The Idea of Canon (Part 6) (The Covenant & the Cross #21)

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Today’s passage of Scripture is John 1:14 which reads: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

Today’s quote about the Bible is from Abraham Lincoln. He said: “I am profitably engaged in reading the Bible. Take all of this Book that you can by reason and the balance by faith, and you will live and die a better man. It is the best Book which God has given to man.”

Our topic for today is titled: “The Idea of the Canon (Part 6)” from the book, “The Promise and the Blessing” by Dr. Michael A. Harbin.

Because most of the New Testament books are letters to various churches throughout the Mediterranean region, it took some time for all of the churches in various cities to amass a complete (or nearly complete) collection. For example, Paul wrote his letter to the Christians in Colosse with instructions for them to pass it on to the church in Laodicea (and likewise for the Colossians to read the letter to the Laodiceans). Similarly, the letter we call Second Corinthians was also addressed to all of central Greece. Each individual church that received a letter would either hand-copy it and then forward the copy or have the other church send a scribe to make a copy to take back. In this manner, copies of the individual letters gradually spread throughout the early church. By 70 AD there apparently were local churches all the way from Spain to India and from England to Ethiopia.

As can be imagines, hand-copying these letters would be a slow process. Still, indications are that by early in the second century, most of the local churches within the Roman world were largely in agreement as to which writings should be included in the New Testament canon. This agreement was not formalized, however, until the third council of Carthage in 397.

The authors of the Old Testament canon are often considered prophets, that is, God’s spokesmen. (Prophets performed other roles besides giving predictions about the future, so books written by them were not necessarily “prophetic,” that is, predictive in character.) This concept also applies to the New Testament authors, although for them we generally use the term “apostle” (“sent one”), which usually refers to the original twelve disciples of Jesus. Paul was not part of this circle but was marked out as an apostle in his calling. Not all of the New Testament books were written by apostles, however. Mark and Luke were were two key authors who do not appear to meet any criteria of apostleship, although they are often considered spokesmen for the apostles Peter and Paul respectively.

The Idea of Canon (Part 4) (The Covenant & the Cross #19)

Today’s passage of Scripture is Proverbs 2:1-5 which reads: “My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.”

Today’s quote about the Bible is from Martin Luther. He said: “You may as well quit reading and hearing the Word of God, and give it to the devil, if you do not desire to live according to it.”

Our topic for today is titled: “The Idea of the Canon (Part 4)” from the book, “The Promise and the Blessing” by Dr. Michael A. Harbin.

It is important to realize that Christianity began with the assumption that the Jewish canon was authoritative. This point is often overlooked, but it is crucial. First, the concept of Messiah (or Christ) comes from the Jewish canon. Jews who knew Jesus measured His life against that standard. A number of Jews rejected Him, but that was because of preconceived notions of what the Messiah was to do. Many looked at the data and agreed that Jesus met the standards of the Old Testament. Those who accepted Him became the first church—a significant community of Jews. Second, early followers of the Messiah (or the Christ) measured New Testament writers against the Old Testament standard and used the same process of guidance by the Holy Spirit to validate the new writings.

So the New Testament was written and accepted in a manner similar to the Old Testament, but with several key distinctions. First, while the Old Testament was primarily written to God’s people when they were concentrated in the land of Israel, the New Testament was primarily written to groups of God’s people throughout the Roman Empire where they had scattered. For this reason, the New Testament books were written in Greek instead of Hebrew. These New Testament books also took somewhat longer to be accepted by the overall community of God’s people, for it was more widely dispersed. Second, while the Old Testament focused on God’s work of deliverance of the nation from Egypt and the implications of that event in terms of a future Messiah, the New Testament was written to demonstrate that the Messiah had already appeared as a historical figure and to explain the significance of His coming. The focus of the New Testament is therefore on the resurrection and the implications of that event for the relationship of humanity to God.

As mentioned before, the church accepted the Old Testament canon from the beginning. After all, the Christian community was totally Jewish for at least eight years and predominantly Jewish for another decade or so. Individual New Testament books were clearly accepted at a very early stage. By approximately 64 CE, Peter was referring to Paul’s letters, written mainly during the previous decade, as Scripture. This important detail is reminiscent of Daniel’s similar reference to Jeremiah.

The Epistles primarily deal with the implications of the gospel that was being proclaimed. Many of them pre-date the written Gospels, probably for two reasons. The early church was convinced that the return of Jesus was right around the corner and thus, at first, a written argument that He was the Messiah did not seem to be needed. Moreover, evaluating the implications of the gospel was the first need of the church. The Gospels, in the form they have come to us, were written down as the church gradually realized that the second coming of Christ was not going to be as soon as anticipated, and the eyewitnesses of Jesus’ resurrection began to be martyred and otherwise die off.