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Jul 10, 2023 · Determining the canon was a process conducted first by Jewish rabbis and scholars and later by early Christians. Ultimately, it was God who decided what books belonged in the biblical canon. A book of Scripture belonged in the canon from the moment God inspired its writing.
The 39 books of the Old Testament form the Bible of Judaism, while the Christian Bible includes those books and also the 27 books of the New Testament. This list of books included in the Bible is known as the canon.
The early Christian church used four criteria to determine what books appeared in the canon. First, they included books that were written by apostles or an author in special relationship to an apostle, such as Mark, Luke, and James.
- The Old Testament Canon
- The New Testament Canon
- Further Reading
At the time of Jesus and the apostles, the question of what constitutes ‘the Scriptures’ was basically settled. What Christians call the Old or First Testament contains the same material as the Hebrew Bible – the Scriptures of Jesus’s day. The Hebrew Bible contains 24 books (scrolls, really, since books or codices did not appear until the second ha...
In one way, the New Testament is slightly more straightforward. There is no equivalent to the apocryphal books which appear in some Bibles but not others: all churches accept the same 27 books. In other ways, it is equally complex. One very common idea about the NT canon is that it was decided by the Roman emperor Constantine and the Council of Nic...
Articles
Kruger, Michael J. ‘The Biblical Canon’. The Gospel Coalition. Meade, John D. ‘Did Nicaea Really Create the Bible?’ Text and Canon Institute(2021). Meade, John D. ‘Why Are Protestant and Catholic Bibles Different?’ Text and Canon Institute(2021).
Videos
Licona, Mike. ‘How the Canon of the Bible Was Formed’ (2017). The Gospel Coalition. ‘Why You Can Rely On the Canon’ – interview with Michael Kruger (2014)
Books
Hill, C.E. Who Chose the Gospels? Probing the Great Gospel Conspiracy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Kruger, Michael J. Canon Revisited: Establishing the Origins and Authority of the New Testament Books. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012 Lanier, Greg. A Christian’s Pocket Guide to How We Got the Bible : Old and New Testament Canon and Text. Tain: Christian Focus, 2023. Meade, John D., and Peter J. Gurry. Scribes and Scripture: The Amazing Story of How We Got the Bible. Wheaton, IL: Crosswa...
The New Testament recognized by most Christians today comprises 27 books accepted as authoritative, or canon. But what made some writings canonical and others not? It took time, centuries in fact, for the early church to determine which texts should be added to the Jewish Tanakh to form the Christian Bible … and which texts should be excluded.
The OT canon is made up of individual books, which therefore need to be studied at least in brief. B. Pentateuchal claims for Mosaic authorship . The Church always has believed that the Pentateuch came from the hand of Moses.
People also ask
Who decides what books belong in the biblical canon?
How many books are in the 'canon of Scripture'?
When did a book of Scripture become a canon?
Who created the canon?
Most likely James was written first and Revelation, last. Authority of NT Books Various early church fathers like Polycarp (66-155), Irenaeus (130-202), Tertullian (160-220), and Origen (185-254) quote from, or authoritatively reference, most of the New Testament books.
