The need to determine what books contain God's authority and what books were borderline heretical arose shortly after the death of Christ. The primary antagonist in this search for authentic Scripture was brought about by the emergence of Gnosticism. Christians who had been influenced by the Hellenization that was going on in the Roman Empire sought to define their set of beliefs systems, which differed from what was considered orthodox teachings of the time. These teachings could be considered “the product of a fusion, whether by Christians or by pagans, of Christianity and Hellenistic thought. They represent in one form or another a re-interpretation of Christianity in terms of contemporary ideas.”1 The influence of these Gnostics worried the other Christians, because the teachings were not only different from what Jesus and his apostles had taught, but they sought to include cultural norms of the time into their religion. This subculture of Christianity was in essence “regarded as varying attempts, on the part of people who in intention at least accepted fundamental Christian beliefs, to expand, supplement and re-interpret those beliefs in terms acceptable to the thinking religions public of the time.”2 The biggest divider was that the Gnostic believed “that the world was the product not of the highest God, but of an ignorant or malevolent creator God.”3 Because of this the early Church determined to distinguish themselves and the teachings they believed from other groups, and the issue of canon was born.
While many books have been written that claim to have come from God, the difficult task arose of not only deciding what books were approved for study and teaching, but also how to determine how the decision was made. Many councils and gatherings have occurred over approximately fifteen hundred years since Christ's death, with the goal of determining what books belong and what books don't. The issue that arose was not primarily centered around what is now considered the Old Testament, as the church had “received as its scriptural heritage from Judaism the Jewish canonical practice that obtained in first century Judaism prior to A.D. 70”.4 The Council of Florence was one of the three great councils that gathered together to determine which books would be considered as the authoritative books of Scripture. Florence was the “first great council to give a list of biblical books :
the decree for the Jacobites in 1441 acknowledged that the one and same God was the author of both Testaments 'because by the inspiration of the same Holy Spirit the holy men of each Testament spoke' and it listed the books by name”.5 Florence determined that both the Old Testament and the New Testament had to have the same inspiration by the Holy Spirit in order to be considered part of the canon of Scripture.
Another council that dealt with the canon of Scripture was the Council of Trent. Those that attended the council set about again to determine which books would be considered Scripture for three primary reasons: “a) Scripture is the necessary basis for all further dogmatic questions b) the question of the Sacred Scripture may be said to be controverted, for doubts have been thrown upon many authentic books, not only by the heretics, but also by some of our own people; c) this question of the Sacred Scriptures will necessarily lead to the one of the Tradition of the Church, as the revelation of Christ was not completely written down in the books of the New Testament.”6 The council knew that in order for Christians to be sure of the text they believed to be sacred, that the books must be determined to be authentic and accurate, because of the implications not only in dealing with heretics, but in dealing with the future traditions of the church as well.
In order for the various councils to determine which books should be included in the canon of Scripture, certain criteria must be met. If the book in question could not meet these requirements, there could be no doubt as to the reasoning behind whether the book was included or excluded. The Council of Trent primarily utilized the community canon model. This defines the canon as “a set of writings that are selected by the community as a standard...the authority resides in the community to select the writings that are in the canon and thus used for theology.”7 In essence, the council utilized the wisdom and experiences of those gathered in order to determine which books would qualify to be included in the canon of Scripture. A downside to this method is that it depends on the opinions of those gathered in determining which books would be included when all was said and done. Another method is the intrinsic canon method, which states that “the books of Scripture are not canonical based on the determination of the community, authority, or tradition, but rather based on the intrinsic merits of the books”.8 This method looks at the books themselves in order to determine whether or not they would be considered part of the canon.
Regardless of which method that is used, there are certain criteria that the book in question must meet before it can be considered to be a part of Scripture. These criteria is at the heart of why some books appear in the Bible and some don't. The criteria are: propheticity and apostolicity, antiquity, consistency, congruity, continuity, and self-authentication by divine purpose.9
Propheticity and apostolicity are factors because “the author of the books must simply be a writer endowed with divine authority”.10 The words themselves are generated from the ideas of prophets in the Old Testament and apostles in the New Testament. In both cases the message was relayed by God Himself, either as God or as Jesus. These men were themselves endowed with that divine authority, which makes their writings acceptable when considering canonicity. Antiquity is referring to the dates when the book or letter was supposedly written. A book could not be considered canon if it were not written when it was supposed to have been, because the author of the book could be called into question. In other words, the Old Testament had to have been written during the time of the prophets, and the New Testament had to have been written during the time of the apostles.
The next set of criteria deals with consistency, continuity, and congruity. Scripture must agree with Scripture, if it does not, then the book or letter in question cannot be considered as a part of the canon. The overall theme of the Bible is God's redemption of his people. All the books in the Bible must agree with this. This even extends over the four hundred year gap between the Old Testament and the New Testament. So when God was revealing the Law to Moses, and the future to the prophets He “effected the production of the Old Testament books to the extent that they were to have a certain function and authority in the New Testament.”11 When considering the Old Testament, it is easy to view it almost as merely a book on the history of Israel. However, it is “not merely de facto an account of the Church's prehistory and the truths communicated in the course of it; if the completion of the Old Testament could be reached only in the New, then the Old Testament is by its very essence pre-history”.12
The final criteria to discuss when looking at the concept of canon and Scripture is that of self-authentication by Divine purpose. Even though the books of the Bible were written by man, it is incredibly important not to forget through God the Scriptures were either inspired or revealed. Another definition is that “canonicity is the external attestation of the inspiration of a book.”13 Even though we can recognize the other criteria that have been examined above, there would be no canon unless God were involved. It would seemingly be impossible for His message to have survived in the form that it has without His Divine intervention. Every book of Scripture must not only be revealed to man by God, but it also must be God inspired. Without these two key ingredients, the text in question “lacks the divine authority that the Bible...requires.”14
The Bible is made up of sixty-six books with many authors spanning several ages of man. The fact that all of these books agree with each other, contain the main theme of God's redemption of man, and not one single word contradicts another shows how much of a hand God had in the preparation of Scripture. It was because of early heretical influences, such as the Gnostics, that cause the church fathers to be concerned with ensuring the correct writings were available for teaching. Many councils have met since then in order to determine which books should be included in the Holy Scriptures, and many criteria have been established as to ensure the books were properly vetted before inclusion. Even thought this process has been ongoing since the foundation of the church, God has ensured that His message will be available, presented in the way He desires, for eternity.
Bibliography
Bingham, Jeffrey, Routledge Companion to Early Christian Thought. Routledge, 2009: Florence, KY
Duncker, Peter G. Canon of the Old Testament at the Council of Trent, Catholic Biblical Quarterly 15, no. 3 (1953)
Murphy, Roland E. 1966. "Symposium on the canon of scripture / by Murphy, Roland Edward...[et al.]." Catholic Biblical Quarterly 28, no. 2: 189-207.
Peckham, John C “The Canon and Biblical Authority: A Critical Comparison of Two Models of Canonicity” Trinity Journal Vol 28 Issue 2 (2007)
Wilson, R. McL.,“Gnostic Origins” Vigiliae Christianae, Vol. 9, No. 3 (Oct., 1955) 193-211
1 R. McL. Wilson, “Gnostic Origins” Vigiliae Christianae, Vol. 9, No. 3 (Oct., 1955) 199.
2 R. McL. Wilson, “Gnostic Origins” Vigiliae Christianae, Vol. 9, No. 3 (Oct., 1955) , 197.
3 Jeffrey D. Bingham, Routledge Companion to Early Christian Thought, Florence, KY, (2009) 4
4 Roland E. Murphy, "Symposium on the canon of scripture" Catholic Biblical Quarterly 28, no. 2 (1966) 189.
5 Roland E. Murphy, "Symposium on the canon of scripture" Catholic Biblical Quarterly 28, no. 2 (1966) 189.
6 Peter G. Duncker "Canon of the Old Testament at the Council of Trent." Catholic Biblical Quarterly 15, no. 3 (1953) 280.
7 John C Peckham, “The Canon and Biblical Authority: A Critical Comparison of Two Models of Canonicity” Trinity Journal Vol 28 Issue 2 (2007) 231.
8 John C Peckham, “The Canon and Biblical Authority: A Critical Comparison of Two Models of Canonicity” Trinity Journal Vol 28 Issue 2 (2007) 234.
9 John C Peckham, “The Canon and Biblical Authority: A Critical Comparison of Two Models of Canonicity” Trinity Journal Vol 28 Issue 2 (2007) 240-244.
10 John C Peckham, “The Canon and Biblical Authority: A Critical Comparison of Two Models of Canonicity” Trinity Journal Vol 28 Issue 2 (2007) 240.
11 Roland E. Murphy, "Symposium on the canon of scripture" Catholic Biblical Quarterly 28, no. 2 (1966) 193.
12 Roland E. Murphy, "Symposium on the canon of scripture" Catholic Biblical Quarterly 28, no. 2 (1966) 193.
13 Roland E. Murphy, "Symposium on the canon of scripture" Catholic Biblical Quarterly 28, no. 2 (1966) 190.
14John C Peckham, “The Canon and Biblical Authority: A Critical Comparison of Two Models of Canonicity” Trinity Journal Vol 28 Issue 2 (2007) 243.
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