnesses to His death and resurrection. New Testament writings HAD to have come from the first century, and by those with divine credentials. These were the disciples, including Paul.